The Daily Princetonian
Thursday September 24, 2015
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SUMMER DAYS
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As if you hadn’t heard the question enough: “What did you do over the summer?” We asked five Princetonians about their time away from the Orange Bubble. Their answers were impressive.
Bear Altemus Asanni York Class: 2017 Department: Wilson School Hometown: Atlanta, Ga. DP: What did you do over the summer? AY: So I went back to Atlanta. I was working as the regional coordinator for this start-up called Block; essentially it works to decrease the rate of joblessness between black college grads and white college grads, because the national average is about five percent for the average — I guess the average for people graduating college — but when you talk about just blacks specifically, it’s 13.1 percent, so [it] essentially works on that by providing black people — or black college grads — with opportunities, things like that. And I also was a research assistant at Georgia State. DP: How’d you come across those opportunities? AY: The CEO of the startup actually graduated from Princeton two years ago. We’ve been close friends ever since, and so she needed someone to fill the position, so I told her I’d do it. As far as the research position went, I just reached out to someone at Georgia Tech, actually, and they were like, “We don’t have anything at Georgia Tech, but one of my good friends at Georgia State needs a research assistant, so I could put you in contact with them,” and that’s how that came about.
Class: 2018 Department: Undeclared Hometown: Poughkeepsie, N.Y. DP: What did you do over the summer? LL: I was interning [at] an arts nonprofit called Appel Farm Arts and Music Center. It’s in Elmer, N.J., which is 30 minutes out from Philadelphia, and the reason why I always tell people it’s in Southern Jersey is because it used to be a farm founded by a guy named Appel — so it doesn’t have apples on its farms. And he converted it into a summer arts camp space and a concert venue and place where people from the community come into just do a community-wide art project. And so the summer arts camp was going on while I was there, but I was doing development and marketing work for them, so I learned a lot about how to run a nonprofit, how to do publicity and event-planning, stuff like that. DP: How did you find this opportunity? LL: So I actually did this through Millennial TechCorps — I don’t know if you guys got this email from Career Services last year. It’s a pilot program in this area that seeks to link millennials who know how to use technology and are interested in a variety of causes to nonprofits that share their same mission and purpose. It was almost kind of like being recruited. Millennial TechCorps actually had training sessions for us, and we learned about social media usage, general stuff, before we went into our individual organizations. So there was a pilot class of four or five kids all from Princeton. Editor’s Note: Liang is also a columnist for The Daily Princetonian.
Lavinia Liang
Class: 2017 Department: Sociology Hometown: Kensington, Md. DP: What did you do over the summer? BA: So I started out the summer on a 10-day backpacking trip with the National Outdoor Leadership School, in the Cascades. I’m interested in wilderness. It was a leadership training course, so they trained me to go take my friends and family or whoever I want out into the wilderness and safely have a trip out there. And I drove down the West Coast with my friends who I did the trip with, in a rental car, spent two weeks down in San Francisco. And then I spent the rest of the summer at home doing an internship and working out, because I play varsity lacrosse, so I started getting in shape. DP: What was the internship about? BA: IIt was a mid-level lender, so like a shadow bank that does leveraged lending to riskier customers. It was kind of an introduction to finance, [to] see if I liked it. DP: Did you like it? BA: Yeah, I liked parts of it, but I’m not sure what I really want to do with it at this point; definitely not hell-bent on doing it. DP: NOLS sounds fun, though. BA: NOLS was awesome. Definitely would recommend that to anybody who’s interested.
Frances Steere Class: 2016 Department: Architecture Hometown: Johannesburg, South Africa DP: What did you do over the summer? FS: I was sent by my department to do research in Japan. I was in Tokyo for a week and a half, two weeks, and then I went home for a significant portion, where I did senior thesis — in parentheses. DP: What was your research on? FS: In Japan, it was mostly on Metabolist and postMetabolist architects, which is their version of postmodernist architecture. We were interviewing now old and decrepit architects. So that’s what that was about. And my senior thesis is — oh, you should tell me what my senior thesis is about. So, two topics, one that’s very theoretical, and maybe I’ll focus on my second, which is on development in Africa and certain entrepreneurial models that accentuate — well, that are currently affecting development in Kenya in infrastructure, so their electricity and water in Kenya.
Seamus Daniels Class: 2016 Department: Wilson School Hometown: Albany, N.Y. DP: What did you do over the summer? SD: I interned at a think tank in Washington, D.C., called the Center for International Policy, where I worked with a program known as the Security Assistance Monitor, where I tracked U.S. military aid to the Middle East. DP: How did you come by that opportunity? SD: It was just something I found. I’m a Woody Woo major, with a certificate in Near Eastern Studies, so I was really just looking for something with security and the Middle East, and it was perfect — yeah, that’s what I was going for. DP: Did you have a good time? SD: I had a great time. Yeah, it’s really informative for my thesis, which is on U.S. military aid to Egypt.
The Daily Princetonian
Thursday September 24, 2015
ASK THE SEXPERT
HEADLINERS AND HEADSHAKERS
This week, we discuss virginity.
DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF
Dear Sexpert, I met a lot of friends in my ’zee group and Outdoor Action and stuff, and was excited to go out with them during frosh week. It was a lot of fun, but most of them would take people home and then talk about all their hookups and stuff. I’m still a virgin, but I have been thinking about sex. I just don’t know if I’m ready, but I feel like it’s part of college. I need some advice, but I feel awkward talking about it with my RCA. Please help,
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— Worried
Dear Worried, The decision to have sex is an extremely personal one. While there isn’t any right or wrong time to become sexually active, it’s important that you think about your values and priorities when it comes to sex and sexual relationships. What worries you about losing your virginity? Is it because you’re unsure of what will happen, or is it perhaps because you don’t want to lose it to the “wrong” person? Is it important to you that your first experience with sex to be in a committed relationship? All of these questions are things to consider when determining whether you are ready to have sex. Again, it’s important to carefully weigh what you value, and to not let that be muddled by what others are saying. Having sex is a major step, so you want to be
sure that you’re not rushing into a decision just because of outside pressures or what you think the “norm” is on campus. In fact, surveys of Princeton undergraduates tell us that about half of current Princeton undergrads have not had any sexual partners in the past year; likewise, about half of current Princeton undergrads have had at least one sexual partner in the past year. Either way, you won’t be the only one. People may talk a lot about “hooking up,” but what they mean by that can vary from person to person. The decision is yours and yours alone, and is not to be based on feeling pressured by friends, a sexual or romantic partner, or anyone else. If and when you do decide to have sex, you should understand the responsibilities and consequences (physical and emotional) of being sexually active. Physically, you want to be absolutely sure that you’re being as safe as possible, by using methods of sexually transmitted infections and/ or pregnancy prevention. Be aware that the only way to 100 percent protect yourself from the risk of both STIs and pregnancy is abstinence, and that you should always be using a barrier method (i.e. condoms and dental dams) when engaging in sexual activity in order to protect yourself (and your partner!) from STIs. It’s important to feel comfortable telling your partner what you need and what you’re comfortable with. Both of you should also feel comfortable saying “stop” and “no” in any situation. Sex before you’re ready, sex without trust or respect, or sex that doesn’t feel
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good can result in some really stressful feelings. And a healthy sex life shouldn’t be stressful. Being in a sexual relationship might also change the way you feel about yourself, your partner or the way you view relationships and sex in general. So, it’s important that you feel ready to tackle these changes in feelings and emotions — and not just ready for the physical changes! That being said, if you have any questions or concerns about the physical and/ or emotional responsibilities and consequences of becoming sexually active, or if you’d just like to talk to someone about how you’re feeling, Sexual Health and Wellness at University Health Services is a wonderful resource. While in the end this will be a decision that only you can make, there are plenty of people here on campus who can help guide you towards making the decision that’s right for you.
— The Sexpert
Information on STI prevention and birth control methods: http://bedsider. org/en/methods Helpful Q&A and information resource center for all things sex- and relationship-related: http://sexetc.org/ sex-ed/info-center/stories/ Interested in Sexual Health? The Sexpert is always looking for members of the community to join the team of sexual health educators who, along with fact-checking from University health professionals, help write these columns. Email sexpert@dailyprincetonian.com for more information and questions about sexual health. Don’t be shy!
Neither News Nor Notes:: Cotsen Ch ildren’s Library named Carle Honors Award rec ipient, Firestone Library named the Gates of Hell TOP 10 REPUBLICAN CRUZ ’92, CHRISTIE REMAIN ILL WINNING CANDIDATES, TRUMP IS ST OUT THIS SO WHY ARE WE TALKING AB
U. has lowest ‘annual cost’ of Ivy League, biggest bang for buck, according to U.S. News and World Savings U. initiative commits to 5-year agreement with ExxonMobil to develop energy innovations, ensure world domination
n Community Action, Outdoor Actio trips shortened by one day, life of Rick Curtis ’79 extends one day Neither News Nor Notes: Harvard final club becomes first to extend invitations to women, 24 years after T.I. became last eating club to do so RS WITH HANDSHAKE CAREER SERVICES PARTNE SO PARTNERS TO REVAMP HIRETIGERS, AL UG WITH FISTBUMP AND BROH U. ranked 26th most innovative university in the world, additionally ranked 13th in creativity and received 15 endorsements for proficiency in Microsoft Office
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Thursday September 24, 2015
The Daily Princetonian
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MORE THAN PREPPY LAWNPARTIES STYLE FALL 2015
LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Noshin Khan ’19
Sadiki Wiltshire ’17
LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Romie Desrogène ’17
Kristene Tadese ’16 LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Noah Mayerson ’18
Ashley Reed ’18
Valerie Wilson ’18 VICTORIA SCOTT :: SENIOR WRITER LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
VICTORIA SCOTT :: SENIOR WRITER
VICTORIA SCOTT :: SENIOR WRITER
Tammy Benjapibal ’19
Jeffrey Diament ’18 Gabriella Chu ’18 VICTORIA SCOTT :: SENIOR WRITER
*Gabriella Chu is a photo editor for The Daily Princetonian.
LISA GONG :: SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
VICTORIA SCOTT :: SENIOR WRITER
The Daily Princetonian
Thursday September 24, 2015
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STREET’S SUMMER READS 1Q84 HARUKI MURAKAMI NINA WADE Senior Writer
H
aruki Murakami is affectionately known as the warmhearted Japanese grandfather of hipster literature. His novels and short stories are filled with the literary fantastic, protagonists who find themselves unmoored in place and/or time, emotionally unattainable women and a hard-to-describe sense of displacement and perpetual melancholy. “1Q84,” his 1,000-page magnum opus, checks off all of these criteria. Aomame, a woman who glides through life simply and without much impact, and Tengo, an aspiring writer with familial issues, cross metaphysical paths when they both become embroiled in a cultcum-religion-cum-mythology. Add in magic, assassinations, immaculate conception, the possibility of parallel universes, repressed childhood memories, suppressed romance and a Murakami
Associate Street Editor
D
earest Class of 2019 — already, you’ve had the privilege of participating in one of the University’s youngestlived traditions. And we’re not talking about bickering Campus Club ironically. You see, two years ago, Christopher Eisgruber ’83 suggested that the entire freshman class read a book of the administration’s choosing. Basically, it’s Eisgruber’s attempt at Oprah’s Book Club, in the vain hope of elevating the sales of would-be esoteric works to New York Times platinum status. Mercifully, Eisgruber has yet to select a constitutional law dictionary for the PreRead (something tells me it wouldn’t sell all that well.)
trademark enigmatic teenaged girl, and u n l i keable you have the parts of the novel. But the and furtherwhole is more than just a slapdash pot- more largely Autumnal equninox. pourri. unnecessary By writing a three-volume mega-novel, in the plotThe Pumpkin Spice Latte, here Murakami’s story expands to fill every line. In orsince Labor Day. corner with its understated fantastical der to make realism. The plotline is subtly seductive, room for his Flannel shirts and corduroy beginning with the simple elements of story, both pants. Tengo’s decision to ghostwrite a novel Tengo’s and and help his editor win a prize and Ao- A o m a m e ’s Auditions and mame’s growing friendship with an el- suffer. His pick-backs and call-ups. derly woman who runs a shelter for bat- p l o t l i n e Fall Bicker and autumn tered women. But small details pile up. A comes to a arguments. second moon appears in the sky. The cult strange and of Sakigake is a historical entity although u n s at i s f yCOURTESY OF LITERATUREPOST.WORDPRESS.COM it has not existed previously. The year ing halt for a Readings about Kierkegaard. 1984, Aomame thinks, has changed into while, while hers becomes perfunctory. pathetic whimper. Still, it’s an engrossthe new 1Q84. (It should be noted that this It’s a decision that, quite frankly, makes ing read in a way that few other books is, in fact, a linguistic pun; the character no sense to the reader, and unfortunately are; it’s not the sort of book that leaves the for the number 9 is pronounced as “kyū ” in it’s the note the book pretty much ends reader hanging off dramatic cliffs for the Poems about dead leaves. Japanese, hence the replacement with the on, save for a slightly improved final next chapter. It’s not exactly a hyperacletter “q” as a variable for the unknown.) chapter. tive page-turner. Instead, it slowly builds However, the book’s greatest weakness As a result, the book peters out, start- questions upon questions, creeping unSummertime Sadness.. is its final volume. It introduces a third ing with a beautiful, slow build — Mu- derfoot. And the first two volumes are narrator into what had previously been rakami’s not really one for an explosive picture-perfect Murakami, hipster ennui Tengo and Aomame’s story, and he is dry, story — but ending with a somewhat and all. The Winds of Winter - which will
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In its inaugural year, Eisgruber selected Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen” (no subliminal messaging here), and in the second year, dear Chris selected Susan Wolf’s “Meaning in Life and Why it Matters” (trust us, Princeton students could use some self-help.) And in the Pre-Read’s third year, Eisgruber picked from the back rack of the academic bookstore a slim volume called “Whistling Vivaldi” by Claude Steele. As an Outdoor Action leader, I was also assigned this book as summer reading, wedging it between my time reading “Great Expectations” and “The Martian.” I like reading books people give me for free — but when you’re a writing tutor and an editor, it doesn’t take much for critical, editing impulses to take over. The following is my measured, frustrated take on “Whistling Vivaldi.” You can’t judge a book by its title, but “Whistling Vivaldi” sounds like the title of a poem read by an English teacher at your kinde rga r te n graduation, or alternatively, the name of an indie rock band from
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Providence, R.I. As for its cover, it’s like the graphic designer ripped off the polychrome circles on the cover of Gary Shteyngart’s “Super Sad True Love Story” — but using the aesthetic of iOS 8. It manages to be minimalist, busy and as disappointing as the Apple Watch’s sales — all at the same time. But let’s get to content. “Whistling Vivaldi” documents some truly groundbreaking research in social psychology that revolutionizes the understanding of stereotypes, racism and group dynamics. Its findings are eye-opening and offers intuitive explanations for some vexing questions that are supremely relevant to Princeton’s privileged campus. That is to say, “Whistling Vivaldi” would probably make one of the greatest Atlantic or New Republic articles of all time, but instead is one of the worst books of all time. This is ironic because if you’re A.B., you’re going to be reading a lot of bad articles and good books. Eisgruber is preparing you for the challenges of reading the poorly written works of academia, because you can definitely win the Nobel Prize without a working knowledge of sentences. And by striving to be in the same genre as pop psychology as sociology New Yorker wunderkind Malcolm Gladwell, Steele’s work is like watery box wine to Gladwell’s Argentine Malbec, with a hint of hickory and a sprinkle of quirkiness. Malcolm Gladwell is still alive, but if he was dead, he’d be doing triple-axels in his tomb. “Whistling Vivaldi” follows a predictable format that kept me turning the same page, back and forth, not getting anywhere. First, Steele invokes an engaging hook, say about the remarkable former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, followed by an experimental design involving a test group of guinea pig students at Steele’s university-at-the-time. These students are forced time and again to take awful standardized tests for no apparent reason, the only difference being the phrasing of the instructions at the very beginning — such masochism! This is followed by the astounding announcement that without any caveats, Steele’s hypothesis was completely correct, which really saps the narrative tension of the work. Will Macbeth retain the throne? Will Harry Potter defeat Voldemort? What are the technical advantages of a lightsaber with a hilt? Doesn’t matter, because Dr. Steele is always correct. Except for that one time when the statistical test wasn’t significant, but after changing a single parameter, Steele was right! By the end of “Vivaldi,” we are exhausted by its repetitive structure. We are tired of its iOS 8 cover, its strange title and its ambition to be featured in the list of products on the bottom of the Amazon page for Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers.” By striving to be so much at once, “Vivaldi” suffers from its own type of stereotype threat. It psychs itself out. It never reaches its full potential afforded by its research and its genre. For this meta-dedication to its subject, I think “Whistling Vivaldi” deserves more respect. Dr. Steele, you fooled us all — this was your plan the whole time. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before the New Republic article about how the carefully curated study of Princeton freshmen reading “Whistling Vivaldi” affected their performance on a selected portion of the GRE to be given during the administration of the meningitis B vaccine. The phrasing of instructions was variable.
Howards End E.M. FORSTER On Beauty ZADIE SMITH LIN KING
Street Editor
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n May, I showed my summer reading list to a well-read friend of mine. She said, “Did you know that this” — pointing to “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith (2005) — “was based on this?” — pointing to “Howards End” by E.M. Forster (1910). I did not. What were the chances? With this new information in hand, the English major in me saw no choice but to read the two novels back-to-back. Naturally. Though the two stories share many similarities, there is no direct correlation between the characters. It would be impossible to directly identify any character in Smith’s story as a carbon copy or fanfic replica of a character in “Howards End.” That being said, both books focus on the relationships between two upper-middle class families: In “Howards End”, there are the Schlegels, a wealthy, socially progressive German-English family, who clash with the Wilcoxes, a family that made its fortune through the English colonies and take great pride in their strictly unintellectual worldview. In “On Beauty”, there are the Belseys, with a white English father and a black Floridian mother, and the Kippses, a Black, conservative family based in London. The plots unfold very differently, just as 20th century England and 21st century Northeast United States existed very dif-
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Whistling Vivaldi CLAUDE STEELE HARRISON BLACKMAN
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ferently. However, they engage with many of the same themes that take on a bigger, more complex form in Smith’s digital world than Forster’s narrower one. Race, for instance, becomes heavily involved, as do pop culture and technology — and the doors they open for adultery and for intellectual efforts. I enjoyed both books immensely, but was disappointed to see that Smith includes no preface or footnote directly addressing the relationship between her novel and Forster’s. Aside from a facetious mention of Forster (“ ‘A Room with a View. Forster.’ Howard smiled sadly. ‘Can’t stand Forster’ ”) near the end of the novel, “On Beauty” never acknowledges its connec-
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tion to “Howards End.” Instead, it becomes more of a private joke with those who scrolled to the bottom of the Wikipedia page or have already read “Howards End.” To anyone else, this would have just been a good book with a slightly strange opening line (“One may as well begin with Jerome’s emails,” matching Forster’s “One may as well begin with Helen’s letters.”). This, I think, is a downright shame. Not that everyone should read these two together, but, well, yes, you should. While “On Beauty” certainly stands on its own as a novel, reading the two together made me think much more carefully and closely about the complexities of “modern life” as we know it and how they have been perpetuated and developed in the past century. With concerns about class difference and the inability of the poor to get an education, race has been tossed into the mix. Meanwhile, the relative leveling of class warfare has led to more nuanced disagreements within m i n o r it ie s .
One memorable dialogue occurs between Kiki Belsey and Monty Kipps, who are both black and both educated but stand on opposite sides of the affirmative action debate: “ ‘As long as we encourage a culture of victimhood,’ said Monty, with the rhythmic smoothness of self-quotation, ‘We will continue to raise victims. And so the cycle of underachievement continues.’ ‘Well,’ said Kiki … ‘I just think it stinks of a kind of, well, a kind of self-hatred when we’ve got black folks arguing against opportunities for black folks.’ ” On another note, it was also interesting to see how the nature of sex scandals has, uh, evolved over the years, both psychologically and physically. Where it was “rich man sleeps with poor woman” and “young couple kisses in the garden” before, Smith has written “old friends with spouses sleep together due to uncontrollable urge to ruin the happiness of others when confronted with potential happiness for themselves” and “18-year-old books hotel room and dresses in corset and garters to seduce 50-something married man after emailing nude photographs.” While these are just two of many issues addressed in the two novels, the general unspoken trend seems to be, depressingly, this: As we advance in technological conveniences and work toward equal opportunity, we also give ourselves more room to dig deeper into the preexisting rabbit holes of society. It’s a sad message, but in both books, at least there’s plenty of humor and stunning language in the delivery.
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never be published.
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President Eisgruber’s hickory voice.
CAMPUS PICKS LECTURE THE MULTISPECIES SALON PRESENTS: “SUBURBAN FORAGING: ACORN MUSH” Guyot 100 Acorn collecting at 10 a.m., lunch discussion at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday
Acorns are, believe it or not, embedded in cultural memory. This Thursday, join the Princeton Environmental Institute for an event that explores the culinary possibility of the acorn and its associations with the oppression of a people. The Pomo American Indians of Northern California consumed acorn mush, a dish that evokes “memories of massacres, forced marches, and internment.” The Multispecies Salon opens with an acorn gathering activity at 10 a.m., followed by a lunch discussion at 12:30 p.m., at which acorn mush will be sampled.
FILM PROF PICKS: “BOMBAY VELVET” Princeton Garden Theatre Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
The free student movies at Princeton’s Garden Theatre have generally skewed more popular blockbusters than foreign historical dramas. That’s about to change. For the inaugural Prof Picks (as in “picked by a professor”) film, history professor Gyan Prakash chose “Bombay Velvet,” an Indian period crime drama adapted from his book “Mumbai Fables.” The showing will be preceded by remarks from Prakash and director Anurag Kashyap.
EVENT PRINCETON EID UL ADHA BANQUET + BENEFIT FOR REFUGEES 2015 Fields Center Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Who doesn’t love eating yummy food while also making small contributions toward making the world a better place? Eid ul Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice, is the second-most important celebration for Muslims around the world, and the Muslim Students Association and MASJID will be commemorating the holiday with a banquet complete with poetry, art, henna and a photo booth. The suggested donation of $10 will benefit victims of the global refugee crisis.
READING: EMERGING WRITERS READING WITH SOPHIE MCMANUS Labyrinth Bookstore Friday, 6 p.m.
In 10 years, you’ll be able to say that you knew these writers before they hit it big: Emerging Writers is an annual series at Labyrinth featuring readings by established authors and the Princeton seniors selected every year to write creative writing theses. This year’s series is launching with Sophie McManus, first-time author of novel “The Unfortunates,” and creative writing certificate students Katharine Boyer ’16, Marta Cabral ’16, Isabel Henderson ’16 and Takim Williams ’16.