Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 114 | Monday, November 30, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Football’s Farnham ’10 leads year’s All-Ivy roll
Kim Perley / Herald
Left to right, mustache models Matt Cavallaro, George Coffin and Nathan Phipps — all RISD students.
On next year’s calendar, a ‘moust’-have By Talia Kagan Staff Writer
Mustaches are having a moment. They’ve recently been spotted on stars such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Organizations like “Mustaches for Kids” and “Movember” encourage men to grow them to raise awareness and donations for charitable causes. But for professional photographer Ricky Chapman and the Rhode Island School of Design students and alumni who collaborated with him on the 2010 “Moustache Calendar,” growing a mustache is not about the latest trend. People often associate mustaches with “creepy” men, if not ironic Brooklyn hipsters, Chapman said. “There’s nothing ironic about the Moustache Calendar,” said collabora-
tor Nathan Phipps, a senior studying industrial design at RISD who is featured in the calendar as March’s “Mr. Introspective.” “It’s kind of about the classic mustache.” The calendar instead shows the type of mustache “that you could wear
FEATURE at the office,” or while “romancing women,” said Chapman, who added that he chose the spelling “moustache” for the calendar’s title because it seemed more sophisticated than “mustache.” The calendar’s black-and-white photos feature RISD students and alums (and their mustaches) in intimate, personal shots. All the photos have captions, including “Caveman” and “Casanova.” And yes, all the mus-
Prison chaplain visits to discuss rehab efforts By Jessica Calihan Contributing Writer
inside
The Rev. Joyce Penfield, a chaplain at the Adult Correctional Institutions and co-founder of a spiritually focused organization that rehabilitates prisoners, spoke to a group of students in J. Walter Wilson Sunday night about her work in Rhode Island’s prisons. In an informal discussion, Penfield discussed her own personal journey and answered questions about prison life and rehabilitation. Penfield, an Episcopalian priest, initially wanted to create a rehabilitation program through the church,
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taches are real. The calendar is subtitled “SexConfident,” defined on its first page as an adjective denoting “realistic confidence in one’s power and ability to attract the opposite sex.” “We wanted it to be a celebration and a form of empowerment to the mustached man,” said collaborator Matt Cavallaro, who sports one of May’s mustaches. Chapman attended a Catholic high school where he had to stay cleanshaven, but he hasn’t shaved his upper lip once in the past seven years, he said. For half of that time, he has had a beard, and for the rest of it, just a “stache,” he said. His current mustache, he said, is part “classic chevron” and part “horseshoe.” “Sex-Confident” is actually Chapcontinued on page 2
Wide-receiver Buddy Farnham ’10 was named Ivy League Football CoPlayer of the Year, and eight other Brown players collected All-Ivy first team honors, the league announced last week. Farnham’s 1,003 receiving yards in 2009 led the Bears, who went 4-3 against league opponents to capture third place. He shared the Player of the Year honor with Penn linebacker Jake Lewko. While the Bears failed in their bid to repeat as Ivy League champions, they were well-represented on both offense and defense in the end-of-year selections by Ivy League coaches. Quarterback Kyle NewhallCaballero ’11, in his first year as a starter, was chosen as the top signalcaller after leading the league with
2,709 passing yards. He was joined on the first-team Ivy offense by his favorite targets, Farnham and fellow wideout Bobby Sewall ’10, and two senior linemen, Mark Callahan ’10 and Paul Jasinowski ’10. On defense, four more seniors got All-Ivy nods in their final season. Defensive end James Develin ’10, tackle David Howard ’10, linebacker Kelley Cox ’10 and safety Chris Perkins ’10 were all first-team selections. Farnham was also named to the first team as a return specialist. Four Bears received second team All-Ivy honors — guard Tim Danser ’10, running back Zachary Tronti ’11, punter Nate Lovett ’12 and defensive backs David Clement ’10 and A.J. Cruz ’13. — Staff reports
For AIDS, painting the town red By Hannah Moser Senior Staff Writer
Four downtown buildings, including City Hall and the Kennedy Plaza skating rink, will light up in red tomorrow in recognition of World AIDS Day. Providence is one of 13 cities in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland that will participate in the “show of solidarity” for those suffering from AIDS, according to joinred. com, a Web site for the “(Red)” advertising campaign founded by U2 singer Bono and activist Bobby Shriver. The city will also commemorate the day with a candlelight vigil at the skating rink, according to the Providence Journal.
This year marks the 21st World AIDS Day, designed to “raise awareness about the disease and to urge governments and leaders to fulfill their promises to do what it takes to halt and reverse the spread of the disease,” according to the Web site of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (RED), which coordinates the displays, is an initiative in which nine brands — including Apple and American Express — donate a percentage of their profits from designated (RED) products to the Global Fund to provide anti-retroviral medication to people infected with AIDS in Africa, according to its Web site. continued on page 2
M. hockey forward gets chance to shine By Dan Alexander Senior Staff Writer
but faced resistance. But unable to ignore the tragic amount of recidivism she felt was due to a lack of support systems, she joined with 12 other “spiritual people” and went directly into the facilities. The program she runs now, known as the Blessing Way, runs classes in the prisons and helps recently released inmates land on their feet in the outside world. “Wonderful things happen,” she said, describing the transformation she observes in many of her students and the close bonds she forms with them. “People come up and give me hugs.” continued on page 2
Jonathan Bateman / Herald
Jesse Fratkin ’11 during a Nov. 21 game against Yale. The forward had a breakout performance in an 8-1 victory over UConn Saturday.
Jesse Fratkin ’11 spent much of last season dressed in a suit, not a uniform. Most nights, he didn’t know if coach Roger GrilBentley 3 lo and his staff 2 Brown would put him on the fourth line or UConn 1 in the bleachers. Brown 8 But before this season started, newly hired Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 said Fratkin would see more ice time. Last week, Fratkin showed why. In Brown’s first win of the season, an 8-1 stomping of Connecticut at home, the forward scored three continued on page 5
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
animated talk Brown is set to host a conference on new media’s impact on archiving
Two Slam Dunks M. basketball went 2-for-3, topping Ocean State rival Bryant and Philly’s USP
CLASSIC DILEMMA Fatima Aqeel ’12 wonders how class attendance can be increased
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
C ampus N EWS Abuse during childhood speeds aging, prof shows
By Xuan Gao Contributing Writer
Physical or emotional abuse during childhood accelerates the body’s aging process, according to a study by a team of scientists led by a Brown professor. The study has the potential to explain how biology and experience come together to produce risk for illnesses, according to the study’s lead author, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Audrey Tyrka. Tyrka said she hoped the research would also lead to illness prevention. “This is really critical because if we step back and look at life, for a healthy long life, what you need most is the ability for yourself to divide to protect your genetic material,” Tyrka said. “So if there’s something that’s interfering with that process, then it can adversely affect your longevity and your health.” Before conducting the study, the group of researchers examined the stress hormone system responsible for coordinating the body’s response to stress, Tyrka said. People with histories of childhood abuse or neglect had abnormalities in their systems, she said. The current study did not look at the hormone system, but instead at telomeres, which are DNA repeats at the ends of chromosomes. Part of the telomeres’ function is to protect the coding regions of chromosomes, Tyrka said. The researchers surveyed a group of 31 healthy adults who have no current or past psychiat-
Qidong Chen / Herald
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Audrey Tyrka.
ric or medical conditions . They found that adults with histories of childhood abuse or neglect had significantly shorter telomeres than the adults who weren’t abused in childhood, Tyrka said. Questions still remain about the overall causal mechanism, Tyrka said, including the question of exactly how such stress exposures might relate to reduced telomere length. “We don’t have all the pieces to that puzzle yet,” she said. The study drew researchers from a variety of fields different areas. “I would call this a multidisciplinary research approach,” Tyrka said. The group is planning a larger study in the future to look at telomere length in relation to stress and access to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, Tyrka said, which scientists think is involved in shorter telomere length. Elizabeth Blackburn — who, along with two other scientists, developed the method for measuring telomeres — was awarded a 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Oct. 5.
sudoku
Monday, November 30, 2009
“My mom says she can’t take me seriously with it.” — RISD senior Nathan Phipps, on wearing a moustache
Calendar traces time with mustaches continued from page 1
man’s second mustache calendar — the original was created in 2004 when he and a friend wanted to raise money for a trip to Hawaii. The two friends “shot it, designed it and printed it at Kinko’s in about two-and-a-half weeks,” Chapman said. They sold the calendars on their small college campus and turned a profit of about $800 — enough for the plane tickets, he said. Chapman told this story to a group of RISD students, who think of Chapman and his wife, Amy, a RISD alum, as friends and “surrogate parents,” he said. After hearing the story, several students decided to work with Chapman on a new edition of the calendar. The calendar is partly intended as a way to publicize the young artists featured in it, said Cavallaro, who manages the calendar’s Web site, themoustachecalendar.com. He hopes to post updates for each man during his month in 2010, he said. Some of the featured students already sported mustaches before the photoshoots, while others grew them or shaved off beards to participate. Phipps had occasionally worn a
mustache before working on the calendar, but he said he had always seen it as “funny.” But “since we did this whole thing, I’ve grown to appreciate the mustache,” he said. His girlfriend, Lindsay Perkins, a RISD student featured (without a mustache) in February’s image, said she felt the same way. “I‘ve definitely grown to love it,” she said. Perkins said she has also noticed that Phipps’ mustache generates respect from other men. “Nate and I will be out to dinner, and other guys with mustaches will give a nod,” she said. But not everyone is equally impressed. “My mom says she can’t take me seriously with it,” Phipps said. Most participants, however, decided not to keep their mustaches. “I thought it was interesting to find out that it is something of a statement, and a lot of the guys weren’t willing to keep it for that reason,” Phipps said. Cavallaro kept his mustache after the shoot was over and continued curling the ends of his conquistador-style facial hair during the summer. It was a style of mustache he had been considering before the project started, an interest that inspired the “Conquistazuma” image for November.
In general, Cavallaro said, images were inspired by the students themselves. “This calendar isn’t so much about the mustache itself, but more about the man behind the mustache,” he said. So far, 3,000 copies of the calendar have been printed, Chapman said. The calendars, which cost $15 each, are for sale at the Brown Bookstore, the RISD Bookstore and Books on the Square on Angell Street in Wayland Square. Chapman hopes to bring them to more local retailers, as well as Urban Outfitters stores in Providence and in New York. Chapman, who financed the project, has not broken even yet, he said, but he thinks he may donate part of his eventual profits to Movember and RISD’s Office of Student Life. But for Chapman, the Moustache Calendar is not about money — it’s about celebrating its namesake, “sexconfidence.” “I feel like mustaches can work for most guys,” Chapman said. They should “be bold as men and let their mustache be a sign of that boldness,” he said. And for young men seeking a role model? “Nietzsche had a very, very bold mustache,” he said.
Prison programs offer ‘atmosphere of trust’ continued from page 1 The group judges its success by the number of people who have completed the 90-day program, found work and remained out of prison and sober. When one discussion participant asked whether she ever came across individuals who seemed impossible to rehabilitate, Penfield said most such cases had simply never had access to therapy and rehabilitation efforts. “No one’s ever beyond help from my perspective,” she said.
Penfield, who officially serves the 710 male inmates in the minimum security facility at ACI and about 245 women across all levels, emphasized the importance of these courses in addressing the abuse many inmates have experienced. As a part of the classes, inmates write about their experiences and share them with the group without the fear of being judged, Penfield said. Though Penfield was optimistic about the inmates and her program, she was less hopeful about the prison system itself, which she stressed was
created for retribution rather than correction. But she said she tries to focus on the people she works with rather than the system. “I focus on the individual and try to help the individual become free,” she said. Penfield’s visit was sponsored by the Prison Discussion Group, which was formed this fall following discussions among students involved in Space in Prisons for the Arts and Creative Expression, a program sponsored by the Swearer Center for Public Service.
Brown to host AIDS Day symposium continued from page 1
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Brown’s chapter of the Global Alliance to Immunize Against Aids will hold a free AIDS testing day Friday in Alumnae Hall, according to Lauren Pischel ’11, a member of the group and a Herald staff writer. The alliance’s Providence chapter will also hold a ceremony for four recipients of the group’s “Hope is a Vaccine” Award. The recipients, including Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10, will speak about their experiences at a World AIDS Day symposium at Brown. Magaziner is the chairman of the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative. The Brown University Aids Program will also sponsor a World AIDS Day breakfast Tuesday at White’s of Westport in Westport, Mass., with speakers who will discuss “Current HIV and Hepatitis C Treatment Options,” according the University’s Web site.
Arts & Culture The Brown Daily Herald
Monday, November 30, 2009 | Page 3
Set in amber, the Conference explores digital history trauma of extinction By Kate Monks Contributing Writer
By Jenna Steckel Staff Writer
Two hundred years ago, the population of American passenger pigeons was considered limitless, and observers wrote of migrations that completely blackened the sky. At the dawn of the 20th century, however, there was only a single survivor, and with her death, what had once been the most populous bird species in North America was left in the past. The memory of the passenger pigeon is the focus of “Zugunruhe,” an installation by Rachel Berwick showing at the David Winton Bell Gallery. Most of Berwick’s pieces meet at the intersection of extinction and renewal, and “Zugunruhe” continues the artist’s exploration into the theme of loss in nature. The exhibition features Berwick’s second installation devoted to the passenger pigeon. A previous work, entitled “A Vanishing; Martha,” consisted of amber-cast models of birds stacked on metal poles in decreasing numbers, leading to a central pole with only one bird, representing Martha, the final member of the species, who died at the Cincinnati Zoo on Sept. 1, 1914. “Zugunruhe” sees Ber wick revisit the passenger pigeons by means of cast amber, a material that allows the artist both to compose a visually arresting flock and to represent the prematurely forced fossilization of the species. The title — a term for nighttime anxiety and restlessness that birds and other migratory species experience when they begin migrating — was coined by ornithologist Gustav Kramer in the 1950s, according to exhibition notes. The word is formed from the German “Zug,” meaning movement, and “Unruhe,” anxiety. Installations are naturally experienced spatially, and so the first room in the exhibit serves as a primer for the rest. In the lobby, a large book on loan from the John Hay Library sits open, displaying an intricate il-
lustration of a passenger pigeon. Printed on the walls of the first room are eyewitness testimonies to the pigeons’ ubiquity from prominent naturalists of the 19th century, including John James Audubon, ornithologist Alexander Wilson and author and Native American advocate Simon Pokagon. At the center of the room sits a spinning, metallic compass encased in a glass shell, topped with a smaller glass dome. Rather than point north, the compass remains in perpetual motion, mimicking patterns of migration. The egg-like construction is simple and serene, with an apparent sturdiness that comments ironically on the pigeons’ demise. The compass’ ignorance of the pigeons’ plight parallels the 19thcentury quotations that adorn the walls. The birds’ disappearance jars so harshly with the omnipresence the naturalists describe that the viewer feels shocked and unsettled, questioning the fate of any other species now taken for granted. Just as the viewer commences mourning for the pigeons he or she will never see, the next room brings the overwhelming sight of a tree filled with nesting amber pigeons, encased in a mirrored glass octagon. The ghostly flock — formed from copal, a type of resinous amber — covers every branch of the otherwise barren tree. The birds reference fossilized insects trapped in amber — the cast pigeons are made from a substance that can preserve the genetic material of species that have vanished from the earth. The case that houses the tree separates the viewer from the nolonger-present pigeons and imbues them with a sense of mystery and distance. At some points, the viewers catch glimpses of themselves in the glass and are reminded of the uncertain dominance of the humans species. The birds, haunting in their spectral permanence, are relics of a past world in closer touch with nature. They remind us to hold on to what still remains and work to stave off any further tragedies of extinction.
Could Facebook notes appear on the pages of future history books next to tweets about someone’s day? Could Facebook pictures one day be hanging in the Ratty next to the images of years gone by at Brown, documenting student life in the 2000s? With the increasing importance of digital media as a record of every minute of people’s lives, scholars are beginning to address the implications of this unique technological archive of information and what it means for the future of documenting history. This week, Brown will host a conference that brings together scholars from around the world to discuss the effects of new media sources such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on the archival process. The conference, “Animating Archives: Making New Media Matter,” will run Thursday through Saturday at Pembroke Hall and is presented by the Cogut Center for the Humanities and the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies. Conference organizer Wendy Chun, an associate professor of modern culture and media, said one of the questions the conference raises is how scholarship can change in response to new forms of media. “Part of the argument is that we as scholars maybe need to think again about the traditional article format and think about how to use new media,” she said. Michael Steinberg, director of the Cogut Center and a professor of his-
tory and music, said the effect of new technology on the process of recording and retrieving information has been threefold. “First, access is a huge issue,” he said. “The world of Google has completely changed how we can get information.” People now have vast amounts of information on virtually any subject literally at their fingertips thanks to the Internet, he said. Not only is an ample amount of information available, but rare sources, such as Library of Congress holdings that would take weeks to view in their physical form, can be pulled up at the click of a button. Steinberg also described “new ways of thinking that are enabled by the digital world,” including the use of computer engineering programs that allow archeologists and art historians to reconstruct the buildings and complexes of ancient times by examining their remaining ruins. The use of new technology has allowed for “a whole new kind of interdisciplinary work,” he said — and the new organization of visual information is “just fantastic.” Finally, Steinberg said digital media also approach “a whole new frontier of intellectual property.” Universities stand for the free access of information for all their students, but the creators of the novels, biographies and recordings of the information also want to be paid for use of their work, he said. In the era of the Internet and online library archives, the line of ownership is blurred. He believes the upcoming conference will be useful in dealing with
these subjects. “What Wendy Chun has organized is a conference that will not only deal with these things but put them into contact with each other,” he said. Jay Gaidmore, a University archivist, said he has noticed the major impact that new technology has had on the archival process at Brown in just the last decade. Digital technology is “definitely going to impact how we document the University,” he said. “We used to receive letters, printed newsletters, memos,” he said. In the age of digital communication, the University no longer receives these physical documents because they just don’t exist anymore. Now, “it’s all email,” he said. As digital cameras and Facebook became popular in the last decade, the number of hardcopy photographs in the archives has also dwindled. “We have tons of photographs from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s,” he said. But around 2000 or 2001, Gaidmore said, students began taking digital photographs, and those hardcopy images of student life that would have been stored away in files now never leave the computer screens of their owners. “Dealing with electronic records and digital records is probably the greatest challenge, bar none,” he said. “Animating Archives” will deal with these and other questions regarding digital media today. “These changes are happening right now,” Chun said. “The question is, how can we engage with them seriously?”
SportsMonday The Brown Daily Herald
Monday, November 30, 2009 | Page 5
M. hockey wins big over UConn goals and added an assist. Last year, Fratkin sat in the stands and watched his team play UConn. “This was my first time playing against UConn, so it was a good one,” Fratkin said. “I wish we could play them more often.” On Tuesday, the Bears lost at home, 3-2, to Bentley (5-6-3), but Fratkin scored one goal and assisted the other. On the week, he had six points in two games. Last season, he didn’t score once. “It was nice to get a clean slate,” Fratkin said of the coaching change. “I’ve always worked hard on my game, and I’ve always seen myself as a decent player, but it’s nice to get a chance.”
goal of the season 11:41 into the second period. Brown held on to the advantage until 4:36 into the third period, when Cloutier scored his second goal of the game to begin the Falcons’ comeback. Less than four minutes later, Jamie Nudy gave Bentley its first lead of the game, 3-2. The Bears were still one shot behind when a Bentley penalty gave them a two-minute power play with just 2:12 left. With 1:25 remaining, Whittet pulled goalie Anthony Borelli ’13 — who finished with 25 saves — in favor of the extra attacker. But despite the 1:13-long six-on-four advantage, the Bears couldn’t find the back of the net, and they lost their sixth straight game.
Bentley 3, Brown 2 For the sixth game in a row, Brown let in the game’s first goal. Just 33 seconds after the puck dropped, Bentley’s Dustin Cloutier scored on a one-timer from the bottom of the left faceoff circle to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead before they had to change lines. “We didn’t start off well, and that really hurt us the whole game,” Fratkin said. “We definitely didn’t play our best.” Four minutes and 12 seconds into the first period, Fratkin evened the score after tri-captain Aaron Volpatti ’10 sent him a pass at center ice. Fratkin skated into the defensive zone and shot from the top of the right faceoff circle, beating Bentley goalie Kyle Rank five-hole. The Bears took a 2-1 lead when Jack Maclellan ’12 scored his first
Brown 8, UConn 1 Fratkin had three goals and five other players added one as the Bears steamrolled UConn (2-10-2) in their first win of the season. “You hate to use the word ‘perfect storm,’ but it kind of was,” said UConn Head Coach Bruce Marshall. Marshall said the combination of a Brown team hungry to get its first win and a UConn team that made some key turnovers caused an ugly outcome for the Huskies on Saturday night. “They really came out with a lot of energy, a lot of passion,” Marshall said. It showed. Fratkin netted Brown’s first of five first-period goals. “I noticed they looked tired — they were at the end of a long shift,”
continued from page 1
Jesse Morgan / Herald
Peter Sullivan ’11 dives for a loose ball during a battle against URI earlier this month. The Bears’ hustle turned their losing ways around last week.
M. basketball wins two of three weekend games By Tony Bakshi Sports Staff Writer
The men’s basketball team had a successful Thanksgiving break, winning two of three road games over the long weekend. Brown 70, Bryant 68 Bruno leveled its record to 3-3 in dramatic fashion Wednesday night as guard Garrett Leffelman’s ’11 lastsecond put-back propelled the Bears to a hard-fought victory. With the game tied, 68-68, and 40 seconds to go, Brown held the ball for a final shot. Peter Sullivan ’11 missed his jumper, and Matt Mullery ’10 — who led all scorers with 21 points — rebounded the ball but missed his follow-up. Leffelman then grabbed the ball and dropped his lay-up through the net with 0.3 seconds left to play. He was fouled by Bryant forward Clay McMath on the play but intentionally missed his free-throw attempt to let the clock run out. “When Peter had the ball, I cut to the hoop looking for a pass and ended up in a great position to rebound once he shot the ball,” Leffelman said. Bruno’s victory was all the more satisfying considering the start of the game. The Bears came out sluggishly on the home court of their in-state rival and let the Bulldogs jump out to a 19-5 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half. “I think I’ll look back at the Bryant game as a turning point in the season for me individually and as a highlight for our team as a whole,” Leffelman said. Brown 69, USP 48 The Bears handily defeated their Division II opponents in the penultimate game of the Philly Hoop Group Classic, beating the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia Friday afternoon. Bruno jumped out to a 12-0 lead
in the early minutes, as Adrian Williams ’11 and Sullivan each sunk threes. USP would cut the lead to eight points, 15-7, on a jumper by Zaahid Holloman later in the first half but would not get any closer for the remainder of the game. Brown ended the first half up 2917 and did not let up in the final 20 minutes. The team would extend its lead to 27 points, 54-27, midway through the second half, helped by strong three-point shooting (13 of 32, 41 percent). Williams led all scorers with 12 points, with Matt Sullivan and Mullery each chipping in 11. Tucker Halpern ’13 crashed the boards for a team-high eight rebounds. USP forward Adewale Adefami led the Devils with a double-double, scoring 10 points and coming down with 11 rebounds. Siena 99, Brown 79 The Bears ended their Philly Hoop Group Classic campaign with a 3-1 record after falling to the defending Metro Atlantic champions Siena Saturday afternoon. Brown came out strong, building a 17-12 lead five minutes into the game. But after that, the Bears could not keep up with the Saints’ run-andgun offense. Siena strung together 17 straight points in the next 4:35, as Siena point guard Ronald Moore scored two baskets and assisted on two others in that span. “They shot the ball very well,” Mullery said. “But we were able to run with them for a while.” Siena was devastating from behind the arc, sinking 10 threes on 19 attempts. For the Bears, Andrew McCarthy ’13 scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, both career highs. The Bears return home Wednesday to face Holy Cross at 7:30 p.m. in the Pizzitola Center. “Once we cut down on turnovers and bear down on defense, we are a dangerous team,” Mullery said.
Fratkin said. “I just kind of hung behind the play a bit, hoping that the puck would turn over.” Tri-captain Devin Timberlake ’10 forced a turnover and passed across the ice to Fratkin, who one-timed the puck into the back of the net, giving Brown a 1-0 lead for the first time in seven games. “It was (a) nice pass,” Fratkin said. “He could have shot it, but the pass was the right play.” Brown blew open the scoring in the middle of the period when Fratkin got his second of the night and Francis Drolet ’13, Marc Senecal ’13 and Sean McMonagle ’10 all netted their first goals of the season. “It’s always nice to have a lead, especially when you get a lead early,” said goalie Mike Clemente ’12. “It just kind of builds and the whole team was playing with a lot of confidence.” For the first time since the season opener at Princeton in October, the Bears’ defense let in fewer than three goals. Brown was also four-of-four on the penalty kill. UConn captain Mike Coppola scored the Huskies’ lone goal with less than eight minutes left. But otherwise, Clemente was perfect in net with 24 saves. In the game’s final minutes, Fratkin said the coaches were trying to get him more ice time, hoping that he could get a hat trick. With just 17 ticks left in the game, he did just that. “I have had a few hat tricks in my junior career. But I mean, hat tricks are hard to come by at any level,” Fratkin said. “You can’t even describe the feeling.”
Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald
Page 6 | Monday, November 30, 2009
chris jesu lee
Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com
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e d i to r i a l
The price of tuition We remember watching an interesting exchange (at Providence Place Mall during the Iron Man premiere) between Christine Everheart, a ravishing reporter, and Tony Stark. In reference to Stark’s career as a weapons engineer, Everheart mentioned one of his nicknames: the Merchant of Death, to which Stark responded: “That’s not bad. Let me guess… Berkeley?” “Brown, actually,” Everheart replied. Naturally, the theatre erupted with applause. Stark’s comment suggests one connection between Brown and Cal, but the parallels don’t end with ideological homogeneity. Both schools are located in financially desperate, mismanaged states. In Rhode Island, politicians are trying to grab money from private colleges. In California, legislators have cut back on higher education with an $813 million decrease in funding for the UC system. Another similarity merits discussion. At Brown and Berkeley, many students object to reductions in staff benefits and jobs while opposing tuition hikes. A little over a week ago, the UC Board of Regents voted to increase tuition by 32 percent or roughly $2,500 per head. The day after, 41 students stormed a building on Berkeley’s campus to protest tuition increases and staff firings. Many UC students have placed the blame on California taxpayers and emphasized the state’s responsibility to support higher education. Whatever the merits of that position, additional state funding is unlikely in the near future. Moreover, the fraction of tax dollars that would go to financial aid, as opposed to retaining
critical faculty, is anyone’s guess. In requesting higher expenses at a lower price, students overlook a glaring contradiction. The regents could have saved more staff jobs with a steeper tuition hike, or they could have saved students more money by firing more staff. Either way, the costs and revenues have to balance out. The same reasoning applies, at least in theory, to college affordability. The regents could have made a UC education cheaper for low-income and middle-income students by charging an even higher sticker price. Many students receive financial aid, and the price they end up paying diverges from the official tuition rate. Some affluent families can afford to pay much more than $10,000 a year to send their children to Berkeley, and administrators can use the surplus generated to reduce tuition payments for others. Illegal immigrants, who are ineligible for financial aid, are an unfortunate exception. We do not take a stance on the desirability of a tuition hike or the practicality of a tuition freeze. There are certainly disadvantages to narrowing the gap between public and private tuition rates. But we do think that UC students who favor increased financial aid and worker compensation should rethink their motivations before they protest the rising cost of public education in California. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
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Opinions The Brown Daily Herald
Monday, November 30, 2009 | Page 7
Top three movies to live your life by ANISH MITRA Opinions Columnist Movies are amazing because we get to live vicariously as some of the most evil, kind, adventurous, intelligent and/or entertaining characters of all time. Through their trials and tribulations on screen, we can learn from their mistakes and successes alike and apply those lessons to our own lives without actually taking the same risks or working as hard. I watch movies with the intention of learning powerful life lessons that I can use to potentially achieve success, avoid trouble and maximize the quality of my life. Thus, I would like to share with all of you three movies that will provide the tools and insight necessary to succeed in this often difficult world. Number three is Mary Harron’s “American Psycho” (2000). Christian Bale stars as Patrick Bateman, a 27-year-old vice president at a reputable investment bank in New York City. Infatuated with personal care, Bateman shows excessive attention to detail with regard to his skincare, suits, furniture, musical tastes and even his business cards. On the side, Bateman is a crazed serial killer and cannot control his urges to kill women after fornicating with them. In a truly ironic fashion, the entirely self-obsessed Bateman ultimately realizes that he is not unique at all. Rather, he is continually surrounded by equally narcissistic self-promoters and
fails to stand out, despite his lethal extracurricular activities. While the professional side of Bateman’s life is truly admirable, I have learned to keep a sense of humor and maintain an interest in creating value outside of the workplace. If you don’t, you might go insane. Number two is Martin Scorcese’s “Goodfellas” (1990). Scorcese, one of the greatest directors of all time, truly conveys four key concepts in this award-winning movie: greed, lust, loyalty and betrayal. With an all-star cast
lives of all involved. On a slippery slope of betrayal and greed, the three find themselves ruined at the end, with their wealth and power gone. Always stay hungry, always work hard, and always remain ambitious. Align yourselves with like-minded individuals and work in teams in order to achieve your goals. However, never be too naive; in shaky situations, even the most trusted of friends can become snakes. Lastly, never be short-sighted. While rewards for a certain project, task, etc., may
I watch movies with the intention of learning powerful life lessons that I can use to potentially achieve success, avoid trouble and maximize the quality of my life. including Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, this movie takes us on an emotional and informative journey through the lifestyles of the New York mafia. As a middle-class New Yorker myself, I identify strongly with Henry’s hungriness. As a teen, Henry wanted nothing more than to become something big. As he developed a strong “working relationship” with his fellow gangsters, it seemed as if a life of luxury and power were easily within reach. After performing one the biggest heists of all time, the trio had finally achieved their version of the American dream — or so they thought. Ironically, their biggest success ruined the
seem larger-than-life, the long-term costs might overwhelmingly outweigh the shortterm benefits. The last two movies had characters with all the elements of “true ballers.” They were hungry for success, ruthless in their pursuits and possibly Republican (Patrick Bateman jokes about his views on welfare, and Liotta’s crew certainly evaded plenty of taxes). Their morally questionable motives, however, contributed to their demise. This is why the top movie to live your life by is John Dahl’s “Rounders” (1998). Starring Matt Damon as Mike McDermott and Edward Norton as Lester “Worm” Murphy, this movie
takes us through the ups and downs of the life of a high-stakes poker player. The character of Mike McDermott has always resonated with me. A man from simple means, he uses his street smarts and quick thinking ability to get ahead by making thousands of dollars playing no limit Texas Hold ’Em on the side. His life changes when his friend Worm gets out of prison. As a loyal buddy, Mike returns to his gambling lifestyle in order to help Worm pay off a huge debt that was incurred before his imprisonment. Ultimately, through legitimate means, hard work, persistence and a little bit of luck, McDermott comes out alive, makes a lot of money and ends up pursuing his love for poker full-time. Instead of remaining complacent and adopting the views of his peers or dumping his responsibilities on his friend, McDermott hangs tough and ultimately finds success, — all without committing any serious moral offenses. For this, he is truly admirable, and those who follow his example cannot go wrong. American Psycho, Goodfellas and Rounders, while showcasing diverse characters, all convey the idea that aggressive actions can be used to change your society for the better or worse. I have taken the best qualities of all three of the movies’ protagonists and I suggest you do the same.
Anish Mitra ’10 uses an herb-mint facial mask.
To go or not to go (to class) Fatima Aqeel Opinions Columnist Several high schools, mine included, have a requirement for the number of days of school a student attends. The student’s failure to meet this requirement is ultimately recorded on his or her transcript, and this then finds its way to the colleges to which the student applies. Why did the school think attendance was important? This may have had to do with the fact that if students didn’t attend school, it worked against the whole point of a school. If the institution was spending so much money on teachers, yet the students were not bothering to be taught, then that investment was being wasted. Students might as well have been home-schooled. They would read textbooks at home and come to school only to turn in assignments. That was high school’s way of dealing with falling attendance. However, this situation is not unique to high schools. Many classrooms at Brown are never as full during the course of the semester as they are during the first few days. Some students complain that what is done in class is straight out of the textbook and that they would rather just do it on their own. Moreover, while I was stuck in the building all through high school, in college I can decide to go to sociology in the morning and take an extended power nap during Macro.
(This can obviously also be done in class, but going home is preferable.) This, however, leads to the question of whether going to class in college is as important as it was in high school. Students have the choice to make the most of their day. If they find what is being offered in class less useful than what they can do on their own, then they have a choice. A lot of the time, students (myself included) go to class simply out of respect for the teacher. If a professor
Looking from the student’s point of view, however, there are ways to make classes more useful and increase attendance. Should colleges have an attendance quota like high schools do? No, they should not. For one, enforcement would be impossible in many classes, but more philosophically, this would defeat one of the key principles of college life and of growing up: the power to make your own decisions. The answer lies instead in somehow making students gain something different in class
Should colleges have an attendance quota like high schools do? No, they should not. For one, enforcement would be impossible in many classes, but more philosophically, this would defeat one of the key principles of college life and of growing up: the power to make your own decisions. can make the effort to wake up and teach a 9 a.m. class, I think I should make the effort to attend it. But with the vast range of facilities being offered in college than in high school, there is probably not a net waste of the University’s resources. Even if students don’t turn up for math class, they will probably use the math resource center, group tutoring or the libraries.
than what they can gain by reading the course material by themselves. There are still plenty of courses at Brown, especially in the humanities, that manage to do this, and some social sciences do as well. For example, in Sociology 0150: “Economic Development and Social Change,” a course I am currently taking, course readings complement what is done in class, but can
never replace the notes I take on what the professor says. Sometimes the readings are so dense that students need to listen to the professor explain them just to get a sense of what’s going on. But what about classes in which what is explained during lecture can’t really be very different from how the book explains the same concepts? After all, the authors of the book obviously also went to some lengths to explain well and be lucid, and there may not be too many other ways of explaining those same ideas. This would be the case for some economics or math classes. There are only so many ways to explain how GDP can be calculated, and these are usually all in the book. What can be done, then, is to make classes more helpful for preparing students by emphasizing application. Not only will that be what’s on the exams, but it will also be what students will use if they use these subjects in the real world. Sure, application problems appear in textbooks, but not everyone can attain the same level of understanding from a textbook that they can from a professor. Granted, not everyone can attain the same level of understanding from a textbook chapter, either. But there needs to be more balance, so that all types of learners can benefit.
Fatima Aqeel ’12 is an economics concentrator from Karachi, Pakistan.
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M. hockey thrashed UConn Saturday
Monday, November 30, 2009
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1 c a l e n da r Today, november 30
Tuesday, december 1
7 pm — “Death in Gaza” Film Screening and Panel Discussion, List 110
2:30 PM — A Reading by PulitzerPrize-Winning Writer Jhumpa Lahiri, Salomon 001
7:30 PM — “Obama’s War: Finding the Right Strategy” with Bruce Riedel ’75, Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute for International Studies
comics Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
3 pm — Audition for “Lulu,” Stuart Theatre
menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Savory Chicken Stew, Vegan White Bean Casserole, Asian Noodle Bar
Lunch — Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Nacho Bar
Dinner — Grecian Style Beef, Vegan Roasted Veggie Stew, Jumbo Couscous
Dinner — Tuscan Pork Roast, Fettucini with Goat Cheese and Baby Greens, Roasted Herb Potatoes
Dot Comic| Eshan Mitra and Bredan Hainline
crossword Fruitopia | Andy Kim
Hippomaniac | Mat Becker
Classic Deep-Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon