Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 9 | Monday, February 2, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Hundreds
meet to talk
human rights
by Hannah Moser
Senior Staff Writer
Students and health professionals
from around the country convened in
Andrews Hall this weekend to discuss
topics including genocide in Darfur,
torture at Guantanamo Bay and how
best to advocate for human rights.
About 350 people, from as far
away as Stanford University and
as nearby as Providence College,
took part in the annual student con-
ference of the organization Physi-
cians for Human Rights, which was
highlighted by a keynote address
from Stephen Lewis, former U.N.
special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa,
and a town hall with Sen. Sheldon
Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Following the Saturday morn-
ing opening keynote by Lewis, the
co-director of AIDS-Free World, an
international advocacy organization,
students attended a panel on “real-
izing the right to health,” then broke
into workshop sessions in Smith-
Buonanno Hall and the BioMedical
Center that focused on advocacy
training and human rights issues in
health care and in war.
In a workshop called “Account-
ability for Perpetrators of US Tor-
ture,” Nathaniel Raymond, the direc-
tor of Physicians for Human Rights’
“Campaign against Torture,” em-
phasized the part of the physician’s
oath that swears to “do no harm.”
Raymond and John Bradshaw, the
organization’s chief policy officer,
outlined potential methods to hold
government officials responsible
for detainee abuse at sites like the
militar y prison at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.
Bradshaw pointed out that, a
year ago, finding “accountability”
for abuses at Guantanamo Bay was
an abstract hope for the future. But,
he said, if there are going to be at-
tempts to hold government officials
to account, they must be undertaken
in the next year or not at all. The is-
sue is “completely within the hands”
of people who feel strongly about its
outcome, he said.
Attendees had the opportunity to
present research on a human rights
issue at the student expo held in An-
drews. Harb Harb, a student at the
University of Iowa’s Carver College
of Medicine, presented his research
on health care accessibility in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, a project
for which he surveyed 750 Palestin-
ian refugees.
Although “you hear about health
care being a right,” Harb said, the
situation on the ground many places
continued on page 2
inside
News.....1-4
Arts........5-6
Spor ts...7-9
Editorial..10
Opinion...11
Today........12
www.browndailyherald.com
steelers ’ bo w l
Students take in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 27-23 Super Bowl victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
‘Stuff White People Like’ founder explains intuitions
By Lauren Fedor book, “Stuff White People Like:
Senior Staff Writer A Definitive Guide to the Unique
Taste of Millions,” spoke on Fri-
What do sushi, yoga, pea coats, day to an enormous crowd in
Asian girls and Barack Obama have Wilson 102 as part of the ongoing
in common? According to Chris- Eureka! Lecture Series. Students
tian Lander, the provocative and filling every space of the audito-
popular blogger-turned-bestsell- rium — including windowsills and
ing-author, they’re all “stuff white stairways — listened for more than
people like.” an hour as Lander explained how a
Lander, who was working as a single instant message conversation
copywriter in Los Angeles when spurred what has become a pop
he got the idea for his immensely culture phenomenon.
popular blog and later bestselling In January 2008, Lander and
To Havana and back
Students reflect on year, returning to the United States
days before Cuba commemorated
Cuban experience the 50th anniversary of Fidel Cas-
tro’s socialist revolution. In four
By Sophia Li months the students spent abroad,
Features Editor Cuba’s seas swelled with the force
of multiple hurricanes, and its peo-
While the stragglers still on campus ple surged with hope inspired by
in late December were shoving President Barack Obama.
their belongings into Depar ting from
suitcases to catch early FEATURE Miami at the end of
flights home, 11 other August, the students
Brown students were packing their had little idea of what to expect
bags, too — to return to the United of a nation so shrouded in mys-
States after the inaugural semes- tery: a patchwork of myths about
ter of the University’s new study Castro, communism and Cuban
abroad program in Cuba. health care filtered through the
The students left Havana less
than two weeks before the new continued on page 4
Arts, 5
prof. art at hillel
Professor of Visual Art
Leigh Tarentino’s work on
display at Hillel
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Kim Perley / Herald
See Campus News, page 2
a friend were instant messaging
about one of their favorite television
shows, “The Wire,” when Lander’s
friend said that he did not trust any
white people who did not watch the
program. The conversation soon
shifted as the two began coming
up with alternative activities that
white people might be doing in-
stead of watching the show. The
men offered ideas like going to
therapy, watching plays, getting
divorced and doing yoga. Lander
was so amused by the conversation
The OIP’s new study abroad program in Cuba offered students a fresh per-
spective on the long-isolated communist nation.
Sports, 7
m. hockey loses
Men’s hockey suffers
losses to Quinnipiac and
Princeton
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
Research
policy being
reviewed
By Sydney Ember
Senior Staff Writer
Brown’s policy on conflict of interest
in research is under review, Vice
President for Research Clyde Bri-
ant told the faculty at its monthly
meeting in December. The revised
policy, which is not yet available,
will be brought to the faculty and
the Corporation this month.
The review was initiated at the
request of the Corporation in light of
recent national concern regarding
the relationships of researchers and
faculty members with industry.
“There’s just no news yet about
what it’s going to contain,” said Pro-
fessor of Philosophy James Dreier,
who chairs the Faculty Executive
Committee. “I think people are kind
of concerned and interested and
want to see it, but I don’t know how
there could be a specific reaction
to it yet.”
He added that he is unsure how
continued on page 3
that he started a WordPress blog
based on it.
Lander continued writing and
adding to the blog, and within a
few days he had written more than
20 posts. He decided to send a link
to his site to some of his friends
— mainly students and other grad-
uate-school dropouts. Soon after,
he began receiving feedback from
his friends, who had shared the site
with others.
continued on page 2
Courtesy of Stephan Meylan ’10
Opinions, 11
public school woes
Boris Ryvkin ’09 wants
students to be put first in
R.I. public school reform
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Monday, February 2, 2009

C ampus N EWS “You don’t have to white to be white … you just have to be rich.”
— Christian Lander, blogger and author

Blogger recounts rise to fame news in brief

continued from page 1
At their suggestion, Lander left
WordPress and registered the Web
site with the hopes of publishing
advertisements and earning some
money from the blog’s viewership.
The blog’s notoriety continued to
grow, and eventually the site was fea-
tured on the blogs of Good Magazine
and Comedy Central. Stuff White
People Like’s popularity exploded,
and the blog soon had more than
30,000 hits.
But the site crashed immediately
thereafter.
When Lander called up the site
administrators, they told him that
he had violated the terms of his
contract. They were confused why
his site had so many hits. Was it
an “adult” blog? they asked. Was
Lander running a gambling site?
No, Lander insisted, he was simply
posting a blog.
When the site administrators
caught on and realized just how
popular the blog was becoming,
they told Lander he would need to
pay thousands of dollars a month
to maintain the upkeep of the site.
Lander declined, and moved the site
back to a WordPress account.
But the site’s popularity con-
tinued to increase, and by Febru-
ary 2008, it already had hundreds
of thousands of hits. At the same
time, a New York literary agent who
wanted to turn the blog’s content
into a book contacted Lander. Talent
agencies began calling, and by the
end of March Lander quit his copy-
writing job, signed with the William
Morris Talent Agency and began
work on his book.
By July 1, the book hit shelves,
and by July 14 — less than six
sudoku
months after the blog’s creation
— “Stuff White People Like” had
become a New York Times Best-
seller.
Since then, Lander has traveled
all over the country giving lectures
and promoting the book. His travels
have taken him everywhere from
schools to bookstores to “Late Night
with Conan O’Brien” last September.
When Lander was on “Conan,” the
other guests included Tim Gunn of
Project Runway and Jerry O’Connell,
the Hollywood actor.
Lander told Friday’s audience
that his appearance with O’Connell
was “huge” because, growing up
in Canada, O’Connell starred in
one of Lander’s favorite childhood
television shows, “My Secret Iden-
tity.” Lander, who described him-
self as “kind of a chubby kid,” said
O’Connell became “the greatest hero
to fat kids on Earth” after appearing
in the movie “Stand by Me.”
So as Lander prepared for his
appearance on “Conan,” he thought
about telling O’Connell about how
much he loved him as a child. But
when the two actually met on the
set of “Late Night,” Lander barely
got a word in edgewise. According
to Lander, O’Connell was “gush-
ing” about how much he loved Stuff
White People Like.
O’Connell’s love of Stuff White
People Like was most apparent when
Lander participated in a book tour
event in St. Louis. A woman from the
local paper wrote an article about
Lander’s visit, and a few days later
she sent Lander a link to the story.
He politely wrote back, thanking her
for the link, but explaining that he
had already seen it — because Jerry
O’Connell had sent it to him.
“How strange my life has
Christian Lander addresses students in Wilson 102.
become!” Lander exclaimed as he
recounted the story. In less than a
year, Lander had gone from instant
messaging at work to exchanging
personal e-mails with one of his
childhood heroes and speaking
across the nation.
“I thought it was very clever,”
said Annie Matusewicz ’11 about
Lander’s lecture. “(His concept is) a
funny way for people to think about
the culture they associate with.”
But not ever yone loves what
Lander is doing. His Web site is full
of comments from people who find
its content offensive and, in many
cases, racist.
Lander said the book and Web
site are “more about class than about
race,” adding, “you don’t have to be
white to be white … you just have
to be rich.” His satirical comments
are more about upper-middle class
interests that are “perceived as white
activities,” he said.
Much of Lander’s material comes
from the experiences he had as a
Janine Cheng / Herald
PhD student at Indiana University,
Lander said. He described his peers
as people who were “on a mission to
save everything” by “writing papers
and presenting them to people who
already agree” with them and patting
themselves on the back for doing “so
much great work.”
These people annoyed Lander,
because “ever yone was exactly
the same,” he said. “Nobody was
mainstream,” but they were all go-
ing to the same concerts and coffee
shops.
“Everybody was the same but
they were rebels who were fighting
the system. That’s where I got the
subheading ‘The Definitive Guide
to the Unique Taste of Millions,’ ”
Lander said.
Yet Lander, who is white, told Fri-
day’s audience that he is no different
from the people he pokes fun at.
“I don’t want to imply that I’m
different. I went after myself as vi-
ciously as possible. I just put myself
out there,” he said.
Halftime lingerie
show scrapped
A lingerie fashion show
scheduled for halftime dur-
ing the 2011 Class Board’s
Super Bowl-watching party
in Salomon 101 was can-
celed in a game-time deci-
sion Sunday night.
The event fell through
when about two-thirds of
the models dropped out at
the last minute, said Neil
Parikh ’11, sophomore
class president.
At one point, there were
15 potential models slated
to appear in the show. They
had even held a rehearsal,
Parikh said, but as of Sun-
day morning only six were
still willing to participate.
“It wouldn’t be fair”
to put on a lesser perfor-
mance, said Salsabil Ahmed
’11, a class board represen-
tative. The Class Board felt
they owed it to the models
and Brown to put on a good
show, she added.
There are plans to re-
vive the idea in the future,
Ahmed said. “If we did a
separate event, we could
really put in all our efforts.”
One possible opportu-
nity would be during Spring
Weekend, Parikh said.
The audience in the
sparsely populated audi-
torium let out a collective
noise of disappointment
when Parikh announced the
news at the start of half-
time.
Instead of the fash-
ion show, the audience
watched the televised of-
ficial halftime show, featur-
ing Bruce Springsteen and
the E Street Band. The rest
of the viewing party went
on as scheduled.
— Anne Simons

Human rights conference convenes

continued from page 1
in the world often differs from that
ideal.
Whitehouse capped the Saturday
evening town hall meeting by again
discussing accountability for detainee
abuse at Guantanamo Bay. “You don’t
expiate a wrong if you don’t confess
to it,” he said.
Bradshaw called Whitehouse
— a first-term senator from Rhode
an “eye-opening” workshop on the
collapse of the health care system
in Zimbabwe, she said.
Medical students and physicians,
however, were not the only attend-
ees. Chloe LeMarchand ’09, a human
biology concentrator interested in
global health, said she came to the
conference to learn about a range of
current human rights issues around
the world. “It’s really the stories that
touch you,” she said.
Overall, “it was cool to interact
and talk with these people you would
never dream of meeting,” LeMarch-
and said.
Portia Thurmond MD’11, the co-
president of the Brown chapter of
Physicians for Human Rights, said
the University’s “deep history of
advocacy” made it a great site for
the conference. She said the national
organizers of PHR provided the pro-
gramming, while the Brown chapter

Daily Herald
Island — one of Physicians for Hu- Talia Firestein ’09, another un- worked out the logistics with the help
the Brown
man Rights’ “great allies” and urged dergraduate who attended the con- of many volunteers.
the audience members to support ference, said she and LeMarchand Though students had to register
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 efforts to hold government officials learned about “values clarification,” for the event, Thurmond said she was
responsible. when they evaluated themselves to “flooded with e-mails” after registra-
Stephen DeLucia, President Jonathan Spector, Treasurer
“We have to re-establish the see where they would stand if they tion had closed from students who
Michael Bechek, Vice President Alexander Hughes, Secretary
fact that no one is above the law,” had to make hard decisions. She gave were still interested in attending.
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv- he said. the example of a health care worker “We’ve just been letting people in
ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday Marta Galecki, a student at Weill in a developing country charged with anyway,” she said.
through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during
Medical College at Cornell, said she caring for an entire community but Thurmond said one of the con-
Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily
Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Provi- came to meet students who shared equipped with only a limited amount ference’s crucial messages was
dence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located her interest in human rights issues. of a hypothetical HIV vaccine. Would that “you still have the power to do
at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. She attended workshops where she choose to vaccinate the men — something.”
World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com.
she said she learned how to target the “breadwinners” — or the women “In medical school, it’s easy
Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily.
Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. “significant players” who can help to best prevent spreading the disease to think in a ver y narrow way,”
make a large-scale difference, and to children? she said.
Monday, February 2, 2009
C ampus N EWS
news in brief
Mysterious
e-mail frightens
MCAT-takers
At least four Brown stu-
dents scheduled to take the
Medical College Admission
Test Saturday morning re-
ceived an e-mail on Friday
erroneously telling them the
exam had been cancelled.
“Please be aware that due
to unforeseen circumstances
we have been required to re-
schedule your pending Pro-
metric exam,” the e-mail read
in part. The message was sent
just before noon Friday from
the address “DoNotReply@
prometric.root” with the sub-
ject line “Pending Prometric
Exam” ­— Prometric is the
testing service provider that
administered Saturday’s test
in Warwick.
“Prometric will schedule
your exam to the next avail-
able date. An e-mail confir-
mation will be sent with the
new exam details within the
next 48 hours,” the e-mail
continued.
When Andrea Jones ’10 saw
the e-mail, she called the As-
sociation of American Medical
Colleges, which she said had
no record of a cancellation at
Prometric’s Warwick location.
Jones, a chemical engineering
concentrator, was told “the e-
mail must have been sent in
error,” she said.
“I think it affected ever y-
body who was going to this
site for a couple of days,” said
Michael Li ’10, who took the
MCAT on Saturday after also
receiving the e-mail.
Li said that after the exami-
nation he talked to a site direc-
tor who told him that “three
or four people ended up not
showing up” for the MCAT.
Li knew of three other Brown
students, including Jones,
who had received the e-mail.
All three showed up for the
exam, he said.
Jones said she was told that
the e-mail “was sent to people
taking every test” and was not
restricted to the MCAT.
Prometric representa-
tives could not be reached
for comment by press time.
The company offers academic,
governmental and corporate
testing and will next offer the
MCAT on Mar. 28.
— Ben Schreckinger
BTV makes a comeback with ‘soft launch’
By Shara Azad
Staff Writer
After nearly two years off the air,
Brown Television will begin broad-
casting again tonight.
The student-run television station
will resume broadcasting Monday
through Thursday from 7 p.m. to 10
p.m. Initially, its content will consist
mainly of footage of campus events
filmed by BTV members, but in com-
ing weeks station managers hope to
debut new, student-generated pro-
grams, students involved with the
BTV said.
“It’s impossible to come back the
way we want to come back” — with
only student-generated content —
“this soon,” said David Notis ’10, the
station’s executive producer. Instead,
students involved with BTV are calling
this week’s debut the station’s “soft
launch” — an opportunity to demon-
U. reviews policy on Kicking for a cause
research ethics
continued from page 1
the new policy will affect profes-
sors and researchers because, as
far as he knew, the revisions were
not complete.
The conflicts of interest that
have received the most national
attention have had to do mainly
with research that was funded by
pharmaceutical companies, Dreier
said.
Last September, The Herald
reported that Professor of Psychia-
try and Human Behavior Martin
Keller was targeted in an inves-
tigation regarding his study on
antidepressants in children.
The current policy — available
on the University Web site and
last revised about three years ago,
according to Dreier — states that
“a potential financial conflict of
interest exists when an investiga-
tor’s significant financial outside
interest could lead an independent
observer to reasonably question
whether the design, conduct or
reporting of research might be
influenced by the possibility of
personal gain.”
“If somebody from the fed-
eral government — say some-
one from the Senate committee
— says, ‘What is Brown doing to
make sure this kind of terrible
stuff doesn’t happen,’” said Dreier
referring to the Senate Finance
Committee that investigated the
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
— Silcia Pimentel, on dedicated Kick-a-thon-ers.
strate that it has the infrastructure in
place to broadcast and lay the ground-
work for a wider variety of content to
air soon.
In the meantime, BTV will feature
footage generated by its members
of events like Janus Forum debates,
theatrical productions and other cam-
pus happenings ­— including a docu-
mentary with footage of election night
celebrations on campus produced by
Roman Gonzalez ’11, the station’s man-
ager and programming director.
Students founded BTV in 1987
under the leadership of Doug Liman
’88, who is now a successful filmmaker
best known for directing the 2005
blockbuster “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”
and directing and producing “The
Bourne Identity.” But the channel
slowly “faded away” after his gradu-
ation as the staff shrank in size and
the station was poorly maintained,
Notis said. Finally, in 2007, the station
Keller incident, “they’ll have a
good answer.”
But Dreier said he can only
speculate about what the changes
may be.
“I would assume there might
be some tightening of some of
the restrictions on what kind
of research could be funded by
whom,” Dreier said. “And if things
aren’t disclosed, what kind of steps
should be taken to make sure that
the funding for us doesn’t influ-
ence the research.”
Many faculty members had
concerns about the current con-
flict of interest policy, Dreier said.
For example, he said, faculty
members are required to fill out
an annual disclosure form indicat-
ing potential conflicts of interest
regarding funding, stock holdings
and institutional relationships, and
some faculty consider it “unfair”
that they have to disclose that in-
formation
Despite the suggestion in De-
cember that the policy would be
ready later this month, Dreier said
he does not know when to expect
the revision.
“All I can say is that I think it’s
supposed to happen this semes-
ter,” he said.
Briant declined to discuss the
revision in an e-mail to The Herald.
“You should know that the new
policy is still very much in draft
form at this time,” he wrote.
“They kicked to the end.”
stopped production entirely. Notis and
Jad Joseph ’10 then took charge of the
organization.
Since then, BTV has been working
to “build up its infrastructure,” Gonza-
lez said. The staff has grown to con-
sist of about 28 committed members,
who are now trying to make BTV “a
big presence on campus” once again,
Notis said.
The station is holding a party
Friday to celebrate its return to the
airwaves and promote the BTV Web
site, which is “a big component” of the
new BTV, Gonzalez said. In the future,
BTV hopes to have streaming video
on the site, in recogntion, Notis said,
of “how hard it is for college students
to find a block of time to watch.”
For now, BTV will be available via
Internet Protocol Television, better
known as IPTV, and, for a short time,
on cable channel nine. The nationwide
shift from analog to digital television
By Heeyoung Min
Contributing Writer
Martial arts enthusiasts converged
on Sayles Hall Saturday to complete
1,000 kicks — more than some do in
a lifetime — but not in preparation for
competition.
Brown Taekwondo and Master
Park’s Champion Taekwondo Cen-
ter hosted their annual Kick-a-thon to
raise money for the Tomorrow Fund,
a non-profit organization that supports
children with cancer and their families.
The event also drew participants from
the Rhode Island Taekwondo Center,
the New England Olympic Taekwondo
Team, the New England Sports As-
sociation and the Rhode Island State
Taekwondo Association.
About a third of Brown’s 72-mem-
ber taekwondo club participated in the
event, said Michelle Ramadan ’10, the
club’s president. “It’s a great cause that
provides both financial and emotional
support.”
The taekwondo club first kicked
for a cause to send money to regions
affected by the 2005 tsunami. In the
years following, all proceeds from the
fundraiser supported the Tomorrow
Fund, a decision influenced by the
club’s personal connection to cancer.
Instructor and coach Master Sung
Park ’96 lost his mother to cancer
fifteen years ago, “around the same
Page 3
broadcasting, currently slated for Feb.
17, will knock BTV off of the residence
hall cable system, which the Universi-
ty may scrap entirely at the end of the
academic year, The Herald reported
in October.
BTV’s main goal, Notis said, is
to feature mostly student-produced
programs, for which the group will
provide high-definitioncameras and
microphones. BTV has already re-
ceived 16 student-written pilots in a
recent competition. The station will
help produce the winning script for
broadcast on BTV.
In addition to collaborating with
other students, BTV plans this se-
mester to feature a program called
“Campus Now,” which Notis said is
basically “a highlight reel of Morn-
ing Mail.” It also plans to broadcast
“BTV Retro” — shows that aired in
the early days of BTV — according
to Gonzalez.
time” that the Kick-a-thon now takes
place, said club publicity chair Caitlin
Feehery ’10. “Instead of mourning
this time of the year, he decided to be
active to help people in similar situa-
tions.”
Last year the Kick-a-thon raised
about $8,000, about a third of which
came from the pockets of Brown stu-
dents. Participants spent winter break
this year soliciting money from spon-
sors, including fellow students, rela-
tives and community members.
This year they upped their goal
from $6,000 to $10,000, Park said, but
the donations won’t be totaled until
next week. “Of course it’s hard with
the economy. But if it’s tough for ev-
eryone, it’s that much harder on those
families” with sick children.
As sponsors cheered them on from
the sidelines, participants — many of
them small children — kept on kick-
ing, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“They had a very, very short
break,” said Park.
“It’s good to feel as a parent that my
son is five, and he’s already capable of
helping people,” said Silcia Pimentel
of her son Jomar Pimentel, a R.I. Tae-
kwondo student. “This is a great way
to teach your children from a young
age about helping others.”
“Some kids are injured, and they’re
here,” she added. “They kicked to the
end.”
Page 4
C ampus N EWS
Students recount
Cuban experiences
continued from page 1
American media.
“A lot of what we get here is so
polarized,” said Erika Nyborg-Burch
’10, one of the 11 students.
“I knew very few people who had
been to Cuba,” she said. “The few
pictures I had seen were basically
just of Havana, some pictures of the
old cars.”
Stephan Meylan ’10 agreed, de-
spite having travelled previously in
the Caribbean. “There’s this big dark
hole in the center of the Caribbean,”
he said. “I knew nothing about it,
and going there was the only way
to remedy the situation.”
The window into Cuba afforded
by Brown’s new program is an op-
portunity that few American college
students have. There are only a hand-
ful of U.S. study abroad programs
in Cuba, said Kendall Brostuen, di-
rector of the office of international
programs.
“It’s not something that you can
get from watching documentaries.
You need to actually be there,” Bros-
tuen said. “They’re seeing a country
at a pivotal time in its history.”
Hope, and storms
The program participants were
not in the United States during one
of the semester’s most momentous
events: the election of Barack Obama.
Many of the students voted in the
election at the U.S. Interests Section,
an office which represents the Ameri-
can government and its citizens in
Cuba, Nyborg-Burch said.
But being in Cuba during Obama’s
election gave the students a different
lens on its significance.
“In Cuba, there were a lot of ex-
pectations about Cuba and the future
of the relationship between Cuba and
the U.S.,” said Adrian Lopez-Denis,
the program’s director and a post-
doctoral fellow in the Department
of History.
There’s “a huge amount of hope
down there,” Meylan said, “about
the change he could represent for
Cuba and for the U.S.”
Meylan said Cubans perceived
Obama as a representative of the
American people rather than part
of the U.S. government. Meylan said
the prevailing opinion he encoun-
tered was, “Obama is the American
people, and he’s going to fix Cuba,
as soon as he fixes the American
economy.”
There was “a huge amount of
general social empathy between the
Cuban people and us,” Meylan said
of the group.
Meylan recounted his conversa-
tions with Cubans. “Your people, my
people, we’re the same people,” he
recalled thinking. “Just because our
governments don’t agree doesn’t
mean that we’re at odds.”
“In the case of Cuba in particu-
lar, it was significant on many, many
levels,” Lopez-Denis, who is Cuban,
said. “The significance of race in
Cuba today is huge.”
Lopez-Denis said the Afro-Cuban
population has felt empowered by
Obama’s victory.
“They see kind of an opportu-
nity for their own aspirations to be
heard and to be part of the political
discourse in Cuba,” he said.
Even as the program’s partici-
pants witnessed Cubans’ hopes for
a shift in relations with the United
States, they confronted the challeng-
es of studying and living abroad.
During Hurricane Ike, the stu-
dents were evacuated to the Hotel
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“The significance of race in Cuba today is huge.”
“Cuba’s a complicated place (and) hard to explain,” he said. “I’d rather show it to people.”
Nacional de Cuba, a stormy start
that suspended classes for the first
week.
While the students remained
safe, the destructive force of the
hurricane was apparent. They heard
about other provinces where people
lost their homes, Courtney Smith ’10
said. “It really affected the country’s
economy and food production,” she
added.
Meylan said the students’ safety
was a priority to Cubans. If anything
had happened to the American stu-
dents, he said, Cubans could have
been considered responsible.
“We’re at the National Hotel of
Cuba,” Meylan said. “Nobody else in
the city has power. As tourists, why
are we treated in such a way?”
In addition to the dynamics of
power between foreign tourists and
local Cubans, the students encoun-
tered other incidents that challenged
their own beliefs and expectations.
“You have this idea that the revo-
lution addressed issues like sexism,
racism,” Smith said. But the “short-
comings of the revolution,” she said,
became immediately apparent after
their arrival.
Meylan said he felt very visible
in Havana because of his ethnic-
ity. “Because I’m white, blond and
clear-eyed, people would send me
to the front of lines, which I didn’t
understand,” Meylan said. “I was
very uncomfortable.”
Living and learning
As the students adjusted to their
new environment, they found shel-
ter, as well as isolation, from their
surroundings in the residence that
they shared. “We were essentially an
American enclave on top of an apart-
ment building,” Meylan said.
Meylan and Smith said the close-
knit community that resulted from
living together provided a network
of support that helped them adjust
to all that they saw and experienced.
Smith said she appreciated “being
able to debrief” about their experi-
ences.
But Meylan pointed out that the
immersion afforded by a homestay
would have allowed him to progress
further in his Spanish skills. “I’ll
have to say that my Spanish didn’t
improve as much as it could have,”
he said.
Though Meylan said “standard
— Stephan Meylan ’10
Cuban living conditions” could have
been a “disconcerting” experience
for his fellow students, Nyborg-
Burch said she enjoyed the half-
week she spent living with a family
in San Cristobal, a small town in the
province Pinar del Rio.
“I had worked on some organic
farms this past summer, and I was
interested in learning about Cuban
agriculture,” Nyborg-Burch said.
The program’s on-site director, Lo-
pez-Denis, connected her to a family
he knew.
“I got to meet most of the people
who lived in the village,” Nyborg-
Burch said. “I got to help them farm.
We planted tomatoes, and every
morning I had fresh cow milk.”
“They were incredibly gracious
and welcoming,” she added. “It’s a
different dynamic meeting someone
for coffee or meeting someone in a
class than living in a house ... and try-
ing to fit yourself into their schedule
and their way of life,” she said.
“The things that you can learn
from the life of a family are really
hard to teach,” Lopez-Denis said.
But he said the constraints of
partnering with Casa de las Ameri-
cas, the research institution where
the program participants studied,
would not allow the students to
spend the entire duration of their
trip living in Cuban homes. He called
the shared residence a “safe haven”
that helped the students cope with
the intensity of Cuban life.
Lopez-Denis said he and the OIP
are considering arranging short
home-stays like Nyborg-Burch’s, but
added that nothing is definite.
“This is an evolving situation
where basically we learn from the
experiences,” Lopez-Denis said.
The limitations on the participants’
immersion in Cuban life extended to
their academic lives as well. They
took four pre-designated classes at
Casa de las Americas, rather than at
the University of Havana.
“We were led to believe at the
beginning that we’d have a full com-
plement of Cuban students with us
in every class,” Meylan said. But,
Nyborg-Burch added, the Cubans in
their classes were mostly older and
often could not attend class because
of their jobs.
It felt like “the classes were re-
ally for us, the American students,
and they were really just sitting in,”
Monday, February 2, 2009
Courtesy of Stephan Meylan
she said.
Nyborg-Burch said the Brown
students initially were not integrated
into the “student culture” because
they were not studying at the Uni-
versity of Havana. “It was a longer
adjustment,” she said.
Lopez-Denis hopes to address
this concern next fall by creat-
ing a “hybrid” structure in which
students will take courses at Casa
de las Americas and be able to sit
in on classes at the University of
Havana.
Lopez-Denis emphasized the
importance of being able to meet
Cubans of their age who shared
their academic priorities “in a safe
space.” But, he said, “this is very
preliminary.”
‘A complicated place’
For the 11 students, readjusting
to the United States and Brown has
been a simultaneously overwhelm-
ing and relieving process, whether
braving Providence’s cold and icy
weather, engaging the social atmo-
sphere of a campus with thousands
of students or having the luxury of
choosing from among the ample of-
ferings of the Blue Room and Thayer
Street.
“It’s exciting, but it’s also kind
of intimidating at times,” Nyborg-
Burch said.
But through the first handful
of weeks back on campus, the pro-
gram’s participants have continued
to take advantage of the bonds they
have built with each other. “It’s kind
of nice to have people who are com-
ing back from the same place that
you’re coming back from,” Nyborg-
Burch said.
Meylan said that before he left
for Cuba, some people he told about
his study abroad program refused to
believe him.
“They would tell me that I was
not going to Cuba because that was
illegal,” Meylan said. “That just
pointed to the lack of knowledge
and understanding about the actual
Cuban-American relationship.”
Lopez-Denis said he hoped the
study abroad experience had con-
tributed in some small way to im-
proving the relationship between
the United States and Cuba. “Cuba’s
a complicated place (and) hard to
explain,” he said. “I’d rather show
it to people.”
Arts & Culture
The Brown Daily Herald
‘Hope’ poster designer
has Providence roots
By Rosalind Schonwald
Ar ts & Culture Staff Writer
Shepard Fairey, best known for his
four-toned Obama “Hope” poster,
has a connection to College Hill
that extends beyond matching
liberal ideologies and pop-culture
nonconformity.
With his first major museum ex-
hibition, “Shepard Fairey: Supply
and Demand,” set to open at Bos-
ton’s Institute of Contemporary Art
this Friday, Fairey, a 1992 Rhode
Island School of Design graduate
and street artist, has once again
brandished his invisible hand,
coloring the pop-fabric of Provi-
dence.
Murals have been popping up
across Providence in recent weeks,
despite inconsistent degrees of
permission. An image in Fairey’s
style appeared on a building on
Westminster Street recently and
was later removed, and AS220’s
Dreyfus Building on Washington
Street now sports some of his im-
ages on an outer wall. These works
have prompted irritation from
some property owners, support
from Fairey’s fellow liberals and,
perhaps, inspiration in young, like-
minded iconoclasts and rebels.
“Obviously the one on Wesmin-
ster he probably didn’t (have
permission) because someone’s
already taken it down,” said Joel
Martinez, an employee of Wash-
ington Street restaurant Local 121.
“The one at AS220, they were prob-
ably like, ‘That’s cool.’ If I had a
house and he came and did some
ar twork on the side, I probably
Shepard Fairey installed a mural of Angela Davis in Nice Slice.
Monday, February 2, 2009 | Page 5
wouldn’t take it down,”
Closer to the Brown campus,
Fairey arranged a mural in Nice
Slice this past week. The image
in this space seems to have more
significance — and more permis-
sion — than some of Fairey’s other
recent works around Providence.
Nice Slice owner Alfred Read,
a RISD graduate, worked with
Fairey when both were at RISD
and describes himself as an “early
supporter” of Fairey’s iconoclastic
work. As a result, Read is familiar
with Fairey’s process. He told The
Herald that Fairey’s images tend
to be modular — the artist creates Kim Perley / Herald
the work in advance and assembles The Brown/RISD Hillel gallery hosted two assistant professors’ work focusing on geometry.
it on location.
Read is also familiar with the
thematic threads that run through
Fairey’s work.
Hillel features professors’ geometric art
“Traditionally society accepts By Anita Mathews run through Feb. 4. always represents them monochro-
people like Henr y Ford as figures Ar ts & Culture Staff Writer Tarentino’s exhibit, called “Re- matically. Tarentino wrote in an
of great importance, significant cent Work,” consists of watercol- e-mail to The Herald that she made
contributions and role models, but The newest exhibits on display ors, digital prints and oil paintings. this artistic choice to place “more
there are other not quite fully real- in the Brown/RISD Hillel gallery A common theme woven through emphasis on the geometr y and
ized iconoclasts such as Angela space feature the work of Assis- all the works is the use of fine lines linear quality of the composition,
Davis, who have shaped the way a tant Professor of Visual Art Leigh in symmetrical arrangements. Her and to achieve a particular kind of
lot of people think and need to be Tarentino and RISD Assistant Pro- subject matter draws on urban dreamlike ambience that is distinct
recognized for this,” Read wrote fessor Graham Day Guerra. Both symbols — traffic signs, telephone
in an e-mail to The Herald. “These shows opened on Jan. 23 and will poles and the like — but almost continued on page 6
iconic type figures, such as equal
right activists, musicians, artists
… are maybe the people we should
be putting on our dollar bills and
including more prominently in our
culture.”
The image inside Nice Slice fea-
tures a gigantic face of Angela Da-
vis, surrounded by other portraits.
Read explained that the collage-like
continued on page 6
Courtesy of Alfred Read
Page 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Monday, February 2, 2009

A rts & C ulture “It showed how people respond to an icon.”

— Shepard Fairey, artist

Artist’s murals shock

continued from page 5
facade of the mural, which features
several small pictures, was meant
to evoke the posters of a politi-
cal campaign, where images and
ideas are superimposed on one an-
other. Sometimes one image must
be ripped away to make room for
change.
Read was familiar with Fairey’s
artistic history as well. “In 1989 he
started a social experiment with a
sticker,” he said. “It showed how
people respond to an icon, even if
they don’t know who it is.”
Fairey’s Web site, obeygiant.
com, features a manifesto written
by Fairey in 1990 to describe his
reasons for the sticker experiment
and his exploration of the human
response to images. Fairey wrote
that he wants viewers to question
their surroundings and their rela-
tionships to image. The manifesto
is written in extreme and absolute
terms. “The paranoid or conser-
vative viewer,” warns Fairey on
the site, “may be confused by the
sticker’s persistent presence and
condemn it as an underground cult
with subversive intentions.”
It is ironic, Fairey continues,
that people respond to his stick-
ers and his guerilla works of art
with horror and disdain, consider-
ing the constant bombardment of
commercial images that per vade
society.
Fairey’s anti-establishment art,
however, seems to be rapidly be-
coming a part of the commercial
tapestr y that he strives to defy.
His “Hope” poster was a staple of
Barack Obama’s Presidential cam-
paign, and, as of Jan. 18, hangs in
the Smithsonian’s National Portrait
Galler y in Washington. Courtesy of Alfred Read
A mural on the wall of AS220 in Downcity features Stephen Fairey’s signature “OBEY” tagline.

Brown and RISD profs’

Join The Herald! work on display
continued from page 5
Info sessions at 195 Angell St.
(between Brook and Thayer): from everyday reality.”
“The thread that runs through
all of my work,” writes Tarentino in
Today, February 2 @ 8 p.m. the artist’s statement available at
the exhibit, “is about transforming
Thursday, February 5 @ 8 p.m. elements of an archetypal modern
isolated fragments of city land-
scapes with telephone and electrical
wires in a neat and graphic manner.
She wrote in the e-mail that she was
seeking to create “patterns from
randomness.” Her digital prints
achieve this combination, playing
with reflection and symmetry by

Sunday, February 8 @ 8 p.m. American landscape into a fantastic

imaginary world.”
Indeed, Tarentino’s work ren-
ders the familiar and mundane in
Reporting, photography, business, a novel way, while still retaining
design, opinions and more! characteristics recognizable to the
viewer.
Employing spatial and propor-
tional distortions, Tarentino links
showing the same vignettes — full
of unrelated urban elements — from
varying perspectives.
Tarentino’s work aims to high-
light the “unnoticed backdrop of
daily life,” according to her artist’s
statement, but some works in the
show achieve their goals better than
others. The oil paintings are striking
and convey a fantastic mood, while
the digital prints are harsher and in
some ways less aesthetically pleas-
ing. The prints are better admired
from afar, where the composite ef-
fect of large-scale symmetry is more
obvious.
Overall, however, Tarentino’s
work shows great attention to de-
tail, allowing for representations
that both stay true to her everyday
subjects and depict them in uncon-
ventional ways.
Guerra’s charcoal drawings re-
volve around the play of light. He
contrasts graded softness of the
illuminated human form with the
sharpness of stadium lights. In de-
picting fetus-like skulls and arena
light fixtures side-by-side, Guerra
juxtaposes the primordial and the
technological. The drawings show
incomplete human bodies that re-
peat in overlapping patterns. The
result is a series of images in which
bodily elements look authentic
when separated, but when grouped
in each of Guerra’s works make for
a surreal sum of parts that is far
from human.
Both artists show an interest in
both the progressive and the quo-
tidian, and though their portrayals
are quite different, both send the
message that there is much to be ad-
mired in the seemingly mundane.
SportsWeekend
The Brown Daily Herald
Amid
pomp,
exciting
football
So I was watching NBC last
night — got to see a ton of yellow
flags, thoroughbreds and Danica
Patrick in the
process —
when, all of
a sudden, a
football game
broke out.
It’s hard
Alex Mazerov to say ex-
Maz’s Minute actly when
Super Bowl
XLIII turned from a snoozefest
of Arizona Cardinals penalties,
dropped passes and largely un-
inspired commercials (more on
those later) into one of the great-
est NFL championship games of
all time — Commissioner Roger
Goodell went so far as to proclaim
it even better than last year’s epic
Patriots-Giants duel.
But the turning point was prob-
ably when Cards wideout/freak-of-
nature Larry Fitzgerald hauled in
a six-yard pass from Kurt Warner
with 10:33 left in the fourth quar-
ter for just his second reception
of the game.
Fitzgerald, whom the Pitts-
burgh Steelers secondary had com-
pletely shut down until that point
in the game, finally turned from a
nonfactor into the “meast” (short
for half-man, half-beast for anyone
who doesn’t read kissingsuzykol-
ber.com) we’re so accustomed to.
He grabbed another Warner pass
out of the air two plays later for an
18-yard gain, then a six-yarder on
the next play. After a completion
over the middle to running back
Tim Hightower got the Cards to
the Pittsburgh one-yard-line, Fitz
reeled in a touchdown pass over
Ike Taylor to bring his team to
within six.
Later in the fourth, after a
safety netted the Cards two more
points, Fitzgerald made what was
this close to being the game’s big-
gest play when, in classic Larry
Fitzgerald fashion, he caught a
pass from Warner on a post route
over the middle, turned upfield
and zoomed 64 yards to the end
zone, watching himself on the Jum-
botron the whole time — 23-20
Cardinals after the extra point.
But it wasn’t enough, as just
over two minutes later Steelers re-
ceiver and soon-to-be-named Super
Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes made
a spectacular catch on his tip-toes
in the right corner of the end zone
to give the Steelers the lead for
good and their NFL-record sixth
Super Bowl victory — obviously
the play of the game, though the
clearly freaked-out stagehand who
juggled Bruce Springsteen’s reck-
lessly thrown guitar at the begin-
ning of the halftime show and just
continued on page 8
For m. hockey, another
tough weekend on ice
By Dan Alexander
Sports Staff Writer
The men’s hockey team (2-15-4,
2-10-3 ECAC Hockey) was the only
team in the nation that hadn’t given
up a shorthanded goal all season
when the puck dropped against
Quinnipiac (14-10-2, 7-5-2) on Fri-
day night. Twenty-four minutes into
the game, Brown had given up two
shorthanded goals and was on its
way to a 5-1 loss to the Bobcats.
Brown’s struggles continued
the next night when they fell by the
same score to the No. 9 Princeton
Tigers (15-6-0, 9-5-0).
Quinnipiac and Princeton were
the only two ECAC teams that the
Bears had yet to face in a league
game heading into the weekend.
Quinnipiac scored the first goal
of the game while Brown had a one-
man advantage. Mike Atkinson of
the Bobcats stole an errant pass at
mid-ice and charged down the right
side. Atkinson dished the puck off
to Eric Lampe on his left. Lampe
deked goalie Dan Rosen ’10 before
shooting the puck past him for the
game’s first goal.
W. hockey defeats Quinnipiac and Princeton
By Andrew Braca
Spor ts Editor
With under a minute remaining in
overtime on Saturday, the women’s
hockey team was clinging to an im-
probable 1-1 tie with Princeton. The
Tigers were tied for third place in
ECAC Hockey, had the benefit of a
home crowd and were out-shooting
the Bears by a factor of nearly 4-1.
Bruno had been mired in its de-
fensive zone for much of overtime,
but the team was finally able to
bring the puck down the ice. Nicole
Brown ’10 took a shot that Princ-
eton goalie Kristen Young saved,
but Jenna Dancewicz ’11 got the
rebound and took a shot that Young
was not able to glove, leaving the
puck to fall to the ice.
“I hit it again, and it went under-
neath the goalie,” Dancewicz said.
“It was awesome.”
The goal gave Brown a surpris-
ing 2-1 win over Princeton. Coupled
with a 3-0 road win over Quinnipiac
on their home ice at the TD Ban-
knorth Sports Center the previous
night, the win secured the Bears’
(5-16-1, 4-11 ECAC Hockey) first
four-point weekend of the season.
Captain Nicole Stock ’09, a Her-
ald sports staff writer, saved 72 of
the 73 shots she faced, while Dance-
wicz and Brown tallied four points
apiece.
“It was really nice to have the
kids come together,” said Head
Coach Digit Murphy. “I felt that
there was a lot of team chemistry
this weekend. They really were fo-
cused, and it was nice to see.”
Against Quinnipiac (3-21-4, 2-10-
4), Brown roared out of the gate,
taking a 1-0 lead just 3:40 into the
game on a power-play goal by Nicole
Monday, February 2, 2009 | Page 7
The Bears evened the score un-
der a minute later when Eric Slais
’09 found Assistant Captain Jordan
Pietrus ’10 in the middle of Quin-
nipiac’s defensive zone, directly in
front of the goalie. Slais passed from
the right point to Pietrus.
“I got it and turned on it as fast
as I could and shot,” Pietrus said.
Pietrus fired a shot from within 10
feet of the goal and beat the goalten-
der to tie the game at 1-1.
The first period ended with the
score at 1-1, behind strong play
from Rosen, who was 13-for-14 in
the net.
“I thought they took it to us in the
first period,” said Quinnipiac Head
Coach Rand Pecknold. “I thought
they outplayed us.”
Brown Head Coach Roger Grillo
agreed, saying the “first period was
solid.” But Grillo added, “We shot
ourselves in the foot in the sec-
ond.”
Quinnipiac’s first of four second-
period goals came when Mike At-
kinson of the Bobcats deked Rosen
to the right before coming back to
Justin Coleman / Herald
Men’s hockey extended its losing streak to three games Saturday against
continued on page 8 a tough Princeton squad.
Brown. but the kitchen sink, but it seemed easier.”
“It was good for our confidence,” like Stock was able to see mostly The Tigers took a 14-2 advantage
Murphy said. “We historically everything.” in shots into the first intermission,
haven’t played well in (Quinnipiac’s “I have to give a little bit of credit but the game remained scoreless
arena), and to get on the scoreboard to the team in front of her that al- after one period. Finally, consecutive
early … the kids started to believe lowed her to see it (and) cleared Princeton penalties gave Brown a
in themselves.” (rebounds) to the corners,” Murphy lengthy 5-on-3 advantage 6:25 into
The score remained 1-0 for the added the second period, and the Bears
next 37 minutes, thanks largely to Stock echoed that sentiment. took advantage. Eighteen seconds
the efforts of Stock and a strong “We played good defensive hock-
penalty kill that denied the Bobcats ey,” she said. “It made my job a lot continued on page 8
on each of their seven power plays.
But the Bears came out energized in
the third period, and Andrea Hunter
’10 gave Bruno a two-goal cushion
just 1:08 after intermission.
“We talked about it in the locker
room — we need(ed) to put another
one in and deflate them a little bit
and make sure we didn’t just sit on
the 1-0 lead, and I think that was
really important,” Stock said.
Nicole Brown extended the lead
with 5:13 remaining in the game
on another power-play goal. The
Bobcats turned up the intensity, un-
leashing 14 shots in the period, but
could not get past Stock, who turned
aside all 30 shots she faced to earn
her first shutout of the season.
Bruno faced an entirely differ-
ent challenge in Princeton, N.J. The
Tigers outshot the Bears, 43-12, but
were never able to take control of
the game. Both Dancewicz and Mur-
phy cited Stock as the key factor in
the upset, but they also praised a
defense that played better than the
stats showed.
“It wasn’t only Nicole — our
whole defensive corps did a really
good job of being patient and com-
posed and putting the puck into
smart places,” Murphy said. “The
kids played with courage. Princ-
eton was definitely a better team.
They came at us with everything
Page 8
S ports W eekend
M. hockey falls to
Quinnipiac, Princeton
continued from page 7
his left and backhanding a goal in
traffic. The shorthanded goal gave
Quinnipiac a 2-1 advantage.
“We gave up the (second) short-
handed goal and we were too men-
tally weak to recover from it,” Rosen
said. “We spiraled downhill.”
Quinnipiac’s Bryan Leitch, the
nation’s leader in assists and points,
assisted the next three goals in the
second period. The first was a rocket
that Dan Henningson fired from the
right point over Rosen’s right shoul-
der 5:38 into the period, while the
Bobcats were on a power-play.
The next goal came with under
five minutes left in the frame, when
Leitch slid the puck between two
Bears in front of the goal to David
Marshall, who one-timed it home to
give the Bobcats a 4-1 lead.
The final goal was Jean-Marc Be-
audoin’s backhand that beat Rosen
glove-side low. The Bears couldn’t
come up with a goal of their own in
the second period, and when the
frame ended, Quinnipiac was ahead,
5-1.
“We’re like two different teams.
You never know which is going to
show up,” Rosen said. “We came
out first period and played as good
as we have all year and came out in
the second and played as bad as we
have all year.”
Rosen left the ice at intermission
with 24 saves on the night, including
his 2,000th career save.
Mark Sibbald ’09 replaced him
for the final period, and was five-
Women’s hockey snaps
losing streak in OT
continued from page 7
later, Dancewicz found the back of
the net to give her team the lead.
“It definitely lightened up our
mood,” she said. “It’s always tough
when you’re tied, because whoever
scores the first goal has the mo-
mentum and gets fired up, so it was
really good.”
But the Tigers kept plugging
away. With 10:16 remaining in the
game, Princeton finally tied the
score when the rebound bounced
to unguarded Tiger Katherine
Dineen.
Murphy said she was nervous
about how her team would react
after Princeton tied the game, but
she was impressed with the way the
young group of defenders buckled
down for the stretch run.
Erica Kromm ’11, Samantha
Stortini ’11, Jacquie Pierri ’12 and
Paige Pyett ’12 “really played very
gritty and very hard, and that was
the stor y of the game,” Murphy
said.
Both Stock and Dancewicz said
that the players thought they had a
good chance of winning the game
heading into overtime, but it was
the Tigers who took control early
for-five in the net.
Brown took its home ice again
the following night to face No. 9
Princeton. The Tigers came into
the game amidst a slump, having
fallen to their last four ECAC op-
ponents, including a 3-1 loss to Yale
the night before.
The Tigers beat the Bears 4-1
earlier this season in the Showcase
at Meehan, but the first meeting
was not counted as an official ECAC
game.
The Tigers controlled the action
early in the game, scoring two goals
before Brown even took a shot.
Brown players spent 10 minutes
in the penalty box during the first
period alone, giving the Tigers two
five-on-three opportunities and five
power-plays.
One of the five-on-three opportu-
nities led to a goal by Jody Pederson
midway through the first period to
put the Tigers ahead, 2-0. Princeton
lined up shot after shot, gathering
each rebound before Pederson fi-
nally beat goalie Mike Clemente ’12
top shelf with a slap shot.
Clemente was the third Brown
goalie to see the ice this weekend.
“We’re trying to find a guy who
wants to step up and be the guy,”
Grillo said. “We’ve got three good
goalies who’ve all played well at
times. We’re just looking for some
consistency.”
When the first frame ended, the
Bears had gotten off four shots to
Princeton’s 18.
“The first period we took too
many penalties and dug ourselves
in the period. They kept the puck in
the Bears’ defensive zone for most
of the period and took four shots on
goal, but Stock made four saves to
keep the game going.
Finally, the Bears got the puck
out to Princeton’s side of the ice and
took it to the net.
“Jenna Dancewicz was, at some
level, just a rabid dog — she didn’t
give up on it,” Murphy said.
The Bears escaped Baker Rink
with a 2-1 win. The four-point week-
end pushed the Bears up from four
points beneath the Bobcats to a tie
for 10th with Quinnipiac. The loss
dropped Princeton from a third-
place tie to fifth.
The overtime win was Bruno’s
first in ECAC play since a 3-2 victory
over Princeton in the 2004 ECAC
Quarterfinals.
“It was nice to finally be the win-
ning team in overtime and not go
home dejected,” Murphy said.
The Bears will continue their
road trip next weekend with re-
matches against No. 9 Dartmouth
(14-6-2, 11-3-2) on Friday and Har-
vard (10-7-3, 10-4-2) on Saturday.
“We seem to play well on the
road, so hopefully we can keep it
going in their house,” she said.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
— Matt Vokes ’09, assistant hockey captain
“We’re trying to find a guy who wants to step up and be the guy,” Head Coach Roger Grillo said.
a hole,” Grillo said. “I thought we
played pretty well in the second and
third but just couldn’t capitalize.”
The Tigers outshot the Bears in
the middle period by a more mod-
est margin of 16-12, but still netted
another two goals. Mark Magnowski
added another goal and assist in the
second period.
The third started out 4-0, Princ-
eton. Bobby Farnham ’12 prevented
the shutout 2:30 into the final pe-
riod off an assist from Jack Maclel-
The women’s hockey team won two road games over the weekend.
“Everybody makes the playoffs.”
lan ’12.
Maclellan controlled the puck
at the bottom of the left faceoff
circle.
“I was just yelling to him, ‘Pass it
out,’” Farnham said. Maclellan found
Farnham at the top, and Farnham
one-timed the puck into the back of
the net for Brown’s only goal.
Princeton made it a four-goal
game again when Magnowski added
his second goal of the night with
under eight minutes remaining,
Justin Coleman / Herald
Monday, February 2, 2009
Justin Coleman / Herald
making the final score 5-1.
The two losses moved Brown
back to the bottom of the ECAC
standings, as Colgate picked up
a win against Clarkson on Friday
night. Both Colgate and Brown have
just seven points.
“There’s no trophy for the regu-
lar season,” Assistant Captain Matt
Vokes ’09 said. “Everybody makes
the playoffs. We’re going to fix some
things and stick together so we can
get some wins.”
Super Bowl
exceeds
expectations
continued from page 7
barely managed to hang on provided
us with a close runner-up.
As for the commercials, the endur-
ing memory from this year’s Madison
Avenue throwdown may well turn out
to be an advertisement than many
viewers could have easily missed, one
that I at first thought was the result
of an NBC screw-up. I am of course
speaking of the widely hyped one-
second ad from Miller Brewing Co.
in which a delivery man whips up his
arms and screams “High Life!” — the
result of a shoot that apparently lasted
17 hours.
The diet soda hater in me also
enjoyed the Pepsi Max ad where we
see guys who have just been whacked
with golf clubs, bowling balls and thou-
sands of volts of electricity shake it off
with a cool “I’m good.”
The punch line: “Men can take
anything … except the taste of diet
cola.”
Alex Mazerov ’10 agrees with
John Madden: “That was a real
super Super Bowl.”
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Monday, February 2, 2009

e d i to r i a l
Desperate measures
The recent downturn on Wall Street has caused many universities to mind
their budgets and tighten their belts. President Ruth Simmons’ e-mail specifi-
cally addressing the crisis estimated a 28 percent decrease in the University’s
endowment, shrinking it to a projected $2 billion dollars by the end of June.
Over the past few months, our increased attention to financial matters in all
areas of the University has alerted us to some of the charges incurred by
students which we think are counterproductive, even in light of Brown’s dire
financial situation.
We believe one of Brown’s primary goals, for the sake of attracting applicants
and establishing a base of loyal alumni, should be to create an environment
where students have personal choice and a feeling of fair treatment. In that
spirit, we’d like to suggest that the University reevaluate some of its more
questionable, albeit gainful tactics.
We appreciate Brown’s difficult financial position, especially given its
endowment’s modest standing relative to peer institutions. But we wonder
whether students should bear the brunt of its efforts to close the gap. Many of
the University’s policies diminish the student experience. Under the recently
instituted payment structure for studying abroad, for example, Brown requires
that students pay full tuition in order to receive credit internationally. Given
that almost no programs abroad are as expensive as Brown, students often
have to pay thousands of dollars in excess of foreign tuition.
Brown’s more creative fundraising techniques don’t all take place overseas.
Locally, the Brown First policy forces student groups to solicit Brown Dining
Services and Graphic Services for their catering and printing needs before
they’re allowed to work with businesses not affiliated with the University. This F ranny choi
program, implemented in 2002 in order to support the Plan for Academic
Enrichment, places an undue burden on student groups. Campus life suffers
when organizations have to pay higher rates or waste time jumping through
bureaucratic hoops for lower prices from outside vendors.
l e t t e r s to t h e e d i to r s
There’s a common theme. Brown deprives undergraduates of access to
the lowest-cost providers of education and services. But it doesn’t stop there.
The cap on off-campus housing creates an artificial demand for on-campus
Portrayal of women on tableslips offensive
dorms. We understand the value of residential community, but we believe that To the Editor: involved around campus until I noticed the way they
Brown dorms should compete on their own merits for upperclassmen tenants. were dressed: one in a sports bra, another in a belly
Given that many students were crowded into converted lounges and kitchens I recently saw several tableslips that were outra- dancing shirt and a third in a revealing tank top. For
last fall, the off-campus housing cap seems ill-advised. geously anti-feminist. The most appalling was the Class sororities that claim to be different from stereotypes, I
It may appear imprudent for the University to adopt more generous policies Board advertisement for a Super Bowl party featuring a was disgusted with the presentation that women need
in a time of financial distress. We would urge administrators to take a longer lingerie fashion show. It stated, “Come see your friends to expose their bodies to have worth.
view. While these measures may prove costly in the short-term, a grateful rock football gear and lingerie,” implying that while Phi Kappa Psi had distributed a tableslip for “Gentle-
class of alumni pays handsome returns. guys relax in sportswear, intelligent and talented young man’s Night,” and a second showing a Playboy Bunny
women should walk around in their underwear for all icon. I’m horrified that a group of men who treat women
to see. The idea that Class Board, which is supposed with so little respect in advertisements and want to
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d to represent the student body and receives University exploit their bodies at administration-approved par-
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Associate Editors Senior Editors funding, would sponsor such a blatantly sexist event is ties would call themselves gentlemen. After seeing
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt an embarrassment to Brown, and I was dismayed that such offensive and demeaning tableslips, I’m not sure
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Catherine Cullen
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein
my student representatives approved the event. Brown is as progressive and friendly to women as it
editorial Business One sorority rush tableslip claimed, “Not your av- claims to be.
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor erage school. Not your average sorority girls,” and
Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager
Sophia Li Features Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly pictured five women engaged in a variety of projects. Kate Fritzsche ’10
Emmy Liss Features Editor Jonathan Spector I appreciated the sororities’ presentation of women Jan. 30
Gaurie Tilak Higher Ed Editor Directors
Matthew Varley Higher Ed Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales Director
George Miller Metro Editor Claire Kiely, Sales Director
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor Phil Maynard Sales Director
Chaz Kelsh News Editor Katie Koh Finance Director
Jenna Stark
Benjy Asher
Andrew Braca
Alex Mazerov
News
Sports
Sports
Asst. Sports
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Kelly Weiss
Kathy Bui
Alex Carrere
Managers
Local Sales
National Sales
University Sales
Join The Herald!
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Recruiter Sales
Graphics & Photos Opinions
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Sarah Rosenthal Opinions Editor
Stephen Lichenstein
Eunice Hong
Graphics Editor
Photo Editor
Editorial Page Board Info sessions at 195 Angell St.
Kim Perley
Justin Coleman
Photo Editor
Sports Photo Editor
James Shapiro
Nick Bakshi
Editorial Page Editor
Board member
(between Brook and Thayer):
Zack Beauchamp Board member
production
Sara Molinaro Board member

Today, February 2 @ 8 p.m.

Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief Meha Verghese Board member
Seth Motel Copy Desk Chief
Marlee Bruning Design Editor Post- magazine
Jessica Calihan Design Editor Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor
Neal Poole Web Editor
Jessie Calihan, Designer correction
Lauren Fedor, Frederic Lu, Luis Solis, Copy Editors
Hannah Levintova, Brian Mastroianni, Ben Schreckinger, , Night Editors
Due to an editing error, an article in Friday’s Herald (“Alum may become Obama’s ‘car czar,’” Jan. 30) incorrectly
Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember,
reported that Professor George Borts taught Steven Rattner ’74 P’09 in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and
Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah
Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine, international finance. Borts said he only probably taught one of those courses. The Herald regrets the error.
Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Leslie Primack, Christian Martell, Alexandra Ulmer,
Lauren Pischel, Samuel Byker, Anne Deggelman, Nicole Dungca, Cameron Lee, Seth
Motel, Kyla Wilkes, Juliana Friend, Kelly Mallahan, Jyotsna Mullur, Chris Duffy C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy
Sports Staff Writers Peter Cipparone, Nicole Stock The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correc-
Business Staff Maximilian Barrows, Thanases Plestis, Allen McGonagill, Ben Xiong, Bonnie tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.
Kim, Cathy Li, Corey Schwartz, Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Jackie Goldman, Jilyn Chao, C ommentary P O L I C Y
Kenneth So, Lyndse Yess, Margaret Watson, Matthew Burrows, Maura Lynch, Misha Desai,
The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily
Stassia Chyzhykova, Webber Xu, William Schweitzer
reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.
Design Staff Jessica Kirschner, Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero
Photo Staff Alex DePaoli, Quinn Savit, Meara Sharma, Min Wu L etters to the E ditor P olicy
Copy Editors Rafael Chaiken, Ellen Cushing, Younhun Kim, Frederic Lu, Lauren Fedor, Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for
Madeleine Rosenberg, Kelly Mallahan, Jennifer Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Jordan Mainzer, length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may
Janine Lopez, Luis Solis, Ayelet Brinn, Rachel Starr, Riva Shah, Jason Yum, Simon Liebling, request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.
Geoffrey Kyi, Anna Jouravleva advertising P olicy
Web Developers Jihan Chao, Greg Edmiston The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Give us choice … in education
BORIS
RYVKIN
Opinions Columnist
A grassroots organization of Providence area
teenagers, Young Voices, recently came out
with a study on the state of the city’s public
schools. The group surveyed 1,700 students,
about a fifth of the city’s high school popula-
tion, and 149 teachers. A consultant was hired
to help interpret the results, which showed
that only 30 percent of student respondents
rated teachers as “motivating.” Some of what
students heard from their instructors includ-
ed “Why don’t you just drop out?” and “I don’t
care if you graduate — I still get paid.”
Information Works!, a database created by
the Rhode Island Department of Education
and the University of Rhode Island, serves as
the official state report card of Rhode Island’s
public education system. A letter from Educa-
tion Commissioner Peter McWalters opens
the 2008 report, which touts improvements in
math and reading proficiency as measured by
state standardized tests.
Perhaps Mr. McWalters knows something
I don’t, but little in the data he presented in the
letter gives cause for celebration. The reading
proficiency of third graders did improve by
nine points — from 51 to 60 percent! Eighth
grade math proficiency stayed at 48 percent.
Eleventh grade test results were equally dis-
comforting. In fact, not one grade passed the
70 percent threshold in either math or read-
ing.
Something is definitely wrong with Rhode
Island’s public schools, but the problem nei-
BY WILLIAM MARTIN
Opinions Columnist
Last Thursday, a panel assembled to discuss
the recent hostilities in the Gaza Strip be-
tween Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces,
and drew a crowd that packed one of Brown’s
largest lecture halls. The event was organized
by the group Common Ground, which claims
the lofty goal of bringing together Jewish and
Arab opinions to find a workable solution to
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Buzzwords abounded: The forum was in-
tended to mull “implications and reconceptu-
alizations” of the conflict’s many facets, and it
delivered an illuminating if diffuse set of per-
spectives.
But the event could have offered its attend-
ees far more insight had it included a speaker
to address the political, military and psycho-
logical considerations that led Israel to launch
the Gaza campaign — not necessarily a fer-
vent believer in the decisions of the IDF, but
someone prepared to discuss the currents of
opinion that shape those decisions.
Some of the organizers, panelists and at-
tendees seemed to think that presenting
these views was unnecessary — that during
the three weeks of the IDF bombardment of
Hamas, the American media had full-throated-
ly endorsed the Israeli strategy and minimized
the Gazans’ suffering.
That is incorrect. American news outlets
reliably focused on the bloody and traumatiz-
ing effects of the bombardment for ordinary
Gazans and highlighted the IDF’s failure to
ther begins nor ends here. America’s public
education system is severely flawed and in
need of comprehensive reform. Yet state bu-
reaucrats and entrenched special interests,
primarily teachers’ unions, continue to do ev-
erything in their power to prevent meaningful
change.
They portray themselves as selfless cru-
saders for student welfare, but simultaneously
stand in the way of initiatives to simplify proce-
dures for firing bad teachers, introduce mer-
it-based pay to reward effective teachers and
allow per-pupil education spending to be at-
tached to students instead of schools through
Something is definitely wrong with Rhode Island’s
public schools, but the problem neither begins
nor ends here.
voucher and scholarship programs. A 1996
study by Harvard economist Caroline Hoxby,
“How Teacher’s Unions Affect Education Pro-
duction,” concluded that unionization raised
dropout rates by 2.3 percent.Whereas higher
teacher pay and lower student-teacher ratios
had a discernable effect in reducing dropout
rates in nonunionized schools, the same was
not true for their unionized counterparts.
School choice through vouchers is perhaps
the most important of the reform initiatives.
Per pupil spending by state governments has
skyrocketed. New York spends upwards of
$20,000 per pupil, with the cost for Washington,
D.C., reaching almost $25,000. Rhode Island,
according to U.S. census data, was already
Higher ground
stop Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel.
For many Brown students, the IDF opera-
tion in Gaza was dumbfounding, the logic be-
hind it incomprehensible. But even those who
considered the campaign utterly unacceptable
will have to grapple with that logic, and if they
want to have any chance of defusing and dis-
mantling it they will have to understand it.
The operation had the support of more
than 90 percent of the Jewish Israeli public, or-
dinary people who wanted their elected gov-
ernment to protect them from rocket attacks
and demonstrate to those who wish them
Common Ground’s forum on Gaza could have
offered its attendees far more insight had it
included a speaker to address the political,
military and psychological considerations that
led Israel to launch the Gaza campaign.
harm that they are willing to use the military
force at their disposal. Dismissing their views
as bloodthirsty machismo unworthy of con-
sideration doesn’t do anyone any good.
Brown students could easily procure intel-
ligent and detailed analyses of Israel’s moti-
vations. But they could just as easily turn up
scholarly or political treatises on arcane topics
like those covered by the panelists. Common
Ground set itself the task of exposing its audi-
ence to perspectives they would have other-
wise ignored. But when it came to Israeli pub-
lic opinion, they shirked that task.
When an older attendee praised the forum
but asked whether the panel’s opinions should
spending $10,000 per pupil back in 2004.While
officially considered per-pupil spending, the
money is actually attached to schools, not stu-
dents. That is the main reason why costs keep
rising, independent of any improvement in stu-
dent performance.
Vouchers correct this problem by making
the money follow the students. Schools, pub-
lic and private, would be forced to compete.
Schools with severe personnel problems, like
those the Youth Voices respondents com-
plained about, would go out of business.
Competition yields efficiency and lower
costs. Children with legitimate special needs
could attend schools that specialize in learn-
ing disabilities. Gifted children could attend
high-quality prep schools. Vouchers level the
playing field for minority and low-income stu-
dents who are currently locked into broken in-
ner city public schools by inflexible and con-
voluted school board regulations. Economist
Carlisle Moody of the Virginia Institute for
Public Policy estimated in a 2003 report that
Virginia taxpayers spent $6,400 to educate one
child in the public school system, even though
tuition at the average state private school
costed $4,500.
What about charter schools? They are pub-
lic schools, but with greater independence in
developing curricula and dealing with person-
have been more “balanced,” Alex Ortiz ’09,
one of the event’s organizers, indignantly de-
nounced the question as a “diatribe” and con-
demned the notion of equal time for all views
as a way to covertly distort the discussion.
Ortiz is right that not every public forum
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be a
diametric debate with equal representation
for each major approach to the problem. But
for many Brown students, the predominant
Israeli view is the most radical “reconceptual-
ization” of the debate to which they could be
exposed.
For those less aware of Gaza’s plight, Com-
mon Ground provided analyses of humanitar-
ian dilemmas, alleged Israeli war crimes and
the political motivations that led to the elec-
tion of Hamas. The panel posed no compara-
ble challenge to students unsympathetic to Is-
raeli suffering.
Presenting an analysis of mainstream Israe-
li public opinion would not only have helped
students sympathetic to the Palestinian per-
spective navigate the issue, it would have sent
a signal to Brunonians fiercely in favor of the
IDF operation that the members of Common
Ground acknowledge and respect their opin-
ions, even if they disagree vehemently.
Monday, February 2, 2009 | Page 11
nel than the current system. Why not let par-
ents save financially and send their children to
places where teachers are incentivized to ex-
periment and take risks?
President Obama has no problem with
choice when it comes to his two daughters. Af-
ter moving to Washington, the first family sent
both to an elite private school. Since D.C. pub-
lic schools are among the worst-performing
and costliest in the country, his decision is un-
derstandable. Yet in a speech last year to the
American Federation of Teachers, one of the
country’s two largest teachers’ unions, Obama
said, “We need to focus on fixing and improv-
ing our public schools; not throwing our hands
up and walking away from them.” Talk about a
study in hypocrisy.
The situation in Rhode Island is rather
bleak. It has the third-weakest charter school
law in the country according to the Center for
Education Reform. Its one significant voucher-
like program is a corporate tax credit, capped
at $1 million, which funds a maximum of 10,000
private school scholarships for children. State
education guidelines emphasize centralized
monitoring, arbitrary standards and flawed as-
sumptions about student performance rates.
As Newt Gingrich would say, real change re-
quires real change. Let’s sideline the special
interests, really put students first and push for
wide-ranging school choice for Rhode Island
families.
Boris Ryvkin ‘09 is a political science and
economics concentrator from New York
City. He can be reached at
boris_ryvkin@brown.edu.
When supporters of the IDF assault see
their opinions ignored and hear the vitriolic
outbursts of students willing to acknowledge
only the Palestinian perspective, they become
bitter and frustrated — more likely to bicker,
less likely to listen.
Former Senator Lincoln Chafee ’75, speak-
ing about his experience observing Hamas’
rise to power from Washington, inadvertently
provided one of the event’s low points. He re-
called an American military expert emphasiz-
ing the crudeness of the Qassam rockets that
are Hamas’ main long-range weapon against
Israeli civilians: “They could go north … or
they could go east.”
The remembered quip queued a ghoulish
chorus of giggles from the audience, a sound
to freeze the blood of any friend or relative of
the 15 Israelis killed by Qassams since they
were first launched in 2001.
I haven’t forgotten that 15 lives are a drop
in the blood-stained bucket compared to the
1,300 Gazans killed during the recent opera-
tion, much less the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict’s overall death toll.
But if you scorn the fears and anxieties of
the vast majority of Israeli Jews and their sym-
pathizers and reject their strategies for self-de-
fense as barbarism, you harden the ideologi-
cal battle lines that help sustain the turmoil in
the Holy Land. For all their good intentions,
that’s what the members of Common Ground
did last Thursday night.
William Martin ’10 is a history concen-
trator from Seattle, Washington.
 Today 5
to day to m o r r o w
Street artist uses Nice Slice as canvas
The Brown Daily Herald

W. hockey scores a two-win weekend

7
Monday, February 2, 2009
46 / 26 39 / 17
Page 12

the news in images

1 5 7
c a l e n da r g r o u n d h o g day
february 2, 2009 feburary 3, 2009

5:00 PM — “Dissection and Doctoring: 4:00 PM — “Israel in a Changing

What the Dead Teach Us About Healing
the Living,” Christine Montross MD ’06,
Salomon 101
9:00 PM — Audtiton for the Bear
Middle East” with Nadav Tamir, Jou-
kowsky Forum, Watson Institute
5:30 Pm — “Providence 101: Making
a Difference from the State Supreme

Courtesy of SchultzLabs
Necessities, Sayles 105 Court,” Crystal Room, Alumnae Hall

menu
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Cheese Raviolis with Sauce, Lunch — Shaved Steak Sandwich

Pulled Pork Sandwich, Italian Vegetable with Mushrooms, Artichoke and Red
Saute, Vegan Patties Pepper Frittata
For those of you who may have forgotten, approximately 7:25 a.m.
Dinner — Pacific Chicken and Veg- Dinner — Chopped Sirloin with On- today is Groundhog Day. This fateful day While there are many varying theories
etable Stir Fry, Lemon Rice, Brown Rice ion Sauce, Tofu Raviolis, Mashed will determine whether winter will continue, regarding the historical origins of Ground-
RELEASE
Garden DATE– Monday,
Casserole, BelgianFebruary
Carrots 2, 2009
Butternut Squash, Cuban Stir Fry unrelenting, or if spring is closer than we hog Day, most seem to link it to German
thought. beliefs that once surrounded Candlemas
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle The largest Groundhog Day celebration is Day, a Christian holiday celebrated through-
Edited byc r Norris
Rich oss andw or
Joyce d Lewis
Nichols held every year in Punxsutawney, Pa., where out Europe. Historically, on this day clergy
ACROSS DOWN 35 Shipbuilding wood 51 Backless
1 Celebrity 1 Arena cheers 36 Eyelid affliction 52 Sprayed with tear
thousands gather at Gobbler’s Knob to see would bless candles and then distribute
skewering 2 Orchestral reed 38 Backed the gas if Punxsutawney Phil, the town’s legendary them to people.
6 Jeff’s partner 3 Start the pot motion 53 Stood up
10 One-horse 4 Once in a long 40 Place for online 54 Triangular Greek
groundhog, will see his shadow upon emerg- The weather on Candlemas Day was con-
carriage while gab letter ing from his burrow. sidered an indication of seasons to come.
14 Mammy’s boy 5 Hex- halved 43 “You’d better __”: 58 Vision: Pref.
“Please leave” 60 Right-hand man
If he does, he retreats into his hole, in- If the sun appeared, then traditionally a
15 Swelled heads 6 “M*A*S*H” chow
16 “Brothers & area 44 Poly- ending 61 Sharp-edged dicating that six more weeks of winter are hedgehog would emerge, seeing its shadow
Sisters” actor 7 Exclamations of 46 Sign up 62 Old U.S. gas in store. If the day is cloudy and Phil does and ushering in six more weeks of winter.
Rob disgust 47 16th-century start 64 Wanted-poster
17 Frank Burns’s 8 Play the flute 50 Scurrier in a letters not see his shadow, he will stay above the Since Phil’s first official Groundhog Day
heartthrob on 9 Nashville sch. maze 65 Officeholders ground and, as tradition holds, spring will appearance in Punxustawney in 1886, he
“M*A*S*H” 10 Careless, as
20 Bird feeder filler workmanship ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: arrive shortly. has seen his shadow 96 times, not seen it
21 Gal Fri. 11 Sounds from According to the Punxsutawney Ground- 14 times, and nine times left crowds with
22 Left, at sea Santa
23 Malt-drying oven 12 In the loop hog Club’s Web site, Phil’s official predic- no seasonal forecast.
25 Ponderer’s 13 Broadway tion will have come earlier this morning, at
phrase matchmaker
27 Be a B-team 18 Turkish big shot
player 19 Gate fastener
31 A prospector 24 PIN requester
might get a lode
of it
26 Subj. including
grammar
comics
32 Lioness’s lack 27 Prebirth berth
33 House haunters 28 Kind of code or Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
37 Rx’s rug
39 Dr. Mom’s forte 29 Funny Foxx
41 Piece marked 30 Shakespeare’s
“piano, four Sir Toby
hands,” obviously 34 “Star Trek”
42 Good-for-nothing crewman xwordeditor@aol.com 02/02/09
45 Sci. with a lab
48 Hens do it
49 1967 Paul
Newman title role
52 Virgin Mary
55 Peter, Paul and
Mary, e.g.
56 “There __
atheists in
foxholes”
57 Town name
ending Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
59 Stop sleeping,
with “up”
63 Pre-1991
U.S.-U.S.S.R.
strategies
66 Spanish sunrise
direction
67 Green Hornet’s
sidekick
68 Art class models
69 In need of
charging, as a
cell phone
70 Elemental unit
71 Court reporter
By Betty Keller
(c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
02/02/09