THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 26
since 1891
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Exhibit spotlights voices of Olneyville Gourmet Portraits and oral histories at City Hall provide testimonial to a neighborhood in flux
By CAMILLA BRANDFIELD-HARVEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The photos decorate a rowdy second floor — it is easy to walk past many of the inconspicuous portraits in pursuit of a more traditional showroom. The Gallery at Providence City Hall isn’t a whitewashed minimalist space. It’s the open exterior of offices at the top of the grand staircase. The photos have a quiet presence, but their
ARTS & CULTURE
subjects, stories and adjoining placards speak loudly. “Community in Focus: Photographs and Stories of Olneyville,” on view at City Hall through March 24, is an early release of a grand project celebrating the Olneyville Housing Corporation’s 25th anniversary. With the exhibit, the Housing Corporation seeks to commemorate the advancement of the historically rich neighborhood, culminating in a gala at Paragon Mills May 1. The Olneyville Housing Corporation, established in 1988, has worked to preserve and provide affordable housing, spur economic growth and foster community-building, according to its website. OHC has since developed 45 » See CITY HALL, page 4
Heaven owner arrested
Cho, charged with worker discrimination and wage theft, could face fines and prison time if convicted By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE COURTESY OF VERA CAROTHERS
Stefan Dabroski ’14.5 views portraits of Olneyville residents, part of an exhibit celebrating the Olneyville Housing Corporation’s 25th year.
Running back takes Fishing for applicants with shiny hooks his chances in stride SPORTS BULLETIN
Glitzy marketing techniques reach out to applicants, but wider pool might be weaker By EMMA JERZYK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
In a video on the Office of Admission webpage, for a minute and a half — as soft electronic music plays in the background — John Krasinski reveals why “you should look no further than Brown University.” “Take it from me,” he says. “I’m John Krasinski, class of 2001.” Brown is not the only university using this type of marketing.
FEATURE
Harvard’s admission website includes a sixteen-and-a-half-minute video entitled “Welcome to Harvard” that features several stories of current studentsand alums — including those of Natalie Portman and Matt Damon — as well as footage of its campus. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s admission website includes a video comparing the school to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, with a tour featuring Tim the Beaver, MIT’s mascot, robots and a football player dipping a football into liquid nitrogen. Perhaps the most well-known college admission video was produced by Yale — a lengthy musical video, released in 2010, entitled “That’s Why I Chose Yale.” Students, administrators » See ADMISSION, page 3
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Gourmet Heaven owner Chung Cho was arrested Monday on five violations of discrimination against workers and five violations of failure to keep wage records, according to Connecticut state court records. The grocery store, which has locations in Providence and New Haven, Ct., opened a branch on Meeting Street last year. This is the second time Cho has been arrested over the course of the past two weeks. Cho was arrested Feb. 20 by New Haven Police on 21 charges of felony wage theft and 20 misdemeanor counts of defrauding immigrant workers, according to information from the Connecticut state judicial site. Cho also faces a charge of first-degree larceny for allegedly stealing over $10,000 in wages and withholding more than $218,000 in unpaid wages and more than $36,000 in statutory interest, the New Haven Register reported. “I was on the phone with him the other day — he did not mention this,” Mohamed Masaud, manager of Gourmet Heaven on Weybosset Street in Providence, said Tuesday. “He says everything is fine.” » See GOURMET, page 2
UCS provides feedback on new scholarship
‘Fastest man in the Ivy League’ looks to prove he can perform at NFL level of play By EMMAJEAN HOLLEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
inside
Playing in the National Football League is a common, if elusive, dream for many young athletes. Only 335 out of about 9,000 college players were invited to the 2014 NFL scouting combine, the pool from which drafts are
selected, according to the NFL Players Association. But running back John Spooney ’14 refuses to let these statistics tackle his dreams without a fight. He recently declared his intention to pursue an NFL roster spot, hiring an agent and embarking on an intensive training regimen in preparation for upcoming scout evaluations. Spooney’s track record is impressive — literally. In his three years as a sprinter for the track and field team, he was a three-time Ivy League » See SPOONEY, page S3
By CAROLINE KELLY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Undergraduate Council of Students leaders are working to provide feedback on the Swearer Engaged Scholars initiative, which includes programs on gap years and integrating scholarship opportunities into the University’s surrounding community. The program was presented at the UCS general body meeting Wednesday night by Roger Nozaki MAT ’89, associate dean of the College for community and global engagement and director of » See UCS, page 4
Sports
HUNTER LEEMER / HERALD
Swearer Center leaders discuss an engaged scholarship initiative with Undergraduate Council of Students members Wednesday.
Commentary
Cohan ’17: Advanced statistics could transform sports, for better and for worse
Svensson ’14: In the NBA, teams strive to reach the Finals or tank their way into a lottery draft pick
Enzerink GS: Students should not dismiss racial insensitivity on campuses
Rattner ’15: Binge watching TV shows might be better than critics think
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weather
EMILY GILBERT / HERALD
John Spooney ’14 rushed for over 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns in his senior season. He is also a three-time champion in the 100-meter dash.
Leaders of Swearer Center join UCS to discuss new Swearer Engaged Scholars initiative
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Week of events focuses on boosting body image Celebrate Every Body Week provides open space for discussion, education on eating disorders By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Annie Buffington, Health Services’ registered dietitian, said she still gets chills when she recalls a patient saying, “I feel a weight has lifted.” Buffington’s patient, who suffered from an eating disorder, gained weight in the recovery process but actually felt lighter afterward, Buffington added. Celebrate Every Body Week, a series of events sponsored by Brown Health Education, aims to create safe spaces for students to discuss body image and eating disorders. The events, which kicked off Monday, end today and coincide with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Brown Health Education has hosted a similar program for over 15 years, said Cynthia Ellis, psychotherapist at Psychological Services. During her time at Brown, the program has expanded from just a table promoting awareness to various speakers and finally to a week featuring a variety of events, including a fun —and sweaty — Zumba party, Buffington said. The week also featured a panel Wednesday entitled “I Had No Idea:
» GOURMET, from page 1 The investigation John Lugo, a member of Unidad Latina en Accion, said the New Havenbased organization, which advocates for immigrant rights, has been aware of the wage violations at the two Gourmet Heaven stores in New Haven for many years. The Connecticut Department of Labor became involved when a worker filed a formal complaint, he said. The DOL began its investigation last August, Lugo said. Investigators found that employees were working overtime without proper compensation, and many were receiving their wages in cash at a rate below the minimum wage, said Gary Pechie, director of the Wage and Workplace Standards Division of the DOL. Cho was paying employees as little as $4.44 an hour, the Yale Daily News reported.
Understanding Food, Body, Self.” The community expert-led panel discussed topics like the relationship between food and bodies and the available resources for treating eating disorders. The panel incorporated an anonymous question-and-answer portion due to the sensitive nature of the discussion. Yoga classes sponsored by the Yoga and Mindfulness student group were also offered throughout the week, and inspirational quotes were posted on mirrors in the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center and Jonathan Nelson ’77 Fitness Center. A health education and affirmation table at the Sharpe Refectory provided students with free buttons and awareness bracelets. Buffington said she is constantly reminded through her work with Health Services why it’s important to discuss eating disorders and body image, adding that she advises a range of students, including athletes and males, who are not typically associated with body image-related problems. Though athletes may appear to be the fittest, healthiest students on campus, some have exercise disorders, said Caitlin Taylor ’14. “I see some students using this valuable tool of self-care as a form of punishment for what they’ve eaten or (as a way) to earn calories,” Buffington said. The Zumba party — attended by between 50 and 70 people — reminded
Cho could not provide payroll or time records to investigators, Pechie added. When DOL agents attempted to shut down the Gourmet Heaven store in New Haven, the store was empty, as Cho had told workers to go home before the agents arrived, said Megan Fountain, ULA organizer. Cho settled a separate lawsuit with the DOL last November after he agreed to pay $140,000 in wages and $10,200 in civil penalties, the New Haven Register reported. But employees continued to report mistreatment and wage theft after the settlement was finalized, and Cho failed to make the first and second payments in a timely manner, Pechie said. Cho made the last payment on time, but the warrant for his arrest had already been issued, he added. Cho’s arraignment is set for March 4 and could result in a substantial fine and up to five years in prison or a plea bargain, Pechie said.
KATHLEEN SAMUELSON / HERALD
Panelists Natalie Monaghan, Diane DerMarderosian and Cynthia Ellis join dietician Annie Buffington to address resources available for students with eating disorders during Celebrate Every Body Week. students of how enjoyable exercise can be, said Camille Garnsey ’17. Covered mirrors encouraged participants to be goofy and less self-conscious, Garnsey said. “You can’t help but smile when you are moving your body in enjoyable ways.” Eating disorders are not just a medical, psychological or social problem,
Taylor said. Their diverse nature requires a multifaceted solution, which Celebrate Every Body Week achieves by offering a wide array of events and incorporating various campus outlets, she said. Active Minds — a national mental health advocacy, education and awareness organization — is hosting a safe
space in the Underground next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for open discussion about body image and eating disorders, said Julia Lynford ’14, co-founder of Brown’s Active Minds chapter. This week, the group covered campus with positive notes about body image in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, she said.
New Haven activism ULA organizers have been boycotting Gourmet Heaven in New Haven for the past six months, Lugo said. They held rallies in front of the stores, passed out flyers and held community presentations, he added. Cho brought some Providence workers to New Haven so they could participate in a counterprotest, Lugo said. He forced workers to go outside and protest the ULA boycott, Lugo added. The workers “called us later to say ‘I’m sorry, they are forcing me,’” Lugo said. Masaud said he joined other Providence employees in the counterprotest. “I have to protect my job and my boss. Everything (the ULA says) is wrong. We are happy here and have no problems,” Masaud said. “The (ULA) is lying — people don’t want to lose their jobs.” Fountain said the protest has attracted the attention of Yale students, including those in Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan — a Chicano organization
that promotes social justice and cultural awareness. MEChA was concerned because the Gourmet Heaven stores in Connecticut are on property leased by the university, Fountain said. Bruce Alexander, vice president for New Haven and state affairs and campus development, met with MEChA to discuss the Gourmet Heaven situation, wrote Yale University Press Secretary Thomas Conroy in an email to The Herald. “University Properties strongly condemns any behavior contrary to labor laws or involving mistreatment of employees,” but “Gourmet Heaven has a legal right to be in the space until its lease expires in about two years,” Conroy wrote. Fountain said MEChA is trying to meet with Alexander again. She said she hopes student groups at Brown will get involved and support labor rights. New Haven Police hosted a press conference Wednesday to publicly discuss
the arrest, Lugo said, adding that the conference sent a clear message to other businesses in New Haven that wage theft will not be tolerated.
TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD
Chung Cho, owner of the regional chain Gourmet Heaven, was arrested Monday in New Haven on charges of discrimination and failure to pay adequate wages. If convicted, Cho could face up to five years in prison or have to pay a significant fine.
From Connecticut to College Hill The Providence locations of Gourmet Heaven are not currently under investigation, said Nicole Armstrong, coordinator of employment programs at the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. “We don’t have any reports of wage issues in either of the Providence stores,” said Armstrong. The R.I. Department of Labor and Training cannot take action unless someone steps forward and files a complaint, she added. ULA activists said they believe similar labor violations are occurring in the Providence locations. New Haven employees who know workers in the Providence stores or have moved from New Haven to work in the Providence stores have reported “similar conditions,” Lugo said. ULA attempted to team up with organizations in Rhode Island, but the organizations contacted “really didn’t want to take action until the workers in Rhode Island filed a complaint,” Fountain said. But it’s unlikely that a Providence employee will step up and file a complaint because workers are afraid of losing their jobs and are still being pressured by Cho and their managers to remain silent, Fountain added. Fountain said workers told her they were instructed to lie to reporters and investigators about wages and working conditions, adding that undocumented immigrants are likelier to comply because Cho probably threatens to report them. No Gourmet Heaven employees approached by The Herald in Providence were willing to discuss Cho’s arrest, his case or their working conditions. And no Gourmet Heaven locations in New Haven or Providence are set to close, Pechie said. The case is now “in the hands of the courts,” Pechie said.
university news 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Faculty members provide feedback in provost search forum Attendees discuss attributes that successor to Provost Mark Schlissel P’15 should bring to U. By WING SZE HO SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The search for Provost Mark Schlissel’s P’15 successor took center stage in a faculty forum Thursday that offered attendees a chance to voice their thoughts on ideal qualities for the University’s next chief academic officer. About 20 faculty members attended the forum, held at the School of Public Health, to offer their input on finding Schlissel’s successor. Schlissel will leave Brown to assume the presidency of the University of Michigan July 1. Search committee members Iris Bahar, professor of engineering, Peter Friedmann, professor of medicine and health services, policy and practice, Kavita Ramanan, professor of applied mathematics, and David Rand, professor of biology, moderated the discussion. The moderators said they are considering internal and external applications equally. A faculty member in attendance said a provost should “understand and appreciate all facets of Brown, including the sciences and the arts” and maintain the University’s distinctive features. Another faculty member said he preferred selecting a fellow academic to succeed Schlissel because “someone who spent the last 10 years in administration is going to be less in tune with the needs and interests of academic departments.” The provost’s ability to connect with different disciplines emerged as a focal point of faculty members’ discussion, with one attendee emphasizing that Schlissel’s successor “should be deeply impassioned with teaching of all kinds.” One faculty member said the provost should combine accomplished scholarship with “management
» ADMISSION, from page 1 nd faculty members lip-sync lyrics detailing their love for Yale, explaining the university’s residential college system, showcasing extracurricular activities and profiling sports teams and the student advising program. One element is missing from each of these ambitious admission videos. None of them mention that there’s a less than 10 percent chance you’ll get in. It’s not uncommon for schools to use creative marketing techniques to reach students, said Michele Hernandez, a college consultant and former assistant director of admission at Dartmouth. “It’s a little bit of a factory process,” Hernandez said. “I think it’s a little disingenuous… It’s kind of unfair to encourage unqualified kids to apply.” Many universities send marketing materials directly to students, Hernandez said, noting the volume of mail her daughter, a current high school junior, receives. “You could probably save the planet just by stopping sending these.”
WING SZE HO / HERALD
Provost search committee members David Rand, Kavita Ramanan, Peter Friedmann and Iris Bahar moderate a forum on the search for Provost Mark Schlissel’s P’15 successor. Faculty members in attendance highlighted managerial experience as a key attribute for the next provost. experience” and an appreciation for “academic freedom.” Schlissel’s successor must be skilled at team-building in order to address ongoing changes to both undergraduate and graduate education at Brown, another attendee said. Some forum participants voiced support for a new provost who has ample experience in steering a major academic institution. One faculty member noted that fundraising will be a priority in the coming years, as future levels of external research funding remain uncertain. The expansion of the Graduate School and the implementation of President Christina Paxson’s strategic plan will be key fundraising challenges for the next provost, several faculty members said.
Some attendees expressed concern over finding a provost who can commit to Brown for the long term, citing the brevity of Schlissel’s tenure and the recent departure of former Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. Schlissel became provost in July 2011. One faculty member said an ideal candidate should be internally selected, adding that the next provost should be someone who arrived “relatively recently” and who has “not been in Brown for their entire career.” “Brown has its own history, own sense of self, own constituencies … It takes three or four years to figure out how the place actually works,” the faculty member said. One attendee recommended the committee consider individuals who “have been interdisciplinary their
whole lives” so that they possess the vision needed to “quickly build up” Brown. The University should continue to expand its graduate programs to ensure that every department has doctoral students, another faculty member said. Another faculty member said the provost should be a “broad thinker” with strong listening skills who can efficiently “synthesize” information in order to be an effective decision maker. Faculty members also discussed the role of the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body. One attendee said Corporation members are “committed to develop Brown” but often do not understand “how the academic world works.”
Bahar said the committee chose to hold the forum at the School of Public Health to solicit input from faculty members located on College Hill as well as those who work downtown. Faculty members in the Alpert Medical School, now based in the Jewelry District, have a “long tradition” of not attending faculty meetings as frequently as their College Hill peers, she said. The provost search committee hopes to gather feedback from “a mix of folks from (the) Schools of Medicine, Public Health and College Hillbased faculty,” Friedmann said. The “provost seems like a job that is very distant from what faculty does … because you don’t meet the provost unless you are involved in an issue directly related to the provost,” Ramanan said.
Indeed, Brown’s Admission Office sends out “thousands and thousands of letters” and “hundreds of thousands of emails,” Director of Admission Jim Miller ’73 said. “Our role is to find the best students we can find, wherever they are in the world. That’s the bottom line.” While students from lower-income areas — who may have less access to information about colleges — often benefit from the mailings, many students now rely on virtual tours and online college information outlets to inform their college search process, Hernandez said. “Today’s students depend more on … social media. Schools are trying to change the delivery,” Hernandez said. “They are trying to get more talent, and they’re trying to get more diversity.” But, she added, “I think sometimes they should be discouraging students to apply.” Hernandez made a clear distinction, explaining that she thought paper mailings were acceptable ways of reaching students, while an admission information session, or “the travelling road show,” as she calls it, often
specifically encourages unqualified students to apply. In her work as an admission officer at Dartmouth, Hernandez found that sifting through applications was “somewhat of a scientific process.”She added that if students approached her with SAT scores in the 500s — out of a possible 800 section score — asking if they should apply to Brown, she would answer no. “Students always say, ‘Well, there’s always a chance!’ But really, sometimes there isn’t,” Hernandez said. “There’s almost never a 100 percent chance that a student will not be admitted to Brown … but, is this about what’s likely to happen, or is this about giving kids a chance?” said Steven Roy Goodman, an educational consultant and admission strategist at Top Colleges. Unqualified student applications speed up the reading process for admission officers, Hernandez said. While admission officers may spend hours debating between qualified applicants, “they’re not going to spend more than three minutes” on a clearly unqualified student, Hernandez said. “Schools like Brown have three
goals,” Goodman said — to “maximize the number of students who apply,” to “have the lowest acceptance rate” and to “make sure that the combination of those two generates the best class.” In the U.S. News and World Report’s 2014 rankings of national universities, “student selectivity” accounts for 12.5 percent of the criteria, and an institution’s acceptance rate accounts for 10 percent of student selectivity. Though Miller said the University’s placement on ranking lists does not “factor at all into our process or our selection,” the Admission Office still advertises certain placements, like Brown’s “Happiest Students”
ranking from the 2010 edition of the Princeton Review, said Rebecca Whittaker, director of outreach for admission. Goodman said a university’s recruitment push often contradicts a high school student’s best interest, because the admission office is part of the university. “Admissions is really designed right now to benefit the institution.” Despite the questionable implications of heavy admission marketing, universities often feel compelled to compete with one another, Hernandez said. “All of the Ivies kind of act in concert,” she said. “They’re just doing their jobs.”
4 university news » UCS, from page 1 the Swearer Center for Public Service, and Kate Trimble, associate director of the Swearer Center. UCS leaders decided to have Nozaki and Trimble address the Council Wednesday, because they “felt that it was a really important time, as they’re building the program,” UCS President Todd Harris ’14.5 told The Herald. “Oftentimes students get to hear about programs after they’re totally complete, and we wanted to get the opportunity to get students involved in the formulation … of these programs to make sure that they serve students best when they’re rolled out.” At the meeting, Nozaki said the pilot of the integrated scholarship initiative will begin next semester. The initiative will aim to “give students a way to integrate their work in the community … (and) work outside of Brown directly in their concentration,” he said. Students may have the option of declaring a concentration in integrated scholarship along with their usual concentration, Nozaki said. He added that students will be able to rely on a “framework and structure” comprising an adviser from their concentration, another adviser to help with the interdisciplinary element of the coursework and “an external person, a community leader or public official … who can help advise on the external impact.” Nozaki and Trimble both stressed the importance of strong advising for the programs. Students should have a network of support from faculty members “who can help understand what their goals are and find a set of courses that helps (them with) their coursework and outside work,” Nozaki said. The idea for the Swearer Engaged Scholars initiative came out of the engaged scholarship theme in President Christina Paxson’s strategic plan, Nozaki told The Herald after the meeting. The integrated scholarship program could involve various departments, Trimble said. “Engineering is going to generate a very different set of
opportunities than visual arts is than public policy is,” she said. The pilot departments involved with this year’s TRI-Lab, which include environmental studies, anthropology and engineering, may form the basis of the program, Nozaki said. A discipline in the humanities could also be included in the program, said Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services and acting dean of the College. Administrators reached out to students to ensure “the right structure for that program,” Klawunn said. “We had agreed that before we went ahead and made a final decision of what that might look like, that we needed to gather some information from students.” The gap year program would provide students an “opportunity to take what you’ve been learning at Brown and then have this immersive experience,” Nozaki said. The program would last about seven to nine months. Some UCS members expressed concerns at the meeting about elements of the Swearer Engaged Scholars initiative. UCS general body member Will Orton ’17 asked if the program would be “applicable to students who have service experience outside of the Brown (or) Providence area.” Chance Dunbar ’17, another UCS general body member, said he hopes the gap year program offers financial support to students who could not otherwise afford to participate. Nozaki said students will have to pay at least for part of the gap year program, adding that student feedback would be taken into consideration going forward with the project. Harris said he thinks the program will be valuable for both current and future students. “This program and this pilot … is something that’s brand new, that can really both help Brown students apply their learning in new ways, and also help Brown and attract really awesome students to Brown as well in the future that are looking for these kind of opportunities that they might not be offered at other peer institutions,” he said.
» CITY HALL, from page 1 homes and 118 units of rental housing for low-income residents, in addition to providing 11,000 square feet of office and retail space. Each of the portraits at City Hall reveals a current or former Olneyville resident and active participant in the neighborhood. Below each picture is a large placard that displays an excerpt from an interview conducted by the exhibit’s curators, Vera Carothers ’14 and another intern from Clark University. Many of the quotes comment on Olneyville’s history and evolution, but most speak to its enduring sense of community. Olneyville was a hub of the textile industry for centuries before World War II. But the area experienced grave economic trouble and population decline in the postwar era. The region remains grounded in traditional ideas of community that persist today — residents help each other and work to give back through various means. “My father continued this tradition (of giving back) when he opened the pharmacy, and I strive for that” said Michael Solomon, City Council president and owner of Olneyville’s Wes’ Rib House, in his interview for the exhibit. “Community is everything.” The core of the Housing Corporation’s anniversary project focuses on residents’ everyday lives and their supportive community environment. Jennifer Hawkins, associate executive director of OHC and the interns’ supervisor, first conceived the idea. “I’m personally interested in the idea of oral history and wanted to figure out how we could celebrate all of the diverse people and stakeholders that make this neighborhood so wonderful,” Hawkins said. Carothers joined OHC as a summer intern through Impact Providence and, after Hawkins apprised her of the
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
idea, she and her colleague took charge of the project. Carothers then added the photography component to the interviews. “I’m particularly interested in the intersection of writing and photography with community history,” she said. The photos and interviews enhance the exhibit’s accessibility to community members, she added. “Oral history is something that many people can access.” All of the portrait placards display interview excerpts in both Spanish and English, many with quotes presented in Spanish before the English translation. The bilingual project exemplifies Olneyville’s cultural diversity. In the exhibit, a local postal worker who grew up in the area recalls serving individuals from Guatemala, Nigeria and Liberia in recent years after seeing primarily working-class white residents just a few decades ago. According to a neighborhood profile from the Providence Plan, Olneyville’s overall population is now 57.4 percent Hispanic. Sixty-three percent of Olneyville’s public school children speak a language other than English. Father Raymond Tetreault, a resident and the former pastor of St. Teresa’s Church, has a strong connection to the large immigrant population. Many people now mistake him for a Dominican or Mexican, Tetreault admits on his exhibit placard. “I’ve participated with people in their sorrows and in their joys: their weddings, their baptisms, trials, all kinds of problems that happen in any immigrant family that is unsettled,” he said. “I feel very close.” Solomon and Tetreault are just two of the residents who attempt to contribute to improving the Olneyville community. During the postwar recession, the crime rate in Olneyville
soared. When Olneyville appeared in the news, “you would hear about arson and murder,” Carothers said. But community organizations and the Providence Police Department have worked hard to quell crime, encouraging undocumented residents in particular to report crime without fear of repurcussions from law enforcement officials. The Olneyville Housing Corporation has also played a large role in reducing violent crime in the neighborhood. On Sept. 19, the Providence Journal announced the OHC was one of 14 recipients in the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program. OHC, in conjunction with the Providence Police, Roger Williams University’s School of Justice Studies and other community organizations, will put the nearly $600,000 grant toward patrolling “hot spots” and further developing abandoned properties, which tend to attract crime. Olneyville has become “a much safer neighborhood” due to OHC efforts, Hawkins said. “It’s become a neighborhood where residents can lean on one another and trust one another.” Many hope the exhibit will boost Olneyville’s negative image in the long run. “It’s not right,” said Jane Sherman, resident and Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council founder, according to the exhibit. “And hopefully it will change, because Olneyville has done a good job.” After March 24, the exhibit will relocate to Unit #108 of the Plant, a historic development now owned and renovated by the Armory Revival Company, before it relocates to its final destination at Paragon Mills May 1, in time for the anniversary event. The celebration, which will also incorporate recorded audio into the existing exhibit, will act as an emblem all of Olneyville’s accomplishments.
WINTER STRIKES BACK
TOM SULLIVAN/ HERALD
A stroll across campus became substantially more slippery Thursday as an afternoon snow shower undid much of the progress the sun had made toward turning the Main Green green again.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
SPORTS BULLETIN
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
M. BASKETBALL
Bruno bears arms against teams with highest Ivy attendance To stay in title hunt, Bruno must sweep road trip and hope Yale and Harvard drop a game SENIOR STAFF WRITER
League. “The older guys and our coaches said we just have to keep our composure,” Blackmon said. “Don’t listen to the crowd, don’t respond to what they’re saying, don’t feed anything that they’re doing. Just stick to what we know and play our basketball.”
The men’s basketball team enters the penultimate weekend of the Ivy League season with hopes of winning the title all but lost. Bruno trails Yale by two games and Harvard by three in the conference standings. With just four contests left to make up this ground, the Bears would need monumental collapses from the Bulldogs and the Crimson to finish atop the standings, but the team remains optimistic. “There’s definitely still hope for winning the league,” said Tavon Blackmon ’17. “We’re preaching championship, championship, championship every day. We compete every time we step on the court as if we can win the Ivy League by winning this game.” Bruno (14-10, 6-4 Ivy) will embark on its final away series of the year, with trips to Penn (7-16, 4-5) and Princeton (15-8, 3-6). The team split its home series against the Quakers and the Tigers earlier this season. The Bears will likely be at a disadvantage on the road, as Penn and Princeton record the highest and second-highest average home attendances in the Ivy
Friday: Brown at Penn Rafael Maia ’15, the Ivy League’s leading rebounder, sat out both games last weekend against Columbia (1710, 6-4) and Cornell (2-22, 1-9) due to an injury. Leland King ’17 took his place in the starting rotation and made colossal contributions to the squad, averaging 17.5 points and 10.5 boards in his two starts. Maia participated in two team practices this week and is expected to return to the court against Penn, Blackmon said. But don’t be surprised if the coaching staff keeps an eye on Maia’s minutes and pulls him in favor of King if the junior appears to be in pain. King and the team’s other starting forward Cedric Kuakumensah ’16 are more developed offensively than Maia — they can both knock down a jumper from just inside the arc with consistency as well as drive the ball to the basket. But the King-Kuakumensah front line is undersized. At 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8 respectively, both players are more suited for the power forward
By ALEX WAINGER
TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD
Rafael Maia ’15 searches for an open teammate. Maia sat out of both games last weekend due to an injury but will return to the court against Penn.
position. Penn’s starting lineup features the 6-foot-11 Darien NelsonHenry and 6-foot-8 Fran Dougherty, a duo that Bruno struggled to contain earlier this season. When Penn is not pounding the ball down low with its prolific post players, the Quakers’ leading scorer Tony Hicks is pushing the ball up the floor in transition. Hicks scored eight of Penn’s 10 fast-break points when the Quakers came to Providence. He blew past the Bears’ attempts to get back on defense and consistently converted his chances at the rim. Bruno will have its hands full against a lineup that can score from any position. Maia’s return will solidify Brown’s defense in the half court setting, but the team’s forwards will need to hustle down the floor after a missed shot or turnover to prevent Hicks from turning the game into a track meet. For the second weekend in a row, the Bears will be playing on national television. Last weekend, the NBC Sports Network broadcasted what turned out to be an overtime thriller between Cornell and Brown. This week, alums and basketball fans around the country can tune in to watch Bruno take on the Quakers. But don’t expect the Bears to do anything fancy for the cameras. “We don’t think about it much,” Blackmon said of the national » See M. BBALL, page S3
M. ICE HOCKEY
Bears face formidable foe No. 3 Union on path to home ice Bruno will host firstround matchup in tournament if it can outlast Harvard, St. Lawrence SENIOR STAFF WRITER
If Bruno finishes in eighth, it is likely to face the Saints in the first round, though Harvard and Dartmouth are both only two points out of ninth place. If the Bears should jump to seventh, Harvard, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence would all be potential opponents.
Sitting in eighth place in the conference as the last weekend of the regular season approaches, the men’s hockey team’s sole focus will be on holding its ground against No. 3 Union and Rensselaer in order to keep home ice in the first round of the ECAC tournament. The Bears currently hold a onepoint lead over St. Lawrence for the final home ice spot and trail seventh place RPI by two points. Despite the narrow lead, the Bears are in relatively good shape and likely need only two of four points this weekend to retain their spot. Bruno holds the tiebreaker over the Saints by virtue of a 1-0-1 record against them, and two points this weekend would land them eighth unless St. Lawrence were to win both of its remaining games. The Saints play at home against No. 8 Quinnipiac and Princeton this weekend. The Bears could finish in seventh if they beat RPI and the Engineers fall to Yale. Bruno would win the tiebreaker against RPI because it has won more league games, though the Engineers currently lead in the standings due to their five ties.
Friday: RPI vs. Brown The Engineers (13-13-6, 7-85 ECAC) handed Bruno (11-13-3, 8-11-1) one of its worst losses of the season Feb. 8, a 4-1 decision at Houston Field House that was the Bears’ third straight defeat. But a reinvigorated Brown team will likely put up a much better fight than in their sorry attempt earlier this month. The Engineers are sixth in the ECAC in goals per game, scoring 2.84, which is 0.21 more than Brown. Their offense is led by one of the most prolific goal-scorers in college hockey, junior forward Ryan Haggerty. Haggerty has scored 24 goals this season, good for third in the country behind Boston College’s Johnny Gaudreau and the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Josh Archibald. Haggerty is the conduit for the bulk of the RPI offense, as just one of his teammates also has over 22 points. Though they possess a great offensive talent like Haggerty, the Engineers are better at defense than they are at offense. RPI is fifth in the conference in goals against average, ceding just 2.49 per game. A part of their success is a strong penalty kill, with an 82
By ANDREW FLAX
KATIE LIEBOWITZ / HERALD
Matt Lorito ’15 brings the puck up the ice. Lorito and fellow forwards Mark Naclerio ’16 and Nick Lappin ’16 have accounted for 94 points this season, or 48 percent of the team’s total offensive production. percent success rate that places them at fourth best in the ECAC. But the lion’s share of the credit goes to junior goalie Scott Diebold, who has started 30 consecutive games for the Engineers since teammate Jason Kasdorf went down with an injury early in the season. The defense in front of him has given up the third-most shots per game in the conference, but his .914 save percentage has kept RPI afloat. If the Bears have truly learned from their early February swoon, they
will have their targets set on RPI to get revenge for their previous embarrassment. This game is also critical in the conference standings. If the Bears win Friday night, they move into the driver’s seat for seventh place and clinch eighth if St. Lawrence does not win. At home, the Bears need this victory. Saturday: No. 3 Union vs. Brown Like RPI, the Dutchmen (22-64, 16-3-1) have left a sour taste in
Brown’s mouth. The Bears nearly beat Union in Schenectady, falling 4-3, and will want to prove that the close game was no fluke. Union boasts the second most potent offense in college hockey, racking up 3.69 goals per game, a stat that has them only looking up at No. 1 Boston College. Unlike RPI, the Dutchmen have a variety of weapons, with five players who have at least 25 points and eight with at least 21. » See M. HOCKEY, page S3
S2 sports commentary Softball preview The softball team opens its 2014 campaign this weekend in North Carolina as it attempts to bounce back from a lastplace finish last season to contend in a competitive Ivy League.
2013 Record
10-28, Ivy 4-16
2013 Finish 4th place in Ivy North Division
Season Opener
UNC Wilmington Tournament Friday, Feb. 28 vs. Bucknell at 10 a.m. vs. UNC Wilmington at 2 p.m.
Head Coach Katie Flynn, 2nd year
Captains
Jen Kries ’14 Kelsey Williams ’14 Trista Chavez ’15
Returning Pitcher Jessica Cherness ’15
All-Ivy Returners
Trista Chavez ’15, 3B, Honorable Mention Janet Leung ’16, SS, Honorable Mention
New Additions Christina Andrews ’17, SS/UT Gina Chieffallo ’17, P Casey Fisher ’17, OF Lauren Hanna ’17, OF Leah Nakashima ’17, P Julia Schoenewald ’17, C/UT Sarah Syrop ’17, C/OF
Follow Sports! @bdh_sports
Broken Jazz tanking its way to the top BY NATE SVENSSON sports columnist
The Philadelphia 76ers were in Salt Lake City Feb. 12 to play the Utah Jazz in the NBA’s marquee matchup of the night. (Just kidding, it was actually the Pelicans-Bucks game.) With five minutes left to go in the game, the score was tied at 91. At this point, I was nervously clenching my Jazz beanie and rocking back and forth in my chair. All I wanted was the best possible outcome for my favorite team. Following a series of acrobatic plays by sixth-man extraordinaire Alec Burks, the Jazz pulled away and won the game 105-100. After the final buzzer, I threw my beanie down in disgust and let out a wholly indecorous string of expletives. My team won, and I could not have been more upset. Those who are unfamiliar with the landscape of the NBA are sure to be confused by my reaction. But even casual followers of the league are sure to be familiar with an NBA buzzword: tanking. Due to a variety of reasons, ranging from the length of the season to the lack of parity in the league, tanking is a phenomenon that is unique to the NBA. Tanking is the strategy of deliberately losing games throughout the season — or in some cases purposely constructing a team that everyone and their mother knows is going to be garbage — in the hopes of finishing with a poor record, thus securing a high pick in the following year’s draft. The Jazz are one of the teams built for failure this year in an attempt to expedite the rebuilding process. At the end of last season, the organization let four of its top five scorers leave the team without getting so much as a second-round pick in return. To anyone tracking the team’s progress (there are dozens of us — dozens!), these moves signaled that it was in full-blown tank mode. To be honest, this was something of a tough pill for me to swallow. I had grown up watching a Jazz organization that was one of the most consistent and successful franchises in the league. Every year I knew, no matter the circumstances, that the Jazz would have a solid year, make the playoffs and get bounced in the second round by the Lakers or the Spurs. And I was more than happy with that. But tanking? No way in hell could I accept that. Going into the season I held onto a futile optimism that somehow, some way, the Jazz would be a decent team and sneak into the playoffs. I even made a hefty wager with a friend that the Jazz would have a better season than his favorite squad (a bet I will still win because the Celtics are tanking even harder than the Jazz). But after the Jazz got off to a 1-14 start to the season, you could not have found a bigger proponent of tanking than yours truly. I wanted the Jazz to lose every game for the rest of the year so we could get one of the better prospects in the most loaded draft class in years. Unfortunately for me, the Jazz have transformed themselves into a mediocre team since their abysmal start, and in the highly competitive world of the NBA, mediocre is the worst place to be.
Basketball, much more so than any of the other five major sports in America, is a sport that can be highly affected by the presence of one dominant player, such as when LeBron James led a team of high schoolers to the 2007 NBA Finals. The easiest way of finding such a dominant player, especially for smallmarket teams like the Jazz that don’t attract big-name free agents, is through the draft. While there are a few exceptions to this rule, the highest chances of getting a franchise player come from owning one of the first two or three slots in the draft. But in order to get one of these top slots, you have to be a very bad team. This has encouraged many teams, more this year than ever before, to simply bottom out in the hopes that they land a player like college phenoms Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins. While many front offices view tanking as a viable strategy for building a team, there is no doubt that this strategy waters down the NBA’s product and ruins the games for fans. You can just look at me. In four short months, I have transformed from doe-eyed optimist to calloused tanking zealot. And if you think about it, this transformation is truly a shame. Sports leagues, or any other businesses for that matter, should not incentivize their members to give anything but their best efforts. A system that encourages losing is not a business model built for success. While tanking should certainly be killed, how can the NBA stop teams from doing it? The league has tried to curtail the practice, implementing a weighted lottery system in 1989 that does not guarantee that the team with the worst record will land the top draft pick. But it is more than obvious that this type of lottery does not discourage tanking. A slight revision to the current system would help solve the league’s problem. Currently, all 14 teams that don’t make the playoffs are put into a lottery where the one with the worst record is given the highest chance of winning the draft’s top pick and the non-playoff team with the best record is given the lowest chance of winning the number-one pick. If the NBA got rid of the weighted element of the lottery and gave all 14 teams the same shot at getting the top pick, tanking would all but be eliminated. This move would give bad teams the motivation to win and develop their players, making the race for the eighth spot in the playoffs far more interesting. Regrettably, there are no plans in place to change the current lottery system, so NBA fans everywhere are stuck watching a game where teams compete to lose rather than win. Hopefully the system will be overhauled in the near future, but until then, I will be rooting for my hometown Utah Jazz to continue to lose their games (not more than the Celtics, though) and draft the star of the future who will lead us back to the second round of the playoffs.
Nate Svensson ’14 has a Karl Malone poster in his room. If you can help him find a John Stockton one to match, contact him at christopher_ svensson@brown.edu.
SPORTS BULLETIN THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Advanced stats cannot capture essence of sports BY JAMES COHAN sports columnist
“If the advance of science questions what we regard as precious, what do we do about that?” Professor of Physics Leon Cooper, famous for teaching me physics (and for winning a Nobel Prize), got me thinking with those words. Science threatening our beliefs is nothing new. When Galileo supported the view that the earth revolved around the Sun, the Catholic Church made him publicly recant. It’s easy to understand why. If you could choose between being the center of the universe or being perched on a small rock circling around a ball of plasma floating in empty space, which would you pick? Today, we’re okay with the fact that the earth revolves around the Sun. But science causes other insecurities, and not just in a religion vs. science death-match way. One interesting example from class: If evolution explains our makeup, do the moral values we hold dear have any real value? Or are they, like everything else we’re composed of, just things that help us survive long enough to reproduce? If you take the time to think about it, it’s a disturbing idea. And I don’t think the anxiety caused by these types of questions is limited to the realm of philosophy and physics. I see it creep into articles on ESPN, arguments on “First Take” and discussions between fans. If you’ve followed sports even a little bit during the past decade or two, you’ve probably heard of something called advanced stats. Here’s a quick refresher: At some point, people good at math started analyzing sports, and their answers didn’t always align with conventional wisdom. Unsurprisingly, this caused conflict. Professional athletes don’t always like being told by a statistics major with a 13 percent uncontested layup rate that they don’t understand sports. And a lot of fans don’t like having beliefs, formed over years lying on their couches in front of the television, called myths. For instance, a few years ago, articles started hitting the Internet basically proving that Kobe Bryant was not “clutch.” That bothered a lot of people. (Myself not included. That’s what you get for beating Iverson in the Finals, Kobe.) Everyone just knew Kobe was clutch. If the stats said he wasn’t, then there was something wrong with the stats. A more recent example: Ron Washington’s response on Sunday to being questioned about his penchant for sacrifice bunts, a move the analytics community frowns upon. “I think if they try to do that, they’re going to be telling me how to (bleeping) manage. … Mike Scioscia dropped 56 sacrifice bunts on his club, the most in the league, and he’s a genius … but Ron Washington dropped 53 and he’s bunting too much? You can take that analytics and shove it.” Whoa. Anyway, I think the “stats aren’t everything” comments that often accompany any mention of advanced stats are usually the result of insecurity rather than conviction. Who wants stats to explain everything? What’s the fun in that? Why even bother watching the games? It’s not hard to imagine a world sometime in the future when stats really will
explain everything. A recent article by Kirk Goldsberry broke down a project he’s been working on for the past few years with a team of PhD students in statistics and computer science. Using data generated by SportsVU, cameras that track every on-court movement, the research group was able to measure the second-by-second probability of a team scoring. This stuff is scary. And while it might seem a small step toward a world in which every movement on a court can be broken down into a system of equations, consider another idea raised in class: History is littered with people claiming things are impossible. People used to say we could never know what stars were made of. How could we reach out of the earth and touch the material of the heavenly bodies? Then we invented spectroscopy, and now we know more about what stars are made of than we do about the interior of the Earth. So is that it? Is this a simple case of right versus wrong, the new versus the old, Drake versus Common? Are the people who push back against advanced stats no different than those who opposed the theory of the Earth revolving around the Sun? Is there nothing in sports that statistics will not one day be able to explain? I’m going to steal one more thing from class. (You didn’t actually me expect me to come up with my own ideas, did you?) Imagine Mary is a scientist who lives hundreds of years in the future. She is an expert on color. She knows every detail of every physical process in the brain and how it reacts when we see color. She understands every aspect of the chemistry, physics and biology involved. But Mary has lived her whole life in a black-and-white room. One day, someone gives her an apple. Does she learn anything? My gut reaction is yes. Of course she experiences something new. It doesn’t make any difference that she knew which neurons fired where when the brain processed color: Actually seeing color is something else entirely. No matter how good stats get at measuring every moment of every game, they won’t capture everything. You might be able to break down any sequence on a court into a series of numbers, but actually seeing humans play the game? That will always be unique. I think this lies behind the resentment many people feel toward advanced stats. Sure, a lot of the complaints just come from people being lazy. It’s easier to throw out cliched story lines about a team wanting it more or a player being clutch or not clutch than it is to break down what actually happened. But people don’t just love sports because of dry, detailed analysis. When Kobe is dribbling the ball on the last possession with his team down by two on the road, you sense so much more than his probability of scoring. You feel every fan in the arena tense up, you see the deer-in-the-headlights look in his defender’s eyes and you witness Kobe — calm, collected, confident and ready to step into the moment.
James Cohan ’17 is still bitter about the 2001 NBA Finals. Console him at james_cohan@ brown.edu.
schedule S3
SPORTS BULLETIN THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
» SPOONEY, from page 1 Heptagonal Outdoor Champion in the 100-meter dash and a two-time champion in the 200-meter dash. He even dropped football last year to focus on his track career, a decision he reversed with an illustrious return to the gridiron as a senior. In football, Spooney has set multiple records as one of the top rushers in Brown’s history. Rushing for an average 130 yards per game, Spooney ranked fifth in the nation and first in the Ivy League. He is the seventh Bear ever to rush for at least 1,000 yards in one season and was the first Ivy running back to attain two runs of at least 90 yards in the same game, to name a few of his achievements. Spooney was named New England Player of the Week and was one of two finalists for Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year. Track may have helped Spooney
“fine-tune his abilities,” said Christopher Nappi, the Bears’ assistant coach and running back coach. But Spooney demonstrated “obvious natural speed” even prior to his return to football, Nappi added. “Just walking by him, you’d never know he’s considered the fastest man in the Ivy League,” he said. “But what (Spooney) has doesn’t just happen on God-given talent alone. He’s worked extremely hard to get where he is.” Though observers of Spooney’s career are divided on his chances for getting drafted, coaches and teammates generally predict a positive trajectory for Spooney’s football future. “He’s one of the most humble guys I’ve ever played the game with,” said receiver Jordan Evans ’14. “Along with his huge work ethic and overall athleticism and strength, I think he has the key ingredients to succeed at the next level.” Fran k She ehan, of fensive
coordinator and offensive line coach, said Spooney “has nothing to lose and all to gain” in his push for the NFL. “He’s got what it takes to be a football player. (He’s) not just a college student who plays football,” Sheehan said. Former quarterback Patrick Donnelly ’13.5 echoed this sentiment, adding that Spooney’s auspicious prospects are self-evident to “anyone who’s seen him play.” Much of Spooney’s power lies in his speed, which often confounds defenders who don’t realize their miscalculations until it’s too late, Donnelly said. “The angles they use to try to overtake him and the look of surprise and confusion on their faces when he’s so much further ahead than they think he should be” are testaments to Spooney’s potentially professional talent, Donnelly said. But Nappi said he is not convinced that Spooney will be immediately drafted. “The kid is just now scratching
the surface of what he can be, so I can see someone not wanting to risk a draft on him just yet,” he said. Instead, a bid to a training camp would be a “no-brainer, win-win situation” for an NFL team, Nappi said. In an invitation-only camp filled with players of all experience levels, the “rawness” of Spooney’s talent could work to his advantage because coaches can still “mold him into what they want,” Nappi added. “In that regard, I think someone will definitely take a shot on him,” he said. Spooney offered a tentatively optimistic assessment of his own chances. While he said making a team would be “difficult,” he added that he believes his best chances lie in “really showing (his) effort.” Though the Ivy League does not have a reputation for producing NFL draftees, the conference’s athletes are “starting to be taken a lot more
seriously in terms of prospecting and scouting,” Sheehan said. He attributed this to the increase in financial aid available to athletes who might otherwise attend more traditionally sports-driven colleges. The next pivotal step in the drafting process comes March 10, when Brown will host its annual Pro Day. Between 10 and 15 scouts will attend the event, Sheehan said. Until then, Spooney is deep in training. But the prospective pro said the most difficult part of his preparation isn’t the grueling workouts. Rather, the challenge lies in preventing his uncertainty from shifting into the realm of doubt. “Everything’s in limbo right now, and that makes it really hard to stay confident in what you’re doing,” he said. “I just have to trust the people around me that there’s no reason to disregard myself as being able to play in the NFL.”
Princeton will once again focus on T.J. Bray. The senior point guard leads the Ancient Eight in scoring and assists and is the third-most efficient scorer in the league, with a 55.1 field goal percentage. Earlier this season, Bray exploded for 26 points, six boards, five assists and two steals against the Bears. He netted 17 of his points in the second
half and contributed 11 of Princeton’s last 13 points as the Tigers edged Bruno 69-65. “We lost our defensive focus last time we faced Princeton,” Blackmon said. “We were really undisciplined, and (Bray) took advantage of it. But we don’t change the way we play defense to adjust to another team. We just have to stick to our principles.”
Besides Bray, Bruno held the Tigers to a relatively poor night from the field two weeks ago. Princeton leads the conference in both treys attempted and treys made, but shot just 3-17 in the Pizzitola Center. The Bears are the fourth-best three-point defense in the nation and will need to stifle Bray and the Tigers from beyond the arc.
In Bruno’s final push for the Ivy League crown, beating Penn and Princeton is only half the battle. The Bears need other conference teams to hand Harvard and Yale at least one loss each this weekend. If the Bulldogs and the Crimson both win their two games, Brown will be eliminated from title contention in the 14-game tournament.
» M. BBALL, from page S1 television coverage. “The only reason we know a game is nationally televised is because all the media breaks and timeouts are really long. It doesn’t change the way we play whatsoever.” Saturday: Brown at Princeton Bruno’s defensive efforts against
» M. HOCKEY, from page S1 Senior forward Daniel Carr leads the way with 34, the same number as Brown forward Mark Naclerio ’16. Highly touted senior defenseman and Philadelphia Flyers draft pick Shayne Gostisbehere is fourth in the conference in points among blueliners with 26 total. Alarmingly, the Dutchmen also have the eighth-best defense, second best in the ECAC behind Quinnipiac. Unlike the Engineers, the Dutchmen complement their strong goaltending with consistent shot prevention. They allow the third-fewest shots per game in the conference, and if that were not enough, junior goalie Colin Stevens
currently ranks second in the conference in save percentage at .922. The leader is, of course, Marco De Filippo ’14 at .924. Though they are undeniably talented, the Dutchmen have nothing but national ranking to play for, having already clinched the top seed in the conference tournament. If they come out with anything less than full intensity, and the Bears play with the urgency they had in the teams’ previous meeting, Meehan Auditorium could witness a Saturday upset. If the Bears cannot defeat RPI Friday and other results go against them, the faceoff against Union could be make-or-break for home ice in the first round.
SCHEDULE Home Stevenson - Saturday 1 p.m.
Away Meehan - Saturday 4 p.m.
Dartmouth - Saturday-Sunday
Harvard - Thursday-Saturday
(1-0, 0-0 Ivy) || (3-1, 0-0 CAA)
(11-13-5, 8-11-1 ECAC) || (22-6-4, 16-3-1)
Men’s Hockey vs. #3 Union
Indoor Track and Field Ivy Heptagonal Championship
Men’s Swimming and Diving Ivy Championships
Previous Matchup Brown 8, UMass 9, OT (2013)
Previous Matchup Brown 3, Union 4
Last Year Women 8th, Men 4th
Last Year Brown 7th
Pizzitola - Friday 7 p.m.
Pizzitola - Saturday 6 p.m.
Penn - Friday 7:30 p.m.
Princeton - Saturday 6 p.m.
W. Basketball vs. Penn
W. Basketball vs. Princeton
Men’s Basketball vs. Penn
Men’s Basketball vs. Princeton
Previous Matchup Brown 51, Penn 78
Previous Matchup Brown 70, Princeton 81
Previous Matchup Brown 62, Penn 55
Previous Matchup Brown 65, Princeton 69
Meehan - Friday 7 p.m.
Pizzitola - Saturday 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m.
Columbia - Saturday 1 p.m.
Wilmington, N.C. - Saturday-Sunday
(11-13-5, 8-11-1 ECAC) || (13-13-6, 7-8-5)
Men’s Hockey vs. RPI
Women’s Tennis vs. Bryant, Providence, URI
Women’s Lacrosse vs. Columbia
Softball @ UNC Wilmington Tourney
Previous Matchup Brown 1, RPI 4
Last Match Brown 5, Stony Brook 2
Previous Matchup Brown 11, Columbia 10, 3OT (2013)
Season Opener
Men’s Lacrosse vs. UMass
(8-16, 2-8 Ivy) || (17-6, 7-2 Ivy)
(8-16, 2-8 Ivy) || (17-6, 8-1 Ivy)
(14-10, 6-4 Ivy) || (7-16, 4-5 Ivy)
(2-0, 0-0 Ivy) || (1-0, 0-0 Ivy)
(14-10, 6-4 Ivy) || (15-8, 3-6 Ivy)
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
SPORTS BULLETIN athlete of the week
Molloy ’17 wows with four goals in lacrosse season opener First-year makes a splash in career debut, leading squad to comfortable victory over Quinnipiac By JESSICA ZAMBRANO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
In his collegiate debut against Quinnipiac Saturday, men’s lacrosse attackman Dylan Molloy ’17 scored four goals, leading Bruno to a 13-6 victory. Starting in place of the injured Henry Blynn ’16, Molloy notched Brown’s first goal of the season early in the contest. As the game progressed, the Bears took control, with Molloy scoring the other three of his goals in the second half. Molloy’s efforts earned him Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. After such an impressive performance from a promising, young athlete, it only seems fitting for The Herald to name him our Athlete of the Week. Herald: How did you first start playing lacrosse? Molloy: My dad was a big lacrosse player, and my older brother was also really into lacrosse. So I decided to get into it because it kind of ran in the family. What made you want to come to Brown? The reason that I wanted to attend
Brown was for the school’s great academic reputation. I did not know what I wanted to major in so (Brown’s) open curriculum was also very appealing to me. When I visited Brown, I felt very comfortable on the campus, and I thought that it would be a great fit for me. Brown offered me a great opportunity to play lacrosse at a high level while attending a top academic institution. How have you been adjusting to Brown? The jump from high school to college is definitely hard, being on your own, and academically it’s more challenging. Lacrosse is a lot more demanding time-wise. I came from a very competitive high school, St. Anthony’s in New York, so it’s not that big of a jump in difficulty. It’s still a whole new thing — college level. It’s not too bad, though. The transition’s not too bad. I’m getting used to it now. Is it difficult to balance your academic life with your lacrosse schedule? Yes, at some times it is challenging to balance my academics with lacrosse since we have a lot going on now that season is in full swing. Coming back from practice tired doesn’t make it easy to do homework, but I get it done when I need to and am able to stay on top of my work.
Were you nervous before the game against Quinnipiac? Yes, I was very nervous going into the game since it was my first college lacrosse game. You could imagine how nervous I was. But I think it was mostly excitement since I knew my coaches prepared us very well, and I was just excited to finally get out there and start the season. What’s it like to perform so well so early on? It’s scary because you don’t know if you’ll continue performing like that. You get a lot of attention early on, which I don’t like because you don’t know what to look forward to in the future or what’s even going to happen. What can we expect for the rest of the season? I think we can expect a thrilling season. Hopefully we go out there and perform as we expect and dominate on our face-offs. Our defense is doing very well, and our offense is also looking really good. Hopefully, we can put it together every game and come out with intensity. We should do very well. Do you have any specific goals for the season? My expectations for the season would be to come out to every game with a lot of intensity and play our game. Hopefully it will lead us to
KATIE LIEBOWITZ / HERALD
Dylan Molloy ’17 came to Brown from St. Anthony’s High School in New York, where he was the captain of the lacrosse team. winning the Ivy League championship. What would you say is your most defining moment in your lacrosse career so far? If I had to pick a moment that was a defining moment in lacrosse for me, it would be when I was chosen by my teammates to be the captain of my
lacrosse team at St. Anthony’s High School. This was a big moment for me because it showed that I was succeeding in being a leader as well as a lacrosse player. Which do you prefer: Ratty or V-Dub? I like the Ratty better.
today 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
menu SHARPE REFECTORY
brown bag VERNEY-WOOLLEY
LUNCH Cajun Fettucini, Spinach and Arugala Saute, Rotisserie-Style Chicken, Cauliflower Florettes
Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon and Potato, Breaded Chicken Fingers, Baked Acorn Squash, Vegan Brownies
DINNER Marinated Beef au Jus, Bok Choy Grilled with Sesame Oil, Red Fish Provencal, Vegan Tofu Hot Dogs
Crispy Baked Filet of Sole, Red Potato Frittata, Au Gratin Potatoes, Sauteed Spinach with Cherry Tomatoes
JOSIAH’S
THREE BURNERS
QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE
Custom Mashed Potato Bar
Make Your Own Quesadillas
BLUE ROOM
SOUPS
DINNER ENTREES
Clam Chowder, Minestrone, Beef with Bean Chili
Naked Burritos RYAN WALSH / HERALD
Noah Fields ‘17 and John Brakatselos ‘15 perform during the Brown Bag concert in Sayles Hall Thursday.
sudoku
comics A&B | MJ Esquivel
Bacterial Culture | Dana Schwartz
RELEASE DATE– Friday, February 28, 2014
Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 “Poetic” or “Prose” mythological work 5 Movie rating org. 9 R&B singer known for popularizing Auto-Tune 14 Device for Marner 15 Orderer’s reference 16 “In what way?” 17 Not to mention 18 Non-magical “Harry Potter” animal? 20 Shill 22 Serengeti predators 23 Camembert left out in the sun too long? 26 Whammy 29 Cockney location word 30 Bean opening? 31 Constant flow 33 Annoy 36 Inventing middle name 37 Woman’s enticing movements? 42 Gulf of __ 43 Stands 44 The Aztecs’ Tonatiuh, for one 47 Bert Bobbsey’s twin 48 Old sports org. with a red, white and blue ball 51 Germaphobia may be a symptom of it, for short 52 Miracle in the mire? 56 British bishop’s headdress 57 Target 58 Periodical dedicated to stylish boots? 63 Best Picture of 1958, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme 64 Japanese comics 65 Kitchenware brand 66 First name in case fiction 67 Rebuff 68 Lunkhead
50 More pretentious 34 Sun. message 53 “__ is good” 35 Strong like string 54 “Wall Street” 37 Burkina __ antagonist who 38 Cabinet dept. DOWN said 53-Down 39 Heal 1 Go by 55 Spinal Tap 40 Part of Caesar’s 2 Almighty __ guitarist Tufnel boast 3 How much to take 41 Italy’s largest port 56 Roman Cath. title 4 First __ equals 58 Verbal stumbles 45 Sci-fi character 5 “Dee-lish!” 59 Disparity nicknamed Ben 6 Little, in Lille 46 Heap affection (on) 60 Serengeti prey 7 Position, as a 61 PC screen type 48 Regard highly pool cue 62 “__-hoo!” 49 Hunting dog 8 Bellow title hero March ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 9 Place to browse 10 Sci-fi vehicles 11 Reverence 12 Expert finish? 13 Here-there link 19 Fan’s disappointment 21 1980s-’90s heavyweight champ 24 E. follower 25 Serengeti scavenger 26 Word after raise or catch 27 Place for a nest, perhaps 28 Short holiday? 32 Joplin works 33 Artistic dynasty 02/28/14 xwordeditor@aol.com 69 One may make you uncomfortable
calendar FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 28
7:00 P.M. BESTSELLING AUTHOR WILEY CASH READS AT THE BROWN BOOKSTORE
Author Wiley Cash, a previous recipient of the New York Times Notable Book of the Year award, discusses his new novel “This Dark Road to Mercy,” a story of baseball, a father searching to fix his broken family and society in the 1990s. Brown Bookstore 7:00 P.M. THE IMPULSE SHOW
The imPulse Dance Company presents its 11th annual spring show. The upbeat dancers show off their expertise in a variety of styles, from hip-hop to jazz. Alumnae Hall
SATURDAY
MARCH 1
12:00 P.M. THE VAULT MOBILE THRIFT STORE SALE
Brown’s mobile student-run thrift shop offers eco-friendly second-hand clothes and accessories, as well as half-off credit in the store for those who bring in donations. J. Walter Wilson lobby 8:00 P.M. BROWN UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA CONCERT
The Brown University Symphony Orchestra is joined by guest conductor David Wroe, a recent conductor of the New York City Opera. The program features symphonic poems with a jazz concerto in between pieces. Sayles Hall
SUNDAY
MARCH 2
2:00 P.M. PASSING STRANGE
Passing Strange, an eclectic comedy-drama rock musical, focuses on the existential journey of a young black adult in Europe. Stuart Theater 7:00 P.M. UNDERGRADUATE FINANCE BOARD FORUM
Students and administrators will meet to discuss the University’s financial policies, including the process for funding of By Daniel Landman (c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/28/14
student groups. MacMillan 115
6 diamonds & coal
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
DIAMONDS & COAL Cubic zirconia to Nikki Cicerani, president and CEO of Upwardly Global, who said the most exciting part of a recent social entrepreneurship conference was “meeting people under 25.” We didn’t know “Ashoka U Exchange” was code for eHarmony. Coal to Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for Facilities Management, who said, “We’ve used a good amount of salt this year, but we aren’t forecasting any shortage.” This will come as a relief to all the students who need a late-night Jo’s french fry fix. A diamond to the first-year who said of a Zumba class offered as part of Celebrate Every Body Week, “You can’t help but smile when you are moving your body in enjoyable ways.” You could just buy a vibrator. Coal to Ted Nesi, WPRI political correspondent, who said, “Covering the Rhode Island Democratic Party is like covering the Chinese Communist Party.” Since when did members of the Chinese Communist Party propose legalizing marijuana? A diamond to Sunshine Menezes, executive director of the University of Rhode Island Metcalf Institute, who said, “Scientists are real people, too.” We always thought they were robots. Coal to Meaghan Wims, a guest speaker from Duffy and Shanley, Inc., at a recent science communication workshop, who said, “Reporters are not your friends.” Are we not cuddly enough? Coal to Peter Katzenstein, professor of international studies at Cornell, who said, “Civilizations are like a town hall meeting in which we debate our options.” In that case, we’d call the town hall meeting following the protests against New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly “Civilization and Its Discontents.” A diamond to Professor of Archaeology and Classics Susan Alcock, who taught a massive open online course this summer entitled “Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets.” Course readings included “How I Looted an Assyrian Burial Site,” “My Threesome in Mesopotamia” and “Cocaine Helped Me Translate the Aeneid!” Coal to Chung Cho, owner of Gourmet Heaven, who was arrested in Connecticut for five violations of discrimination against workers and five violations of failure to keep wage records. More like Gourmet Hell? Coal to the founder of OBSIDIAN Magazine who said, “I’m really not about editing too deeply.” Neither is the Indy.
K I M B E R LY S A LT Z
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Brown should sign Bangladesh Safety Accord To the Editor: I am a former child garment worker and executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, one of Bangladesh’s leading labor rights organizations. Last week, I concluded a tour of U.S. college campuses with Reba Sikder, a survivor of last April’s deadly Rana Plaza collapse, asking for solidarity from students to put an end to death-trap factory conditions that have killed over 1,500 Bangladeshi garment workers in the last two years alone. Together with our allies in the Student Labor Alliance, we’re asking Brown University to join the eight other U.S. universities — including Penn and Cornell — that have required their apparel brands to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord. Unlike so many of the empty promises we’ve seen from corporate social responsibility programs, the accord is
a legally binding contract between unions and brands, now signed by over 150 apparel brands, that requires companies to ensure their factories are safe, according to independent inspections by safety experts. Brown has a global reach through its apparel contracts. Your university’s actions will affect the working conditions of thousands of workers across the garment industry who toil in unsafe factories, making as little as $68 per month. I urge President Christina Paxson to seize this opportunity to be a leader among U.S. universities and make a real difference in the lives of the Bangladeshi garment workers by requiring Brown’s apparel brands to sign the Bangladesh Safety Accord. Kalpona Akter Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity
CORRECTIONS Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“You can’t help but smile when you are moving your body in enjoyable ways.”
Due to an editing error, an article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Workshop targets science communication,” Feb. 26) incorrectly stated that the University’s Superfund Research Program was a joint partner in the SciComm Exchange series. The University’s Science Center partnered to host the exchange, but not the entire series. The Herald regrets the error. A Jan. 31 Herald article (“Brown alum composes Providence Poetry Slam”) mischaracterized the poetry night hosted at Blue State every Tuesday. It is an open mic, not a poetry slam. The article also misspelled the name of the group that hosts the open mic. It is GotPoetry Live!, not GoPoetry Live. The Herald regrets the errors.
Letters, please!
— Camille Garnsey ’17
See body week on page 3.
letters@browndailyherald.com
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commentary 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
When racism comes to campus SUZANNE ENZERINK opinions columnist
Last week, the University of Mississippi was rocked when unidentified individuals — allegedly three white first-years from Georgia, according to the latest reports — placed a noose around the neck of a statue of James Meredith, the university’s first black student after the Supreme Court mandated his admission in 1962. If there was any mistaking their intentions before, they also left a flag with the confederate battle emblem sewn onto it draped over the statue. Meanwhile, 1,000 miles to the northeast, there was another symbolic lynching. Eight New Jersey high school wrestlers were suspended from a state tournament for taking a photograph in which the team gathered around a black wrestling dummy hanging with a noose around its neck. They posted the picture to various social media websites. If there was any mistaking their intentions before, two of the wrestlers pointed their — white — hoodies up. Educational environments are more frequently the locus of racial insensitivity and/or hatred than anyone would like to admit, as the debate over the talk by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly painfully showed at Brown. The Mississippi and New Jersey events, while often described as “incidents” in media coverage, are not incidental. It is easy to dismiss these events — especially when they do not involve violence or blatant racist slurs — as a few drunk kids acting stupid, or a loner with abhorrent views, but in reality there is a pattern of racial appropriation and mockery across universi-
ties, a pattern that enables more violent expressions of racial animosity. While playing with identities is part of the current moment, it becomes problematic when students decouple themselves from, or proclaim ignorance of, a history of racist traditions. Especially in a college setting, where issues of race, class and gender equality are discussed tentatively freely, students cannot plead ignorance of the connotations that these appropriations carry and the racial violence they represent.
technic State University fraternity organized an off-campus party themed “Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos.” In February 2013, Duke University’s Kappa Sigma chapter threw an “Asia Prime” party and invited students with an email that played on language stereotypes by captioning the invite “Herro Nice Duke Peopre.” The Pennsylvania State University slammed one of its sororities after it hosted a Mexican party in December 2012, with attendees in sombreros, some of them in brownface, holding up “will mow lawn for
with the history of blackface, redface or yellowface, deep down there is always a gut feeling that it is inappropriate. That they cannot wear this in front of nonwhite students, that it is uncomfortable and wrong. This feeling — if not knowledge — should be enough reason to refrain from wearing any type of racially or culturally charged clothing. The parties’ impact is real. While they may seem removed from blatant hate crimes, they are the product of a culture that condones the marginalization of historical violent realities and as
In reality there is a pattern of racial appropriation and mockery across college campuses, a pattern that enables more violent expressions of racial animosity. Yet the pervasiveness with which they do so is shocking. A quick runthrough of the past year: Last month at Arizona State University, a fraternity organized a “black party” for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Partygoers showed up with watermelon cups, clothing they perceived to be stereotypically black — a mix between athletic gear and flashy jewelry — and shared their elation via Instagram with pictures captioned “happy MLK day homies,” “#ihaveadream,” and “#blackoutformlkday.” In November, two female students at Lee University in Tennessee wore blackface to a rap-themed party and donned t-shirts that read “my (n-word),” drawing “mixed reactions” from the campus community, as the Huffington Post reported. The consensus among peers was that it “wasn’t that serious,” as the two women were unaware of the offensive nature of their costumes, the Lee Clarion reported. There are other ethnic, racial and cultural groups that are frequently singled out. Last fall, a California Poly-
weed + beer” signs. The University of Colorado Boulder strongly urged its students to refrain from wearing culturally insensitive costumes last Halloween, after officials recounted seeing blackface, hillbilly parties and “overly sexualized” geishas and squaws in previous years, Yahoo News reported. The list goes on and on and on. In every single instance, the party organizers and attendees claimed that ignorance rather than racism led them to their choices. While the intentions may not have been to cause hurt, or consciously participate in the reproduction of inherently racist lines of thought, this costuming does create an atmosphere in which it seems acceptable to single out individuals based on their racial/ethnic background. The parties make a joke out of historical realities that continue to exert effects today. Ignorance can never be an excuse, and it is telling that most parties were hosted and attended by the almost homogeneously white Greek chapters. Even if a student is not entirely familiar
such perpetuate them, albeit in different forms. The fact that partygoers did not think twice about sharing pictures on social media shows how accepted this behavior has become. But blackface cannot be disconnected from minstrelsy, an inherently racist practice. Noosing a statue is an infinitely more direct and deliberate display of racism, but ultimately serves the same power structures. What, then, can be done? There is of course no easy answer to this. Opening room for discussion and reflection is a start, like Brown successfully did after the canceled Kelly talk. Racism, conscious and unconscious, is a beast that needs to be taken on headfirst. While debates are often reactionary rather than proactive, without a sustained discussion that establishes that racial stereotypes are never a joke — and that even if the intentions are innocent the effects are not — there is no doubt that racial “incidents” will continue to take place across college campuses. You are attentive to these issues
either 24/7/365 or not at all. There is no such thing as suspending your beliefs for an hour or four to enjoy a party. Colleges’ responses have been somewhat lackluster. The usual recourse is suspending the Greek organizations — not specific individuals. But the real problem is not the individual fraternities or sororities, and demonizing them is not the solution. Penn State’s president, in the aftermath of the Mexican party, wrote a very articulate open letter in which he signaled a “failure to empathize or even a failure to think,” yet opted not to take “unlawful disciplinary action” against students, as freedom of expression rights did not allow it. If disciplinary action is neither optional nor desired, facilitating larger debates acknowledging that these are not contained incidents is necessary, even if the majority of the student body formally condemns the actions. The signs are on the wall for what will happen if nothing changes. At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an 18-year-old white male student carved “white power” into a desk in the African American studies section of the university library and wrote racial slurs in various books. One day after the Meredith statue was defaced, a black Ole Miss senior, Kiesha Reeves, reported being accosted with racial slurs from a car. Not to say that all is lost: The vast majority of people would strongly denounce such acts and never commit them. It takes realizing that these acts are replicated in a myriad of minor, even seemingly innocuous forms to effect radical change.
Suzanne Enzerink GS is a PhD student in American studies. She can be reached at suzanne_enzerink@brown.edu.
The potential in binge watching JAMES RATTNER opinions columnist
At 12:01 a.m. PST on Valentine’s Day, Netflix released the 13-episode second season of “House of Cards” in its entirety, part of its effort to accommodate viewers who prefer to “binge watch” rather than wait a week between episodes. The recent phenomenon of watching entire seasons in a weekend has raised concerns about our viewing but may also offer an opportunity to increase the intellectual quality of television. On Feb. 1 last year, Netflix released the entire first season of “House of Cards” at once. It did the same with the fourth season of “Arrested Development” in May and the first season of “Orange is the New Black” in July. Netflix began releasing entire seasons in response to changes in how we watch television — fewer people watch episodes as they are released. One friend told me he gave up on “Game of Thrones” because he did not like waiting for the next episode. Instead, we watch older shows or content produced by Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, available exclusively online. As people who had finished House of Cards announced their achievement on Facebook over Presidents Day Weekend, concern over the prevalence of binge watching rose again. A recent internal study by Netflix found that of viewers who watched an entire 13-episode season of a drama series in under a month, 25 percent did so in two days and 48 percent within one week. But is binge watching any worse than regular
TV watching? The term carries negative connotations, but there are at least two reasons to be optimistic about its long-term impact on television. First, binge watching could actually decrease our overall consumption. As scary as it may sound, watching the entire “House of Cards” series over Presidents Day Weekend is actually less than the average person would watch over those four days. American 18- to 24-year-olds spend roughly 25 hours watching TV every week. If you watched all of season two Friday without seeing sunlight, you would still have to watch two hours of television over the other six days of the week to keep up. But it is common that in the aftermath of watching an entire series, many of us feel saturated
how much you get out of it. We could lose sight of details when we over-consume, but, as the Netflix study found, the average viewer watches a 13-hour season in a week. This is roughly how quickly humanities professors recommend reading a book. We do not read novels over the course of 25 weeks, because from week to week, it is difficult to remember details and stay invested in the plot. Binge watching allows us to immerse ourselves in a show in a way weekly viewing does not. This condensed consumption might allow us to make television more intellectually stimulating. Even if binge watching does not reduce the total time we watch television, those 25 hours are better spent watching one or two shows rather
Binge watching allows us to immerse ourselves in a show in a way weekly viewing does not. or guilty for spending a day in bed and may take a while before resuming our typical schedule. If we set our goal to watching just one television season each week, we would cut consumption in half. None of this is to mention the years — yes, years — our parents spent watching commercials that we save watching Netflix. Moreover, a Penn study found that 40 percent of Americans lost sleep because of television. The Internet and DVRs allow us more flexibility, and fewer people are staying up for late-night talk shows. Second, we appreciate characters more and become increasingly invested in the plot when we complete something in a short amount of time. So far as there is value in these shows, watching for extended periods at once may actually increase
than jumping between a dozen. Because of our previous viewing style, much of television has been simplified. Nuance had to be limited because viewers might not pick up on subtle connections to earlier episodes. Late-night talk shows and detective dramas like “Law & Order” were popular in part because they allowed us to watch sporadically. Even complex thrillers like “Lost” lacked the slow-building plot and denouement found in movies and novels. While much of television still follows older models, binge watching and Netflix are changing the way some shows are written. In creating the fourth season of “Arrested Development” for Netflix after the first three were released in traditional format on Fox, creator Mitch Hurwitz said he was
forced to invent “a new format.” Indeed, Hurwitz compared traditional television to short stories and Netflix content to novels. Instead of a conventional chronological story, the 15 episodes gave 15 different perspectives of the same events. This more complicated writing would have been difficult to follow if the season had been released in traditional increments. Though a Harris Interactive study commissioned by Netflix found that nearly three-quarters of people streaming TV feel positively about binge watching, we should have no delusions about the perils. The accessibility of thousands of hours of video paints concerning images of people not seeing sunlight for days, escaping reality into a fantasy world. Certainly addiction to television exists, and a University of Virginia psychologist found that watching just nine minutes of “SpongeBob SquarePants” can negatively affect a child’s performance on cognitive exercises. Assuming binge watching is the future, the big challenge remains: Could we get content to the point where watching a season in a week is as good for your brain as reading a Jane Austen novel? It may be difficult for a passive activity to engage our minds in the same way reading does, but thus far it seems binge watching is actually increasing what is demanded of viewers. So long as we are spending nine years of our lives watching TV, binge watching may make better use of that time. In fact, our willingness to watch 13 hours of TV in one sitting presents great possibilities for increasing its intellectual value.
James Rattner ’15 can be reached at james_rattner@brown.edu.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD arts & culture
‘Hooligans’ pour raucous energy into imPulse show Dance company’s annual show highlights enthuastic numbers, ranging from hip-hop remixes to pop By ELANA JAFFE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
With strength and poise, the imPulse Dance Company takes the stage this week for their annual show in Alumnae Hall. Best known for work with hip-hop, the company incorporates elements of contemporary, jazz funk, salsa, dance hall and voguing into a dynamic evening of movement, music and gesture. The show features collaborations with Static Noyze Dance Company from Boston and Dexter’s Lab from Providence, as well as Brown student groups Badmaash and Attitude Dance Company. All of the pieces are student-choreographed except for two guest works. The show begins energetically with a syncopated group number. Many of the pieces are set to remixes, the choreography of each piece seamlessly binding together the different textures and music samples. The selections range from large synchronized group movements to quieter moments and more intimate exchanges between small groups or duos. The dancers play with the directionality of motion and the physical tension of moving together and apart. Using the stage’s space creatively, the performers engage their bodies in innovative ways. Hip-hop sequences spotlight the anatomy of motion, the
REVIEW
concise execution intensifying the awareness of the body as an instrument. Aside from its impressive talent and dedication, the group genuinely seems to enjoy what it does. The three co-directors of the group, Victor Ha ’15, Michelle Bailhe ’15 and Iris Pak ’15, have coordinated a raucous showcase of schoolyard funk. Indeed, the performance was inspired by the idea of “hooligans” and “cool kids on the block,” Ha said. Some of the work is more abstract, while other pieces invite specific interpretations. Bailhe said the group often focuses on adapting aspects of pop culture into movement. “Senior Piece,” choreographed by Jenny Tsai ’14 and Tori Wilson ’14, for instance, refers to the PowerPuff Girls and Harry Potter to illustrate the bonds between three of the company’s senior women. The finale, “Greasy,” is a “hip hop version of ‘Grease,’” the musical, Bailhe said. Ha described the dance as a “big family moment.” Both guest artists, Static Noyze Dance Company and Dexter’s Lab, are holding workshops this weekend after the shows. Bailhe said the opportunity to work with local companies gives the group an interesting and enjoyable way to engage with a community outside of Brown. An engaging and original production, the imPulse show transcends the goofy. The performers clearly have a lot of fun, but the dancing is serious (t)werk. ImPulse Dance Company performs today and tomorrow in Alumnae Hall at 7 p.m.
DANIELLE PERELMAN / HERALD
The imPulse Dance Company prepares for its annual show this weekend in Alumnae Hall. The ensemble will lead the audience through upbeat hip-hop renditions and cultural commentary.
DANIELLE PERELMAN / HERALD
The spring show is choreographed by Brown students and two guest stars. The imPulse performers will be joined by other students as well as dancers from Boston and Providence.
‘Youth’ in revolt dig into race, sex and rock-and-roll Protagonist in ‘Passing Strange’ wrangles with identity amid shifting European landscape By EMMAJEAN HOLLEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“Passing Strange” is aptly named. It’s bizarre and brazen, self-mocking and self-vindicating, loud and caustic. And if you don’t go to see it, you’re just part of the establishment, man. The punk rock musical, directed by Kym Moore, assistant professor of theater arts and performance studies, is not your average bildungsroman. The narrative is relayed mostly through the humorous, incisive observations of narrator, Stew, played by Kevin Kelly ’15. The protagonist is an anonymous young black man referred to as the Youth, played by Hayward Leach ’14. Bored and disgusted with his middleclass suburban complaceny, he sets out on an transnational pilgrimage to discover “the real” — or at least what passes for it. At first dazzled by the slew of sex,
REVIEW
COURTESY OF MARK TUREK
Hayward Leach ’14 leads the musical “Passing Strange,” a whirlwind mix of live rock-and-roll, young adult exploration and racial identity.
drugs and rock and roll he encounters on his European escapades, the Youth is eventually forced to confront his complicated racial identity. Unable to detach himself from the story he tells, Stew is comically neurotic, a kind of self-involved chorus. Kelly balances this metatheatrical humor with Stew’s increasing investment in the story, often interrupting and interacting with the characters. Leach is immediately accessible as the Youth, earnestly embodying his character’s growth and contradictions. From his nascent flirtations with a choir girl to the frightening intimacy of his first genuine romantic experience, he is constantly shifting into new versions of himself. A four-piece rock band inhabits the stage and provides musical accompaniment. This would seem to present obvious logistical obstacles. But somewhere between church on Sunday morning and the first nervous toke of weed, multiple worlds begin to arrange themselves around the jungles of amps and pedals. Trinity Rep Resident Designer Michael McGarty’s innovative set design visualizes these worlds with an assortment of variously sized blank panels, which serve variously as mutable canvasses
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for geography, political agendas or (altered) states of mind. They transform into photographs of palm trees and the Santa Monica mountains, collages of old rock albums and newspaper clippings as well as a psychedelic interplay of light and color during an acid trip. In contrast, the live band remains a permanent fixture in every city and every identity the Youth tries on. Cohesion between the musicians and the vocalists is tight and smooth, with searing distortion and wa-wa pedals setting moods of passion, meditation or despair. Bassist Lizzy Callas ’15 is particularly adept, her fingers clambering up and down the fretboard like spider legs in complex riffs. Unfortunately, this energy dwindles when the resolution takes decidedly longer than necessary to play out. The urgency of the message, earlier teeming with vital tension, loses some of its momentum. Still “Passing Strange” anatomizes the intersections of identity, sexuality and narrativity with aplomb. It’s also a hell of a good time. “Passing Strange” runs through March 9 in Stuart Theater, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.