March 4, 2010

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, MARCH 4, 2010

City Council looks to close $13M deficit Property taxes likely to increase by 4%

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 108

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UMD 79

72 DUKE

Vasquez gets the last laugh

by Archith Ramkumar THE CHRONICLE

by Caitlin Johnson THE CHRONICLE

The city of Durham’s 2010-2011 fiscal year’s budget will likely shift gears from focusing on cutting costs to increasing revenue.

At this stage of the budget process, having completed two preliminary meetings with the City Council and remaining in conversation with citizens during his “Coffee with Council” sessions, City Manager Tom Bonfield said it is too early to determine which programs will be cut, but noted that the city will need to prioriTom Bonfield tize its services to close its nearly $13 million budget gap.

“We are in better shape than last year, when we faced a $40 million budget gap,” Bonfield said. “But we have fewer and fewer options to cut without having significant consequences.”

The city will work toward decreasing expenditures before looking to increase revenues. Nonetheless, property taxes are expected to increase, as they make up the largest source of income that can be changed without special legislation.

Increasing the tax rate by 5.8 cents per $100 of assessed property value would make up for the entire deficit, and represent a nearly 11 percent increase over current See deficit on page 5

michael naclerio/The Chronicle

Facial hair notwithstanding, Maryland senior Greivis Vasquez played an efficient game Wednesday against Duke and hit the biggest shot of the night, a tough runner that sealed the win for the Terrapins.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — With less than a minute left and Maryland leading No. 4 Duke 71-69 in a contest that will go a long way in deciding the regular season ACC championship, the Terrapins put the ball in the hands of their senior general, Greivis Vasquez. The guard took the ball at the top of the key and dribbled into the lane, throwing up an off-balance shot across his body with 37 seconds showing on the clock.

The shot dropped through the net, sending the Comcast Center into a frenzy. On the other end, Duke’s Jon Scheyer missed a tough one inside, and after several free throws, No. 22 Maryland (22-7, 12-3 in the ACC) secured a 79-72 win over the Blue Devils (25-5, 12-3), prompting a swarm of students wearing “Gold Rush” shirts to storm the court and nearby Baltimore Avenue, sparking a riot that featured helicopters, a SWAT team and riot police.

“It was a heck of game. I thought both teams played their hearts out,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They are to be congratulated—they are playing lights-out basketball, but I thought both teams played really hard. I don’t think one team played better than the other. It was a one-possession game and they won.”

While the game featured an exciting end to a back-and-forth second half, in the early stages of the game, it looked like Duke was going to get run out of the gym.

The Terrapins opened the game on a 7-0 run, with Vasquez accounting for five of those points. After a Brian Zoubek tip-in, See maryland on page 8

UNC prez Bowles will lead initiative to close U.S. deficit

by Paul Horak THE CHRONICLE

With the United States facing its largest deficit since the second World War, President Barack Obama has called on Erskine Bowles to head a national commission to tackle the country’s greatest economic burden.

Obama announced Feb. 18 that Bowles, the current president of the University of North Carolina system and former chief of staff under Bill Clinton, will co-chair the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Along with former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., Erskine Bowles

Bowles will lead the 18-member panel to draft a report to reduce the deficit by 2015. Bowles will retire from his UNC presidency at the end of the year.

“Recommendations are a long way from reality, and we will have to put some hard decisions in front of the American public,” Bowles said.

To contain the nation’s debt, spending must be cut and revenues increased, Bowles noted. He added that because entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security exceed national revenue, the country must borrow funds for military and education expenses, as well as all other costs.

“This is something I worked hard on my first time in Washington, and I am committed to restoring fiscal responsibility to this country,” Bowles said.

As chief of staff during the end of Clinton’s second term, Bowles presided over a budget surplus caused by increased taxing and decreased government spending.

And in his time at the helm of UNC, Bowles sought to bring fiscal responsibility to a rapidly expanding school system.

“I think he was the right person at the right time for the university system,” said Hannah Gage, chair of the UNC Board of Governors, which appointed Bowles to presidency almost five years ago. “He came in after a period of rapid growth when we needed to get the house in order and got us operating like a business when every dollar mattered.”

ONTHERECORD

Locals discuss Obama’s high speed rail grant, Page 3

“This is a perception within Campus Council that we are attacking you guys any time we address a housing initiative.” ­—DSG President Awa Nur on collaborating with CC. See story page 4

See bowles on page 6

Hip-hop mogul 9th Wonder enters the classroom, RECESS 5

2 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 the chronicle

worldandnation

TODAY:

5027

FRIDAY:

4826

Greece makes more deficit cuts to mitigate budget gap

Fed proposes restrictions Federal stimulus in dispute on credit card penalty fees WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of Democratic senators called for the government to halt a federal stimulus program aimed at building wind farms and other clean-energy projects Wednesday, arguing that too much of the money spent so far has gone to create jobs overseas.

President Barack Obama’s administration and wind-energy advocates strongly disputed the criticism by Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and three other Democrats, saying that most of the jobs under the Energy Department program have been created in the United States, despite the dominance of foreign manufacturers in the green-technology sector.

The dispute marks a rare public split among Democrats over the $787 billion stimulus package, which the Obama administration and party leaders have defended as crucial to easing the recession’s impact.

“

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

— Bertha Calloway

”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Reserve proposed restrictions Wednesday on penalty fees that credit card issuers can charge consumers, including limiting the amount of late fees.

One of the most significant changes would prohibit card companies from issuing penalty charges larger than the amount of the violation. For example, a person who is late on a $20 minimum payment could not be hit with a $39 late fee. In addition, if a card’s spending limit is exceeded by buying a $2 cup of coffee, the penalty fee cannot exceed $2.

The proposed regulations represent the Fed’s latest efforts to comply with the sweeping credit card reform legislation passed by Congress last spring. The final phase of the legislation, slated to take effect in August, requires that any penalty fees be “reasonable and proportional.”

TODAY IN HISTORY 1924: “Happy Birthday To You” published by Claydon Sunny

ATHENS, Greece — Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced $6.6 billion of additional deficit cuts Wednesday as he tried to convince European allies and investors he can tame the region’s biggest budget gap.

The measures include higher fuel, tobacco and sales taxes. The plan will also cut three bonus-salary payments to civil servants by 30 percent. Public workers already had their wages frozen and benefits cut, and unions have called for new strikes over Wednesday’s plan.

The premier is risking a backlash at home to meet European Union demands for more deficit cuts before allies would come to Greece’s aid. The announcement comes as Papandreou prepares to meet Germany’s Angela Merkel March 5 and French President Nicolas Sarkozy March 7 to discuss Greece’s financing needs and ways to limit

the fallout from the weakening euro.

“Today’s announcement is as much about giving other EU governments more political capital in the event that they do eventually need to provide liquidity to Greece,” said Gary Jenkins, head of credit research at Evolution Securities in London.

“They can make the claim to their own taxpayers that Greece has taken further measures as suggested by the EU.” The austerity measures are “difficult” though necessary for “the survival of our country and our economy,” Papandreou said after a Cabinet meeting in Athens Wednesday.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Wednesday that the Greek package should further calm markets and allow Greece to raise funds through new debt sales, signaling that an aid package may not be forthcoming.

Bill o’leary/The washington post

Darienne Page, known by President Barack Obama’s staff as ROTUS—receptionist of the United States—is expected to make a flawless first impression on visitors to the White House when they wait to be called into West Wing meetings. Obama decided to make public the list of all 2,215 visitors Oct. 28, 2009, providing an unprecedented view into the White House.

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RETHINKING THE BOUNDARIES

and look on The Chronicle stands Friday, March 26 for the bi-annual Housing Guide

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THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 | 3

Harvard professor warns of gov’t internet censorship

by Stephen Farver THE CHRONICLE

Although most students would agree that they can freely express their ideas online, the freedoms of the Internet may not be as guaranteed as some would presume.

In the fourth installment of the Provost’s Lecture Series, Jonathan Zittrain, professor of law at Harvard University, explained that despite the attempts of governments and other organizations to manipulate and suppress online content, there are solutions to preserve this information for future generations.

“This is a threat that everybody... thinks of as important but no one thinks of as urgent,” said Zittrain, a co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.

Speaking to a crowded room of more than 100, mostly adults, Zittrain cited the power of the American government to influence the content distributed to the public. Whereas this was previously manifested by controlling booksellers, the United States government can now pressure Internet Service Providers to remove or censor content that government deems dangerous to national security, he said.

By only storing online content on major servers such as Google or Microsoft, information is ultimately unprotected and can be removed at any time by the whim of governments, Zittrain contended.

To solve this classical “Fort Knox” problem and maintain unaltered information for future generations, Zittrain said that backing up content on multiple servers will save material if they

are removed from one server.

He also believes that Web sites should also back up information stored on other linked sites and keep them on their own servers.

Given the increasing frequency of cyber-attacks and decreasing cost of server space, Zittrain sees a future where Web site owners act in their own self-interest See Zittrain on page 6

kat shirrell/The Chronicle

Although some said that the high speed rail grant will create jobs for N.C., others argued that high speed trains are not suited for the geographic spread of the United States.

High speed rail grant receives mixed reviews

by Alejandro Bolívar THE CHRONICLE

caroline rodriguez/The Chronicle

Jonathan Zittrain, law professor at Harvard University, warns against the U.S. government’s censorship capabilities on the Internet during the fourth installment of the Provost’s Lecture Series Wednesday night.

The Finalists:

Class of 2014 Summer Reading

More than a month after President Barack Obama allocated $585 million to North Carolina to build high speed rail networks, state transportation experts have responded with mixed opinions about the project’s necessity and expected impact.

The money was granted through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which includes federal tax cuts and domestic spending for infrastructure. The North Carolina Department of Transportation

plans to use the funding to purchase locomotives, straighten rail lines and update train stations, said Pat Simmons, director of NCDOT. “[The project] would provide some jobs during the construction, however modest,” said Mike Walden, William Neal Reynolds distinguished professor and professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State University.

Walden said high speed rail may not be suited for a country See RAil on page 6

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4 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 the chronicle

Duke student government

Senate votes to support gender-neutral housing

by Matthew Chase THE CHRONICLE

Students wanting to room with members of the opposite sex may soon have that option.

Duke Student Government senators passed a resolution supporting the creation of gender-neutral housing options at their meeting Wednesday night. If approved, the resolution may allow for mixed-gender suites, mixed-gender apartments and halls with mixed gender rooms.

Peer institutions including Yale, Harvard and Stanford Universities provide gender-neutral housing, according to the resolution.

But junior Tommy O’Malley, Campus

Council’s liaison to DSG, noted that a North Carolina law prohibits this type of housing.

“The Ivy League schools don’t have to get around this N.C. law and Duke does,” O’Malley said during the meeting’s open forum. Campus Council confronted the legislation earlier in the year in discussions with the University’s lawyers.

Campus Council voted to approve a gender-neutral bathroom in Kilgo Quadrangle in 2008. Vice President for Student Affairs Spencer Eldred, a senior, said Campus Council’s initiative was a “very progressive stab” and that DSG should follow up with gender-neutral housing.

“This [resolution] is saying that this

needs to happen, even if that means that the law has to change,” Eldred said.

Students at the meeting discussed DSGCampus Council relations in addition to the resolution. O’Malley said there has not been much collaboration between the two bodies. He added that Campus Council has already looked into the issue of genderneutral housing.

DSG President Awa Nur, a senior, said DSG initiated the resolution after a student sought DSG’s support, adding that DSG is not trying to step on Campus Council’s toes.

“This is a perception within Campus Council that we are attacking you guys any time we address a housing initiative,” Nur said.

In other business: Senators approved an amendment encouraging the Office of Information Technology to promote double-sided printing, which would reduce paper use across campus. If OIT approves the resolution, double-sided printing will become the default option in students’ laptops, desktops and at ePrint terminals.

Student Affairs Senator Molly Superfine, a freshman, said OIT has expressed support for this program. She added that President Richard Brodhead identified double-sided printing as a cost-cutting measure in his Primetime address Feb. 16.

The Senate passed a resolution supporting a trial run that would make The Refectory Café at the School of Law open at various times on Saturdays. The trial run would take place from March 27 to April 24.

The Senate also approved a resolution that would establish a Web site allowing students to provide feedback on off-campus housing.

christina peña/The Chronicle

Vice President for Student Affairs Spencer Eldred presents the resolution to support mixed-gender housing options at the DSG meeting Wednesday.

Junior Will Passo, vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said the site would eventually allow students to see where past juniors and seniors have lived and learn more information about off-campus housing.

“This could be a really nice tool for people who want to live off campus,” Passo said.

A

BENENSON AWARDS IN THE

2010

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Approximately 20 Benenson Awards will be made to

undergraduates and May graduates of Trinity College and the School of Engineering. Funds will be awarded for fees, equipment, supplies, travel, production, and other educational expenses for artscentered projects proposed by undergraduates, including graduating seniors, in Trinity College and the Pratt School of Engineering.

Application forms are available online at http://www.aas.duke.edu/trinity/research/ (see Benenson).

Completed applications must be submitted by Monday, March 15 to the URS Office, 011 Allen Building. No faxed applications will be accepted. A current transcript and two letters of recommendation are also required, at least one of them from a Duke faculty member in the student’s major department. Letters may be mailed or delivered directly to Undergraduate Research Support Attn: Benenson Awards Committee, 011 Allen Building, Box 90051 or faxed to 660-0488

Application deadline: Monday, March 15 For more information, email ursoffice@duke.edu.

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THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 | 5

Duke seeks consent for two operating rooms in Wake

by Maggie Love THE CHRONICLE

Duke Raleigh Hospital is one of four health care providers competing to build operating rooms in Wake County.

The hospital applied for permission to build two new operating rooms in the county last month. WakeMed Health, Rex Healthcare and Novant Health have also asked for permission to build operating rooms, after the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council determined that three additional operating rooms are needed in Wake County.

“It’s a very competitive process,” Doug Vinsel, Duke Raleigh Hospital chief executive officer, said.

Duke Raleigh Hospital wants to add the two operating rooms in order to accomodate new technology and meet increased demand for surgeries.

Carla Hollis, chief marketing and planning officer for Duke Raleigh Hospital, said the hospital has seen an increase in surgical cases by 30 percent in the past two years. In Wake County, the population is growing about 3.5 percent a year, Hollis added.

“We certainly have the demand and with the growth we’re anticipating, we’re going to need [new operating rooms] even more,” she said.

Vinsel said surgeons currently find it difficult to schedule surgeries in the hospital’s 13 operating rooms within the ideal window of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If the hospital does not add operating rooms, more surgeries would need to be performed at night and on weekends, he said.

“It’s crowded and we’re trying to create additional capacities to make it easier for surgeons to

schedule cases and to work in,” Vinsel said.

Duke Raleigh Hospital also wants to recruit new health care workers. As part of its expansion, the hospital will recruit 14 sub-specialized surgeons, as well as additional nurses, surgical technicians and receptionists.

In addition to patient and surgeon convenience, Duke Raleigh Hospitals wants to expand to better suit the incorporation of new technology into surgery, Vinsel said. Not all of the operating rooms, some of which date back to when the hospital was first constructed in 1978, are large enough to house all the staff and equipment associated with robotic surgeries, he noted. Robotic surgeries, which Vinsel said patients have begun to request more frequently, are a more precise way to perform many surgeries.

Hollis said the hospital will expand some of its operating rooms even if it is not chosen to build new ones.

The N.C. State Health Coordinating Council determined the need for three new operating rooms in Wake County in an annual report. The state has until the end of May to determine who will be allowed to build the operating rooms. Unsuccessful applicants will have 30 days to appeal the decision, said Jesse Goodman, acting chief officer for the North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation.

If Duke Raleigh Hospital is selected, it will begin construction in the summer of 2011, Hollis said.

The addition of operating rooms, which Duke Raleigh Hospital administrators estimate would cost about $8.7 million, is part of the hospital’s Master Campus Plan, Vinsel said, adding that fundng will come from the Duke University Health System’s capital budget.

deficit from page 1 rates, The (Durham) Herald-Sun reported Feb. 27.

City Council member Eugene Brown said the city may have to compromise with a tax increase of 4 cents.

“Each penny would represent $2.1 to $2.2 million in revenue,” Brown said. “And $8 million will be used to simply service the existing bonds.”

In 2005 and 2007, voters approved city bond referendums for approximately $130 million in borrowing.

This money was pledged from property taxes and will have to be figured into the fiscal budget, Bonfield said. “[This fiscal year] some of the debt will have to come online,” Bonfield said. “It was always the case that it would happen.”

Without a tax increase, the city would exceed its current debt-service cost level—the percent of the budget that is devoted to paying debt. The debt ratio is currently set at 15 percent, which is generally considered the advisable limit.

Despite the sizable budget gap, Mayor Bill Bell introduced the possibility of a $20 million bond initiative to service the remaining unsurfaced roads over a three-year period at the City Council’s second budget retreat Feb. 26.

“We sent out a survey that asked what were the city’s priorities,” Bell said. “The need that came up as number one is to resurface our streets.

With the last two bond initiatives, we will have resurfaced half the streets in two years.”

One of the ways the proposed bond will be paid off is through property taxes, which would further increase

the debt-ratio, Bell said. He noted that if this bond becomes a viable option, voters would have to take these consequences into consideration.

Brown said he would be reluctant to support any new initiatives, wanting the city to focus instead on protecting core services, such as public safety.

“We are losing too many police officers to other communities,” he said. “Our training is very good, but we are [effectively] training them for other communities. We need to make their pay comparable.”

Brown said, however, that he would not support pay raises for other city employees.

“I don’t know any other city that can do it during these times,” he said, referring to a possible raise in city employee wages. “It’s not an easy task, believe me. But we were elected to make the hard decisions.”

A pay for performance plan would reward city employees for exceptional job performance with raises and bonuses. Bonfield said that whether the plan is feasible remains to be seen, but he added that the council wanted to look for as many ways to compensate employees as possible.

The deadline for city departments to present their budgets is Friday. Bonfield and the department of Budget and Management Services will spend the next few weeks going over the recommendations, and will present a draft of the budget to the City Council in May. The Council will then have the opportunity to make counter recommendations.

“Once we have [Bonfield and Budget and Management Services’] perspective, we will be in a better situation to make decisions,” Bell said.

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rail from page 3 with such geographic spread as the United States, noting that Europe has been successful with high speed rail because of its dense concentration of cities.

“In economics we ask, ‘Is that the best use of our dollar?’” he said. “My question would be whether those funds could be better put to use, perhaps serving a wider range of highway needs.”

Nagui Rouphail, director of the Institute for Transportation Research and Education and professor of civil engineering at N.C. State, said that although the new rail updates will not be as sophisticated as those in places like South Korea, Japan or Europe, they will cut travel times significantly by running trains with maximum speeds of between 90 and 110 miles per hour.

Currently, freight and passenger lines share the same rails, meaning that technical improvements are both possible and necessary, Rouphail noted.

“In my mind, [for] those short hauls between 300

and 400 miles—like D.C. and Charlotte—a train ride is very efficient and the most feasible alternative,” Rouphail said.

Factors such as the price of oil and jet fuel will dictate whether high speed rail can eventually reach the capacity it enjoys in other countries, he added.

“It’s going to be a slow process,” Rouphail said. “I don’t see that happening in the next 20 years.”

Michael Sanera, research director and local government analyst for the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina think tank, said the project will only serve citycenter-to-city-center commuters, which include primarily regional business executives.

“It’s a tremendous waste of money,” Sanera said. “It’s unfortunate that most of the media coverage has not pointed [to] the reality of the situation.”

Sanera said the money should instead be returned to taxpayers for them to spend as they please.

“Allowing government to make the spending decisions for millions of people is not the way to get out of the recession,” he said.

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The stimulus package allocated an additional $1.3 billion to Amtrak, $282,000 of which will be spent on North Carolina. Amtrak operates the Charlotte-Raleigh Piedmont rail line and the Charlotte-New York Carolinian rail line under contract with the state, according to the Amtrak Fact Sheet for fiscal year 2009. The Piedmont line receives 68,427 passengers annually and the Carolinian line has an annual ridership of 277,740, according to Amtrak’s February 2010 Fleet Strategy.

Amtrak also runs four long-distance rail routes with stops in the state.

“We work closely with our state partners, of which North Carolina is one,” said Karina Romero, manager of media relations at Amtrak. She noted that Amtrak had no involvement with the way that North Carolina stimulus funds were distributed.

Of the $282,000 Amtrak plans to spend on the state’s rail system, $105,000 will be used for field operations and wireless access for the Raleigh station, with the rest to be spent on Charlotte’s station.

Raleigh, the state’s busiest rail stop, serves 141,234 passengers yearly, compared to 134,173 passengers in Charlotte and 52,444 passengers in Durham.

Zittrain from page 3 and back up other Web sites in hope that they, themselves, will be cached in return.

Zittrain noted that sensitive information could be encrypted and stored by third party organizations such as libraries until a date when the content is no longer deemed dangerous. This would be especially helpful in situations of national security, he added.

He also commended the efforts of Web sites like The Wayback Machine and Wikipedia for their efforts to preserve information for future generations. Zittrain said that The Wayback Machine, an Internet archive time capsule that stores any changes to Web sites, has “copied everything... down to the day [and continues to] keep it safe.”

Senior Emily Poplawski, who attended the lecture, felt that although the talk was interesting, it was not ultimately applicable for many students.

“Most people at Duke are looking for the latest content, like checking Facebook statuses... or ESPN scores,” she said, adding that they tend not to search for historical archives.

Although discussing a serious subject, Zittrain still found time to jest with his audience, at one point commenting on how the capital of Kansas was recently renamed “Google” for the month of March in an attempt to draw more business from the company.

Despite problems with the current Internet landscape, Zittrain offers hope for the coming years. “[The future of the Internet] is in our hands more than we think, and so long as a critical mass of us is ready to take on this problem... we can make progress on it,” he said.

bowles from page 1

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UNC Vice President for Finance Rob Nelson said Bowles’ financial background helped the 17-campus system weather the recession better than many of its peers across the country.

“We sought a balance between our administrative budget and our academic budget,” Nelson said, adding that administrative efforts to cap tuition hikes and fee increases at 6.5 percent annually helped the system emerge strongly from the recession.

Bowles said he is especially proud of initiatives like UNC Tomorrow, a state-wide mission to bring more opportunities to North Carolina residents through instruction, research, scholarship, creative activities and public service.

“We wanted to break down barriers, improve access and affordability and expand distance education to increase the quality and quantity of skills that residents in the state need to compete,” Bowles said.

With Bowles approaching retirement, Gage and her colleagues on the Board are now actively seeking his successor.

“We’re excited and plan on casting a wide net in our national search for Erskine’s replacement,” Gage said. “We feel like we are in a strong position to attract the best candidate possible—we have strengthened the platform.”

Over the next week, the NC Board of Governors will assemble a committee to search for Bowles’ successor, with the hopes of having a candidate by early Fall.

In the meantime, Bowles will balance his time serving both UNC and his country.

“I am doing this for one reason and one reason only—I am doing this for my grandchildren,” Bowles said.

Recess

volume 12 issue 22 march 4, 2010

#IRONY

9th WONDER The hip-hop mogul steps out of the studio and into Duke’s classrooms PAGE 5

photo illustration by maddie lieberberg and caroline rodriguez/The chronicle

baryo

senior Erik Anderson heads to the Pacific to film

page 4

brat pack

the ’80s celebs come back into the spotlight

page 3

the wire

the beloved HBO series enters the classroom

page 5

recess

theSANDBOX. I was supposed to go camping this past weekend. Key words: supposed to. I was holey (yes, holey) prepared to go. Friday, I went to the Outpost, where I borrowed a tent, two sleeping bags and a lantern (I’m scared s—less of the dark).

I had even laid out my best faux-flannel shirt, a pair of Smartwool socks I wore with Chacos back in my I-wear-what-I-recentlyconvinced-my-mother-to-by-me-at-the-localhead-shop-and-smoke-bud-while-listeningto-Dick’s-Picks-Grateful-Dead days and my over-priced, unnecessarily rugged Timberland hiking boots.

I lied to everyone who I had optimistically and proudly informed throughout the week of my plans. (“I’m going camping this weekend,” meant “Pay attention to how poetic I am. How above the banal and limiting social scene.”). I never went camping.

Nope. Instead I spent Saturday night drinking at a house party that culminated in a full-scale fraternity fight I was largely responsible for. Way above the scene.

Though I was drinking PBR and wearing skinny jeans.

I’m tired. Exhausted. Being me is a hassle—I have to shop at obscure clothing boutiques, wake up early enough to go to Bean Traders for my artiste-trademarked recyclable coffee cup and follow enough blogs to make references to sparsely known up-and-comers in both the music and movie—I mean film—scene.

You think your midterms were hard, well let me tell you: reading Paste in addition to your textbooks is difficult, especially when you have to spend an extra 30 minutes walking in and out of The Regulator hoping someone will notice as they drive down Ninth Street.

While you all look forward to spring break in your sunny tropical locale lounging on the beach, I will be trudging up to the City where I’ll wander around the LES, eat goulash at Veselka, read Paul Auster in a coffee shop and make sure Hipster Runoff isn’t lying to me.

—Michael Woodsmall

[recesseditors] alt.academia Andrew Hibbard...............................................LIT - epistemology of self-loathing Eugene Wang...................................ECON - hamsterdam and the capitalist ethic Charlie McSpadden.............................AMI - contemporary american fraternities Kevin Lincoln..........................................................................AAAS - sampling soul Claire Finch..............................................WOMENST - furtively queering the self John Wall.....................................................................MUSIC - sounds of language Maddie Lieberberg......................................................ARTHIST - reimaging kville Will Robinson..............................................................POLSCI - lame duck leaders

[DUKE HORIZONTAL]

Page 2

If anything miraculous ever happened to me, it happened to my breasts, their saga worthy of their own Lifetime movie classic.

From the onset of middle school to the later years of high school, I identified myself as a flat-chested person as readily as I identified myself as an American citizen. While I flaunted strapless tops and transparent shirts in an attempt to elicit envy from my anatomically affluent friends, rationally I knew I had nothing to brag about. Thus, it was with great joy that I greeted the surprising news that I had grown into a size B. I had been called up from the minor leagues and traded to a respectable team. B was average, a solid score, a passing grade. I was content with my lingerie drawer for the rest of my teen years.

This era of moderation, however, abruptly dissolved during one fateful visit to Victoria’s Secret last summer, where I struggled to fit into my current size. Upon a sales assistant’s recommendation that I adjust my search to the proceeding letter, I felt like a very bizarre Cinderella, realizing with astonishment that I was now a perfect C. My world was permanently altered. The achievement ranked among the all-time greatest triumphs of my life, positioned somewhere between passing the N.C. driving test on my second attempt and winning the third-grade reading award.

Boobs have always baffled me. For one thing, there really doesn’t seem to be a male equivalent. For men, the discovery of breasts is inexorably linked with the process of coming-of-age. A lifetime is divided into two eras: before boobs and after boobs.

March 4, 2010

Plunging necklines and micro-bikinis become idols in a new religion.

In contrast, the general female population never uncovered their mother’s secret stash of Playgirl magazines, brimming with images of impressive genitalia, mostly because these lewd stockpiles probably never existed. The naked male sex organ is not inherently sexy, but rather gains appeal through its function.

Contrastingly, breasts make no active contributions to the bedroom repertoire, yet dominate the sex appeal equation.

Some might argue that boobs actually play a pivotal and active role in sexual enjoyment, but I think these might be the same people who bragged in seventh grade about getting to second base. What was the deal with second base anyway? How much did you need to grab to qualify? Was licking a prerequisite? Did the bra have to be removed? Did the whole process really merit its own title? Within our preteen confusion over second base, I find the origins of all the misinformed squeezing and grabbing that some confuse with foreplay. In reality, without nipples, breasts are just the pretty, dumb girl at the party: nice to look at but really rather worthless.

As a newly initiated member of an exclusive organization (if one takes great liberty in the use of the word exclusive), I am at a loss to how to properly utilize my blessings.

Now that I play for team C, I still can’t make my boobs do anything more exciting than fill out a sweater and balance overloaded cafeteria trays. In the midst of visually induced expectations, breasts everywhere harbor untapped potential. Just don’t expect me not to still be smug about mine.

Brooke Hartley is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every other Thursday.

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Alum Gora pens book on film icon Hughes, Brat Pack

by Kevin Lincoln THE CHRONICLE

little boots hands warner bros.

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Barbie just got another little sister. Europop Vicky is one sassy chick that knows how to sing.

Well, Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, may not be quite as plastic as Barbie, but her music is certainly dolllike. Flawlessly constructed, shiny and made to meet social expectations, debut album Hands feels straight off the production line.

The album opens with “New In Town,” and although the song title may not be instantly recognizable, it’s in the Lincoln car commercial that doesn’t use Phoenix. The track goes on the attack, digging at the seedy side of L.A. while maintaining an ultra-danceable sound.

The production fills every open space with glossy synths, exemplified on “Earthquake” and “Ghost.” By the middle of the album, this polish begins to grate. Each song makes for a fantastic dance track, but when put together, they lose their individuality.

Madonna’s influence pervades Hands, particularly noticeable on “Click” and “Mathematics.” The throwback sound works well, and Little Boots pulls it off while making it relevant to her more modern style. “Symmetry,” which features jarring backing vocals by Philip Oakey, falls far short of the ’80s pop glory that the other two songs achieve.

As expected from an album evocative of Barbie, Hands is, for the most part, lacking in cerebral material. The lyrics are often clever but frequently become repetitive.

The best song on Hands is both the titular and, oddly enough, hidden track. “Hands” is stuck on the end of “No Brakes,” and is the only real narrative track on the album.

The acoustic sound brings fresh life to the by-then stale electronic formula, and Hesketh’s vocals shine.

Hands still smells faintly of plastic, but underneath the porcelain perfection there lies a real girl waiting to escape.

—Nathan Nye

It took Susannah Gora more than 100 interviews over the course of three years to put together her portrait of John Hughes and the Brat Pack. But despite never getting to speak to Hughes himself—the filmmaker was famously averse to media and the Hollywood machine—it didn’t make the teen-film virtuoso’s death last August any less devastating.

“I will never, for as long as I live, forget what it felt like,” Gora said. “I cried, I couldn’t believe it. I had been so immersed in his world for so many years—every day of my life, really—that I did feel like I knew him.”

Hughes died at 59 after having established a legacy in American film that, to this day, remains one of the most viable of any filmmaker. His work as a writer includes Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and Home Alone (1990). He also directed the first three of these films, all of which remain adored by those who grew up with the movies and by newer generations.

And though Hughes’ repertoire seems to stand on its own, Gora’s book You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation should go another step toward keeping his movies in the speical to The Chronicle cultural consciousness. The book’s title comes from one Alum Susannah Gora worked at Premiere magazine after graduatof Judd Nelson’s character’s lines in The Breakfast Club, ing but recently turned her attention to penning a book on the Brat which is often cited as the seminal Brat Pack film.

Pack. Her second cousin is English professor Joseph Ashby Porter.

Gora has had the idea for a study of the Hughes oeuvre since she was a student at Duke from 1995 to 1999, watch- lander’s involvement in particular is interesting from a Duke perspective: St. Elmo’s Fire is based on a short ing his movies back-to-back-to-back in her dorm room.

“This idea swept across my mind that I wanted to one story he wrote while enrolled in college.

Gora was also a student in Gilliam’s class on Hollyday write a book about the history behind how all the films were made, and also examine the kind of impact wood film music, which the professor is teaching again the movies had had on pop culture,” she said. “Once I this semester. Gilliam contributed to the book by providing input on film music’s importance. had that idea, it became a driving force in my life.”

“Basically she wanted me to remind her of some of In the book, Gora explores her theory of cinesociology, which she describes as “studying the concrete socio- the basic concepts that we talked about: the role of the musical score in a film,” Gilliam said. “The music can logical impacts that movies can have on our lives.”

You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried analyzes this effect give us a strong sense of time, a setting, in many ways in regards to the films of Hughes. It also takes a closer more powerful than the costumes or the styles of cars look at the actors who made them hits, nicknamed the and the like.”

Eileen Ivers Ad-DTH-Duke:Layout 1 3/1/10 10:19 AM Page 1 Now, with the interviews complete and the book in “Brat Pack,” a label that came from a New York Magazine cover article on the group. The article had more print, Gora spoke of Duke as a major influence in her than just a labeling effect, and Gora said its portrait of success.

“What I learned about reading and writing and the decadent young actors partying in Hollywood helped to trivialize those involved in these movies, even individuals wonders of words has stayed with me all these years and has had such an incredible influence on the person I am,” who were never mentioned in the article.

What stood out were the films’ storylines, characters Gora said. “To this day, I actually keep framed on my desk a photograph that I took of the entrance to the Allen and epochal music, even a decade later. “[Young people] used the movies as a prism through Building, and I look at that when I’m writing.” which to talk about issues in their life, like love, friendship, fashion, music and class distinction,” she said.

“These movies were more than just fun teen flicks; these were important contributions to pop culture.”

As an undergraduate at Duke, Gora majored in English, studied film, and wrote for Recess as a film critic.

Professor of English Joseph Ashby Porter, Gora’s second cousin, taught Gora in both Shakespeare and fiction writing courses, which provided some of her favorite memories.

Gilberto Gil “In particular, she thinks that my fiction writing course helped her get into writing this book, a lot of which is MAR 17 narrative in content,” Porter said. “She was a wonderful student.”

Porter still remembers a story Gora wrote that included tales he and Gora’s mother had told for years about their small-town Kentucky childhood. Her works hinted at the ability to absorb history she would later demonMARCH 2010 strate in creating her book.

Pilobolus 14 Gilberto Gil After graduation, Gora got a job at the now-defunct 17 Eileen Ivers – Beyond the Bog Road film magazine Premier and worked there as a film jour22 Pilobolus nalist. Eventually, she left the magazine and put her plan in motion. In 2007, a contract for a John Hughes book 23 Lang Lang, piano, and Christoph Eschenbach, with the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random conductor, with the Schleswig-Holstein House, enabled her to begin work in earnest on the projFestival Orchestra ect that she had conceived a decade earlier.

25 Brooklyn Rider and 2 Foot Yard WORLD PREMIERE The wealth of interviews she conducted—which 31 Uncle Vanya – Maly Drama Theatre amount to over 2,000 pages—were what formed the of St. Petersburg basis of the book’s research. She spoke with all of the key players in the Brat Pack-Hughes contingent, including actors Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Judd Nelson and John Cusack; filmmakers Cameron www.carolinaperformingarts.org Crowe and Joel Schumacher; St. Elmo’s Fire writer and Order tickets online or at the Box Office, (919) 843-9862 M–F 10am – 6pm Duke alum Carl Kurlander, T ’82; and outside individuals like Duke professor of music Bryan Gilliam. Kur-

Eileen Ivers

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March 4, 2010

a

special to The Chronicle

Chris Cooper (top left) stars in Baryo, produced by Margie Templo (top center). An aspiring filmmaker, senior Erik Anderson (top right) took a month off from Duke to work as an extra in Baryo.

Senior ships out for new war film Senior Erik Anderson has probably skipped more class than even the laziest of students this semester. How much?

The entire month of February.

After a chance encounter in a bar, Anderson had the opportunity to work as an extra on writer-director John Sayles’ forthcoming Baryo, a fictional drama about the Philippine-American War starring Chris Cooper. Charlie McSpadden spoke to the aspiring filmmaker about his on-set experience in the Pacific.

How did you get involved with the project?

I went out with the waitstaff of a restaurant back home [in Jackson, N.H.]. We were at a bar with this guy [NYPD Blue actor] Gordon Clapp, and someone dared me to go talk to him and I did. We started talking and we were from the same town in New Hampshire.

I mentioned that I was studying film at Duke and I sent him the movie I made last semester. He talked to his director friend John Sayles and then I got an email saying, “Do you want to go to the Philippines?” I had to decide in the next two days, so I e-mailed all my professors and asked if I could take February off.

And how did your teachers react?

They were really cool about it.

What is the movie about and how did your character factor into it?

It’s about the American occupation of the Philippines in 1910. Basically, Americans were going through and occupying villages, setting up garrison to find [Filipino General

Emilio] Aguinaldo. I play one of Chris Cooper’s soldiers that storm this one village, which is where the title comes from, Baryo. Cooper plays a really hard-ass colonel based on this terrible guy, “Hell-Roaring” Jacob Smith, who killed a lot of Filipinos. My character does his dirty work. Initially, I was just an extra, but I worked my way up to a drummer, and I play the drums right before the climax of the movie.

What was it like to work with Chris Cooper?

It was really an honor to be working with Chris. I’ve been a fan of his since Adaptation, and I am grateful to be able to work with an actor of his caliber on my first movie. I was most impressed by his concentration and humility.

In 10 takes, his horse would stop in front of the same tree on the same word, and he could pull it off while changing his performance.

That makes things easier for everyone. Also, I think he was the only person besides John [Sayles, the director] that I never heard complain. He exemplified [actor] Billy Tangradi’s advice that if you want to have a long career in the movie business, you have to treat people well.

What sort of preparation did you have to do for the role?

Even for us extras, who weren’t primary characters, John gave us all backstories on specific soldiers, as he had read dozens and dozens of soldiers’ diaries. During march-

ing scenes, John would show us how we would halt, carry and sling our rifles. He had amazing attention to detail.

What was it like living in the Phillipines?

The Phillipines is the best place I’ve ever been to. I can’t say enough about the people there. We stayed at a resort, and we would get messages from the staff saying, “We hope you have a good day of shooting.”

How else did you interact with the locals and were they on the set?

The director was American, but most of the production team— wardrobe, props and the crew— were all Filipino. They all spoke English very well. And even though we were extras, they treated us as if we were the main cast. I didn’t expect that at all after watching shows like Entourage.

How do you think the people of the Phillipines will react to the general tone of the movie?

I actually interviewed some of them for the DVD’s “behind the scenes.” They all were really proud to be part of a movie that pretty honestly showed what the Americans did in the Phillipines. They were happy that an American director was making this movie for both an American and Filipino audience.

What did you gain from this experience?

I went into it because I wanted

to know more about what it’s like to be on a film set before deciding to move into the film business.

I learned a lot from interviewing [the cast and crew].

Most of what I got out of it was advice on the right kind of attitude to have.

I would compare it to any unpaid summer internship. Concretely I can’t say I have a job lined up, but I have a lot of contacts and people that can help me once I get to either New York or Los Angeles or wherever, and a feature film will look good on my resume. I have a more objective concept for what independent filmmaking is, how to get into it, what kind of personalities fit in what jobs. And let’s not forget the four or five seconds of screentime.

How does it feel to be back at Duke?

I’m always happy to be back at Duke, especially for spring semester in senior year, but I definitely miss that lifestyle. As much as it sucked to get up at 4 a.m., it was amazing to get out of bed, knowing that you were going to be on a film set, about to make something that was going to be seen by millions of people, and that you were going to interact with people at the top of their field.

To read more about Anderson’s experience, visit his blog extrasinparadise.blogspot.com.

Inspired b appropr

A

by Michael Woodsmall THE CHRONICLE

nne-Maria Makhulu was never m of a couch potato and had never The Wire. But when at a confere few years ago she overheard m Judith Halberstam, an English profess the University of Southern California, h an animated conversation about the show decided that it must be worthy of a vie She took it with her as her only company finishing a book manuscript in New York And it was then that she thought she h teach a course on this.

Professor Anne-Maria Makhulu (far right) teache

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March 4, 2010

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alternative

takes on academia 9th Wonder trades in studio for classroom, mixing board for chalk

caroline rodriguez/The Chronicle

T

by Ross Green THE CHRONICLE

here’s a rather distinguished group on hand at the Nasher for Professor Mark Anthony Neal’s African and AfricanAmerican Studies 132 lecture.

On one side of the lecture hall stage, Neal discusses the legacy of Motown music with special guest Harry Weinger, vice president of artists and repertoire at Universal Music Enterprises. Pierce Freelon, son of legendary jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon and emcee of the North Carolina jazzhip hop fusion outfit the Beast, occasionally peppers the two with questions from his seat in the audience. And 9th Wonder, the biggest name in the room, slouches in a chair opposite Neal and Weinger in front of a laptop. He provides the playlist for the evening’s event, alternating between classic Motown tracks and the hip-hop songs that have sampled them.

Nee Patrick Douthit of Winston-Salem, N.C., 9th Wonder has been a mainstay of the Triangle hip-hop scene since the early part of the decade, when his original group Little Brother released debut album

The Listening in 2003. But since leaving the group in 2007, 9th has diversified his focus. He’s in the midst of producing Death of a Pop Star, a collaborative album with Mississippi rapper David Banner, and will release Fornever, his fourth album with indie hip-hop artist MURS March 30. The album’s first single “The Problem Is…” features unusually aggressive rhymes from MURS atop sparse, minimalist drums and gospel-tinged backing vocals.

“Fornever is [MURS and I’s] best record,” 9th says. “A lot of people say our best record was MURS 3:16, some people think it was MURS’ Revenge…but we did it again on this one.”

This is high praise, given the considerable critical acclaim afforded each of their first three collaborations, but 9th is setting his sights even higher.

In 2009, he created two independent record labels, Jamla and The Academy, and has recruited a stable of North Carolina emcees for both. He’s also the lead composer for videogame giant EA Sports title NBA Live ’11, due in October.

“The [EA Sports] team is talking about making me an unlockable character,” 9th says with a grin.

His recent exploits have extended to academ-

by peers, AAAS professor riates The Wire into class

much r seen ence a mentor sor at having w, she ewing. while k City. had to

When she returned to Durham, she expressed her interest in teaching the course at a faculty meeting and was greeted with an enthusiastially positive reaction. That response was validated by the course’s high enrollment in its first semester of being offered.

“For me, as an anthropologist, The Wire is incredibly socially robust. It reveals a world with all of its [connections],” Makhulu says, channeling Halberstam’s enthusiasm.

In a recent interview on Up Front with Tony Cox, Makhulu and Jason Mittell, a professor of American studies and media culture at Middlebury College, discussed the television pro-

gram’s use in classrooms. Mittell emphasized how it brings together seemingly disparate worlds.

The extraordinary social imagination of head writers David Simon and Ed Burns portrays oft-ignored issues in an accessible way, encouraging conversations that were only whispers before.

“Most of us are teaching this as a ploy,” admits Makhulu. “Not to be deceitful, but to appeal to students to think about very difficult issues.”

See the wire on page 6

(top) special to the chronicle, (far right) indu ramesh/The Chronicle

es a course on the acclaimed TV series The Wire (above). Duke is one of few colleges in the U.S. offering classes on the show.

ics as well, having taught classes at North Carolina Central University for the past three years. In addition to teaching a hip-hop history class pro bono at Barber-Scotia College in Concord, N.C. this semester, he is the co-professor, along with Neal, of African and African-American Studies 132 at Duke, entitled Sampling Soul. The project, he says, has been gestating for some time.

“Mark and I have been in and out of each other’s academic and musical lives for the past four years,” he says, citing two shared appearances on North Carolina Public Radio program The State of Things.

Neal traces the idea for the class back to March of 2007, when the two spoke at an event at the Nasher supporting Street Level, an exhibit showcasing urban-inspired, multimedia art. The two originally planned to hold the class last spring, but both ran into obstacles.

“I was on a visiting professorship at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and I didn’t have enough time to prepare the curriculum,” Neal says. “At the same See wonder on page 7

Page 6

THE WIRE from page 5 The course is in the catalogs at the University of California— Berkeley, Middlebury and Harvard, though each iteration has a different curriculum. At Berkeley, renowned feminist scholar and author of Hardcore Linda Williams teaches it from a more literary perspective, asking the question, what is so great about The Wire?

On the first day of class, Makhulu was up-front with her intentions and told her students that the course was not a television course. Instead, the series would be a new medium through which she would do her pedagogical work—the same work she had been doing for years.

Senior Marcus Andrew says he was excited for the course and its curriculum. Having grown up in Washington, D.C., he was aware of similar issues.

“The nature of The Wire is that is multifaceted,” Andrew explains. “There’s a lot of depth. A lot of different issues at different levels.”

The subject matter is heavy, and it is obvious that many students are tentative when offering their opinions. The occasional comment from the back of the classroom is said with a strained voice, as students struggle to voice controversial points of view.

But this isn’t to say that students aren’t interested. The faces in the classroom are ever-changing, as many unenrolled undergraduate and graduate students will occa-

sionally sit in on the hour-long class.

“I have a lot of floaters,” she says, cringing at the predictably of using a term borrowed from The Wire. But that is precisely what makes the series such an effective medium—its ability to resonate after the closing credits.

Makhulu is obviously passionate about her work, physically composed yet unable to contain the excitement in her South African-accented voice. Her words fill the most distant corner of the classroom in the Carr Building on East Campus, as she grasps her podium in an attempt to control her gesticulations. She is genuinely enthused not only by the show, but by the conversation she is having with her students as well.

She elicits their perspectives with sincere interest, offering her own with humbled honesty.

“There are moments of enlightenment, learning going on in both directions,” Makhulu says, thinking of her own growth throughout the course.

The course is taught in one of the darker rooms, with windows facing south and the blinds pulled down halfway, ideal for a mid-morning nap. But looking around the room, the eyes are wide-open and alert. Some questions posed by Makhulu incite mini-discussions amongst the students, though it is obvious by their reaction that the clips garner the most attention. But the silence of unsure opinions does not intimidate Makhulu, who continues in her attempts to encourage the

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students.

Sitting in her office, she considers my inquiry of whether or not the students have a hold of the material.

“There were classes I didn’t get at all the first go around,” recalls Makhulu of her own college experience. “There is a slow process of coming to recognition of things you see in your world every day.”

This appreciation for the slow burn of increased understanding allows the students the necessary time to digest the issues, some more unfamiliar to them than others. “[Makhulu] said that we can’t subjectively view it, that there is a whole world outside ours and every institution has its own rules and own logic,” Andrew says.

Though the students may each be residents of a different world, Makhulu and The Wire bridge the gap. “[The issues] are not completely foreign to anybody,” Andrew says, reflecting on class discussions. “Everybody is taking ownership of the issues that we are talking about.”

Explaining her thoughts on the current societal state, Makhulu says the American Dream is now an ideological fiction. She believes that as a society, we find less controversial and more blackand-white explanations more satisfying. She hopes that through the series, people will no longer ignore the difficult issues.

“Until you really know,” Makhulu concludes, “you don’t know what you’re looking at.”

March 4, 2010

Falling Into Place

ian soileau/The Chronicle

Pittsboro-based potter Mark Hewitt brought 12 of his large scale works to the Nasher’s exterior. For an interview with the artist, go to dukechronicle.com/recess

Duke Performances in durham, at duke, the modern comes home. rafal blechacz, piano

Chopin, BaCh, Mozart, DeBussy

Friday, March 5 • 8 pm | Reynolds

artemis string quartet Saturday, March 13 • 8 pm | Reynolds farber foundry theatre’s Molora adapted from the oresteia trilogy Friday & Saturday, March 19 & 20 • 8 pm | Reynolds los lobos + leo kottke Thursday, March 25 • 8 pm | Page antares quartet Friday & Saturday, March 26 & 27 • 8 pm | Nelson Music Room ciompi quartet lunchtime classics: Bartok Tuesday, March 30 • 12 pm - 1 pm | Rare Book Room

student $5 duke tickets

10% discount

duke employee

rafal blechacz • 3/5 Winner of 5 first Prizes in the 2005 ChoPin ComPetition

for tickets & info 919-684-4444 dukeperformances.org

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March 4, 2010

the white ribbon

dir. m. haneke sony pictures classics

eeeeE

Raising kids is no picnic. Do you hit or hug? Punish or praise? Is there a peaceful way to prepare a person for a lifetime on earth? These are the overwhelming questions elegantly explored in writer-director Michael Haneke’s Oscar-nominated oeuvre, The White Ribbon.

The year is 1913 in the fictitious town of Eichwald, Germany. The peasant farmers of this Protestant village answer to the authoritative figures of a regal Baron (Ulrich Tukor) and an austere pastor (Burghart Klabuner). Stability thrives under their strict rule until a series of violent acts strike the community. A farmer’s wife dies mysteriously at the sawmill, and the baron’s son is kidnapped and brutally beaten during the harvest festival. As the violence persists, the film is narrated from the distant perspective of the town school teacher (Christian Friedel) who observes these crimes as sinister suggestions of the looming World War.

Awarded the Palme d’Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and Oscar nominations for best foreign language film and achievement in cinematography, Haneke’s bleak Ingmar Bergman-esque film cuts deep into the foundations of human character.

Here, Haneke subtly uncovers the roots of the evil he exaggerated in Funny Games and Benny’s Video, filming in the modest color palette of black and white and muffling acts of brutality behind closed doors. Each character is perfectly cast, and Haneke draws arresting performances from both the veteran actors and the infants. Cinematographer Christian Berger masterfully guides the camera through the homes of Eichwald like a dispassionate ghost, conjuring an eerie claustrophobia reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick. This style leaves audience members to be voyeurs of the film’s forbidding feudal world until Haneke reveals its place in historicity.

The children of this village are the products of fear, the heirs of a society tortured by an anonymous violence. Is it any wonder that theirs would be a future of cruelty?

—Emily Ackerman

A bored Blue Devil left West Campus traveling east at 50 kmh. At the same time an arcade had a tournament near East Campus. What game would be played?

A) TEKKEN 6 B) CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 2 C) ROCK BAND: BEATLES D) BORDERLANDS

You can also vote by: • visiting Snarks on Facebook • sending an email • visiting our Ninth St. location The next tournament will be Saturday, March 20 at 2 pm.

703A 9th St., Bull City 919.286.6777 SnarksGames@gmail.com

Sun-Thur 12-9 Fri-Sat 11-11 Mon Closed

wonder from page 5 time, 9th was in the last year of a threeyear contract at NCCU. Doing the class this spring just made more sense.”

Now that Sampling Soul has come to fruition, Neal—a veritable encyclopedia of soul music knowledge—has been pleased by his co-teaching dynamic with 9th.

“Duke is big on team teaching, because it allows for a more diverse perspective,” Neal says. In this case, “9th brings a professional knowledge, both as a producer and as a performer, that I [can’t replicate]. So I’ll do a 20-minute set, then he’ll do a 20-minute set, then we’ll collaborate for the rest of class.”

The course itself focuses on a broad variety of topics relating to sampling music in hip-hop. Sampling Soul meets once a week for two-and-a-half hours, with lectures ranging from intellectual property law to the making of Nas’ 1994 landmark album Illmatic. Neal’s book What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Popular Culture, among others, features prominently.

Throughout the semester, the course concentrates on the prevalence of soul music in popular culture. In light of a hip-hop climate that has shifted definitively toward electronic influences, 9th views the promotion of soul in the genre as paramount.

“We need to [preserve the influence of funk and soul in hip-hop],” he says. “I was having a conversation with [Philadelphia hip-hop producer] Don Cannon, and he said, ‘There’s a million people that do synth beats in mainstream music, but there’s probably only like five or six of us that do funk and soul sounds.’”

“The best way to preserve any art form is through academia,” 9th argues, “as long as you’ve got the right components and the right people in place.”

Page 7

At the same time, 9th is committed to revitalizing the hip-hop community in the Research Triangle. The once-vibrant scene led by the Justus League, a rap collective which included Little Brother, has witnessed a drop in both productivity and prominence.

“There was a serious local scene in the early 2000s, but it’s sort of died off,” 9th says. “With [record labels] Jamla and Academy, I’m trying to create a farm league for some of these local guys.”

“I don’t ever plan on leaving the Raleigh-Durham area.”

— 9th Wonder, hip-hop producer “I don’t ever plan on leaving the RaleighDurham area. A lot of guys who do good things in music leave North Carolina—I mean, what’s the point?” he asks rhetorically. “You can’t cultivate your state, your local scene, by living somewhere else.”

With 9th remaining in the area indefinitely, Neal views a future reprise of Sampling Soul as possible, if not definite.

“We’d love to do it again, but part of the challenge is finding funding, primarily to pay 9th’s salary,” he says. “We also don’t want to water down the class. We could maybe do it once every other year, or once every few years.”

But even against the backdrop of reviving hip-hop in the triangle, 9th views a reunion with Little Brother as unlikely.

“Sometimes things happen for a reason, and sometimes people in your life are seasons,” he observes, flipping a Kanye West lyric. “It’s sad to say, but I think that time has passed.”

Page 8

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March 4, 2010

Lines of Attack: Conflicts in Caricature February 4 – May 16, 2010

IMAGE: Kevin KAL Kallaugher, Florida, 2000. Pen, brush and india ink, 16 x 20 inches, Appeared in The Economist, July 17, 2004.

The exhibition, its catalogue and related programming are generously supported by Duke University’s Provost’s Common Fund, the Sunny Rosenberg Endowment Fund and the Sandra A. Urie and Katherine Urie Thorpe Endowment Fund. Additional in-kind support was provided by the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies and The Chronicle.

www.nasher.duke.edu | 919-684-5135

Sports

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Chronicle

ONLINE

THURSDAY March 4, 2010

Lindsey Harding and Alana Beard were added to the U.S. National Team Columnist Alex Fanaroff explains some of his math from Wednesday’s column

www.dukechroniclesports.com

men’s basketball

Vasquez trumps Scheyer in crunch encounter

michael naclerio/The Chronicle

Senior stars Jon Scheyer and Greivis Vasquez had the challenge of guarding each other on both ends Wednesday.

by Andy Moore THE CHRONICLE

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Wednesday night’s game was the final act of Duke and Maryland’s season-long war for control of the ACC. But within the larger contest lay a mini-battle between two of the conference’s premier guards for one of the most coveted awards any college basketball could ever

dream of-ACC Player of the Year.

With a 20-point, four-rebound, fiveassist performance, including a gameclinching basket with 37 seconds left in the game, Greivis Vasquez definitely proved he was worthy of the honor on a Senior Night that was mostly a celebration of the Venezuelan guard.

His counterpart in battle, Jon Scheyer,

did not. The senior appeared rattled the entire game—he was the victim of cascades of boos and vulgar cheers from the pregame warm-ups to the final buzzer. “[Expletive] you, Scheyer,” was the chant of choice for most of the contest, and while the guard assured the media it didn’t affect him—“At this point, I don’t even hear anything, to be honest,” he said—his performance told a different story.

Scheyer scored 19 points, his season average, and had five rebounds. But it took 21 shots for Scheyer to get his points, and he had four turnovers to only two assists, a stark contrast from his 2.9-to-1 assist-toturnover ratio.

Perhaps more importantly, he struggled on the defensive end as well. In a unique situation, the two players gunning for Player of the Year in the ACC guarded each other for most of the game.

It was a matchup nightmare for any guard, but especially for Scheyer, who couldn’t keep up with the stronger, quicker Vasquez. Maryland’s star scored at will many times, but more importantly, scored efficiently, even hitting a couple of 3-pointers when left open. The same could not be said for Scheyer and Duke.

“I thought we took good shots for the most part. We just didn’t hit them,” Scheyer said. “That’s all you can say. We’ll keep taking them, though, because we’re confident in that shot.”

Scheyer did make an inspired effort to try to pull Duke ahead as the second half drew to a close. With two sets of hands in his face, he hit a three with 5:37 left.

Then after Vasquez answered with another trey, Scheyer made a tough layup to put Duke ahead, 65-63.

When it mattered most, though, Vasquez got the better of Scheyer and the Blue Devils. And the difference between the two guards, and the difference a year makes for their respective fortunes, was never shown to be greater. Scheyer hit a 3-pointer in the final two minutes to ice Maryland during last year’s contest at the raucous Comcast

Center. Wednesday, Vasquez got his revenge on the final possession.

Vasquez stood at the top of the key, guarded by Scheyer. Duke had abandoned the zone defense it had utilized for part of the game to try to slow the quick Maryland guards, so Scheyer was forced to defend Vasquez alone.

Vasquez drove right, stopped about 10 feet away from the basket, and then, while closely guarded by Scheyer, threw up with one hand what appeared to be a combination of a jump hook and a shotput toss. In See analysis on page 8

michael naclerio/The Chronicle

Jon Scheyer’s tough shooting night belied the handful of key baskets and other plays he did make.

women’s basketball

Four Blue Devils get ACC nods

by Sabreena Merchant THE CHRONICLE

On the heels of Duke’s first ACC title in head coach Joanne P. McCallie’s short tenure, four Blue Devils earned All-ACC honors by a vote from the Blue Ribbon Panel and the conference’s coaches.

Junior Jasmine Thomas was named first-team All-ACC, the 11th time in 12 seasons a Blue Devil has been named to the first team. Thomas was Duke’s leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, including nine games of 20 or more points, and she notched just the third triple-double in program history Nov. 27 against Marquette in the Caribbean Classic. The guard was joined by Virginia’s Monica Wright, Boston College’s Carolyn Swords, Miami’s Shenise Johnson and Florida State’s Jacinta Monroe on the first team.

Senior Joy Cheek nabbed third-team honors, marking the first time she and Thomas have earned All-ACC honors. Cheek, a tri-captain, has started every game for the Blue Devils this season and is averaging 10 points and 6.1 rebounds.

Allison Vernerey was selected to the All-ACC Freshman

team, becoming the first Duke player since Abby Waner in 2006 to earn the honor. The center from France displayed flashes throughout the nonconference season, was plugged into the starting lineup for the first time Feb. 8 against North Carolina and didn’t disappoint. Vernerey scored in double figures four times during ACC play, including 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting against the Cavaliers Friday to secure the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.

The coaches selected senior Keturah Jackson to the All-ACC Defensive team along with Wright, Johnson, Monroe and Clemson’s Lele Hardy. The fifth-year tri-captain anchored the Blue Devils’ perimeter defense this season, leading the team in steals with 70, a career-high.

“I’m so honored and blessed to be named to the AllACC Defensive team,” Jackson said. “One of the key attributes that attracted me to the Duke women’s program was the defensive intensity and intimidation. I am grateful and proud to contribute to it.”

No. 9 Duke begins ACC Tournament play Friday against the winner of Thursday’s matchup between North Carolina and Maryland.

christina pena/Chronicle file photo

Fifth-year senior Keturah Jackson earned a spot on the All-ACC Defensive Team after recording 70 steals and anchoring Duke’s defense.

8 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 the chronicle

maryland from page 1 Maryland continued to roll offensively, as Landon Milbourne drilled a 3-pointer. Moments later, forward Jordan Williams— who ended up having a huge impact on the contest with 15 points and 11 rebounds—took an assist from Vasquez and posterized Scheyer with a thunderous dunk, raising the already high decibel level inside the Comcast Center.

The lead ballooned into a 33-19 advantage for the Terrapins before Duke started to fight back behind the stellar play of Nolan Smith. The guard began to slash into the paint and get to the foul line, and he hit a 3-pointer with 1:16 left until intermission that cut Maryland’s lead to five.

On the ensuing possession, Scheyer drilled a triple of his own, capping a 9-0 Blue Devil spurt to end the half and giv-

michael naclerio/The Chronicle

Guard Nolan Smith’s 20 points, many of which came on clutch outside shots, were not enough to guide Duke past Maryland in College Park.

ing the Terrapins only a two-point advantage.

“No one scores a lot of points against Duke, but what we did early, we were really hot and made some great plays,” Maryland head coach Gary Williams said. “They’re going to find ways to shut you down, and they did.”

The second half was a different story, with each team throwing punches and counterpunches anytime the game threatened to get out of hand. Smith, who was lustily booed when introduced as being from Upper Marlboro, Md., went on a 7-0 run by himself in the second half to turn a 54-49 deficit into a two-point Blue Devil advantage with 8:03 left. The junior threw in a runner, converted some free throws, then hit a jumper that momentarily silenced the deafening crowd and prompted Williams to call a timeout. It was temporary vindication for Smith, who was knocked out of last year’s road contest at Maryland after a nasty screen set by Terrapin forward David Neal.

But in the end, Vasquez, who has been at the center of plenty of controversial remarks over the years, came through in the clutch. After Scheyer hit a tough 3-pointer with 5:37 to go in the contest, Vasquez answered with a triple of his own. Later, the guard broke a 65-65 tie with another basket in the lane. Both plays set the stage for Vasquez’s final heroics, which put the nail in Duke’s coffin.

“It came down to a possession or two at the end,” Scheyer said. “They made their shots. We missed some layups [and] we missed some shots.”

One factor that ended up ultimately costing the Blue Devils was rebounding. In the two teams’ earlier meeting in Durham, Duke dominated Maryland on the glass, with Zoubek posting 17 rebounds by himself. In this game, however, the Terrapins ended up with the advantage on the boards, 36-35.

A lot of that had to do with Jordan Williams, who asserted himself from the tip-off and was lauded by his coach for showing vast improvement from earlier in the season.

Unlike the Blue Devils’ loss to Georgetown in Washington, D.C. in January, when the team looked lifeless throughout the game, Duke showed character and clawed back to make the contest interesting against Maryland. In the end, though, Duke’s leaders simply could not match the Terrapins’ when it mattered most.

“I’m proud of my guys. I thought we played winning basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “I tell them all the time, if we miss shots, you take your swings and they’re good swings, and you lose, you lose. We just came up short.”

michael naclerio/The Chronicle

Jon Scheyer attempts a driving, left-handed layup with Greivis Vasquez on his back Wednesday night in College Park, Md.

analysis from page 7 keeping with the theme of the night between the two guards, he got to watch it fall in while Scheyer could only helplessly look on. Some would say the shot was lucky, or perhaps an act of desperation. Not Vasquez.

“I work on those shots,” he said. “It was an unbelievable shot and it went in. I was always going to go for it.

I was going to take that risk.”

His confidence, loved by Maryland fans and loathed by the rest of America, stood in stark contrast to the dour scene in the Duke locker room. In it, Scheyer sat and listlessly answered questions about the game.

“He’s a good player and he plays with a lot of emotion,” Scheyer said. “He’s the guy for their team.”

And on one Wednesday night, in front of a rowdy crowd—so rowdy, in fact, that there were several arrests and fires in a postgame celebration—“the guy” had good reason to be cocky.

“I love Duke,” Vasquez said after the game with a smile.

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THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 | 9

Diversions Shoe Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

Dilbert Scott Adams

Doonesbury Garry Trudeau

The Chronicle what causes us to riot: f**** old layouts being saved on the desktop!: ���������������������� hon anything, really: ��������������������������������������������������������������� emmeline missing tildes: ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� pena ink and paper: �������������������������������������������������������������������������austin dea: ������������������������������������������������������������������������������� gabe, jscholl dry campuses: ������������������������������������������������������������maya, addison 10111010, not 101010101: �����������������������������������������klein, pena x2 dos goatees: ��������������������������������������������������������������lawson, jessica Barb Starbuck could have hit that runner too: ������������������������ Barb

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The Independent Daily at Duke University

The Chronicle

10 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 the chronicle commentaries

Broaden socioeconomic inquiry Statistics reported in The and it dovetails with the UniChronicle this week detailing versity’s long-held committhe socioeconomic distribu- ment to increase educational tion of the undergraduate access to all who are qualistudent body are not all that fied, regardless of financial shocking. Selfneed. But if the reported data SDI wants to editorial indicate that enact substannearly a third of all students tive change, it must broaden come from families that make its scope of inquiry. more than $200,000 per year.

The SDI will investigate Despite efforts to in- the impact of socioeconomic crease aid to students from status on social opportunities disadvantaged backgrounds, and academic life. This inquiry, elite private universities like however, cannot be separated Duke have long been the from the fact that low-income preserve of wealthy students. students at Duke are in the Amid this stark reality, Steve minority. When a campus is Nowicki, vice provost and populated by the privileged, dean of undergraduate edu- undergraduate culture will cation, has launched a Socio- marginalize the disadvantaged. economic Diversity Initiative So although issues of soto investigate the social and cioeconomic diversity do play cultural barriers facing low- out during students’ time on income students at Duke. campus, the crux of the issue The SDI is a noble effort, lies before students ever ma-

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onlinecomment

The process can be simultaneously illuminating and stultifying.

”

—“Michael Gustafson” commenting on the story “SACS renews University’s accreditation.”

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“I

triculate to Duke. If the SDI does not consider the University’s outreach to low-income applicants and its admissions policies for these students, the SDI will only enact piecemeal reform.

The immediate reaction should not be to admit more low-income students simply to further the cause of diversity, although a representative student body does enable rich educational experiences and encourage students to engage with difference. More importantly, the goal should be to ensure that economically disadvantaged students, if qualified, have access to a Duke education.

To accomplish this, the University must first examine its outreach strategy to students on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum.

It is easy for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to overlook these students, who often do not attend schools that traditionally feed many applicants to Duke.

Reaching out to low-income students will be difficult work, but a good place to start would be reconsidering the location of information sessions. Hosting admissions presentations at high-end hotel ballrooms—as is the University’s current practice—is not the way to attract disadvantaged students.

Second, the University must examine how it evaluates students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. If students are admitted on the basis that they are “qualified,” administrators must consider how this distinction plays out for disadvantaged students.

If students do not have access to test preparation materials or do not attend schools with well financed extracurricular activities, traditional metrics like SAT scores and school activities do not tell the whole picture. Instead, students should be evaluated within the context of their personal environment.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions has made great strides in increasing outreach to low-income students and evaluating their qualifications on a case-bycase basis, but there is ample room for improvement. Admissions—along with campus life—fall under Nowicki’s purview, and he must incorporate these factors if he desires a comprehensive and effective analysis of socioeconomic diversity at Duke.

Lose the “fat talk”

’m so fat!”; “Ugh, my love handles are definitely showing in this picture… dieting starts now!”; “I can’t eat that—gotta look good in my swimsuit, you know?”

Spring Break is just around the corner and campus is drenched in talk of women seeking to get fit and look good. Wilson Gym is more crowded than usual, and chatter in women’s bathrooms across campuses center ying-ying lu on looks and the fleeting moments imperative of “losing a few pounds” before being seen in a swimsuit.

Talk like this is not unique to this time of year.

After all, Duke women are generally health-conscious, and we pride ourselves on our attention to fitness, including taking care of our bodies.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good for Spring Break or any other occasion. In fact, such a desire can be just the right impetus for a change of habits that can mark the start of a shift in priorities or lead to a long-term improvement in lifestyle. However, it is when dieting and working out—the desire to “trim down”—becomes an unhealthy struggle for perceived perfection that it becomes malicious rather than beneficial.

In our media-saturated society, images of female bodies are everywhere. Women’s magazines are filled with photographs of airbrushed models representing cosmetic and dieting products. Although we may know that the pictures have been altered or enhanced, we flip through the pages of our magazine or the channels of our television without consciously thinking about it. Instead, we compare ourselves to these unrealistic women and, in the process, soak up the implied assumption that being thin is a prerequisite to being beautiful.

Indeed, articles such as “Best and Worst Beach Bodies” and “Last Minute Ways to Get Fit for the Beach” play their part in fueling the desire to lose weight and look thin before an upcoming vacation. The accompanying images, often selected by men, also help set an unhealthy standard of female beauty. However, the desire to look slender, as well as the phenomenon of women judging each other’s bodies, is not something new.

Nor is it confined to the media; we ourselves contribute to this vicious reality. Women, when was the last time you said to a girl friend: “Wow, you look great! Have you lost weight?” Intended as a compliment, the line seems positive enough.

The hidden downside is that statements such as this, thrown so casually into our language, reinforce the expectation for women to be slim.

In this cycle, women are often the biggest culprits. Sure, one facet of our attempts to look good is the desire to attract men—but one could argue that women are often each other’s harshest critics. Even judging other women who are not our friends (“Oh man, she shouldn’t be wearing those jeans!”) sets a tone of negativity that seeps into our culture more readily than we may expect.

A friend recently forwarded me a YouTube link to “Tri Delta—Fat Talk Free Week,” the video for a yearly campaign that was started by a national sorority in 2008 and seeks to draw attention to body image issues and the role that our own words play in them. Trivia that stood out to me included the fact that fashion models are skinnier than 98 percent of women in the United States; that over half of women would rather be hit by a truck than be fat; and that more than two-thirds of women would rather be mean or stupid than fat.

The video’s concluding purpose was to get viewers on-board with its five-day body activism campaign, which challenges both men and women to eliminate what it calls “fat talk”—negative messages that reinforce unrealistic standards of body image.

I leave you, both men and women, with a similar challenge. Starting this Spring Break, whenever you are tempted to critique a female friend’s physicality, or even to share a judgment of a stranger’s body, think twice about the message you are sending and the assumptions you are reinforcing. And when you do speak, pick even your most well-meaning phrases carefully, so as to not send the wrong message.

Bring these habits back to campus: start noticing “fat talk” and the impact that words can have.

After all, Duke is our home and we are all invested in each other. Spring Break is transient, but the relationships we form at Duke are especially worth cherishing. The girl on your cruise may smile about your well-placed compliment for that day, but your hallmate in Kilgo will be positively impacted by the culture that your words are helping to create every single day.

If we can be more conscious of the direct effect our language has on the creation of this culture at Duke, we will have taken the first step towards putting the focus back where it belongs: on health and fitness rather than on an unrealistic standard of female beauty.

Ying-Ying Lu is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every other Thursday.

the chronicle

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Why should you care about entrepreneurship?

e at Duke are fortunate. We are part of a community dedicated to the pursuit of truth in an environment of leisure. Our tradition traces its roots to Plato’s Academy in the fourth century B.C. jon field Now entrepreneurship guest column is emerging in the academy.

So, what is entrepreneurship and does it have a role at the University? Is it a passing fad, soon to be replaced, leaving no trace on university life?

Entrepreneurship is certainly a buzzword today. For many, it represents the shortest path to a Ferrari and early retirement. But this isn’t true statistically and hardly a noble idea to stand alongside a liberal arts education.

Those of us in the entrepreneurial community at Duke work with a different model. On this model, the starting point is thoughtful, critical observation. The foundation of entrepreneurship is a deep understanding of people, their needs, their behavior and the context.

The second ingredient is imagination. Are there ways to improve people’s lives? Can something be created that addresses unsatisfied needs? Can technology be applied to improve processes?

The entrepreneur has both a thoughtful, nuanced understanding of how things are and the imagination to see how they

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commentaries

could be better. But the entrepreneur does not stop there. He or she has the orientation to action. And by action, we do not mean random activity that only lets you whine about how nobody understands your ideas. Rather, entrepreneurial action is focused and disciplined. Its goal is to achieve change.

Stripped of the hype, the essence of entrepreneurship is observation + imagination + action.

Does this idea have an enduring role in the Duke community? We think so. These skills are invaluable for a productive contributor to society. Opportunities to develop them are valuable, possibly necessary, complements to a liberal arts education. Embracing these principles represents a step in the development and maturation of the University.

In entrepreneurship, we are all students: Trinity freshmen, MBA candidates, Ph.D. engineering students, experienced business people and academics. We come together dedicated to action that will improve our world, whether our focus is the environment, health, information or social justice.

There are now many opportunities at Duke and a climate that allows you to create opportunities of your own.

Please don’t miss them.

Jon Fjeld is a professor of the practice and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Fuqua School of Business.

Do it in the dark

o it in the dark, turn off the lights.” period of extensive expansion.

I got a coaster with that slogan on it in colSo if energy consumption is driven by square-footage, it lege. Someone was a) clearly worried about the would logically behoove the University to make buildings accumulation of condensation rings on the dorm furni- and the services they consume as efficient as possible. ture, b) making a statement about safe-sex or c) wanted The CAP has employed a wedge approach to classify students to turn the off the lights when not in use. these opportunities.

Being an engineer, I’ll skip the multiple choice and just For those that like to see the tangible improvements get to the real question: Have we gotten more hip to energy (the hip side, if you will), I point you to the Green Builduse since I got that clever coaster? The aning wedge. To augment Duke’s current swer points to no. And yes. goal to achieve a LEED silver rating on new For a little background, I turned to the buildings, Noonan told me the recently apAnnual Energy Review 2008: Energy Conproved K4 dorm will serve as a test bed for sumption, a report published by the staa proposed LEED Plus policy that places intistical arm of the U.S. Department of Encreased emphasis on the energy efficiency ergy. According to the report, total energy points under the LEED rating system. consumption in the U.S. has been on the Not surprisingly, existing buildings are liz bloomhardt also on the block for increased efficiency. rise since 1949. Growth has been relatively consistent across the transportation, resiSuggested conservation measures range green devil dential and commercial sectors, with the from instillation of fancy fume hoods in labs, industrial sector seeing greater fluctuation and declines to modifying housekeeping hours and updating demand in recent years. management systems for indoor air circulation. Undergrads According to the same report, Americans per capita take heart, to my knowledge, no one has yet suggested that now use 52 percent more energy than they did in 1949, the lights be turned off in Perkins—your study hours are despite a 9 percent drop in per capita consumption since safe. You may continue to study with the lights on, if, you the peak in 1978 and 1979 and a leveling of per capita know, that’s what you’re into. consumption over the past two decades.

But wait, there’s more.

Based on historical trends from the U.S. Census BuRenewable energy is also on the table. Despite high reau, we can attribute these findings in part to a growth in interest levels in campus projects by student groups, it’s population coupled with increased efficiency. As a nation unfortunately projected to be a small fraction of realized we’re both more hip (i.e. energy efficient) and less hip future gains, and be expensive to boot. (i.e. total energy consumption is still increasing).

The most notable wedge to date then is the fuel mix. MisDuke has not been immune to these national trends. understood by many, the University operates both steam and Energy consumption on campus has been on the rise chilled water plants on campus for the sole purpose of heatsince 1990, the earliest emissions data recorded in Duke’s ing and cooling buildings. The recent $25 million converClimate Action Plan. Energy use currently makes up 76 sion of the East Campus steam plant to natural gas will take percent of the University’s carbon emissions, therefore over much of the load carried by the coal-fired West Campus making it the biggest piece of the pie, and the logical plant when it comes fully into service, later this month. place to start in any reduction strategy.

This is huge. Coal notoriously produces more carbon First, according to the CAP, “The primary driver for en- dioxide equivalent emissions than any other fuel source. ergy use on campus is the total building footprint.” That Although a significant capital investment, based on nummeans the more buildings on campus, the more energy bers provided by the CAP, the switch has the potential to used on campus. Buildings consume energy. realize a 13 percent reduction in emissions per year comI asked John Noonan, associate vice president of facili- pared to the 2007 baseline emissions levels. ties and chair of the Energy Subcommittee of the UniversiFinally, there is a stark reality hidden in the largest ty Campus Sustainability Committee’s Energy Subcommit- wedge, one that’s out of the University’s control. Currenttee, if his committee had considered a recommendation ly, no electricity is generated on campus. One hundred to limit growth. He said it hadn’t. Executive Vice President percent comes from Duke Energy, which is projected to Tallman Trask likewise indicated the economic recession be 60 percent at the end of the CAP’s time horizon in had effectively instituted that recommendation for us.

2050. That’s a significant piece of the pie.

Appropriately, then, during the development of the So, after all that, we’ve become impressively hip, but CAP Noonan told me the energy subcommittee took into we’re still on the hook, and that’s where we might ulticonsideration the lower historical growth rates, the rate mately be left fumbling for the lights. of growth during the development spurt and the effect of the economic downturn when deciding on the assumed Liz Bloomhardt is a third-year graduate student in mechanirate of future growth. The assumed future growth rate is cal engineering. Read part II of this column online Friday, availlower than the growth rate experienced during the recent able exclusively at www.dukechronicle.com

Going blind

M

y glasses are as much a part of me as anything I can think of. I have worn them since the fourth grade, switching every two years to a new style and brand. Slowly, they have metamorphosed from a pair of dinky, tortoise-shell circle frames to a sleeker pair of black, rectangular frames

by Ferragamo.

Every passing year has meant the continued degeneration of my eyes.

When I was younger, my eye troubles were slight and entirely normal, no more bothersome than a quirky personality trait or a particularly unique food preference. But thomas now, my eyes are shot.

And though I am not gebremedhin literally going blind, word-by-word or even capable of being considered legally blind, seeing is hard.

When I’m without my glasses I get extraordinarily anxious. The world I expect becomes something else altogether. I have only lost or broken my glasses on three occasions and each time was absolute hell. Every step I took I had to question. Buildings looked less distinct and more menacing, and every face I saw was featureless with so little personality it was as though I was looking at balls of wax. And so, when I’ve been without my glasses, I’ve had to create the world as I imagine it to be as, in those instances, I’m incapable of seeing it any other way.

I wonder though, if I am the only person ever affected by such vision paralysis. This idea of seeing extends itself beyond the literal and physical, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now. What do you see when you look at someone? What do you think others see when they look at you? I have a deep fear that to others, I am but a blur, a massive blob of nothing more than featureless flesh—because then, I have no control over what they decide to see, or what they imagine me to be.

I have many characteristics and qualities that come with their fair share of assumptions and baggage. Being black and gay, I find that sometimes people stare a little harder. And these are not necessarily stares of anything other than a genuine curiosity or recognition of the fact that I am different from them. Perhaps, if I am being honest, these stares are only significant in terms of the emphasis I place on them, and perhaps it is my own recognition of my “differences” that I see in their eyes.

Either way, I have spent a lifetime developing mechanisms to combat being “blurred” and reconstructed. I have worked at making people laugh harder, at smiling at strangers as I pass them on my way to class. Please do not mistake this for insincerity. When I laugh with you, I mean it, and when I smile, I’m happy to see you. But I am also quite conscious of the fact that I am trying to break through to you, and in doing so, I worry that at times I fulfill the stereotype, or the idea of what others expect me to be.

I imagine that it is quite easy for many of us to “blur” the people in our lives, both close to our hearts and unfamiliar. Because, when it comes down to it, it’s hard to see someone as nothing more than what they are.

You see their clothes, their weight, their color, their voice, and with all of these things, you build a man or a woman who may not actually be there. And what’s worrisome then is that you may find yourself alone.

Sometimes, it’s much easier to fall into this type of behavior as it keeps you from seeing things you don’t want to see: people getting thinner, or sadder, or meaner. Instead you choose to see someone healthy, or happy, or popular. And this vicious cycle continues only until it’s stopped. People all around us are trying to break through, to you and me. In doing so, as philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once noted, they enter a battleground for the self, attempting to define and redefine themselves, sometimes getting trapped.

It’s important that we look at one another with our lenses on, to ease the burden of self-definition for others, and to keep from constructing a vision of what we think we should see. We, each of us, are vivid and bright.

Thomas Gebremedhin is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Thursday.

12 | THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 the chronicle

March 4, 2010 The University has requested a City bonfire permit for March 6 (UNC Men at Duke). We want to remind you about safety guidelines for basketball bonfires at Duke. Five years ago, the Durham Fire Marshal revoked permits following a bonfire that, in his view, had gotten out of control. Students and administrators subsequently agreed on the guidelines outlined below which will help ensure everyone’s safety.

1. The bonfire site is in front of House P. The bonfire must be contained within a 40-foot marked boundary and everyone should remain outside that boundary.

2. Do not put dorm furniture in the bonfire.

3. Periodically, the bonfire must burn down to a safe height. During “burn downs,” no additional fuel may be added to the bonfire.

4. Bring beverages in plastic bottles or cans.

5. Do not sit or stand on building roofs.

6. Do not add fuel to the fire more than two hours following the game.

7. The use of any accelerant is prohibited.

8. Bonfires on any other day or at any other location are not permitted. Students who participate in a bonfire on any other day or at any other location may be subject to prosecution.

Celebrating basketball victories with a bonfire is a Duke tradition. Follow these basic safety rules so we can continue this tradition for years to come.