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
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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
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