T H U R S D A Y APRIL 18, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 53
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Jury selection begins in Cianci corruption trial BY CHRIS BYRNES
Jury selection began in the corruption trial of Mayor Vincent Cianci in U.S. District Court Wednesday. Judge Ernest Torres addressed the 95 potential jurors shortly after 9:30 a.m. and instructed them to avoid watching the news and reading the newspapers. Only 21 were questioned Wednesday, and the others will be interviewed this week, the Providence Journal reported. Of the 21 jurors examined Wednesday, 16 were ruled “tentatively qualified,” and five were rejected. Torres and lawyers for both sides questioned potential jurors to see if they were associated with Cianci or had any other possible bias. Numerous people had connections to police departments throughout Rhode Island, a major concern to both parties. Torres frequently asked jury candidates if their connections to police would lead them to consider police testimony any more — or less — credible than other testifiers. One man, a social worker who works in Massachusetts, had testified in numerous cases in which the state sought to claim custody of a child. His experiences testifying and his cooperation with local police departments in those cases contributed to his dismissal. A retired naval police officer said Cianci had attended his 25th wedding anniversary see CIANCI page 4 Josh Apte / Herald
Despite roadblocks, literature alive in Mexico, author Fuentes reports
The new Watson Institute for International Studies was designed by architect Rafael Vinoly, who spoke Wednesday night about crafting progressive structures to connect people to the cities in which they live.The lecture was part of the 2002 Brown/ProJo conference.
BY JUAN NUÑEZ
BY KATIE ROUSH
Celebrated Mexican author Carlos Fuentes and four emerging talents of the Mexican literary stage, Jorge Volpi, Ignacio Padilla, Pedro Angel Palou and Cristina Rivera Garza, discussed writing and Mexican literary culture Wednesday in the Rochambeau Library. Fuentes praised the writers with whom he spoke, saying their presence proves that Mexican literary culture is alive, and their writing will insure the culture’s survival and continuity. The writers discussed the difficulties of writing in Mexico. “There is a profound editorial crisis in Mexico,” Padilla said. At initial publication, only 2,000 copies of “serious” novels are normally printed, he said. Padilla also said the very low levels of book piracy in Mexico exhibit the “editorial crisis.” The amount of bootlegged books is usually a reliable indicator of how much the public reads, he said. “It is not profitable to bootleg books,” Padilla said of the situation in Mexico. Padilla criticized the Mexican literary tradition’s failure to allow for sub-genres.
Internationally acclaimed architects Rafael Vinoly and Zaha Hadid spoke Wednesday about their different visions of modern city buildings. The joint lecture on progressive city architecture discussed how buildings should help connect people to the cities in which they live. Vinoly, a Uruguay-born architect who designed the newly opened Kimmel Center, home to the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra, and Brown’s Watson Institute for International Studies, said he believes architects should produce innovative buildings that contribute to the progressive atmosphere of a city. But other architects think buildings should reflect the pre-existing structures in the city that already affirm the city’s success, he said. He presented slides of five of his buildings and explained how each structure reflects his personal approach to architecture. In each design, Vinoly said he tried to blend public and private spaces. He said he sought to achieve “the combination of different functions of commerce and
see FUENTES page 6
21st-century skylines: 2 world renowned architects pitch visions of modern design high culture, which intersects the public’s interests with conventionally private spaces.” In the Kimmel Center, Vinoly said he created a lobby that is used by concertgoers and city dwellers. The one-lobby structure was used instead of scattering many lobbies throughout the building that people rarely use. This way, Vinoly said, the structure is not merely a concert hall, but a vibrant new aspect of city life, and it does not ignore the surrounding city. The external shape of the buildings he designs also makes the structures appealing to the surrounding city, Vinoly said. The Kimmel Center has a uniquely curved roof that “respects the orderly grid of the city and also captures the double scale between the low-rise and highrise buildings it is situated in-between,” he said. Although the concert hall has a distinct and memorable shape, it respects and relates to the city around it, he added. Zaha Hadid, an internationally renowned modernist architect, spoke about her creative intention to “test the
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, A P R I L 1 8 , 2 0 0 2 Rhode Island Hospital faces third power outage this month, looks for solutions page 3
Mayoral hopeful Keven McKenna says education reform is key to improving Providence page 3
Sofyan Sultan ’03.5 says foreign relations understanding requires complex analysis guest column,page 13
boundaries of architectural design” in every building she creates and addressed the issue of construction on the site of the former World Trade Center. Hadid said she focuses on designing conventionally regular structures such as parking lots and car factories to test architectural boundaries. Hadid also talked about her design of Italy’s Rome Museum of Contemporary Art. She said she designed the building by including wavy, river-like patterns to help create fluidity in the building plan. The museum linked Rome’s ancient past with its new status as a contemporary, modern city, Hadid said. Hadid said that logistic and social problems complicate any possible reconstruction on the site of the old World Trade Center. But she added that it had the possibility to be an interesting and exciting project. She stressed the importance of “getting quite a few brains involved” in the planning of the new buildings on the site. Herald staff writer Katie Roush ’03 can be reached at kroush@browndailyherald.com.
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Camille Gerwin ’03 says only peace will lead to establishment of a Palestinian state guest column,page 13
Men’s golf takes 6th place at New England Division I Championships page 16
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