Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 18 | Friday, February 19, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Khalidi offers bleak outlook for Palestine Gymnastics team finds
true meaning of winter
By Sarah Forman Contributing Writer
Palestine faces enormous challenges that have only worsened over the past 20 years, and achieving stability and independence from Israeli occupation is becoming more and more unlikely, Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia, told a full MacMillan 117 Thursday night. “A two-state solution looks a lot further off today than it did in the 1990s,” he said, listing off the major ways in which life for Palestinians has worsened. “In spite of all of these vicissitudes,” he said, Palestinians have an “extraordinary solidarity of society” and general cohesiveness, so they may just escape their “very, very grim future.” As he outlined the decline in prospects for peace and stability in Palestine, Khalidi spoke at length about “the fiction of a Palestinian Authority,” an administrative body created to govern the Palestinian territories. He claimed that the
By Tory Elmore Contributing Writer
Katie Goddard ’12 isn’t afraid of a little pain. A nasty, dinner-plate-sized bruise, undoubtedly the result of a tumble gone awry, colored her backside as she took the floor by storm Feb. 14. She’s not scared of the competition, either. She earned the top spot on floor, edging out a former Olympian by one-tenth of a point.
SPORTS
Kshitij Lauria / Herald
Columbia’s Rashid Khalidi called the Fatah-Hamas split “venemous.”
group has no real power, and that a “venomous” split between Fatah and Hamas, two rival political parties, has destroyed its legitimacy and effectiveness. Suicide bombings during the
First Intifada, a 1987–1993 Palestinian uprising against Israel, came about because of the “corrosive effect” of these political divisions, continued on page 2
Tale of Brown slave’s son retold By Sarah Julian Staff Writer
When Moses Brown found out that his wife had been feeding spoiled soup to the family’s slaves, he chastised her and told the workers they could always come to him if they were being mistreated. This story, along with many others about life in Providence in the 1880s, is recounted in “The Life of William J. Brown of Providence,
R.I.” The book is the autobiography of William J. Brown — a free black man who was the son of a Brown family slave. Brown’s book was recently republished as a result of the efforts of Ray Rickman, a rare books dealer and the “self-appointed historian of College Hill.” “I believe it is the finest narrative written by a free person of color in the 19th century,” Rickman said. Brown, who was able to write his story because he was
one of the few blacks who were educated at the time, “talks about everyone. Seldom do black narratives do that.” Rickman said while many of the writers of black narratives focus on their own communities, Brown’s work covers many topics including the presidential elections, the business community and the Brown family. continued on page 3
And she’s certainly not worried about a little snow. Well, a lot of snow. This week, Goddard, along with the rest of the gymnastics team, is escaping this brutal New England winter — and heading to Alaska. Four and a half thousand miles seems pretty far to take 13 girls for a long weekend. But the University of Alaska Anchorage is more than just a destination for the Bears. It’s Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne’s alma mater and a snapshot of her career as a collegiate gymnast. Emotions run high as the girls’ departure approaches, the athletes brimming with excitement and anticipation. And perhaps, for Carver-Milne, a touch of nostalgia. “I look for ward to sharing all the beauty of Alaska as I enjoyed it during my four years there,” she said. “It will be a solid competition as well as a chance for the team to compete in a different area of the country.” So, how will the East Coast gymnasts fare in the Wild West? “The Alaskan team is strong, but, based
on Brown’s determination and success so far this season, they are definitely beatable,” Goddard said. “We usually get scored pretty tough here with our judges, so when we travel, our scores are significantly better,” added teammate Victoria Zanelli ’11. Officiating was a topic of concern for Brown on Sunday, causing some distress among the athletes and coaching staff. Carver-Milne said her team’s hard-hitting routines were underscored and was visibly disappointed by some of the judges’ marks. Coming off their two strongest meets yet, the Bears will look to put up a high score at Alaska in order to land them a spot in Nationals later this season. Chelsey Binkley ’11, a key allaround competitor who finished second on Sunday with a combined 37.35 score, is confident in the squad. “This is the best and most hard-working team that I have been a part of in my three years here,” she said. “We are going to give Alaska a great competition.” Win or lose, Alaska will be an arctic adventure for the girls, none of whom have been there before. “We have a lot of southerners and warm-weather people on the team, so snow in general is pretty exciting to us,” Binkley said. After two months of a wet Rhode Island winter, the Alaskan wildlife and landscape should be a good change of scenery. “We have planned a trip to a glacier, a big game wildlife zoo, a tram ride up the mountains and will see continued on page 9
Alum’s nonprofit funds higher ed in Haiti By Heeyoung Min Senior Staf f Writer
Conor Bohan ’92 left Haiti on Jan. 10 — just two days before an earthquake struck 10 miles from Portau-Prince, home to the scholarship organization that Bohan founded in 1997.
FEATURE
inside
As soon as he heard about the quake on the radio, he tried to contact his friends in Haiti without success, Bohan said in a phone inter view with The Herald from Port-au-Prince last week. All the phone lines were down, Bohan said. He wasn’t able to reach
News.....1-4 Arts...........5 Memorial..6-8 World.........9 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12
www.browndailyherald.com
anyone in Haiti until the next morning, when a staff member of the Haitian Education and Leadership Program — the biggest scholarship organization in Haiti — reported to him via Skype that several students in his program were injured. Returning to Haiti Bohan booked a flight for the next day to the Dominican Republic because Haiti’s airports were closed. Bohan landed in Santo Domingo, where a taxi, arranged by a Dominican friend, was waiting to drive him to the Haitian border. He spent the night in the small border town of Jimani, in the home of a continued on page 4
Courtesy of Conor Bohan
HELP student Marc-Erline Dezulm’s apartment building was devastated by the Feb. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
Arts, 5
Memorial, 6
Opinions, 11
Fang Island Debuts RISD band drops their first album Feb. 23
AVI SCHAEFER ’13 Friends and admirers remember a life cut short
Tardy for the Party Ben Bastomski ’10 considers the ethics of partying for charity
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
C ampus N EWS
Friday, February 19, 2010
“I think American policy does harm.” — Rashid Khalidi, on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Khalidi: Israeli mindset needs to change for peace continued from page 1
he said. “Fatah competed with Hamas to see who could do the most horrible acts in Israel,” Khalidi said. Palestine lost public favor because of this increased violence, Khalidi said, and Israel used the bombings as justification for more fervent occupation. “Expansion of the Israeli matrix of control over Palestinians” has consumed Palestinian freedom, Khalidi said. “The kinds of restrictions on movement that exist today were unimaginable 20 years ago.” Expanded Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have fractured the landscape, making it all but impossible to construct a contiguous Palestinian state, and Israel’s bureaucracy and economy have become increasingly dependent upon the continued occupation of Palestine, he said. In order to negotiate a peace agreement, Khalidi said during the question-and-answer period, the mindset in Israel that “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable” needs to change. During previous negotiations, terms were drastically imbalanced against Palestinians, and Israel “was eating up what we were supposed to be dividing,” Khalidi said. Despite Khalidi’s generally grim portrayal of Palestine’s likely future, the very diverse group of students, professors and community members who attended the lecture appeared enthused, with more people standing in line to ask questions than the lecture could accommodate.
“I think it’s wonderful that the lecture had such a broad representation of students,” said Henry Peck ’11, one of the four leaders of Common Ground: Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel, which sponsored the event along with the Department of Middle East Studies and Vice President for International Affairs Matthew Gutmann. “I thought it was phenomenal,” said Janine Khraishah ’12 of the lecture. She said she found it “particularly motivational,” and that she was “enraged by the current situation in Palestine.” Brown Students for Justice in Palestine, a group whose steering committee Khraishah sits on, came to the event to distribute information. “We’re here to talk about our divestment campaign,” said Ruhan Nagra ’10, another member of the steering committee. The group wants Brown to drop its investments in all companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, she said. The group saw Khalidi as an advocate because he supported Hampshire College’s successful divestment campaign last year, she said. “He portrayed a very real picture of what’s happening right now, why it’s happening and what we can do to change it,” Nagra said of Khalidi. The death last week of Avi Schaefer ’13, who engaged in vigorous campus dialogue on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, clouded the event. The organizers held a moment of silence beforehand, and Peck said, “The tragic event of a week ago certainly heightened awareness of efforts to foster peace.”
sudoku
Daily Herald the Brown
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 George Miller, President Claire Kiely, Vice President
Katie Koh, Treasurer Chaz Kelsh, Secretary
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each members of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2010 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
SLAM WOW
Hilary Rosenthal / Herald
Jamila Woods ’11 and four others will represent Brown at the National College Poetry Slam in April.
Q & A with Rashid Khalidi Rashid Khalidi, professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia, spoke with The Herald Thursday night before his lecture on “The Uncertain Future of Palestine.” At 2 p.m. Friday afternoon Khalidi will speak at the Watson Institute for International Studies about the Cold War’s impact on the Middle East. Herald: How will your lecture tomorrow afternoon at the Watson Institute be different (from the one you gave this evening)? Khalidi: What I will be talking about there is the impact in the Middle East of the Cold War, which nobody really talks about. It’s usually talked about from the point of view of Washington or Moscow … I also go on to argue that there hasn’t been as much of a change in American policy as you might have expected at the end of the Cold War, and that we’re in sort of a mini cold war with Iran, which in some ways mimics the Cold War with the Soviet Union. There are a variety of problems in the American — and for that matter also in the Iranian — approach that result from that sort of continuation of the confrontational stance. Why has the Israeli-Palestinian crisis become a rallying cr y for so much of the Arab world? It’s always been a hugely emotional issue in the Arab world … The Palestine issue was always really significant to some Arab countries, in particular Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the countries immediately around Palestine. And after the ’48 war it was even more so, because you had a flow of refugees into these countries, who are still there. And each of these countries was affected by the war … It’s almost a no-brainer and the fact that people say, ‘Why are people so concerned about this?’ makes me think, well, they clearly have no idea about the history of these countries. Do you think there’s a solution to the constant fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the region? I think there are many possible solutions; a lot of obvious solutions
are being closed off. The easiest and most obvious solution is a simple two-state solution. I think that that’s been pretty much closed off by the ineptitude of American policy and by the malevolence of the policy of settlement and occupation. It’s very difficult to see how things that have been done with the express purpose of making it impossible for a two-state solution could be easily hurdled. I think they can be, perhaps, but not easily. And it gets harder and harder. And one doesn’t see any politician, Israeli or American, who seems to be able to reverse that process. And given that, there’s not going to be a two-state solution. There may be other solutions, but they’re probably even harder … The easiest thing is to say, make the Palestinians capitulate and just let them accept fifth-class citizenship, shut up, and accept whatever crumbs are thrown your way. That’s just not going to happen. You’ve spoken publicly against suicide bombings and killing Israeli soldiers. What do you think Palestinians should be doing instead to advance their cause? What I’ve said is that I think for a variety of reasons — strategic, moral, historical — that they should adopt a policy of non-violence, not just not killing civilians. I think that violence doesn’t serve them, partly because they’re dealing with a people which sees itself as the ultimate victims, and anything they do involving violence reinforces and strengthens that sense of victimhood. And that’s not something that is only held by Israelis; I think many people in the world share it. So it increases sympathy for Israel. I think the best example of this was the second Intifada that started in 2000, and which we all remember because of suicide bombings. I can’t remember a period when Israel was able to garner so much sympathy, or when there was such a great degree of solidarity inside Israel, or when Israel moved so far so quickly to the right. It hasn’t moved back. This is a monumental strategic defeat to the Palestinians. So, leaving aside all the moral arguments, which I think are overwhelming,
and the arguments in international law, which I think are incontrovertible and which I think are important for the weaker party in some respects … If you depend on international law and on international humanitarian standards then you have to be rigorous in behaving. That means organizing Palestinian society much better than it’s organized. You argue in your most recent work, “Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East,” and your other books and essays that a lot of the issues plaguing the Middle East result from the United States’ misguided foreign policy over the better part of the last century. If the U.S. were to fundamentally change how it interacts with other countries, could these problems be reversed? Not everything, by any means, was the fault of the superpowers. And not everything, by any means, was the fault of the United States or might be corrected by the United States. All I would I suggest is there are a lot of problems that are caused by the United States, and the United States could at least stop making things worse. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that things will get a lot better. Take the state of democracy in the Arab world, not an Americancaused problem. There’s what political scientists call a democracy deficit in this region, more than any other region in the world … This isn’t caused by the United States ... I would never suggest that the United States could solve that problem, or many other problems in the Arab-Israeli conflict … But, there are problems that the United States exacerbates. Can America help bring peace to the Middle East? Absolutely. It can stop doing harm. I think American policy does harm. I think we underwrite, endorse and support and enable policies that are harmful to peace, policies that are harmful to Palestine, the Palestinians and Israelis. — Sarah Forman
Friday, February 19, 2010
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
C ampus N EWS
Page 3
“There are a lot of hidden gems on campus.” — Jillian Robbins ’11, housing lottery committee chair
Stiff competition in first pick contest By Anita Mathews Staf f Writer
The Residential Council’s competition for the first pick in the housing lottery, held Thursday night in Sayles Hall, showcased a wide variety of student creativity. But there was a common thread among many videos: parody. Spoofs of Law and Order, the Twilight series and the Cutting Crew’s hit “Died in your Arms Tonight” were three of eight entries in this year’s contest. The over 300 students who attended the event voted on their favorite entries with paper ballots, and online voting will open up on ResCouncil’s Web site within the next week. According to Jillian Robbins ’11, housing lottery committee chair, last year’s online votes totaled 1,143. ResCouncil Chair Ben Lowell ’10 said the advantage of the voting process is that it gets students to consider their housing options. “The event is really intended to encourage people to start thinking about housing early,” Lowell said. “We found that the people who tend to do the best in the lottery are those who have prepared.” Lowell also acknowledged that the atmosphere of both the first pick competition and the lottery can be quite enjoyable. “It’s a fun thing to do, and it’s really nice for campus morale.” This was certainly true in the case of one submission, “Brunonian Love,” which included a reinvention of a recent Google ad and whose references to University culture elicited several knowing laughs from the audience. Also among the contenders was a group of familiar faces — the reigning first pick champions who won in 2009 with their video “Ruthless.” The group, one member larger this year, submitted a sequel in hopes of retaining their current residence in Vartan Gregorian Quad. “We’re only entering because we’re not allowed to squat,” said Matt Reiss ’12, who plays the student-attacking bear in the video. He said he and the other group
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
A workshop on micro-scale satellites Thursday brought together scientists, professionals and students.
Miniature satellites hold giant promise By Zung Nguyen Vu Contributing Writer Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
More than 300 students attended Thursday night’s screening of the entries in the housing lottery’s first pick competition.
members think it is unfair that the lottery rules don’t allow first pick winners to squat, or stay in their rooms for the rest of their time at Brown. Students who choose their rooms through the normal lottery process are able to squat. Regardless, Reiss said he thought the competition has gotten better since his group won. “It’s a step up from last year,” he said. Another group of sophomores produced “OceanState’s Eleven,” which depicted a heist reminiscent of the Rat Pack to retrieve the coveted first pick from a devious Mr. Manslaughter. Sam Helman ’12, who played Mr. OceanState, said the group wrote the script over winter break and has been working on it since the semester started. Though Helman said he thinks the competing videos were funny, theirs is “a strong contender to win it.” “Sunset,” the Twilight parody, was devised by a dozen freshman, including Seth Nolan ’13. Nolan said that it wasn’t long after the group came together that someone proposed the idea to feature stand-ins for Bella, Jacob and Ed-
ward in their housing video. Nolan also acknowledged that the other videos were “very original, very well-planned.” While the high caliber of submissions remains uncontested, what is up for debate is the best choice of on-campus housing. “Probably Young Orchard,” Helman said. “We were thinking possibly New Dorm,” Nolan said. “I know a lot of rising sophomores want Caswell or Slater,” said spectator Maya Chay ’13. Lowell and Robbins said if they were given first pick, their choice would depend on their class year and number of people in their housing group, but maintained that there are many prime rooms to be chosen on lottery day. “There are a lot of hidden gems on campus,” Robbins said. The winners will be notified after online voting ends, and they then have until March 9 to choose their room. Until then, the vying groups will have to sweat over a close race. “It was almost hard to vote for my own video,” Nolan said.
The Division of Engineering hosted its first full-day workshop series Thursday on micro-scale satellites called “ChipSats.” The workshop brought together leading scientists from the field, professionals working in the aerospace industry and students interested in the new technology. The focus of the workshop, which featured panel discussions and lectures, was to explore the prospects for a satellite that is no bigger than a fingernail, according to the engineering division’s Web site. Ken Ramsley, a visiting investigator in the division of engineering, said this emerging technology is being researched by various institutions, including universities, laboratories across the country and NASA. “This workshop is an opportunity for the isolated groups to come together in the spirit of learning and sharing,” he said. This year’s workshop is the second in a series of annual aerospace workshops organized by Ramsley and Adjunct Associate Professor of Engineering Rick Fleeter. The two consider themselves the “space men” of Brown engineering, Fleeter said. He said the workshop’s purpose was to introduce the new technology to the University community. “Many conferences in this field
become advertisement shows,” he said. “We wanted to create an experience where participants and specialists come in and put their heads together to investigate challenging questions and opportunities.” Besides attending panels, participants engaged in two hours of unstructured discussion and brainstorming on critical issues surrounding ChipSats. During the lunch break, undergraduate and graduate students had the opportunity to showcase their own projects to specialists in the industry and receive feedback. “It’s exciting to be able to see what’s currently happening and hear the different opinions of what should happen in aerospace,” said Vivette El Fawal, an engineering grad student, adding that she hoped the new technology “can lead elsewhere.” The event was well-attended by Brown students and students from other universities. The NASA Space Grant Consortia provided traveling funds for non-Brown students to attend the workshop, according to the engineering division’s Web site. Students also had the chance to network with representatives of technology companies and institutes and discuss recruitment opportunities. Fleeter said he was pleased with how the conference went. “A conference is like a party,” he said. “This year we got a good mix, great weather and energy.”
Rare books dealer revives 19th century memoir continued from page 1 “He talks about every major incident,” Rickman said. “It’s incredible stuff.” Brown writes in the first chapter of his book, “Grandfather Brown was born in Africa,” and was the slave of “Joseph, John, Nicholas and Moses Brown.” The brothers held their slaves together, with each one selecting specific slaves for housework, while the rest did outdoor labor. Brown’s father, Noah, was eventually freed by Moses Brown, and William lived as a free man, though still worked for the Brown family. Rickman came across the narrative 25 years ago and realized how special it was. His goal was to publicize Brown’s work to the
point where it would be used in high school and college classrooms throughout Rhode Island. Rickman received a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities to undertake a year-long project publicizing Brown’s narrative and increasing awareness of the life of African Americans in Providence during the 19th century. “You have a nation with 20 million women who have read ‘Little Women,’ ” Rickman said. He said he hoped Brown’s book could achieve the same amount of recognition. Rickman’s plan to increase awareness of Brown’s story includes guided tours of Providence, lectures and the use of social networking sites, he said. SueEllen Kroll, grants director at the Rhode Island Council for the
Humanities, said the publicity is timely. “The mentality has changed,” she said. “People are really interested in hearing this history because it wasn’t really taught in schools.” There used to be a “hesitance” to talk about slavery, Kroll said, but she believes people are now more open to learning about that history. Kroll said she appreciates the work of the University’s Committee on Slavery and Justice, which was formed by President Ruth Simmons in 2003 to examine the University’s historical connections to slavery. The University “demonstrated a good deal of forward thinking and for ward momentum and leadership,” Kroll said. “The rest of the community is saying we want to embrace and understand this his-
tory.” Professor of Histor y Evelyn Hu-DeHart, a member of the committee, said she did not read the book, but is always interested in first-person narratives. A narrative “tells you a whole lot more than just one story,” she said. “This is hardly the first one ever discovered. By the same token, every story is unique. The more there are, the better it is for all of us because it will deepen and enrich our understanding.” Brown’s story is important because history is written by the rich and powerful, Hu-DeHart said. “The weakest, the poorest, the victims of discrimination do not have a voice.” The same sentiment was echoed by Rickman. “American histor y,
until very recently, is the history of great white men,” he said. “The rest of us don’t exist or are minor characters.” Brown’s book is of the utmost importance for Rickman, “because in America we act like slavery didn’t happen or it wasn’t so bad.” Rickman said the University’s role in slavery is undeniable when reading firsthand accounts such as Brown’s narrative. “There you see the effects of slavery on one family for 140 years. It is not ephemeral,” he said. Hu-DeHart said it is important to pay attention to Brown’s particular voice. “We have to remember that slavery is about people. And it is not just ‘an institution.’ It is not a system. This is the voice of one person.”
Page 4
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
C ampus N EWS
Friday, February 19, 2010
“We need to give the most ambitious students in Haiti the tools to transform their country.” — Conor Bohan ’92
Alum attempts to lift up Haiti using higher education continued from page 1
local family. “Before I left New York, I had put out a request on Facebook for a place to stay (by the border), as all the hotels were booked,” Bohan said. He received a phone call from a friend of a friend, who put him in touch with the family that hosted him. Early the next morning he and the friend that accompanied him from New York rented a local taxi, loaded up on fuel and bottled water and drove to Port-au-Prince. The extent of the disaster wasn’t immediately evident as they crossed the border, Bohan said. “The border areas were virtually untouched but as we got closer and closer to the capital, the damage became greater and greater.” The devastation is “indescribable,” he said, pausing before attempting to illustrate the aftermath of Haiti’s worst earthquake in 200 years. “The only image I can think of is the European cities after World War II. That’s the only image that comes to mind.” Bohan on Brown Bohan graduated from Brown with a degree in histor y, which proved to be “perfectly useless” during his job search, he said. After two years of working at beach and ski resorts in Europe, Bohan decided he wanted to volunteer in Africa. After a rejection
from the Red Cross — which he remembers as “a low point” in his life — he found a position teaching in Haiti. “My career path was not standard. A place like Brown encourages that kind of exploration,” he said. “Brown gives you the tools to do anything you want to pursue.” At the end of his first week as a secondary school teacher, a student asked to borrow $30 from Bohan to register for secretarial school. Bohan thought it was strange that the top student in her class wasn’t setting her sights higher, and as it turned out, the student’s dream was to study medicine but couldn’t afford it. “I told her I would rather raise more money so she could go to medical school, rather than go to a mediocre secretarial school,” he said. Bohan supported the student, Isemonde Joseph, a native of the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, out of his own pocket at first. He later secured suppor t from his parents and several Brown classmates, including the organization’s founding board member Genevieve L ynch ’91, who is currently the president of the Pluralism Fund, a coalition of philanthropists that conducts grant work concerning Iran and Pakistan. Joseph earned her medical degree in 2005 with a starting salary of $14,500, Bohan said, several times Haiti’s gross domestic prod-
uct per capita of $480 a year. As he saw the impact of education on Joseph’s life, Bohan began matching sponsors — many of whom are Brown alums — with some of Haiti’s top students, which inspired him to establish a scholarship organization. HELP recruits the top high school students in the country and supports them with tuition, books, living stipends and housing to attend an internationally accredited university — a total value of $5,000 per student, according to a press release. HELP scholars also benefit from access to the organization’s computer center, career ser vices and intensive English language courses. “We try to fill in all of the gaps,” Boran said. One-hundred percent of HELP’s former students are employed with a starting salary 20 times that of the average salary in Haiti, the release stated. “There are so few university graduates, so employers are willing to pay top dollars for them,” Bohan said. One percent of Haitians enroll in university, and 85 percent of Haitians with university degrees emigrate, draining Haiti’s professional class from the impoverished country. “My experience at Haiti has made me appreciate every opportunity I’ve received at every level, and made me realize I’m no more deserving,” Bohan said. “When you’re at a place like Brown, you don’t get to appreciate exactly how valuable your education is until you get to see people who are just as intelligent and hardworking as you are, who have never had the opportunity to pursue what they want to do.” Short-term recovery Bohan ran the daily operations of HELP in Haiti from 1997 to 2008, before moving to Brooklyn to spearhead the organization’s fundraising, marketing and outreach initiatives. But last year alone, Bohan traveled to Haiti six times. When he arrived in Haiti after the earthquake, Bohan set out to
locate the 108 students and eight staff members of HELP. It took Bohan two weeks to confirm the deaths of two HELP students. Marc-Erline Dezulma, a secondyear HELP student studying engineering, perished when her entire apartment building in the capital city crumbled, according to Bohan. Evenson Jean, also a second-year HELP student, passed away when his classroom building collapsed, Bohan said. He did not have classes in the afternoon when the quake struck, but was there to study for his finals. “It is doubly tragic that Evenson paid the ultimate price for his determination to succeed,” Bohan said. Every other HELP student and staffer was located. “Those who had to be operated on for broken bones are recovering well,” he said. Bohan’s next undertaking is to integrate HELP students into the relief effort, making the most of their talents and skills. “We need to give the most ambitious students in Haiti the tools to transform their country.” Many HELP scholars have headed back to their hometowns in rural areas — contributing to what Bohan called “one of the greatest reverse migrations in Haiti’s histor y” — and are ser ving their local communities. Twenty students staying at HELP’s student house in the capital and seven commuting students are working to get the organization’s temporary office up and running, Bohan said. “Electrical engineering students wired the house to run off a small generator and inverter,” Bohan said, “while an alumni accountant worked with computer science students to retrieve the accounts from a rescued hard drive.” Long-term goals As HELP students and staf f are rebuilding their temporar y headquarters, Bohan already has a long-term vision for rebuilding Haiti’s education system, which historically has been “severely” underserved. Even Haiti’s eight internation-
ally accredited universities “are extremely under-resourced,” Bohan said. “None of the universities have decent libraries, computer labs or career services.” The three main universities in Haiti’s capital were “almost totally destroyed,” Education Minister of Haiti Joel Jean-Pierre told Reuters, but schools must resume, somehow. “Even in wartime, schools must function.” Classes may continue “in tents or the open-air,” Jean-Pierre said. UNESCO is mobilizing “support for temporar y emergency educational facilities and for reconstruction,” Director-General Iris Bokova said in a statement. “I also urge academia to show solidarity. Universities in the region and beyond should make ever y effort to take in Haitian students.” Brown continues to look for opportunities to support the relief and recover y efforts in Haiti by raising funds to support relief efforts, supporting affiliated medical school faculty who are providing direct emergency relief and raising awareness through educational undertakings such as Friday’s teachin. At this point there have been no steps taken to enroll displaced Haitian students, according to Marisa Quinn, vice president for public affairs and University relations. But several universities abroad have expressed interest in temporarily accepting Haitian students — what Bohan hopes will be the beginning of a long relationship. “Bringing a handful of Haitian students to the U.S. is not a longterm solution,” he said. “We need to build a system that gives tens of thousands of students an education so they can rebuild their country, but build it better.” Bohan, noting that Haiti has few trained architects and engineers, said that the infrastructural damage could have been mitigated by better urban planning. “A lot of the damage has been compounded by the lack of education in Haiti,” he said. “There was no urban planning, no inspection of construction sites and techniques.”
Biology prof elected AAAS fellow By Fei Cai Contributing Writer
The American Association for the Advancement of Science will recognize Professor of Biology Osvaldo Sala for his contribution to the biological sciences at the society’s annual meeting Feb. 20. Sala was one of 531 fellows elected to the association last November. He is also currently an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Secretary General of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment. “It’s definitely a source of prestige for Brown,” Sala said about his election. “But I’m just ver y happy about it. It’s great.”
Despite his election, Sala does not plan on attending the award ceremony in San Diego. “He’s a ver y humble man and is always winning awards left and right, so it didn’t seem like a big deal,” said Shane Easter ’10, an undergraduate working in his lab. Sala has been at Brown since 2005 and currently teaches two courses on ecosystem and conser vation biology. His interests in ecology include global change issues that focus on the function of ecosystems and ecosystem-water dynamics, he said. Currently, he is researching precipitation controls of carbon and nitrogen cycles of plants in arid and semiarid ecosystems, a project he started in 2006, he said. To con-
duct his study, Sala and his team travel to a research site in New Mexico, where they use rain-out shelters — huge roofs to protect land from rain — to manipulate incoming rainfall on different areas of vegetation. The association, founded in 1848, is the largest international scientific society, according to its Web site, and it publishes the journal Science. It has been electing fellows since 1874. After being nominated by peers, fellows undergo rigorous review by the association’s steering groups for their disciplines. The nominees are then presented to the association Council for election. The list of fellows was published in the Dec. 18 issue of Science.
Arts & Culture The Brown Daily Herald
Friday, February 19, 2010 | Page 5
Where weather meets music and art By Alexys Esparza Contributing Writer
“Musical Variations on Weather,” a unique blending of weather systems, musical scores and intricate sculpture by artist Nathalie Miebach, is on display at the Sarah Doyle
Women’s Center Gallery through Feb. 26. Miebach’s creative process consists of collecting weather data, translating that data into a musical score and then translating that score into a sculpture, she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The fascinat-
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
Miebach’s art translates weather data into a musical score before converting the information into sculpture.
ing scores and sculptures are on display in the exhibit, accompanied by audio recordings of Miebach’s compositions. All of the sculptures are extremely vibrant in color, and most consist of a beautiful blending of wood, reed and pieces of data. Miebach described her work not as a collection, but as “part of a continuous conversation on weather and complexity.” She wrote that she was inspired to make the sculptures after observing weather conditions at her home. She began to notice that “weather never happens in isolation, but always in the context of an environment,” she wrote. To accurately depict these nuances in weather, she added musical scores to accompany her data and sculptures. “Just like a composer can tweak and shape the notes of a melody, I can use tempo and rhythm to nuance the musical translation of the data,” she wrote. The musical notes correspond to meteorological data that Miebach collected. The exhibit includes “Musical Buoy in Search Towards a New Shore,” the first piece of this sculptural series, and “External Weather, Internal Storms,” an aesthetic mix of reed, wood and metal. The sculptures focus primarily on storm systems that passed through the Gulf of Maine, where Miebach could observe the “interaction of weather and marine environments.” Because she had little prior exposure to musical composition or notation, Miebach wrote that she entered the creative experience “a
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
Miebach combines wood, reed and weather data into sculpture.
little naive.” But, she added, “Trying to figure it out through some sort of imperfect logic is what gives me the greatest pleasure in making this work.” Miebach wrote that she has received mixed responses to her work. “Some love the aesthetics of it. Others love the fact that it’s all based on numbers. Others hate it because it’s so complex and seemingly confusing.”
Whatever the reaction may be, Miebach wrote that she hopes to leave the viewer with “a sense of wonder at the complexity of behaviors we walk through and are a part of everyday.” “Weather is largely invisible, yet … it is all around us,” she wrote. Her sculptures and scores help connect the emotive to the seemingly logistical in an intriguing and refreshing way.
Band of RISD grads Fang Island doesn’t dwell on the past By Luisa Robledo Staf f Writer
Born of an independent study at the Rhode Island School of Design, rock band Fang Island is preparing to release its debut album on Sargent House Records Feb. 23. The self-titled record is a jolt, a surge of energy. It’s a call to get up and dance. “We’re very excited,” said guitarist Jason Bartell. “We don’t know where this is going, but we’re going to see what happens.” Bar tell and three friends for med Fang Island during the 2005 RISD winter session, when they started a “class about rock” together, Bar tell said. “It was called ‘Rock Band,’ or something like that,” Bartell said, laughing. “We just started music when we weren’t working on projects.” The band’s rhythm is irresistible. “Daisy,” a song from its new record, consists of rapid drumbeats scoring a three-guitar harmony that accelerates heartbeats. On the album, each strum, each chord and each beat complement each other, creating one thrilling song after another. The tracks are electrifying and full
of surprises. “Making uplifting music is a big driving force for the band,” Bartell said. Bartell said Providence’s music scene was very “accepting” of young artists, adding that it was ideal for Fang Island’s growth. The city’s “colorful noise” served as an initial source of inspiration, to which the band added a “healthy dose of classic rock and modern pop,” he said. Fang Island has undergone some changes from its original days on College Hill. Today, the band consists of Bartell, bassist Phil Curcuru, guitarists Chris Georges and Nicholas Andrew Sadler and drummer Marc St. Sauveur. While the five no longer live in Providence, they continue to make music, Bartell said. “Although we don’t have a permanent location,” he said, “we’re trying to make New York a central practice area.” The band already has several shows booked around the nation for the next month. So far, Bartell said, the band has gotten great audience response. Fang Island worked on the album for more than a year, and has
Courtesy of Cathy Pellow
The members of Fang Island met at the Rhode Island School of Design.
put together 10 tracks that promise to make its fans want to jump up and down. The band is now counting down the days until the album comes out. “Yeah, it’s exciting,” Bartell said. “It’s been building up for a long pe-
riod of time.” The new album is full of positive energy with a tinge of nostalgia, Bartell said. To him, dwelling on the past can prevent people from moving forward. “It’s about overcoming nostalgia and also reveling in the
positive aspects of it,” he said. He added that the band wants to make fun music that conveys a vibrant energy. “We want to remind you of what you and your friends can accomplish,” he said. “It’s about hopefulness.”
Page 6
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Friday, February 19, 2010
In memoriam I am Avi Schaefer — you are Avi Schaefer — the world should be Avi Schaefer. Some people say that the universe takes loved ones from us when that particular individual has made their mark on the world, but I don’t buy it. In a world that becomes cloudier with each passing day, there is an aura that still dimly shines — an aura that our brother, son and man Avi Schaefer always embodied. In a world full of madness and hate, Avi Schaefer found simplicity and love. In our insecure and often ambiguous world, Avi Schaefer made us feel secure and sure of ourselves. Avi, the minute I met you (and Yoav) and after further knowing your family and friends, I knew that I — that we — were in the presence of accelerated greatness and a larger-than-life personality. Phrases you used to embrace — “remember why you are here,” “I have a vision for the future” — are phrases that resonate with me … with us. Having you bless our lives is something we carry with us every day. They say the most precious quality contained within any great leader or warrior is the ability to be humble — the ability to capitalize on your strengths while improving your weaknesses and flaws. This leader must be able to appreciate and respect the guidance of others while balancing that with his or her own ingenuity. I guess, by this definition Avi, you are an exemplary leader — friend, son … brother. The world is a nasty and cruel place, Avi — and since your aliya to the heavens, I have begun to think of it as even more sinister that I previously comprehended. But I — we — in your name, Avi, will search for that dimly lit aura as you knew always existed. If we can take something away from this tragic and excruciatingly painful loss, let us all carry a piece of you in us. You are found in all of us, Avi. I am Avi Schaefer — you are Avi Schaefer — the world should be Avi Schafer. Avi, if you will it, it is not a dream. I love you. Your brother and one of many, many admirers — Steve Rubin
We Are Avi Schaefer
“Humankind cannot comprehend the loss it suffered today. You were going to change the world.”
Avi, Humankind cannot comprehend the loss it suffered today. You were going to change the world. Avi, I can proudly say that you influenced me. One of the smartest, most passionate, and amazingly sweeping people I have had the honor to know, was taken away. You and Yoav are two of the few people I remember meeting even from our first Garin seminar. From then, I could already forsee where this friendship would go. Butting heads, doing shtuyot, exchanging views, forming ties, and experiencing life in Israel, in the army, and in general, together. It was through this pattern that we took so much from each other. That I learned so much from you and about you. Avi, The passion that you have for the things that you hold dear is addicting. Your drive to accomplish your goals stirs admiration. Your ability to be there to listen, to advise, is a gift I called on many a time. If I had to choose one person out of everyone I know who I thought would make a difference in this world, it was you. It was supposed to be you, Avi. I was supposed to keep reading your amazing editorials in the Brown newspaper, watching and hearing from afar as you make yourself known in the political community. Supposed to read essays and speeches about how you see our conflicts, limits, and solutions. Was supposed to pick you up at Ben Gurion when the time came for you to return home. I was supposed to have many more years of thinking, “Wow, that’s my friend, and I am proud to say that.” Avi, I was and AM your friend and admirer, and am proud to say that. I will miss you so much. Shir Hasson
Several months ago, we attended a fundraising dinner of Friends of the IDF in Waltham, Mass., as guests as our son is a volunteer Lone Soldier in the Israel Defense Forces after making aliyah to Israel. As a college graduate and American, our son was older than his colleagues who made fun of his accent and literal interpretation of slang. As we were standing and talking with other parents, a tall lanky and very thin young man shyly approached us. “Are you Ethan’s parents?” he asked. “Yes, we are,” we replied. “I was one of Ethan’s commanders and firearms instructors.” As he went on to tell us his story, it was he who befriended our son and helped him to deal with his differences and become accepted as one of the guys in his unit. Avi, we wanted to know you better and lost you before we had a chance. Rest in peace and thank you for watching over our son. You will be in our hearts and minds always.
“In many ways, he was a model student: eager to learn, hardworking, emphatic and reflexive.”
Alan and Deborah Pransky
“You will be in our hearts and in our minds always.”
Avi Schaefer was a student in my seminar “Islam and Democracy in the Middle East” for this term. Words cannot capture how deeply saddened I am by the news of his sudden and tragic death. Avi and I had several e-mail exchanges before the course began. He was a freshman but wanted very badly to take my class, which was only open to juniors and seniors. At first, I declined his request to join the class, but he persisted by sending me e-mail after e-mail outlining his command of the basics, his desire to learn about Muslim politics in the region and, most importantly, “to understand the predicaments of the other side,” as he put it. But just to make sure it was a sealed deal he recruited two of my former top students to vouch on his behalf. And so he was in! We had barely begun sharing stories and perspectives on the region, and I despair at the thought of all the topics we had set time to talk about: his time in Israel, his experience in the IDF, his work with Palestinian friends, our hopes and fears about the region. In many ways he was a model student: eager to learn, hardworking, empathetic, and reflexive. We really do (and ought to) mourn ourselves in his absence. Hussein Banai
It is hard to communicate how immediately and fully Avi impacted our lives from the minute he arrived on our campus only a short time ago. It is indicative of how incredible Avi was that we find it so challenging to summarize what he meant to us. He was, first and foremost, a dedicated son and brother to his family, a loving and generous friend, and a compassionate human being who knew how to bring people together. He arrived at Brown after three years of service in the Israeli Defense Forces. Avi always defined himself as a “soldier for peace.” His Jewish identity was central to how he positioned himself in relationship to his interests, beliefs, friendships, and experiences. We were blessed to have him in our lives and his impact on our community had only just begun. We will keep his inspiration, passion for peace, and love of identity and values alive in our community and in our hearts. Samantha Adelberg ’11 Danya Chudacoff ’11 Roberta Goldman ‘13 Jana Loeb ’08 Sarah Rapoport ’10 Nava Winkler ’13
Friday, February 19, 2010
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Page 7
Avi Schaefer ’13 In the game of baseball, a five-tool player is a player who can do it all. He can hit for average, hit for power, steal bases, field his position, and has a cannon for an arm. A five-tool player only comes around once in a lifetime, and if you ever have the privilege of seeing that player take the field, you know you’re witnessing something special, and you find yourself in awe of his ability. All you can do when you watch him play the game is sit back and utter one word: “Wow.” In the game of life, my cousin Avi was the quintessential five-tool player, and there were countless times when I found myself in awe of how he lived his life and the choices he made. In celebration of his fantastic life and legacy, I’d like to recount just some of the tools Avi possessed that caused me to sit back and just say “Wow.” Avi cared about others — I was worried when my little brother Adam went off to college at UCSB, because I didn’t know how he would be able to adapt to life at a huge college campus after having attended a small, tight-knit high school. I was upset that I was in college on the East Coast at the University of Maryland, with no way of helping my brother adjust in person. When I finally got the chance to visit Adam at school for the first time, there were Avi and his brother Yoav, taking Adam to Hillel and making sure he was meeting people and making friends. Avi didn’t have to take the time to make sure his younger cousin was comfortable in his new home for the next four years, but he did. Today, Adam is following the path that I would have wanted him to take in college, a member of the same fraternity I was a part of, with great friends and lasting memories. The role I was supposed to assume as Adam’s older brother couldn’t be served because I wasn’t there, so Avi took it upon himself to assume that role. I was forever thankful, and all I could think when I made that first visit and saw how Adam had adjusted was “Wow.” Avi was strong-willed. It takes an extraordinary human being to decide as a 17-year-old that they are going to stray from the ordinary path. At my high school, out of 150 graduating seniors, every single one got their diploma and went on to college. That was the well-traveled path that was supposed to be taken, so everyone took it. Not Avi. He wanted to make his own path through life, and do it on his terms. He pledged his service to the Israeli Defense Forces in order to protect the country he loved. He wanted to protect the Jewish people and find a way to make the world a more peaceful place. And he did just that. College could wait; he had his own itinerary for life. The scene at Aunt Laurie and Uncle Arthur’s house before Avi and Yoav left for Israel was surreal — hundreds of people gathered to wish my cousins the best of luck on their journey. There was some tension in the air that day — many people had doubts about Avi and Yoav’s choice. But on that day, I felt calm. I could do nothing but respect a decision by two people who wanted to take the road less traveled in order Sarah Young to make peace for a nation of people. Something inside me had no doubt that they would be safe and make a lasting impact on so many lives in Israel. All I could think was “Wow.” Avi was willing to share his tremendous gifts. After reading about what Avi did in his short time at Brown University, I was taken aback. He was an active member at Hillel. He was working with a professor to develop a course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He had approached the police chief of the Providence Police Department so that he could teach officers some of the tactics he learned in the IDF in order to make Providence a safer place. When I traveled from Los Angeles to College Park, Md., for my first year of college, it took me months to even gather up the courage to speak to a professor, let along collaborate with one for a course on a hot-button issue. I didn’t even know where the College Park Police Department was until I moved into the fraternity house my sophomore year which was five minutes away from it. There is no doubt in my mind that Avi would have made a massive impact on the community at Brown, one that I could never make in my wildest dreams at College Park. All I could think when reading about what he did in his short time there was “Wow.” But Avi’s greatest gift was his ability to touch lives — all you had to do was go on the Facebook page that was made for those who knew him to celebrate his life to realize what kind of impact Avi had on people. I have never seen anything like it. Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of people, using words like “you were an inspiration” and “I feel honored and privileged to have met you.” It is truly incredible. Those aren’t words you say to an average college kid. They just aren’t. Avi was extraordinary. There are no two ways about it. Everyone he met became his friend, whether they only knew each other for a day or for their entire lives. All I could think about when looking at what his acquaintances and friends had to say about him was “Wow.” But I expected nothing less. I will always remember the night of January 8, 2010. For the rest of my life I will never forget it. It was my brother’s 21st birthday in Santa Barbara. It was truly a magical night, a night where God gave me one last time to be with Avi, who wasn’t a cousin that night, but a close friend. As he remains. It was my one last chance to witness a five-tool player in the game of life in action. We had a fantastic Shabbat dinner with the Gross-Schaefer family and their friends, and then a great night celebrating in Isla Vista. Me, Adam, Yoav, Avi and friends, who seemed to always be by Avi’s side. All I was thinking about when the night ended was that I couldn’t wait for the next time. Avi, your far-too-short time on this Earth has inspired me. I will forever look up to you for the way you carried yourself and lived your life. Nobody will ever be able to fill the void left by your absence. However, the memories you provided me and so many other people will be cherished forever. There will never be a time when I don’t think back on those memories with a heavy heart and countless tears, but there will also never be a time when those memories don’t invoke in me a sense of pride, admiration, awe and love. And I know that every time I think of those memories they will conclude with me thinking one word to myself: “Wow.” Joel Gross
Avi Schaefer: A five-tool player at the game of life
“Avi’s greatest gift was his ability to touch lives.”
Page 8
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
1988–2010 It is the song “Livkot Lekha,” by Aviv Geffen, that I can’t get out of my head. Loosely translated as “To Cry for You,” it was written for a friend who was killed in a car accident, but it achieved great notoriety after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin when it became a sort of anthem. The song transports me to the campus of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, July 2002. I lost two of my friends in a suicide bombing that day. Others died, but Ben’s and Marla’s deaths took a piece of me with them. And I am aware every day that I still hold a piece of them. Israelis are known for many inventions. What many do not know is that the considerable ingenuity that has brought flowers to the desert, victory in the face of massive armies and thousands of patents, cures, discoveries and pieces of art, has also been applied to the art of mourning. We excel at mourning. We’d be happy to not lead the world in this category. Mourning is ancient, and Jews have, from our ancient tradition, many ideas and many modes. We begin with the shock of learning of a death by tearing our clothing — a physical expression of the tearing of the fabric of the universe. Then we plan and we care. We wash the deceased, more carefully than we would a baby. We wrap the body and then we guard it. We do not leave the departed alone, not even for a moment, until we return them to the earth from which they were formed. In the hours or days between death and burial all we worry about is the deceased, caring for the one who can no longer care for him or herself. We are exempt from all other service to man or Creator — off the hook but for the care of the departed. Next comes the funeral where we are encouraged to speak in a way that evokes grief. We simultaneously bless and question. We also laugh and cry. Some sing and some recite. Always working to create memory and to make us more mindful of our emotions to move us along. The next phase is focused on the mourners. In the most ancient customs, they sit for a week in a home on low chairs or pillows. The do not leave, they do not bathe, they do not change clothes. No TV, movies, Internet or distraction. Not even the study of our most beloved Torah. All this for a week, as guests come and go. Relatives feed and care for the needs of the mourners, who are the immediate family and spouse of the deceased. This week is hard but healing. It allows for stories to be told and the necessary movement from the depths of despair forward and on with life. No one is alone, no one can run away — the physical debasement of the mourner reminds them of the gaping hole that is newly created, and that life will never return to “normal.” All this is true but for the Sabbath. On the Sabbath, Shabbat, the mourners go to temple or synagogue. They change their clothes, stretch their legs and shed any public or visible signs of mourning. On Shabbat, we rest from mourning. Those who were present this past Friday at Hillel did not witness a memorial service as they may have expected. They witnessed a regular week at Hillel, where normally 200 people come to celebrate themselves, or God, or life, or Brown, or rest. This past Friday. 400 or more came and they celebrated Avi, his life and the love he created. At the end of the seven days, the mourners change their clothes and are accompanied on a short walk out of the house. They are released back to a reality. Out of the cocoon, on with life. Back to work. Back to self-care. The mourners are not to forget, they are to re-appropriate their thoughts and grief. There are more periods, thirty days, eleven months and then the anniversary of the death, commemorated for all time by relatives, students and descendants. Now is not the time for these discussions. We are still in the first week, the shiva. I can tell you of many deaths that will forever hurt. The twenty-four year old, I loved the whimsy of her toering. The twenty-five year old who was to help me quit smoking. The twenty-two year old who died trying to help, that’s just what he did. Each of them hurt and will for all time. They are scars on my soul that cannot be removed. They are burnt into my memory. And so to the Brown community finds itself with a fresh wound in a shiva of sorts. The Gross-Schaefers on the other side of this vast country are sitting low, surrounded by their friends and Avi’s. And we, here in Providence, are looking to each other for care and love. We also have a chance to be in shiva together — to hold hands and hug and talk and reminisce and, as we Jews are known to do, eat, sing and laugh. Shiva will end. It must, and we must go on. Accept his challenge, build a better world. Remember why he was here and why you still are — to grow and learn and achieve. We will emerge from our grief with memory. We should also emerge with a clearer sense of what we need to do, what ingenuities we can apply to the question of how to make the world better and safer and more open to dialogue and peace. It is with sincere love that I share these words with the entire community. I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share with you. Even in these terrible times, your radiance is maddening. With love and blessings for peace, Mordechai
I am going to cry for you Be strong above My longing is like doors Opening in the night I will remember you forever, my brother And you know that we shall meet again, in the end I have friends But they are dark in comparison to your maddening brightness When we are sad we go to the sea That is why the sea is salty It’s sad that you can return your gear But not your longing Just like the waves We are crashing up against the pier Up against life “Livkot Lekha,” Aviv Geffen
You can listen to “Livkot Lekha” at http://thebdh.org/livkot Mordechai Rackover is the rabbi at Brown/RISD Hillel and associate University chaplain for the Jewish community. He can be reached at rabbi@brown.edu.
Friday, February 19, 2010
World & Nation The Brown Daily Herald
Friday, February 19, 2010 | Page 9
Mancuso makes U.S. Olympic history with medal By Craig Hill McClatchy Newspapers
In the rush to anoint Lindsey Vonn the greatest American woman skier in Olympic histor y, most media and fans forgot about the skier whose been wearing the crown for years. Julia Mancuso, who skis with a tiara painted on some of her helmets and wears a tiara after races, skied into the U.S. record books Thursday afternoon by winning a silver medal in the super combined. Often overlooked since winning gold at the 2006 Games because of injuries and poor performances, Mancuso is now the only American woman to win three Olympic skiing medals. When she finished her slalom run and saw she’d locked up a medal she fell to the ground. She kicked her feet in the air, celebrating the moment. “That was pure joy,” Mancuso said. “I was so stoked. Skiing a good downhill and having to follow it up with a good run of slalom, I mean, that’s tough. I didn’t think I could do it. ... That’s a moment I won’t ever forget.” She shared the podium with two of the world’s best skiers, but unlike Wednesday’s downhill when Vonn was beside her on the top step, Vonn, the world’s top-ranked super combined racer, was watching from the sideline. Vonn easily won the downhill portion of the race and was less than 100 yards from another gold medal when she hooked the tip of her right ski on a gate. She ejected from her ski and fell to the snow. Germany’s Maria Riesch, the top slalom skier on the World Cup circuit, won gold. Anja Paerson of
Sweden took bronze and claimed a place in Olympic lore. Paerson was on pace to win silver in Wednesday’s downhill when she took a violent tumble off the final jump and slid into the finish area. She said she was in pain and “pretty scared” in the super combined and later compared herself to Austrian ski legend Herman Maier who recovered from a nasty fall in ‘98 to win gold. Her lower body covered in bruises, Paerson made histor y with her sixth career medal. She ties the record of Croatia’s Janica Kostelic set over the 2002 and ‘06 games. “In a word, amazing,” U.S. coach Jim Tracy said of Paerson. “That was a fall that probably would have taken 98 percent of the field out.” It’s a similar mental toughness than Tracy sees in Mancuso. “She embraces these big events,” Tracy said. “... She really does a good job of focusing on exactly what she needs to do. On the outside she looks like she’s a little bit carefree, but on the inside she knows exactly what she needs to do and when to do it. After six women crashed on the bumpy course during Wednesday’s downhill, the course was altered Thursday and it proved more forgiving. The start was lowered, a customary move for the super combined downhill, and the final jump was shaved down so skiers didn’t catch as much air. Only three racers fell Thursday, but Mancuso said the course was still “really bouncy.” U.S. skier Kaylin Richardson, who specializes in the technical events, said she was happy with the changes. “For the girls that rallied after
Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
Lindsay Vonn of the United States crashes on the slalom portion of the women’s super combined competition at Whistler Creekside in Whistler, British Columbia.
the big crashes yesterday I think it eased their minds a little bit,” Richardson said. After her slalom run, Richardson radioed up a report on the course to Mancuso and Vonn. Her advice: “Just go for it.” Both did, even though, for Vonn, it wasn’t necessary. All Vonn had to do was stay on her feet to win a medal. “I wanted to win,” Vonn said. “... I won gold yesterday, so I didn’t really want to shoot for something lower than that.” Vonn spends most of her time training for the speed events, Tracy said. While she is still among the best in the world in the technical
events, the slalom has proven especially frustrating for her over the past month. It was during slalom training where she injured her shin, forcing her to ski in pain. But Vonn wasn’t making excuses after her fall. “The shin wasn’t the reason I didn’t finish the race today,” Vonn said. “It was just because I hooked a tip and that happens in ski racing all the time. I just wish it wasn’t at the Olympic Games.” The women have today off but return to the slopes Friday for the super-G, another event Vonn will be heavily favored to win. Vonn has already clinched the World Cup super-G title this season. She also
won the World Cup season title and the world championship in the super-G last season. But as Mancuso has proven this week, she shouldn’t be taken lightly. “I really think I can put a couple of good runs together,” she said. “Whether or not that’s good enough for a medal, we’ll have to wait and see.” Suddenly the talk about winning four medals has shifted from Vonn to Mancuso. She’s already proven to be fast in the speed events and she’s the reigning Olympic champ in the giant slalom. “Anything is possible,” Mancuso said, “as you saw today.”
Big unemployment persists in R.I. Gymnasts head north to By Shashank Bengali McClatchy Newspapers
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — For the frustrated folks who troop into the unemployment office in this fading industrial city every day to peruse the same paltry job offerings or tweak their resumes for the hundredth time, the trickle of positive economic data coming out of Washington is cold comfort. “All they got is figures. This is up 10 percent, that is up 2 percent,” said Cynthia Roderick, 57, an unemployed hospital clerk who, like many in this solidly Democratic state, voted for President Barack Obama but now criticize his response to the jobs crisis. “Let Obama come down here and see the real deal,” said Roderick, who’s been looking for work for four months. “Let him see what people are going through.” The nationwide jobless rate declined and retail sales rose last month, leading some experts to suggest that the economy is start-
ing a slow recovery, but not even vague optimism is apparent in hardhit states such as Rhode Island. It’s hardly surprising that jobless Americans are discouraged, but the gulf between reports and reality is sapping confidence in Washington’s economic prescriptions. The latest White House-backed plan is a Senate bill aimed at helping small businesses grow, but some watchdog groups have said it won’t create many jobs. Tax writeoffs for small entrepreneurs, one of the bill’s provisions, aren’t the kind of bold initiatives that Rhode Islanders think are needed to jumpstart the Ocean State’s moribund economy. America’s smallest state is experiencing outsize economic problems. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate, 12.9 percent in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, is the third highest in the country due to the steady erosion of its manufacturing industries, which account for one in eight jobs, and a
wave of layoffs and mergers in the health care sector. Only Nevada, at 13 percent, and Michigan, at 14.6 percent, are in worse shape. If you count part-time workers who’d rather be working full-time, as well as people who’ve given up looking for jobs, however, Rhode Island’s “real” unemployment rate is 18.3 percent, according to U.S. government data. “President Obama wants to talk about small businesses — what, like a restaurant? What is that going to create?” Roderick said. “How many jobs? They need a strong (economic) foundation like they had years and years ago, and I don’t really think they’re going to get it back.” Pawtucket, a town of about 72,000 people along the Blackstone River, has seen better days. It was the site of one of the nation’s first water-powered cotton mills, built in 1793 by British emigre Samuel Slater and credited with helping to launch the industrial revolution in America.
Alaska for meets and moose continued from page 1 ice sculptures and dog sled races in downtown Anchorage,” CarverMilne said. “Apparently we are supposed to see moose!” Binkley said. In the past, the team has travelled to Los Angeles, Oklahoma and Arizona. The Department of Athletics will not incur more expenses than they would have if the girls were competing away from Brown in New England, according to CarverMilne. Alaska has covered most of the travelling fees. “Hopefully we can have two great meets at Alaska and keep our momentum from those meets going strong and win Ivies,” Binkley said.
The Ivy Classic Competition will take place the following weekend at the Pizzitola Center. The Alaskan team, studded with talented gymnasts like vault standout Lauren Agostino and floor specialist Shakea Sanders, will prepare the Brown team well. Between competition and sightseeing, the girls have a busy week ahead of them. “We’re just going to try and stay warm,” Zanelli said. With the way the Bears have performed recently, they should have a heated competition against a tough Alaska squad. If Goddard and the girls can repeat last Sunday’s performance, they may return home with some extra hardware packed into their luggage.
¡Gracias por leer!
Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald
Page 10 | Friday, February 19, 2010
blog daily herald .com The same 10 questions What to do tonight Cup o’ (Pro)Jo Ratty vs. V-Dub Time-waster of the day Brown Is the New Black Ask Gail Talk of the Brown
So many reasons to <3 the Blog!
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d
Editor-in-Chief George Miller
Managing Editor Chaz Kelsh
Deputy Managing Editors Sophia Li Emmy Liss
editorial Arts & Culture Editor Anne Speyer Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Brian Mastroianni Features Editor Hannah Moser Metro Editor Brigitta Greene Metro Editor Ben Schreckinger News Editor Sydney Ember News Editor Nicole Friedman Sports Editor Dan Alexander Asst. Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Han Cui Graphics & Photos Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor production Copy Desk Chief Kelly Mallahan Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Neal Poole Web Editor Post- magazine Editor-in-Chief Marshall Katheder
Senior Editors Ellen Cushing Seth Motel Joanna Wohlmuth
Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Claire Kiely Katie Koh Directors Sales Kelly Wess Finance Matthew Burrows Client Relations Margaret Watson Alumni Relations Christiana Stephenson Managers Arjun Vaidya Marco deLeon Aditi Bhatia Jared Davis Trenten Nelson-Rivers Alexander Carrere Kathy Bui
Local Sales National Sales University Sales University Sales Recruiter Sales Special Projects Staff
Opinions Opinions Editor Michael Fitzpatrick Opinions Editor Alyssa Ratledge Editorial Page Board Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member William Martin Board member Melissa Shube Board member Gaurie Tilak Board member Jonathan Topaz Board member
Julien Ouellet, Designers Mrinal Kapoor, Matthew Lim, Joe Milner, Kate-Lyn Scott, Rebecca Specking, Copy Editors
julia streuli
e d i to r i a l
Transfixed A recent University Resources Committee report suggested that one way the University might increase revenue is by accepting more transfer students. Since transfers are not admitted on a need-blind basis, their tuition payments can help offset some of the $30 million in needed budget cuts. This week, the Herald reported that the Admission Office will in fact increase the number of transfers next year by 50, bringing the total to 170 students. As long as administrators believe the University has the capacity to support a larger student body, this plan is a sound way to strengthen the University’s balance sheet. However, it is also important to remember that transfers are not mere pawns in the budgeting process, but real students with concerns and needs. Currently, transfers receive little support beyond the first week of school. By contrast, incoming freshmen not only participate in a week-long orientation, but also receive faculty advisers and Meiklejohn peer advisers for the duration of their first year. While transfers of course have more college experience than freshmen, they are just as new to life at Brown. As such, we encourage the University to develop a stronger advising system for transfers. Improvements would not be drastic or particularly costly, but they could make a big difference to students who are trying to make major decisions — such as choosing a concentration — while learning to navigate a new school. Since most transfers are sophomores and juniors, they have less time to choose a concentration than incoming freshmen. On top of this, transfers are not given a Meiklejohn peer adviser. We enthusiastically support the University’s new policy of assigning transfer students to a faculty adviser. However, we think Brown should go one step further and allow transfers to benefit
from the Meiklejohn program as well. Advice from peers with similar interests can often be just as helpful as guidance from a faculty member, if not more so. Indeed, students in a given department tend to be more familiar with course offerings and can offer firsthand advice about a professor’s teaching style and class difficulty level. Current Meiklejohn advisers are all volunteers, and the cost of training 10 or 15 additional students to work exclusively with transfers would be minimal, given that such training is already run for freshman advisers. The benefit of having access to a peer adviser far outweighs the minimal cost of training a few additional students. Although many new students do not need help adjusting or making friends, some do find the transition difficult. Accordingly, the University may want to consider developing an independent peer counseling program for transfers. Peer counselors who work with transfers could not only advise on academic issues, but also help address social and extracurricular concerns. Given the wide range of transfer students’ backgrounds, it would be beneficial to at least give these students the option of working with a peer counselor. Granted, some may not want to take advantage of this opportunity. However, given the willingness of many current students to volunteer as peer counselors, creating and maintaining this new program should not be difficult. Transfer students undoubtedly enrich Brown and bring unique perspectives to the community. We welcome a larger transfer class, and we want these students to have as easy an adjustment period as possible. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
correction An article in Thursday’s Herald (“Program releases Web feature on Haiti,” Feb. 18) incorrectly stated that curriculum units developed by the Choices Program have been used in 3,000 classrooms. The lesson for Teaching with the News on Haiti has been used in about 3,000 classrooms, while Choices Program materials have been used in about 8,000 schools. The Herald regrets the error.
Alex Bell, Alicia Chen, Brian Mastroianni, Anne Speyer, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Ana Alvarez, Alexander Bell, Alicia Chen, Max Godnick, Talia Kagan, Sarah Mancone, Heeyoung Min, Kate Monks, Claire Peracchio, Goda Thangada, Caitlin Trujillo Staff Writers Shara Azad, Nicole Boucher, Kristina Fazzalaro, Miriam Furst, Anish Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, Matthew Klebanoff, Sara Luxenberg, Anita Mathews, Luisa Robledo, Emily Rosen, Bradley Silverman, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine Senior Sales Staff Katie Galvin, Liana Nisimova, Isha Gulati, Alex Neff, Michael Ejike, Samantha Wong Design Staff Caleigh Forbes, Jessica Kirschner, Gili Kliger, Leor Shtull-Leber, Katie Wilson Web Staff Andrew Chen, Warren Jin, Claire Kwong, Phil Park, Ethan Richman Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit Copy Editors Nicole Boucher, Sarah Forman, Claire Gianotti, Christine Joyce, Sara Luxenberg, Abigail Kersen, Alexandra Macfarlane, Joe Milner, Lindor Qunaj, Carmen Shulman, Carolina Veltri
C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
Opinions The Brown Daily Herald
Friday, February 19, 2010 | Page 11
I hate Glenn Beck BY ANTHONY BADAMI Opinions Columnist In an effort to squeeze out negative energy (new year, new semester, new outlook, you know the drill), I must take this conspicuous opportunity to lay open my feelings against a most conspicuous man. He is someone who absorbs more attention than he will ever deserve. He is a man capable of and culpable for widespread political, moral and social distortions, demagoguery and the cheapest form of falsification. He is a mendacious sleaze and an anti-intellectual agitator. He is, of course, Glenn Beck. My fundamental issue with Beck is not his stupidity, blatant bigotry or baffling ignorance. Rather, my real grievance lies in the narrative that Beck represents; he promulgates a hyper-paranoid, quasi-conspiracy view of the world, all the while portraying himself a man of the soil. He even goes so far as to slander that once useful word, “populist.” How arrogant can this man be? How far do the depths of his shallowness reach? He shuns Marxist or Communist thought, while expressing a deep disdain for the state’s intervention in the personal sphere. (Marx himself reproached this state vs. citizen distinction entirely.) It is fairly obvious from even a brief viewing of his daily tirades on Fox that Beck has probably never read a single word of Karl Marx, nor any other kind of sophisticated (pardon my elitism) philosophical text. The drivel that escapes his mouth is remarkable in its idiocy. After the Anti-Defa-
mation League dubbed Beck the country’s “fearmonger-in-chief,” Beck fired back (with his usual acerbic wit) that the ADL was as helpful to the Jewish people as the “National Organization for Women (was) for the plight of women.” Wow. NOW, as you may know, has made immense strides in protecting the reproductive rights of women — a potential solvent to many of the world’s most grave social and economic issues. When Beck interviewed Rep. Keith Ellison, this country’s first Muslim Congressman, Beck challenged Ellison to prove that he was not “working with our enemies.” Beck
political or cultural belief as explanation. We need not think too hardily either about his comments on Obama’s supposed detestation of whites. (I mean, Beck’s not saying that Obama “doesn’t like white people,” just that he has a “deep-seated hatred” for them. Duh!) Their meaninglessness is palpable enough. But one Beck scheme I find particularly striking is his creation of the 9-12 Project, a confused and misguided faction veiled as a political movement. Through this organization, Beck has attempted to recapture and sustain what he believes to be the feelings of
He is a mendacious sleaze and an antiintellectual agitator. He is, of course, Glenn Beck.
prefaced this astoundingly doltish comment by asserting that he did not subscribe to any sort of “political correctness.” Again, I’m at a loss for words. While I understand the desire to move away from rigid, political euphemism, there is a difference between doing that and spewing whatever half-baked nonsense that comes to mind. To suggest that it is more “patriotic” to go with gut feelings than contemplation is to show both a severe lack of thoughtfulness and a supreme aptitude for provincialism. In other words, Beck’s most deplorable effect is lending legitimacy to those individuals who prefer a comfortable and unprocessed
solidarity and strength expressed by Americans in the days following September 11th. The values and aims of the project are enumerated in his manifesto (his word, not mine), which, among other things, contends that the real patriot expresses an unwavering belief in God (not exactly a sentiment in line with the secular founding of our country), holds the family as the most sacred unit (does this veneration extend to gay families?) and attests to the deeply profound and insightful declaration that “America is good.” You may know the fallout from this project as the Tea Party, or Tea Baggers, whose
refined tactics include (but are not limited to) stampeding D.C. venues like stray cattle and barking fanatically and incessantly at politicians with whom they disagree. It is difficult to say from exactly where Beck derives his moral and philosophical purview. Founders like Jefferson, Madison and Adams, were either deists or Unitarians, separate from modern Christian orthodoxy. Indeed, the United States is the only democratic government in the developed world that establishes as a principle the separation of church and state. On Beck’s book, “Arguing with Idiots,” I have but two comments. First, his inveighed conflation of Nazism with communism, Fascism with progressivism and Liberalism with Stalinism, showcases more of a bizarre fetish with mating “isms” than it does any kind of intellectual illumination. Second, his unsubstantiated claims regarding immigration, national security and affirmative action border on the absurd and embrace the farcical (“Well, Asians are getting high test scores! Why aren’t Blacks?!”). All in all, the various crusades of Beck do a disservice to conservatives, to liberals, to reason, to Americans, to journalism, to politics, to robust debate and to the future of humanity. I hate Glenn Beck, you hate him too, and with that off our chest, let us move on to issues, people and ideas that matter. Happy semester.
Anthony Badami ’11 is a political theory concentrator from Kansas City, Mo. He can be reached at anthony_badami@brown.edu.
Partying (f)or charity BY BEN BASTOMSKI Guest Columnist The ongoing crisis and relief efforts in Haiti have rightfully captured our close national attention. But as the acute phase of the disaster fades and relief rather than rescue becomes the order of the day, an important opportunity arises for self-examination. It may be uncomfortable, but the circumstances demand that we ask ourselves: have we acted well and admirably as members of the international human community? While leaving that as an open question, I want to discuss some aspects of fundraising I’ve observed here on campus that I feel are particularly relevant to this question, as we each attempt to answer it for ourselves. Since we’ve returned to school, the campus has been abuzz with various fundraisers for the crisis. More than likely you’ve seen a Facebook invitation to a “Party for Haiti” at nightclub Blu, a fundraising a cappella concert or a night at the Grad Center Bar — all of which promise a share (respectively: the $5 cover plus 10 percent of Blu’s profit, the $5 entry fee and 50 percent of the GCB’s profit) of their proceeds to relief efforts. In this immediate sense, there’s no doubt that the efforts on campus are applaudable: they help maintain a strong overall campus awareness of the crisis’s severity and provide ready access to the opportunity to give. With an abundance and variety of fund-
raisers, we could hardly be faulted for a lack of attention on campus toward the crisis. Yet I feel there is also a certain danger in these social fundraising events, and hope that we can remain mindful of their potential pitfalls while supporting them and, more importantly, their cause. The potential problem events such as these present is the risk, in our minds as participants, of a distortion of the spirit of charity, and of a resulting incongruence between fundraiser and cause. These events
cern for disaster victims, and we must take care to distinguish the two. We need to be careful not to convince ourselves that there’s something supererogatory in attending a party or a concert, not to pat ourselves on the back for ordering another round of drinks at the GCB, not to view our spent money straightforwardly as a donation. We should certainly appreciate that the proceeds go to relief efforts, but the activity itself is a good time first and charitable second, and not the reverse.
In a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude, compassion is still the greatest fundraiser that we have, and charitable social events should be seen as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, genuine giving for its own sake. are promising sources of further aid to the relief effort, but because they are intentionally designed to draw participants by offering enjoyable activities, it’s important that they be accepted for what they most fundamentally are: an opportunity to have a good time, with the added benefit of the donation of proceeds. The spirit of enjoying a concert or a party is not the same as the spirit of genuine con-
Ultimately, money is money and social fundraising events are instrumental tools in strengthening the overall relief effort. But in a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude, compassion is still the greatest fundraiser that we have, and charitable social events should be seen as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, genuine giving for its own sake. We can give freely, or we can give indirectly through having a good time. Or,
ideally, we do both, while understanding their differences. What’s critical for each of us to avoid is engaging in the latter to the exclusion of the former and finding a complacent, false sense of altruism in doing so. Let me make myself clear: this is not a condemnation of these fundraising events, nor of their organizers, nor of those who choose to attend them. I believe these events, both here on campus and everywhere else they exist, have a vital role in providing the strongest and swiftest relief we can to the people of Haiti. Each of the organizers of the specific events I’ve mentioned is a personal friend of mine, and I admire their efforts, which are nothing less than laudable. Further, participation in these events can go hand in hand with good, humble perspective about the crisis and our role as givers. I say only that it’s important, if we choose to participate, that we keep that perspective while we do so. I make no assumptions about what you have done, thought or felt. But if you have participated in these events, I urge you to think (if you haven’t already) about what it meant to you, and what the appropriate role is for these events, both within your personal response to the crisis and within the larger relief effort.
Ben Bastomski ’10 is a philosophy concentrator from Santa Barbara, Calif. He can be contacted at benjamin_bastomski@brown.edu.
Today The Brown Daily Herald
3
Hundreds turn out for first-pick contest
Weather turns into sculpture
Princeton is second place in the Ivies at 5–1. Wrestling visits Cornell at 7 p.m. Friday and Columbia at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Bears look to challenge No. 5 Cornell, who is 2–0 in the Ivies. The Lions lost six straight duals before this weekend. The women’s hockey team travels to Princeton for a 7 p.m. game Friday and hits the ice at Quinnipiac 4 p.m. Saturday. Princeton welcomes the Bears after two wins last weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, while Quinnipiac finished with a win and a tie.
c a l e n da r Today, February 19
tomorrow, FebRUARY 20
12:00 p.m. — Framing Haiti: A Brown University Teach-In, Sidney E. Frank Hall
8:00 p.m. — The Bear Necessities Present: The International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella
Lunch — Zucchini Burgers, Hot Turkey Sandwich with Gravy, Nacho Bar
Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Vegan Nuggets, Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
Dinner — Red Potato Frittata, Onion Rings, Seafood Jambalaya, Custard Pie
43 / 28 Page 12
Diamond to Student Activities Office Director Phil O’Hara ’55 for promising us all a “nice little kitty.” You make be taking the LOLcat fascination a bit too seriously.
Diamond to the 60-year-old Ironman alum. We’re impressed at the challenges you face. But here’s the real question: Can you handle the challenges of the SciLi?
Diamond to the men’s basketballer who “played like a man.” We appreciate the clarification, especially in light of the cross-dressing ambiguity at Friday’s Dancing with the Profs.
Cubic zirconium to students protesting Brown’s investment in a hotel chain. Luckily you don’t need a ladder to get into Motel 6.
Coal to the students suffering from re-entry shock. It may hurt, it may be uncomfortable — but it is not that hard. A congratulatory diamond to BioMed for assuring us that they are “absolutely going to grow.” We’re just grateful not to have to make another Viagra joke. Coal to Class Board for doing everything “75 percent well.” Three-quarters of the way to Cancun and we would be floating in the Gulf of Mexico.
Diamond to Salman Rushdie, who hangs out in the “lowest circle of hell,” where the parties are better. So we take it you had a chance to check out the partially underground Liquid Lounge while you were in Providence? On the other hand, a competitive diamond to the aerospace engineering conference that was “like a party.” We hear it was out of this world. Want more D&C? Check out a retro-diamond from 1995 at blogdailyherald.com, and write your own at diamondsandcoal.com.
comics
menu Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
41 / 27
d i a m o n d s a n d c oa l
2:00 p.m. — COE Lecture Series with Gabriel Jaramillo, President and CEO of Sovereign Bank, Salomon 203
Sharpe Refectory
to m o r r o w
Friday, February 19, 2010
s p o rt s a ro u n d t h e b e n d Men’s hockey hosts Clarkson at 7 p.m. Friday and St. Lawrence at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Bears beat Clarkson, 3–2, but lost to St. Lawrence, 5–2, earlier this season. The women’s basketball team hosts Penn at 7 p.m. Friday and Princeton at 7 p.m. Saturday. The women bettered Penn, 61–47, but fell to Princeton, 75–44, in January on their opponents’ turf. Men’s basketball travels to Penn for a 7 p.m. game Friday and to Princeton for a 6 p.m. Saturday. Penn upset No. 22 and Ivy League leader Cornell, 79–64, last week.
5
to day
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
Dinner — Fried Clams, Stuffed Shells, French Fries
crossword Fruitopia | Andy Kim
Hippomaniac | Mat Becker
Island Republic | Kevin Grubb