daily herald

the Brown
vol. cxxii, no. 107
friday, november 16, 2012

since 1891

inSide

Page 2

Its a wash

App shows availability of campus washers and dryers

as Paxson forges on, U. seeks research initiatives

By Eli Okun
Senior Staff Writer

S e Co n d r o u n d b o u n d

Page 4

Opera for bros

Gilbert and Sullivan modernizes Patience Page 4

Family bonds
Professor and son team up on socioeconomic research
today tomorrow

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50 / 34

The University is soliciting proposals for new Signature Academic Initiatives as it looks to determine its next major research initiatives, part of the broader strategic planning process under new President Christina Paxson. the project, launched by Provost Mark Schlissel P15 and spearheaded by Professor of Classics Sue Alcock and Vice President for research Clyde Briant, encourages faculty to form cross-disciplinary collaborations focused on broad ideas that could become major initiatives at Brown over the next decade, according to the Strategic Planning website. The initiatives are intended to build upon the Universitys existing strengths and boost Browns stature and reputation in those fields. More than a dozen teams have already submitted preliminary two-page proposals, which are available to view on the Strategic Planning website, ahead of a Dec. 3

deadline. toward the end of this semester, Schlissel, Paxson and the Universitys Academic Priorities Committee will review the submissions and select six ideas either individual proposals or combinations of several for further development next semester, said Alcock, who is a lead facilitator along with Briant. two or three broad initiatives will be selected sometime next spring or fall, Alcock said. The significance of Browns current position with a new president, a fairly new provost and an upcoming 250th anniversary makes this the perfect time for the University to jumpstart unique ideas, Alcock said. Brown always wants to be different, she said. At this stage in Browns life span, what should we be doing? how can we continue to be different? The array of proposals already submitted provides some indication of the an/ / research page 6 swer: The

jonatHan Bateman / Herald

after a 2-0 win over drexel, the bears prepare to play atlantic Coast Conference champion maryland terrapins this weekend. see page 8.

Post-election, fiscal cliff threatens research funding Hookup culture not as prevalent as believed, study shows
By katE nussEnbaum
Senior Staff Writer

search, as well as his desire to make higher education more accessible.

President obamas re-election nov. 6 set off celebrations across campus, as students screamed, hugged and shed their clothes to streak across the Main Green. But a week later, it remains unclear how a second obama term will affect private universities like Brown. During the seven-month presidential campaign, both obama and republican Candidate Mitt romney spoke on issues related to higher education such as college affordability, research funding and immigration reform. President obama has had a strong understanding of our issues and has really made them a part of his agenda, said Barry toiv, vice president for public affairs at the Association of American Universities. Still, the federal government faces fiscal challenges that could make it more difficult to fund obamas vision for an economy fueled by innovation and re-

facing finances The looming fiscal cliff more than $500 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2013 and its potential impact on how much federal money Brown receives for research and financial aid is of particular concern to University administrators. As part of a mandatory spending reduction policy Congress approved last year, the governments discretionary spending will automatically be cut by 8.2 percent Jan. 1 unless Congress takes action before then. These cuts would affect the national Institutes of health the Universitys largest source of research funding as well as the national Science Foundation and the national endowment for the humanities, said Amy Carroll, director of government relations and community affairs. If the cuts / / Obama page 5 take place, the

By adam HOffman
Contributing Writer

Herald File PHoto

President Obamas re-election highlights challenges the federal government faces on issues of college affordability and research funding.

Play hosts blissful wedding of comedy, history

By CarOlinE sainE
Senior Staff Writer

evan tHomas / Herald

set in 1930s Prague, the Golem is an interactive wedding, where audience members are asked to dance along and schmooze with guests.

the Golem ... or Get these nazis out of My wedding, Production workshops new play, revolves around a wedding. rivka and Mendel are in love and about to be married. they are the perfect young couple, but there is one problem they are Jews living in late-1930s Prague. After the passing of the nuremberg Laws, a set of anti-Semitic regulations enforced by the nazi Party, marriage between Jews is outlawed throughout western europe. Because of the statute, rivka and Mendel must hold their wedding underground, in the basement of the community library. I know that were all feeling a little bit anxious about security, says rabbi horowitz (Marty Strauss 16) as the guests enter, but weve

chosen our location well I think the odds are pretty low that our German friends will come knocking. no sooner have the words been spoken than a knock at the door is heard. nazi officer rudolph (David Lee Dallas 13) bursts into the wedding and declares, if there are two things I dont like, one is historical fabrication, and the other is mischievous Jews! while the 25-minute play is lighthearted, the subject matter is not. I wanted to create this positive celebration of Jewish culture, but I also didnt want to shortchange the actual experience, writer and director Phoebe nir 14 said. nir said she wanted to emphasize that remembering the holocaust does not have to be a source of guilt for our generation. If you actually want to never forget, / / Golem page 2

Despite the perceived ubiquitous nature of hookups on college campuses, sex in the context of romantic relationships is still the norm, according to a longitudinal study conducted by Brown-affiliated researchers and published last month in the Journal of Adolescent health. over the past few years, hooking up has received a lot of attention in the popular press, wrote robyn Fielder, the lead researcher of the study, in an email to The herald, citing movies such as Friends with Benefits and no Strings Attached and books like The happy hook-up and The hookup handbook as examples. hooking up probably gets more media attention than traditional dating because it is seen as more exciting and because it is considered to be a new approach to sex and relationships, she wrote. Because we hear more about hooking up, we assume it is extremely common. Fielders study surveyed 483 first-year females at Syracuse University and found that sex in the context of a relationship was more common than sex through hookups with a casual partner. hookups were defined as sex outside of a relationship with no mutual expectation of a romantic commitment. Between 7 and 18 percent of respondents had hookup sex in a given month, while an average of 25 to 38 percent of respondents had sex with a romantic partner. over the course of the year, 40 percent of respondents had oral and/or vaginal sex with a / / sex page 3

2 campus news
C alendar
TODAY 4:30 P .m. Women in STEM Panel Barus and Holley, Room 190 8P .m. Brown Stand Up Comics Martinos Auditorium 8P .m. Fall Dance Concert Ashamu Dance Studio NOV. 16 TOmORROW 7P .m. Mens Ice Hockey vs. Army Meehan Ice Rink NOV. 17 By katHErinE CusumanO
Senior Staff Writer

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

new app streamlines laundry process

LaundryView, an online application that allows users to see which washer and dryer machines are currently in use on campus, went live for all machines tuesday. The program features three-dimensional digital renderings of each laundry room red, vibrating machines are in use, while white machines are unoccupied. The program also indicates how much time is remaining on each load of laundry. The site offers an option to receive a text message or email when a load of laundry is finished. Brown has joined peer institutions such as harvard, tufts University, Columbia, Cornell and wesleyan University in bringing LaundryView to campus. The site received 1,333 hits between when Morning Mail announced the launch at 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. tuesday morning, said richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services. Bringing LaundryView to Brown has been under discussion since the previous Undergraduate Council of Students administration, Bova said. The launch of LaundryView was a natural kind of outcrop of the Bear Bucks system, said Abby Braiman 15, chair of the UCS Admissions and Student Services committee. The Universitys laundry contract expired over the summer, so it was renegotiated and completely digitized to coincide with the Bear Bucks upgrades, Braiman said. It was not viable to launch LaundryView under the old machine infrastructure, she added. But between the new digital con-

menu
SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

lunCH
Cajun Spiced Chicken Sandwich, Vegan Jamaican Jerk Tempeh, Cajun Potatoes, Rice Krispie Treats Breaded Chicken Fingers, Vegan Nuggets, Zucchini, Carrot and Garlic Medley, Rice Krispie Treats

dinnEr
Italian Chicken Parmesan, Gnocchi Di Patate with Pesto Sauce, Baked Ham, Chocolate Marshmallow Roll Tilapia Provencale, Orange Chipotle Glazed Tofu, Orange Beef Pad Thai, Chocolate Marshmallow Roll

courtesy oF laundryview.com

Sudoku

CroSSWord

students can now check the availability of machines in their residence halls laundry rooms with an online application called laundryView. troller mechanism for Bear Bucks he described it as a necessity and the new laundry contract with because Brown does not have many the commercial laundry service Mac- laundry machines to begin with. AdGray, which provides ethernet con- ditionally, many residential halls are nections, LaundryView was a natural not equipped with elevators, Kim said, development, Bova said. There was no increasing the inconvenience of walkextra cost associated with the program. ing down a flight of stairs to do launBraiman said she had hoped for the dry without being certain of machine launch to occur just after Thanksgiv- availability. ing, but the transition went so smoothI think they should have had it ly that LaundryView went online early. before, he said. So far, there have not been any reKim said he appreciated that the ported glitches in the system, Bova program shows exactly how much time said. remains on a load, unlike similar proStudents are finding it much more grams he had heard of at other schools. convenient, Bova said of the move Simone Kurial 15 said she first heard about LaundryView via an toward a more digitized system. yongha Kim 15 said he did laundry ecstatic Facebook message. She was just after he found out about the web- particularly impressed by the 3-D rensite. As a top floor resident of Vartan dering I almost felt like I was in the Gregorian Quad B, it can be a hassle room, she said. to take laundry downstairs only to find This weekend, I have big plans for all the machines occupied, he said. the laundry room, Kurial said. narrative. Audience members dance, sing and break challah with the actors but are not asked to contribute dialogue or advance the plot. the costumes and set design reflect nirs desire to legitimately infuse the space with dignity, creating a believable atmosphere that feels like an actual wedding. the outfits of the bride, groom and bridal party would not seem out of place in an orthodox Jewish ceremony, while officers rudolph and Gandalph hitler (evan Silver 16) are dressed in traditional nazi uniform. the Golem (Brian Semel 16) is the plays most fantastical and supernatural character. Dressed in gold tights, with a bright Jewish star painted across his chest, the Golem, which is the hebrew word for shapeless mass, is summoned to defend and protect the Jews. he is equipped with knowledge of tai Chi and Judo and shoots thunderbolts out of his eyes. Semel moves seamlessly between roles, playing both the Golem and Papa Loe, rivkas father. he is both engaging and original in his role as the father and portrays the rigid, monosyllabic Golem so deftly that the audience must pause to realize the same actor plays both parts. Becca wolinsky 14 also gives an impressive performance as Bubbe, the grandmother of the bride who has harbored a secret love for the Golem since she was young. the Golem transforms an instance of persecution into an opportunity to espouse love. Perhaps the most affecting scene in the play is the one in which Mendel, the groom, offers Gandalph a riddle. what can bind a man more strongly than chains, but weighs less than a feather; can move a mountain without lifting a pebble and can live forever without food or water? Mendel asks a stupefied Gandalph. the answer, of course, is love. the play, nir said, is ultimately about love and overcoming darkness through community, selflessness, and, I think, also celebration in the face of adversity. through its participation, the audience cannot help but be a part of that joyful celebration. the Golem is playing nov. 16, 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and nov. 19 at 8 p.m. at Production workshop.

/ / Golem page 1
your strategy cant just be to roll out a bunch of statistics, she said. In the Golem, the audience members are guests of the wedding and act as typical wedding guests do they must sit through the speeches, sing folk songs and schmooze with the father of the bride. the aim of incorporating the audience was to create as warm and as positive an atmosphere as possible, nir said, adding that many interactive theater performances border on voyeurism, causing audience members to feel squeamish instead of actively involved in the production. Viewers are immersed in the experience of the wedding, but participation is designed to supplement as opposed to impact the scripted

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Claire Peracchio, President rebecca Ballhaus, Vice President Danielle Marshak, treasurer Siena DeLisser, 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 and once during orientation by The Brown Daily herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. PoStMASter please send corrections to P.o. Box 2538, Providence, rI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, r.I. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily. Copyright 2012 by The Brown Daily herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

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the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

campus news 3
Thriller writers talk fears of the monster next door
By CarOlinE sainE
Senior Staff Writer

/ / sex page 1
casual partner, while 56 percent had it in the context of a romantic relationship. ninety-six percent of the subjects were heterosexual. Fielders findings are consistent with The herald poll conducted in 2011, which found that 73.9 percent of students had 0 or 1 sexual partners that semester. A poll conducted last month found that 73.3 percent of students were currently in an exclusive relationship with one other person or no sexual relationship at all, with 56 percent seeking an exclusive relationship. Fielders study found that the total number of sexual encounters with both casual partners and romantic partners peaked at the beginning of the year, which is consistent with the theory that students are more sexually experimental at this time, the authors wrote in the study. First-year college students may be more likely to socialize/party, and thus hook up, at the beginning of the semester because they are newly exposed to the college environment and the many freedoms it offers, Fielder wrote. This temporal trend can be utilized by health services on campuses to accurately time their education and contraceptive programs. we make sure we are getting information to first-years right from the beginning in order to make sure they have access to resources, said naomi ninneman, a health educator at Brown health Services. health Services also trains residential Peer Leaders to have proper knowledge of all resources related to sexual health and equips them with safe sex supplies to provide to their residents,

sydney mondry / Herald

the hookup culture on college campuses is less prominent than stereotypes in the media suggest, according to a recent study. ninneman added. more and better sex. But 20 percent of Lisa wade, an associate professor of college students graduate still as virgins, sociology and department chair at oc- wade said. The study focused primarily on colcidental College whose work was cited in the study, said she was not surprised lege women because they are more likely by the results. when people arrive on compared to males to experience deprescampus, they try and enact this life that sion, sexual victimization and StDs, tophas been promised by the media where ics the researchers will address in future women are sexually free and independent, papers. The experimenters also chose to wade said. During the course of their first study first-years because they identified year, only about 10 percent truly enjoy the first year of college as a critical dethe supposedly free and liberating casual velopmental period during which sexual hookup culture, she added. behavior increases as young women exBecause these people also tend to be plore who they want to become and how the most sexually visible, the remain- they want to interact with others, Fielder ing population suffers from what social wrote. Future studies could investigate psychology has deemed pluralistic ig- whether these trends exist among male norance, whereby students incorrectly populations, upperclassmen and nonassume that everybody else is having college-attending individuals.

lecture reexamines study of africa

By mOniCa PErEz
Contributing Writer

Achille Mbembe, a professor in history and politics at the wits Institute for Social and economic research, said studying Africa is a compelling, exhilarating and a perplexing task in a lecture entitled Africa in theory in Pembroke hall 305 wednesday night. the lecture aimed to shed light on the misguided ways Africa has been studied in contemporary history. Mbembe opened his lecture with a question to the audience of more than 60 people: what does it mean to write the world from Africa, or to write Africa into the world today? he began by outlining how the dominant methods of studying Africa have led to a paradoxical relationship between the continent and intellectuals. on one hand, he said Africa has provided the foundations for many modern disciplines, such as anthropology, political economy, psychoanalysis and post-structuralism. on the other hand, because of its history, Africa is often seen as broken and underdeveloped despite significant progress in the continent. Some academics assume that one cannot produce new ways of thinking by working in Africa, Mbembe said. It is as if Africa and theory are incompatible, he said. Mbembe cited the concept of presentism as one of the major contributors to the creation of this paradoxical view. he said presentism relies on statistics as a way of measuring what

Africa is and can become, without looking at the underlying social context. For instance, a statistic that 80 percent of a country is unemployed can be misleading because the people in that country may be working every day in unconventional jobs for a days wage. Presentism takes the unemployment statistic into account while ignoring the social factor of people using themselves as infrastructure. Consequently, this method of defining African life turns Africa into a pathological case and a field of lack, Mbembe said, adding that it focuses on what Africa is not rather than what it is. this leads to a narrow definition of what Africa stands for. Some studies in the 1980s and 1990s examined Africa differently, an approach that Mbembe lauded. Scholars in the 1980s employed interpretive history, which considers individual social factors such as the idea of people basing their lives on conditions of precariousness and uncertainty. Mbembe said this should be the primary example of how we should think and write about human agency, adding that these studies have not been sufficiently recognized. these types of studies are redrawing the global intellectual map, he said. Mbembe concluded the lecture with the assertion that Africa is facing a language crisis. we need to invent the vocabulary for the concepts that are going on, Mbembe said. A new imagination is forming in Africa, he said, and the

lack of theoretical language to describe the growth of scholarship in Africa is a problem. Defining new concepts through the study of Africa will be a monumental restarting point for the continent, he said. During the question and answer period, Linda Quiquivix, a postdoctoral fellow in critical global humanities at the Cogut Center for the humanities, asked about the ethical role of intellectuals in engaging with the study of Africa. Mbembe responded that prior discourse already exists in peoples minds when discussing Africa. But social creativity must be given attention, he said. there are things to be said about Africa, he said. when a person travels to Africa, they realize there is much space for novelty.

the work of a thriller writer takes the author into a dark place. we listen to the voices in our head that tell us to kill, said Lisa Gardner, one of the six world-renowned authors that spoke to a packed Salomon 101 for the librarys thriller writer Panel. we write it down, she said. the thriller writer panel, consisting of award-winning writers David Baldacci, Steve Berry, nelson DeMille, Lisa Gardner and r.L. Stine, serves as a commemoration of a new thriller Archive to be compiled at the John hay Library. the discussion was moderated by Jon Land 79, a thriller writer himself, who penned his first thriller novel as his senior thesis in english at Brown. together, the six authors have nearly one billion books in print. the first question posed to the writers what defines a thriller? proved the most widely debated of the evening. Lisa Gardner, whom Land called the master of suburban terSuburbia is the scariest developror, broached ment in modern society. a distinction between lisa Gardner mysteries and Author thrillers. In a mystery, the suspense is derived from the writers then spoke about their what already happened. But in a varying sources of inspiration, from thriller, the suspense is derived from suburbia to evil twins to the Cold what will happen next, she said. war. thriller novels, the writers agreed, Stine said the title of a book comes revolve around suspense. you want first for him because having a title to be scared to turn the next page, always leads him to the story. he Baldacci said. recounted one moment of inspiraStine entertained the audience de- tion when, while walking his dog, scribing reader reaction to the one the words little shop of hamsters story he wrote with an unhappy end- suddenly came to him. the book ing. the kids turned on me, Stine about a boy who takes a job in said to much laughter and applause, a pet store only to discover that the explaining that he wrote the ending, hamsters are not as friendly as they in which the wrong girl is arrested seem would go on to be the 14th for a murder and the criminal goes in his Goosebumps series. free, purely for his own amusement. For DeMille and Berry, historical Stine recounted the letters he re- moments and events often inspire ceived from fans, including one that their stories. started with Dear r.L. Stine, you the genesis of thrillers goes back moron! to the Cold war, DeMille said, notGardner said she believes readers ing that a good thriller should have look to thrillers for resolution, not international implications. he said he / / thriller page 8 happy endings. She spoke about real wrote thrillers

news stories, such as the trials of o.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony, and the frustration of not knowing for sure what occurred in reality, as a reason for the appeal of escapist novels. thrillers, she said, are satisfying to readers because we want to know what actually happened. Land further emphasized the movement of thriller writing from exploration of the extraordinary to everyday horror. In the world of Jerry Sanduskys, Land told the herald, Americans are truly frightened by the demons in the house next door. the monsters who haunt our dreams, who create our nightmares, are the ones we worry about leaving our children with, Land told the herald. Gardner agreed with Land, noting that the most frightening thought is not really knowing what goes on behind the closed doors of your neighbors house. Suburbia is the scariest development in modern society, and the soccer mom the most fearsome character in our lives, she said.

@the_herald

father-son team reassesses natural, financial hazards

and a half that they officially teamed up for the first time. Seth had written a paper on the tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, and Jerome had published a book on the 2008 financial crisis. Seth said they were comparing notes when they realized that the events had certain similarities. we decided we should look at these together in an integrated sort of way, he said. one paper, Gray swans: comparison of natural and nancial hazard assessment and mitigation, was published in September in the journal natural hazards. The paper compares these two disasters, saying that the devastating impacts of both the tohoku earthquake and the U.S. financial crisis resulted from unrecognized or underappreciated weaknesses in hazard assessment and mitigation policies. A second paper, rebuilding tohoku: A joint geophysical and economic framework for hazard mitigation, was published last month in GSA today, the news magazine of the Geological Society of America. The article examines how the effects of natural disasters can be most effectively mitigated at the lowest cost. Usually, these decisions are made very politically, Seth said. So usually the decisions arent very good. Jerome said the U.S. Geological Survey in particular has a vested interest in generating fear of natural hazards and has even gone so far as using scare tactics to convince people that extreme preventive measures were necessary, even when the actual threat was relatively small. Their policy was always, Theres no limit to what you can spend. you cant be too safe, Jerome said. Actually, the Steins say, you can. The resources that would be spent producing ineffective mitigation could be used for better purposes, Jerome said, and some mitigation methods might even be counterproductive. Seth noted that the tohoku tsunami killed a large number of people who did not evacuate because they assumed the sea walls would keep them safe. The question is not what is good or nice, but how much is enough, Jerome said. how much is enough. Those four words are everything. Their model begins with a given natural hazard, such as a tsumani, and the level of mitigation implemented to combat it such as a seawall. It factors in the severity of the hazard, such as the height of the tsunami and the extent of the mitigation such as the height of the seawall. The model also incorporates the probability of such an event to find the expected loss over the life of the wall. The sum of the expected loss is then added to the cost of mitigation to find the total cost. Graphing the total cost produces a U-shaped curve with its minimum at the optimum level of mitigation. The Steins also accounted for the high uncertainty in predicting natural hazards, as well as risk aversion, or the tendency to over-prepare because of the high stakes involved. These two factors shift the minimum toward greater mitigation. I did the mathematics and economic modeling, and (Seth) then changed it in a way that could be understood by the geological audience, Jerome said. he said this interactive process took place mostly over email, with Seth making periodic trips back to Providence. Theres a lot to be said for face-to-face, Seth said. the biggest challenge for us in collaboration was understanding each others language, Jerome said. he said though they sometimes disagreed on how to best approach a problem, and though Seth could be strong-minded at times, their family relationship had a positive effect on the process. he knows my skills, he said. no one in the geological community would have that knowledge. Jerome added that theres not an invidious distinction on authorship. Seth said combining their two fields helped them gain a lot of insights you wouldnt get from one and also allowed them to present their findings to both mathematicians and geologists. Though the studys methods were foreign to most geologists, who were not accustomed to thinking about natural hazards in terms of cost-benefit analysis, its reception was generally positive, and the Steins are optimistic about the impact it may have on policymaking in the future, Jerome said. I think theres a rising awareness of the need to do cost-benefit analyses for natural hazards, Seth said. A third paper, Formulating natural hazard Policies Under Uncertainty, has been submitted for publication. Their next target? Global warming and climate change. The father-son duo is currently working on a book, Playing against nature: integrating earth science and economics for cost-effective natural hazard mitigation, which will apply economic models to problems facing the environment.

4 science & research

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

courtesy oF setH stein

brown economist Jerome stein and son seth, a geologist, combined their knowledge to assess risk in disaster preparedness from two angles.
By raCHEl marGOlis
Staff Writer

In 1960, Jerome Stein, associate professor of economics, took his 7-year-old son Seth to hear a talk about continental drift by geologist Donald eckelmann, also a dean at Brown at the time. Seth demonstrated his early aptitude for geology by jumping up when eckelmann asked for questions. he said, you mean its like bars of Ivory soap in the bathtub? Jerome recalled. This was the beginning of the earth science continental drift, earth150 floor spreading, which was very new. So he was in at the beginning. no one had ever heard of these things before. Seth went on to study geology at the

Massachusetts Institute of technology and the California Institute of technology. It was the best time for geology ever, Seth said, calling the 1960s the decade of geology. Moon landings and the entrance of plate tectonics into the field made it particularly exciting, he said. today, he teaches in the Department of earth and Planetary Sciences at northwestern University. Jerome has remained at Brown, where he is currently a professor emeritus of economics and a visiting professor in the Division of Applied Mathematics. over the years, Seth and Jerome read each others work and inevitably discussed science at family functions, Seth said. But it wasnt until the past year

modernized opera explores pursuit of love, creation of identity

By mark ValdEz
Senior Staff Writer

Maroon horace Mann sweatpants, furry off-white vests and bro tanks are not costume pieces usually associated with a 19th-century satirical opera. But in Patience, Gilbert and Sullivans first production of the semester, director Andrea Vela 13 wanted to cast the show in a modern light, allowing students to be able to relate to the opera, she said. when people hear opera, they assume its stuffy and old-fashioned, Vela said. I wanted to create something to break those stereotypes. the opera was written in the time of the aesthetic movement, valuing the arts above all else. the show centers around the chorus maidens love for Bunthorne, the town poet played by Matthew Jaroszewicz 12. he sets his sights on the town milkmaid, Patience (Betsy Carter 16), but is met with resistance. the dragoons the chorus of men aim to show off their masculinity to the maidens but to no avail, as the maidens are in love

with the poet. the chorus is stirred when Patiences first love Grosvenor (Johnny Abrams 15) returns to town. Vela said her vision for the show was based on the creation of identity and the implications that accompany donning false identities to get the attention of others. this theme comes across clearly as the characters alter their personalities and outward appearances in hope of attaining the one they love. with the idea of making the opera more approachable, Vela kept all original dialogue and lyrics from the production but changed the costumes and scenery. Set in a modern urban neighborhood, the grey, spotted set reflects a concrete park, with a large, vintage Pabst Blue ribbon billboard sitting on the far end of the stage. the costumes aim to create a duality of stereotypes between the hipsters and bros, assistant director Buck Greenwald 15 said. the chorus of women could come straight out of the rhode Island School of Design, dressed in blue leggings, tiedyed shirts, gaudy earrings and cross

necklaces. elizabeth Adler 15, who plays Angela, wears a shirt that reads, normal people scare me! the bros are the chorus of men, the dragoon guards who all wear gold chains, polo shirts with popped collars and bro tanks. Despite creating the duality between the hipsters and jocks, the costume choices at times come across as confusing. the dragoons constantly refer to themselves as military men in song with characters such as the Duke and Colonel, which is hard to align with the costume choices. the characters that do not fall into either category the two romantics, Patience and Grosvenor are not put into modern day clothing, adding to a time period confusion. Patience wears overalls and a flowing white blouse, while Grosvenor wears a shimmering maroon velvet suit throughout most of the show, something that isnt quite modern. But providing him with an electronic tablet harkens back to todays modernity. the ensembles performance is the highlight of the production with the resonating voices harmoniously intertwining. Greenwald noted that supertitles would be projected during the shows run, making it easier for the audience to follow along with the Sondheim-esque rapidity of the lyrics. reflecting to Browns artistic culture, the chorus of maidens constantly raise their hands in approving snaps as they listen to the poems of Bunthorne. Its the subtleties that make these

evan tHomas / Herald

Gilbert and sullivans first production of the semester, the opera Patience, incorporates modern costumes including bro tanks and sweatpants. characters really special, Vela said. gestures. Carter hits all her high range with a small cast of 11, Vela ennotes with perfection, but her lines joyed the tight-knit community often seem forced and rushed. Jaro- formed by the cast. the odd number szewicz fills Alumnae hall with his lends itself to leaving one character capacious voice, both in songs and without a partner at the end of the opscript, emulating a melodramatic era, someone the audience will have poet. his duet with Jane, played by to wait to discover with patience. Patience is playing nov. 16 at 8 elizabeth Gurin 16, is the highlight of the second act, as they play off p.m., nov. 17 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and of each others voices and eccentric nov. 18 at 3 p.m. at Alumnae hall.

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

arts & culture 5

become focused on today. But the path to get to this fascination with nautical themes was as equally informative in his process of development and source of inspiration as his near-death experience was, he said. It was a synthesis of 10 years of work to find what he liked to paint and the platform where he could incorporate all the techniques he enjoyed, he said. Throughout his lecture he showed his care for the audience and desire for other artists who shared a similar background as him to be able to profit from art. Concentrating in Art and Symbiotics, and taking classes comparable to those offered by the modern culture and media department today, reynolds said his undergraduate experience was influential in his search for inspiration. his teachers pushed him toward a variety of source material, and he said he thinks about his experience at Brown every day. hannah winkler 13, whose interest in painting lies in an exploration of color, said when reynolds visited Brown last year, he critiqued one of her works, and similarly offered helpful advice about her techniques and positive encouragement. reynolds also critiqued students work before he gave the lecture wednesday evening. I just love art so much. Its like heaven for me, reynolds said. But he didnt always feel this way, he said. reynolds illustrated this through his progression as an artist. he showed pictures of various stages in painting one of his more famous works, to further relate to the budding artists and assure that just like he had a decade of progression before he settled on a source of inspiration the actual act of making art doesnt come easily to him either. he named the beginning of this decade Great expectations. Like young Pip, I got to learn the art world and didnt know if I liked it, he said. reynolds early work appeared on the left screen, displaying exclusively paintings of toilets. As he said, we all start somewhere. he said he became fascinated by the floret designs on the architecture throughout the city of Providence, and this became the source of inspiration for his paintings while a Brown student. reynolds defined his next phase as a crash. I hated the art world everything about it except art itself, he said. During this time, he developed his fascination with shadow and became a perfectionist living what he said was a hermetic process in his studio. while informative in his decade of development, he warned, at some point, you have to realize the beauty in the work, and put it out for everyone else to see. The only way out is through. ending his hermetic lifestyle and becoming a professor at harvard,

alum reflects on trials of the art world, finding success post-brown

By Emily PassarElli
Contributing Writer

In a dimly lit room wednesday evening, audience members listened as artist, sculptor and gallery proprietor rob reynolds 90 reflected on his progression from his days at Brown to his life now. The artist offered advice not only about how to push through frustration with success in the field of art, but also on how to live. Throughout his talk, reynolds adopted a comical and expressive presentation, calling the audience gang and using colloquial speech, making the event more of a conversation than a lecture. you have much less to lose by saying what you feel and think than you think, reynolds said. your heart knows you better than your brain. Using two adjacent projection screens on the left from the outdated slide carousel, on the right a PowerPoint reynolds placed his progression in the context of the progression of technology. on the left, he flipped through images of his early works. on the right, the PowerPoint streaming from his MacBook computer announced the title of each stage in his development as an artist. reynolds grew up outside of Boston before attending Cornell and transferring to Brown. An experience in which he nearly drowned in Maine one summer defined what his work has

corrine szczesny / Herald

rob reynolds 90, sculptor and gallery proprietor, showcased his development as an artist in the context of technological progress. reynolds developed a fascination him to combine his interest in text, the with the rainbow stickers of the 80s, effects of mirror and shadow and the inspired by John Lennons Imagine concrete in work that displays a relaand the pacifist ideals of Quaker meet- tionship to an event he still is haunted ings he attended after the breakout of by in his dreams. now a curator as well as an artist, war post-9/11. During this time he explored the technique of mirroring. he said the historical setting and influThat stage he named a stepping ences of ones life, although they may stone to his work today. About art and not directly inspire the work, definitely success, he said, its a long, winding speak through it. when he curates, he road. But he stressed that winding or said he chooses pieces from diverse not, the reason he continues to love art sources that speak to the same theme is because his source of inspiration is to contextualize the status of a theme one that resonates with him. It allows in the imagination and in the real. lenging uncertainty, wong said. Most experts anticipate that Congress will reach a deal to temporarily avoid a fiscal meltdown, Carroll said. Such a move may involve making some budget cuts and letting some tax cuts expire, or it may involve putting off all decisions, she said. Carroll said she has spoken with members of Congress, but they just dont know what will happen. There are so many different scenarios, she said. beyond the cliff Though experts agreed that the handling of the fiscal cliff is currently the most pressing congressional concern, other political decisions will also influence universities like Brown, they said. The accessibility and affordability of higher education, immigration reform, promoting teaching and science and graduate student unionization could all come under national scrutiny in obamas next term. In his next term, obama will continue to promote universities accessibility and affordability, wong said. obama often speaks of the increasing costs of college and encourages universities like Brown to halve the rates of their tuition increases, wong said. Browns tuition has increased between 3.5 and 4.5 percent per year for the past three years, The herald previously reported. But Carroll said obama has yet to release the details of his plans to slow tuition increases. well react to them when we see them, she said. Addressing immigration reform and providing more opportunities to the children of undocumented immigrants have always been of interest to obama, said Maria Ferguson, executive director of the Center on education Policy at George washington University. I think that were going to see continued forward movement on that, she said. Paxson supports an initiative led by new york Mayor Michael Bloomberg that would enable more foreigners with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to receive green cards, Carroll said. wong added that obama has also emphasized the need for more top graduates to enter teaching, particularly in SteM fields. If obama can create more teacher education and loan forgiveness programs, even more Brown graduates may decide to teach after graduation, wong said. In the class of 2011, 12 percent of students applied to join teach for America a program that seeks to match college graduates with low-performing schools and 43 students ultimately joined, The herald previously reported. obama will also need to appoint someone to fill a seat on the national Labor relations Board after a current members term expires in December, Carroll said. Democrats usually appoint pro-union members, she said. If obama does so, the nLrB would be more likely to overturn a 2004 ruling that prohibited graduate student unionization, which is currently being challenged by graduate students at new york University. Though a decision in favor of nyU graduate students could pave the way for more student unions, it would not automatically enable Brown graduate students to unionize as well, Carroll said. Peter weber, professor of chemistry and dean of the graduate school, testified in a Sept. 12 house of representatives hearing against such a policy. In private universities such as Brown, engaging in collective bargaining about issues at the core of the academic curriculum would wreak havoc with academic freedom, he said in his statement. Though it is unclear how exactly policies created by obama and Congress will have an impact on institutions like Brown over the next four years, Carroll, wong and toiv all characterized obama as an education-focused president. he has made education a priority and says he will continue to do so, Carroll said.

new york play takes audience back to camp

By sHEza atiq
Staff Writer

/ / Obama page 1
University stands to lose between $13 million and $15 million in research funding, The herald previously reported. the University also receives $2.3 million in financial aid and work-study funds from the federal government, an amount set to shrink if the U.S. falls off the fiscal cliff. Pell Grants, which support more than 900 Brown students and are funded through both mandatory and discretionary spending, are protected from the budget cuts for fiscal year 2013 but may face cuts in 2014, Carroll said. Last summer, around 150 university presidents, including President Christina Paxson, sent a letter to obama and congressional leaders, urging them to take a balanced approach as they decide how to resolve the fiscal crisis, Carroll said. Sequestration is an undiscerning and blunt budget tool that would substantially harm our nations future by blindly slashing valuable investments in education and scientific research, the letter reads. It urges Congress to consider tax reform, including cutting some entitlement programs, rather than solely reducing discretionary spending. obama has a solid appreciation for the value of the research that U.S. research universities conduct, toiv said. he understands where that fits into the U.S. innovation system and has sought to keep it strong. Though there has always been bipartisan support for research, obamas consistent emphasis on its importance benefits universities, he added. Kenneth wong, professor and chair of the Universitys education department, echoed toivs cautious optimism. obama will try to defend research funding, wong said, but the federal budget is a politically divisive issue. obama wants to move forward with his goals of global competitiveness, but there is the congressional politics that he has to deal with. There lies some very chal-

It is not often that one gets to relive the summer camp experience, yet thats precisely what audience members get if they catch a showing of awardwinning playwright Gregory Moss MFA 08 Billy witch. The play, which has been running for two weeks at the Astoria Performing Arts Center in new york, was written for a dramatic writing class that Moss took as a graduate student. wanting to explore the topic of adolescence, Moss said he chose a summer camp as the plays setting because it is a mythical American place that has always intrigued him and described the dramatic piece as a fast and furious comedy. The first half of Billy witch was completed by Moss as he was finishing his graduate studies in 2008. Studying under then Professor of english Paula Vogel, whom he met before coming to Brown, Moss credited graduate school for allowing him to be the writer I actually am. Moss said he drew on personal experiences as well as literary works such as ovids Metamorphoses and Shakespeares A Midsummer nights Dream while writing Billy witch. The play, which premiered at the APAC on nov. 1, was also picked up last spring when it was performed by Studio 42 in Manhattan. Acknowledging the challenges associated with its production, Moss said he is excited the play is getting as much of a life on stage as it has. the 13-member cast of Billy witch made it an ambitious undertaking for erik Pearson, director of

productions, who was first introduced to the play by a friend. Pearson, who also directed the play last spring, was struck by its fantastic theatrical imagination. Though the first showing was a great success, Pearson said the production is entirely different this time around with a new cast, set and lighting designer. Pearson said he built upon the successes of the first time and pushed the envelope further, particularly when it came to costumes. the production company also faced several challenges in the wake of hurricane Sandy, Pearson said, which forced the crew to cancel several rehearsals and grapple with gas shortages. Fortunately they were able to make up for lost time and ended up using branches that were knocked down by Sandy for the plays set design, Pearson said. he added that he worked closely with Moss prior to the plays first production and had found the collaboration to be immensely beneficial. Pearson, who finds the director-playwright relationship to be very important, said he was struck by Moss theatrical vocabulary, not to mention his unique take on the subject of the play itself. Pearson said the production has been a tremendous success thus far and managed to elicit several great laughs from the audience, which seemed to have been quite affected by its story. So few of these stories succeed in truthfully expressing what that moment of becoming an adult from a child is, and Greg does this with great humor, Pearson said. Billy witch will run in the APAC until nov. 17.

6 city & state

author aims to evoke wonder and magic
By kiki barnEs
Staff Writer

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

If you are here to find your fate you will be sorely disappointed. So began fiction writer Lily hoang as she read from her novel, Changing, yesterday for the writers on writing reading Series at the McCormack Family Auditorium. The semi-autobiographical novel is a re-interpretation of the Chinese book of prophecy the I Ching. At the reading, audience members rolled a pair of dice that determined which page hoang would read from next. See how good this is? Divination works, hoang said after an audience member rolled 40, which was his age. hoang is a prolific author. She has penned the books Unfinished, Changing, winner of the Pen Beyond Margins Award The evolutionary revolution and Parabola winner of the 2006 Chiasmus Press Un-Doing the novel Contest. She also serves as prose editor at Puerto del Sol, associate editor at Starcherone Books and editor at tarpaulin Sky. She also teaches creative writing in the MFA program at new Mexico State University and writes online for the literary blog htML Giant. her first two books, Parabola and Changing, are compilations of her experiences told in an extremely fictionalized way. As a writer, when I walk through life, everything becomes a potential story, hoang said. I wrote (Changing) thinking that no one would ever read it, she said, adding that if the novel were really a memoir, her life wold be pretty chaotic. hoang also read from one of her works in progress, a chapbook about webcam sex from many different perspectives, and from her fourth book, Unfinished. For Unfinished, hoang contacted many authors she admired for stories that they could not finish, and she finished them, she said. At the event, she

r.i. legislature gears up for next session

By alExia ramirEz
Contributing Writer

arts & culture

Brittany comunale / Herald

fiction writer lily Hoang read from her book unfinished, in which she wrote endings to other authors unfinished stories. played a recording of one of the authors reading her unfinished story about an animal rights activist. After that, hoang read the rest of the finished story. I tried to stay as close to the authors intention as possible, hoang said. hoang wants her books to evoke both wonder and magic for readers, she said. I hope that readers leave my books feeling that different things are possible than when they started reading, she said. I want people to get lost in the narrative and then taken out of it. one of her more memorable readings, hoang said, was when she read a story about an obese female serial killer. People came up to me after and told me how funny and wondrous it was even though it was very dark subject matter, she said. LItr 1200: writers on writing is a course that focuses on contemporary writers and gives students the opportunity to see writers in practice and ask them questions, said renee Gladman, professor of literary arts. (hoang) is the youngest author weve had. Shes making a name for herself, and we wanted to see if that would be interesting and inspiring for the students, Gladman said. hopefully (the students) will access those feelings of excitement and wonder they had as children, hoang said. what I hope to get across is that the expectations we have in the real world are not as constraining as we might think.

The upcoming rhode Island legislative session will open Jan. 1, and strong leaders from both parties are looking to have a marked impact this season. The rhode Island Democratic caucus unanimously endorsed Sen. M. teresa Paiva weed, D-newport, for reelection to the office of President of the Senate and elected Sen. Dominick ruggerio, D-Providence and north Providence, as Senate Majority Leader. At the republican caucus, rep. Brian newberry, r-north Smithfield, and rep. Joseph trillo, r-warwick, were unanimously re-elected as house Minority Leader and Minority whip, respectively. ruggerio laid out goals for the state in his caucus speech. we will seek to further improve education, protect the environment and improve the quality of life for all rhode Islanders, he said. Paiva weed also expressed her excitement to begin to fight toward building a stronger state through initiatives such as re-investment in tax credits, stimulating economic growth, creating jobs and revitalizing communities. The republicans who hold six seats in the General Assembly also have an ambitious plan. over the next two years, the house republicans intend to introduce a pro-growth agenda, newberry said at the caucus. we can provide ideas and analysis for public debate and promote an alternative to the stasis that for too long the

leadership of the state has promoted. with the unified goal of moving the state forward, many hope the upcoming session brings a vote on same-sex marriage. Maryland, Maine and washington all voted to legalize same-sex marriage in last weeks election, and many feel the ocean State is not far behind. According to ray Sullivan, spokesperson for Marriage equality rhode Island, the state is closer than ever before to passing legislation on samesex marriage last week saw groundshifting momentum. Pro-equality candidates were resoundingly elected, and five new pro-equality senators were elected to the rhode Island Senate. Given the momentum up to this point, MerI is looking forward to working with house Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, when he calls a vote on this issue in January, Sullivan said. 2013 is going to be the year for marriage equality, he added. The Brown Democrats have been working hand in hand with Marriage equality rhode Island to lobby senators, talk to members of our community, to get as many people involved in pressuring representatives and senators to pass this legislation, said the groups president, Sofia Fernandez Gold 14. As of late, we have seen in last weeks election a tide of support for marriage equality, she said. This is indicative of where the country is heading, and it would be wonderful if rhode Island could be the next state to support equality.

/ / research page 1
proposed topics of scholarship range from fetal medicine to ethics to Brazil, and many span all four of the Universitys broad academic disciplines. The idea for the proposal process initially came from the provosts office, Alcock said. Though no set amount of funding has been designated or planned for the initiatives, which could range in financial scope, Alcock told The herald the money would likely come from the Universitys upcoming capital campaign, external grants and other fundraising avenues. The University has made efforts this semester to facilitate faculty connections, both informally and at a meeting last Friday in which professors presented fiveminute long summaries of their ideas in what Alcock described as a kind of speed dating. Several faculty members who are lead facilitators on submitted proposals said one of the greatest benefits of the process so far has been forging new connections with professors across the University. Its surprisingly rare for faculty to really talk across departments and across fields in a way that is, heres what Im interested in working on. what are you working on? And this is really opening up that possibility, said Steven Lubar, professor of history and American studies, whose proposal is entitled Cultural Artifacts: Bridging the Material and the Virtual. My guess is as this process goes on it will be fascinating to see how they merge and how Ill discover Im interested in things I didnt know about, Lubar added. The opportunity to create new crossdisciplinary initiatives is particularly useful

Woonsocket hospital bucks new offer

By katE kiErnan
Contributing Writer

Landmark Medical Center remains in negotiations to merge with the hospital group Prime healthcare Services, despite Landmark hospital holdcos offer earlier this month to purchase the hospital for $4 million more than Prime has agreed to pay. Landmark hospital holdco proposed a new bid nov. 1 to Jonathan Savage, the court-appointed special master representing the woonsocket-based Landmark Medical, according to the Providence Journal. this is not the first time Landmark hospital holdco has offered to purchase Landmark Medical, which has been under the authority of the courts since it neared bankruptcy in 2008. this offer was submitted by an entity that was deemed unqualified during the 2011 court-supervised bidder process because they failed to submit requisite threshold information to both the Special Master and the Court, wrote Bill Fischer, spokesperson for Landmark Medical, in an email to the herald. we are disappointed by the decisions being made by Mr. Savage, said

Spencer Baretz, spokesperson for Landmark hospital holdco, in a nov. 5 press release. he cited Landmark hospital holdcos success with previous hospitals, its economical and efficient plans for the hospitals future and commitment to the community as reasons for Savage to consider the groups offer. not only is our offer economically superior to other potential buyers, but more broadly, it is absolutely more favorable for patients, staff and the rhode Island community, Baretz said in his statement. Landmark hospital holdco has not filed an application with the rhode Island Department of health, which oversees hospital mergers, to acquire Landmark Medical, wrote Department of health spokesperson Dara Chadwick in an email to the herald. Choosing between different buyers could affect Landmark Medicals priorities for future investments and long-term goals, said Ira wilson, professor of health services policy and practice. the terms of a transaction between Prime healthcare and Landmark Medical as opposed to a different hospital group could im-

pact the care provided to Landmarks patients, many of whom are lowincome or elderly, depending on how money is allotted or if Landmark Medical is restructured, he said. If the deal is finalized, Landmark Medical will become one of the 20 hospitals throughout the United States managed by California-based Prime healthcare Services. Prime intends to invest $60 million dollars to make Landmark more financially stable and to preserve current services to its patients, edward Barrera, spokesperson for Prime healthcare Services, told the herald in September. while the approval process between Landmark Medical and Prime healthcare Services is ongoing, Savage is more than satisfied with Primes offer and the pace of discussions, Fischer said. Savages motion to continue negotiations with Prime healthcare Services and enter into an asset purchase agreement to set the terms of the sale was granted by the court earlier this month, Fischer said. Currently, the earliest date for completion would be some time in May, Barrera told the herald.

for Brown today following the expansion of the faculty under former President ruth Simmons Plan for Academic enrichment, Alcock said. I think maybe 10 years ago we sort of knew who everyone was, she said, and as we grow we have to work harder to communicate, to really learn about each other. Along with the size of the faculty, the scope of the Universitys academic initiatives has grown as well, said Andrew Foster, professor of economics and director of the Population Studies and training Center, who is the lead facilitator of the proposal International Initiative on Government Capacity, Public Services and human well-Being. Simmons transition also saw the start of several new initiatives, he said, but there was an idea of being sort of smaller things, perhaps with more of a methodological focus. his proposal lists more than two dozen faculty members as potential collaborators, ranging from anthropology to engineering. But there is precedent for the new initiatives: Simmons tenure saw the commencement of several multimillion-dollar initiatives, including the humanities Initiative and one to expand the Brown Institute for Brain Science. Though administrators and faculty members said other universities engage in similar academic scholarship planning efforts, some said Browns Signature Academic Initiatives process stands out for its openness and encouragement of cross-disciplinary ties. Its sort of in the character of Brown theyre really trying to develop this from the ground up, said Community health Professor David Savitz, whose proposal / / research page 9 is origins

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

sports friday 7
By JakE COmEr
SportS editor

fifa award up for grabs fOOtball bears hungry for win in final home game between ronaldo, messi
By daniyal kHan
SportS ColumniSt

A couple of weeks ago, FIFA released a 23-man short list of nominees for this years Ballon dor, FIFAs official Player of the year award. the three finalists will be announced nov. 29, with the award ceremony itself taking place in January. But with the votes being cast this month, its as good a time as any to speculate about the results. Its no secret that once again, its a two-horse race between Argentine maestro Lionel Messi and Portuguese superstar Cristiano ronaldo. As much as Im sure its a great honor to be shortlisted for the award, the other 21 contenders can realistically only hope for third place. thats right: Im not even allowing them to dream about winning. thats how much of a gap there is between them and Messi and ronaldo. Anyone who believes otherwise such as 1990 winner Lothar Matthaus is a non-conformist hipster pundit in my book. the former German captain puts forward Spaniards Xavi hernandez and Andres Iniesta as favorites, citing their international success or rather Messi and ronaldos lack thereof as the chief reason for his picks. But the problem with his argument is that international play is a non-factor this time around. By carrying their consistent regular season form into this summers european Championships, there is no doubt that Xavi and Iniesta played pivotal roles in Spains tournament triumph. that, however, doesnt give the pair any sort of real advantage. ronaldo finally had a breakout performance in a national kit in the same tournament, and Messi wasnt even competing in the championships. And in any case, the euros arent capable of the same level of influence as the world Cup see 2006 Ballon dor winner Fabio Cannavaro. Its interesting to note that Messi was able to fend off a similar Spaniard challenge in 2009 to win his first of three consecutive Ballon dor awards. And this was right on the heels of a Spanish world Cup triumph in which Xavi and Iniesta featured prominently. So as long as new york continues to vote blue, you can expect history to repeat itself here. But with seven Spaniards on the shortlist, dont be surprised if we find a member of the current european and world Champion national team in the final three. with all that dealt with, lets move onto the granddaddy of all questions: Messi or ronaldo? thankfully I dont have to try (and fail) to conclude who the better player is just to see who had the better year. the stats are very telling in that they accurately illustrate the monster years both players had in 2012 without significantly tilting the argument either way.

Messis and ronaldos 50 and 46 season goals, respectively, are equally ridiculous. Leos lead in assists is even thinner, as the Barcelona man edged out his real Madrid rival 15 to 12. Since the stats dont help us resolve the problem, we have to rely on the intangibles to determine who deserves to be crowned Player of the year. And determining what each factor means for the larger debate isnt exactly a science, so everyone is bound to have a different take on things. For example, it can be said that Messi is more of a team player than ronaldo. Granted, both players possess an almost infinite set of individual skill and trickery, but Id wager that you would find Lionel making a pass in a certain situation more often than you would Cristiano. now, one way of looking at this is saying that Messi is more reliant on his Barcelona teammates, whereas ronaldo can get the job done on his own. on the flip side and this is my preferred take on this particular analysis is that a player like Messi is able to think for the teams cause rather than for his own, and thats the kind of player you would want in your lineup. After all, even superstars have to contribute to a team of 11. Its the fact that theyre good at it that makes them superstars. Similarly, theres a lot of talk about whether the players are carrying their respective teams or simply benefiting from higher quality players around them, and whether that affects their public perception. Personally, I feel that whatever impact a stronger team has on individual performance, its nullified by the impact a single player has on their teammates. In other words, if Messi indeed has a better team around him, its his own prowess that makes them look better. So its a bit of a moot point. But I will concede that while its generally accepted that Xavi, Iniesta and Messi form the core of the Barca attack, its hard to imagine a formidable real lineup when its missing number seven. Messi is an integral cog in Barcas machine, whereas ronaldo is reals machine. But what Messi has going for him is the simple fact that hes won the Ballon dor the past three years, which means that in the voters eyes, hes been better than ronaldo since 2010. And ronaldo has not been able to bridge the gap. Both players have improved significantly since then but at a relatively even level. the only thing that has really changed is the league title ronaldos real Madrid won La Liga last season. Despite that, I believe Leo is on track for another Golden Ball. So come late november, expect to see Messi and ronaldo among the finalists. Ill go out on a limb and say that Andres Iniesta will round out the final trio, but at least we wont have to wait for Florida to weigh in.

nine games into the season, the Bears have won awards, suffered injuries, practiced in rain and snow, dished out revenge and tasted some, gone scoreless in front of unfriendly crowds and triumphed for fans at home. A lot has happened. there has been one drive behind it all the same drive that will put the Bears (63, 3-3 Ivy) in battle array tomorrow afternoon against Columbia, when many of the teams seniors will take the Brown Stadium field for the last time. win, said head Coach Phil estes. thats what I hope to see. I hope to see us win. Co-captain and defensive lineman ross walthall 13 is one of the 28 seniors hoping to tuck away one last victory. were just excited to strap it up one more time together and get a win, he said. the Lions (3-6, 2-4) will feel the same hunger, looking to prove themselves once more on the heels of their convincing 34-17 victory over Cornell. with uncharacteristic prowess on both sides of the ball, Columbia generated nearly 400 yards on offense last weekend and held the Big red to 244, a far cry from their average of 426. A nearly even split between their passing and rushing gains during that game testified to a balanced Lions attack. they can throw it, they can run it with a very good back, estes said. Marcorus Garrett, the Lions most productive rusher, is third in the Ivy League for yards per game. Garrett needs 99 more rushing yards to hit 1,000 for the season. Lions quarterback Sean Brackett complements Garrett with an average of 189 passing yards per game, fourth highest in the league. And that number would likely be more impressive if the Lions could protect him better Brackett has been sacked 29 times this fall, making him the most abused quarterback in the league. Despite their respectable ability to move the ball downfield, Columbia has had trouble closing the deal this season, scoring an average of 15.4 points per game, which is the second lowest in the league. Bruno, with an average of 21.7, has struggled too. But estes said quarterback Patrick Donnelly 13 has adjusted well to a Bears offense that has been shifting around him since September. I think Pat is a little more comfortable. he understands what these running backs can do, estes said. when you have all different running backs all the time, you never know what each guy can do. the Bears top five running backs have been playing musical chairs since Spiro theodhosi 12.5 broke

this weekends battle against Columbia marks the final football game for 28 seniors. his foot during the fourth game of those honors, Donnelly said. the season. Mark Kachmer 13, Cody Looking toward Columbia, Dontaulbee 14, Jordan reisner 14 and nelly said that if the team can cut Jeffrey Izon 13 have all been on and down on mistakes and penalties on off the sidelines since. offense, stick to the game plan, I there were some rough patches think well be okay. at the beginning of the season, espeestes expressed a similar focus. cially because of the injuries, Don- our offense just needs to not shoot nelly said. But I think weve kind of themselves in the foot, he said. we grown throughout the year. need to execute our offense and take weve just seen a team that can away the penalties and not turn the overcome a deficit or overcome los- ball over. ing somebody, walthall said. I think the Bears fumbled four times, weve kind of developed a toughness, losing the ball twice, and gave up 70 and a character has shown through. yards on seven penalties last weektaulbee, reisner and Izon were end. that needs to stop, estes said. healthy enough to rush for a combined 103 yards last week in the If we can play a nice, clean game, Bears victory at Dartmouth. But were going to be fine. Donnelly took a good deal of the on defense, Bruno looks to be as ground attack into his own hands, strong as ever. Second in the league running for 48 yards and two touch- for points allowed and third for yards downs. Jonah Fay 13, tellef Lunde- allowed per game, the Bears had four vall 13 and Jordan evans 14 caught sacks and 10 tackles for a loss against 17 passes for a combined 199 yards. Dartmouth. they are second in the Pat has really done a good job Football Championship Subdivision in the last couple of days, or in the for the latter statistic, and they lead last couple of games, of really taking the Ancient eight in interceptions control of the offense, estes said. At with 12 this season. As has been the times, he has scrambled really well case for most of the season, the Bears and really done great things with his may have less trouble keeping their feet, and then hes turned around opponent out of the end zone than and thrown the ball extremely well. getting there themselves. People have taken notice. the But tactics aside, Donnelly said new england Football writers Grid- he wants a win this Saturday by any iron Club of Greater Boston awarded means necessary. Donnelly the Gold helmet Award walthall said he felt a similar deas new englands top player of the sire. I just want to see all phases of week for his performance against the game played to the best of our Dartmouth. ability, he said. there are so many that marks the third time a Bears guys who just love the game of footplayer has won that award this season ball and feel very grateful to play at the first two Gold helmet Awards this level. we have so many guys who went to theodhosi and reisner. Don- love the game and dont take these nelly was also named Ivy League of- kinds of chances for granted. fensive Player of the week. Donnelly said he wants just to I dont really think about that win, just to kind of leave the season, too often, but I guess its nice to get and our home field, the right way.

jonatHan Bateman / Herald

www.browndailyherald.com

8 sports friday
bears head to nCaa second round
By alExandra COnway
SportS Staff Writer

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

m. sOCCEr

/ / thriller page 3
dealing with the foreign and domestic tensions of the Cold war at the beginning of his career. they offered varying opinions on what readers find so consistently captivating about the thriller genre. horror and thriller books, Stine said, are a means for adults to revisit their childhood nightmares and reexperience the age-old fear that someone is lurking somewhere. he said thrillers are a way of staying a child for adult readers. Land told the herald thrillers revolve around the classic quest story. the first thrillers ever are the Iliad and the odyssey, he said, noting that for a thriller to be successful, the protagonist must be searching for redemption. the six writers also discussed the changing modalities of thriller writing, from movie adaptation which DeMille called every authors fantasy and nightmare at the same time to e-books. Gardner championed the rise of the e-book in the modern age, calling the Kindle democracy at work. Because print publication traditionally works based on top-down strategies commanded by five guys in

two crucial goals in the first half of the first-round match of the nCAA Division I Mens Soccer tournament propelled the no. 15 Bears to a 2-0 win over Drexel (12-4-3) yesterday evening at Vidas Field in Philadelphia. The Bears advance to the tournaments second round for the fourth consecutive season. They will go up against the powerful University of Maryland, College Park (17-1-2) terrapins Sunday evening. The terrapins are ranked second in the country and are the Atlantic Coast Conference champions. The game was a really good challenge, said head Coach Patrick Laughlin. to travel and play away mid-week the team really rose to the occasion and played outstanding, he said. every game in the season is exciting and a battle, but the nCAA games are a whole other level, said Ben Maurey 15. every team is doing everything they can to get a win, so you have to give everything you got every game we certainly did that tonight. The Bears (13-2-3) started the game strong, taking command of the offense.

Close shots by tariq Akeel 16, Alex Markes 15 and Bobby Belair 13 marked the first five minutes of play. The pressure paid off in the 17th minute. First team All-Ivy midfielder Thomas Mcnamara 12.5 leapt for a header after a flawless entry pass from Dylan remick 13 off a corner kick, giving the Bears an early 1-0 edge over the Dragons. Bruno maintained the momentum, adding another goal at the tail-end of the first half. Again, it was First team AllIvy defender remick who got the assist, sending a long cross from the corner to Daniel taylor 15, whose header hit the cross bar and then deflected into the net past Drexel goalkeeper tim washam. The first half we did what our coach asked us to: give a confident, professional performance, taylor said. Co-captain ryan McDuff 13 said that scoring two goals in the first half really took the pressure off. In the second half, the Dragons came out more aggressive, pressuring the Bears defense with 14 shots in an attempt to continue their season. They did everything they could in the second half, fearing elimination, Maurey said. But our defense played strong and we got our 11th shutout,

tying the school record. The Dragons best chance came in the 57th minute when John Grosh drove the ball toward the right side of the net with goalie Sam Kernan-Schloss 13 out of position. But co-captain eric robertson 13 was in just the right place, heading the ball up and over the crossbar. Brunos backline stayed solid, deflecting each of the Dragons chances. The Bears will now head to College Park, Md., to face Maryland Sunday at 5 p.m. This is a great opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the country and show we can and will compete with anyone, taylor said. Maryland will provide the Bears with a tough challenge, but McDuff said the team will look to use its experience to its advantage. For seniors, this will be our 11th nCAA game, McDuff said. were excited for the challenge. we pride ourselves on being a competitive and prepared team. Last season, Bruno advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the tournament and will need to come out on top Sunday to repeat the feat. And as remick said, the Bears are happy but not satisfied yet.

new york, digital media represents a positive shift towards a bottom-up model for literary popularity, Gardner said, allowing new voices to arise in a business dominated by publishers interested only in brand-names. Berry agreed, noting that electronic books are merely the next stage in the long historical progression from medium-to-medium from stone carving to clay tablets to animal parchment to paper. Its not a bad thing, Berry said of the shift towards electronic media, noting that 70 percent of his books sales now come from electronic purchases. More people are reading today than ever in human history. the John hays thriller Archive, sponsored by the International thriller writers organization, will be the first thriller archive housed in any University, according to rosemary Cullen, curator of American Literary and Popular Culture Collections at the hay. the archive will contain donated manuscripts from thriller authors in addition to previously amassed archival collections of works of edgar Allen Poe, h.P. Lovecraft, Dashiell hammett and Mickey Spillane.

@bdh_sports

/ / Connelly page 12
redo about this season? I dont think so. The training has been consistent. Ive loved running with my teammates every day. I look forward to it. (head Coach of womens Cross Country Mitchell Baker)s been great, hes balanced the new work load with having lost a couple coaches really well. we havent even noticed, which is pretty incredible. So I wouldnt change anything. Whats your best memory from this season? I thought the wisconsin trip was really fun. A really good group of girls went. The trip was longer too, so instead of getting there and having to race the next day, we had a full day to just chill and see the course. hanging out with Mitchell was fun. we went to some great diner called Montys. we got some pretty incredible desserts. My aunt lives like a mile away from the course so I was able to hang out there, so I think that trip was a lot of fun.

sPOrt

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

sports friday 9
Picks from ivy league sports writers
Columbia Daily Spectator
Harvard. is anyone giving yale a snowballs chance in hell for this one? sorry Bulldogs.

The Brown Daily Herald Harvard vs. Yale Total Votes Harvard : 7 Yale : 1
Harvard. as last weeks loss to Penn demonstrated, Harvard is not invincible. But with a yale team that scored seven points in the last two weeks combined, the competition will be far from stiff: this will likely be Harvards easiest win (oh wait, columbia gets that honor). brown. though the stakes arent as high as they were in last years matchup, the Bears will be looking to avenge their lateseason defeat and can certainly hang their hats on a strong defense which will stop columbias perpetually weak offense. Good thing the lions live in the city that never sleeps because they wont be getting any after a convincing loss. Penn. with the ivy title secured, Penn doesnt have a ton to fight for. But cornell has been struggling as of late, and the killer combo of mathewstasker will not have what it takes to boil those oats (read: get through the average Quaker defense).

The Cornell Daily Sun

Harvard. Harvard is better and angry.

The Daily Pennsylvanian

Harvard. Harvard is still fighting for a share of the ivy title, but it wont be easy against a scrappy yale. colton chapple is probably still bruised from those sacks he took from Brandon copeland last weekend against Penn, though.

The Daily Princetonian

Harvard. whens the last time the Game was this lopsided on paper, especially with Harvard at home?

The Dartmouth
Harvard. in this annual matchup, Harvard crushes their connecticut opponent.

The Harvard Crimson

Harvard. this one could get very ugly very quickly and should be over by halftime. Harvard has the top offense and defense in the league, and somehow, yale managed to lose to columbia.

Yale Daily News

yale. do you believe in miracles? we do.

Brown vs. Columbia Total Votes Brown: 6 Columbia: 2

Columbia. ill be a homer for this one, why not? could be a defensive battle royale with two strong defensive fronts, but ill pick the lions in an upset for the final week.

brown. Brown will offer too much for columbia to handle.

brown. again, no one really cares about this game, but go Bears!

brown. cant say i saw last weeks columbia win coming lions are only a couple plays away from being 4-2 and still being in the title hunt, as weird as that sounds. still not better than Brown, though.

brown. Brown, after a comefrom-behind win vs. dartmouth, finishes its season off on a high note.

brown. yes, columbia beat cornell last week, but columbia is still columbia.

Columbia. columbia shocked everyone by trouncing cornell a week after appearing to throw in the towel on their season against Harvard. look for the lions running back marcorus Garrett to build on his spectacular performance last week and end the season on a high note.

Penn vs. Cornell Total Votes Penn: 6 Cornell: 2

Penn. after seeing jeff mathews so rattled in person last week, id be surprised if he had a good day against the Quakers physical defense.

Penn. Penn has its sights on the title and wont lose the opportunity against a disappointing cornell team.

Penn. i will never pick against Penn again. you heard it here first.

Penn. so tempted to pick the Big red which is about even-money at home according to sagarin ratings, without factoring ragones injury but isnt this a charmed season for Penn?

Cornell. in a matchup of high-powered offenses, cornell squeaks out a close one.

Cornell. with quarterback Billy ragone out, Penns offense may have trouble finding its rhythm on saturday. add that to cornells home-field advantage, and that gives the Big red the edge.

Penn. the loss of Billy ragone will be a serious obstacle to the Quakers, but Penn has improved in every game this season and with an ivy league title on the line, will be sure to bring their all, even on the road.

Dartmouth vs. dartmouth. call us crazy, but Princeton Total Votes Dartmouth: 4 Princeton: 4

this is our last pick of the season. were throwing a Hail mary to get our accuracy to 50%. lets do this, Big Green.

Princeton. Princeton has been somewhat of a surprise to me this season, and i think theyll finish off the year with a win over an inconsistent dartmouth team.

dartmouth. dartmouth is poised to pick up a big win to end the year.

Princeton. again, a stake in the ivy title is on the line. and Princeton is just clearly the better team.

Princeton. neither result would surprise me, but ill take the home team to cap a surprising Princeton season.

dartmouth. dartmouth salvages a win barely. dartmouth 17, Princeton 14.

Princeton. after its shocking upset over Harvard, Princeton has fallen back to earth. But behind a dominant defensive line, the tigers get the nod in this one.

dartmouth. dartmouth has been the most enigmatic team in the league this season. the Big Green have not won or lost two games in a row since weeks one and two of the season. they lost last week, so, for lack of a better predictive mechanism, we pick them to win this week. john sullivan 59% (13/22)

Editors/ Writers Pick Accuracy

jake comer and lindor Qunaj 42% (10/24)

myles simmons 54% (13/24)

Quintin schwab 46% (11/24)

megan soisson 55% (12/22)

Kevin whitaker 50% (12/24)

Brett drucker and noah reichblum 50% (12/24)

Bobby samuels 46% (11/24)

/ / research page 6
of Inequality in health and human Development. The intent is to make it start off at least as a real free-for-all of ideas, not knowing where its going to go, and I think that part is unusual, he said. Professors described a variety of different ways for deriving proposals. Many built upon connections they had already begun to make or collaborations they had already begun to turn into grant proposals. James Green, professor of history and Portuguese and Brazilian studies, said he and other faculty members brought a proposal last year to Schlissel, who told them to continue gathering other faculty members. The result now is their proposal, The Brazil Initiative, which seeks to make Brown the focal point for foreign scholarship on Brazil. Capitalizing on the Universitys strengths, including an excellent Portuguese and Brazilian studies department, was a key element of the proposal, Green said. Theres no one that is trying

to do what were trying to do, so we have a comparative advantage vis-a-vis other countries in the world, and we have a comparative advantage vis-a-vis our peers, Green said. In Brazil now, were the top. Thats whats exciting about it. Matthew Guterl, a professor of Africana studies and American studies who is new to the University this year, said his proposal, race and the Global world, takes advantage of Browns outsized national and international reputation in this area already. And Lubar, whose proposal includes professors from both Brown and the rhode Island School of Design, envisioned a focus on digital humanities and digital culture that could leapfrog those people who have done it in the old-fashioned way. we can bring our strengths and do something nobody else has done, he said. Ultimately, faculty members said, the proposal process is an opportunity to chart part of the Universitys intellectual course in years to come. I think the most important thing is that Brown develop some ideas that really help it be a better place in 10 years than it is today, Foster said.

ComiC
Join the Club | simon Henriques

10 diamonds & coal

A diamond to the Providence resident and fan of the Quidditch team comprising Brown students who said of the wizarding sport, Quidditch is a game that requires as much imagination as skill. you know what else required as much imagination as skill? that one time we tried to be in an exclusive relationship with multiple people, as 0.3 percent of Brown students designated their relationship status in the latest herald poll. Coal to the junior who explained relationship dynamics at Brown as, Men like to sleep around, and that can be linked back to increasing their chances of producing offspring, whereas women want to be maternal with one man who can protect them. Call Katherine heigl, it looks like you have the plot for a ground-breaking romantic comedy on your hands. A diamond to the sophomore who said, this weekend, I have big plans for the laundry room. If thats the case, we hope you live up to Browns ranking by trojan Condoms as the second best university for sexual health. Coal to the disparity between the 56 percent of students who responded that they wanted to be in an exclusive relationship and the 25 percent who said they actually are in the heralds biannual student poll. Maybe its time for us to get out of the newspaper business clearly what Brown needs is a dating service. A diamond to prolific new york times letter writer and Professor of Philosophy Felicia nimue Ackerman, who once wrote in to the paper, I cannot bring myself to believe that I am the only serious reader of book reviews who cringes when an established writer is snobbish and meanspirited enough to sneer at the obscure for being obscure. your one-liners are the stuff of legend. Coal to the junior who said of academic dishonesty at Brown, I dont think a lot of people outright cheat, but I think a lot of people collaborate. Call it what you want, but we didnt appreciate our significant others collaboration with other people. Cubic zirconia to the girl who continued on to Bajas tex Mex Grill while her friend became horizontally trapped in an eight-inch-wide alleyway near thayer Street, ultimately requiring assistance from the Providence police. As we always say, food before friends. A diamond to renowned author Lisa Gardner, who noted of writing thrillers, we listen to the voices in our head that tell us to kill. we write it down. Sounds like you need to get that checked out. Coal to the fiscal cliff and its potential to reduce funding for Pell Grants, research and financial aid. Get your act together, Congress!

the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

diamondS & Coal editorial Cartoon b y j acq u e l i n e f e i l e r

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this weekend, i have big plans for the laundry room.

simone Kurial 15 See laundry on page 2.
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the Brown DAILy herALD FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

Should america continue its strong support of israel?

yes
vancements. together we fight extremism and those who declare that democracy will zacH inGBer soon fall to an Islamic caliphate as those in hamas, hezbollah and Iran frequently opinions Columnist claim. Israel works tirelessly to fight terrorist groups and undermine their tactical ability and infrastructure. Some might arAmericas strong support of Israel both rein- gue that Israel is a militaristic society, but no forces our core values and furthers our stra- other country must fight consistently for its tegic interests a rare combination in in- right to exist. Israel must maintain its straternational politics. By supporting the only tegic edge. true democracy in the region, we endorse our strong financial and moral support fundamental values such as gender equality for Israel also results in incredible technoand representative government while also logical strides. with the highest percentage gaining a key ally in the fight against Islamic of PhDs in the world, Israel has contributed fundamentalism and autocracy. our con- scientists who have played a direct role in tinued support for Israel rests principally developing the Intel microchip, Microsoft upon shared core values, strategic impor- office, camera phones, voicemail, instant tance and technological development. messenger and the search algorithm used It is misguidby Google. Drip irried and ignorant to gation was also develquestion the validity let us remember that it is oped in Israel as well of Israels democraas ecologically procy. Vibrant and ro- when americas support for ductive devices such bust, Israels governas electric car models. ment represents the israel is the strongest that while these might diverse Israeli popuisrael makes the boldest not seem relevant to lation. In the Middle American governeast, where true demoves towards peace. ment, just remember mocracy is rare, the that an Israeli-made United States has a bandage saved Conduty to support degresswoman Gabrimocracies. while some might argue that elle Giffords life. This bandage is now stanIsrael enforces apartheid, any historically dard in almost all army units and ambuaware person knows this is not true. while lances. blacks were excluded from all civic life in I understand that some might disagree South African apartheid, Israeli Arabs are with Israeli policies such as settlement confully enfranchised. Israeli Arabs serve in the struction and certain military procedures. Israeli parliament, and one even sits on the In fact, good friends of Israel should critibench of the Israeli Supreme Court. wom- cize its policies that we disagree with. But en have had suffrage since Israels found- let us remember that it is when Americas ing in 1948, and religious minorities enjoy support for Israel is the strongest that Israel full religious freedom. These societal norms makes the boldest moves towards peace. we reflect our own values and thus warrant need to continue moving in that direction. strong support. Israel also serves as a key partner for military and security operations. our mil- zach ingber 15 would love to talk regarditary partnership results in improved tac- less of your views. He can be contacted at tics, nuanced ethics and technological adzachary_ingber@brown.edu.

opinions 11
no

here in America if youre willing to try. And the audience erupted in cheers. In contrast, Katie sola Israels immigration policy explicitly discriminates on the basis of race and religion. opinions Columnist The right of return guarantees citizenship to all Jews while barring Palestinians and Arabs. Its been said that tel Aviv is the only when we talk about the special relation- major city in the world without any Arab or ship between Israel and America, we de- Muslim inhabitants. The word apartheid scribe shared values like commitments to is unnecessarily inflammatory, but does acdemocracy, freedom and self-determina- curately describe the Israeli policy of sepation. And as Americans, we like to think rating Israelis and Palestinians. about Israel as our Middle eastern doppelPro-Israel Americans often talk about ganger. Foundational American narratives supporting the only democracy in the Middovetail nicely with Israeli ones hum- dle east. But this same democracy denies ble pioneers fleeing persecution to build a political autonomy to Palestinians in the bright new country through hard work and west Bank and Gaza and detains them for determination. months at a time without a charge or legal But these narrepresentation. we ratives obscure the like to think that peofact that American ple around the world and Israeli successes i dont see that support look up to America are built on injustice as a beacon of freeand theft. The first for israel is an automatic dom, but our unwavAmericans massaering support for Israexpression of american el makes it difficult to cred native Americans and took their values at least not the maintain that kind of land in the name of moral superiority. Manifest Destiny. Moral issues aside, ones were proud of. The first Israelis did at a time of intense fothe same, most facus on spending and mously murdering national debt its time the 107 inhabitants of Deir yassin during to challenge the sanctity of American aid to the Israeli war of Independence, known in Israel. For example, romney joked about the Arab world as the Catastrophe. today, cutting $445 million to PBS, but discussion Israel remains engaged in a slow annexation of the $3 billion we send to Israel every year of Palestinian lands in violation of the Ge- remains taboo. Interestingly, Israel is not a neva Convention, though we use the word particularly cooperative ally. of course, I settlers instead of colonists. am not suggesting that we cut all aid to IsraI dont see that support for Israel is an el. But America could compel Israel to halt automatic expression of American values the construction of settlements and begin at least not the ones were proud of. For realistic peace negotiations with the Palesexample, Americans like to talk about tol- tinians. That would be a true expression of erance and equal opportunity. As President American values. obama said in his victory speech last week, It doesnt matter whether youre black or white, or hispanic or Asian or native AmerKatherine sola 14 would like to taste ican, or young or old, or rich or poor, able, your vitriol. she can be contacted at disabled, gay or straight you can make it katherine_sola@brown.edu.

Solas rebuttal
I am obliged to point out the logical faults in Zach Ingbers 15 arguments. For example, he writes that American support for Israel furthers our strategic interests, as well as our core values, but he does not describe what these values and interests actually are, and how Israel might help us achieve them. In what way is Israel our key partner in military and security operations? I am not sure that we want to be a partner in military operations like wednesdays strike on Gaza that killed two children along with a militant. he also rejects comparisons between South Africa under apartheid and Israel because though blacks were excluded from all civic life in South Africa, Israeli Arabs are fully enfranchised. this misses the point because Palestinians and Israeli Arabs are two different groups. Palestinians live in the Israeli-occupied west Bank and Gaza, while Israeli Arabs hold Israeli citizenship and live in Israel proper. we use the term apartheid to describe the illegal Israeli occupation of the west Bank and oppression of the Palestinians living there, not the lives of Israeli Arabs. Furthermore, while Israels democratic process is valid, the Palestinians who are ruled by the Israeli Army do not have a vote, making their situation disturbingly similar to that of apartheid-era black South Africans. Describing hamas, hezbollah and Iran as part of a budding Islamic caliphate trying to take over democracy is ludicrous. For a start, hamas is Sunni, while hezbollah is Shii, and the two organizations have never worked together. the first caliphs were democratically elected Muslim rulers who extended freedom of religion to their Jewish subjects. not to mention the fact that hamas and hezbollah were both founded with the intent of ending Israeli occupation of their land, rather than conquering democracy.

Ingbers rebuttal
Katie Sola 14 defends claims of Israeli imperialism by mentioning Deir yassin devoid of context. She neglects to mention the massacre at Kfar etzion, in which Arab militias killed 129 Jewish men, women and children. her one-sided focus displays a skewed narrative and ignores the fact that there are hostilities on both sides. In fact, Sola wrongly associates the catastrophe with the Israeli war of Independence. It actually refers to what the Arabs call the nakba, the Palestinian exodus out of their homes that occurred because Arab armies told the Palestinians to leave and return when Israel was annihilated. Fortunately, a small Jewish army then successfully defended the Jewish state. The Palestinians who left subsequently became refugees, refused citizenship by every single Arab nation except Jordan. not surprisingly, Sola does not mention the equal number of Jewish refugees who were expelled from the various Arab countries of the region. Furthermore her comparison to early colonists is no more than a masked attempt to knock the United States and western civilization. Apartheid is also a seditious word to describe the situation. Arab-Israelis enjoy full rights. Palestinians not living in Israel proper should take up their political grievances with hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the west Bank. The 1993 oslo accords established the Palestinian Authority, which hasnt had elections in years. The 2005 withdrawal of Gaza saw Israelis being dragged from their homes as an Israeli gesture towards peace. The result was the election of the terrorist group hamas and constant rocket barrages on towns and schools in Southern Israel. essentially, Sola criticizes Israeli policy and focuses little on the role America should play in supporting Israel. If we are in fiscally tough times as Sola suggests, we should reduce our two billion dollar check to Pakistan, a government whose intelligence services apparatus has direct ties to Al-Qaeda. In fact, Israel is required to pour 70 percent of its America aid back into American industry. This creates jobs and economic growth in the U.S. to argue that Israel is not a cooperative ally simply ignores our military, democratic and technological collaboration that advances both progress and security.

daily herald sports friday

the Brown
atHlEtE Of tHE wEEk
By JamEs blum
SportS Staff Writer

FrIDAy, noVeMBer 16, 2012

distance runner Connelly 14 on trail of success

Anyone who has ever competed in a 5K race, which translates to just over three miles, knows that running is no easy task. For most people, it is hard enough to complete a 5K in under 23 minutes, which is about 7 minutes, 24 seconds per mile. But running that distance at a pace of 5:24 per mile would be particularly noteworthy. Margaret Connelly 14 maintained this pace for not five, but six, kilometers at Saturdays nCAA northeast regional Championship. her time earned her a seventh place finish overall and an individual bid to tomorrows nCAA Championship in Louisville, Ky. For her steely performance at the regional meet and her contributions to the womens team throughout the season, Connelly has been named The heralds Athlete of the week. The Herald: What are you concentrating in and why? Connelly: environmental studies and political science. I realized, just recently this semester, that I had already taken a ton of the poli sci requirements, and so I realized that it made sense to keep exploring that field. Also, I think that the combination of poli sci and environmental creates a cool double. Im interested in how food and policy overlap. Whats your favorite class youve taken so far? ethics and Public Policy in the poli sci department. It doesnt sound that thrilling, but the professor made it interesting and the readings were all very relevant, and I just enjoyed every class. What do you prefer, the v-dub or the ratty? The V-Dub, definitely. Just because its always been where our team goes for dinner every night after practice. Its where I got to know all the guys team and got to know more of the girls team. we all sit together, we all have the same tables every day. The whole atmosphere, with the music its more family style. Whats your least favorite weather to run in? I really dont like running when theres snow and slush on the ground. It just makes things a lot more difficult like footing-wise, you have to be a lot more cautious. with that said, I also dont like racing when theres huge winds. are there ever points in a race where you just want to stop and catch your breath? when those kind of thoughts start popping up, thats when you know youre in trouble, I think. In high school, sometimes I wished I could suffer a minor twisted ankle before the race started, just so I could get out of it. During a race, if I ever wanted to just stop, its a bad sign that Ive checked out. Who has had the largest impact on your running career and why? Actually, thats kind of easy my mom. She was my coach from fifth through eighth grade. Before that, I always went to the grade school practices because she was my older brothers coach as well. So I was just a little kid at the track doing all the drills with the older kids. we also did 5Ks as a family, and I just love the whole lifestyle that she introduced to me. do you have any pre-race superstitions or traditions? no. I try to stay clear of those because then once you miss it, then you feel like youre going to mess up or something like that. Whats your favorite aspect of the new athletic building? I like the new lifting room for the varsity teams because the old one didnt have complete sets or didnt have enough of the free weights. now we can all be in there at the same time and receive equal time using the equipment. How does it feel to qualify for the national championship? Im really excited. I just am looking forward to competing with other top athletes in the country and seeing how it plays out. is there anything you would change or / / Connelly page 8