Mar. 22, 2012 issue

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T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

The Chronicle

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 119

WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Duke Medicine hopes to ensure research integrity by Tiffany Lieu THE CHRONICLE

ment. As an immigrant from South Africa, she noted the pull to take action about the problems associated with immigration and asylum in her own country and around the world. “I thought, ‘I should use my camera—that’s my tool,’” Klevansky said. “I wanted to show these refugees in a dignified form as individuals.” Taken between 2000 and 2002,

The School of Medicine is safeguarding against research misconduct with a new set of guidelines. A faculty committee has established measures to improve the quality and integrity of translational medicine research. The multidisciplinary Translational Medicine Quality Framework Committee began examining the issue of reinforcing research integrity last Spring. The committee’s report, released May 2011, outlines four key areas of improvement: bioinformatics support, biostatistical collaboration, research accountability and far more rigourous evaluation of research before moving to clinical trials. Some changes have already gone into effect, though administrators will continue to implement other measures in the next several years. The changes promote an environment where researchers will feel comfortable questioning one another and suggesting alternative interpretations of data, said Dr. Nancy Andrews, dean of the School of Medicine and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Overall, we are ahead of most of our peer institutions in thinking about these issues,” Andrews wrote in an email Wednesday. “Research misconduct, while rare, is a problem that all research institutions encounter periodically.” The examination of research integrity was motivated in part by the alleged research misconduct of former Duke oncologist Dr. Anil Potti as well as a need to adapt to an advanced and increasingly technical field of medical research. The report focuses on genomics research, but the new guidelines apply to all of translational medicine—

SEE EXHIBIT ON PAGE 4

SEE RESEARCH ON PAGE 6

SOPHIA DURAND/THE CHRONICLE

“Fragments from Another Life,” an exhibit of 44 photographs, is located in the lobby of Rubenstein Hall.

Exhibit depicts refugees’ concerns by Madeleine Clark THE CHRONICLE

Photography can illuminate the challenges of refugees as they adjust to life in their adopted countries, a documentary photographer said Wednesday. Rhonda Klevansky, a master’s in liberal studies candidate, presented “Fragments from Another Life,” an exhibit of 44 black-andwhite photographs in the lobby of Rubenstein Hall. The ongoing exhibition features refugees and

seekers of asylum who have immigrated to the United Kingdom from other countries amid conflict. About 15 students and faculty attended the opening, which concluded with a panel discussion that featured a former Tibetan refugee and an immigration law expert. Klevansky opened the panel with a summary of her project and her hope that students will be inspired by the photographs and motivated to examine more deeply the problem of refugee displace-

DUKE STUDENT GOVERNMENT

GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT COUNCIL

DSG to alter committee Hunt elected GPSC president structure in Senate by Joel Luther THE CHRONICLE

Brown, external chief of staff, and Alexandra Swain, vice president for Durham and regional affairs, will make a bid for the presidency in the coming weeks. The proposal to restructure passed in a roll call vote of 38-8. During the presentation of the proposal, Schork and senior Esosa Osa, vice president for residential life and dining, explained the reasoning behind the increased number of committees—from five to seven—and changes in the committees respective purviews. “This makes it easier for the student body to come to us with questions but also

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

The incoming executive members of the Graduate and Professional Student Council will focus on improving the quality of life for graduate and professional students. GPSC Vice President Bill Hunt, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in English, will succeed Felicia Hawthorne, a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the genetics and genomics program, as president of the council. Hunt said that the role of president was more external and policy oriented than his current role. Serving as president will require Hunt to make specific policy decisions, create a strategic vision for the organization and work closely with University administrators.

SEE DSG ON PAGE 5

Bill Hunt will succeed Felicia Hawthorne as the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council.

SEE HUNT ON PAGE 6

Brown, Swain to pursue candidacy for DSG president by Patton Callaway THE CHRONICLE

After a six-hour long meeting Wednesday, Duke Student Government senators approved a proposal to restructure the organization. DSG President Pete Schork, a senior, proposed that the Senate created five new committees—facilities and the environment; social culture; residential life; services; and equity and identity affairs— while maintaining the academic affairs committee and Durham and regional affairs committee. Two current members of DSG also announced their unofficial candidacy for DSG president. Juniors Chris

Women’s soccer players get international experience, Page 7

ONTHERECORD

“...I once received an official memo for being five minutes late to a math department meeting....” —Priya Bhat in “Evaluating ‘good’ teaching.” See column page 11

Recess talks with Ira Glass, RECESS PAGE 6

2 | THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

THE CHRONICLE

worldandnation

Sharp racial disparity in breast cancer death rates

Health data shows a new disturbing trend: Although they are less likely than white women to get breast cancer, black women are more likely to die from it. The difference in mortality began to emerge in the early 1980s. By 2007, according to the American Cancer Society, even though rates for both groups were going down, death rates were 41 percent higher among African American women than among white women. Some health care professionals and advocates contend that the disparate mortality rates argue for a more urgent effort to reach more black women. They are frustrated that, with all of the information available about the importance of early detection and treatment, the statistics remain so dire. Across the country, women of color report higher rates of disease and health problems, are more likely to be uninsured and have had fewer doctor visits for preventive care.

7758

SSRI/DuPRI Seminar Series

Sanford Rhodes Conference Room, 3:25-4:55 p.m. Janet Currie, Princeton University, presents “The Effects of Hurricanes on Birth Outcomes in Texas�.

Special Energy and the Environment Lecture Hudson Hall 216, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Peggy Caserto talks about “Energy Engineers in the Nuclear Workforce: Sectors to Work Scopes�.

Spectrum

Antipsychotic drugs less China limits government effective than advertised purchases of foreign cars So-called atypical antipsychotic drugs have been blockbusters for the drug industry. But a new report finds that psychiatrists have not been given a full picture of their effectiveness. Drug companies performed 24 studies and found four studies unflattering for the drug in question.

The Center for LGBT Life, 2 West Union Building, 6-7 p.m. This group consists of individuals who do not conform to gender norms or embrace the sex they were assigned at birth.

BEIJING — The ubiquitous official black Audis and Mercedes-Benzes racing through the streets of Beijing and almost every other city in China could soon become far fewer under recently proposed regulations that would require government agencies to buy only Chinese brands.

Arabic Majors Distinguished Lecture John Hope Franklin Center 240, 6-7:30 p.m. Professor Carl Ernst (UNC-Chapel Hill) delivers the inaugural Arabic Majors Distinguished Lecture. For more events go to calendar.duke.edu

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web

TODAY IN HISTORY 1765: Stamp Act imposed on American colonies.

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“Miles Plumlee’s career in Cameron Indoor Stadium might be over, but he’ll have one more chance to show off his hops at the collegiate level. According to Duke Blue Planet’s Twitter account, Plumlee will participate in the State Farm College Slam Dunk Contest.� — From The Blue Zone bluezone.dukechronicle.com

on the

calendar

Arab League Day Syria

Day of the People’s Party Laos

Emancipation Day Puerto Rico

JEROME FAVRE/THE BLOOMBERG NEWS

Commuters wait at a bus stop in Hong Kong. Failure to take aging buses off the streets is one of the key causes of air pollution, which results in more than 3,000 premature deaths a year. The air-quality control meter in a business district has registered an high pollution level every day bar one this year.

Have a great

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My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil. — Ray Charles

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$500 will be awarded to the best essay and $500 to the best alternative project. The deadline is 5pm on April 9th. Awards will be announced May 3rd. Visit tinyurl.com/dhrc-koonz-prize for more information and submission guidelines. Open to all currently enrolled Duke undergrads. BBQ Chips

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THE CHRONICLE

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 | 3

Brotherhood might put Cohen film uncovers Appalachian bluegrass forth presidential candidate by Margot Tuchler THE CHRONICLE

A segment of Appalachian bluegrass culture came alive at the Center for Documentary Studies Wednesday night. Using fragments of original footage from the 1960s and 1970s, documentary filmmaker John Cohen captures the music and culture surrounding American bluegrass singer, banjo player and guitarist Roscoe Holcomb, The 2010 film, “Roscoe Holcomb: the Man from Daisy Kentucky,� is comprised of outtakes from two of Cohen’s previous films about the musician, “The High Lonesome Sound� from 1963 and “Musical Holdouts� from 1975. “There’s something very profound [about the music],� said Cohen, who is also a musician and photographer. “It goes beyond everything else that I know. It’s got bluegrass, it’s got oldtime, it’s got blues, it’s got church music, but there’s something else about it that transcends all that.... That’s kind of plagued me all my life or ever since 1959 when I met Roscoe.� Cohen said he worked with the footage in new ways because digital technology was not available when he was making his earlier films. When he discovered this old footage of the musician that he had forgotten about, Cohen was inspired to make a new film. CDS hosted a screening of the film Wednesday. Cohen formerly served as the Lehman Brady visiting joint chair

professor in documentary studies and American studies at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The film also featured footage of Holcomb’s relatives and other famed musicians of the time, including American bluegrass musician Bill Monroe. Much of the footage of musical performances was accompanied by clog dancers. CDS Director Tom Rankin noted Cohen’s ability to transcend boundaries of time in his work and weave together various media. “[Cohen captures] that whole idea of seeing the counter intuitive,� Rankin said. “That’s at the base of what John has always done.� After a question and answer session with the audience. Cohen screened another film, the three-minute-long “MaryJane’s Story,� which featured Holcomb’s cousin MaryJane and her passion for quilting. Cohen said he was struck by the beauty of the quilts hanging up on laundry lines in eastern Kentucky when the first frost came in 1962. “The relationship between the music and the visual... worked for me,� he said. He added that the color of the quilts was striking in contrast to the harsh living conditions he identified in the region, where strip coal mining was a common practice. In the film, Holcomb said he spent much of his life mining, SEE COHEN ON PAGE 4

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by Leila Fadel THE WASHINGTON POST

CAIRO — Faced with a crowded presidential race and with no consensus candidate emerging for its members, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said Wednesday it is considering reversing a year-old pledge not to put forward a candidate from its ranks. The Brotherhood, whose political wing already dominates the newly elected parliament, had announced the policy in part to quell fears on the part of liberal groups that the historic Islamist organization is trying to take control of the country after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic but secular government. But on Wednesday, Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said that the organization’s governing body has so far found none of the hundreds of declared candidates worthy of its support and is weighing the possibility of nominating a Brotherhood member to run in the election, set to begin May 23. Privately, officials close to the Brotherhood say discussions are centering on Khairat al-Shater, the group’s top financier. “So far nobody who fits our criteria has put forth their name,� Ghozlan said. Ghozlan’s comments are the clearest indication yet that the Brotherhood will try to take Egypt’s top government post. The two houses of parliament are led by members of the group’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party. The move comes amid intense pres-

sure from the organization’s younger members to back former Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who is already running for president. Fotouh, who was seen as a leader of a more progressive part of the Brotherhood, was ousted for breaking the rules and announcing himself as a candidate. A slew of young members who joined the Fotouh campaign were also expelled. Rumors of a consensus candidate backed by both the military rulers and the Brotherhood never came to fruition. Omar Ashour, an expert on Islamist movements from Britain’s Exeter University and a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution, said the Brotherhood faces an internal rebellion that will only intensify if the group endorses a non-Islamist candidate, such as former foreign minister Amr Moussa or the former head of the military advisory council, Mansour Hassan, and might nominate a candidate to save itself from splintering. “They have no options,� Ashour said. The move would be likely to draw criticism, particularly given the Brotherhood’s earlier pledge to run for only about a third of the seats in parliament. It now holds roughly half the seats. The Brotherhood is expected to meet Friday to discuss candidates and announce its decision. “It’s all premature talk right now,� Ghozlan said. Special correspondent Ingy Hassieb contributed to this report.

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4 | THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

THE CHRONICLE

EXHIBIT from page 1

SOPHIA DURAND/THE CHRONICLE

The photographs in Rubenstein Hall depict various refugees that immigrated to the United Kingdom.

Graduate Student Appreciation Week! March 26-March 30, 2012 Special Discounts All Week! Duke Stores and Gothic Bookstore, 20% off (some exclusions apply), just display your Duke ID at register before you purchase items. The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS) sponsors a nationally recognized student appreciation week each spring. As part of this effort to acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by Duke graduate students to this institution, the Graduate School has organized a week of activities. The goal for this week is to show appreciation by giving students access to tools for professional and personal development and opportunities for social interaction.

Don’t forget to register to participate in some of these great events: http://gradschool.duke.edu/gsa/programs/appreciation_week.php Monday, March 26, 2012 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.—How to Identify and Leverage Your Transferable Skills 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.—Alumni Lunch I – Basic Medical Sciences – Come and network! 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.—Developing an Online Teaching Portfolio 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.—The Art of Networking

Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.—Financial Literacy Workshop – “Creditability: Building a Strong Credit History” 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.—Alumni Lunch II – Engineering – Come and network! 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.—Theater Delta Performance – Research Ethics

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.—Presenting Yourself Successfully (Feedback & Video) 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.—Finding the Right Fit 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.—Alumni Lunch III – Natural Sciences and Mathematics 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.—Presenting Yourself Successfully (Feedback & Video) 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.— Lecture: “Begin with the End in Mind: Planning for a Successful Career in Science” 3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.— Post Doc Panel Discussion—“What to Know Before You Go” 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.—Milestone Recognition Ceremony (for students passing preliminary exams since March 2011)

the photographs depict refugees holding items brought with them from their home countries. The reverse side of the photos are inscribed with the subjects’ personal attachment to those items. Klevansky said she wanted to include the voices of the subjects to help explain their pictures, but some subjects instead wrote whatever they wanted. Tibetan refugee Thupten Norbu, a master’s candidate in international development policy at the Center for International Development, said the refugee problem is often overlooked as compared to political and economic debate. After his parents left Tibet to settle in India, Norbu said he and other refugees were perceived as a threat or drain to the Indian economy and looked down upon by others. Tibetan refugees often live in fear of persecution or deportation. The problems associated with displaced people can only be mitigated through changing the perception of refugees and considering temporary as well as medium- and long-term policy solutions. Margaret Hu—visiting assistant professor at the School of Law who specializes in national security, immigration policy and civil rights—noted that as a legal counsel at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, she often handled cases related to persecution of immigrants, particularly following 9/11. “My first day of work was September 10, 2001,” she said. Upon entering the United States, many refugees are forced to spend indefinite periods in detention centers with conditions that often resemble prisons, Hu noted. The conditions in these centers are often beyond the imagination of most Americans. Audience member Rosemary Fernholz, a senior research scholar and lecturing fellow in public policy at the CID, noted that questions about immigration policy remain difficult to answer. “What do you do?” she said.

COHEN from page 3 as well as working in construction and the soy mills. Some audience members were struck by the rustic nature of Cohen’s footage. “It was gorgeous and gritty and very real,” said Steven Weiss, curator of the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill and long-time friend of Cohen. “It’s very raw, the music is very raw, the emotions are very raw.” Joel Wanek, a first-year master’s candidate in the Fine Arts in Experimental and Documentary Arts program, said it is interesting that much of the footage came from outtakes. “It was pretty amazing,” Wanek said. “At one point, he thought [the footage] wasn’t worth seeing.... 50 years must make it more meaningful.” Although bluegrass—a genre of music to which Cohen has devoted much of his energy—does not have a particularly large following, it is nonetheless powerful, he said. “It means a lot to me, and it means a lot to a lot of people,” he said. “It’s not a mass movement, but it’s got enough.”

Thursday, March 29, 2012 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.—Interviewing Skills Workshop 10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.—Humanities and Social Sciences – Job Search Workshop 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.—“Is Your Laptop a Pain?” (Ergonomics workshop) 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.—Improving Communication Skills (Individual sessions) 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.—Resilience & Flourishing in Graduate School 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.—Dean’s Awards for Excellence in Mentoring and Teaching Ceremony and Reception 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.—PHD Movie

Friday, March 30, 2012 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.—Financial Aid Workshop 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.—Hurston-James Society Interest Lunch 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.—Graduate School “CPR” (Come, Partake, and Rejuvenate) Event **Raffle tickets for prizes will be held at each event. Prizes include Conference Travel Awards, Research and Supply Awards, and USB Jump Drives. Winners will be announced April 9, 2012.

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THE CHRONICLE

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 | 5

DSG from page 1 makes it harder for the administration to make the excuse that they didn’t know where to go with an issue,” Osa said. Schork noted that these seven categories cover all types of current issues presented to DSG as well as those that may arise in the future. “If we’re not thinking in a multi-year, consistent way, then we’re behind,” Schork said. “These seven committees help create continuity from year to year.” During the debate, senators proposed amendments concerning the equity and identity committee specifically. The initial proposal from Schork and Osa designated it as the diversity and equity committee with five senators. As a compromise with the senators, Schork and Osa changed

TORI POWERS/THE CHRONICLE

Sophomore Katharine Krieger speaks at the weekly DSG meeting Wednesday. Krieger was elected SOFC chair.

the committee’s name to the equity and identity committee and also increased the number of senators from five to 10. Now, only the social culture committee and the facilities and environment committee will operate with five senators. “We’re making committees that were previously fractions of other committees, but we can’t conclusively predict the workflow for committees that haven’t existed,” Schork said. “A varied number of senators does not mean that certain committees are better or more important.” Sophomore Stefani Jones, senator for athletics, services and the environment, presented a counter-proposal that encouraged only minor changes to DSG’s current committee structure. “The structure of our organization should remain the same—elections should change the direction of the conversations of DSG each year,” Jones said. “It’s the third year in a row that we’re making constitutional changes and that undermines our credibility.” Senior Ebonie Simpson, vice president for student life, was responsible for proposing the increase in the number of senators on the ultimate equity and identity affairs committee. After an extensive debate on the various possibilities, the Senate held an instant run-off vote between three options. Schork and Osa’s proposal received 26 votes, Jones’ proposal received 13 and the status quo received four. After the changes to the committee structure passed, the Senate decided how to incorporate the new structure into the upcoming elections. Because the DSG constitution only allows for five vice presidents, the first election for the executive board—to take place April 12—will elect the DSG president, executive vice president and five vice presidents for five of the new committees. These five committees were selected randomly. Students may run for vice president of the Durham and regional affairs; services; facilities and the environment; social culture; or the academic affairs committee in the election April 12. Students will also vote on a constitutional referendum on this first ballot, allowing for an addition of two vice presidents in the second round of elections April 23. If approved, candidates may run for the additional two vice president positions, completing DSG structural transformation. During another part of the Senate meeting Wednesday,

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Brown and Swain announced their intentions to run for the position of DSG president for the 2012-2013 academic year. Before becoming official candidates, Brown and Swain will submit petitions with 100 student signatures. “Ultimately, I think I have good experience and good knowledge about the University, the area and the state,” Swain said. “I have a unique view on how to engage students more in DSG.” Brown also noted his experience as a DSG senator and vice president as well as his other Duke experiences. “I’ve been intimately involved with different areas of campus, from tutoring in Durham to DSG,” he said. “Making the Duke experience for each and every single person who is here as good as possible is something that I’m very passionate about.” In other business: The Senate chose sophomore Katharine Krieger, vice chair of the programming fund, as the Student Organization Finance Committee chair for the 2012-2013 academic year. “She has some ideas and insight into the future of SOFC,” said senior Kaveh Danesh, vice president for academic affairs and Young Trustee-elect. DSG also approved changes to its judiciary bylaw and constitution. The chief justice will now be selected from the seven elected associate justices, and the chief justice will serve a one-year term as opposed to a two-year term. This way, juniors with experience on judiciary can serve as chief justice their senior year, said Executive Vice President Gurdane Bhutani, a junior. The changes also streamline the impeachment process with a judiciary hearing and a two-thirds vote in the Senate.

dukechronicle.com

6 | THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

HUNT from page 1 “We’ll continue working on maintaining and improving upon the quality of student life in the Duke community and making Duke a place where graduate students and professional students can pursue their academic and professional goals,” Hunt said. “It’s a big responsibility, and it’ll be a big challenge. I look forward to doing it.” Hunt, along with four other members of GPSC’s incoming executive board, were elected at the group’s meeting Tuesday. Hawthorne said she hopes Hunt and the other executive members will continue to work on many of GPSC’s goals for this year. Some of the group’s main goals for this year were promoting graduate student involvement and advocating for safety on campus. “[Hunt] really has a great understanding of how the group works, and the group has an understanding of who he is, and he’s a great leader,” Hawthorne said. Shannon O’Connor, a third-year M.D./ Ph.D. student at the School of Medicine, will serve as vice president of the council. O’Connor, who currently serves as a School of Medicine representative to GPSC, said she plans to streamline the group’s meetings next year. “Primarily, I would like to run efficient and effective meetings, such that the amazing people who serve on GPSC will have their time well-spent,” O’Connor wrote in an email Wednesday. “I hope I can help embrace the collaborations that are forming and that have the potential to form when such a group meets and challenge people to be innovative in the functions planned for next year.”

THE CHRONICLE

Nick Brandley, a third-year doctoral candidate in biology, ran unsuccessfully to be the group’s president. Brandley currently serves as one of GPSC’s student life co-chairs. Brandley said he wants to encourage further student participation in the council. “My hopes are that next year GPSC will broaden participation especially with the professional schools and under-represented students and establish a bigger graduate presence on the campus,” Brandley wrote in an email Wednesday. Brandley plans to run for career development chair at the group’s next meeting. Chris Marsicano, a first-year master of public policy candidate, was elected attorney general. Marsicano said he wants to reform parts of the organization’s structure. “We have a lot of bylaws that stand in the way of GPSC becoming a truly efficient and effective body,” he wrote in an email Tuesday. “By reforming current bylaws and streamlining the way we do business, we can provide incredible benefits to graduate and professional students in every corner of Duke’s campus.” Amol Yadav, a doctoral candidate at the Center for Neuroengineering, was elected treasurer. Pan Wu, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in chemistry, will serve as academic officer. Due to time constraints, not all positions were filled at Tuesday’s meeting. Many of the positions will be decided March 27, Hunt said. The positions that remain to be filled are executive secretary, communications coordinator, University affairs coordinator, student group liaison, community outreach coordinator, career development chair and student life co-chairs. Yeshwanth Kandimalla contributed reporting.

RESEARCH from page 1 treatments that go from research labs to clinical trials. “Some of our research improvement initiatives, particularly involving clinical research, started well before we became aware of possible issues in the Potti case,” Andrews said. “We are an institution that wants to move biomedical science forward through important contributions that will stand the test of time.” Since the committee’s establishment, members have focused on encouraging scientists to question research methods and findings and fortify data management and validation, Dr. Robert Califf, vice chancellor for clinical research and director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, wrote in an email Tuesday. They also sought to increase access to expertise in the design and analysis of experiments as well as to maintain active management of conflicts of interest. A new framework The TMQF Committee has taken several steps to toughen the evaluation of translational research. It has established an integrity line that allows researchers to report concerns anonymously over the phone, as well as more stringent controls to monitor ethical practices and scientific merit in studies involving human subjects, said Sally Kornbluth, vice dean for research at the School of Medicine and vice provost for academic affairs. A TMQF subcommittee of Duke Medicine leaders is discussing plans for a virtual lockbox that will allow researchers to track what changes are being made to complex data sets and who is making them, Kornbluth said. “What we’re really looking for is an [information technology] solution that will allow one to determine that the data that are being used to eventually lead to clinical trials are in fact the data obtained at the time of collection and that there haven’t been changes that people are not aware of,” she said. Although it is unacceptable to alter original data, there are some legitimate reasons for why some changes or comments need to be made, Kornbluth added. The virtual lockbox will allow anyone to view edits throughout the research process and to contact those involved. The online database will also help prevent honest errors. The subcommittee is searching for a well-adapted and simple IT solution

that fits the kind of work being done and does not hinder the research process. “It is very easy, if you’re working with dozens of Excel spreadsheets to make an error,” Kornbluth said. “What you want is a much more robust system than that, which will enable detection of errors that are either unintentional or intentional.” Instances of research misconduct in an academic institution are rare but also impossible to prevent entirely, Andrews said, adding that if a person is highly motivated to cheat, they will likely find ways to do so. Although it is impossible to completely eliminate research misconduct, Califf added that he is confident these new measures will help safeguard research integrity and improve the quality of Duke research. “These changes will make our research better across the board,” he said. Cracks in a system The committee’s framework report recognizes that genomic science has vastly increased the amount of data scientists can collect. With more data and research requiring peer review and increased pressure on researchers to move their work into clinical trials, room for error is significant. According to the report, these developments put the previous research framework to the test, as illustrated with the recent Potti case. A redflag in the Potti research was the discrepancy between the data he presented and the original data set, Kornbluth noted. “It makes it very difficult why that is if you have no way of tracking exactly when changes were made and by whom,” she said. Potti, who published peer-reviewed research and conducted clinical trials on a genomic technique for predicting chemotherapy responses, was questioned in 2006 by Duke’s Institutional Review Board after Texas researchers took issue with some of the data. Potti was allowed to continue until his credentials came under fire and the trials were terminated in 2010. The multiple levels of institutional review did not discover the flaws in Potti’s genomic research until after the research had been applied to patient treatment in clinical trials. To date, Potti has retracted 10 papers, and there is an ongoing investigation into alleged research misconduct. Two lawsuits have been filed against Duke, Potti and others on behalf of patients who participated in the clinical trials.

Recess

volume 13 issue 22 march 22, 2012

REINTEGRATED

n a c i r e m A s Thi

Reporter

NPR personality Ira Glass discusses titles, semiotics and performing live PAGE 6

CHELSEA PIERONI/THE CHRONICLE

Brickside fest

DUU/Coffeehouse fest gets Kurt Vile, OPN, others

CENTER

the shins

four years later: yup, they’re still good

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odd future

precocious, insane, and maybe the future of rap

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don’t know about you, but my reading tastes lie at the intersection of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Lolita. So, when o on the second-to-last day of my Spring Break, I opened up my Kindle’s New York Times app to read an article that described a book as both th the “adult Twilight” and “Mommy porn,” I was o obviously intrigued. With a description like th that, it was clear that this book, Fifty Shades of G Grey, was going to be a massive trainwreck, and I was probably going to enjoy it. To my utter surprise, forking over $9.99 to p purchase a copy of this book was quite possibly th the worst decision I’ve made in 2012. In case you haven’t had the misfortune of sstumbling upon this sorry excuse for a book, th the plot involves Christian Grey, a hyperccontrolling yet beautiful CEO, eager to start a BDSM relationship with Anastasia Steele, a sickeningly innocent recent college grad. Steele and Grey become Steele Grey more than a dozen times, but it’s done with riding crops and a whole lot of spanking. Throw in some dialogue from the 19th century (“You beguile me”?) and a handful of distracting typos, and you’ve got Fifty Shades of Grey. Some other things about this book—Anastasia frequently

bites her lower lip, and that apparently turns Christian on to the point where he has to force her to stop. Let that simmer for a while. I just…can’t. Anastasia also has an “inner goddess” that suddenly pops up in the middle of the book. Before I go any further, the average review on Amazon for this book is four out of five stars. This is really terrifying to me. If a large proportion of the readers of Fifty Shades give this book a highly favorable review, it means there is a significant amount of people in this county who don’t value logic or grammar. Given that Rick Santorum is still a contender for the Republican nomination, I guess that shouldn’t surprise me too much…but still. Perusing some of the other one-star reviews, I found that I agreed with the majority of the review titles: “Absolutely the worst book I’ve read in years,” “Could not finish” and “Fifty ways to yawn.” Also, The New York Times’ story on Fifty Shades seemed to hint that this book is responsible for waking up the sex lives of America. If this is true, it would seem that we as a country must be sexually starved in a desert of abstinence, and this book is a drop of poison masquerading as water. This sentence probably didn’t make sense, but this is the kind of sentence that would appear in Fifty Shades of Grey, and that’s the number one bestseller in the country right now. Something I learned about this book after reading it:

[recesseditors] the d-sig hipster label that fits us best Ross Green.............................................................................................................................avid listener of The Cults Matt Barnett...........................................................................................................................solo puppet exhibitionist Michaela Dwyer...............................................................................................................................avant-garde womyn Brian Contratto...........................................................................................................................coffeehouse manager Chris Bassil......................................................................................................................................puts birds on things Josh Stillman........................................................................................................put off by frat boys at Parker & Otis Chelsea Pieroni...............................................................................................................makes fun of Rick Santorum Phoebe Long.....................................................................................................................................Skidmore chapter

March 22, 2012

E.L. James originally wrote Fifty Shades of Grey as a Twilight fan fiction. For those of you who don’t know, fan fiction refers to fan-written stories that use characters and situations that were created by a different author. She wrote a wildly popular fan fiction that readers could access for free on the web, but decided she would try to capitalize off of her success. After changing character names, she has now sold more than 250,000 units of a book being hyped everywhere from the New York Times to Good Morning America. There’s a major ethical issue with James making money off Fifty Shades, beyond that it’s a terrible book (though it is). Many authors are concerned that James took a derivative work, made some miniscule changes, and is now making a profit. Put another way, James essentially copied the characters that Stephanie Meyers created for Twilight, and pasted them into her sloppily written erotica. This raises a few important questions, such as: Does E.L. James owe Meyers anything for profiting off of the product of her imagination? Do authors even own the characters that they create? What does it mean that the book that currently tops the New York Times’ Bestseller list is both utter trash and not an original work? I don’t really know how to answer that, but I will say that this reflects very poorly on our country. First, instead of reading books of literary merit, we choose to entertain ourselves with frothy reads full of violent sex and little to no character growth. Second, a large amount of people don’t even recognize that this book is terrible. In fact, a significant amount of people actually think it’s high quality. For example, this excerpt from an Amazon review by “An older man” says, “James is a polished novelist. Her dialogue is crisp, her prose poised, and her paragraphs well-parsed.” This entire statement is objectively not true. I feel like this book represents everything that’s wrong with our country right now. We want quick entertainment, but we don’t necessarily care about quality. This is the first time I’ve ever regretted reading a book. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like a lot of people would agree with that sentiment. —Anna Koelsch

NASHER MUSEUM OF ART AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

ALEXANDER CALDER AND CONTEMPORARY ART

FORM, BALANCE, JOY ON VIEW THROUGH JUNE 17, 2012 Tickets are free to Duke students on same day of admission (1 per I.D.) Tickets are half price for Duke faculty and staff ($5, 2 per I.D.) Nasher Museum Members receive two free tickets per day. www.nasher.duke.edu

Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The exhibition is sponsored by The Northern Trust Company. Lead foundation support is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Chicago Community Trust. Major support for the exhibition is generously provided by The Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation. Additional generous support is provided by Margot and George Greig, Anne and Burt Kaplan, Ruth Horwich, The Broad Art Foundation, Gagosian Gallery, Lindy Bergman, Helyn Goldenberg, Sara Szold, and The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation. At the Nasher Museum, major individual support for the exhibition is provided by Frances P. Rollins, Marilyn M. Arthur, Trent and Susan Carmichael, Drs. Victor and Lenore Behar, Kathi and Stephen Eason, and Mindy and Guy Solie. Additional generous support is provided by Deborah DeMott, Nancy Palmer Wardropper, The E. T. Rollins Jr. and Frances P. Rollins Fund, Jo and Peter Baer, Paula and Eugene Flood, Pepper and Donald Fluke, Kelly Braddy Van Winkle and Lance Van Winkle, Carolyn Aaronson, Diane Evia-Lanevi and Ingemar Lanevi, Caroline and Arthur Rogers, Angela O. Terry, and Richard Tigner. Major corporate and grant support for the exhibition is provided by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, NetApp, and the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. Additional support is provided by Carolina Biological Supply Company, Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, The Research Triangle Park, Parker and Otis, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Clinical Ambassador, American Scientist magazine, and Tech Shop. ABOVE: Alexander Calder, Blue Among Yellow and Red, 1963. Painted sheet metal and steel wire, 43 x 63 inches diameter. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Loan (EL1995.12). © 2012 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo by Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

March 22, 2012

lost in the trees A CHURCH THAT FITS OUR NEEDS ANTI-/TREKKY RECORDS

Chamber pop groups seem to come in bulk these days. Lost in the Trees’ latest release, A Church That Fits Our Needs, arrives at a crucial time in their genre, which is witnessing unprecedented growth. The Chapel Hill sextet return with their third LP, a deeply personal album dedicated to lead vocalist Ari Picker’s late mother, who took her own life in the summer of 2009. Picker wanted to give her a space in the music to “become all the things she didn’t get a chance to be when she was alive.” The album marks the group’s first release with Los Angeles-based ANTI- Records, though it will also be issued through Chapel Hill’s Trekky Records, an important collective hub of Triangle music talent. This record is a polished testament to what Picker calls “orchestral folk music,” taking nods from the group’s simultaneous use of strings and brass instruments, accordion, bells, musical saw, banjo and mandolin. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Picker’s classical training

big k.r.i.t. 4EVA N A DAY SELF-RELEASED

It can’t be easy to be Big K.R.I.T. these days: dude’s basically shouldering The Future of Southern Rap by himself, but it’s not all that clear what such a title would even mean. All due respect to Rick Ross, Lex Luger and the goons from 1017 Brick Squad, but they’re pretty apparently not the heirs to Antwan Andre Patton. To make matters worse, he’s coming of age in an era where rap is less bound to geography than ever before—look at ASAP Rocky, who seems intent on appropriating the UGK legacy as the New New York rap, old schools be damned. On top of all that, the familiar label anxieties: his official debut album, Live from the Underground, is now scheduled for a June release, fully nine months behind schedule. So it’s understandable that K.R.I.T. might be feeling

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skill maintains a strong presence throughout the album’s entirety. Scott Solter (St. Vincent, Mountain Goats, Okkervil River) produced the album, and his direction serves to seamlessly synchronize the group’s multiple classical and folky instrument sets. The record opens with “Moment One,” an intro that deploys dark piano and establishes the album’s somber quality. Picker’s vocals are heartfelt, controlled and kept afloat by the band’s instrumental ensemble in the following cut, “Neither Here Nor There.” A crackling drum weaves itself into the musical narrative and is preserved from beginning to end; this harsher, fixed beat counters the waves of pliant violin. “Red,” the record’s first single, showcases a cappella nicely in the chorus, underscored by powerful violin that fluctuates in its tone according to Picker’s. Falsetto refrains are beautifully executed, holding their place amid the background’s equally powerful female vocals. Chamber pop is on the brink of tired subgenre status, but with their smart injection of well-choreographed classical instrumentals, Lost in the Trees avoid getting lost in the masses. —Andrew Karim the pressure, and it shows on 4eva N A Day. Songs like “Me and My Old School” and “Country Rap Tunes” are evidence of the strain— K.R.I.T.’s played with these exact motifs before, on Return of 4eva’s “My Sub” and K.R.I.T. Wuz Here’s “Country S**t.” And after those stellar tapes, cornball pep talks like “Even a magnolia fights to grow/ Under circumstances similar to yours” feel like a regression. It’s typically no slight to say a rapper is staying in his lane, but on 4eva, K.R.I.T. can’t get out of third gear. The obvious proviso is that K.R.I.T.’s behind-theboards execution is so impeccable that there’s pretty much a lower bound of “solid” on anything he produces these days. Both the aforementioned tracks, like the rest of the mixtape, are as painstakingly detailed as the candy-painted whips K.R.I.T.’s constantly paying homage to. He knows how to use small flourishes to develop and sustain a mood, like the pitch perfect keyboard reverb on “Down & Out” and the faint horns on “1986,” in a way that few other producers can match. And “4eva N A Day (Theme),” while it has been kicking around for a while, remains an absolutely

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sublime beat. Over the course of 4eva’s 50 minute runtime, though, the 18 largely homogeneous tracks tend to bleed together—and K.R.I.T.’s not a powerful enough lyricist, not yet anyway, to really grab hold of your attention. The promise of his early tapes is still very much intact, but 4eva is the sound of K.R.I.T. holding his breath. —Ross Green

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

DUKE PERFORMANCES SPRING 2012 SEASON MUSICAL VISIONARIES

TYONDAI BRAXTON + COLIN STETSON

SOLO PERFORMANCES / DOUBLE BILL

FRIDAY, MARCH 23 8 PM MOTORCO MUSIC HALL

T H IS

AY FRID

JAZZ / R&B / HIP-HOP

ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT BLACK RADIO

FRIDAY, MARCH 30 SATURDAY, MARCH 31 8 PM CASBAH DURHAM RENAISSANCE CHORAL SPECIALISTS

TALLIS SCHOLARS

FIELD OF CLOTH OF GOLD: MUSIC OF CORNYSH & MOUTON

SUNDAY, APRIL 1 5 PM DUKE CHAPEL

HEIR TO AFROBEAT

SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 THURSDAY, APRIL 5 8 PM PAGE AUDITORIUM

INDIAN MUSIC ROYALTY

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR & THE TRAVELLER ENSEMBLE

TRAVELLER: A RAGA-FLAMENCO JOURNEY

SATURDAY, APRIL 14 8 PM PAGE AUDITORIUM

TICKETS $5 TICKETS

DUKE STUDENT STUDENT DUKE

EVERY DUKE PERFORMANCES SHOW, ALL SEASON. TAKE ADVANTAGE.

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March 22, 2012

ive From D

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

East Campus hosts inaugural Brickside Fest by Dan Fishman THE CHRONICLE

March begins the season of music festivals, and this year Durham has one to be excited about. On Saturday, the Brickside Music Festival brings some of the biggest names in indie music to Duke’s East campus including Kurt Vile, Mark Kozelek and Oneohtrix Point Never. “We wanted Brickside to be like a miniature version of Hopscotch,” said Jordyn Gracey, the chair of Duke’s Campus Concert series. With the exception of Duke Performances, Duke’s live music scene is dominated by pop, hip-hop and standard rock artists. (Just take a look at the LDOC lineups for the past few years.) Brickside accomplishes what Joe College Day rarely achieves, bringing exciting and easily recognizable, long-standing artists like Kozelek, who’s been releasing music since the early ’90s. “The big music events on campus don’t necessary cater to the indie nerds who go here,” said Gracey. “So we tried to find bands who people who like indie music would be excited about.” Headliner and Philadelphia-native Kurt Vile is a veritable indie rock-star. His 2011 LP Smoke Ring for Your Halo achieved widespread critical acclaim. His folk charm and guitar prowess have earned him comparisons to artists as prestigious as Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. Starting at 12:40 a.m., the set should leave audiences with a final jolt of high-octane rock. “I am very influenced by the classics, by obscure psychedelic music and by folk,” said Vile. “But Saturday should be mostly rock.” With the exception of hip-hop, Brickside offers a little bit of everything. Mark Kozelek—who gained popularity as Red House Painters, and now also records as Sun Kil Moon—is famous for his quiet acoustics. Oneohtrix Point Never creates some of the decade’s most inventive electronic music, including this year’s Replica. Horse Feathers offer melancholic folk with orchestral flour-

ishes including piano and cello. “I am most excited about the Supreme Dicks,” said Vile. “And Steve Gunn [of Gunn-Truscinski Duo] is an amazing guitar player.” Saturday’s festivities are split between shows at the Duke Coffeehouse and the Jameson Gallery. Mostly used for art exhibits, the Fredric Jameson Gallery has never before been used as a concert venue. With its balcony and its slim maximum capacity (60 persons), it’s a nontraditional choice. The festival came about because of the collaboration of WXDU, the Coffeehouse, Campus Concert Series and Major Attractions. All are committees of DUU that, unlike LDOC, Old Duke and Joe College Day, have spent the year bringing largely alternative acts to campus. “Like music groups don’t usually work together on this campus,” said Gracey. “With this festival, we were able to bring them together.” The festival has also reached out to Durham small businesses. The Scrap Exchange will provide between-set diversions with tables of craft supplies available for D.I.Y. souvenirs, Bull City Records will bring crates of vinyl for sale and several Triangle food trucks will stand by in the Epworth dorm lots throughout the day. Lucky ticket-buyers will receive vouchers to use at food trucks and the vinyl crates. “This is much more of my kind of scene than LDOC is,” said Gracey. “If you want to a social environment with hundreds of people, then LDOC is your best bet. If you want intimate concerts with people who have the same music taste, then Brickside is it.” The Brickside Festival begins at 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $12 for Duke students and $18 G.A., and are available for purchase at the Duke Ticket Office, the Coffeehouse or on site (if available).

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Durham, NC

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

DPAC double bill brings Stetson, Braxton by Josh Stillman THE CHRONICLE

The song “Red Horse (Judges II)” off of Colin Stetson’s 2011 album New History Warfare, Vol. 2 sounds like a brooding hip-hop beat, its propulsive bass line and rim tap percussion chugging along with ominous ferocity. But wait: it’s not a hip-hop beat at all, nor did a bass or drum kit have any part in the production. The force behind all of those sounds is Stetson alone, armed with nothing more than a gargantuan bass saxophone and a series of well-placed mics. It’s a feat that approaches miraculous, and this Friday Stetson will bring that technical wizardry to Motorco Music Hall in a double bill with guitarist/composer Tyondai Braxton. “I never answer that question,” Stetson responded animatedly when asked to describe his music to someone unfamiliar with his work. “I think it does every single kind of music a great disservice to have any kind of word attached to it before it’s experienced.” If anyone is qualified to make such a claim it is Stetson. The saxophonist has recorded and toured with everyone from indie idols Arcade Fire and Bon Iver to Irish songstress Sinead O’Connor and James Murphy’s beloved dance-rock outfit LCD Soundsytem. Equally known for his cutting-edge solo career, Stetson cites the unlikely duo of Jimi Hendrix and Bach as his two greatest influences. “They’re just innovators,” he said. “That’s always been a fascination of mine, people who are unwavering as to their particular vision.” Stetson himself could be considered a part of the modern music vanguard, wrenching effects from his bass saxophone that often seem impossible. Using circular breathing—a technique that allows the player to sustain notes for long periods of time—as well as microphones placed on the body of the instrument and on his own

neck, he creates multi-layered pieces that feature vocalizations and percussive finger movement in addition to the saxophone’s sound. Opener Tyondai Braxton, an accomplished guitarist and composer, bears a similarly impressive pedigree and technical prowess. A co-founder of acclaimed mathrock group Battles, he has also received commissions from two of the country’s premiere new music ensembles, Kronos Quartet and Bang on a Can. His solo work involves the use of loops and digital delays to create hypnotic sonic textures reminiscent of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. His interest in loop technology, however, is largely the result of pragmatism. After his band in college broke up, “I had to start working alone and keep myself entertained,” he said. “Suddenly [digital delays] gave me insight into being able to lay down an idea, and lay down an idea counter that. It allowed me to be reactive to what I was doing and build these landscapes.” That fortuitous discovery has blossomed into a lauded career. His 2009 solo record Central Market received stellar reviews from the likes of Pitchfork and Allmusic.com. Aaron Greenwald, director of Duke Performances, feels that the two performers are ideally qualified to share a bill. “[Their music] seems to find a really sweet spot; it clearly has one foot in the universe of indie rock and another in the universe of experimental or contemporary classical,” he said. “Both artists reconcile those impulses really well. And the fact that they’re doing it as solo artists makes it all the more compelling.” Colin Stetson and Tyondai Braxton play a double bill Friday at 8 p.m. at Motorco Music Hall. Tickets are $5 for Duke students and are available at the box office.

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March 22, 2012

Recess Interviews: NPR host Ira Glass by Brian Contratto THE CHRONICLE

Excluding maybe the partisan pundits, This American Life host Ira Glass is public radio’s biggest personality. In preparation for his talk this Saturday at the Durham Performing Arts Center, Recess’ Brian Contratto chatted with Mr. Glass about story-telling and being a grown-up. Recess: So for the Durham show, at DPAC, they’re billing you as: “journalist, storyteller, humorist.” How do you self-identify? Is there any real difference? Ira Glass: What was the last one, “humorist”? I feel like I have a civilian level of humor. I actually know people who are professional humorists and I can tell the difference. .. I am a journalist—storyteller is a word with a very difficult width to it; you picture corny sorts of down-home people…on rocking chairs, with a pipe—I don’t really call myself a journalist. Usually I just say “reporter;” the word “journalist” sounds so pretentious. The world of journalism is divided off between the people that call themselves [journalists]—it’s so selfimportant. But I know and like some of those people so now I feel a little sheepish. But on my passport it says “radio reporter”— R: It says that on your passport? Well, you’re giving a talk, so you’re also a radio personality, right? A radio celebrity… IG: Radio celebrity! Yeah, that’s what my wife calls me when I get home, “Hey, radio celebrity, you want some coffee?” I’m actually going to [opens up passport]—it actually says…Oh, you know it must just say that on my visa. Glad I checked; I was engendering inaccuracy. I’m the host of a public radio show. I am a radio producer—a very accomplished radio producer. [At the DPAC show] I’m gonna talk about how we make stories on our show, what we do that’s different from most other shows; a live on-stage demonstration, I can recreate the sound of the show around me. R: Do you like the live format, versus your usual territory? IG: It’s totally fun, and way more—there’s something very direct about it, having someone be in the room versus talking in the radio. Public radio listeners do tend to be a smart listening bunch. R: Are there great stories you can’t share, that are maybe impossible to put into the radio format? IG: There are certain things that we need a story to have for it to work on the radio and if it doesn’t have these things we don’t do it. In our style of storytelling we need a character to relate to, a very strong plot, surprises all through the story, and if the story doesn’t have that then it isn’t right for us. Like, we need it to be a story in the old fashioned way like what you learned in third grade: stuff happens, you get caught up in it, someone learns something or changes as a result of things that have happened to them and it’s emotional or it’s funny—there’s a lot of things we need for it to work for us. R: What’s your favorite non-NPR show? IG: I love Dan Savage’s podcast which is simply too dirty to be broadcast in the United States. I love Mark Man’s podcast where he interviews comedians; you just get so much of

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their personalities and it’s super intense—those could be on the radio but they’re not. I just saw screeners for this new HBO series called Girls [with Lena Dunham]; I loved that. But I watched three episodes of Downton Abbey and wanted to punch someone in the face for the complete and utter bulls**t that it is. It’s the most romantic, y’know, romantic piece of tripe it just made me want to kick somebody. R: And what about another radio show? WNYC? IG: For WNYC it’s a toss up but it’s a very close battle between On the Media and Radiolab. I would give it to Radiolab, ‘cause they’re so innovative, formally. I think it’s the best radio show anybody’s making right now. And it’s really fun. R: What’s so special about radio and the way that people interact—versus other storytelling mediums? IG: I don’t think it’s important to listen to the radio at all. I feel like if people are into it that’s great, if they’re not there’s plenty of stuff out there for them but I think there’s plenty of things that people do with radio that you can’t with other media. There’s just an intimacy to it that’s unmatched by anything except for like, a blog. Basically the entire internet has the same aesthetics, where you have the feeling always that it’s one person talking directly to you and that you are one person sitting there. Radio has that aesthetics. [My show] is like a very well-distributed blog. R: But none of that solipsism—you don’t, I mean, really share too much personally. IG: Not that much happens to me. I’m normal. Occasionally every couple of years something happens that’s worth talking about publicly but generally not much surprising happens. On the other hand the aesthetics of the radio include the idea that when a reporter goes out to pick a story, though they don’t pick a side, they do express amazement and amusement and surprise about the things that happen. In that way they are in the story. But the story’s still not about them. R: I saw that you were a semiotics major, so I’m not really sure what life trajectory you envisioned, except for maybe being a really smart dude. How does your life, being a “grown-up,” match or differ from what the college you might’ve thought? IG: Well, I use things I learned in college every single day. Semiotics—it’s a kind of pretentious literary theory, and what it’s about is, “How does this story give pleasure?” Like, why do I read to page two, what’s it doing to suck me in, what’s it doing to keep me listening, and then why is it satisfying if a story ends a certain way? There are tricks to making stories and the machinery of making stories that I learned in class that I use in every episode of the show. I think the college me would be really astonished at the level of success I have at what I do every day. For one thing in college I was already working at NPR in Washington and I was at the very bottom. I was a terrible writer and a terrible reporter, and the fact that I finally figured it out would be a huge relief to the college me and even up to 25-year-old me. With public radio there are people who do really good work and never get recognized and people that do good work and get more credit than they deserve. I’m in the second category. I think that most things about my current life would be pleasing and surprising; the fact that I’m married to someone awesome. The college me would be really happy about that, that she’s amazing. R: Have you ever given any commencement speeches or been asked to? I’m really into watching them on YouTube, and I’m writing one right now. IG: Dude. Just… yes! And the only time I ever said yes was for a journalism school. And I did some reporting for a high school that asked me, so I did it for them. And I’m supposed to do it again this year for Goucher College—I’m from Baltimore—and I’m really dreading it. I feel like the graduation speech is a really one of the hardest forms—it’s too grand of a setting, y’know, it’s a supreme challenge. I feel like I am rightly humbled. R: Have you read David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech [included in the compilation This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life]? That’s definitely my favorite, you should read it. IG: I really should. You know, I might just say, “Humility is really important, and you might as well just hear from one of the greatest writers of the last century. I will read you [David Foster Wallace’s] speech and I will perform the hell out of it in a away I’m sure he never could have done.”

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March 22, 2012

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Rhymes on rhymes on rhymes

TRACY HUANG/THE CHRONICLE

Duke Muslim Students Association held its 3rd annual Spoken Word Night, the “iSlam Poetry Jam,” which centered around the limits of virtual connectivity, at the Coffeehouse this past Sunday as part of Islamic Awareness Week. Featured performers included Pierce Freelon, founder of hip-hop/jazz group The Beast and the CEO of Black Academics, and Syrian emcee Omar Offendum.

the shins PORT OF MORROW AURAL APOTHECARY/COLUMBIA

In the 2004 movie Garden State, Natalie Portman’s character Sam declared that a Shins song is capable of changing your life. The reference unwittingly catapulted the indie pop band to a level of national recognition only otherwise achieved if Oprah picks your novel for her book club. And while the Shins benefitted from this burst of popularity, they would have found their present level of fame regardless, because at the heart of the Shins, as well as their new album Port of Morrow, is an unrivaled sincerity that they sail on past trends and novelty. Only the Shins sound like the Shins, and Port of Morrow is as stylistically distinct as the band’s previous albums and seemingly impervious to the mercurial waves of indie nowness—in 2012, this sounds either electronic or like a cross-genre infusion. The new album still relies on frontman James Mercer’s high octave voice and charming yet opaque lyrics to guide the songs, but skillfully experiments with mood to create a sense of nostalgia that resonates even for a new listener.

The songs are at once comforting and creative, which seems to be reflective of Mercer as an artist and person. In the album opener, “The Rifle Spiral,” he unleashes such cryptic gems as “Dead land’s collided/ You pour your life down the rifle’s spiral/ And show us you’ve earned it/ Cleric’s fog will recede right before your eyes.” The simple, meandering melodies of songs like “For a Fool” and “September” anchor the album when it verges into more experimental territory, such as on the album’s closer, “Port of Morrow.” The standout title track distorts Mercer’s voice into a layered falsetto to create an intricate, spacey composition that is reminiscent of Mercer’s side project Broken Bells, his collaboration with artist-producer Danger Mouse. The fact that Port of Morrow is a solid, well-crafted musicians’ album is unsurprising. In a thoroughly conventional packaging that disguises Mercer as a run-of-the-mill singersongwriter, the band packs patient melodies, elusive writing, a strange pop morphology and of course, that voice. Which is all to say, this is a very talented band, and even if their appeal is hard to pin down, it’s easy enough to drink the Portman Kool Aid—go ahead, let them change your life. —Katie Zaborsky

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recess

March 22, 2012

odd future wolf gang kill them all THE OF TAPE VOL. 2 ODD FUTURE RECORDS

SPECIAL TO /THE CHRONICLE

Four hypotheses on OF Tape Vol. 2: I. Domo Genesis is currently OF’s best rapper. Absurd? Maybe. Tyler’s role as Odd Future’s ringleader has never been questioned, and Vol. 2 does little to change that paradigm: he’s added a level of nuance from last year’s Goblin, which was trying so hard to be over the top that it often felt like a horrorcore (...sorry) genre exercise. Mostly, he’s realized that the best movie villains are as often whispering as they are shouting, and that it’s more effective to be enigmatic than reliably crazy. Witness his verse on “P,” where he suddenly smooths out the rasp in his voice and assumes a faux-elegant affect in time to drop this little gem: “You know Casey Anthony was handling/Dropping her kids off so she could come out and dance with me.” But Vol. 2 is a serious coming-out party for Domo. For one, he mostly gets the better of Hodgy Beats when the two show up together. For another, the Domo showcase “Doms” is the best of Vol. 2’s eighteen tracks. The beat, courtesy of Tyler, is an absolute killer, three menacing percussion tracks over a hypnotic, buzzy analog synth. And Domo lets loose with two straight minutes of liquid, syllable-tumbling flow. By the end, he’s more constrained by his breath than his imagination: “And I’m higher than the Asians score on SATs and...uhh, whatever.” What’s evident throughout Vol. 2 is that Domo’s progressed quite nicely, even since he released Rolling Papers last August, and that he’s the most technically impressive of the whole crew. There’s one caveat here: the prodigal, prodigiously talented Earl Sweatshirt, who makes a single appearance on the posse cut “Oldie” and blows everyone out of the water, made his live debut as a member of Odd Future on Tuesday and appears to be back in the fold after an extended absence. In which case, all bets are pretty much off. II. Some of this s**t is just silly. Ok, maybe a lot of it. “We Got B*****s” is mostly lessthan-artistic shouting, and every time you hear spoken dialogue—which, by the way, is damn near every track—go ahead and press fast-forward. OF has not learned discretion, or good taste, in the past three months. This should register as little surprise. III. Frank Ocean is not long for this crew. The Odd Future aesthetic—right down to the cheap, minimalist beats courtesy of Tyler and Left Brain—lies right at the confluence of creepy and hilarious. Frank Ocean, whose meteoric rise in the last year has placed him squarely in the mainstream of hip-hop, is in another universe entirely. When he shows up on Vol. 2, it’s either for a forgettable chorus that wastes his considerable talents, or on “White,” a perfectly pretty solo joint that’s also laughably out of place. If Odd Future are the shows that come on Adult Swim after Aqua Teen Hunger Force (not a stretch, given that they now have a show on Adult Swim, Loiter Squad), then Frank Ocean is a Michael Mann-produced mini-series on premium cable. Each is good, in their own way, but they’re too incongruent to reliably engage with the other in a mutually enriching way. IV. Rap is a young man’s game. Odd Future are young men (and Syd). Rap is Odd Future’s game. If you can pardon the E-screech equivocation, there’s a hint of truth to the syllogism. The most intriguing aspect of the Odd Future story, so far, has been that nearly every established rapper going out of their way to praise the group—we’ve seen Jay-Z and Diddy try to sign OF to their respective labels, Lil Wayne rocking a Mellowhype t-shirt, and most recently, Kanye and Tyler together in the studio. This is at least a little bit unusual—after all, rap beefs are typically good publicity, and Odd Future’s relentlessly anti-PC antics make them an easy target, especially for the genre’s ambassadors. Perhaps hip-hop’s institutions genuinely and uniformly enjoy OF’s hyper-technical shock rap; more likely, though, they recognize the group’s explosive potential, and the benefits of making allies out of a mercurial group of wildly popular teenagers who don’t have to stand for anything, or anyone. OF will, without doubt, be sharing the stage with the other young and talented rap crews that exploded in 2011, namely, ASAP Mob and Kendrick Lamar’s Black Hippy contingent. But of the three, OF are the most willing to push (or shove) the envelope, and seem the most likely to inspire a legion of deliriously weird copycats. As Tyler says on Vol. 2’s concluding verse, “This is for the ones that got called weird, f*g, b***h, nerd/ Cause you was into jazz, kitty cats and Steven Spielberg.” Whatever you say, Wolf. —Ross Green

Sports

>> BLUE ZONE

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INSIDE

THURSDAY March 22, 2012

Miles Plumlee will compete in the College Slam Dunk Contest Mar. 29. Wrestling head coach Clar Anderson resigned from his position. PAGE 8

www.dukechroniclesports.com

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Anasi, Pathman play internationally for US by Matt Pun THE CHRONICLE

A little over three months after competing against each other for the NCAA championship, Duke sophomore Mollie Pathman and Stanford freshman Chioma Ubogagu again took to the pitch with a title on the line. This time, however, the same name adorned the front of their jerseys as the two teamed up to win a women’s U-20 CONCACAF championship for the United States this March. Although the collegiate season is long over, for the top women’s soccer players the offseason is brief. Beginning with a 30-player camp, which lasted from Jan. 5 to Jan. 19, Pathman has devoted much of her spring semester to training and playing with the American youth national team. And Pathman is not the only Blue Devil who represented her country on the world stage. Fellow sophomore Natasha Anasi donned a U.S. jersey as well and started for the U-23 national team, which plays at the highest level of competition in the youth national system, helping it win the U-23 Four Nations Tournament. “It was overall a really rewarding experience, and to reach that, it’s almost close to the pinnacle of what you could ever reach in your soccer career,” Anasi said. Anasi also had the opportunity to play with several college rivals, including Stanford’s Lindsey Taylor and Camille Levin and North Carolina’s Amber Brooks. “It’s different because you build these personalities of these people. But once you start to actually get to know them, it’s interesting to see like, ‘Oh, they’re actually really nice girls,’” Anasi said. For both Anasi and Pathman, competition on the international stage represents a result of the efforts they put ELYSIA SU AND CHRIS DALL/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTOS

Sophomores Mollie Pathman and Natasha Anasi played for the United States’ U-20 and U-23 national teams, respectively, during the spring.

SEE USA SOCCER ON PAGE 8

Four big questions facing Duke’s offseason Rivers’ NBA decision overshadows all else So, Friday. I guess we have to talk about Friday. My view: Duke’s loss will go down as a disappointing end to a team that was never quite as good as its record indicated. It wasn’t “one of the toughest losses” in Mike Krzyzewski’s career, like CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson’s leading post-game question suggested. (He’s lost seven times in the Final Four, one of which was a 30-point loss to UNLV. Those were probably pretty tough losses.) It also wasn’t the massive upset Andy that Duke haters have so gleefully claimed it to be. This year’s Duke team was never going to be a “juggernaut,” as Krzyzewski said Friday. It started the year poor defensively. And when the defense finally improved, the Blue Devils couldn’t hit a shot. As Mason Plumlee said on Friday: “I don’t think we fully developed the identity we needed going into this tournament.... When you’re not strong

Moore

together, you’re going to fall apart.” It just wasn’t the Blue Devils’ year. But you know what? I’m not going to talk about Friday anymore. I came here to bury the 2011-12 season, not to praise it— or harp on it. Let’s now shift our focus to four questions about what is to come in the off-season. It’s going to be a long, and possibly tumultuous, one. 1. Will Austin Rivers return? Dear Austin, Go pro. Seriously. Kidding! Not going there. Save the hate mail. Here’s the thing: Losing Rivers would be a huge blow to the Blue Devils. Not only did he become the go-to scorer for the team, he showed himself incredibly adept at creating his own shot. And he was obviously an integral part of the Duke offense. The ACC rookie of the year averaged 15.5 points per game, shot 43 percent from the field and took control of the ball on 20 percent of the Blue NATE GLENCER/THE CHRONICLE

SEE MOORE ON PAGE 8

Losing Austin Rivers to the NBA Draft would be a “huge blow to the Blue Devils,” Moore writes.

8 | THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

THE CHRONICLE

soccer, and I found professors that are so nice and so accommodating that are going to let me miss,” Pathman said. Pathman also took advantage of her opportunity to Anderson resigns after 15 years travel to Spain and Panama. “I got to practice my Spanish a little bit,” Pathman Wrestling head coach Clar Anderson, who owns a casaid. “My Spanish professor probably would be happy reer record of 101-125-2 with the Blue Devils, resigned with that.” Wednesday, Duke Vice President and Director of AthFor Pathman, though, the commitment is a yearlong letics Kevin White announced. one with two camps to go until the end of the school year, Anderson was the ACC coach of the year in 2004, then summer training. but the Blue Devils went just 3-10 this season and finBy making it to the championship game of the CONished sixth in the ACC, posting an 0-5 record in conferCACAF tournament, the United States also qualified for ence matches. the U-20 Women’s World Cup, which takes place in Japan Assistant coach Glen Lanham has been named from Aug. 19 to Sep. 8. interim head coach until a permanent replacement While Pathman will again have to make up missed acais found. demic work, the third-leading scorer for the Blue Devils “It has been a privilege working for Duke University will also be missing the start of Duke’s season. and especially with outstanding student athletes,” AnNevertheless, the experience that Pathman and Anasi derson said in a press release. “I will miss coaching, but receive during their time with the national squad could look forward to the next stage of my life and spending help Duke become a better team. By playing the same more time with my family.” formation with the U-23 national team that she plays Anderson coached 14 Blue Devils to the NCAA for Duke, Anasi picked up on some ways to improve her championships during his tenure, including two-time play at the collegiate level. All-American heavyweight Konrad Dudziak. “[Playing with unfamiliar players] allowed me to study Duke had the highest cumulative GPA in the nation the formation more, and I know way more about the 4-4-3 in 2007 and 2008 under Anderson. then I knew before I left for the camp,” Anasi said. Serving as a defender rather than forward for the national team, Pathman picked up a number of things that she hopes to implement when playing for Duke. from page 7 “I really like on the national team how possession-oriented we were, and our goal is to be the fastest team in the into their youth national team careers. Anasi first parworld in our possession style,” Pathman said. “I think we ticipated in youth national system camps in her senior can bring that into Duke. We do try to play a possessionyear of high school. oriented style here—I just think we can work on that and Pathman’s participation in the U.S. youth national work on our pace of play.” soccer system, however, goes even further back. That emphasis on possession paid off for the AmeriFirst starting with the U-14 can U-20 squad in the champisquad, Pathman has become onship game. Despite falling “I kind of built my semester behind early to Canada, the one of the United States’ top youth players. She led the controlled possession and this year around my soccer.” U.S. U-18 team in scoring in 2010 accumulated a 28-7 shot advanand earned herself a spot on — Mollie Pathman tage, ultimately earning a 2-1 the roster for that year’s U-20 victory. World Cup. “We let up a goal early, in the “It’s really an honor to put on the USA jersey,” Pathfirst five minutes of the game and struggled to come man said. “Growing up, it’s just been amazing to have back, but we kept in good spirits the whole game,” that opportunity, and to be able to represent your counPathman said. “It wasn’t until the last two minutes of try and play on the world stage is indescribable.” the game that we ended up scoring our two goals, but This past year, Pathman continued to train with the it was great. A lot of us were crying, and I think it really youth teams, missing Duke’s game at Boston College brought us together as a team.” for a U-23 training camp in the fall. Then, serving as The winning goal came from Ubogagu, who had come captain, Pathman led the U-20 team to the U-20 Four on in the second half as a substitute for another Blue Devil Nations Tournament title in La Manga, Spain in Februrival, Wake Forest’s Katie Stengel. ary, and returned to action at the beginning of March While rivals in the collegiate game, the training for for the CONCACAF tournament. youth national teams has fostered a strong bond with the With national team commitments every month of nation’s top players for both Pathman and Anasi. the semester so far, Pathman has had to plan her aca“We sometimes give each other a hard time, but demic workload accordingly. we’ve been friends for years, and that goes deeper,” “I kind of built my semester this year around my Pathman said.

fromstaffreports

USA SOCCER

MOORE from page 7 Devils’ possessions. Plus, he’s obviously an incredible competitor. Some have called his confidence and swagger a form of youthful petulance, but just watch interviews from after the Lehigh game. You’ll see a player who cares deeply about the outcome of the game—you can’t fake that emotion. “They outfought us, they outworked us, and in this tournament nothing matters but talent,” he said in the Greensboro locker room. “They’re walking out of here with a W, and it’s the worst feeling of my life.” Expect a high level of worry from Duke fans about Rivers’ future plans. 2. Will recruits come in? Time has shown that Duke fans who fretted over Krzyzewski’s decision to coach the 2008 Olympic team have been proven wrong. He won the gold, notched a national championship a couple of years later and even found the time to bring in some bluechip prospects. This year, though, will pose a particular challenge with Krzyzewski gone coaching the new Redeem Team in London. While he is across the pond with the NBA’ers, presumably helping think up a new national team name, the Blue Devils will need to pull in more players. Only one recruit, Rasheed Sulaimon, is set to matriculate so far, and Duke is part of a crowded pack vying for the attention No. 1 recruit Shabazz Muhammad, who’s taking his fifth official visit—to UCLA—in April. Other recruits, including Tony Parker and Amile Jefferson, are seeing heavy attention from other schools as well. Avoiding a one-person recruiting class will be a difficult challenge, to say the least. 3. Will the coaching staff change up? Associate head coach Chris Collins may be a hot commodity on the NCAA coaching carousel. He said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune Mar. 16 that he would “definitely listen” to offers from Illinois, and one has to think other schools with upcoming coaching vacancies will also take a look at Collins. He’s spent 12 years under Krzyzewski and has experience coaching NBA stars on the Olympic team. There are few better prepared assistant coaches in the country. If he is picked up by another school, the Duke coaching staff will have to shuffle around, and we may see another assistant hired. Keep an eye on this. 4. Will I be okay knowing that every game I watch from now on is as a Duke alum? No.

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A concrete address for Brodhead This afternoon, President Environment and the Pratt Richard Brodhead will address School of Engineering. Brodthe entire Duke faculty at the head rightly mentioned these annual faculty meeting. In the cuts at his address last year past, we have criticized Brod- and, this year, he must put head for taking abstract, long forth a compelling plan on views of Univerhow to weather editorial sity problems these funding instead of encuts without gaging with the faculty’s con- reducing the ethicality, indecrete concerns. This year, we pendence and effectiveness urge him to be frank and de- of scientific research. tailed about the University’s Likewise, Brodhead finances and global strategy. should look at the bright In spite of the recovering side of University finance, by economy, financial uncertain- talking publicly about the upty still endangers faculty re- coming capital campaign and search. Since the last annual its implications for the faculty faculty meeting, Congress in- teaching, research and hircreasingly sought to decrease ing. funding to the National InThe second big item on stitutes of Health, a cut espe- the agenda of Brodhead’s cially worrisome for faculty address should be Duke Kunat the School of Medicine, shan University. Since his last the Nicholas School of the address, the Academic Coun-

“

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cil has approved the Fuqua School of Business’ Master of Management Studies program, Duke’s annual subsidy to the school’s operational costs has more than doubled and the opening date has changed more than once. None of this is particularly calming. Brodhead needs to do two things: provide a genuine justification for the campus and explain exactly how we will mitigate its risks. In the past, Brodhead has offered broad geopolitical and historical arguments to justify Duke’s China presence. Now, we need to know exactly what we can do with a campus that we cannot do simply with partnerships, exchange programs and study abroad. The multiplying logistical

concerns at DKU demand a public risk management strategy. At this time last year, we did not know how long the Chinese Ministry of Education would take to approve Duke’s proposal or that the subsidy would have reached a total of $39.7 million dollars and counting. Some things have not changed: We know that China is not the best environment for academic freedom, but we still do not know what contingency plans Duke has in place to protect its professors from pressure from the Chinese government. The faculty have a right to know how the University plans to combat DKU’s risks, and Brodhead owes them a specific plan on that score. This address is also a chance to get faculty excited

about their role in creating new initiatives at the China campus. The Academic Council has entered a phase of deliberation about new China programs, and faculty ought to be asking themselves, “What impact will DKU have on my work? What kind of new possibilities exist within my expertise?” Brodhead should spur faculty to imagine innovative programs and research opportunities—not only within business, global health or environment-related fields, but also within the arts and humanities. Today’s faculty meeting presents Brodhead with a unique chance to speak openly and honestly about faculty concerns. He should toss out the broad arguments and speak candidly.

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’d like to think that the human race has come whether he’s gay or straight. His personality is his a long way since the days of fast judgment and personality. So what if he’s flamboyant? She’s esgroundless prejudice, but sadly, I’m here to sentially saying that he should suppress his perreport that we have not. We only sonality if he’s straight or play it up fool ourselves into thinking we’ve even more if he’s gay just so she can made leaps and bounds in social fit him more comfortably in one of mentality. Doing so makes us feel her pre-designed boxes. Furtherbetter about ourselves. After all, more, I don’t understand why she we are in the 21st century. We’ve feels compelled to determine his built cities, paved roads and eradisexual orientation. I highly doubt cated almost all barriers in comshe does this for every man she munication between peoples of meets. Rather, this in-depth analyroshni jain the world. We’ve abolished slavery sis is only for those who don’t fit muddled and and lived through events that afin a box. Would his being gay or befuddled fected the most sensitive facets of straight change her perception of society such as suffrage and the him? I can’t say if it would, but I civil rights movement. It appalls don’t believe sexual orientation us to even think that some portion of us might should function as a defining factor. not be as evolved as history demands. None of I wanted so badly to understand why she said us want to be “that person”—the one who can’t what she said, but it wasn’t until I came across a accept a new social norm and move forward. So, scholarly analysis of a similarly-themed “Sex and in this age of political correctness, we wear masks the City” episode that I did. In the second seaand pretend to be as modern as we think we son episode “Evolution,” the character Charlotte should seem. This facade fails us, however, when York dates a man named Stephen who works as it comes to the question of overcoming the gay a pastry chef and knows more about fashion and stereotype. cooking than she does. His interests, mannerisms Privy to the bad, uncivilized nature of man- and way of speaking make her wonder whether kind, we categorize and label people upon our he is gay or straight. The episode makes it clear first introduction. Research indicates that this that Charlotte is not unwilling to accept that first impression, made in mere minutes, stays Stephen is straight; rather, she is trying to make with us. Accurate or not, it is extremely difficult sense of Stephen and his gender presentation to change. And so, we immediately place our within the narrow constraints of a patriarchal sonew acquaintances into “boxes” that have been ciety. She doesn’t understand the concept of the pre-labeled and defined for us by society. We effeminate male—the straight man who embodstore these away in our minds and place people ies certain effeminate characteristics. into the appropriate boxes as we move through The problem doesn’t lie with the girl on the life. bus but with the masculine nature of our society For men, flamboyancy and effeminate tenden- as a whole. It is ingrained in us to think of men cies, such as specific interests or mannerisms, de- in one way and women in another. When either fine the box labeled “gay.” Conversely, gay women sex refutes his or her mandated characteristics, are boxed in by the athletic, masculine, “butch” we almost robotically assume that he or she must stereotype. As soon as we encounter someone be gay. We fail to understand that an individual who shows any semblance of these characteris- deviation from accepted gender norms does not tics, (though this happens more frequently with automatically imply homosexuality. men), we automatically ask ourselves, and usuThere is no box for the effeminate straight ally those around us, “Is he/she gay?” One short man just yet. And though it’s becoming more meeting is all we need to put someone in a box. widely recognized, the box for the non-stereotypIn the recent past on a crowded C-1, I over- ical gay man or woman is still obscure. Society is heard a girl debating with her friend as she tried currently trapped in the clutches of a masculinity to determine the sexual orientation of a new ac- complex. And until we allow ourselves the freequaintance, “Oh, you don’t think he’s gay? It’s dom to break apart the boxes that keep us there, not like he makes it easy on people. He’s just so we will continue to needlessly and adversely wonflamboyant.” der, “Gay or straight?” I take issue with many of the things this girl said, so let’s dissect this piece by piece, shall we? Roshni Jain is a Trinity freshman. Her column For one, the man in question has absolutely no runs every other Thursday. Follow Roshni on Twitter obligation to make it “easy” for people to know @ohsomuddled

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THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 | 11

commentaries

Doctor who?

K

nock, knock. abdominal. What is the point of such a forced-dildo Who’s there? session, if it doesn’t come in pink, with 10 settings? Technologist Tran. We flipped out about a similar proposed bill in Technologist Tran …Who? Virginia because we were surprised Technologist Trans-vaginal ultraa state like that (it’s north of North sound. We’re going to need to stick Carolina!) would do such a thing. But this in now. Virginia was only one of 11 states that I find the political debate in Amerintroduced ultrasound bills this year. ica over what goes in and out of womTexas only really upset us when en’s esophagi, ovaries and vaginas both its director of Health and Human comical and terrifying. That’s why I Services signed a law banning the began my column with a knock, knock dispensing of Medicaid funds to any samantha joke (if that was unclear). clinic affiliated with organizations that lachman In attempting to understand the provide abortions. This puts in peril impact of such discourse (and inter- what’s our age again? the state’s Women’s Health Program, course), I tread a path already taken which funds mammograms and Pap by much more erudite thinkers than I. smears for over 130,000 low-income Indeed, there’s peril in focusing on any one policy women (44 percent provided by the spawn of Satan, undertaken or comment made by any given conser- Planned Parenthood). vative this past year. It’s not just Texas that is chipping away access to I could start with last October and North Caro- health care for women who don’t have the financial lina’s House Bill 854, which would have required that means to pay for cancer screenings, STI testing and abortion providers show women an ultrasound and birth control (and don’t have the courage to try the describe the images in detail before women could “rhythm method,” a.k.a. natural family planning). have the procedure. Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Arizona is considering legislation that would allow Catherine Eagles blocked the most egregious provi- employers with objections to birth control to refuse sions. coverage to women planning to use birth control for I was in Israel at the time, where, strangely enough, the prevention of pregnancy. Women would have to discussions over contraception and abortion never prove why they needed it—imagine having to tell happen. Preventive health care is a non-issue, even your employer that you need birth control to ameliofor religious conservatives. I found this surprising rate menstrual cramps or prevent ovarian cysts. for a country that has an overabundance of explicThe policies above constitute political dangers for itly faith-affiliated political parties (as opposed to just both Democrats and Republicans. one, the red elephant in this column). Even though For Democrats, by objecting only to trans-vaginal both Jews and Christians believe that a gratuitous ultrasounds, but not to the premise of the mandaspilling of seed is sinful, ultra-Orthodox Jews find tory description of the ultrasound image, they win a other issues to kvetch about. They continue having small battle, but ultimately lose the war for women. their 10 children (not in complete peace) because By focusing only on the most extreme elements of there are bigger falafels to (deep) fry. anti-abortion policy, they give Republicans the ability You would think that the U.S. would take a simi- to get away with erecting more obstacles to access. lar approach. But here, we have different ground Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of the National rules. If the only purpose of sex is reproduction, then Abortion Federation, recently commented on the women shouldn’t have a need for contraception. If problem, saying that people are “totally missing the we operate under these assumptions, then attacks on big picture,” when it comes to these bills and “what women’s health coverage carry implications beyond the public should be uncomfortable about is not the just policy. There are broad disagreements over what specific kind of ultrasound, but that the government “preventative health care” even means, for women. is mandating medical procedures.” ALL of these efBacktracking to my aforementioned North Caro- forts are scary, so we need to be careful to not just fixlina ultrasound-bill example—at the time I wrote in a ate on the ones that put things into vaginas. In capiguest column that the law would threaten a patient’s talizing on these efforts by legislators to intervene in relationship with her doctor, that it was an attempt doctor-patient and employer-employee relationships, to “pass on an ideologically driven value-based and we need to be as politically cunning linguists as the agenda-laden message.” Dr. State was attempting GOP. to tell women what they supposedly didn’t already For Republicans, there’s a hazard in fixating on know. women’s bodies at the expense of penetrating ecoThe assault on women’s bodies by Republican- nomic issues. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll controlled state legislatures didn’t stop there. For in February showed Obama ahead of Romney by 18 instance, Texas’ “Women’s Right to Know Act” was points among women (but trailing Romney by six amended this February. The bill mandates that a points among men). sonogram be performed 24 hours before an abortion By dehumanizing half of the population, Repubprocedure; afterward the same doctor must display licans make the task of winning the election, hopethe image and make the heartbeat audible, with a fully, difficult. verbal explanation of the sonogram results. The part that has really riled people up is that it demands the Samantha Lachman is a Trinity junior. Her column most suitable type of ultrasound, which in the first 12 runs every other Thursday. You can follow her on Twitter weeks of pregnancy means trans-vaginal rather than @SamLachman.

lettertotheeditor I am writing to applaud the University’s decision to provide more funding to BSAI weekends. Thanks to the true champions of equality at the Black Student Alliance, this university is finally on its way to achieving some level of racial justice. The only problem is that it just isn’t enough. How can $20,000 adequately fund events for one weekend a year? More money is needed because BSAI weekends are something that can be enjoyed by students of every race and culture. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate black culture, even though it’s based on having a certain skin color? A more open mind can think of it as a celebration of a culture with origins in a continent that most of us

are afraid to go to. Still, there’s one more issue. This is all in the name of equality. If BSAI weekends and the BSA are receiving increased funding, so should every racially-based cultural group on campus. And since white students, for some reason, don’t want a group to celebrate having the same skin color, all the money that would go to such a group should just be divided equally between white students. Maybe that will stop them from complaining about the false notion of self-segregation. Tommy Saunders, Trinity ’12

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Evaluating “good” teaching

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y students get evaluated on essentially everything they do in the classroom. From homework to classwork to tests, quizzes, projects and even citizenship, my students are scored on how well they have accomplished the prescribed task. Teachers, in turn, are coached on the best way to help students make the grades necessary for success later in life. We make individualized assignments for students’ varying learning abilities, offer afterschool tutoring and call priya bhat home relentlessly to ensure that life as ms. b. the academic and behavioral expectations for Johnny at school also carry the weight of parental support. Despite even our best efforts, however, students do not always accomplish the grades we hope for. In fact, approximately one-fifth of my students have Ds and Fs in all four of their “core” classes—English, math, science and social studies. In turn, their poor results carry no weight past our nagging; despite their poor scores, all of these failing students will inevitably all move on to the next grade level, since retaining failing students is all but unheard of in my school district. For teachers, it is a different story. Much like our students, we are graded on a number of “assignments,” from lesson plans to observations of our teaching to our students’ state test scores, our attendance rates and our prompt arrival at meetings. (I once received an official memo for being five minutes late to a math department meeting; despite explaining to my principal that I had been helping to break up a fight, the record of my misdemeanor remains in my file.) Unlike for students, however, consequences for teachers’ indiscretions carry the harshest of consequences—the fate of our careers. And understandably so. As the individuals charged with the task of actually teaching children, teachers must be held to the highest degree of accountability to ensure the best possible results for our students. However, the question remains: How can we best assess and score teachers to give a fair estimate of how they are doing? Trying to find an answer to these questions only reveals how difficult it is to truly define a “good” teacher. Observations themselves do not always show the true nature of the classroom. State inspectors observing my school often only come into a classroom for a mere 15 to 20 minutes. As a result, they do not always get a firm grasp on what is going on in a classroom, let alone the full meat of the lesson. Moreover, school culture plays a much bigger role in how students achieve and act in a classroom than inspectors often give the teacher credit for. I know of a colleague who, during her last state inspection, had students stand up and tell the inspector, “You should close our school because it is terrible and no one learns here.” The statement is certainly one thought of as true by many of our students, but it is also not necessarily a reflection of that teacher’s teaching practices. In my own classroom, the plethora of in-school and out-ofschool suspensions has left my students’ test scores stagnant and dismal, despite that fact that I know I have become a much better teacher over the course of the year. Even some of my brightest students miss weeks of class due to various sorts of misbehavior—fighting, pulling the fire alarm or truancy in other classes. Because they have missed the instruction, it is understandable that these students, later thrown back into class with inadequate time to complete their missed work before the end of the quarter, then pull in some of the lowest grades in my class. I know that at the end of the year, when my students’ inevitably low state test scores come out, I will be judged as an “ineffective” teacher, despite my highly scored observations and my own knowledge that the students who came every day and engaged in my classroom will show strong improvement. What test scores cannot show is that factors outside of my classroom, more often than not, affect my students’ performances within it. Teacher are certainly not blame-free for creating an environment where students become so reactionary to the school that they rebel, but student achievement also cannot occur in an environment that is so hostile to learning. A “good” teacher in a dysfunctional school cannot be evaluated on the same rubric as a “good” teacher in a functional school. In evaluating teachers, we must take into account the circumstances and environments in which they must work. Just as Teach for America itself begs for an acknowledgement of the education gap caused by discrepancies in socioeconomic circumstances, there must also be an acknowledgement of the gap in institutional backgrounds and their effects on student achievement. Priya Bhat, Trinity ’11, is currently teaching sixth grade math with Teach for America in St. Louis, Mo. Her column runs every other Thursday.

12 | THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

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