September 23, 2010 issue

The Chronicle T h e i n d e p e n d e n t d a i ly at D u k e U n i v e r s i t y

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 21

www.dukechronicle.com

‘Precious’ director takes issues head on Pres. updates employees on Uni finances

by Chinmayi Sharma THE CHRONICLE

During his address, Hollywood director Lee Daniels gave his audience some advice.

“You’re never going to please everyone,” Daniels told a crowd of about 100 at the Nasher Museum of Art Wednesday. “So you might as well tell the truth.”

In an event inaugurating its year-long series of lectures, Duke’s Center for African and African American Research hosted the critically acclaimed producer and director to speak on his life and work. Daniels, who directed this year’s Oscar-winning film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’

by Sapphire,” spoke to an audience of faculty as well as student actors, directors and screenplay writers.

In his remarks, which lasted about an hour and a half, Daniels stressed the importance of making movies that illuminate issues people sometimes find uncomfortable. “Precious” is about a young black woman who struggles to finish high school while raising two children after being raped and impregnated by her father.

“The main purpose of my films is to make sure you never walk down the street and not see [Precious] again,” Daniels said.

The center’s goal in inviting Daniels, who often makes movies that center on controversial racial issues, was to foster discussion about racial topics among a wider community, said J. Lorand Matory, a professor of African and African American Studies.

See daniels on page 5

by Matthew Chase THE CHRONICLE

genevieve wernerThe Chronicle

Lee Daniels, director of “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” emphasized the importance of shedding light on controversial issues during his speech at the Nasher Museum of Art Wednesday.

After a tough 2009-2010 fiscal year, the University’s endowment and budget appear to be heading back on track.

The University’s endowment saw a 13 percent return last fiscal year, which ended June 30, according to an e-mail sent yesterday to faculty and staff. After reducing its annual $2 billion budget by more than $60 million last year, administrators will still need to cut about $40 million this year and next year.

“It is very good,” said Executive Vice President Tallman Trask about the endowment return. “Earlier we thought it might be as much as 15 [percent]. It’s come back a fair amount, but we still have a long way to go.”

The e-mail, sent by President Richard Brodhead, also reported that gifts to the University increased by 15 percent from last year to $345 million, adding that the last fiscal year was the University’s third-best year for philanthropy.

Because of positive growth, the University has plans for a “modest salary increase” for next fiscal year, according to the e-mail.

This time last year the outlook was not so bright, however. In fiscal year ’09-’10, the University’s endowment value fell about 27.5 percent and giving fell 22 percent to See finances on page 4

Duke Cancer Center patients use DukeEngage Tablet PCs for symptom screening director Mlyn to

by Shaoli Chaudhuri THE CHRONICLE

ted knudsen/The Chronicle

The Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center began using Tablet PCs for patient check-in and symptom screening last year.

lead through 2016

Tablet PCs aren’t just for playing video games anymore—they are revolutionizing health care delivery at Duke.

Beginning last year, the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center introduced its patients to a new method of symptom screening with e/Tablets. Instead of filling out paperwork upon arrival at the center, patients in six of the center’s cancer clinics can now check in with hand-held computers. Using these e/Tablets, patients fill out a survey of 88 questions, rating their symptoms on a scale of one to 10—nonexistent to severe—in the waiting rooms.

“It’s a review of any type of symptoms patients might be having—from breathing troubles to coughing to diarrhea to rashes,” said Susan Blackwell, a physicians assistant at the Cancer Center. She added that after patients complete the survey, the computer sends the

When asked on their applications why they chose Duke, high school seniors now mention DukeEngage more frequently than Duke Basketball.

Eric Mlyn, executive director for DukeEngage who led the program from a conceptual idea to a nationally recognized initiative, was recently reappointed through June 30, 2016. Suzanne Shanahan, associate director for the Kenan Institute for Ethics, led a standard review that solicited feedback from more than 80 stakeholders.

Provost Peter Lange and Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, made the joint decision to reappoint Mlyn. “[Because Mlyn] was part of a committee that helped

See e/tablets on page 6

See mlyn on page 4

ONTHERECORD

“These are issues because the rules are broad and in some cases, in my opinion, dumb.”

­—DSG Senator Ben Bergmann, a senior on election issues. See story page 3

Triangle may build new rail system, Page 3

by Sanette Tanaka THE CHRONICLE

Researchers find gene that may be related to myopia, Page 4

2 | thursday, september 23, 2010 the chronicle

worldandnation onschedule...

GlobeMed Info Session Friedl 126, 8:30-9a.m.

Interested in global health or want to learn more about it?

Come to the info session to learn how you can get involved.

on the

Anabasis: Looking for Antonioni in Asia Perkins Library, 3-4:30p.m.

Part of the APSI Speaker Series, follow a group of Greek soldiers on a long voyage across Persia.

9467

FRIDAY:

9467

Human Rights Film ScreeningAfter Innocence Perkins Library, 7-8:30p.m.

“After Innocence” tells the story of wrongly imprisoned men who are exonerated by DNA evidence.

web

“All American pop music, from Jay-Z and Beyonce to whatever, comes back to southern folk music. Those are the roots of our culture. We all know how rock and roll shaped American culture, but southern music is the archetype of that. In the concerts you’ll hear everything from literal recreations of the music on Sounds of the South to complete reinterpretations.”

— From The Playground playground.chronicleblogs.com

Marvin Joseph /The Washington Post

American University Professor Chris Palmer makes an appearence at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. Palmer’s recently released book Shooting in the Wild exposes secrets in the environmental filmmaking industry. Palmer reveals how manufactured sounds and staged fights are often included in the filmmaking process.

“

TODAY:

He who knows nothing, doubts nothing.

— Brazilian Proverb

”

TODAY IN HISTORY

1806: Lewis & Clark return to St. Louis from Pacific Northwest.

Congress hears testimony Iran potentially willing on salmonella outbreak to undergo negotiations WASHINGTON — Before a congressional panel and consumers sickened by tainted eggs from his Iowa agribusiness, Austin DeCoster said Wednesday that he was sorry for causing what has become the biggest national outbreak of salmonella illness on record.

“We were horrified to learn our eggs may have made people sick,” said DeCoster, 77, whose hands shook as he made his first public statements about the outbreak. “I”ve prayed several times a day for all these people for improved health.”

DeCoster told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations that he erred by trying to run his massive complex of 107 barns on 66 acres as if it were a small business, without employing sophisticated technology to combat salmonella contamination.

off the

wire...

Iranian parade bombed

UNITED NATIONS — Iran increasingly appears willing to enter into negotiations in the near future over its nuclear program, diplomats close to the talks said Wednesday, a move that would restart a process that ended abruptly last fall.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this week expressed public interest in renewing talks with the United States and other major powers. Iranian officials have privately echoed that sentiment in conversations with diplomats on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, leading officials to believe Tehran will soon formally agree to resume talks.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her counterparts from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met Wednesday to discuss the prospects for negotiations and to review the implementation of sanctions imposed on Iran in June by the U.N. Security Council.

Obama speaks at the United Nations

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Triangle looks to upgrade transit system

by Robert Dunlap THE CHRONICLE

Many members of the Duke and Durham communities have found themselves stopped at the intersection on Swift Avenue and West Main Street, waiting for a churning freight train to clear the tracks.

The Triangle Regional Transit Program is considering new plans to develop an efficient and sustainable regional transportation system. Many different possibilities for improvement are under

evaluation, including the development of a new light rail train system.

As a part of its long-range transportation plan, so far TRTP has looked at and analyzed roughly 80 miles of rail corridor, which runs throughout Orange County, Durham County and Wake County. TRTP is now trying to hear the public’s opinion. As part of this effort to inform and interact, officials are hosting public workshops throughout the Triangle.

At a public workshop in the Durham

special to The Chronicle

At a public workshop held by the Triangle Regional Transit Program in Durham Thursday, some residents expressed concerns over the addition of a rail system when the current bus system is still not completely effective.

DUKE SUMMER READING PROGRAM ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS Please submit your suggestions for the Class of 2015 summer reading!

The Book Selection Committee will choose this year’s text based on the following criteria:

• Prompts stimulating debate and lively discussion • Resonates with incoming students • Encourages thought and personal reflection • Enriches the intellectual life of students Submit your nominations online at: http://studentaffairs.duke.edu/summer-reading

Past Selections

Class of 2014 • Class of 2013 • Class of 2012 • Class of 2011

Station Transportation Center Tuesday, however, not everyone was sold on the idea of expanding the transit system.

“The bus system you have already is not working, because you’re not doing what you said you were going to do... This is not Charlotte, this is not New York, this is Durham, North Carolina.,” resident James Chavis said.

Several residents attending the forum noted that they took issue with plans to put in a rail system, when the current bus system does not extend into all the different neighborhoods of Durham.

Others noted that passengers on Durham bus routes have to pass through Duke. Pointing to the map on display, one citizen complained that the vast majority of the public transport system runs past Duke, and through the professional centers of downtown Durham.

The network of buses barely extends itself into northern, southern and eastern Durham.

Another Durham resident, Andrea Wilson, cited problems with the reliability of public transportation.

“We have to deal with what’s going on now,” Wilson said. “The bus system that we have is down in the dumps, man.

It’s horrible. I am a regular, for two and a half years, I have not had a car. I had to run to the bus yesterday morning because the bus was five minutes early.

And a lot of times they are 10, 15, 20 minutes late. We are going through a lot of being late. On the regular, three or four buses, late!”

See transportation on page 6

duke student gov’t

Senate votes to set up new committees

by Joanna Lichter THE CHRONICLE

In its meeting Wednesday, Duke Student Government established two new committees: one charged with modifying DSG election bylaws, the other with increasing student familiarity with financial aid.

The Special Senate Select Committee was created in order to ensure that all future DSG elections run smoothly and without controversy, said senior Ben Bergmann, an athletics and campus services senator. The committee will be able to propose new legislation and modify existing bylaws to clarify any inconsistencies in the DSG Constitution, he added.

“Every year there has been some contentious issue with elections,” Bergmann said. “The idea with this committee is that they would produce proposals which could include an election bylaw... dealing broadly with the idea of DSG elections and Duke elections in general.”

The committee must present any changes to the bylaws by the last Senate meeting in December, according to the committee statute.

Sophomore Kenny Gould, freshman Gracie Lynne, junior Louis Ortiz and senior Justin Robinette, all DSG senators, were elected to the committee.

See dsg on page 5

4 | thursday, september 23, 2010 the chronicle

Gene contains link to myopia, study finds

by Natasha Ahn THE CHRONICLE

Duke scientists’ recent work identified a gene closely related to the world’s most common eye disorder.

Researchers at the Duke University Medical Center discovered a gene related to myopia—commonly known as nearsightedness. The World Health Organization lists myopia treatment as a priority to prevent avoidable blindness, but there are currently no practical therapies to prevent its progression, according to the study.

Dr. Terri Young, professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics and co-author of the study, said the work is a step toward eventually preventing myopia with the help of future research. Young’s work deals specifically with severe cases of myopia.

“We still have to develop animal models to test our hypotheses and then develop therapies for animals,” Young said.

“Then we can begin developing therapies for humans.”

Myopia is a condition in which the focal point of an image falls short of the retina at the rear of the eye, resulting in blurred distance vision.

For many Duke students, nearsightedness is more of an inconvenience than a medical risk. Junior Anthony Henry said his glasses are so comfortable he even sleeps with them on.

See myopia on page 6

mlyn from page 1

finances from page 1

conceive DukeEngage, he was the obvious person... to direct the launch. And now that it has run three years successfully, he was the natural person to continue,” Nowicki said.

Initially funded by The Duke Endowment and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DukeEngage is a $30 million initiative that fully funds immersive service opportunities for select undergraduates.

More than 1,000 students have volunteered in more than 40 nations.

Shanahan cited Mlyn’s success in transforming a “big idea” into an established program and integrating DukeEngage into the wider civic engagement model as grounds for his reappointment. She added that in the summer of 2010, more than 900 students competed for 350 spots in six domestic and 19 international programs.

During the next six years, Mlyn said he plans to increase domestic programs and connect students’ engagement experiences with their curriculum at Duke. He will also assess data from the past three years to improve programs, including reviewing the effectiveness of faculty-led programs versus third-party providers.

Creating the program was challenging, but the additional five years will allow him an opportunity to innovate and perfect the program, he added.

Nowicki said he would like to further expand the program to allow more students to participate, but that it is a far-off goal due to the economic downturn.

The extension of five additional years is a standard length of reappointment for a director of a program like DukeEngage, Lange said, calling the reappointment a

$302 million. Trask added that this year the University received more smaller gifts,versus larger donations.

The University also recently received more than $200 million in grants, according to the e-mail. Duke is one of the largest university recipients of National Institute of Health stimulus funding research nationwide, the e-mail added.

But the endowment is still around $1.2 billion lower than it was at the end of fiscal year ’08-’09.

In recovering from the losses accumulated since 2008, the University implemented many cost-cutting measures last year, including the early retirement program, which contributed to the elimination of 400 positions. Additionally, administrators decided not to increase salaries last year, which reportedly protected more than 100 jobs.

“These steps also helped Duke so far avoid the large-scale layoffs and cutbacks in benefits that other institutions have endured, while protecting key priorities like student financial aid and the quality of the educational experience,” the e-mail reads.

The e-mail was not sent to the entire student body, but it was sent to all faculty and staff, according to Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. Schoenfeld said Brodhead has sent similar e-mails to the Duke community in the past, adding that administrators wanted to wait for most faculty and staff to return to work to send the e-mail.

“It’s been several months since we have provided a regular update for the faculty and staff,” Schoenfeld said.

Trask and Provost Peter Lange will give an update on the University’s financial situation at the Academic Council meeting this afternoon.

caroline rodriguez/The Chronicle

DukeEngage executive director Eric Mlyn was reappointed to hold the same position through 2016. “strong vote of confidence” in Mlyn’s leadership and an opportunity for continuity. Lange added that DukeEngage fits well with Duke’s strategic vision and commitment to service.

Mlyn did he not consider any other post besides his current position. He previously served as the director of the Robertson Scholars Program and assistant director of the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “[Directing DukeEngage has] allowed me to have both a job and a mission,” he said. “I’ve been involved with this since the very beginning. It’s been deeply satisfying and an honor to lead this program.”

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dsg from page 3 “These are issues because the rules are broad and in some cases, in my opinion, dumb,” Bergmann said. “This is just a drafting body. Whatever this group produces they’ll bring to the Senate.”

Vice President for Student Affairs Gurdane Bhutani proposed the establishment of the Financial Aid Advisory Committee in order to provide students with greater insight into the operations of the Undergraduate Financial Aid Office. Bhutani, a sophomore, said committee members will be able to contribute to financial decisions and can make suggestions to administrators regarding financial aid.

“It will be really great to have a student voice involved with all levels of the administration,” Bhutani said. “The [Undergraduate Financial Aid Office] is not familiar with student responses and what’s going on throughout students’ time at Duke.”

DSG President Mike Lefevre, a senior, said the idea for the committee developed from a meeting with Alison Rabil, assistant vice provost and director of Financial Aid. Lefevre said Rabil felt “out of touch” with student opinion and that she thinks the office would benefit from having a student advisory committee.

“It is important that students play a role in the decisions that the University makes, particularly when those decisions affect us directly,” the committee statute reads. “The committee will ensure that a student perspective is taken into account when new programs and policies are instituted with regards to financial aid.”

In other business: Sophomore Chris Brown, vice president for athletics and campus services, discussed the state of University transportation.

Brown said Duke Parking and Transportation Services is currently working to manage student bus crowding. The increase in bus demand is largely due to budget cuts that

reduced the frequency of bus traffic, and a higher number of graduate and freshman students on campus. Brown said the department is considering running the C-1 bus after 8:00 p.m. to alleviate student crowding.

“There are going to be forums for the bus drivers themselves to give suggestions to supervisors,” Brown said.

The Senate also approved to allocate about $2,400 to the Duke Student Culinary Society for “Food Week,” a collaborative food awareness campaign that will take place Oct. 25 to Oct. 29.

Food week will end with an Iron Chef competition among student pairs who will prepare dishes in the Great Hall and on Main West Quadrangle.

“They packaged the whole “Food Week” as kind of an awareness campaign... how food can improve lives,” said senior Max Tabachnik, chair of the Student Organization Finance Committee. “It’s one of the more complicated budgets because this is a whole week of events.”

irina danescu/The Chronicle

DSG established a new committee at its meeting Wednesday that will look to prevent election snafus.

daniels from page 1 “There is a long history of pushing for more exaggerated images of the respectable black American,” Matory said. “But Daniels recognizes in his films that now it is time to be purely honest.”

Before he made movies, Daniels got his start in Hollywood when he accepted a job from Warner Bros. as the head of minority talent.

“I was sitting there with a pen in my hand really doing nothing—but getting paid great money at the same time,” he said of his 10-year career as a talent management agent.

A student in the audience asked Daniels how he became interested in the taboo subjects his films depict. He said his own experiences as a black man have given him an acute awareness of the problems faced by many black Americans.

“I felt the need to do something to give a voice to the voiceless or a face to the faceless,” he said.

Daniels added that he was able to use the connections he made during his time at Warner Bros. to create films that drew from existing scripts that had been deemed too inflammatory to be transferred to the big screen.

After he showed students a series of clips from his major films, which include “Monster’s Ball,” “The Woodsman,” “Shadowboxer” and “Tennessee,” in addition to “Precious,” many

of them asked questions about his creative process.

When asked how he chose his actors, Daniels smiled.

“You have to trust the actor first,” he said. “You have to really know that this person is right for this role and then they have to understand your head. There is no rehearsal process… I don’t believe in rehearsing anything. I believe in being in the moment. I believe in spontaneity. If you hired the right actor, they’ll give it to you in the first take.”

After the last clip from “Precious” moved several in the crowd to tears, a student asked Daniels how he is able to portray truthfully people like Precious without solidifying the existing negative stereotypes surrounding them. Daniels was unapologetic.

“I think art prevails; I think I have to speak my truth,” he said. “It may not be your truth, but I have to say it.”

The director finished his remarks by urging any aspiring filmmakers in the crowd to pursue their artistic goals regardless of financial limitations.

“Pick up your iPhone or $2 camera and just shoot,” he said. “Speak from your heart and show them your thing.”

Emily LaDue, an instructor for the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image who also produces her own films, said Daniels’ remarks resonated with her.

“I think that listening to artists speak about their work is really important as an artist.... [Hearing] stories of how they started and where they ended up... is uplifting and keeps you going when times are hard.”

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transportation from page 3

myopia from page 4

e/tablets from page 1

Despite worries, TRTP said it will not add a new train system without working to improve the current bus system.

Senior Project Manager Bill Houppermans said the Triangle Transit Program just completed its corridor systems study, narrowing down 80 miles of corridor to about 18 miles. “.... We want to implement the most efficient starter line possible that would breed success. That’s a success story that has happened in other cities.

You get a good starter line and then it grows from there because people realize how valuable it is to the community. ” As for the citizens’ concerns over the bus system, Houppermans said the Triangle Transit Program is working with the Metropolitan Planning Organization to “find the right size of the rail investment versus the bus investment.” He added that it is important to spend money in the most effective way on this project, whether on bus routes or rail lines.

“We need the more enhanced express bus service, so that the buses aren’t competing during rush hour. And we need a bus service that could feed the light rail, because buses feeding a rail system frees up other resources. Instead of running the whole length around the city, the bus route can be redeployed to serve a whole community that’s not being served right now.

Houpperman said this project will first try to improve “the things that are not working right now.” He encouraged people with complaints to voice their concerns.

“Let us know where you think the most benefit for the bus system is, and, gosh darn, we’ll get that into the plan.”

TRTP will be holding its last public workshop tonight from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Garner Historic Auditorium, in southern Wake County. There will be several presentations, and the opportunity to engage with politicians in one-on-one conversation.

People can also voice their opinions by calling 1-800816-7817, or by sending an e-mail to info@ourtransitfuture.com.

Tonia Osadebe, a first-year master of engineering management student, also said the biggest inconveniences myopia bring are a few blurry lectures when she forgets her glasses and some embarrassment when she needs to put them on during a movie date.

But in severe cases, myopia can lead to blindness.

Young said she started this project back in the 1990s when she was working on the Human Genome Project, an international effort to identify genes in human DNA. “[The Human Genome Project] is what gave me the idea and hope that I could actually do this because up until that point no one had been looking for the gene for myopia even though it was so common,” she said.

Young said researchers collected data from multiple generations of families whose members suffered from the disorder in order to create genetic pedigrees.

Technological advances eventually allowed her to collect international data, expanding the scope of her research, she added.

For severe cases of myopia, gene therapy would not only mean a cure for individuals, but also for their children.

information to a clinic printer, and doctors are brought up to speed on their patients’ symptoms.

The e/Tablets ensure that all the patients’ symptoms are addressed in one way or another, said clinical research coordinator Danielle King, “The patient’s going in and going to have a lot of pain—that has to be [addressed] in a small amount of time,” she said. “[With the e/Tablets], you get a bigger picture and you get it right away.”

The survey also features questions relating to psychological health, an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of cancer-patient health. If a patient’s answers in this portion rank higher than 60, counselors are notified.

The majority of patients at the Cancer Center are senior citizens, Blackwell said, noting that many were initially wary of the new technology. She added, however, that once instructed on how to use the computers, patients became more receptive.

Moreover, the computer’s functions extend beyond the questionnaire. Many patients, Blackwell said, enjoy using their time in the waiting room to view health education videos on the hand-held devices.

Dr. Amy Abernethy, program director of the Cancer Center, said the e/Tablets also allow for comprehensive care over longer time periods.

“The e/Tablet is one portion of the informationgathering tide... both at the patient level and the population level,” she said, noting that the computers provide an electronic database, or “warehouse of information,” which in the long term can help improve overall patient care and treatment.

Abernethy also said beyond the scope of individual clinical visits, the data-gathering process also serves another purpose—driving improvement in patient education.

“It’s been the education that has been most important,” she said, referencing the personalized health information, which is displayed on the computer upon completion of the survey. “Once patients finish answering all the questions, they’re able to interact with the educational library,” said Abernethy, adding that the library includes videos and text.

Interested in joining The Chronicle?

E-mail jessica.lichter@duke.edu or daniel.ahrens@duke.edu

Homecoming September 23-25 Highlight Events Thursday, September 23 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Bridge Painting Campus Council will have the bridge painted solid Duke blue, and everyone (students, alumni and staff) will get a cup of white paint and a paint brush to paint the bridge. There will be music on speakers, spotlights on the bridge, and soft drinks.

8:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Whose Live Anyway Page Auditorium Consider ordering tickets for the 8:00 p.m. show in Page Auditorium on Thursday. This 90 minute show is full of hilarious improvised comedy and song all based on audience suggestions, created by Whose Line Executive Producer and star Ryan Stiles. For more information about Whose Live Anyway go to www.whoseliveanyway.com. Tickets (which go on sale starting in late August) must be purchased through the Duke Box Office (http://tickets.duke.edu).

Friday, September 24 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

A World Together: Duke and Global Development Duke’s embrace of “knowledge in service to society” now reaches far beyond Durham to much of the developing world. Join William Boulding, J.B. Fuqua professor of Business Administration, and Deputy

Dean, Fuqua School of Business, L. Gregory Jones M.Div.’85, Ph.D. ‘88, P’09, P’12, vice president and vice provost for Global Strategy and Programs, and Michael Merson, director of Duke Global Health Initiative, for a session moderated by David Jarmul, associate vice president of Duke News & Communications, on Duke’s global ambitions and impact.

4:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Homecoming Pep Rally Main Quad, West Campus Campus Council’s annual Homecoming Pep Rally will be bigger and better this year than ever before.

Featuring free t-shirts (for on-campus students), Coach Cutcliffe, Dancing Devils, Cheerleaders, Pep Band, and a performance by Fastball.

Coach Cutcliffe will speak promptly at 4:00.

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

NPHC Step Show Page Auditorium, West Campus This annual event is a crowd-pleasing, footstomping show presented by Duke’s National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). It’s not only a celebration of the proud history of each organization, but also a fund-raiser that will allow the Duke NPHC to form and sustain community outreach. Tickets (which go on sale starting in late August) must be purchased through the Duke Box Office (http://tickets.duke.edu).

For complete schedule and details: www.homecoming.dukealumni.com

9:30 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.

President’s Homecoming Dance Wilson Gym and IM Building The tradition continues, so you don’t want to miss a moment of the festivities at President Brodhead’s sixth annual Homecoming Dance. You’ll be amazed at how Wilson Gym and the IM Building are transformed into a party palace. The evening features performances by various Blue Devil dance and a capella groups, as well as a band that will play music for all generations! Wine, beer, nonalcoholic beverages, light hors d’oeuvres, and desserts will be plentiful. Attire: festive, from business casual to cocktail.

Saturday, September 25 3:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Homecoming Game – Duke vs. Army Cheer for football and Coach Cutcliffe when the Blue Devils take to the gridiron against the Black Knights in Wallace Wade Stadium. Homecoming registration is free and tickets are discounted to $15 for alumni and their guests. Please remember to wear Duke Blue to the game, as it will be our first “blue-out.”

For more info, and tailgating details, visit www.homecoming.dukealumni.com

Recess

volume 13 issue 5 september 23, 2010

GET SINFUL.

The Devil and Olive Penderghast M. Night Shyamalan is back, and there’s a new scarlet letter.

PAGE 6 & 7

nate glencer/The chronicle

new stories

the 25th iteration of Algonquin’s series hits shelves

page 3

wainwright

singer-songwriter takes on classic NC banjo-picker

page 5

stryker

Cuba through photographs, now in Perkins

page 7

recess

theSANDBOX. The first time I saw the music video for West Coast rap group King Fantastic’s “Why? Where? What?” I was pleasantly surprised not as much by a nude and dancing Kristina Rose as by the porn actress’ ability to lip synch.

Adult-film specialists don’t easily cross over to mainstream media; look no further than Sasha Grey’s nearly unwatchable stint on “Entourage.” Rose, however, may prove the rare example of a starlet able to transcend the confines of a half-open laptop.

“Why? Where? What?” envisions Rose as an enigmatic home wrecker masquerading as a replacement for a cleaning woman named Maria. For reasons hereto unknown, she gains entry into the home of a young married couple under false pretenses and proceeds to destroy everything inside while singing along to the song, which blares from an iPod dock on the kitchen counter.

And Rose is beyond incredible—she’s a flower blooming before our eyes.

Wreaking havoc in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the shower, she’s lifting us to a higher level, a place where our mothers have no reign over the domestic sphere and our fathers never come home from work. But all that is secondary to what her mouth does.

Every movement of her lips adds to the illusion that there is no iPod, no speakers, no recorded audio; there is only Kristina. Rose and King Fantastic meld into one, and for a brief 4:05, a sub 100-pound white woman is Killer Reese One and Troublemaker (the two members of King Fantastic).

In the song’s ultimate verse, Rose— stripped bare of the rags society has allotted her—climbs a ledge and stands atop all of Hollywood. Here, she issues a proclamation one-part Marxist and one-part Marchiavellian for the city of Los Angeles: “I practice what I preach/I preach what I practice/Violence is the equalizer/No tax brackets.”

That which we call a rose, by no other name would smell as sweet.

—Ben Brostoff

[recesseditors] happy mid-autmn festival!

Kevin Lincoln.................................................................................................stickles?

Lisa Du.......................................................................................sangria > mooncake Jessie Tang.....................................................me love you long time for mooncake Andrew O’Rourke................................................................just needs hipster naps Sanette Tanaka....................................................................................TAMANAKA!!

Nate Glencer..................... .....................................................frogcake > mooncake Christina Pena.......................................................................too lazy to make tables Lindsey Rupp....................................................................................(gchats herself)

September 23, 2010

[DUKE HORIZONTAL]

Page 2

Within my vast inventory of socially awkward behaviors and habits, I have a tendency to accidentally “out” virgins. In a pattern that has become all too frequent, I am subconsciously compelled to sexually interrogate only those who have no sexual experience to share. If you were hoping to harbor the secret of your virginal status until after graduation, I would advise you to stay clear of me and my inappropriate icebreakers. For those of you who have already suffered from my footin-mouth curiosity, I apologize for accidentally walking in on you with no one in your bed. I’m inclined to believe that secret virgins have some sort of force field around them that ignites my sudden need to talk about sex. In contrast, when amongst my sexually experienced friends, I’m really just interested in talking about food.

Social blunders aside, there are probably more virgins on campus than we are inclined to believe. Statistics validate this hypothesis, with a 2008 Newsweek article reporting that 31 percent of college women are still virgins upon graduation and noting a decline in collegiate sexual activity over the past decade. Still, hard numbers are blighted by the public image of Duke’s casual sexual culture. The term “hook-up” is so vague and ubiquitous that its prevalence cannot help but distort the reality of “going all the way.” Moreover, it’s in many a fratbro’s best interest to keep the phrase hook-up devoid of any specific value, allowing lackluster make-out sessions to fly under the same banner as a night of bed-breaking sex and a chest full of hickies.

Thus, students share a common sense that the guy next door must be having more sex than them, while more public forums (such as this

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column) perpetuate the image of sex as a prevailing element in Duke’s social customs.

So if there are more virgins than our morning-after yarns might suggest, what can be said about the individuals who fall into this category of non-participation, particularly those that seemed to have stumbled into it accidentally?

In some cases, Duke’s over-sexualization ultimately hinders a virgin’s ability to go sexually active. Reasonably, people get squeamish over the idea of losing their virginity in a lofted bed amongst the remains of an unfinished game of beer pong and the wafting smell of overdue dirty laundry and anonymous vomit. I certainly didn’t watch an episode of that on the CW. If Prince Charming (or the pubescent version of said Prince) didn’t make love to you on a bed of roses on prom night or at least swipe your v-card in the back of his mom’s minivan, is it reasonable to assume he’ll show up during your college years and treat your first time with the sanctity it deserves? As an unintentional virgin, is it worth enduring a lackluster first time in exchange for the potential of more fruitful sexual experiences? Does “losing it” maintain any intrinsic value after the age of sixteen or is holding out for a beginning fit for a romance novel truly worth the wait?

Obviously, not every college-age virgin is desperate to give it up. However, this is a sex column and therefore I am not inclined to champion or deride the merits of that particular viewpoint. In many ways, the intention of this column is to treat sex as a casual, conversational topic. Unfortunately, I appear to only have these conversations with people who don’t have sex. To be a sex columnist seems to require a certain level of daily awkwardness. Consider yourself warned.

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

October 22 – November 7

!!!!!"#$%!#!&#'!()!*+%!,-*-.%!/,!0-1%2&!+/-&()34! !""#$%&'(%)*+%,-!.%'(%!,.%/01%*+#"%1+231+% 4*+(+%"+'"#+%#35+6%7+/(0%8'(+%/)% /$0(-123$'-#$4-,5)-#26%!""#32/)3'09%1:+% 6$4/178!6(39(2:(%!;<9+6%%%

2009 Festival entries: Dandelion, (Anjie Yu); Andy Warhol, (Stanislas Colodiet); Underwater (David Henry)

Bringing the Duke Arts, Media and Entertainment Community Together

Free Framing Sept. 24

TO MO Workshop RR OW

Prepare your work for display with techniques learned in this hands-on clinic. Topics covered include mat selection and cutting, proper materials and finishing techniques, and overall design.

Sept 24, 1–4p, Bryan Center, West Campus, Meeting Rooms A & B. Registration required: 919.684.0540 or danette.clark@duke.edu.

(Free frames and materials will be reserved for work selected for the Festival exhibit.

Largest size 30”x 24”.)

electronic submission begins:

September 10

For more information visit arts.duke.edu or call 919.684.0540

VISUAL

o

MUSIC

o

DANCE

o

THEATER

o

FILM

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CREATIVE WRITING

Sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts, Duke Alumni Association, Duke Career Center, Duke University Union Visual Arts Committee.

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September 23, 2010

FEATURE REVIEW

Page 3

Algonquin releases 25th Stories from the South

by Kevin Lincoln THE CHRONICLE

the walkmen lisbon fat possum

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When, in 20 years, we look back on the Walkmen, Lisbon will probably occupy something of a holding pattern in their discography.

With four decent-to-excellent albums of melancholic almost-pop (excluding 2006’s bizarre note-for-note cover of Harry Nilsson’s Pussy Cats) under their belt, the Walkmen have this time confronted negative marginal returns. Lisbon is, to be sure, a good album: a batch of simplistic yet compelling tunes that find themselves right at home in the band’s catalogue. But in context, it feels stagnant—more of a regression than an evolution from 2008’s stunning You & Me. Lisbon indeed bears its strongest resemblance, considering the other Walkmen albums, to its immediate predecessor, particularly in the quality of the recordings.

There’s always a danger in upgrading sound quality, possibly revealing that the lo-fi aesthetic was simply obfuscating the music, which wasn’t very good in the first place.

By contrast, the Walkmen sound best when you can actually hear Paul Maroon’s plinking guitar and Hamilton Leithauser’s world-weary lyrics; that trend, which began on You & Me, continues here. Flourishes like the

mournful horns overlying “Stranded” and the searching, just-off-the-beat guitar line of “All My Great Designs,” one of the album’s clear standouts, lend Lisbon a particular sonic depth.

The songs here, though, just can’t quite stand up to some of their earlier work. There is no “Donde Esta la Playa” or “The Rat.” “Angela Surf City” is an impressive foray into Best Coast-y beach rock, and Leithauser dishes out some particularly biting couplets in his weathered wail: “I was holding on to you/For lack of anything to do.” But “Victory” is dead on arrival, lacking a melody to guide the noisy but punchless energy of its choruses, and “Woe is Me” is a heady reminder that there are probably better ways of expressing an album’s ethos than, you know, making it a song title.

It isn’t that Lisbon lacks in deeply felt and occasionally profound moments. The Walkmen, like contemporaries the National, are part of a well-established niche where depression colors, and often illuminates, skillfully crafted pop music. At the same time, Leithauser prefers narrative tragedy distinct from the more neurotic brand of Matt Berninger (and, for that matter, Morrissey).

Instead, the problem is that the end result never achieves the majesty or consistency of which the Walkmen are capable and for which we might have hoped.

—Ross Green

Dynamic Korea Sept 28

September

Padgett Powell, Ron Rash, Elizabeth Spencer, Wells Tower. The table of contents reads like some idealized issue of The Southern Review—and there are 21 more names just like that.

But this isn’t some perfect-storm literary magazine; rather, these are the writers filling the pages of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill’s New Stories from the South 2010, edited by the masterful short-story writer Amy Hempel, who taught at Duke in the spring of 2000.

With content like this, a tradition hardly seems necessary. True to its southern roots, though, New Stories has a rich and colorful history, reaching back to its first iteration in 1986. The latest is the 25th edition of the series and the fifth to feature a guest editor responsible for selecting the featured stories.

Though Hempel chose the pieces that ended up in New Stories 2010, a few stages of the process preceded her involvement.

Kathy Pories, a senior editor at Algonquin, has served as the New Stories series editor since 2005 when Algonquin co-founder Shannon Ravenel, who started the collection, edited her last anthology. Pories’ duties involve going through the 400 or so issues of literary journals and magazines that are mined for possible stories; this year, she selected 65 that she then sent to Hempel, who whittled the group down to her 25 favorites.

“It was just sort of coincidental,” Pories said. “[Hempel] wrote to me and said, ‘I have 25 stories, is that too many?’

And I said, ‘Well, actually it’s the 25th year, why don’t we just kind of go with that serendipitous decision—25 stories for 25 years.’”

In reading over the journals, Pories looks for not only high quality but also those traits that might categorize the story as southern in some way—this is what gives the collection its unique theme and feel.

“It’s funny that everyone wants us to say, ‘This is the South, and this is not the South, and this story fits, and this story doesn’t,’” Pories said. “But really what we’re trying to do is put together an anthology that reflects the best stories that touch on the South and the southern experience and the southern character. It’s not like we’re trying to make rules.”

Like any continuous effort, New Stories has evolved over its past 25 years. The series’ start was almost concurrent with that of Algonquin’s, which, as a publishing house, began in order to provide authors access to the industry without needing to go through New York.

Being a regional house, Algonquin clearly has a particular interest in the South. The anthology was created by Rav-

24 Chick Corea Trio 28 Dynamic Korea: Dance and Song

See new stories on page 8

October

November

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5 Omara Portuondo 8 Kremerata Baltica with Gidon Kremer, violin/leader 10–11 Sutra – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Sadler’s Wells London 17 Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Sollee

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September 23, 2010

In Piedmont tradition, Carolina Chocolate Drops enliven folk music

by Gracie Willert THE CHRONICLE

The Carolina Chocolate Drops pursue an intriguing, almost paradoxical aim: to play in the traditional Piedmont folk style as modern musicians. This Saturday, the Drops, along with singer-songwriter Joe Henry—who also produced their most recent album—will showcase their contemporary roots at Reynolds Theater as a part of Duke Performances’ “Witnesses”.

Hailing from the Durham area, the Drops trace their origins to the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian State University. The band formed under the tutelage of fiddler Joe Thompson, who taught them his skills and the traditional folk tunes of the Carolina Piedmont region.

The backgrounds of each member help to explain their overall musical versatility. Rhiannon Giddens’ studies at the Oberlin Observatory, Justin Robinson’s upbringing among musicians and Dom Flemon’s interest in records of the past provide a glimpse of their diverse histories.

Released this past February, their newest album, Genuine Negro Jig, features a rendition of both Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose” and Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘Em Up Style.” Equally eclectic is Henry, who epito-

mizes the Renaissance man, exploring all angles of the music enterprise and dabbling in a myriad of genres. The sound of the Carolina Chocolate Drops resonated deeply with Henry and his interests. “ I am always interested in the place where traditional forms of music intersect with the ether and become not relics, but living things,” Henry said. “I saw [the Drops] as an example of that and still do.”

Over the past decade, the Drops have captured the public eye, gaining national acclaim and traveling the nation on tour. This weekend, the Drops and the esteemed Henry come together for their firstever live collaborative performance. Tickets to the show are sold out, with a large quantity purchased

by Duke students, Director of Duke Performances Aaron Greenwald said.

“Folk music is made in the context of the community,” Greenwald said, attributing this trend of pronounced student interest to the highly social component of folk music.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are one of the few remaining African-American string bands in the country. A half-century ago, white artists dominated Carolina folk music, and the African-American variety was slowly becoming a vestige of the past. The Drops have since reclaimed the African-American

string folk tradition while making it their own.

The effect of the Drops’ presence has been twofold. For one, it has served to clarify misconceptions of the string tradition as one only culturally endemic to white Appalachia. Secondly, it has breathed new life into the genre. The Drops present string folk music that is not merely a vague musical memory, but rather a vital element of present North Carolina culture.

But perhaps what makes the Drops most unique is their breadth of both talent and genre. Each member of the band sings and plays various traditional instruments, from the fiddle to the kazoo. And it is just that history and diversity which the Carolina Chocolate Drops are so intent upon preserving.

“Tradition isn’t about nostalgia. It’s a code within a seed that allows new things to flourish outward from a time-tested design,” Henry said. And it seems that the Carolina Chocolate Drops have had the sweetest of blooms.

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Carolina Chocolate Drops and Joe Henry perform Saturday in Reynolds Industries Theater at 8 p.m. Tickets for the show are sold out.

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September 23, 2010

Page 5

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by Kevin Lincoln THE CHRONICLE

example of a controlling marhen Charlie Poole’s recording of our Deal Go Down” was released old 100,000 copies. At the time, only 600,000 purchased phonoe South. et Your Deal Go Down” is feae Deal” on Loudon Wainwright de & Handsome: The Charlie Poole h Wainwright will play with a live second time this Friday, as a part formances’ “Liars, Thieves & Big rs” series. ht and Poole have something in arding the song: neither of them with this work, a two-disk “sonic ts,” as Wainwright refers to it in es, the singer-songwriter explores e’s shared lives as “traveling, ramdours.”

20s, Charlie Poole was famous as nd performer in the mill towns of ina and Virginia. Born in Spray, orth Carolina, Poole moved from performing versions of American with his North Carolina Ramblers. had been aware of Poole since the and had even toyed around with ilming an actual biopic and starhimself. s friend in New York, a guy called

Dick Connette, who worked with me on another record I did,” Wainwright said. “I was talking to him about Charlie Poole and he had this idea that we might just explore the world of Charlie Poole, not try to copy it or sound like his music particularly but just, you know, inhabit it by recording a lot of the material that he recorded and also writing some songs.

It was Dick’s idea, really, and a year and a half later, the record came out.”

The product—which won the 2010 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album—contains renditions of songs Poole played, as well as pieces written by Wainwright and Connette based on Poole’s life. To prepare, they went back and listened to You Ain’t Talkin’ to Me, a box set of Poole’s recordings.

“They were the popular songs of his day: parlor ballads and novelty songs and drinking songs and train, letter, mother songs,” Wainwright said. “We did write some songs, but we hopefully served the material.”

High Wide & Handsome doesn’t fit the traditional framework of a tribute album, as is clear from Wainwright and Connette’s contributions. Instead, it’s more like a concept album centered around another artist’s music; inspired and fixated on a particular topic but creations in their own right, music with life beyond the scope of its titular character.

“It’s a sort of radical step they took, which is a step you can probably only make with authority if you’re a musician as seasoned and

bright and wry as Loudon Wainwright,” Director of Duke Performances Aaron Greenwald said.

On the same token, the project would never have come into being if it weren’t for the vibrancy and magnetism of its source material. Though Poole is largely forgotten now, he was an enormously colorful character, a physical performer with a troubled private life who died of alcoholism at 39. Wainwright mentioned this as another motivation for the project—to gain Poole some late but deserved recognition.

“While a great musician, probably there were many things about [Poole], that, if you or I were to run into him or to have day-to-day interaction [with him], we would find detestable,” Greenwald said. “A banjo-picking son of a bitch—I think that’s actually what he was described as at his funeral.”

But there’s no shortage of great art that stems from somewhat nefarious subjects, and Greenwald praised the way Wainwright spun these songs off of Poole’s story. Because of this, he’s excited to see High Wide & Handsome performed live, which has only happened once before—at the Highline in New York City just after its release.

“I thought the album was incredible and [had] more poignant, smart songs than I’ve heard on an album in a long time,” Greenwald said. “And it’s not what Loudon normally does. When Loudon tours, it’s generally him

solo or him part of a double bill.... We asked, and he was willing to pull out all of that Poole material and put that band together for another live show.”

In addition to Wainwright and Connette, the Duke performance of High Wide & Handsome will also feature Chaim Tannenbaum, David Mansfield, Rob Moose, Tim Luntzel and Paul Asaro, multi-instrumentalists who played primary roles in the recording of the record.

And the day after the show, Wainwright and Connette head to Eden, North Carolina, for a concert in Poole’s hometown.

High Wide & Handsome taps into another era, and to bring this music to life is to embody a very particular, classic banjo sound.

The album, Wainwright’s 20th, granted him a fresh opportunity: to frame a style that Poole occupied throughout his entire life, a style that hasn’t really been seen again.

“The original pioneers, whether they’re Charlie Poole or Mississippi John Hurt or Reverend Gary Davis or Clarence Ashley, that was what was so great about them,” Wainwright said. “They were something from another time. A beautiful something from another time.”

High Wide & Handsome takes places September 24 at 8 p.m. in Reynolds Industries Theater. Tickets are $42 and $36 for the public, and $5 for Duke students.

Page 6

devil

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September 23, 2010

dir. john erick dowdle universal pictures

eeEEE

Devil recently possessed theaters as the newest motion picture to be loudly stamped with the now dubious brand of M. Night Shyamalan. This time around, Shyamalan explores the oft-pondered question: What happens when five people get trapped in an elevator, and one of them might be the devil?

An objective viewer of Shyamalan’s recent movies could expect terrible things from Devil, and in that case, it exceeds expectations. Devil is certainly not laugh-out-loud awful like the stunningly entertaining The Happening. Devil is, in fact, solidly mediocre. The filmmakers rely a bit too much on turning off the lights and throwing in muffled sound effects, something any grade-school filmmaker could do in his garage. The scenes cut periodically to external shots of the skyscraper, with storm clouds swelling and a chorus of trombones belaboring the point with an absurd degree of pomposity. The one black character drops lines like,

“Give me another reason to kick yo’ ass” and even, “Ahh hell no!” Most damning, though, is the acting style, which unerringly avoids emotion like, well, the devil. This foils any attempt to actually care about these people, so that when they start dying, you might dismiss them with a casual, “Well, there goes another one.”

That said, there are some successes: a well-developed atmosphere and a somewhat compelling storyline about the detective (Chris Messina) who, while trying to resolve the situation, is coming to terms with the killing of his family.

Devil also looks at issues of guilt and taking responsibility for one’s actions. I would have liked to see more exploration of the existential issues raised by being trapped in an elevator, but who wants to be weighed down by intellectual discussion when there’s blood to be spilled?

There’s plenty to criticize, but I can’t shake a vaguely positive attitude towards Devil. If you hanker for some supernatural thrills and can accept a script and cast that compete in flatness with a dead man’s heart rate, you can have a good time with this movie. More importantly, though, it’s really not as bad as The Happening.

— Julian Spector

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weezer hurley epitaph

eeeEE

Weezer’s newest release and their first on Epitaph, Hurley, can’t help but stand out due to Jorge Garcia’s beaming face on the cover. Yet, the cover may be the most original aspect of the album itself.

On the opening track, “Memories,” lead singer Rivers Cuomo laments his age, with its obligations and responsibilities, and longs for the days “when Audioslave was still the rage” and his own fledgling band was just starting out.

This sets the tone for the rest of the album, as Cuomo and company return to craft songs in exactly the way that made Weezer famous in the first place.

Almost all of the album’s 10 tracks (14 in the Special Edition) employ Weezer’s signature post-grunge pop sound, with crunchy guitar hooks and enormous, singalong choruses. The subject matter is also classic Weezer, from nerdy admiration (“Smart Girls”) to desperate high school angst (“Ruling Me”) to self-deprecating wordplay (“Where’s My Sex?”).

The two notable exceptions to the pack are “Unspoken,” an acoustic ballad of frustration that builds gradually into explosive hard rock, and “Time Flies,” a fun folk romp that, like “Memories,” gives a shout-out to the good ol’ days. And, ironically, the four songs exclusive to the Special Edition, including a cover of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” are all stellar.

Unfortunately, the band’s eagerness to rely on the sound they helped to create over a decade ago results in an LP with little variation or replay value; many of the songs are too formulaic and simply blend together. Fans will be pleased with Hurley’s general return to form after 2009’s disappointing Raditude, but overall it will only register as an average entry in Weezer’s catalog.

—Josh Stillman

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September 23, 2010

In Perkins, new photo exhibit considers Cuban history

joanna kim/The Chronicle

Deena Stryker: Photographs of Cuba, 1963-1964, which lines the hallway of Perkins’ Special Collections Gallery, is comprised of gelatin silver prints that picture major national figures—including Fidel and Raul Castro—as well as common people.

by Sanette Tanaka THE CHRONICLE

Journalist Deena Stryker’s poignant collection of photographs spans only two years but captures slice-of-life moments during the upheaval and uncertainty of the Cuban Revolution.

Deena Stryker: Photographs of Cuba, 1963-1964 showcases 30 gelatin silver prints featuring major political figures, such as Fidel and Raul Castro, to everyday people in Havana and in rural Cuba. Her photos are simple, small and clean, allowing the stark reality of the conditions to speak for itself.

The images line the hallway of Perkins Library’s Special Collections Gallery without a clear chronological or thematic order, though the portraits of political leaders are all grouped together. The more solemn scenes of rallies, marches and political monuments are juxtaposed with playful, humanizing depictions, such as Raul Castro gazing at his young daughter.

The conglomeration of seemingly contradictory pieces reflects the unsettling times, during which the abandoned mansions of the rich were transformed into boarding schools and housing projects were constructed amid an explosion of touristy venues. Stryker’s diverse coverage of all such events illustrates the multifaceted impact of the

Revolution on peoples’ lives.

This time of transition, as people struggled to make sense of the revolutionary ideals and the harsh Cold War politics, touched a wide range of people. Stryker’s photos include scenes of women leaders, rural children and Afro-Cubans as they adjusted to their new status in Cuban society. The black-and-white approach captures the hard, piercing lines in people’s expressions and allows a certain rawness of emotion to shine through.

The most telling piece of the collection was larger than the others, showing women ascending a staircase in the luxurious Havana Libre Hotel for the first national conference of food industry workers. The photo demonstrates both the advances that women made as well as the barriers that obstructed their progress. Although some were leaders in the movement, the majority of women stood in the background, their faces hidden and backs turned.

Stryker’s collection is simple but effective, lending insight to a time that is all too often characterized by political stereotypes and generalizations.

Page 7

easy a

dir. will gluck screen gems

eeeEE

John Hughes would be proud: Easy A both subtly and obviously resembles his Brat Pack movies of the 1980s.

Emma Stone, often remembered as the love interest of Jonah Hill in Superbad, plays the pretty but overlooked Olive Penderghast. Her life reads like the typical Hughes character: she is attractive but is too into her studies to be popular, though she secretly wishes she were noticed.

The story begins when Olive lies to her best friend, Rhiannon (Aly Michalka), about having a date in order to get out of camping with Rhiannon’s California hippie parents.

Once the weekend is over, Rhiannon abruptly jumps to the conclusion that Olive has lost her virginity. To make herself seem more interesting, Olive plays along and proceeds to elaborate on the lie in the women’s bathroom. To her dismay, the leader of the school’s Christian Club, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), overhears her. Marianne quickly spreads the rumor in stereotypical nice-girl-on-the-outside/meangirl-on-the-inside fashion. Think Regina George but with a purity ring. With the addition of nice guy and perpetual love interest Todd (Penn Badgely), the movie completes its ’80s teen movie transformation.

The never-ending references to Brat Pack movies start to blur the line between cute comedy and bad joke. The gratuitous date-rape scene where Todd saves Olive from the douchebag jock, combined with the cliched sex scandal between female faculty member and male student, takes the plot from believable to exaggerated. The peppy soundtrack may be the only consistent winner, with songs like Dan Black’s “Symphonies.”

If you love the ’80s, Easy A will be enjoyable and refreshing. However, if you have seen Pretty in Pink too many times, you should wait until DUU brings Easy A to Griffith.

—Ariel Smallwood

Deena Stryker: Photographs of Cuba, 1963-1964 will be on display through Dec. 12 in the Special Collections Gallery in Perkins Library.

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Though the images are all kept within the years of 1963 and 1964, within the exhibit there is no particular chronological or thematic order, aside from a grouping of political leaders.

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recess

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September 23, 2010

Holy Mole! investigates the labor of food

by Ashley Taylor THE CHRONICLE

Combining food and art may seem hedonistic at first, but the newest exhibit at Golden Belt provides a social critique of the North Carolina agricultural system and the migrant farm laborers who serve it.

“Zyvoloski’s works succeed in criticizing her contemporary society as a whole by utilizing a subtle approach that does not intend to accuse, but to inform.”

Curated by Peter Eversoll, Holy Mole! The Spirit of Food and the People Behind It merges social commentary with documentary realism. The show couples local artist Kelsey Zyvoloski’s images with a video screening and additional photographs taken by a group of North Carolina migrant farmworker teenagers.

The exhibit aims to expose the disparity between Hispanic farmworkers and the food they produce for sale. While these laborers struggle to provide produce for grocery stores across the state, they can barely supply meals for their own tables.

Holy Mole! offers an in-depth look into the lives of these workers, as well as the farm system itself.

The main gallery space features the works of the youth artists, while a smaller room connected to the side of the hall displays Zyvoloski’s creative response to the theme. The contrasting rooms allow viewers to experience the more playful aspect of the exhibition first, before moving into Zyvoloski’s critical analysis of the agricultural system.

Housed in the larger space, the photographs taken by the laborers do not seem to be the work of amateurs. Many of the artists demonstrate a thorough understanding of framing techniques and composition.

Rather than focusing on their strained external conditions, the young artists chose to focus on enjoyable aspects of their lives, such as running through the fields. This intimate perspective helps viewers relate to the teenagers and their families. The works also highlight their Hispanic roots and sense of community after immigrating to the United States.

After first observing the series of photographs by the young artists, Zyvoloski’s photos and political commentary have a more resonating effect on viewers. Part of her innovative design consists of dripping one tablespoon of molasses onto a piece of fruit to represent every 100 miles the produce traveled before reaching the dinner table. Recalling the style of English photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who photographed movement undetectable to the human eye, she documents the procedure with both an apple and banana, emphasizing the hidden process that is often overlooked by consumers.

Zyvoloski’s works succeed in criticizing her contemporary society as a whole by

special to The Chronicle

Combining photographs by amateurs with the work of artist Kelsey Zyvoloski, Holy Mole! examines the people within the North Carolina agricultural system as well as the system itself. utilizing a subtle approach that does not intend to accuse, but only to inform. By covering produce in sticky, dark liquid, she tarnishes an object that people typically view as wholesome and pure.

This demonstration is effective in conveying the message that foods consumed

Centerfest’s 37th year entertains vegetarians, others

Cassidy fleck/The Chronicle

Durham’s 37th annual Centerfest Arts Festival complimented its 124 exhibited artists with a wide selection of food and crafts available for purchase.

everyday often have a darker history that is not initially evident to purchasers.

Holy Mole! will be on display at Golden Belt in Room 100, Building 3, through Oct. 10. The gallery is free and open to the public.

new stories from page 3 enel not only to highlight the area’s best work but also to attract and eventually sign talented southern writers—which is how Algonquin mainstays Larry Brown and Jill McCorkle, among others, ended up there.

For the anthology’s first 20 years, Ravenel picked the stories, but after she stepped down in 2005, guest editors began to make the selections with the help of Pories.

Hempel is the first of the guest editors who is not a southern writer.

Hempel’s choices are split between high-profile, established writers like the aforementioned as well as up-and-comers, giving New Stories 2010 a wide variety of content despite the regionalism.

“I like that there is a mix of the oldergeneration—Elizabeth Spencer, Michael Barry, for example­­—along with Wells Tower, Adam Atlas, Megan Mayhew Bergman, people like that,” Hempel said. “It just happened that way; I wasn’t looking to do it—I was just choosing the stories I like—but I’m glad it worked out like that.”

Other than the need to be informed by the South, one other binding guideline for stories was that they had to have been published in 2009. And there is room for flexibility even within these confines: The story from Wells Tower is his third revision of “Retreat,” which was first featured in McSweeney’s in 2007 and was then included in his anthology Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned in substantially altered form. It was then printed by McSweeney’s in 2009 in yet another iteration. In choosing “Retreat,” Hempel confronted both her charges as guest editor: to consider the series’ past and to frame the series’ present. “[Tower] continued to revise it, and that was my loophole,” Hempel said. “The original version in 2007 had not been included in the anthology, and I made damn sure I was going to get this one.”

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women’s soccer

THURSDAY

September 23, 2010

Scott Rich gives an update on Duke Basketball’s recruitment of Austin Rivers, including info on the coaching staff’s visit to his Florida home

www.dukechroniclesports.com

Football Scouting the opponent

ACC season Army still sports option offense begins with Wake Forest

by Matt Levenberg THE CHRONICLE

by Alex Krinsky THE CHRONICLE

Duke kicks off its grueling ACC schedule tonight at 7 p.m. against Wake Forest. The No. 14 Blue Devils will be tested as they take on a potent Demon Deacon offense, one of the toughest challenges to date.

The Duke defense has its hands full against a talented Wake Forest (6-3-0) squad that has been averaging 2.22 goals per game.

“This is probably the most danWake gerous team offensively that we’ve played since Stanford,” head vs. coach Robbie Church said. “StanNo. 14 ford had two very good forwards Duke [similar to Wake Forest], we gave up two goals, and we lost 2-1. We THURSDAY, 7 p.m. can’t give up two goals.”

Koskinen Stadium Freshmen forwards Katie Stengel and Rachel Nuzzolese lead Wake Forest’s attack against the Blue Devils. The explosive duo has accounted for 13 of the team’s 20 goals. Stengel leads the team with seven goals and Nuzzolese leads in assists with four.

In stopping Stengel and Nuzzolese, goalkeeper Tara Campbell and the defense will try to continue their fine play so far this season that has given Duke

Duke fans may recall the Blue Devils’ exciting win over Army last season when cornerback Leon Wright returned two interceptions for touchdowns, and quarterback Sean Renfree provided a spark off the bench after halftime.

That Black Knight team is better this year, however, and even though the Blue Devils won the prior meeting by double digits, they know that Army presents a challenge and is not to be taken lightly.

“I have had the opportunity to coach against Army, Navy

and Air Force,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “They execute, play very hard and they are disciplined.”

Duke will have to be disciplined in order to stop the Black Knights’ option rushing attack, which will come early and often against the Blue Devils’ defense. Last year, Army rushed the ball 57 times for 266 yards against Duke.

This year, the Black Knights have 176 rushing attempts compared to only 27 passing tries, and they currently average 283 rushing yards per game. Duke’s defense, on the See scouting on page 8

Chronicle file photo

See w. soccer on page 8

The Blue Devils topped Army, 35-14, in the two teams’ encounter last Sept. 12 in West Point, N.Y. Duke looks to win again—this time, on its home turf.

McCurdy steps out of brothers’ shadows

by Gracie Willert THE CHRONICLE

caroline rodriguez/Chronicle file photo

Freshman Ali McCurdy has quickly established herself as a top performer at Duke, with 158 digs this season.

Ali McCurdy has been surrounded by sports her entire life.

Born and raised in Tampa, Fla., with three athletic older brothers, McCurdy didn’t have to look far to see how an athlete acts. Older brother Ryan played baseball for Duke and batted .256 with 22 RBI his senior year. And adopted brother Mike Williams was well known as a wide receiver at USC, and is now a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

Williams went to Plant High School with the McCurdy children, and was informally adopted by the McCurdys as a sophomore in high school.

“When he came into our family, I never viewed him any differently than my other two brothers; he fit right in,” McCurdy said. “I look up to his skill in football and his professional accomplishments to come.”

While Ryan may have made his mark at Jack Coombs Stadium, and while Williams may now light up the NFL, McCurdy aims this year to step out of the

shadow of her illustrious older brothers.

And after winning ACC Freshman of the Week 10 days ago, it would appear she’s on the right track.

McCurdy did not begin life a volleyball player, though, and dabbled in a variety of sports, from softball to competitive gymnastics in her younger years.

Upon entering middle school, she decided to quit gymnastics, trying out for club volleyball on a whim. Never having dug a volleyball in her life, her natural inclination for sports served her well as she earned a spot on the Tampa Bay Juniors team. From there, her passion for the sport was born and she began playing yearlong, between her high school and club seasons.

Three short years later, McCurdy found herself on varsity as a freshman at Plant High School. Her athletic achievements far transcend the considerable feat of four years of earning letters, however.

She is a four-time state champion, team captain, Under Armor All-American, See mccurdy on page 8

8 | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 the chronicle

scouting from page 7 other hand, has allowed over 220 yards per game on the ground thus far.

Linebacker Damian Thornton knows that the option may appear simple, especially when it is played the majority of the time, but he still says the defense must always remain on its toes—and especially watch for the occassional pass. “[Linebackers] can be more aggressive, but we still can’t over-pursue,” Thornton said. “We can’t let them hit us with a play-action pass.”

One player to keep an eye on is sophomore running back Brian Cobbs. Cobbs saw action on special teams and as a defensive back last season, but he converted to running back in the spring. He had a breakout performance last week in Army’s showdown with North Texas when he rushed for 75 yards on seven carries.

Cobbs’ recent impressive showing combined with his

w. soccer from page 7 (6-1-2) six shutouts through its nine games. A team effort will be needed in order to contain the Demon Deacons, Church believes.

“I think the most important defenders are going to be our midfielders,” Church said. “Wake Forest is a possession-oriented team, and they like to play comfortable. We have to make their play uncomfortable. We have to get physical in the midfield.”

While the midfield will focus on disrupting the Demon Deacons’ ball control, Duke’s back four must prevent good feeds to Stengel and Nuzzolese.

On the offensive side, Duke continues to rely on its

elite speed draws parallels to Blue Devil running back Josh Snead, who hopes to help improve last year’s rushing numbers against Army, when Duke was held to just 2.2 yards per carry on 32 attempts. Their rushing attack has been much improved in this young season with sophomore Desmond Scott already over 200 yards while Snead boasts over 100 of his own. The Blue Devils must sustain long drives in order to keep its defense fresh against an offense that routinely picks up multiple first downs per drive.

“Our offense is capable of making first down after first down,” Cutcliffe said. “We’ve got to run some ball-control offense against [Army].”

Last season, Duke’s defense was on the field for over 36 minutes—60 percent of the game. The Blue Devils will try to keep their defense off the field to limit the Black Knights’ offensive production.

In order to keep their defense rested, the offense will have to adapt when it faces Army’s unique defensive scheme. The team runs a bear flex defense similar

to a 5-3, unlike any other formation that Duke will see this season. “[The scheme] creates problems with twists and stunts on the defensive line, but they also leave their corners on islands which hopefully will help us,” Snead said.

Last time these teams met, Duke scored 21 points on offense. With its performance so far this season, it hopes for a stronger offensive showing Saturday. Talented wide receivers Conner Vernon and Donovan Varner hope to thrive in single coverage, brought on by the mass of Black Knights near the line of scrimmage.

The Blue Devils’ offensive line has done a good job thus far protecting Renfree, allowing just three sacks. It will have its work cut out for it, though, as the Black Knights have eight sacks already on the season, and they are led by skilled defensive end Josh McNary. Coming off an impressive junior year campaign in which he had 12.5 sacks, McNary has five this season and will look to disrupt the Duke passing attack on Saturday.

younger talent. Underclassmen have scored the team’s last five goals, and freshman Laura Weinberg leads the team with four. Freshman Mollie Pathman has netted three goals, two of which were game winners.

“I think they’ve adjusted to the college level very, very well,” Church said. “They’re both a handful. They’re both going to create opportunities, but they both have to continue to work on finishing those opportunities, and they’ve done a good job with that, too.”

However, as bodies get worn down and academics become more intensive, the ACC season becomes more demanding, especially on young players. Church is confident that senior forwards Gretchen Miller, Carey Goodman, and Rebecca Allen will be instrumental in balancing the

Duke attack during the ACC stretch.

The Wake Forest game maks the end of the Blue Devils’ nonconference schedule. After Wake Forest, Duke travels to face undefeated No. 8 Maryland and the schedule doesn’t get any easier. The season culminates in a home game against rival and defending national champion, No. 1 North Carolina.

“It’s a challenge, but one of the reasons they came to Duke is to play in the ACC, to play against the best,” Church said. “And they understand that the championship teams will bring it every single day. You have to play sore.

You have to play tired…. This is a group that wants to win an ACC championship, and this is the start of that tomorrow night.”

mccurdy from page 7

chelsea pieroni/The Chronicle

Freshman Laura Weinberg, who leads Duke in scoring this season, will join her teammates in facing Wake Forest tonight at Koskinen Stadium.

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and AVCA second-team All-American. By the end of her high school career, she had amassed 1,647 career digs.

Her success did not just come from good genes, though. Her mother, Kathy McCurdy, partially attributes Ali’s achievements to her training as a gymnast.

“By spending years doing gymnastics, she developed the mindset that she has for volleyball,” Kathy McCurdy said.

The tenacity and focus required for twists and turns had, in effect, seamlessly translated to her defensive prowess on the volleyball court. It is with that focus that McCurdy enters the court each and every game as Duke’s newest defensive specialist.

As Duke’s libero, McCurdy is the anchor of the defense, subbing into the back row for the team’s middle hitter. Only a few weeks into the season, she ranks third in the conference with 158 digs.

“Ali is playing very maturely as a freshman,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “She soaks up every opportunity, doing everything with a smile.”

But perhaps what she finds most gratifying about being at Duke is the camaraderie among the players.

Knowing only fellow Plant High graduate Kellie Catanach at the beginning of the summer, McCurdy has easily fit in with the rest of her team.

“My teammates are my best friends on and off the court,” she said.

It is this sort of inherent support system that initially attracted McCurdy to Duke and made her decision to commit an easy one. When her older brother, Ryan, played baseball for the Blue Devils, she and her family would make the trek from Tampa every so often to watch one of his games.

On one such visit her sophomore year, McCurdy attended a volleyball camp run by Duke coaches and players. From then, McCurdy knew where she would play in college.

Her athletic family provides support to McCurdy. During her club seasons for the Tampa Bay Juniors, tournament play would take her team near and far, everywhere from Atlanta to Denver.

Her parents went the distance, cheering McCurdy on one bump at a time.

Looking forward, McCurdy intends to do her part in leading Duke to an ACC title. And, from her athletic family, she’s seen the work winning requires.

“When you are truly loving your sport or anything you do, you are going to be happy to put in the time and see the positive outcomes,” she said.

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XXXDAY, MONTH XX, 2010 | 9

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10 | thursday, september 23, 2010

“

Re-engaging Mlyn makes sense In 2007 the University As a member of DukeEnlaunched a unique global gage’s formative committee, service learning program Mlyn played key a role in backed by $30 million in outlining what this distincsupport from the Bill and tive initiative would look like.

Melinda Gates Foundation Three years later, more than and The Duke 1,000 students editorial Endowment. have received Today Dukefunding to parEngage is off to a promising ticipate in service projects start, and keeping its direc- in 45 countries around the tor in place for an additional world. Current participants five years is a wise move for its are generally pleased with continued development. their experiences, and DukeDukeEngage Executive Engage has become part of a Director Eric Mlyn has re- compelling recruiting pitch ceived a five-year contract for prospective students. to stay on in his current poLike any new program, sition following a review of DukeEngage has suffered his performance so far. We from several growing pains. believe Mlyn has earned his Some of its projects are unorextension. At the helm of a ganized or poorly managed, new program, he has shown and determining the approhimself to be an effective and priate amount of funding accessible leader. that a group or individual

onlinecomment

Kids don’t get to Duke and all of a sudden decide to become obnoxious. This problem is a symptom of a larger societal failure. I am reminded of an Oompa Loompa song from the original Willy Wonka movie.

”

—“ee13” commenting on the story “Show class at sporting events.”

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should receive is an ongoing challenge. To a large extent these problems require trial and error. Keeping Mlyn in place as executive director will provide DukeEngage with the continuity and institutional knowledge it needs.

Continuing to integrate the experiences students have outside of the classroom with their academic learning at Duke should be the program’s top priority for the next several years. Mlyn has the track record to forge this divide. His previous position as executive director of the Robertson Scholars Program is excellent preparation for this challenge. He has improved on existing elements of the program, such as the DukeEngage Academy, and shown a willingness to be cre-

ative and consider new ideas.

We believe he is the right person to transform DukeEngage into a truly holistic educational program.

Mlyn’s tenure as executive director has demanded the kind of flexibility befitting a new and largely unprecedented initiative. Going forward, his adaptability will continue to be tested by the expanded role of the Duke Center for Civic Engagement.

The DCCE has been reshuffled to incorporate all of the University’s civic engagement groups. This means Mlyn will be subjected to the oversight of a center that is still struggling to define itself in its own right. But the DCCE has great potential as well, and it deserves the same patient treatment from the University that

DukeEngage has received. We hope Mlyn can establish a productive and cooperative working relationship with DCCE Faculty Director Leela Prasad.

Under their leadership, DukeEngage and the DCCE should be able to sustain mutually beneficial development for years to come.

Eric Mlyn has done a commendable job as executive director of DukeEngage for the past three years. He should use his remaining years in charge of the program to hone DukeEngage as an educational experience and build a network of committed alumni. Under Mlyn’s leadership DukeEngage is on track to continue its emergence as one of the University’s most promising new programs.

Try $1.6 million if you weren’t already disgusted

S

hock and disgust greeted July’s revelation the head of the corporation had compensation of that the city manager of Bell, Calif., made al- $6.8 million in 2007 and $4.4 million in 2008. most $788,000 a year.

Mora explained that in 2007, the president beThat was the reaction of public officame vested in the supplemental recials at both the state and local level as tirement plan for senior executives, joe mysak they rushed to assure taxpayers that exand under tax law the organization special from cessive compensation wasn’t the norm. had to report the present value of bloomberg news I wonder what they will think about a the future retirement payments. pay package worth $1.6 million.

In the 990 form for 2007, the orThat’s what Joan McCallen, the president and ganization spelled this out, and said this accounted chief executive officer of International City Man- for $4.1 million of the $6.8 million in compensation agement Association Retirement Corp., made last listed. The same occurred in 2008, the corporation year, according to the nonprofit organization’s explaining that the compensation total “includes IRS Form 990. $1.6 million representing the projected present valKathryn McGrath, ICMA-RC’s secretary and ue increase of any such retirement payments, along general counsel, made $1.4 million. Wayne Wicker, with a payment of $433,000 under this plan.” senior vice president and chief investment officer, I get it. Even if you subtract the present value made almost $1.3 million. Another six employees of future retirement payments, these were still made more than $500,000. In all, 231 of its 689 em- pretty nice paydays, more than $2 million in 2007 ployees each earned $100,000 or more in 2009. and 2008. In financial services, you have a “perforCreated by the International City/County Man- mance-driven compensation system,” with bonus agement Association in 1972, the ICMA-RC pro- incentives, as Mora told me. vides retirement services for local governments and Taxpayers are angry about and envious of pubadministers $35 billion, most of which is in propri- lic employees’ pensions and, in light of the Bell etary funds, and the rest managed by third parties. flap, their compensation and benefits. Public emDon’t be surprised, David Mora, chairman of ployees are sensitive to the criticism, and have rethe ICMA-RC’s board and retired city manager of sponded with any number of defenses, chiefly that Salinas, Calif., told me earlier this month. they played by the rules, and it’s not their fault “This is the financial-services industry, and the ex- that, for years, the public didn’t care about the depertise required there is very different from that of tails of public finance. managing services for residents of a community.”

The ICMA-RC is caught somewhere in the The ICMA-RC designated Mora to respond to middle. It’s a creation of the ICMA, and its 10 my questions about compensation. member board includes four current or retired Mora, who is also West Coast regional director government officials and the executive director of of the ICMA, was one of the first city-government the ICMA, who also is a retired government offiexperts to react to the Bell situation. He was quot- cial. The ICMA-RC pays the ICMA a licensing fee, ed in the Los Angeles Times’ initial story, “Is a City which was about $335,000 in 2008, according to Manager Worth $800,000?” Two weeks ago, he the organization’s website. called the Bell paydays “gross” and “just not right.”

There the relationship ends. Or does it? The I asked him why public officials shouldn’t be ICMA-RC is in financial services. Its employees outraged by the pay at ICMA Retirement Corp. aren’t government workers. But it’s also a nonprofHe said the employees of the company were in “a it, tax-exempt organization that, in the words of very different business,” and that he was confident the mission outlined in the IRS Form 990, “serves the board had approved “competitive compensa- to lessen the burdens of state and local governtion packages” that were “not at the extreme” and ments and their agencies and instrumentalities by “not at the low end.” He said the pay of the orga- administering qualified and deferred compensanization’s top officers was reviewed every year to tion retirement plans, thereby helping public secmake sure it was fair and reasonable. tor employees build retirement security.”

I said that in the non-Wall Street, non-financial These are resentful times. How much did you services world, $1.6 million was a lot of money. He say you make? said it was a lot of money “in any world.”

I also asked Mora about the numbers contained Joe Mysak is a Bloomberg News columnist. This colin the ICMA-RC’s IRS Form 990, which showed umn originally ran on Wednesday.

the chronicle

thursday, september 23, 2010 | 11

commentaries

Your major belongs to you

lettertotheeditor Is it too much to ask?

This semester, I rented a lovely townhouse on Morreene Road; unfortunately, there is no bus access to campus. I applied for a parking permit a week before school started. At the end of the application form, it says, “The Parking Office will contact you when your permit is ready.” I waited for two weeks; no one contacted me. During this time, I called at least twice and the response on the phone was noncommittal. Soon, three weeks were gone, and I had to bear the pain of parking at my friends’ apartment and taking the bus to school, wasting at least an hour to commute.

Finally, I decided to make an effort to visit the Parking and Transportation Services office. I walked in the office, explained the whole situation and the staff member told me that the application was lost. He apologized for this incident, and as-

sured me that if I submit the application again, my case will be expedited.

I refilled the form again and made everyone on my carpool list sign the form again. This took me another two days. When I had reapplied and contacted the office again, the staff member I spoke to was nowhere to be found; I had to explain the whole issue again. Strangely, no record of my case could be found anywhere in the system.

Is it too much to ask for the Parking and Transportation Services office to do this right at the beginning? I am not asking for a free parking pass.

All I wanted is a legal parking permit so I can avoid time wasted on my commute.

Chinling Chen Duke Graduate School, Environmental Economics and Policy

TXT/SPK Diglossia

I

f you’ve ever transcribed a free-form conversa- I write all of my papers in Grammar A, and you probtion, you have probably been struck by how little ably do too. That’s considered normal. But when I of a spoken exchange is made up of true gram- speak in Grammar A, you think I am working hard matical sentences. Listen to your conversations— to be a careful speaker: I am being formal, or I am we hardly ever talk “properly.” We interrupt each delivering a speech. other, we lose our train of thought or So we recognize the merits of Gramwe misconjugate verbs and get flusmars A and B in different situations. tered. We’re not all careful speakers But I’m no fool to think that academic at all times: redundancies, mistakes writing will ever comprise Grammar B and misinterpretations are as central works. It’s a fun idea, but it’s not sento human language as descriptiveness sible for any mainstream academic and precision are. or student to discard the established Despite this, our educational sysrules of grammar, even if Grammar B tem—in fact, all of literate society in ev- sandeep prasanna is clearer. ery language—demands that we write I once wondered if the dichotomy in grammatical sentences. We can’t hooked on phonetics between written and oral traditions write our academic essays in phrases would continue to grow until they and incomplete thoughts. Our literate culture re- had little to no relationship to one another: whether quires completeness and grammaticality. Deviations Grammar A’s rate of change would be so much slowfrom this sentence model are dismissed, at best, as er than Grammar B’s that they eventually split. In my art projects or, at worst, serious misunderstandings family’s first language, Kannada, a beautiful literary of grammar. tradition spanning 15 centuries continues to flourNot everyone believes writing should be this ish. But today’s formalized Kannada grammar and way. Thirty years ago, a composition theorist vocabulary has very little obvious relation to the sponamed Winston Weathers proposed “Grammar B,” ken form—so much so that a Kannada-user like me, an alternate style providing, in his words, “options familiar only with speaking the language, can barely that do not yet exist but which would be beneficial understand formal text. if they did.” His Grammar B sought to convey inThis phenomenon is called diglossia, and I wonformation from author to reader in the same way der if English is headed toward it. To be sure, all it travels from speaker to listener. He promoted literary languages have some spoken/written diglosa written representation of human thought that sia. When we have the luxury to be careful (like in mimicked the mechanisms of spoken language— writing), we are generally more grammatical. And with interruptions, redundancies and visual ele- written language usually changes more slowly than ments (in lieu of cues like intonation). It was a rad- spoken language—compare English spellings to proical idea with several merits. In fact, for a writing nunciations, for example. project three years ago, I rewrote a sociology essay But forms of communication like short and uninto Grammar B. The result was easier to read and grammatical text messages, or even longer, converunderstand than the “Grammar A” version. It was sational emails, have thrown us a linguistic curveball. also more engaging and conversational.

For the first time in our species’ history, we are conBut it’s not a coincidence that Weathers’ book is stantly and continuously using written communicaout of print. Writing, especially academic writing, is tion for real-time conversations. We IM, we text and driven by a cycle that rewards Grammar A and pro- we e-mail. Just 20 years ago, the only written commuduces it too. I would never have actually submitted nication reliably employed by most people was letter my Grammar B essay to my sociology professor and writing. What does this mean for the future of huhave expected a positive response. man communication? Will diglossia be thwarted? Or So if we write in Grammar A and speak and think will there be an even greater divide between spoken in Grammar B, are we being cognitively torn apart? (including instant, written messages) and formalized Are we being required to think in two different ways? written English?

To use language incongruously and inconsistently?

Spoken language uses subtle cues like intonation, Consider, at least, that spoken language dwarfs pausing and volume to deliver meaning. Written lanwriting in our species’ timeline. We started speaking guage lends itself to longer reflection and more careat least 200,000 years ago, around when Homo sapiens ful word and phrasing selection. I’m not constructemerged. Written language, on the other hand, ap- ing the two in opposition to each other, although it peared no earlier than 10,000 years ago, and it wasn’t is obvious which is more fundamental to our species. until about 200 years ago that mass literacy became We have used spoken and written language mostly common. for different purposes, so they may have developed Significant swaths of today’s world remain illiter- divergent characteristics for that reason. But as we ate. All societies in the world are still based funda- communicate more and more through text, our use mentally on spoken language. In fact, all literate soci- and understanding of language will change fundaeties are both oral and written—and a society can be mentally—even if we never actually write our essays completely oral, but it cannot be completely written. in Grammar B. If our spoken language is different from our written language, what does it mean that the literate Sandeep Prasanna is a Trinity senior and a Program establishment requires such rigidity in writing? It’s II major examining change in language. His column runs obvious that I’m writing this column in Grammar A. every other Thursday.

I

f you’re an upperclassman, you’ve probably defended your choice of major against someone else’s attacks at least once or twice. Next time, don’t bother.

First, what’s the central point of contention in our arguments about majors?

Talk about the respective merits of various majors usually involves the word “practical” or one of its synonyms. “Practical” is usually shorthand for “will help me make money.” connor southard You can all name the Duke dead poet majors—economics, public policy, anything in Pratt—whose adherents love to assert the incredible money-making “practicality” of their degrees. Not to be outdone, students pursuing degrees in areas sometimes labeled as “impractical” are often the first to assert the hidden “practical value” of their educations. English majors are known to argue that superior writing skills will take them far in the Land of Memos and PowerPoints.

OK, so we’re fixated on practicality. In other words, we’re thinking very hard about money.

Payscale.com tells us that those who study petroleum engineering (the most lucrative degree they listed) as undergraduates can expect a good median starting salary of $93,000 and a healthy median mid-career salary of $157,000. The numbers for other majors go down from there. If you’re an art major, I’d recommend avoiding this website.

We at Duke must all be fools to have gone somewhere that doesn’t offer a petroleum engineering major, no?

Forget that kind of anxiety, unless you like thinking of yourself as a data point. You do not belong to your major. Your major belongs to you. For those of you who have yet to declare, here’s an astounding idea: Major in whatever subject you most like.

Study what you want to study because a meaningful education isn’t something you can simply be given for a couple hundred grand. You’re going to have to actually work at it, and the work will be largely wasted if you’re stuck studying something you hate. Follow me on this one.

Higher education trades in complex ideas and intricate ways of working with those ideas, whether the subject at hand is higher math or literary theory. But the abstraction of academic study is not itself the point, and neither are the minutiae of a given subject.

The real point is honing your intellect in such a way that it can capably grapple with abstract, complex problems that require plenty of raw brainpower to solve. You have to understand how to do so on a non-superficial, conceptual level, so that you can do it over and over again, whenever a difficult problem is thrown your way. Develop your mind in that way, and you can call yourself educated.

What I’ve just described is in and of itself abstract and vague.

I wish there were a more poignant way to discuss the “value of a liberal arts education”—a tired phrase, but an important one— but there simply isn’t a concise way to do that. That particular difficulty is due to the fact that sharpening your mind in the way described above is a process that takes a different, specific form for everyone, while still retaining its general shape.

If you grant that the crux of the above argument above is true—that it’s always more important to learn how to think than it is to be told the details of what to think—then it doesn’t matter what specific exercises you do en route to becoming a better thinker. You might study anything, as long as your studies provide worthy intellectual challenges—think of the various problems posed to you as workouts, if you want a metaphor.

But to get the most out of this kind of practice, it’s crucial that you find what you study compelling. If you have no attachment to your chosen field, it’s unlikely that you’re going to learn how to do much else besides cram ephemeral bits of knowledge for exams. Your desire to be rid of your assignments will far outweigh your desire to gain as much from them as you can. You’ll learn how to grind and obsess, not how to think.

We started with practicality and money, so consider this: You can’t exchange your degree, whatever the subject stamped on it, for money. To earn a good living, you’ll need to be a problem-solver and a quick, sharp thinker. If you aren’t either, you’ll be surpassed by those who are.

Put it that way, and suddenly pursuing the most challenging, compelling education available seems much more practical than agonizing about the mere name of your major. Pick a subject you like and can stick with, and get on with it. Ignore your doubters. They haven’t thought hard enough about it.

Connor Southard is a Trinity junior. He is studying in New York for the semester. His column runs every Thursday.

12 | thursday, september 23, 2010

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