September 17, 2009 issue

The Chronicle 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

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 20

www.dukechronicle.com

Exhibit’s close sparks death penalty debate

by Matthew Chase

Career Fair sees fewer recruiters

For the past seven months, students walking in and out of the Friedl building might have met something unexpected— images of inmates being lynched, sitting in electric chairs and awaiting their ultimate deaths.

PreMeditated: Meditations on Capital Punishment, an anti-death penalty exhibit by award-winning Chicano artist Malaquias Montoya, has been on display in the Fredric Jameson Gallery since March and officially closed Wednesday night. The exhibit consists of works of acrylic paint, murals, drawings and silkscreens–Montoya’s signature style.

To commemorate the exhibit’s closing, the Program in Latino/Latina Studies in the Global South and the Duke Human Rights Center co-sponsored a reception with the Innocence Project at the School of Law, the Duke chapter of Amnesty International and the North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium. Durham’s state Sen. Floyd McKissick and Darryl Hunt, a man exonerated in 2004 after spending 19 years in prison, spoke at the event.

“There were so many other innocent men and women [in jail], and I am trembling because I am still affected by these

Recruitment season was in full bloom Wednesday as students and recruiters thronged the Bryan Center for the annual Career Fair. In all, 76 companies participated this year, down from the 106 companies that attended last year.

William Wright-Swadel, Fannie Mitchell executive director of career services, said although official numbers for student participation will not be in until next week, student turnout was strong.

Representation from financial and consulting industries was particularly low, WrightSwadel said, and students said they were more likely to consider careers with non-profit and governmental employers this year.

“Government is one industry that is still hiring,” said Caitlin Bevans, a Master of Management Studies student and Trinity ’09. “The trend is definitely moving toward [Washington,] D.C., as compared to a few years ago,” she said.

Bevans decided to seek employment with the State Department because of the stability, health benefits and international opportunities the government could offer her—with the only drawback that her pay would be less than a Wall Street salary.

by Arjun Reddy

The chronicle

See exhibit on page 5

The chronicle

larsa al-omaishi/The Chronicle

Darryl Hunt, who was wrongfully jailed for 19 years before being exonerated in 2004, speaks in the Friedl building Wednesday night at the closing of the PreMeditated: Meditations on Capital Punishment art exhibit.

See career fair on page 5

Admins wrangle with UHCSR problems Initiative will

by Jinny Cho The chronicle

In response to dissatisfaction with UnitedHealthcare StudentResources, University health administrators have sought to resolve student issues with the insurance company.

“We tend to hear from the people who have problems, and we’ve been working to address concerns,” said Dr. Bill Purdy, executive director of Student Health.

In 2008, UHCSR replaced BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina—the University’s Student Medical Insurance Plan administrator for 30 years—a change that has come under fire from graduate students frustrated with UHCSR’s coverage and service, as investigated in Part one of the series.

Untangling problems University administrators said they are aware of the problems students have experienced with the new plan and are working on a case-by-case basis to get them resolved with

UHCSR. Purdy and Jean Hanson, administrative director of Duke Student Health, said they have made it a priority to respond to student concerns.

Hanson said she strives to be “the intermediary between the student and UHCSR.” Although UHCSR pledged to mirror BCBS of N.C.’s coverage in its contract, many students have come forward with ­complaints against the new insurance provider.

It came to Hanson’s attention, for example, that BCBS of N.C. paid for provider visits and office procedures done on the same day, while UHCSR did not.

The issue is common, Hanson noted, in visits to psychiatrists for medication, followed by appointments with psychologists for therapy.

After Hanson intervened on behalf of disgruntled students, however, she said UHCSR reviewed the claims and corrected payments to match what BCBS of N.C. would have charged.

Some students frustrated with coverage problems said they were impressed with the University’s swift response.

Nora Hanagan, a sixth-year graduate student in political science, said after bringing her problem to the attention of Student Health, the complaint was promptly addressed. She added that she has been reimbursed for

This summer, the Institutional Review Board approved the Dean of Undergraduate Education’s Socioeconomic Diversity Initiative, which will attempt to assess and compare the Duke experiences of students who do and do not receive financial aid.

Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, said socioeconomic differences and their effects on campus life is “a dimension we need to know more about.”

“I’ve never run across a student on financial aid who says, ‘Duke just sucks,’” Nowicki said. “Some of them are deeply involved in everything about Duke... but then there are others who say, ‘I don’t know if I really belong here socially.’”

Donna Lisker, associate dean of undergraduate edu-

See healthcare on page 6

See initiative on page 6

ONTHERECORD

“As a result of our initial success with viral studies, we were asked by the Department of Defense to look at swine flu.”

­—Dr. Aimee Zaas on swine flu research. See story page 3.

explore fin. aid experience

by Lindsey Rupp The chronicle

Women’s Soccer: Prime Time Forward KayAnne Gummersall plays her best when it matters most, PAGE 7

Durham sees 11% drop in violent crimes, Page 3

2 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 the chronicle

worldandnation

TODAY:

7463

Groups offer differing views

Panel investigates Cal. Rep. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who has come under scrutiny because of her husband’s ties to a bank that received federal bailout funds.

The panel’s chairwoman and ranking member declined to say what the committee is investigating. Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring liberal politicians, also declined comment.

Word of the probe of Waters came as the committee announced that it was delaying an inquiry into whether Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-Ill., or his representatives tried to secure the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama by promising to raise campaign cash for disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The panel cited an ongoing federal investigation in Chicago.

Both matters were referred to the committee, evenly divided between Democratic and Republican lawmakers, by the Office of Congressional Ethics, created by the House last year in response to criticism that lawmakers have been reluctant to vigorously investigate their own.

“

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.

— George Bernard Shaw

SANA, Yemen — Rebels in Yemen’s northwest Saada province and government-controlled media issued contradictory claims of success in combat Wednesday amid a five-week-old army offensive that has roiled this Arabian peninsula nation.

The insurgents, who call themselves Houthis after the clan of their leaders, have taken control of districts of Maheed and Sheeda and town of Hassamah and captured a number of Yemeni soldiers, according to a spokesperson for the orreached by telephone in the Senate health plan draws ganization war zone. contrasting responses Saba, the government news agency, WASHINGTON — A year-long effort by did not mention Houthi advances and senators to draft a bipartisan overhaul of claimed the army caused the insurgents the nation’s healthcare system Wednesday “huge losses in lives and equipment.” yielded the only congressional proposal The pan-Arab news channel Al-Jazeera that would extend coverage to millions of quoted government officials as saying uninsured Americans while making good “dozens” of rebels had been killed or on President Barack Obama’s pledge not wounded in recent days.

The competing claims could not be to add “one dime” to budget deficits.

But the $774 billion proposal has failed reconciled readily because the fighting is to attract any Republican support and being waged in remote areas.

The Houthis, members of the Zaidi has drawn a lukewarm response from Democrats, who complain that it would offshoot of Shiite Islam, have been fightrequire many people to buy insurance ing against the central government on and off in a five-year war. The conflict has policies they cannot afford.

What some lawmakers view as stingy, claimed thousands of lives and displaced however, others called laudably frugal: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the plan would generate more than enough cash to cover the cost of expanding coverage to almost 30 million Americans, reducing budget deficits by almost $50 billion over the next decade and by even more after that—a goal Obama and other Democrats have set as one of the most critical objectives of health reform.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., the plan’s author, hailed it as “one of the largest pieces of social legislation in the history of our country since the Depression.”

TODAY IN HISTORY

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Online Excerpt Regulator Bookshop Performance: “In addition to reading from Our Noise last night, Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan made some music.The two played‘Throwing Things’from No Pocky for Kitty, and McCaughan played two solo covers: the first from Butterglory’s Matt Sugg’s debut album,‘Where’s Your Patience Dear?’The second was from Lambchop’s How I Quit Smoking, ‘Theone,’which McCaughan doesn’t know how to pronounce. Check out the videos online.”

— From The Playground playground.chronicleblogs.com tens of thousands in Yemen, an impoverished nation of 23 million adjacent to one of the world’s key oil transport routes.

The conflict has taken on sectarian and geopolitical overtones. The government has accused Shiite-ruled Iran of supporting the Zaidis, while neighboring Saudi Arabia supports the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is a Zaidi but has the support of key Sunni leaders in Yemen and the Middle East.

nada bakri/washington post

Graffiti covers the walls of Baghdad’s checkpoints. The sign above reads: “This Iraq is yours and mine. You are entrusted to protect it as we are. Iraq is my country. Pride and honor.” Scrawled along the checkpoints, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government slogans mention allegiance and obedience to the nation.

John Brown,

Director of Jazz

Talking

JAZZ

Thurs.

9/17

A Conversation and Listening Lunch with John Brown 1:00 pm in the Mary Lou Williams Center. All are invited to bring lunch.

the chronicle

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 | 3

Swine flu study draws volunteers

Durham sees 11% drop in violent crime

by Sabrina Rubakovic

by Julius Jones

Student volunteers all over campus are being tested for the H1N1 virus commonly known as swine flu.

The tests make up the second phase of a Department of Defense-funded research study being conducted by Duke faculty. In the first phase, researchers developed the prototype for a method of using genetic markers to diagnose viral infections prior to the onset of symptoms, which would allow doctors to treat patients more efficiently and help curb the proliferation of a virus.

“As a result of our initial success with viral studies, we were asked by the Department of Defense to look at swine flu,” said Dr. Aimee Zaas, assistant professor of medicine and a study contributor. “We are trying to validate our pre-diagnosis method in a real-world setting.”

The study has enrolled students in five East Campus residence halls—Alspaugh, Pegram, Giles, Gilbert-Addoms and Bell Tower—in addition to multiple West Campus dormitories. In order to enroll in the study, students simply went to an enrollment station, where researchers validated consent forms and medical information. From that point on, the only major requirement of the study was to re-

“We come out to the house. We talk about certain things, that includes everything from lights to plants to locks to windows,” said Hall, who is commonly known as “Officer Steve” or simply, “Steve.”

This advice ranges from trimming trees so police have a clearer view from the street to engraving serial numbers on electronics, said John Schelp, president of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association. Schelp, who made a point of informing OWDN residents of the survey in a recent e-mail, stressed the importance of having the service done.

“I had my survey done several years

Bull City residents can rest a little easier at night.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez told city council members at their Sept. 8 meeting that violent crime has fallen 11 percent in the first half in the year, compared to the same period last year.

Although the numbers are seemingly promising, city council members expressed concern that the statistics do not paint a complete and accurate picture. Despite the double-digit drop in violent crime percentage, murders increased from 12 in the first six months of 2008 to 14 in the first half of 2009 and so far, there have been 35 rapes—up from 29 during the same time period in 2008.

“Anytime you can reduce crime it’s a good thing,” City Council Member Eugene Brown said. “But I think there’s still too much crime and we need to address it.”

Brown, along with several of his colleagues, raised concerns about the increase in the number of property crimes in certain areas of the city, despite the fact that there was a 2 percent decrease in property crimes overall. Burglary, the only other category to see a percentage surge in the first half of the year, increased 13 percent compared to 2008.

See steve on page 4

See crime on page 4

The chronicle

The chronicle

See prediagnosis on page 5

Melanie Burton/The Chronicle

Master Officer Steve Hall of the Durham Police Department surveys the homes of local residents to provide crime prevention techniques. “Officer Steve”has gained a following in the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association.

‘Officer Steve’ gives safety advice to locals

by Shaoli Chaudhuri The chronicle

With the threat of crime always a concern for Durham residents, The Durham Police Department has taken yet another step to prevent crime in the City by offering free home security surveys.

Master Officer Steve Hall is a police official who, at the request of residents of communities like the Old West Durham Neighborhood, visits people at their homes to advise them on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

This simple concept and similar measures that have been promoted to keep Durham safe have evolved into a means of uniting the local police with residents.

The Department of Evolutionary Anthropology presents

Dr. William Jungers Distinguished Teaching Professor and Chair, State University of New York at Stony Brook

The Baldwin Scholars Program and WISER present:

f o t s i r K s a l o Nich

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Admission is free and open to the public

“Hobbit Geometry: the Evolutionary Anatomy of Homo floresiensis” Friday, September 18, 2009 12:45-1:45 | Room 111 Biological Sciences

The Fifth Event in the shed Jean Fox O’Barr Distingui Speaker Series

’s Center, a Family Foundation, Women co-sponsored by the Mugli l for the Advancement of Socia r Cente es, Studi ’s Women nal Studies, rsity Center for Internatio am, Entrepreneurship, Duke Unive s, Service Learning Progr Ethic for tute Insti DukeEngage, Kenan Policy c Publi of l Schoo rd Sanfo

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4 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 the chronicle

Summit aims to abate sexual violence Consortium focuses on global health

by Sadhna Gupta The chronicle

The Durham “Sex, Love and Violence” summit opened Wednesday, bringing together community agencies and individuals interested in issues of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape.

In the four-hour event at the Durham Marriott Convention Center, speakers discussed how to respond to and prevent domestic and sexual violence. About 150 people attended the event, which was hosted by the Mayor’s Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Rape Task Force and Durham’s Department of Human Relations.

“Sexual violence is an area that the city needed to focus on, so we formed this task force,” Durham Mayor Bill Bell said. “We really care about individuals— especially those who have been abused— and we want to show that… I think that whenever we can get public and private agencies to collaborate, we can solve something together.”

Bell said the goal of the task force is to reduce and ultimately eradicate domestic violence, sexual assault and rape in Durham.

Yvonne Peña, director of Durham’s Department of Human Relations and a cochair of the task force, said more money and attention are needed to combat domestic and sexual violence.

“If there was a virus that was killing thousands of people, we would react differently,” she said. “The money would appear to eradicate the virus, there would be a lot of information to prevent it from spreading, and people would be focused on it.”

City Council member Mike Woodard, a co-chair of the task force, said the conference would help fight domestic and sexual violence by bringing together different organizations involved in the issues.

“There are a lot of services out there, but people don’t always know about them, or agencies don’t know that another group is providing a similar or complementary service,” he said in an interview.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez also spoke about the importance of educating young people about anger management and domestic violence.

by Will Hyung The chronicle

lawson kurtz/The Chronicle

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez speaks about the importance of educating youth on domestic violence issues during the city’s “Sex, Love and Violence” summit Wednesday at the Durham Marriot Convention Center.

Many of the 30 organizations working with the task force set up tables at the event to inform attendees of their services. The organizations ranged from Duke Medicine and Durham Regional Hospital to N.C. Against Domestic Violence and El Centro Hispano.

Kathryn Smith, a representative for the Center for Child and Family Health, which counsels children who are sexually abused, manned a table at the event.

“Unfortunately, sexual abuse and domestic violence happen more than we want to admit,” she said in an interview. “Events like this help to break the silence around these issues and bring them to the public.”

The recession has forced Durham to make difficult decisions about law enforcement funding. Woodard said funding was not cut for uniformed police, but the city did not add positions to the domestic violence team that it would have liked to add.

Assistant District Attorney Angela Garcia-Lamarca said in an interview that Durham has both a domestic violence response team and a sexual assault response team,

which involve the Department of Social Services, law enforcement agencies, health departments, medical professionals and the DA’s office. Durham also has a separate domestic violence court with two judges.

“Our ultimate goal is to prevent homicides,” she said.” This event promotes community cooperation, which is a very important component to effective prosecution of domestic violence.”

Wednesday’s event was part of the “2009 I Care Campaign” which is designed to provide support to sexual and domestic violence victims, Peña said.

A similar event conducted in Spanish will be held today at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in downtown Durham.

The task force is also fundraising to print and distribute “Little Purple Books” to all Durham residents. The books will provide information about the signs of domestic violence and how people can help victims.

Peña also said that the task force is in the process of planning a date assault conference for college students in the area.

steve from page 3

crime from page 3

ago,” he said, adding that to this day, he still follows the advice the officer offered with regards to trimming plants and keeping areas well-lit.

But such services offer more than personalized crime prevention. Along with the Partners Against Crime program, which pushes for collaboration between residents and DPD officials, these programs have solidified the network of people participating in crime prevention programs.

“Neighbors can prevent crime,” Schelp said.

Hall, for example, would spread the word about a stolen car among 100 residents or so.

“It goes from 100 to 100,000,” all of whom are soon on the lookout for the car, he said. Hall noted that the PAC listserv facilitates such efforts as these as well as crime watch.

The home security surveys and other programs have also encouraged residents to build closer relationships with one another and with the local police force, Hall said.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t get a few e-mails from residents saying, ‘Hey can you come over and join us at this party or this event?’ or ‘Can you find information about a certain break-in or do a certain meeting with us to find out about multiple break-ins?’” Hall said.

He noted that he and his colleagues have become acquainted with the citizens of the community on a face-to-face basis through security surveys, school programs and other events.

“It’s not unusual to just be walking in the mall and have a kid go, ‘Hey Officer Hall!’” Hall said. He added that the child’s parent often approaches him to relate an instance in which the child practiced “Stranger Danger” advice given by Hall.

For six years, Durham residents Mina Hampton and France Brown have been working with Citizens Observer Patrol, a similar collaborative program in which residents do rounds through the neighborhoods in patrol cars.

Programs such as these are examples of “good folks banding together against the bad folks,” Brown said.

Kammie Michael, information officer for the Durham Police Department, said the department did not know what to attribute the increase in burglaries to, although there have been similar increases in Wake County and Chapel Hill.

Brown said he believes that North Carolina’s poor judicial system has difficulty keeping track of offenders out on probation and parole and those are the ones who are committing most of the crimes. He cited the murders of Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato and Eve Carson, University of North Carolina student body president—cases where some of the men accused of taking part in the crime were on parole or probation.

“People’s homes are being broken into, their automobiles are being stolen, and it’s a real problem,” Brown said, adding that high numbers of recidivism and the lack of viable rehabilitation programs are also at fault. “Make sure that when you have inmates in the prisons that they are learning something. The prisons... are basically graduate programs in criminology.”

Michael said much of the crime decrease can be accounted for by the number of arrests of those who had committed multiple crimes in the past.

Both Michael and Brown said residents should use community resources to decrease the likelihood that they will be a victim of a crime, such as neighborhood watches, community listservs and the CrimeStoppers hot line.

“People calling us when they see someone who is suspicious and we arrest them for multiple burglaries.... It’s extremely helpful,” Michael said.

She added that DPD has been circulating home safety recommendations from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission to residents, which encourage homeowners to ensure that all outside doors have deadbolt locks on them and that the perimeter of their homes are well-lit.

Students and faculty from Duke traveled to the nation’s capital this week to participate in the inaugural Consortium of Universities for Global Health annual meeting and congressional briefing.

The consortium was attended by more than 300 people from six universities and marks the first time that universities gathered to push for global health issues, specifically cooperation between the U.S. government and universities, said Dr. Michael Merson, director of the Duke Global Health Institute and Wolfgang Joklik Professor of Global Health. According to the consortium’s brochure—entitled “Saving Lives: Universities Transforming Global Health”— the event aims to foster cooperation between universities across the nation to address global health issues.

President Richard Brodhead took part in the consortium’s presidential panel and discussed the increase in students interested in global health. He noted that Duke’s global health undergraduate certificate program and the Global Health Institute have grown rapidly in recent years.

Following the two-day consortium, the Global Health Caucus and Center for Strategic and International Studies invited the consortium to a congressional briefing to address citizens interested in the consortium, Merson said.

As the briefing’s headline speaker, Merson focused on the government’s plan to spend $7 billion this year and $61 billion over six years in support of global health initiatives.

“A lot of this money is going to countries around the world for programs such as AIDS prevention, tuberculosis treatment and maternal-child programs,” Merson said. “Universities can help in monitoring these programs and figuring out the best intervention strategies. We can also help in designing sound policies with the government in setting priorities in global health.”

Three college students followed Merson to speak about their global health activities and their experiences—one was junior Gregory Morrison. The executive vice president for DSG spoke about his DukeEngage experience in Uganda.

Morrison said his presentation highlighted how global health is important to U.S. interests. He added that initiatives build a significant amount of good will toward America and also have an economic benefit as the urban markets for American goods will increase.

“Universities are really involved in global health work around the world and are doing good work,” Morrison said. “Partnership between the government and universities is something that the government should really focus on.”

Merson said the rapid increase in global health programs at universities is indicative of current generations of students who really have a desire for service.

Junior Rahul Kale said he has noticed students’ growing interest in global health work.

“I know there has been a great push to get the certificate program to become a major and I know a lot of people who are interested in the field right now,” he said.

“The cool thing is that programs such as DukeEngage and other global health field work projects are getting more and more developed.”

the chronicle

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 | 5

Duke Student Government

DSG elects six to SOFC, reviews art on campus

by William Jiang The chronicle

Six candidates have been elected to the Student Organization Finance Committee for this academic year.

At its meeting Wednesday night, Duke Student Government selected senior Andrew Lyu, freshmen Alikiah Barclay and Chris Paluch, and juniors Herng Lee, June Whan Choi and Andrew Hollar. The new members were chosen from a pool of 14 candidates.

SOFC is responsible for allocating the annual budget to student groups for the upcoming year. SOFC Chair David Hu, a junior, said those in SOFC must have certain characteristics.

“A good member of SOFC needs prior experience with budgets and as treasurer

in another organization,” Hu said.

Junior Will Passo, DSG’s vice president for Durham and regional affairs, also invited two special guests to the meeting.

Vice Provost for the Arts Scott Lindroth and Beverly Meek, arts outreach and communications assistant, spoke in front of the Senate concerning the issue of expanding the art program at Duke and around Durham. Lindroth currently works closely with Duke Performances to develop programming on campus, and invites artists to visit the campus and interact with students.

Lindroth said that students have shown interest in a substantial arts program at Duke, which “is beginning to change the overall presence of art on campus.” He is also working with the Arts and Engagement program to bring the artwork of Duke stu-

career fair from page 1 Valerie Anderson, a “Genius Finder” for Microsoft, said she hopes students previously considering investment banking would seek similar roles at her company.

“Coming to the Career Fair allows us to have a conversation beyond the resume,” Anderson said. “It gives you the opportunity to set yourself apart.”

Craig Olman, director of recruitment for Abercrombie & Fitch Co., said although times are tough for luxury retailers like Abercrombie, Duke was still one of their top schools for recruiting.

“Abercrombie is still growing internationally­­—overseas we are more recession-proof,” Olman said.

Senior Liz Turner, an environmental science policy major, said she would not be attending the fair this year, because it did not have enough representation from more specialized fields.

“The Career Fair is really good for people who know what they want to do after Duke,” Turner said. “But it’s harder for people in more obscure fields, especially when the [majors] that dominate are [Economics], premed, pre-law, et cetera.”

Wright-Swadel said the Career Center is currently exploring ways to build relationships with more types of employers and hold a range of smaller career fairs throughout the year­—like TechConnect, an event held Tuesday evening for students interested in engineering and technology firms.

Kirsten Shaw, assistant director of corporate and industry relations in the Pratt School of Engineering, said this was Pratt’s eighth year hosting TechConnect, in partner-

exhibit from page 1 pictures. I have been there and I was not on death row, but I am looking here and it just makes me sick to think about how close I came to being on death row,” said Hunt, who said he was only one jury vote away from being sentenced to death.

Sophomore Carrie Mills said although the works of art were amazing, she most appreciated listening to Hunt describe his experiences in prison.

“I have never met anybody in person who has endured that,” Mills said. “And his sheer grace and the way that he spoke was magnificent.”

Both Hunt and McKissick took questions from the audience. During the discussion forum, McKissick said it would be more costeffective to disperse resources to systems that prevent criminal activity as opposed to spending high amounts on maximum-security prisons, an idea that Montoya emphasizes in his exhibit.

“We create the situations that lead our children to commit monstrous acts and then we kill them,” the opening display of the exhibit states.

McKissick discussed the North Carolina Racial Justice Act. which he sponsored and which North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law Aug. 11. The law allows inmates currently on death row to argue that the jury’s decision to pursue the death penalty was racially biased.

dents into Durham.

In support of this idea, Duke will be hosting an art show in the Bryan Center to exhibit the artwork of Durham elementary school students, Passo said.

“I think that art can build bonds between people and mend relations in the community,” he said.

New legislation governing the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee was also brought forth in the meeting.

Currently, DUSDAC is a branch of DSG. The new legislation discusses how DUSDAC will operate and manage membership. A DSG representative will be selected to improve communications between DSG and DUSDAC. The proposed bill that clarifies DUSDAC’s role is up for Senate approval at an upcoming meeting.

ship with the Department of Computer Science and the Career Center, and noted that the number of participating companies has more than doubled since 2006.

Shaw said companies like Google, NASA and St. Jude Medical, which are looking to hire for very specific positions, would rather recruit at TechConnect than the more general Career Fair.

Albert Andreas, Pratt ’01, was representing Plexus Corp. in its first year attending TechConnect in lieu of the Career Fair.

“In the Bryan Center, we had a lot of knuckleheads come by and pick up freebies—it’s probably more efficient this way,” Andreas said. He added that although Plexus is not looking to hire this year, the company came to maintain its relationship with the University.

For those seeking careers in the public sector, WrightSwadel said a Non-Profit & Government Fair is scheduled for Oct. 21, sponsored by the Duke Career Center, DukeEngage, Duke Center for International Development and Sanford School of Public Policy. As of Wednesday night, 46 companies were confirmed to attend, offering both paid and unpaid internship positions as well as full-time employment opportunities.

The Career Center is also considering hosting an arts fair to connect undergraduates with alumni in the arts field, Wright-Swadel said.

“That’s another domain where Duke students seem to possess a lot of ability and a lot of interest,” he said. “But by the time they come to graduation, those don’t seem like possibilities because [arts employers] don’t come here.

That’s just not the way those kinds of groups recruit.”

Career Center representatives encouraged students to

If successful, inmates can be removed from death row.

Robin Kirk, director of the Duke Human Rights Center, said the center hopes the recent passage of the law will be a move in the direction of eliminating the death penalty in North Carolina. Even if actual abolition of the death penalty is years away, Kirk said the event was important because it showed that the death penalty is a human rights issue, something she said many of her students do not understand.

“I think too often Americans think that human rights are something that happens somewhere else, and that we don’t have issues with human rights,” Kirk said in an interview. “But I think the problem is that we do, and the death penalty is one of the main areas that Americans need to be thinking about if we want to become a rights-friendly country.”

The Latino/Latina Studies program brought the exhibit to Duke, but Antonio Viego, the faculty director of the program, said program leaders met with other University departments before acquiring the exhibit, as many of Montoya’s images could be considered disturbing.

“We agreed that no, this was actually something that was extremely interesting and more thought-provoking regardless of what your stance is,” Viego said.

Currently, the exhibit—which has appeared in 13 venues in eight states—is awaiting its next host site, and officials are currently in talks with the Oakland Museum in Oakland, Calif.

nate glencer/The Chronicle

Vice Provost for the Arts Scott Lindroth speaks on expanding the arts at Duke during the Duke Student Government meeting Wednesday night.

stephanie gandelman/The Chronicle

A student explores career opportunities with a company representative at the Career Fair Wednesday. The annual event saw only 76 participating companies this year, down from 106 last year. continue attending career fairs to make face-to-face connections with employers, regardless of industry.

“If a recruiter remembers a student from an info session or TechConnect or a career fair, it helps them get a job,” Shaw said. “Companies are here to build those relationships.”

Zachary Tracer contributed reporting.

prediagnosis from page 3 port symptoms daily.

“You have to go online every day and fill out a survey about how you’re feeling. It’s five questions—basically nothing, and they send you reminder e-mails every day. It’s wonderful,” said freshman Sean Cadley.

If a student reports negative symptons, a blood sample is taken, Zaas said.

Researchers are also monitoring the spread of viral infections among close friends and contacts of sick individuals. If an individual in a living group starts exhibiting symptoms, he is known as the “sentinel” case, said Dr. Christopher Woods, associate professor of medicine and a microbiologist who contributed to the study.

“We then take blood samples from the sentinel’s friends, dormmates and teammates for viral infections.

It doesn’t matter if they get an infection from the sentinel or from someone else. What we care about is getting samples two or three days before someone gets sick, so that we can test the pre-symptomatic diagnosis method.”

Students are given monetary compensation based on their con-

sistency in filling out surveys and the amount of blood samples taken from them. For many, however, this was not their only motivation for participating in the study.

“It just seemed like an easy enough way to give back to the school,” freshman Corinne Merriman said.

Woods said he foresees the study’s positive impact going beyond the scope of diagnostic research. In addition to being able to track what is going on here at Duke, he added, we can educate students on how to prevent respiratory viral infections and expose them to a real-life application of the scientific method.

The next phase of the study will likely be focused on mapping how a virus spreads on campus. If researchers can identify this, Woods said, they can identify different risk factors for viral infections, thus shedding light on the social and behavioral aspects of viruses.

Researchers plan to test 500 to 800 subjects over the course of two years, using new groups of students every semester. Students already in the study have the option of continuing to participate into the next semester. In addition, researchers are still accepting participants for this Fall.

6 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 the chronicle

healthcare from page 1

L’Shanah Tovah Happy New Year

Rosh Hashanah

Friday, September 18 - Sunday, September 20

Yom Kippur

Sunday, September 27 - Monday, September 28 All meals and services take place at the Freeman Center for Jewish Life Schedule of Services and Meals for Rosh Hashanah

Friday, September 18, 2009 Reform and Conservative Services 6:15pm Holiday Dinner 7:45pm, $18*

Saturday, September 19, 2009 Conservative Service 9:00am Reform Service 10:30am Kiddush Luncheon 12:30pm, $10* Tashlikh Service 1:45pm @ Duke Gardens Lily Pond Holiday Dinner 7:00pm, $18* Conservative Service and Kiddush 8:00pm

Sunday, September 20, 2009 Conservative Service 9:00am Kiddush Luncheon 12:30pm, $10*

Schedule of Services and Meals for Yom Kippur

Sunday, September 27, 2009 Pre-Fast Dinner 5:30pm, $18* Reform and Conservative Kol Nidre Services 6:30pm

Monday, September 28, 2009 Conservative Service 9:00am Reform Service 10:30am Conservative Yizkor Service 11:00am Conservative Minchah 5:00pm Reform Yizkor 6:15pm Conservative Neilah 6:30pm Reform Neilah 6:45pm Communal Shofar Blowing 7:45pm Break the Fast Bash 7:45pm, FREE* *All meals require reservations.

Limited space still available for all meals.

Tickets for services are free to all students with Duke ID. Tickets for services for non-students are available by contacting Jewish Life at Duke.

The Freeman Center for Jewish Life is located at 1415 Faber St at the corner of Campus Drive and Swift Ave. Parking is extremely limited.

Guests are strongly encouraged to take the bus.

To make your reservations or for more information contact

jewishlife@duke.edu or 919.684.6422 http://jewishlife.studentaffairs.duke.e

erroneous charges on her account.

“My sense is that Duke really is trying to take care of its students and that many of the problems that have occurred have been fixed for Duke students,” she said.

Hanagan noted, however, that such personalized attention may not be paid to all college students with insurance problems.

“I worry that students from schools with less clout than Duke have not been treated well,” she said, adding that a customer service representative at UHCSR said the denial for her type of claim was “standard practice.”

On a larger scale, Susan Barry, director of marketing at UHCSR, said the company is committed to ongoing refinement of the SMIP, as requested by University representatives.

Indeed, Hanson said administrators are working closely with UHCSR to examine its maternity coverage—one of the areas that has been particularly problematic.

But such a change is a lengthy process, she noted. And for all the problems that have been posed—and Hanson acknowledged that there have been legitimate concerns— there is a limit to what can be done.

“We’ve fixed quite a few things this year, and sometimes the answer is, ‘Sorry, that’s just the way it is,’” she said.

Purdy, too, said that some glitches were bound to occur.

“As with anything, this plan is not perfect and we know there are problems,” he said. “We wish there weren’t.”

But all things considered, “there have been students that have really liked this,” Purdy said.

Possible changes University administrators are entertaining the possibility of switching to an entirely different model for providing student health care coverage.

The University currently subscribes to a “fully insured” plan—UHCSR is therefore responsible for paying for the total costs of all claims.

David Kahler, treasurer of Graduate and Professional Student Council and a

initiative from page 1 cation, and Alison Rabil, assistant vice provost and director of financial aid, will run 10 focus groups during the Fall and Spring semesters composed of 10 to 15 students. Six groups will be students who receive financial aid, and participants will be recruited from a randomly generated list of students who at least receive a Duke grant, Lisker said. The other four focus groups of non-aided students will also be recruited through random selection.

Lisker hopes to start recruiting focus group participants within a week to begin gathering qualitative data.

Nowicki announced the initiative to Duke Student Government, and by extension the student body, Sept. 9. But socioeconomic diversity at Duke has been a priority for the office since Nowicki took on his expanded role in 2007, Lisker said.

It has been on the minds of members of DSG as well, Spencer Eldred, a senior and DSG vice president for student affairs, wrote in an e-mail. He said DSG plans to involve student representatives and encourage broad student participation in the initiative.

This initiative is not the first of its kind at Duke. Nowicki and Lisker likened it to the Women’s Initiative, commissioned by former President Nannerl Keohane in 2003. Lisker worked on the Women’s Initiative and said the Socioeconomic Diversity Initiative will be modeled after the Women’s Initiative on a smaller scale.

member of the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee, said the University holds a contractual agreement with UHCSR, stipulating that if the paid premiums are substantially higher than the paid claims, Duke will get some of the difference back.

But Purdy said for the future, he is looking at the option of partially selffunded plans for coverage .

In fully self-insured plans, an entity that is not an insurance company—usually a university in a higher education context—manages the funds to pay insurance claims, said Kahler, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering. The insurance provider usually exists in this plan solely to provide customer and support services.

“But the defining quality is that the entity holds the funds and pays the claims,” he said.

Kahler added that when a self-insured plan is “partial,” the University would buy additional insurance to protect itself from unexpectedly large claims.

A few colleges and universities around the country have experimented with selffunded insurance plans to keep costs low and benefits high, with positive results, Purdy said.

Heather Pineda, health plan administrator at the University Health Services of the University of California, Berkeley, said UC-Berkeley adopted a self-funded plan in the mid-1980s.

“The main benefit about being selffunded is that we control more about our plan,” she said. “For example, we can customize our benefits to best meet the needs of college-aged students.”

More than 20 years ago, Dartmouth College also introduced a “very successful” self-funded insurance plan, said Gordon Taylor, associate dean and executive officer at Dartmouth College. And the institution will likely stick with its plan.

Taylor added that the plan allows Dartmouth to provide extensive coverage for students at a very reasonable cost and with a very high level of benefit.

“I would argue strongly against ever going back to an effectively purchased provider like UHCSR,” he said.

For the time being, the Socioeconomic Diversity Initiative is only conducting a study, but it will not solve the issue entirely, Nowicki said. He added that he expects the study to spark “tangible concrete action items” that the University can then address.

And like the Women’s Initiative, Eldred said the focus groups will allow the University to move forward on the issue by defining the situation on campus.

“The initiative is not a solution, but it is a start,” Eldred said. “The most important way to address the problem will be to implement and evaluate what recommendations the initiative yields. We must also continue to re-evaluate the situation and implement solutions in subsequent initiatives until the problem is solved.”

But the most important thing this initiative can achieve is to start a conversation among students about socioeconomic diversity at Duke, Nowicki said. Change will require an impetus from students, and although Nowicki said the Women’s Initiative did not succeed in creating significant grassroots movement for change, he thinks this initiative has learned from its predecessor.

“You really need to get people to say, ‘This is something we care about, this is something we want to talk about,’” Nowicki said. “I’m satisfied as long as we’re moving forward. I think this could be an enormous win-win because students appropriately love Duke and this is about making Duke a better place.”

recess

volume 12, issue 5 durham state of mind

September 17, 2009

Satch Hoyt The artist comes to the Nasher for week-long residency,

PAGE 5

photo illustration by maddie lieberberg

run some town

Jay-Z’s latest doesn’t fit the blueprint of the first two

page 6

ready to rumble

dP’s Ken Rumble prepares for his first art opening

page 4

cold souls

Paul Giammati channels John Malkovich in his latest

page 8

Page 2

the

sandbox

recess

I planned to write this Sandbox about the Girls of the ACC issue of Playboy. But I couldn’t. As such, I present why.

Raised in the Catholic Church, I’ve long carried a healthy sense of guilt.

To qualify my rearing, my parents were no papists. My mother constantly complained of the Church’s mistreatment of nuns and general misogyny (don’t even try arguing with that one). She hates the Vatican (“They have millions of dollars of art and what about all those starving children in the world?”).

I opted out of my confirmation with all this in mind and sort of fell out of the Church.

But I still feel guilty, my hand ever blood-stained. With the arrival of the magazine, and my editorship at the Chronicle requiring me to be up to date on the latest in arts and culture, I felt inclined to make my first foray into dirty magazines. It was a minor investment, in-

vestigating a bit of Duke culture—lower case ‘c.’

I concocted a scheme to synchronize the purchase of the dirty rag with alcohol, thereby eliminating disgraceful glances from store clerks when I pulled out my ID. But when I went to Kroger last Friday, no dice. Throughout the week, I found myself in bookstores, able to buy the magazine. I eyed it. Curious. Who are these girls of the ACC? Was Playboy just nipples and leggy blondes?

But I couldn’t bring myself to even touch it. It was too shameful. Already behind on my reconciliations, I needn’t add this to my resume. What would the priest say? Like a Kennedy democrat, I was too conservative to buy it (not quite like a Kennedy in this regard, but you get the idea).

As such, I apologize to you, reader. I’ll pray a rosary on your behalf.

—Andrew Hibbard

[recesseditors] Vampires. Duh. Andrew Hibbard......................................................................apathetic blood sucker Eugene Wang...................................................................needs more iron in his diet Claire Finch.....................................................................................Lady Gaga: Victim Kevin Lincoln............................................................Dracula’s L.L. Bean monogram Charlie McSpadden...........................................................Vampires beat lug wrench Maddie Lieberberg............................................................................A-positive rugula Jonathan Wall..........................................................................wizards are far superior Hon Chu.................................................................if you can’t make ’em, be in ’em!

Will Robinson..............................................................goes to the tanning bed. Duh.

September 17, 2009

[excessive]compulsion I’ve had quite the vampire fetish for a while now. This was way before True Blood and Twilight, back when my favorite movie was/is Queen of the Damnned. Back when it was frowned upon to hang out at night in a low tree branch in the neighbor’s front yard waiting for their daughter Katie to get home from the mall. The most beautiful girl in the world, she tasted delicious, fruity with an earthy finish. I’d have to defend myself, claiming, “You just don’t get me,” while I picked some neck flesh out of my teeth.

But those days are gone. Sucking young women or men dry—whatever you’re into— has become so mainstream it’s not fun anymore. You can’t just take my fetish and turn it into pop culture. That’s not cool. I never did anything to you, at least nothing a little blood transfusion can’t take care of.

In an attempt to regain my individuality, here are some part-human creatures that I want to “make happen.”

Cyclops: As my cyclop-tic colleague informs me, these one-eyed giants haven’t been cool since The Odyssey. They need a breakout, Twilight-esque dramatic romance to really get things hot.

How about this? Sarah is your typical cyclops-next-door with curly brown hair and a big, beautiful brown eye. She is shy, often hiding her brown eye behind a dark veil.

That was, until she met Harold, a Stop & Shop optometrist. She came in for a contact lens and, lifting up her veil, revealed her dark secret. A sucker for brown eye, Harold took one look at Sarah’s big, beautiful eye and wanted nothing else. The movie hits its climax when Harold accidently pokes Sarah’s brown eye. You’ll have to watch to find out how he nurses her brown eye back to health.

Minotaurs: For this upper-half human, lower-half bull (no, I’m not talking about

myself), we need an HBO Original Series.

I like the Southern twist on True Blood, but these minotaurs need something else: The Minotaurs of…Minnesota. They will all have accents like the mother from Bobby’s World.

Anybody? “Oh fur tha lave of Pete, git ur hoooves aff tha taball.” Sarah Palin, you’re out of work aren’t you?

Ghosts: I’m not talking “I see dead people” ghosts. I’m thinking a kooky feel-gooder about a single mother and her daughter. After a drunk driver kills them both in a car accident, they are resurrected as ghosts. You’ll laugh and laugh as they go from house to house, looking for their murderer.

I’ve got Madonna as the mom. And with the way Lindsay Lohan’s been eating, we’ll just keep her out of the sun for a couple hours and she might even glow in the dark.

Once this show takes off, everyone will be running around draped in white bed sheets.

Wait. Maybe this is a terrible idea.

Mummies had their chance, but Brendan Fraser ruined their hopes of ever blowing up.

I always felt that mummies deserved better treatment. They shouldn’t be forced to cover up their bodies completely except for their eyes. Oh wait, that’s not frightening mummies, that’s fundamentalist Muslims.

Zombies had a run with 28 Days Later, but are loathsome and uncouth. They are sloppy eaters with no respect for drinking blood with fava beans and a nice chianti.

Hopefully, Zombieland will finish them off. I don’t even want to to talk about werewolves; the only cool werewolf was Michael J. Fox. The rest are alcoholic casino owners.

After that, what do we have? Goblins?

Hobgoblins? Trolls? Screw it. Spread the blood of the innocent!

Jack Wilkinson is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Thursday.

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September 17, 2009

Page 3

Arrogance still rocking at 40

CALENDAR ...the rogue bush imperial presidency Tonight, 5 p.m.

Franklin Center

Kristine Stiles pulled Jean Toche works from 2004 from her archive for this exhibition on the Bush presidency

yo la tengo Friday, 8 p.m.

Carolina Theatre

Fresh off their 12th LP, the seminal band is coming to Durham to promote Popular Songs

sian alice group Friday, 9 p.m.

The Coffeehouse

The jazzy, post-rock group from the U.K. stops by the Coffeehouse with Polite Sleeper and Distrails

the future kings of nowhere Saturday, 9 p.m.

The Coffeehouse

After moving to New York, Shayne O’Neill is coming back home to play a solo show under the Future Kings moniker

Blog Preview special to The Chronicle

Formed out of a residence hall at UNC-Chapel Hill, Arrogance has spent 2009 celebrating their fourth decade creating rock ‘n’ roll in North Carolina.

by Arielle Silverman The chronicle

Sonny

It began as a dorm room jam session at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 40 years ago, and in 2009, Arrogance still seems to have no end in sight.

Original group members guitarist Robert Kirkland and bassist Don Dixon turned their college outfit into one of the state’s most popular rock bands throughout the 70s and 80s, releasing six studio albums. This Saturday, Arrogance will return to their old stomping grounds with a single concert at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro to celebrate their fortieth anniversary.

In an era where rock ‘n’ roll dominated the music scene, Arrogance derived its name—and fame—from their reputation for outshining other bands on stage. “Playing live, you’ve got the feedback from the audience, you have the spontaneity of the moment; typically that doesn’t happen in the studio,” drummer and vocalist Scott Davidson explains. “A live performance, you know, it is what it is, Rollins Newspaper Ads:Layout 3 away.

9/1/09It’s11:30 PM Page 3 it’s for the moment, and it goes just always more exciting to play in front of people than to be in the studio

with nothing but the walls and the other guys.”

In October 1983, Arrogance disbanded for seventeen years, regrouping in 2000. Since then, the band has played local shows and special events. This spring, however, marked the beginning of their fortieth anniversary, “Arrogance @ 40,” which kicked off with a March concert at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. This Saturday’s “Birthday Bash” is the celebration’s finale.

Current band members Dixon, Kirkland, Marty Stout on keyboard, Davidson and lead guitarist Rod Abernethy will be joined by original band members. Guitarist Mike Greer and drummer Jim Glasgow played at their concert in March, but percussionist Ogie Shaw hasn’t performed with the group since their disbanding.

After four decades, the members of Arrogance are still able to do what they’ve always loved. “Once [music] becomes something you enjoy, it’s really hard to give it up,” Davidson said wistfully. And then with typical rock ‘n’ roll idealism, he added, “There really aren’t any bad things that can happen to you on a day when you’re playing.”

the playground playground.chronicleblogs.com Today In celebration of 20 years of business, Our Noise chronicles the history of the local record label (see page 4 for a review of the book). Check out video of label founders and Superchunk bandmates Mac McCaughan and Laura Balance reading from the book and playing tracks from the Merge catalog.

Friday Jazzy, post-rock-inspired and generally genre-bending Brits the Sian Alice Group are playing at the Coffeehouse this Friday. Andrew Hibbard talked to the band’s namesake and vocalist Sian Ahern about the band’s new record and their show.

Sunday So as not to compete with the Yo La Tengo show, local favorite Midtown Dickens are playing a late-night house show after the Hoboken, N.J.’s band concert. Check the blog for video from the show.

Tuesday Check the blog for a review of the Big Pink’s debut album.

CAT’S CRADLE 300 E. Main St. Carrboro (919) 967 9053 www.catscradle.com

SEPTEMBER 2009 22 Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone

OCTOBER 2009 2 Low – Rha Goddess 6 Ravi and Anoushka Shankar 11 Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer Ravi and Anoushka Shankar Oct 6

Showing at UNC’s Memorial Hall.

Order tickets online or at the Box Office (919) 843-3333 M–F 10am – 6pm

Sonny Rollins Sept 22

SEPTEMBER 2009: 18 FR: WHO’S BAD? -- Tribute to Michael Jackson ($15) 19 SA: ARROGANCE: 40th Birthday Party!

20 SU: Carrboro Music Festival 21 MO: INGRID MICHAELSON**($15/$17) 22 TU: Immortal Technique**($13/$15) 24 TH: MAE w/ Locksley* 25 FR: Needtobreathe**($12/$14) 26 SA: The Minus 5, the Baseball Project, & Steve Wynn IV 30 WE: Ra Ra Riot**($12/$14) OCTOBER 2009: 1TH: DAN DEACON 2 FR: SIMPLIFIED**($10/$12) 3 SA: WILL HOGE w/ Alternate Routes and Ryan Gustafson**($10/$12) 4 SU: GHOSTFACE KILLAH**($16/$18) 6 TU: CARBON LEAF / STEPHEN KELLOGG & THE SIXERS**($17/$20) 7 WE: ANDREW BIRD w/ St Vincent 9 FR: Blitzen Trapper w/ Wye Oak 10 SA: I Was Totally Destroying It CD Release 13 TU: LUCERO**($12/$15) 15 TH: BASSNECTAR**($18/$20) Shows @ Carolina Theatre (Durham): Sept. 18: Yo La Tengo w/ Endless Boogie Oct. 7: David Cross At the ArtsCenter ( Carrboro): Sept. 21: Jolie Holland Oct. 2: Great Lake Swimmers Oct. 4: Colin Hay Oct. 8 & 9: Cowboy Junkies

www.carolinaperformingarts.org

Cat’s Cradle is at: 300 E. Main St Carrboro 27510 919 967 9053 NOW SERVING CAROLINA BREWERY BEERS ON TAP!

**BUY TICKETS ONLINE! at WWW.ETIX.COM For phone orders call 919 967 9053 Check www.catscradle.com for more listings...

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Page 4

September 17, 2009

book review: Merge records at 20 years

our noise john cook with mac mccaughan laura ballance algonquin books

&

When John Cook opens the 11th chapter in Our Noise, “If there is a quintessential Merge band aside from Superchunk, it is Lambchop,” it becomes instantly clear what this book is.

If the prior 226 pages hadn’t suggested as much, this is not a bloated account of Merge Records set to please Arcade Fire fans. This is the real history of Merge.

Released as part of the now Durhambased (yes, not Chapel Hill) label’s yearlong 20th-anniversary celebration, Our

Noise is an engaging look at one of the area’s and music industry’s most exciting ventures. Co-written with label (and Superchunk) founders/owners Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan, the book is more a transcription and compilation of interviews than a written history. Cook thoroughly researched Merge, accumulating a bevy of interviews ranging from artists like Britt Daniel and Claudia Gonson to Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye, and incorporating the occasional essay by the likes of Joshua Ferris. Sadly, if expectedly, the Jeff Mangum interview is nowhere to be found.

Cook spends the early chapters focusing on the founding of Merge and Superchunk, detailing McCaughan’s dreadlock-wearing year off from Columbia and

Ballance’s Goth days as the apple of the Chapel Hill scene’s eye. Superchunk plays as big a role as Merge in the book, the band’s and the business’ histories intrinsically linked. This parallel creates some of Our Noise’s most interesting parts, including Ballance and McCaughan’s break-up that almost ended the band. Cook and his co-authors also don’t shy away from bad business moments like the label’s shaky dissolution with longtime ally Touch and Go Records. But it’s not all grit and dirty secrets. The book, subtitled The Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small, praises the label. As any other like-minded Chapel Hill resident would agree, all praise is due.

Interspersed between the pure history are profiles of essential Merge

artists, from the Magnetic Fields and Arcade Fire to Butterglory and Lambchop—some more interesting than others. Spoon’s tale of major label demise turned indie sensation, for example, is nothing new, nor is Arcade Fire’s meteoric rise to fame that helped Merge become so viable. But the first-hand accounts from the label owners and artists are enjoyable reads, if only for the most dedicated fans. And profiles of lesserknowns like Lambchop and Matt Suggs provide an interesting glimpse into the bands that helped define Merge.

Our Noise might only be for Merge “suckers” like Ryan Adams and myself, but for such people it’s required reading.

—Andrew Hibbard

Actress draws on Fellini for production

by Paul Horak The chronicle

The Italian Actress is sensual, frightening and, as its creators have attested, undeniably kinky.

The 90-minute theatrical production, which premieres tonight at Manbites Dog Theater, is adapted from a novel of the same name, by Duke’s Frank Lentricchia. The play reflects on the transitory nature of beauty and fame and the decay of values and social conscience.

Action unfolds on a noticeably bare and eerily white stage. A long, triangular wading pool splits the stage into two parts, each with its own projection screen where movie scenes occasionally accompany the live action. Fans of film will recognize that many of the scenes are from Federico Fellini’s 1963 black-and-white classic 8 1/2.

Fellini’s most endearing film has a prominent role in the psychology of The Italian Actress. The play’s two leading roles, Jack Del Piero (Jay O’Berski), a producer out of practice for 20 years, and Claudia Cardinale (Lenore Field), the aged titular actress, are constantly tormented by their identification with the film. Del Piero also enlists the frighteningly portrayed Sigi (Lucius Robinson) and Iso (Meredith Sause), lovers who help him resurrect his film career.

The chilling climax of the production involves these two passionate and psychotic characters consummating their shared dream of immortality.

Their radical art form is captured by the filming talents of Jim Haverkamp and projected for the audience to see. The action is also punctuated by quirky performances from Chris Burner and Michael O’Foghludha, who play Del Piero’s friend and father, respectively. Their twisted levity provides many laughs.

The original title of Fellini’s 8 1/2 was Beautiful Confusion, and Fellini branded his film as a comedy. Anyone who has seen 8 1/2 cannot help but laugh at the eclectic and satirical humor that imbues Fellini’s work, but ultimately the feature does not come off as comic. The Italian Actress, also rife with comic pauses, comes off in the same way.

It is somewhere between comedy and tragedy, and thus undeniably confusing. In one particularly odd scene, Del Piero’s father appears in a completely white suit and proceeds to putt a Ping-Pong ball across the surface of the wading pool. He gives his son a sermon on the nature of beauty—one of many confusing, abstract scenes that forces the audience to draw its own conclusions.

The Italian Actress will run from tonight until Sept.

26 at Manbites Dog Theater, 703 Foster St. For more information, visit manbitesdogtheater.org/season.

kevin lincoln/The Chronicle

Ken Rumble, Duke Performances’ director of marketing, is making his artistic debut with the installation “Cliffs (Empty)” tomorrow.

Rumble causes tremors in art

by Aziza Sullivan The chronicle

Picture a dreary Monday morning. You’ve just rolled out of bed and are jogging to the bus stop with your half eaten Good Morning Camper from Alpine dangling from your lips. You board the C-1, bracing yourself for the inevitably bumpy ride. Alas, it’s not enough and you’re nearly flung to the floor as the bus lurches suddenly to one side, fallen victim yet again to “the worst roads in the world.”

But fear not. Duke Performances houses one man attempting to right this wrong, to bring about the ultimate cessation of embarrassment aboard the C-1, one blog entry at a time.

Ken Rumble, Duke Perfomances’s director of marketing, musician and author of the blog Durham Has the Worst Roads in the World blog, will add the title artist to his already impressive roster this Friday with the opening of his new art instalation, entitled “Cliffs (Empty).”

“Cliffs (Empty)” is an interactive piece, with musical and aesthetic portions. Hundreds of yards of white fabric hang from the high ceilings, obscuring musicians who will be improvising music for the exhibition’s duration.

“Ken had a vision of something that he thought would be rad to actualize and so he did that,” said collaborator and fellow musician Megan Stein. “He is making art simply to make art...hopefully it will mean something to the audience and challenge them. To me, this is art in the purest sense.”

Rumble has been working on the project since August.

“I think it will be an interesting, weird experience,” Rumble said.“I think it will appeal to a lot of people.

It’s an art installation that doesn’t really have a visual element. It’s more about touch and sound. It’s fun and different than walking into a gallery and looking at a painting on a wall. I also just think it’s cool.”

Rumble knows all about cool. In addition to making art, Rumble enjoys blogging about the destitute Durham roads (with his nine-year-old daughter, Durham Has the Worst Roads in the World’s chief photographer), publishing poetry and playing music. Rumble is a member of three small bands: High Master (a self-proclaimed “Viking rock band”), Tecate Noir and Slutty New Wave Haircut. Members of the latter two will be providing the musical portion of “Cliffs (Empty).”

“Ken’s enthusiasm for personal and community projects is renowned,” said Chris Vitiello, another collaborator and musician with the project. “As an artist, he has a combination of restlessness and curiosity that has led him necessarily into the production of multimedia events.”

Between the poetry, photography, music and the public service of necessary road reform, Rumble finds time to do it all, which is lucky for any Durham resident who uses a vehicle. Next time you board the C-1, you know you’ll have Mr. Rumble to thank for having grabbed onto something, right before the bus hit that pothole.

“Cliffs (Empty)” will be performed Friday, Sept. 18 from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at 715 Washington St. as part of Durham’s Third Friday festivities.

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September 17, 2009

Page 5

C elestial V essel

sician and artist Satch Hoyt is spendng this week as an artist in residence t the Nasher Museum of Art. Hoyt is orking on “Celestial Vessel,” a 16-foot porating RCA records and an original , for inclusion in the Nasher’s Auexhibition The Record. recess’ Tina ght up with the artist this week to talk ulture, “Celestial Vessel” and more. roject, “Celestial Vessel,” is part asher’s upcoming exhibition The hich focuses on the culture of the rd in contemporary art. What has personal experience with the vi? nyl is a signifier and transmitter ation. I grew up in the 1970s and a lot of politicized music. Africanculture was influencing the whole aspora. Also, there was a tactile ritd to the listening experience you e now. No one knows who or what tening to today. Being a musician, to play from listening to records. think the vinyl has a future in pop is it more of a historical symbol

always going to want to use vinyl. ulture, we won’t lose vinyl. As long are still tuned into that, vinyl will pendent musicians still strive to 2-inch white label record to DJs. omething prestigious about that. tial Vessel” is a 16-foot canoe made yl records. What was your inspirareating this structure? essel seeks to investigate various issues such as displacement, rootnd abandonment, also acknowle fact that belief systems and muements of the culture intact. Part ssion is to mine history and find that no one else has used in the rary art world. These RCA Victor vinyls were only released for about . I discovered them at a New York et three or four years ago. The caymbol of the Middle Passage and n diaspora. It was the first vessel Traders used canoes to transport n the rivers to the slave ships. ill the soundscape you are com-

posing for “Celestial Vessel” play into the exhibition?

The soundscape hasn’t been created yet, but for sure I will be sampling from some of these Red Seal records. I always do the soundscape after the work has been completed. The soundscape for “The Don Kingdom: In the Corner”—I was able to record Muhammad Ali on the heavy bag and Sugar Ray Robinson jumping rope. I mixed that together with DJ Spinna to create a hip-hop beat. “Celestial Vessel” is an extremely complex piece because it represents a timeline stretching from the slave ship to now.

You have exhibited work all over the world. Are there different cultural reactions to your art?

Some of my work would never translate outside of the United States. New York is the seat of the black intelligentsia­—there’s an arena there, a platform. The black intelligentsia has to come here. This is where there is reception. A piece like “Brown v. Board of Education” wouldn’t resonate if I showed it in Germany. There isn’t that knowledge. “Celestial Vessel” would resonate in the U.K., but not the same as in the United States.

What impact do you hope your work has on the viewer?

I am dedicated to making works with sociopolitical layers, but once it goes out there, it has a life of its own. But if people start asking question they can become enlightened witnesses. I like to think I am provoking with my work.

p.m. in room 240 of the Franklin Center, 2204 Erwin Rd., entitled “Hybrid Navigations in a Galaxy of Souls.”

Hoyt will appear tomorrow at a public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. at Liberty Arts, 401-B. Foster St., as part of the monthly Third Friday festivities. The artist will also give a talk today at 12:30

kevin lincoln/The Chronicle

has spent this week working on a 16-foot piece called “Celestial Vessel” to be included er’s 2010 exhibition The Record. Hoyt incorporated red RCA vinyl for the piece.

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Page 6

the resistance muse warner bros.

eeEEE

The Resistance is a fitting title for Muse’s fifth album. The fact that the U.K. group still makes records seems to resist the law of nature that bad bands eventually die out.

Having failed to fulfill the prophecy that they would be the next Radiohead, Muse has turned to ripping off other orchestral modern rockers like Coldplay and the Killers. Even though moments of musical ingenuity peek through on a few songs, The Resistance offers no unifying theme. The schizophrenic, heavily punctuated song titles—take “United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)”—hint at the album’s disorganization.

The album features lead singer Matthew Bellamy’s melodramatic falsetto sidling lazily across a disjointed roster of songs. On “Undisclosed Desires,” Bellamy croons, “I’ll

make you feel pure/trust me/you can be sure.” Such lyrics can’t even be appreciated ironically; Bellamy’s attempts to write rock star hooks only serve to reveal his insecurity as a songwriter.

The one ray of hope on The Resistance is the final three-song cycle, “Exogenesis: Symphony,” a tale of a rocky relationship.

The orchestral backdrop is intriguing until the crescendo on “Part III (Redemption),” when an angsty Bellamy sings, “This time, we’ll get it right.” These final empty lyrics manage to rob the song of the surprising poignancy that it had created.

Sometimes, imitation bands like Muse survive in the modern marketplace (see Disco, Panic! at the). Unfortunately, Bellamy’s artistic vision is even less interesting than Chris Martin’s “hard edge” on Vida La Vida or Brandon Flowers’ Springsteen obsession on Sam’s Town. To be an interesting band, you have to be, well, interesting. On The Resistance, Muse just doesn’t have it in them.

—Jake Stanley

September 17, 2009

the blueprint 3 jay-z roc nation

eeEEE

Though Jay would never admit it, the status he’s attained does have its downsides.

Being hip-hop’s global ambassador for more than a decade has changed his perspective, but more than that, it’s changed his lifestyle. As we saw on Hov’s comeback album Kingdom Come, the witty crack-rap that made him the legend he ultimately became is in short supply. Jay isn’t that guy anymore and hasn’t been for some time. It comes as little surprise then that he isn’t making that type of music anymore.

Instead, The Blueprint 3 is heavy on collaborations and light on subject matter. Two middling singles have already received massive radio play: the underwhelming “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” and “Run This Town,” on which producer Kanye West delivers by far the best verse. Weak tracks are

all over the back end of the album, including two Timbaland beats—“Venus vs. Mars” and the aggressively irritating “Reminder.”

And gimmicky album closer “Young Forever” fittingly recalls “Beach Chair” from 2006 LP Kingdom Come, the closest sonic relative to The Blueprint 3 in Jay’s catalogue.

There are occasional bright spots. “Empire State of Mind”—the concept cribbed from Nas’ “N.Y. State of Mind”—stands out, as Jay’s tribute to the city is complemented by Alicia Keys’ overcooked-to-perfection hook.

The Swizz Beatz-produced “On to the Next One” also works well with Jay talking about his wealth with uncommon acuity, including the Don-status boast, “MJ at the Summer Jam, Obama on the text/Y’all should be afraid of what I’m gonna do next.”

But the end result is disappointing, and not simply because The Blueprint 3 doesn’t live up to its namesake. Jay’s latest offering reinforces the idea that we shouldn’t expect much better out of him anyway.

—Ross Green

Fall 2009

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The film features an Israeli soldier who participated in a revenge operation in which several Palestinians were murdered.

Now, in conversations with his girlfriend, the soldier seeks understanding, and even forgiveness. In what he calls a “musical-documentary-tragedy,” director Avi Mograbi alternates between these conversations, interviews and cabaret-style songs in which the director comments on his own difficulties in making such a film. Would not his empathy for the soldier and his present emotional struggle implicate Mograbi in the crime that was committed? Would the film actually expose the crime or, in concealing the identity of the soldier, further help to cover it up?

Avi Mograbi is arguably Israel’s most innovative, yet controversial filmmaker. His films have premiered, among other, at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival, and have won numerous prizes. His films include Khirbet Khizeh (1978); Bread (1986); Mr. Mani (1996); Sakhnin, My Life (2006).

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recess

September 17, 2009

sorority row

dir. s. hendler summit entertainment

eEEEE

Recent horror movies like Drag Me To Hell gave a faint glimmer of hope that the genre was at last escaping the formulaic slasher movie stereotype it had fallen into.

But then Stewart Hendler’s Sorority Row comes along and kills that hope with a lug wrench.

The ridiculous plot centers around sorority Theta Pi that decides one night at a party to take revenge on Garrett (Matt O’Leary) for cheating on his girlfriend, sorority sister Megan (Audrina Patridge). So the girls hatch a plot involving roofies, a drunken hookup and Megan

journal for plague lovers manic street preachers sony bmg

eeEEE

U.K. outfit Manic Street Preachers’ ninth album, Journal for Plague Lovers, retains their 1990s guitar rock sound all the way.

A quick glance at the track list may produce a few chuckles: “Me and Stephen Hawking,” “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time,” “Virginia State Epileptic Colony” and the title track are absurd in their specificity. The band uses audio clips from cinema and other outside sources to enhance the artiness that these titles imply, a move that can be contrived at times and effective at others.

“Jackie Collins Existential Question Time” opens with a guitar riff that could have been taken from the theme song of Friends or any similarly upbeat ’90s TV show. Guitarist James Dean Bradfield’s vocals take on a strange Broadway-esque glam glaze that undermines the band’s otherwise gritty sound, which is better served when bassist Nicky Wire handles the singing.

“Me and Stephen Hawking” might show the vocals at their best, strained over busy, natural drums and distorted guitar. In the chorus, which has the only intelligible lyrics in the song, deceased band member Richey Edwards’ lyrics—taken from journals he left the band before his 1995 disappearance— lament how he and Stephen Hawking missed a “sex revolution,” a further example of the record’s bizarre imagery.

This isn’t to say that Journal doesn’t have its moments, which occur mostly in choruses like on “Pretension/Repulsion,” when the band unifies for a strong, full sound.

The Preachers do score points in my book for quoting the stunning closing line of Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, but by the time it came along it mostly served to prove that the band had taken in some pop culture since the mid-nineties.

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Page 7

pretending to choke on her own vomit and die­—what bulimic brilliance!

When the group drives her out to an abandoned mine to dispose of the “body,” the prank goes horribly wrong as Garrett, not realizing Megan is alive, impales her with a lug wrench to fit her down a mine shaft. The group then decides to leave the body and swear silence in order to avoid repercussions. Eight months later, a hooded killer (presumably Megan’s ghost) begins picking off the members of Theta Pi one by one with—you guessed it—a bladed lug wrench.

What ensues is the same slasher film we’ve all seen a million times, complete with a climactic showdown revealing the killer’s

identity.

It’s hard to focus on just one of the many terrible aspects of this film, but the killer’s choice of weapon stands out amidst the atrocity. Has it truly come to a lug wrench, brainstorming horror-film writers? Maybe instead of trying to differentiate by way of the weapons department, they could have put all that time and effort toward producing an original and compelling story.

Not even a cameo appearance from Carrie Fisher as sorority house caretaker Mrs. Crenshaw can salvage this horrible, horrible movie.

At least Sorority Row gives hope to girls: there’s actually something worse than sorority rush.

—Jose Lamazares

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Page 8

September 17, 2009

whiteout

feature film review

dir. d. sena dark castle entertainment

cold souls

EEEEEE

dir. s. barthes journeyman pictures

eeeeE

Writer-director Sophia Barthes’ existential dark comedy Cold Souls is as close to an homage to Charlie Kaufman that a film can get. Barthes channels both a quasi-factual/fictional role for Paul Giamatti a la John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich, and the happy emptiness postmedical procedure as displayed in Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind.

Rehearsing for the title role in Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Paul (Giamatti) begins to feel the the playwright’s sorrow.

Adhering to his agent’s recommendation, the melancholy thespian turns to a high-tech company profiled in The New Yorker called Soul Storage to alleviate his suffering by extracting his soul. Dr. Flinstein (David Strathairn) offers the exhausted actor a less complicated life with a temporary soul-removal. Emotional weight be gone!

Realizing his acting role requires the anguish that he removed, Paul asks to be loaned the soul of a Russian poet, strengthening the character’s performance. But when his new soul begins to negatively affect his off-stage life, he requests his original soul back.

Told that his old soul has been trafficked to a Russian soap opera actress who believes she is channeling a Hollywood movie star, Paul travels to Russia on a recovery mission, enlisting the help of soul mule Nina (Dina Korzun).

This very well may be Giamatti’s strongest performance. Tyepcast as, well, himself, Giamatti is able to delve into the depths of a dejected thespian and does what only the best actors

can do—act as a bad one. Strathairn is excellent and Korzun overcomes a thinly written role to deliver a performance worth noting. Although underused, Emily Watson is stirring as Giamatti’s wife.

Cinematographer Andrij Parekh adeptly interprets Barthes’ metaphysical comedy, beautifully shooting the

dismal real world as well as the neurotic unconsciousness of Giamatti. Barthes effectively narrates Giamatti’s inward quest, encouraging the audience to do the same.

Intelligent and provocative, Cold Souls is as intricate as a Kaufman film, yet, somehow, simpler.

—Michael Woodsmall

In 10 years, we may look back at Whiteout and call it genre-defining. I know of no other movie that more aptly embodies the category of films that should never have been made.

Whiteout centers on the-hottest-thing-tohit-the-Antarctic-since-global-warming—U.S marshall Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale)— as she investigates the death of a researcher during the final days of her stay in the South Pole. With the aid of U.N. operative Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht), who conveniently “drops in” to the South Pole (via Floo Network? werewolf-powered dog sled? new JetBlue route?), Stetko sets out to discover the killer, uncovering a Soviet airplane and recovering from her oh-so-traumatic past in the process.

The four—count ’em, four—writers play down to the viewer dumb enough to pay for a ticket (guilty as charged), going so far as to clarify in a title screen that Antarctica is the “coldest, most isolated land mass on Earth.”

Unfortunately, the writers didn’t realize that anyone in the audience that needs Antartica defined probably can’t read either.

Besides struggling more than a penguin on ice skates, the film manages to find other ways to bore the viewer. Its chase scenes literally hinge on carabiners and slow, steady walking (exciting!). Its smarmy, overly youthful and unrealistically attractive actors make arctic research centers look like college parties, complete with binge drinking, Hawaiian leis and streaking. It even shows Kate Becksinale undress in the second scene—no complaints here—but leaves us fanboys with nothing to look forward to for the remaining 96 minutes.

Blending cheesy horror and a pathetic excuse for a mystery, Whiteout snowballs into stupidity, leaving your patience stranded on thin ice.

—Brendan Szulik

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The Chronicle

THURSDAY

September 17, 2009

Do you know what a Jayhawk is? Plus, lots more about the Blue Devils’ preparations before their game against Kansas in Lawrence this weekend

www.dukechroniclesports.com

Football

Former Duke target Reesing drives Jayhawks

by Scott Rich The chronicle

Both schools playing football in Lawrence, Kan. Saturday have won three national championships on the basketball court, but none on the football field. Both schools play their basketball games in historic stadiums but play their football games in ordinary facilities. Both schools are led by championship-caliber basketball coaches, while their football coaches are burgeoning stars in their own right.

Indeed, both Duke and Kansas are the quintessential basketball schools.

Yet while the Kansas football team won the Orange Bowl in 2008 and is currently ranked among the top 25 teams in the country, Duke has not been to a bowl game since 1994 and lost to an FCS school in its home opener this season.

So when these two basketball schools face off on the football field Saturday, the Blue Devils could stand to learn a few things from the No. 22 Jayhawks on how to create a competitive football program at a basketball-crazy school.

One reason that Kansas has vaulted into national prominence over the past three seasons is the play of quarterback Todd Reesing. The senior has completed more than 60 percent of his passes and thrown for 65 touchdowns over his last two seasons, and threw for 227 yards and a touchdown in that 2008 Orange Bowl victory.

Yet coming out of high school, Reesing was only considered a two-star prospect and came very close to choosing Duke instead of Kansas.

“They were my only other school that I was looking at that I had an offer from before I came here,” Reesing said of the Blue Devils. “It is a school that has a very good reputation academically and they were looking to build their program at the time and it was something I saw as an opportunity.”

And while Duke eventually found its quarterback in Thaddeus Lewis, the difference between the two teams’ successes could not be greater. Reesing, though, has con-

Volleyball

Weston White/The University Daily Kansan

Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing, a senior, considered attending Duke before signing for the Jayhawks. He has thrown three touchdowns this year. sistently had better weapons at his disposal, most important of which has been a consistent running game provided by senior Jake Sharp.

Sharp ran for 860 yards and 12 touchdowns last season while averaging 4.6 yards per carry. The running back is off to another strong start this year with 227 yards and three touchdowns over the Jayhawks’ first two games.

“He is quick and faster to [accelerate] than he was a

year ago,” Kansas head coach Mark Mangino said. “He is a very, very hard worker.”

Sharp’s success in the running game has come despite a relatively young Jayhawk offensive line, which starts two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman.

Despite their youth, Sharp said he loves running beSee kansas on page 8

Women’s Soccer

Blocking Gummersall a clutch performer unit growing in stature

by Nicholas Schwartz The chronicle

by Caroline Fairchild The chronicle

Nothing excites a team or a crowd more than the thundering sound of a big defensive block. Luckily for Duke fans and players, a strong crew of new and returning middle blockers promise to make that sound a frequent one in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Freshman middle blocker Christiana Gray, or “T” as she is referred to by her teammates, stands at 6-foot-5 and is one of the tallest girls signed by the Blue Devils in many years. After leading her high school team to the state championships both her sophomore and senior years, Gray was named Indiana Metro Player of the Year in 2008 and was a Fab-50 selection by Volleyball Magazine. Gray’s height—as well her rich knowledge of the game—may prove to be exactly what Duke needs to jump start its already strong level of play.

“She does a great job, especially for a freshman,” junior middle blocker Becci Burling said. “She See Vball on page 8

Growing up just outside of Chicago in the 1990s, senior KayAnne Gummersall had all too many chances to witness sporting heroics. While Michael Jordan was busy winning six NBA championships, Gummersall was learning how to become a clutch athlete.

“I think the way he would step up in the big games and the playoffs was incredible,” said Gummersall of Jordan, and though the Duke striker prefers the pitch to the hardwood, the pair do have one attribute in common. Both have the ability to light up the scoreboard, especially when the game is on the line.

Gummersall accumulated an astonishing 136-goal tally over her high school career while leading New Trier High to a four year aggregate record of 115-3-2, including 3 state championships. It was clear, even at a young age, that Gummersall had a knack for finding the goal when the situation called for it.

Duke head coach Robbie Church didn’t have to spend month after month searching showcases for a new striker leading up to the 2006 season; the talent found him.

“When I was recruiting KayAnne, sometimes I’d be at the field for a half, sometimes for 30 minutes, and

every time I’d be there, she’d score goals,” he said.

The forward made the transition to the college level admirably, leading the Blue Devils in goals during her freshman season. An ankle injury kept Gummersall from playing at full strength during the 2007 season, and reconstructive ligament surgery left her playing future in doubt.

“I had no idea what my junior year would be like after almost a year off the field,” she said. “I just came into it thinking I had nothing to lose, and there were no excuses.”

All doubt was erased in her first game back against Coastal Carolina in 2008, as Gummersall scored twice in just 25 minutes and Duke cruised to a 9-0 victory.

Gummersall and Elisabeth Redmond went on to combine for a Duke record 27 goals between them, and the Blue Devils reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. Gummersall led the team yet again with 15 goals of her own, including five against ACC opponents and four in postseason play.

Her tendency to show up in big games hasn’t gone unnoticed by her teammates, espeically her roommate See Gummersall on page 8

Courtney douglas/Chronicle file Photo

Forward KayAnne Gummersall scored 15 goals last season as the Blue Devils reached the Elite Eight.

8 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 the chronicle

Vball from page 7 always gets in there and is really loud, and she’s doing great for us this season. She can do nothing for us other than improve. She is going to go big for us.”

Although Gray hasn’t gotten the playing time to fully establish her presence, head coach Jolene Nagel is convinced that as Gray practices with the squad and develops better chemistry with her teammates, she has the potential to alter Duke’s defensive schemes.

“Christiana has already made a difference in a variety of ways for our team,” Nagel said. “Her size has changed our defense because she takes up a part of the court that we couldn’t before, which is great. We want to make sure that she is still coming along, though, and learning to do new things. What her team did at club is different than what she is doing now.”

Luckily for the promising new recruit, along with the many expectations that the Blue Devils have for her comes a support system of more experienced middle blockers.

Becci Burling and Amanda Robertson have proven to be two of the strongest middle blockers in the conference. Burling, Robertson and Gray have had an impressive presence at the net with over two blocks per set and a .355 hitting percentage. The returning blockers have become an invaluable asset to Gray in her transition to collegiate volleyball. “[Burling and Robertson] bring a lot of energy to all the games,” Gray said. “It’s great for me as a freshman to come in and have them to show me the ropes and set such a good example. They set the tone

and I do my best to follow it.”

But Gray isn’t the only one who’s taking strides to improve the Blue Devils’ game.

Nagel is thoroughly impressed with how Burling has transformed her game to become more of an efficient and effective middle. In the first match of the Duke Invitational Sept. 11, Burling had an impressive three blocks and 15 kills with just one attack error in a 3-1 Duke win.

The Colorado native has picked up her blocking skills and has made them a priority. She’s always been explosive and good offensively, but now she is adding blocking to her repertoire, Nagel said.

Despite their huge success so far this season, Burling and Gray humbly attribute their strengths in large part to the relationship they have fostered between one another. Burling talked about a different dynamic in practice simply because of Gray’s size and finds dueling the freshman in practice beneficial when Duke plays its tougher opponents.

“I know that for me in practice I love going up against her because she challenges me,” Burling said. “It’s hard for me to believe that she is just a freshman because she can already do so much.”

With middle blockers in the ACC usually standing at 6 feet or 6-foot-1, Gray, if she matures the way that her team knows she can, could make the No. 1 team in the ACC that much better.

Right now, Gray is working on learning as much as she can from the supportive group of middle blockers that are excited to add her to their lineup. Size may not mean everything, but for the Blue Devils this season and in the future, it could mean a lot.

Crystal Bae/Chronicle File Photo

Freshman Christiana Gray, who stands 6-foot-5, is a key performer on the Blue Devils’ blocking unit.

gummersall from page 7

Zachary Tracer/Chronicle File Photo

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe called Kansas one of the top 15 teams in the nation.

Kansas from page 7 hind his line, especially after Kansas’ two dominant offensive performances so far this season. In fact, Kansas is one of only two teams in the country to average at least 250 yards passing and rushing per game in the young season.

The Jayhawks’ balanced offensive attack, combined with a defense that has allowed only 10 points through two games this season, makes Kansas a formidable opponent, Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said.

“They’re very physical in both lines—really physical— and I think they’re one of the top 15 teams in the country,” Cutcliffe said. “So, how do you beat a top-15 team? It’s probably the most basic for-

mula in football: Take care of the ball, play great in the kicking game and find a way to make some big plays while the game progresses.”

So while the casual sports fan would rather see a DukeKansas matchup in the Final Four rather than a non-conference football matchup, Duke would like to use this game to prove to the country what Kansas has shown already—that a basketball school can have a relevant football program, too.

“You can see they are a team that is getting better,” Mangino said. “They don’t panic, they are able to stay calm and do what they have to do.”

And no, Mangino is not talking about the team that plays in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the one that plays in Wallace Wade.

and co-captain, Jane Alukonis.

“Other players in the conference may have similar goal numbers, but you have to look at who KayAnne scores against to really see how great she is,” Alukonis said.

Over 58 percent of Gummersall’s career goals have been scored either against conference opponents or in the NCAA tournament. When the going gets tough, Alukonis said she and the rest of the Blue Devils know Gummersall has the ability to carry the team if she needs to.

Along with fellow seniors Redmond, Alukonis and Sara Murphy, Gummersall was named a captain for the 2009 season. To Church,

the head coach, the decision was natural.

“She’s one of the hardest-working players in games and in training, and she’s a great role model to our younger players both on and off the field,” Church said.

In addition to leading the women’s soccer squad, Gummersall is the co-chair of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, which acts as the voice of Duke student-athletes to the ACC and NCAA. The senior has plenty of options once the final whistle blows on her college career, and hasn’t made a decision as to what comes after graduation. A Political Science/Sociology double major, Gummersall is interested in the Fuqua business school’s new

Master of Management Studies program, but will also consider a professional career if she is given the chance to prove herself at the Women’s Professional Soccer League draft combine.

“I’m keeping my options open.

I really have no idea what the future holds,” Gummersall said.

Church knows hard work and preparation determine the immediate future, and as the Blue Devils draw closer to the conference opener against North Carolina in Chapel Hill Sept. 24, Church is confident his senior striker will shine.

“In ACC play, you’re going to see KayAnne continue to score goals because she’s at her best against the top competition, and that’s how you grade the great players.”

Faith Robertson/Chronicle File Photo

Senior KayAnne Gummersall has developed a reputation as someone who plays her best against Duke’s toughest competition.

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 | 9

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10 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 the chronicle commentaries

Something to talk about Duke Conversations is a application format to a firm unique program that empow- application deadline for each ers individual students to bring semester. Instead of being interesting speakers to cam- able to apply for funding at pus and initiate compelling any time of the academic year dialogue. It is well aligned with up until the end of March, the goal of a liberstudents wisheditorial al arts education, ing to host a and it is fueled by Fall semester intellectual curiosity. conversation had to apply by Simply put, it is an effec- Sept. 14, and students hoping tive program that is acces- for a Spring conversation will sible to all undergraduate face a November application students. deadline.

That’s why we are a bit puzThe imposition of a deadzled by the changes to the pro- line only adds barriers to acgram that were instituted by cess, and it takes away from the Office of Student Activities the entrepreneurial spirit of and Facilities this year, which the program by making stuonly seem to create a more dents plan far in advance. This stringent application process. complicates the already diffiThis could undermine the cult process of contacting and flexibility and spirit of the booking a speaker’s visit. Plus Conversations program. it forces students interested This year, the program in a Fall conversation to rush moved away from a rolling their planning to meet a dead-

“

Good luck to the students who will take the exam.

—“Jasmine” commenting on the story “Justice Alito to lead law seminar.” See more at www.dukechronicle. com.

Letters Policy The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identification, phone number and local address.

Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns.

The Chronicle will not publish anonymous or form letters or letters that are promotional in nature. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, clarity and style and the right to withhold letters based on the discretion of the editorial page editor.

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Direct submissions to: E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.edu Editorial Page Department The Chronicle Box 90858, Durham, NC 27708 Phone: (919) 684-2663 Fax: (919) 684-4696

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will robinson, Editor Hon Lung Chu, Managing Editor emmeline Zhao, News Editor Gabe Starosta, Sports Editor Michael Naclerio, Photography Editor shuchi Parikh, Editorial Page Editor Michael Blake, Editorial Board Chair alex klein, Online Editor jonathan angier, General Manager Lindsey rupp, University Editor sabreena merchant, Sports Managing Editor julius jones, Local & National Editor jinny cho, Health & Science Editor Glen gutterson, News Photography Editor andrew hibbard, Recess Editor Emily Bray, Editorial Page Managing Editor ashley holmstrom, Wire Editor Charlie Lee, Design Editor chelsea allison, Towerview Editor eugene wang, Recess Managing Editor Chase Olivieri, Multimedia Editor zak kazzaz, Recruitment Chair Taylor Doherty, Sports Recruitment Chair Mary weaver, Operations Manager Barbara starbuck, Production Manager

speaker would interact with, it works against the program’s goals of providing an intimate, interactive forum for discussion.

Even more problematic, though, is the potential for the “Community Hour” to detract potential speakers from coming to Duke. The idea of dining with a small group of students is attractive; having to plan an hourlong presentation for 20 to 50 students is stressful and does not necessarily gel with the talents of speakers who thrive in a smaller setting.

The Conversations overhaul does bring with it two silver linings. As part of an effort to reduce abuse and prevent students from inviting their friends back to campus on Duke’s dime, recent alumni will be discouraged from participating in the program as speakers. This

guideline is financially prudent and makes sense.

The decision to cut the program’s budget by more than 30 percent, from $150,000 to $100,000, was also judicious in light of the University’s limited finances. It will be important to ensure that the money from the budget cut is spent wisely and not wasted or absorbed through the Office of Student Activities and Facilities.

It’s important for OSAF to exercise some stewardship in its distribution of the Conversation funds, but with the program struggling last year to bring in applications, this does not seem like the right time to add restrictions, create new requirements for speakers and tinker with a formula that seemed to be producing quality conversation.

Freshman frenzy

onlinecomment

line that is just three weeks into the school year.

Another change this year is the creation of a selection committee composed of faculty, students and staff that will determine which applications are funded. It is understandable for OSAF to desire more accountability and structure for the application process, but in doing so, it should not create an intimidating façade of inaccessibility that a selection panel produces.

Perhaps the most significant—and misguided—tweak to the Conversations program is the introduction of the requirement for invited speakers to present at a “Community Hour” in addition to attending a dinner conversation. Although this “Community Hour” would increase the number of Duke students the

zachary tracer, University Editor julia love, Features Editor toni wei, Local & National Editor rachna reddy, Health & Science Editor Courtney Douglas, Sports Photography Editor austin boehm, Editorial Page Managing Editor rebecca Wu, Editorial Page Managing Editor naureen khan, Senior Editor swetha sundar, Graphics Editor Ben cohen, Towerview Editor Maddie Lieberberg, Recess Photography Editor Lawson kurtz, Towerview Photography Editor caroline mcgeough, Recruitment Chair Andy Moore, Sports Recruitment Chair CHRISSY BECK, Advertising/Marketing Director REBECCA DICKENSON, Chapel Hill Ad Sales Manager

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I

feel like I’ve been having deja vu this past week. It’s been a familiar series of events.

Meeting the new roommate, finding the right classrooms (not always), shopping for just the right laundry hamper.

Free food! Icebreakers galore! Awkward situations!

It’s freshman orientation for me all over again, only now I’m a judoris jwo nior and studying two points for abroad across the pond in Glasgow, honesty Scotland.

It’s a strange feeling to go through orientation (or Freshers’ Week, as they call it) with an objective eye rather than that excited nervousness I remember feeling during my first week at Duke. Duke in Glasgow students are housed with first-year students at the university, so we’ve had a lot of contact with froshies. Watching my freshmen flatmates race through the first few days of their new lives, chattering about where they’re going to explore, I can’t help feeling old, boring and just overall lacking that enthusiasm we all felt during freshman year.

Where has all the excitement gone and how the heck do we get it back?

As I was talking about Freshers’ Week with my fellow Duke students and about the incredibly bubbly phenomenon that is the freshman class, we realized that part of it is that just one week ago, these kids had been at home with their parents, never having lived on their own.

This doesn’t seem like an earth-shattering revelation, but I think that it’s easy for upperclassmen to forget that feeling of independence and freedom when you’re bogged down by papers and exams.

Another part of it is how easy it can be to feel boxed in by Duke after a few semesters there. After a while, it feels like you’ve seen all that there is to see, so why should you be excited about exploring more? It’s certainly been a different experience in Glasgow, being able to wander around the city when you’re bored or hop a bus out to a countryside town for a weekend trip.

Finally, not only is it easy to feel confined by the physical space of Durham, but I’ve often heard people say that after freshman year, they often feel confined to the friends they’ve al-

ready made. Social groups don’t seem to move around a great deal, so I suppose that freshman feeling of always meeting new people disappears.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though. For me, I’m hoping that Duke in Glasgow will be a refresher course in Freshman Enthusiasm 101. I’ve barely been here two weeks and there are already plenty of lessons to take back to my remaining semesters at Duke. It’s hard not to get caught up in that freshman craziness!

Sure, we all have tons of homework each night and countless responsibilities. And yeah, Durham isn’t the world’s most exciting city. But if you’re going to be there for four years, you may as well get to know it. And, there are plenty of places outside of Durham that most Duke students have never been to before.

Go to the Durham Performing Arts Center and see a play this semester. Take a drive down to the beach before the weather turns cold. Check out the American Tobacco District and try out a new restaurant. Head down to the quarry and have a swim. Have a weekend trip over to the Smoky Mountains and go camping, hiking or cave-exploring.

If you’re too busy to make it off campus, then take a few hours to wander around the Duke Gardens or check out the latest exhibition at the Nasher Museum of Art. I’m always surprised by how many students say they’ve never been to these great spots on campus.

Walking through the extremely chaotic, Glasgow version of the student activities fair a few days ago, I was suddenly strongly reminded of my freshman year. That first semester of staying up until dawn to talk to some friends you just made, wandering around the dorm to see who actually lives all the way up on the third floor.

That awed feeling you’d get when you hopped off the C-1 (for that darned 8:30 a.m. intro chem class) and saw the Chapel under the beautiful morning sky.

You remember how it was.

I know we’re all still freshmen at heart, so please, try and see if you can find it in yourself somewhere. Say hi to your hallmates, go tunneling if you haven’t already, leave your door open (but not if you live on Central!). I say this with experience from abroad, already missing our gorgeous campus: Duke is really one-of-a-kind and college is the best time you will ever have.

Enjoy it.

Doris Jwo is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every other Thursday.

the chronicle

Confessions of a senior ant farmer

W

ell, Mom and Dad, I did it. You said it couldn’t be done, but boy were you wrong. I made it to my senior year. What’s more, I managed to do it without turning any of my undershirts pink! Take that, nay-saying parents.

Ever since I met my senior First-year Advisory Counselor that first day of orientation, I’d been counting down the days until I was also a senior.

Something about him just seemed to exude an aroma jacob wolff of “eau de upperclassman awesomeness.” He was so i’m serious... cool (in a way that can only be gained by knowing the quickest route to the Levine Sciene Research Center from the bus stop), had a way with the ladies and, to top it off, he was just so dang smart (who knew My Sister’s Keeper was THAT deep)!

We’ve all experienced this feeling: the longing for it to be next year, to be one step higher on the social ladder.

Freshmen want to be sophomores so they won’t be waitlisted in four classes. Sophomores want to be juniors so they can go to beer pong night at Shooters. Juniors want to be seniors so they won’t have their significant others lured away by the charm of an elder’s off-campus abode.

There’s so many promises we make to ourselves throughout our four years here. Next year I won’t get stuck in the class with the 50-page paper. Next year I’ll find a girlfriend. Next year I won’t live in Perkins. Next year I’ll finally outlive my reputation as “that guy who kind of smells like my Aunt Wilma.” Next year will be better. Next year….

But this is it, the final stop—no more “next year” for me. I’m finally a senior, king of the castle, ruler of the (Gothic Wonder)land. “How’s the view from the top?” you ask. “Is it really as different from the last three years as we convince ourselves it’ll be? Is it really that much better?”

Well, for one thing, it’s nothing like freshman year. I’m living off campus now, so no more RAs! Sure, I have a landlord, police and mean neighbors to yell at me, but at least I won’t get a meaningless warning from a peer with little to no real power! So what if I take the C-1 everyday just like I did freshman year? At least I can be assured of the fact that with my Duke T-shirt, bulging backpack and printed ACES schedule, I look nothing like a frosh.

Senior year easily trumps sophomore year as well. Being secluded in an off-campus apartment filling out countless job applications while having little contact with the outside world is so much better than being secluded in the back of Edens 1C studying my butt off while having little contact with the outside world.

Even compared to junior year, everything is looking up, especially with the ladies. Everyone knows senior guys get all the girls. I may still be as single as I was this time last year, but I’m sure that’s only temporary. Now that I’m a senior hunk, I just know girls won’t be turned off by my used celebrity Q-tip collection anymore. If only I hadn’t left my ant farm in the car overnight on the drive down here (RIP Ant 1, Ant 2, Gigantic, General Ulysses S. Grant, Cantaloupe and Steve), I’m sure they’d have loved that too. Side note: I actually did have an ant farm, and it was awesome.

Yet as I walk out the West Union Building doors that still squeak, get lost on my way to some obscure building on Science Drive, ask a girl for directions only to have her ignore me, all while the Grass Roots’ “Let’s Live for Today” plays on my iPod, it suddenly hits me: The 1969 moon landing totally had to be fake, how could the flag be blowing if there isn’t any wind?!

Well, I’ve got to bolt. I have a 20-page paper due in a bit and I think the C-1 stops running soon, so I may have to walk back to East. Ah, the luxurious life of a senior. I’m just so glad I spent the last three years waiting for “next year” instead of actually living in the moment!

But I’m off to make a Match.com profile. Perhaps the pickup line, “Hey, my name is Jacob, and I’m a senior looking for a girl to tend my ant farm with” will get better results on there.

Jacob Wolff is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Thursday.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 | 11

commentaries

lettertotheeditor Trinity Heights talks yielding positive change I was pleased with the Sept. 15 editorial, “A beautiful day in the neighborhood?”, and I’d like to share a few more thoughts about relations between students and long-term residents in Trinity Heights.

First of all, I’d like to thank Duke Student Government representatives, particularly Will Passo and Andrew Brown, for initiating contact between students and neighbors that led to a student being elected to our Neighborhood Association board. Brown organized students to attend our neighborhood meeting last spring, and Passo did quite a bit of outreach work this fall to connect students and neighbors. Beyond bringing students to our meetings, DSG is developing ideas for projects, such as community gardens, that will enable students and neighbors to work more closely together.

As the editorial pointed out, these efforts have had positive results, and my neighbors and I have really enjoyed getting to know Joe Meyerowitz, David Hershey and other students who moved to Trinity Heights this fall. I would like to say, however, that Trinity Heights residents have always enjoyed good relationships with most student residents, and we constantly emphasized this fact when we worked this past year with Duke administrators to address party house problems. Far from

painting all students with the same brush, we told Duke administrators that the problem seems to occur with a minority of student households that operate de facto fraternity houses in our neighborhood and have frequent, very large and loud parties that are inappropriate for quiet residential streets. One reason we addressed this problem to Duke administrators, rather than students themselves, is that Duke seems to have made a policy decision not to provide a fraternity row where these parties could happen in an appropriate space that would not disturb neighborhoods.

We are glad that the neighborhood is quieter this year, and credit the efforts of our task force, Duke Student Government and students themselves for the change. And we would like students to know that they are most welcome in Trinity Heights—just recognize that it is a place for quiet, residential life, not large parties. And finally, I would urge the student body to ask Duke administrators to create a fraternity row on campus, where you can have large parties that won’t conflict with neighborhood life. We look forward to seeing you in the neighborhood.

Christine Westfall President, Trinity Heights Neighborhood Association

Aliens among us

M

ore than three years later, I remain struck by Duke convocation speaker Maya Angelou’s insight that, “Nothing that is human can be alien

to me.”

This concept, though, is too often distant from race relations activism on campus.

The race relations banners on the West Campus Plaza for Purple’s Social Activism week were a case in point. Apparently, having students share why they are “proud to be white,” “Middle Eastern,” “East Asian” and various other arbitrary ethnic and racial classifications is a critical step in improving race relations.

Although relatively vikram harmless in and of itself, srinivasan and no doubt well intenuncommon tioned, Purple’s race reconviction lations displays are symptomatic of a larger trend of “celebrating difference” as the way to improve racial interaction. A more serious approach should focus on celebrating individuals, not categories.

After all, the supposed goal of improving race relations on campus is not merely to encourage interactions between people of different races and claim success as such.

That would be a superficial victory. True change will come from helping people overcome the paradigm of race and recognize each other first and foremost as individuals.

Instead, the strategy employed by race relations efforts is too frequently to emphasize and oftentimes to sensationalize the perceptions of alien-ness which (falsely) divide us. Perhaps the reasoning behind these efforts is that by making people more comfortable with their own racial identity, then they will be more comfortable interacting with people of a different background.

Such a strategy is flawed, however, for the simple reason that it accepts as its first operating assumption the very idea it seeks to rebut: that race has inherent value in an individual’s identity. If the ultimate aspiration of race relations-targeted efforts is to free individuals from the oppressive stereotypes and expectations of social conduct implicit in their skin color, it hardly seems logical to trumpet the categories themselves as the cure.

The implication of celebrating race as the basis for difference is to suggest such labels can substantively and categorically speak to the experience of individuals. This is dangerous to say the least, and threatens to embolden the very stereotypes we seek to combat.

Some will respond that “racial pride” for individuals is often about reclaiming their racial identity from its historical association (either in America or elsewhere) as a source of shame. I can certainly sympathize with this impulse. Race should never be a cause for shame, and the fact that it has been is a stain on American history. But as we move forward, one must wonder whether many are beginning to forget that the motivating force behind the nation’s racial progress was the belief that race should mean nothing at all.

At Duke, with our student body full of individuals with richly unique experiences and perspectives, the goal of any effort to improve campus culture should be rooted in the basic desire to help students come to fully recognize the diversity of their peers as individuals.

Perhaps some wish to personally define themselves based on racial categories. But the danger with these categories is that you can choose to be ethnic, but you can’t choose not to be ethnic. The affirmation of such identities inherently creates social expectations for other people who happen to look the same way and inevitably threatens to legitimize and promulgate stereotyping.

People can celebrate and recognize their own family histories and cultural lineage while at the same time accepting that their experience is necessarily unique to themselves. Ultimately, our connection to any cultural heritage is mediated by the choices of our families, making each person’s experience distinct. Before this reality, racial categories are utterly inadequate.

Our ultimate aspiration should always be to understand each other as individuals and resist the temptation to think that we know who people are simply by looking at them.

When we celebrate racial difference, we accept the flawed premise that our race necessarily makes us different at all.

To Purple’s credit, their race-relations T-shirts sent exactly the right message, reading: “I am HUMAN.” As Angelou said, there are no aliens among us. We would do well to keep that in mind.

Vikram Srinivasan is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Thursday.

New this week on the Backpages blog:

Bud Baker - “The unprofessionals” Gloria Ahn - “Late night thrills” www.backpages.chronicleblogs.com

12 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 the chronicle

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