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, APRIL 14, 2011
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 134
www.dukechronicle.com
DukeEngage Potti hires online reputation manager Firm seeks to remove unfavorable articles from top Google results reflects diverse student body potti investigation
by Lauren Carroll THE CHRONICLE
by Taylor Doherty THE CHRONICLE
Go ahead and Google Anil Potti. No longer do the majority of top search results for the former Duke cancer researcher detail allegations that he falsified his resume and produced faulty research that has been retracted from renowned medical journals and led to the termination of three clinical trials. Instead, more than a dozen websites and social media accounts created in the months following Dr. Potti’s November resignation contain solely positive information about his research and medical experience. “During his time at Duke, he had a special interest in taking care of patients with lung cancer and contributed to the development of several programs in cancer,” reads a section of AnilPotti.com, which does not discuss the
terminated trials that a top Duke official has since said should never have been conducted. In recent months, Potti hired Online Reputation Manager, a company that helps clients push down unfavorable content in search engine results. The effort has crowded out coverage of the scandal and retraction notices on medical journals’ websites. Still, for Potti, the results so far appear to be mixed. Searches for his name bring up articles about his missteps published by The New York Times and The Chronicle, though many of the newly created positive sites rank high as well. Online databases show that between Jan. 14 and Jan. 17, at least five sites were registered that combine See potti on page 6
chronicle graphic by courtney douglas
Students from many segments of the Duke community now volunteer through DukeEngage. Statistics provided by the service program show that the demographics of DukeEngage participants generally reflect the race and socioeconomic status of the undergraduate student body. The program consciously considers and values diversity, said Eric Mlyn, director of DukeEngage. The participants who will volunteer in the United States and abroad this summer nearly identically mirror the program’s applicant pool. A total of 8 percent of the students are black, 37 percent Asian, 6 percent Hispanic, 42 percent white and 7 percent selected other or did not specify their race. These rates also reflect the student body at large, which in 2010 was 10 percent black, 26 percent Asian, 7 percent Hispanic, 50 percent white and 7 percent other or not specified. Mlyn said socioeconomic diversity is also a priority for the program, adding that DukeEngage administrators do not want costs to discourage people from applying. Students on need-based financial aid make up 43 percent of all DukeEngage participants this year, which is equal to their representation in the total student body. “I think we’re doing very well,” Mlyn See dukeengage on page 4
Mangum likely faces murder ‘Beer Trucks’ scratched charge after boyfriend’s death from graduation week from Staff Reports THE CHRONICLE
Reginald Daye, the man Crystal Mangum allegedly stabbed April 3, has died. Mangum, the Durham woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury after the incident and Crystal Mangum has been in jail since her arrest. Durham Police Department Chief Jose Lopez told The Herald Sun Wednesday
that the charge against Mangum will likely be upgraded to murder. When police responded April 3 they found that the 46-year-old man had been stabbed in the torso with a kitchen knife. Daye and Mangum had allegedly been arguing about rent money. Mangum was previously arrested in February 2010 following an altercation with a different boyfriend, WRAL reported. Mangum was accused of assaulting the man in front of her children and setting his clothes on fire. She was eventually convicted of injury to personal property, child abuse and resisting a public officer. The arson charge was dismissed because a jury could not reach a verdict.
ONTHERECORD
“Not only do the United States and China have the two largest economies in the world, they also have the most dynamic.”
—Soph. Paul Horak in “Entrepreneurship and Growth.” See column page 11
by Caroline Fairchild THE CHRONICLE
For more than 20 years, “Beer Trucks” has been a fixture of Duke’s commencement week activities, but the Class of 2011 will have to make alternate plans for the night before graduation exercises. Beer Trucks is a traditional event during the weekend of commencement, for which seniors congregate in the Blue Zone to drink free beer and socialize one last time before graduation. Kim Hanauer, director of young alumni and student programs for the Duke Alumni Association, wrote in an email that the DAA was forced to cancel the event this year due to additional budget constraints faced by the association. Beer Trucks, which cost approximately $65,000, was terminated by the
Great Hall promotes eating green, Page 3
DAA in consultation with all University departments involved with Commencement. “While we understand that for many... Beer Trucks was certainly a lot of fun, it was an expensive event and one that we thought was not as pivotal to the success of our overall programs as say Homecoming, Reunions or career/networking programs for students,” Hanauer said. Currently, there is no event planned for Saturday evening in place of Beer Trucks. Hanauer added that the DAA hopes other commencement week events, such as the KickOff Cocktail Party Wednesday and the Back to East event Thursday, will serve as supplementary opportunities for members of the Class of See beer trucks on page 5
Football player composes music for Duke symphony, Page 7
2 | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 the chronicle
worldandnation onschedule...
Duke Free Store Bryan Center Plaza, 10a.m.-5p.m. Duke Free Store allows customers to donate and/or take gently used items.
on the
Marty Grosz, Jazz Guitarist and Raconteur Lilly Library, 4-5:30p.m. Marty Grosz will perform, discuss himself and his father, and hold a master class on jazz.
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FRIDAY
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Who’s in Charge? Free Will and Science of the Brain LSRC B101, 5-6:30p.m. Michael Gazzaniga discusses perspectives from Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy.
web
“A Firefox add-on for Mac and Windows called Firesheep is designed to allow any user to access Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google, WordPress and many other password-protected accounts of others on the same public Wi-Fi network. A sidebar appears listing the available accounts to hack, with the users’ name or username and often a picture.” — From The Chronicle Blog bigblog.dukechronicle.com
Michael naclerio/The Chronicle
Colin Goddard, one of the students who survived the Virginia Tech shootings, is at the center of the HBO documentary “Gun Fight.”“Gun Fight” deals with the current debate in gun control. It presented both Goddard’s fight for gun control and the perspective of gun advocates. The documentary premiered Wednesday, three days before the fourth anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.
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TODAY:
Without labor nothing prospers. — Sophocles
TODAY IN HISTORY
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1865: Lincoln shot at Ford’s Theatre.
Stocks rise in response to Libyan rebels require Obama’s spending cut more funds, equipment NEW YORK — Stocks rose Wednesday, halting the longest Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slump since November, as a Federal Reserve report fueled optimism the economy can weather President Barack Obama’s plan to cut spending and raise taxes. The S&P 500 snapped a four-day slump, rising less than 0.1 percent to 1,314.41.The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 7.41 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,270.99. Benchmark indexes fell earlier as details of Obama’s plan emerged, then turned higher after the Fed’s Beige Book said the economy and labor markets improved. “The economy is in good shape,” said Kevin Caron, a market strategist in Florham Park, N.J., at Stifel Nicolaus. “The evidence of the last few years has been that whenever the government leads in spending money, the private sector follows.”
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Duke Men’s Tennis
AMbler OuTDOOr Tennis CenTer FriDAy, 4/15 AT 3 p.M. vs. FlOriDA sTATe sunDAy, 4/17 AT 12 p.M. vs. MiAMi – seniOr DAy!!
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DOHA, Qatar — Libyan rebels require further support that may include funding and equipment to defend civilians against the forces of Moammar Gadhafi, allied nations said Wednesday. A United Nations resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya provides for self-defense and Qatar would “look into” supplying equipment for this, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim Al-Thani told reporters Wednesday. The so-called Libyan contact group said it was looking into a “temporary financial mechanism” so the rebels can access government assets frozen abroad, in a statement issued in Doha. The group, which includes the United States, Britain, France and other countries lending military support, agreed that “Gadhafi and his regime had lost all legitimacy and he must leave power, allowing the Libyan people to determine their own future,” it said in the statement.
Obama proposes $4 trillion cut from deficit
the chronicle
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 | 3
Group votes against steep Bon Appetit celebrates budget cuts for yearbook Low Carbon Diet Day duke student government
by Anna Koelsch THE CHRONICLE
Students eager to reminisce about their Duke years with a yearbook can temporarily breathe a sigh of relief. At its meeting Wednesday, Duke Student Government came close to cutting more than half of the budget of Duke’s yearbook, The Chanticleer, during a discussion of the 2011-2012 Student Organization Finance Committee budget. A proposal to cut the publication’s budget by $41,000 ultimately failed by a vote of 17-20. A smaller cut of $30,000 also failed, and the Senate tabled the discussion of The Chanticleer’s budget—but not without debate. “There is no reason why we should be giving $80,000 to the yearbook when we have things like Facebook,” said senior Ben Bergmann, a senator on the athletics and campus services committee. Bergmann proposed cutting The Chanticleer’s budget to eliminate unnecessary spending for a publication that he said was obsolete and geared only toward the senior class. He added that there is a significant number of yearbooks left over each year because of a lack of student interest in the publication. Others agreed about the diminishing value of the yearbook, with one senator suggesting that The Chanticleer should only be free for seniors. But sophomore Chris Brown, vice
president for athletics and campus services, said The Chanticleer fills an important need for Duke because it documents events and issues for every student regardless of their class year. “The only thing that makes it significant for senior year is the small section in the back with senior portraits,” Brown said. “I got a yearbook earlier, and it is awesome. They do a fantastic job.” DSG President Mike Lefevre, a senior, threatened to veto the proposal to cut the publication’s budget before meeting The Chanticleer’s staff to talk about plans to “modernize” the publication. Lefevre said a part of his plan for The Chanticleer includes discussing the option of charging students for the publication. “There are so many nuances to a budget... [but] there are benefits to pursuing a volume,” he said.
McGowan said the event is designed to inform students of ways they can reduce the carbon footprint of the food they eat. “Is it feasible to totally eliminate beef and cheese every single day?” she said. “No, but we can educate consumers [on] why decreasing consumption of those items could impact the environment in a positive way and hope that they elect to make those choices outside of our operations.” The meals offered for lunch at the event will follow Bon Appetit’s “Top Five Low
by Matt Barnett THE CHRONICLE
It’s easy being green—at least in the Great Hall. The venue, operated by Bon Appetit Management Company, has recently been the focus of several campaigns aimed at improving its sustainability. The Great Hall is celebrating Bon Appetit’s fourth annual Low Carbon Diet Day today by offering a special lunch menu to highlight foods that are produced with low levels of carbon emissions. Bon Appetit Marketing Manager Sarah
See green eating on page 5
Visit us! www.duke chronicle.com
Eliza Bray/The Chronicle
The Great Hall is offering a special lunch menu today in celebration of Bon Appetit’s fourth annual Low Carbon Diet Day. The goal of the event is to educate students on ways to eat with a minimal carbon footprint.
2010 - 2011 GRADUATION WITH DISTINcTION IN THE ARTS
THE PRESENTATIONS KRISTINA WARREN I MUSIC Who Cares If You Listen? Accessibility and Substance in James MacMillan’s “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel,” and Electro- Acoustic Composition - “Words (Yes)” April 16, @ 3pm in Nelson Music Room, East Duke Bldg., East Campus
CAROLINE XIE I MUSIC Liszt Transcriptions and Paraphrases A two-part project that includes a piano recital featuring several of Liszt’s transcriptions and paraphrases, and the Rachmaninoff Piano Suite I, Op. 5, for two pianos, and a research thesis that explores Liszt’s transcriptions and paraphrases of works by Schumann, Paganini, and Tchaikovsky. Faculty advisors: Pei Fen Liu, Anthony Kelley, Hsiao-Mei Ku April 16, @ 6pm in Baldwin Auditorium, East Campus
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The Graduation with Distinction program in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences recognizes academic excellence achieved by highly qualified advanced students who successfully complete a substantive project demonstrating sustained effort and deemed distinguished by a faculty committee of review.
Hours: Monday thru Saturday 10 am - 9 pm Sunday Noon - 6 pm
ARTWORK: Sarah Goetz, a gentle brain washing (details), sewn mesh, pages from the Encyclopedia Americana: Burma-Cathay, and guitar strings, The Mary Duke Biddle Building, 2010, Photo by Marissa Bergmann
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4 | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 the chronicle
DC officials to allow online gambling in city hot spots by Justin Jouvenal the Washington Post
WASHINGTON, D.C. — City officials in Washington said they are planning to set up 20 to 30 online gambling “hot spots” in hotels, bars, clubs and other venues by September, marking a major step in a bid to turn the nation's capital into a haven for Texas hold 'em and other potentially lucrative Internet-based games. By the end of the year—if Congress doesn't revisit the issue and if the technology works as promised—adults in Washington wouldn't even need to go such places to gamble. Instead, they would be able to key in their payment details on their home laptops to play a virtual hand or two of city-sanctioned poker. The unprecedented wager has city officials facing difficult questions, including how much money the venture would make and whether it would even be legal. City council member Michael Brown proposed the plan in December as a way to generate revenue. The measure passed as part of the 2011 budget, and Mayor Vincent Gray signed it into law in January. Last week, a 30-day period for Congress to object to the plan ended, setting the stage for the city to move forward. But the recent deal to avert a federal government shutdown—which revived a provision that would bar city money
from being used to pay for abortion— shows the potentially perilous path for any local initiative that draws strong opposition in Congress. Even after the review period, Congress can intervene, said Frederick Hill, spokesman for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which covers city affairs. “If the committee has a concern that a practice is either illegal or not in the interests of the federal taxpayers who support the District of Columbia, the committee could certainly raise a concern.” Hill said, however, that the panel has no plans to introduce legislation or hold a hearing on the matter. Brown insists that Washington is on firm legal ground, but the city's chief financial officer said in an analysis of the program that “no consensus exists” on whether federal statutes would prevent the city from implementing the program. “We are trying to do as much innovative stuff as possible to increase revenue,” Brown said. “We have competition around the region on gaming, so we had to do something. Also, the online, offshore poker companies are already here. “ The gambling program could generate $13.1 million between the 2011 and 2014 fiscal years, according to the chief financial officer's analysis, although
dukeengage from page 1 said, noting that the numbers are in line with national trends. Mlyn in part attributed the high representation of Asian students to the fact that there are “heritage students”—undergraduates who do DukeEngage in their countries of origin. For example, DukeEngage in China-Beijing often attracts many Chinese students, as the program requires participants to speak Mandarin Chinese. One such student is freshman Sarah Wang, who moved to the United States from Beijing nine years ago and hopes to improve her language skills this summer. Wang said she is excited to work on the service project—which consists of teaching migrant children from rural areas— because of her family’s ties to the rural regions of China and her connection to the project. Wang noted, however, that she believes this should not discourage non-Chinese students from applying. “We reach the same benefits—there’s no advantage [to being Chinese].” Some segments of the student body do remain underrepresented in the program, however. Men made up half of the student body in 2010, but just 40 percent of students participating in DukeEngage this summer are
male. Similarly, although student-athletes make up 12 percent of the student body, they will represent just 6 percent of DukeEngage participants. The imbalance reflects national statistics about volunteering, Mlyn said. As of September 2010, 42.7 percent of civic engagement nationally was performed by men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mlyn said the program nonetheless tries to attract both sexes. Some programs attract higher male turnouts, including projects that focus on entrepreneurship, like the programs in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Mlyn attributed the lack of varsity athletes to the fact that many of them are unable to participate because they are required to train over the summer. Some students do put their training on hold to participate. Junior Chris TweedKent, a member of the men’s varsity soccer team, said even though he could not practice for all of last summer he does not regret spending the summer in Santiago, Chile. “Being an athlete has enhanced my overall experience at Duke, and sometimes two great things compete with each other for time,” Tweed-Kent wrote in an email Wednesday. “DukeEngage was an unbelievable experience that I wouldn’t have traded for anything.”
See gambling on page 6
chronicle graphic by nicholas schwartz and courtney douglas
The distrubution of applicants and participants in DukeEngage programs by background nearly mirrored the percentages of the student body, with Asian students as the only group overrepresented.
PRESIDENT RICHARD BRODHEAD INVITES MEMBERS OF THE DUKE COMMUNITY TO THE HERTHA SPONER PRESIDENTIAL LECTURESHIP
LIVINg ON THE EDgE SUCCESSFULLY:
From womb to grave with friends, family, and physiological flexibility Jeanne Altmann, PhD Eugene Higgins Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Emeritus and Senior Scholar Princeton University
Monday, April 18, 2011 at 4:30 pm Fitzpatrick Center, Schiciano Auditorium, Side B Reception will follow outside of the Schiciano Auditorium Hertha Sponer was the first woman full professor in the natural sciences at Duke University, invited to join the faculty in 1936. Seventy years later, a group of women faculty in the sciences recommended this lectureship to President Brodhead to highlight the research of prominent women in science, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. phy.duke.edu/history/DistinguishedFaculty/HerthaSponer
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the chronicle
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 | 5
green eating from page 3
beer trucks from page 1
Carbon Diet Tips,” which include not wasting food, highlighting seasonal and regional foods and avoiding beef and cheese. Options will include brine-roasted pork and North Carolina rainbow trout. Although the Great Hall’s menu will go back to normal after the event, McGowan said the event is part of Bon Appetit’s larger commitment to reduce carbon emissions. “We have company-wide goals to decrease our cafe’s carbon ‘foodprint’ in the highest impact areas—beef and cheese reduction and food waste reduction—by 25 percent in 2012,” she said. “To date, Bon Appetit has reduced beef usage by 33 percent and food waste by nearly 25 percent nationwide.” The Great Hall is not the only dining venue to launch sustainability initiatives. The Refectory is one of the greenest venue on campus and the Marketplace will also be participating in Low Carbon Diet Day, serving similar emission-reducing meals at lunch. Junior Ben Soltoff, co-president of Environmental Alliance, said the Great Hall’s commitment to the environment was commendable even before the initiative began. “Although most students don’t realize it, the Great Hall is one of the most sustainable eateries on campus,” Soltoff said. “It makes a dedicated effort to provide local, seasonal and organic food, often going above and beyond Bon Appetit’s fourth annual Low Carbon Diet Day today’s national standards.” Soltoff added that there is more work to be done, however, such as encouraging students to use the reusable clamshell containers currently available in the Great Hall, which began as an initiative of the Environmental Alliance. “There is always room for improvement—more food could come from sustainable sources, and waste is a huge problem,” Soltoff said. “It is ridiculous and unacceptable how many students get plastic to-go containers and then stay in the Great Hall for their meal.” Students are not the only ones who appreciate the Great Hall’s environmental consciousness. Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said he approved of the lowcarbon initiatives and confirmed the administration’s commitment to sustainability. “You are what you eat, and people need to understand the ramification of what they’re consuming,” Wulforst said. “Everybody needs to be very conscious of everything they buy as a consumer and everything they eat.” Students can continue to make low-carbon meal choices after the Low Carbon Diet Day by eating local, seasonal and organic foods and by cutting back on meat, Soltoff said. “The most important thing students can do is eat less meat, especially red meat,” he added. “While vegetarianism is the ideal environmental choice, simply cutting down on meat consumption can have a large effect.”
2011 to come together before they don their caps and gowns Sunday, May 15. But Alex Osmond, Trinity ’09, does not agree that the events are comparable. Osmond, who attended all three events two years ago, said the unique value of Beer Trucks is that it is scheduled for the night before graduation when the parents of all the graduates are in Durham and can meet and mingle with friends in a “very fluid space.” “You come to Duke with your parents and with Beer Trucks you could leave with them... but also with the friends that you’ve picked up along the way,” he said. Senior Scott Winkleman said once he started hearing rumors that the event would be canceled this year, he called DAA for some answers. Winklemen said he thinks that it was “pretty ridiculous” that the DAA choose to cancel Beer Trucks as it was a highly anticipated event among his peers and classmates. “I’ve talked to a lot of seniors who agree that it would have been better if they cut everything else from the week and just kept Beer Trucks,” he said. Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek, who prefers to refer to Beer Trucks as the “Big Tent Event,” said that on a positive note, graduates will now be able to spend more
time with their families instead of rushing back to West Campus for Beer Trucks. But Matthew Ogren, Trinity ’09, said Beer Trucks was special because of its ability to serve as a larger space for all graduates to meet before graduation. “I think it is really unfortunate they decided to cancel it,” he said. “Otherwise, you just have individual parties... it was a great way to come together in the end.” Winkleman said the cancellation of Beer Trucks is part of a larger trend of discontinuing events that are central to Duke student life. “Of all the big special events at Duke like Tailgate, LDOC, personal checks and Beer Trucks, the administration has already canceled two of them,” he said. “These are the events that define Duke and canceling them marks big changes in the social scene and the aspects that make Duke different from other universities.”
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Better than your roommate
eliza bray/The Chronicle
The Durham Independent Animal Rescue brought puppies, dogs, cats and kittens to West Campus Wednesday to raise awareness for animals in need.
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6 | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 the chronicle
potti from page1 Potti’s name in different arrangements: AnilPotti.com, AnilPotti.net, DrAnilPotti.com, PottiAnil.com and PottiAnil.net. A number of social media accounts have also been opened under Potti’s name since he resigned from the University. A Twitter account, @anilpottimd, which was created three-and-a-half months ago, mentions Potti in the third-person and links to sites about the doctor. Accounts on other sites—including LinkedIn and Facebook—have also emerged. The Facebook profile features a photo of Potti not posted elsewhere on the Internet and now has 126 friends. Which accounts and sites Online Reputation Manager created remains unclear. The publicly available contact information for AnilPotti.com lists an email account belonging to the firm. The social media accounts consist almost entirely of content from the recently created websites and links to them, a telltale sign that they were created by a
reputation management firm, said Andy Beal, an expert in the industry. Online Reputation Manager declined to comment on Potti’s use of its services, saying that client information is confidential. Crossing the line? Potti’s hiring of a reputation management firm raises ethical concerns. The content on his sites appears to be factually correct but avoids any mention of the missteps that now color the doctor’s legacy in the field. Dr. Jerome Kassirer, former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, said that because Potti has withdrawn four papers—“an enormous number of important retractions”—an acknowledgement of his past on the sites is in order. The retractions, one of which was of an NEJM paper, are available online but will not be as easy to find given the reputation management efforts, he noted. “It sounds like he has... crossed the line by not giving
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the whole story,” Kassirer said. “It seems to me inappropriate and unprofessional.” Sheldon Krimsky, an expert on medical conflicts of interest and a professor at Tufts University, said trying to influence search engine results is not itself unethical, but it can be if a doctor is attempting to alter the public record. “If he says anything that has been disputed by an authoritative body, it would be unethical for him to promote himself in that way,” he said. Online Reputation Manager is generally willing to work with clients as long as the intent is not to hide criminal activity that has not yet been reported, even if the individual’s past actions were offensive, said Ronald Smith, the company’s manager of business development, who agreed to speak about the firm’s methods generally but not about particular clients. The company takes on about 90 percent of clients who request the firm’s help, he added. “Offline, a lawyer is hired to help them out, fight their case—I think we’re the online lawyers,” he said. “So it’s quite ethical, on our part, and I think quite right to help them out at a certain charge.” A growing trade Potti’s use of this service is a part of an expanding online phenomenon. The industry grew with the rise of social networks, said Beal, who co-authored “Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online” and has helped businesses and individuals improve their online reputations. As Twitter and Facebook took off, individuals not only shared more information online but also regretted sharing it, he said. “Around 2006, 2007, the coffee shop and water cooler chatter found a home on the Internet, and that’s when reputation management took off,” he said. Online Reputation Manager typically launches fourmonth campaigns for specific key phrases that specialists find drive the most traffic to unfavorable content—or, as Smith called them, “offensive listings.” “We take these key phrases and write down highly positive content that is in the form of articles and press releases and we send it to our clients in different batches,” he said. “Once our client approves of that content... we go ahead and publish it on some very authoritative and highly Google page-ranked websites on the Internet.” Although the company offers customized contracts, clients of Online Reputation Manager are typically charged by the number of key phrases they wish to influence. One key phrase—a name, for example—costs $500 a month for four months, Smith said. Specialists focus their efforts on the first page of search results, which is viewed by far more searchers than subsequent pages. Once the initial campaign ends, many clients pay for a maintenance plan, which costs 80 percent of the previous monthly fee. Online Reputation Manager will also create websites for clients for $550 each, Smith said. Once the firm has created the site, the client is given full control of the site and is able to update or alter its content. Demand for services like that of Online Reputation Manager continues to grow. Smith said the company is taking on 40 to 45 new projects a month.
gambling from page 1 the 2011 fiscal year is more than half over. Money would be collected from table fees to join the poker games and from taxes on winnings of $600 or more, D.C. Lottery officials said. The city has signed a 50-50 revenue-sharing agreement with the Greek company Intralot, which would develop and manage the city's gambling site. Gray called Brown's effort "innovative." "We know that many of our residents are currently engaged in online gaming, but are doing so with offshore companies," the mayor said in a statement. "Our goal is simply to regulate the business in the District and to ensure that the District receives its fair share of the financial benefits produced by online gaming." The gambling Web site would be rolled out within a few months of hot spots opening. The major technological issue would be ensuring that the site was available only within the city's geographic limits. The hot spots set up to play for money would open in the fall and stay in operation after the broader rollout, said Buddy Roogow, executive director of the D.C. Lottery. He said he hopes the city's convention center would be one of the places, though officials are still writing the rules for choosing venues.
Recess
volume 13 issue 28 april 14, 2011
IT’S GREENER ONLINE!
TV on the Radio shifts into slower gear with new LP
PAGE 8
Chelsea Pieroni/The chronicle
full frame
documentary festival returns to Durham
center
hanna
Joe Wright upsets spy-adventure conventions
page 6
panda bear
Noah Lennox expands his psych-pop repertoire
page 7
recess
theSANDBOX. YouTube monologue artists are nothing new. The “Unforgivable” guy. Bo Burnham. The bespectacled runt kid who resembles Jim Carrey’s son in Liar, Liar and lip-synchs to “Like a G6.” They’re everywhere and they waste our collegiate time. Dom Mazzetti is different. The mustachioed, jacked guido defines your college experience. He is the guy you want to be or be on top of. Repeat these quotes when you’re in the relevant situation. If you’re actually from Northern Jersey, you have a verisimilitude advantage. Trying to look fresh for Shooters: “Jersey Shore has GTL., Dom has DOM. Deadmau5, Ovaltine, Muay Thai.” Last minute resume building: “You have to put your GPA though. I have about a 4.0 plus. In addition to GPA, I like to add MPH. An estimation of how fast I can run. About 12 miles per hour.” You have to make a spring break Facebook photo album: “Facebooking is the most important part of vacation. I have a few possible titles for the photo album picked out. Popular
songs like, ‘I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, singing a-yo…Galileo!’” Getting dressed for LDOC: “And it just so happens, my fitted matches my Forces. Excessive matching is next to godliness.” Overcoming racial anxiety from high school: “Hit up the dining hall, black cafeteria dude likes my Weezy scarf...He hooked up me up with extra butterfly shrimp. Winning.” Impressing the hipster girl down the hall: “I’m a dubstep freak because it speaks to my soul. Not because I’m some conformist. Dub equals freedom.” Shopping for the internship: “I got a sick accounting internship in NYC, you know I gotta dress like an adult now. I got my square-toed Bostonians from Burlington Coat Factory, pleated Dockers, double XL baby blue buttonups from Express.” More at youtube.com/dommazzetti. —Jake Stanley
[recesseditors] what we’re cutting from the budget Kevin Lincoln...........................................................................................lupe fiascos Lisa Du......................................................................................................nacho fund Ross Green..................................................................................wed night shootahs Andrew O’Rourke.....................................................................................trips to LA Sanette Tanaka..............................................................................flights to chi-town Nathan Glencer................................................................................non-wild pre-o’s Lindsey Rupp.....................................................................only one budget matters
April 14, 2011
Final Editor’s Note of the year. Time for the first-annual Lincolns, awarded to the best album, film, book and TV show that came out during my tenure as Recess Editor. Although without any cash prize, trophy or recognition so to speak of, Lincoln winners can take comfort in knowing that I probably talk about them far too much. Best Album: Titus Andronicus—The Monitor. Any regular reader of Recess probably would’ve expected me to put Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in this spot, and I wouldn’t blame them. But The Monitor, though an entirely different sort of album, gets the edge for its combination of earnestness, propulsion and the literate fury of frontman Patrick Stickles. Despite a runtime of 65 minutes, the album never sags, and there’s enough shifting of tempo and cadence to dodge the exhaustion that large doses of punk rock can sometimes provoke. Functioning as a primer to the cultural history of New Jersey, Stickles’ lyrics toes the line between pathos and poetry enough to draw on the best virtues of both. (Runners-up: Kanye West—My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; Mr. Dream—Trash Hit.) Best Film: True Grit. My consumption of last year’s films is woefully incomplete, but I managed to see a number of the top dogs: Black Swan was overrated, The Fighter surprisingly sincere and True Grit the best of the bunch. The Coen Brothers have long-since established themselves as among my mostadmired filmmakers, and though True Grit isn’t the masterpiece of a Miller’s Crossing or
[Editor’s Note]
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Barton Fink—one of the greatest movies ever made—I’d give it the edge over the lofty No Country for Old Men. I’d be curious to know if having seen the recently-released Source Code could’ve changed my vote here any; its director, Duncan Jones, made what stands as my favorite film of the last few years, the Sam Rockwell tour de force Moon. (Runners-up: The Fighter, Winter’s Bone.) Best Book: John D’Agata, About a Mountain. I’m cheating a bit here, because About a Mountain actually came out in Feb. 2010, but having read it this year I’m giving myself some leeway. The story of Yucca Moutain told through a prismatic flurry of fact and anecdote—including musings, both personal and reported, on the city of Las Vegas, suicide hotlines and the complexities of communication—D’Agata demonstrates why he’s been so integral to the recent resurgence of the essay. D’Agata brings the economy and rhythm of a poet to journalistic nonfiction, and he also takes the contentious tactic of conflating and playing with the story’s chronology—a move that upsets some but, because he cops to it, didn’t bother me. Even more to his credit, About a Mountain has provoked debate as to how much liberty a writer can take with the truth in pursuit of art; in the crowded din of today’s literary conversation, any time a writer can get multiple people to concentrate on the same concept at once, he’s doing something right. (Runners-up: Joshua Cohen, Witz— which might have won, if I’d had time to finish it.) TV Show: Justified. Crime noir meets Southern Gothic, fronted by the shockingly uber-charismatic Timothy Olyphant. Oh, and Mad Men. It’s been fun, kids. —Kevin Lincoln
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April 14, 2011
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Gibson’s Kudzu Vine blends sci-fi, reality by Kevin Lincoln THE CHRONICLE
There are tremendous titular possibilities for a sci-fi film on the kudzu vine. But Josh Gibson’s film Kudzu Vine only takes its cues and aesthetic from sci-fi of the mid-1900s. Genre-spanning as it is, Kudzu Vine, which premieres tomorrow at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, still provides a treatment of reality. Gibson, Trinity ’95 and an instructor in the program of the Arts of the Moving Image and assistant director of the Film/ Video/Digital program, has been making films since his undergraduate days at Duke. Since obtaining his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received a Fulbright Fellowship to work on his thesis Two Rivers, Gibson has worked not only in documentary but also in fictional and experimental film and what he calls “the gray area where these three things overlap.” Kudzu Vine is his third film to show at Full Frame. As a presence in nature, the kudzu vine has long been a fixation of Gibson’s. “To me, kudzu-transformed landscapes are one of the archetypical visual features of the South,” Gibson said. “These structures and trees and sides of the road and rural environments that are just totally covered in this vine, they take on these strange shapes.” The concept of the vine as both “beautiful and terrifying” colors the entirety of the film. Shot in black and white in 35 mm CinemaScope film that Gibson hand-processed in his basement, the effect is meant to be one of a “sci-fi documentary,” he said. With the widening gap between digital
special to The Chronicle
Duke graduate and professor Josh Gibson used traditional methods to film Kudzu Vine, which will premiere at Full Frame on Friday. and other methods of filmmaking, both the stock itself and the experience of handprocessing enabled Gibson to have an artisanal involvement in the project. “For a long time I was sort of chasing technologies and figuring out the newest digital format, but at this moment I’m really interested in thinking about the materiality of film itself,” Gibson said. “The kind of look that can be achieved this way is much more organic—it shows the scars and the flaws, and to me it’s quite beautiful.” Because of digital filmmaking, contem-
porary public showings are often no different than watching the film on DVD or otherwise, but Gibson said the unique medium of Kudzu Vine—the 35 mm CinemaScope stock—meant that its showing at Full Frame will be a rare opportunity to experience the work as it is truly intended. The film’s strong chronological and thematic consistency extends to the score of Kudzu Vine as well. Gibson asked Anthony Kelley, an associate professor of the practice of music, to compose the film’s accompaniment, and Kelley dug into ’60s pop
culture for a specific reference point. “There’s an old television series called Dark Shadows that I used as one of the main inspirations for the theme,” Kelley said. “With the way that kudzu grows, I tried to turn up the eeriness of the sounds and use dark harmonic cues as well.” Employing instruments like the theremin, Kelley worked to match Gibson’s use of black and white in its feeling of homage to the past. Creating a sense of historicity is something that Kelley said characterizes much of Gibson’s work. Having lived in North Carolina since he was ten years old, Gibson also identifies himself as a Southern filmmaker. The interplay of this notion with the geographic significance of the kudzu vine emerges when the film shows Gibson letting the vine grow in his basement. Seen in time-lapse, kudzu engulfs his children’s toys and devours the space of his home. Meanwhile, as the vine occupied one half of the basement, Gibson processed film in the other. Paralleled with Gibson’s own story and past, the plant takes on a further significance. “One of the recurrent themes in a lot of my work has been the outsider coming in to the Southern environment and having to reestablish oneself there,” Gibson said. “Kudzu is sort of the same way: It’s this outsider from Asia that was transplanted into the American South.” Kudzu Vine will premiere tomorrow at 4:40 p.m. in Cinema One as part of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Tickets can be purchased at the Full Frame Box Office in the Durham Armory.
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April 14, 2011
Full Frame Documentary Film F
....presented by the Center for Documentary Studies, will screen a tion of international documentary films in Durham and Chapel Hil 14-17. This year’s Festival features premieres of more than 60 doc ries and a thematic program on archival footage curated by filmm Prelinger. Recess Film Editor Andrew O’Rourke discusses his top c the weekend’s festival.
POLITICAL Both 2011 Sundance Official Selections, polemical domestic films Hot Coffee and How to Die in Oregon explore two hot-button issues: the frivolity of the American legal system and the right to euthanasia in Oregon. Hot Coffee explores the outcome of the infamous lawsuit against McDonald’s that netted Stella Liebeck millions of dollars for spilling hot coffee on her lap. Furthermore, it digs into the media’s role in the case and how leaders have used it to distort the public’s view of malpractice reform. How to Die in Oregon—winner of Sundance’s Grand Jury Award—follows a mother diagnosed with terminal cancer on her path towards her self-selected death date, showing her energetic run to the finish line of life as she works through her bucket list. A story of xenophobia and farmworkers in Finland, How to Pick Berries will resonate with U.S. audiences who have similar perceptions of the nation’s Mexican-based agricultural labor force. In Finland, Thai immigrants have been hired by a large food production firm to grow and harvest Finland’s most culture-steeped produce: cloudberries. Bobby Fischer Against the World follows the life of the world chess champion as his life dissolved into psychological chaos during the Cold War. After winning the championship in 1972, he withdrew from the public sphere, only to emerge 20 years later for a match that landed him in prison and eventually pushed him to exile.
FEATURED
Page One: Inside the New York Times—which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival—documents the evolution and inner workings of the new Media Desk at the New York Times, tracing the unfolding WikiLeaks debacle and its implications for democracy and free speech in a post-print journalism world. Opening night film Guilty Pleasures interweaves the stories of five people from disparate backgrounds and their one connection: romance novels. From using the books as advice for solving relationship problems to writing them as a source of income, the doc explores the private, guilty facets of love in the modern age. A powerful tale of dissidence in war time, Burma Soldier focuses on the tribulations of Myo Myint in his transformation from teenage soldier to political activist. The film is part of the festival’s Career Award, spotlighting the work of Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, both of whom worked on the previously featured films The Devil Came on Horseback and Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.
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April 14, 2011
Festival
a selecll from April cumentamaker Rick choices from
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
- Force of Nature - At the Edge of Russia - How to Die in Oregon - Windfall - Guilty Pleasures
- If A Tree Falls - The Last Mountain - Kudzu Vine - The Loving Story - Hot Coffee - The Pruitt-Igoe Myth - How to Pick Berries
- I Will Marry the Whole Village - At the Edge of Russia - How to Die in Oregon - Page One:Inside the NYT - Windfall - Burma Soldier - One Night in Kernersville - Scenes of a Crime - Resurrect Dead - Being Elmo - Bobby Fischer Against the World
QUIRKY This year’s Full Frame lineup features several mystery documentaries, including Scenes of a Crime and Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. The former takes audiences through a pseudo-crime investigation, mostly focusing on footage of the controversial ten-hour-long police interrogation of a man who allegedly killed his fourmonth-old son. The grueling interrogation eventually resulted in the father’s signing of a confession, but new evidence later surfaced that cast doubts upon the results of the process. Resurrect Dead maintains a lighter tone, investigating the whodunit mystery of tiles that have appeared on sidewalks and streets around the world reading, “Toynbee Idea/ In Kubrik’s movie 2011/ Resurrect Dead/ On Planet Jupiter.” Will the culprits be caught? You’ll have to watch to find out. I Will Marry the Whole Village is a rare entry in the genre of musical documentary. And by musical documentary, I mean the film itself—the story of a Serbian accordion player who tasks himself with marrying off the village’s surplus of single men—is actually a musical. He conceives a project in which the men of the village make video portraits of themselves to woo the elusive womenfolk. Sticking with the lighthearted films, Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey follows the life of Kevin Clash, the man behind the energetic red puppet featured on Sesame Street. The doc features rare behind-the-scenes footage of both Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop.
LOCAL INTEREST Directed by Durham resident Rodrigo Dorfman, One Night in Kernersville is a 20-minute portrait of jazz bassist John Brown, director of the Duke Jazz Program and an associate professor of the practice of music. One Night delves into the heart and deep emotions required for recording an album. The Loving Story—which is also a featured pick by Full Frame—tells the tale of a young couple exiled from the state of Virginia in 1958 for their interracial marriage. A court battle ensued and resulted in the nullification of all anti-miscegenation laws in the country. Steve Milligan, a local filmmaker and Arts of the Moving Image production teaching fellow, is a cinematographer of the film.
ENVIRONMENTAL This year’s Full Frame selection is rife with environmental films. If A Tree Falls tells the story of the Earth Liberation Front, a domestic eco-terrorist organization responsible for millions of dollars in property destruction. It follows the story of Daniel McGowan, who is serving seven years in prison, and the path that led him to radical action. A story of more muted conflict, The Pipe details the struggle of a small Irish village to block oil giant Shell from constructing a gas pipeline that threatens to divide their community and ruin the landscape. Windfall puts an interesting twist on traditional community-corporation environmental disputes, as an eco-friendly wind farm causing problems in a rural New York community. The lowfrequency whirs of the turbines have led to health problems in the local population, and the massive towers are ultra-visible scars on the landscape that have polarized debate in the town.
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April 14, 2011
hanna
dir. joe wright focus features
Hanna in real life
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Acclaimed director Joe Wright of Pride and Prejudice and Atonement fame takes a much darker—and somewhat Euro-trashy turn—with his new film Hanna. Hanna is the story of a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) who is raised by her father Erik (Eric Bana) in the wilderness of Finland. Erik, an ex-CIA operative, has spent years training Hanna for her inevitable confrontation with intelligence agent Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett). As Hanna fights and flees the cunning Ms. Wiegler, she comes of age through her first interactions with the real world. If nothing else, the film is fairly unique to a Hollywood fixated upon sequels and productions of novels. Traditionally in American cinema, a blonde, fair-skinned child symbolizes all things pure. Hanna
offers this stereotype a roundhouse kick, and probably a few bullets for good measure. The beautiful cinematography and fine acting evident in Wright’s past projects are here in abundance, but the violence and action have increased tenfold. Lights and techno beats effectively create a sense of disorientation during chase and fight scenes. Unfortunately, the pulsing score can at times overwhelm, distracting from the action and creating a Euro-club vibe. The thick eyeliner, bleached-blonde hair and tight shiny clothes worn by some of the cast also add to this regrettable impression. The most impressive part of Hanna is Ronan’s riveting portrayal of the title character. This was undoubtedly a difficult role to tackle, and Ronan succeeds in being both fierce and surprisingly vulnerable. Though it may be uncharted territory for Wright, his foray into action reveals his versatility and makes spending two hours with Hanna worth your while. —Sarah Zuk
Andrew O’rourke/The Chronicle
Hanna star Saoirse Ronan discusses the film at a question-and-answer session at the New York Comic-Con in October 2010.
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April 14, 2011
featured review
panda bear tomboy paw tracks
eeeEE
The momentum of critical consensus has given Animal Collective and its associated projects a pretty long leash, due in large part to their reputation as something more than the typical hipster-set flavor of the month. The oblique, experimental nature of their compositions belies their popularity and sets up the most onerous of critical tropes: If you don’t like it, you just don’t get it. So ever since the group changed focus from soundscaping to songwriting—an ambiguous paradigm shift that dates back either to Feels or Strawberry Jam—they’ve been lauded at every turn. Frontman Noah Lennox’s solo masterpiece as Panda Bear, Person Pitch, only intensified the perception of AnCo as indie pop’s most innovative luminaries. So here we are with Tomboy, an album that was destined for lavish praise from its conception. On merit, it isn’t entirely undeserved. Len-
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nox possesses a sublime talent—an angelic tenor whose blissful delivery more than compensates for its lack of expressiveness—and an undeniable dedication to texture and studio effects. Tomboy, like its predecessor, depends on these two elements, albeit to different effect. The sample-laden Beach Boys harmonies of Person Pitch (referred to more than once as the Pet Sounds of the 21st century) are out; droning guitars and an overdose of reverb are in. And there’s a lot to like about this new configuration, especially on the album’s first half. Opener “Know You Can Count on Me” plays Lennox’s refrain off of huge, doubled bass drums, which must have been recorded in a concrete box, with tremendous results. And “Tomboy” is the album’s real standout, employing the kind of texture—a buzzing, legato keyboard—that transforms Lennox’s pretty-but-pedestrian melodies into something transcendent. His fascination with production, though, can often scan as little more than window-dressing. At his best, Lennox can make five-
burial
Fr W ee iFi
street halo ep hyperdub
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Press your ear to the pavement above the London underground and you might just hear, rumbling distantly below, the ghostly sounds of Burial. As his name suggests, the music of the elusive British dubstep artist, née William Bevan, is pointedly somber. His first two LPs, 2006’s Burial and 2007’s Untrue, set forth an eerie, industrial minimalism that evoked a sense of dread and decay. But Burial and Untrue were particularly notable for their rhythmic ingenuity, marrying epileptic syncopation with deep grooves. His new EP, Street Halo, maintains their morose atmospherics but takes those grooves even further. The title track is a din of tribal wood blocks, throbbing synths and ethereal vocal samples that sets the pace with its propulsive dance beat. Though it bears Burial’s unmistakable signatures—ominous production, skeletal percussion— the sound is now expansive and persistent enough to pack a club. On “NYC,” the tone transitions to one of reflection, even meditation. Its sparse percussion, comprised of little more than a kick drum, high hat and rim taps, creates a cavernous space in which synths expand and contract as a solitary voice laments, “Nobody loves me.” In spite of the melancholy, its rhythm is a driving death funk that keeps your head nodding even as it lulls you into a wistful trance. Unfortunately, the final song, “Stolen Dog,” is a throwaway. Built around an awkward, artificial horn hook, it features a barrage of distracting sound effects and a monotonous four-on-the-floor bass drum beat. It’s as though Burial picked up the scraps left over from the first two songs and carelessly threw them together to round out the album. Though short (a mere 20 minute runtime), Street Halo ranks among Burial’s best work, and represents an intriguing shift in direction for the producer that portends a more traditional dance-oriented approach. Next time we hear him, Burial may have emerged from the deep. —Josh Stillman
minute tracks like Person Pitch’s “Comfy in Nautica” disappear all too quickly. It is this same proclivity for textural layering that makes a 12-minute epic like “Bros” so approachable. But he can also make five minutes seem like an eternity, as on Tomboy’s second half, when the studio bells and whistles often appear to substitute for actual songcraft. “Friendship Bracelet” and “Drone,” like the rest of the album, are best appreciated with headphones. But the extensive panning and intricate sense of space never fully takes your attention off the distinct lack of dynamism and melody. Ironically, one of the oft-used buzzwords for Tomboy has been “accessibility,” as though keeping tracks under seven minutes in length somehow makes the whole thing more appealing to a mass audience. But Person Pitch (actually slightly shorter in runtime) demanded the listener’s attention, even during its most drawn-out moments. Tomboy, for all its brevity, never does. —Ross Green
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April 14, 2011
PlayMakers bring Twain to the stage with Big River by Brian Contratto THE CHRONICLE
Big River, the Tony Award-winning musical adapted from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, succeeds Angels in America to round out the PlayMakers Repertory Company’s 35th Anniversary season. Unlike the more graphic Angels in America, this interpretation of Mark Twain’s classic novel contains suitable levels of depth and fun for audience members of all ages. Big River’s treatment of the human condition and morality is especially relevant in a modern context, apropos recent debate over the exclusion of the ‘N’ word from certain anniversary editions of Huckleberry Finn. Director Joseph Haj even defends the word’s inclusion in the playbill, stressing that its elimination would only “cost the story its ugly underside”—the unflattering aspects of human nature that Twain explores in the novel. Twain introduces his text with a warning that persons attempting to find a moral, motive or plot in the novel will be persecuted, banished or shot. Big River starts with this same message, projected onto a stage display. And although it’s given tongue-in-cheek treatment in both cases, the “disclaimer” highlights the way in which Big River renders the book’s thematic content. Emphasizing dark wit in the script and exaggerated earnestness in the actors’ roles underscores the depravity present in much of the plot. Lines like, “I got mo’ money than I ever did. I owns myself. And I’m worth $800,” encapsulate this recurring duality of tone. Given this M.O., Big River’s portrayals of Jim (David Aron Damane) and Huck (Jason Edward Cook) are deadon. Damane is endearing and commanding on stage— his musical numbers tend to anchor the whimsy of the ensemble’s songs—while Cook’s role is less grave. The
resulting chemistry comes across easily, even without the benefit of novelistic detail. The musical’s successful recreation of antebellum Americana extends to stage direction, led by managers Charles K. Bayang and Sarah Smiley. PlayMakers’ thrust stage at times transforms from the symbolic Big Muddy to accommodate a dancing cast of close to 20. The musical numbers are led by the bluegrass-infused country music of the Red Clay Ramblers, who contribute live fiddle, guitar, bass, drums and piano. Although the band is more than competent, they don’t shine in a theatrical context; apart from contributing an element of authenticity, they never pull equal weight with the acting or the lyrical content of the musical numbers. But maybe that’s because the music, like the plot, is not given heavy-handed treatment. The success of Big River instead comes from its efficiency of song and dance as well as Haj’s ability to deftly intertwine elements of the novel, theater and music. Twain’s opening note about the plotlessness—while sarcastic in the straightforward, Odyssean narrative of Huckleberry Finn—is slightly more literal in this context. Seemingly any juncture, whether grave or frivolous, is reason enough for song. But this is inevitable—perhaps integral—to the musical form. After all, Big River is a family play, entertaining enough to sustain interest both for keen young people and those well acquainted with the inspirational source. Big River will run through April 24 at PlayMakers’ Paul Green Theatre at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Visit www.playmakersrep.org for tickets and performance times.
special to The Chronicle
Jason Edward Cook plays Huckleberry Finn in Playmakers’ production of Big River, a musical based on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, at the Paul Green Theatre in Chapel Hill.
tv on the radio nine types of light interscope
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Sometime during their year-long hiatus, it seems, TV on the Radio reached middle age. On their new album Nine Types of Light, they’ve left behind much of their scorching passion and lyrical venom for a sense of quiet romanticism. Though the mood is somewhat melancholic, the album is neither anemic nor listless. Lead singer Tunde Adebimpe has shed his trademark anguished howls for quiet contemplation, which feels like natural evolution for a band that has earned the right to some mid-life reflection. Lead single “Will Do,” is a slow burning brooder, an album highlight and one of the best tracks of the year. The band’s characteristically processed guitars and syncopated rhythms take a backseat to Adebimpe’s impassioned pleas to an absent lover: “Any time will do, my love, any time will do/What choice of words will take me back to you?” Occasionally, the band’s more manic tendencies arise. The frenzied “Repetition” is a catchy dance number that showcases TVOTR’s considerable rhythmic talents and free-form, jazz-influenced instrumentation. But these are interspersed and bookended with introspective pieces like the lush, elegiac “Forgotten,” a minimalist piece that centers upon soft vocals and a gradual, sweeping orchestral build. This emphasis on string instrumentation colors the entire album with a sense of wistfulness, and is perhaps its most surprising aspect: the central ballad “Killer Crane” is dominated by a suite of woodwinds and, of all things, a delicately picked banjo. In the process of making the album, TV on the Radio appears to have turned from hardened cynicism to at least cautious optimism. While it may lack the immediate, visceral punch of their previous masterpieces Return to Cookie Mountain and Dear Science, Nine Types of Light represents a well-deserved catharsis following a career of unbridled fury and scorn. --Jeff Shi
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The Maestro of Wallace Wade by Andrew Beaton THE CHRONICLE
During the football season, a torn rotator cuff didn’t stop starting center Bryan Morgan from taking the field. Tonight, though, it leaves him on the sidelines. When the Duke University Wind Symphony performs at 8 p.m. tonight in Baldwin Auditorium, it will play— among others—a piece composed by the burly offensive lineman. Although the Symphony’s director pondered having him conduct it in front of everybody, his injury leaves him unable to comfortably go through the necessary arm motions. Instead, he will sit back and relish the sight of his composition being performed. “Initially we talked about that because he was in a wind literature class that taught some conducting,” Wind Symphony director Verena Mösebichler-Bryant said. “Now it’s a good chance for him to sit in the audience and actually experience his piece, and not have to focus on conducting it.” The piece Morgan composed is titled “Aaron’s Fanfare” and runs ap-
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Men’s Tennis
NO WAY, JOSE
Duke falls to Tar Heels in final set thriller
proximately 11 minutes in length. And while he began composing it over the summer, its roots stretch far deeper into his life. The title is a tribute to Morgan’s close friend Aaron Truitt, with whom he first began composing music when they were 12 years old. The two were neighbors, football and basketball teammates, and members of the jazz band together. While Truitt is unable to attend the concert this evening, he will be able to watch it online via Duke’s UStream channel. Morgan has kept the piece’s title and meaning secret from his friend in order to surprise him. “This piece has my personality in it—it is very pleasing to the public ear,” Morgan said. “I just took little snippets of compositions that either I made, Aaron made, or we made together and expanded on them and made it into one melodic line.” This process of growing those snippets into a full-on composition was easy at points and hard at others, See Morgan on page 8
Margie Truwit/The Chronicle
Henrique Cunha was topped by the Tar Heels’ Jose Hernandez in the final match, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. by Bo Triplett THE CHRONICLE
Courtesy of Steven Bryant
The Duke Wind Symphony will perform Bryan Morgan’s composition “Aaron’s Fanfare” tonight.
The Tobacco Road rivalry never fails to host intensely close matchups, and yesterday’s match in Chapel Hill was no different. Duke 3 Duke took No. 19 North Carolina 4 UNC (12-6, 7-2 in the ACC) down to the wire, but ultimately the Tar Heels snagged the 4-3 victory. North Carolina’s Jose Hernandez defeated the Blue Devils’ Henrique Cunha at No. 1 singles in a decisive three-set match. “We got off to a bad start losing the doubles-point. We wanted to set the tone early and still feel good heading into the single matchups.” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said. After losing the doubles point despite the pair of Cunha and Reid Carleton winning their match, No. 10 Duke (168, 7-2) bounced back quickly in singles. Three Blue Devils won their matches in straight sets, including freshmen Fred Saba and Chris Mengel. Junior Luke Marchese also contributed at the No. 6 singles spot, defeating Alex Rafiee 6-0, 6-2 to become 8-1 in ACC play. Saba was able to grab the win over No. 90 Joey Burkhardt in the No. 4 matchup, 6-1, 6-4, marking Saba’s first win over a ranked opponent. Mengel provided one of the evening’s most exciting rallies as he came back to win 7-5, 6-2 after being down 5-1 in the first set against Stefan Hardy. Mengel’s victory put him at 8-1 in
ACC play this year. “I didn’t play well at first.” Mengel said. “You could definitely feel the extra pressure of the UNC matchup. Once I was able to get my legs under me, the pressure was on [Hardy].” Duke didn’t see the same success from its top-seeded players, who both suffered upsets at the hands of the Tar Heels. No. 9 Carleton suffered a lopsided defeat to Brennan Boyajian, 6-1, 6-1. The most exciting match of the day proved to be the most important as Cunha took on Hernandez. The Blue Devil suffered a tough 5-7 loss in the first set, but refused to let his momentum fall as he came back to take the second set 6-2. By that time, all the other matches were completed, drawing all of the audience’s attention to the duel of No. 1’s. “I want Cunha out there everytime.” Smith said. “Hernandez played a great match and North Carolina played well. We were just outplayed on a few points.” At 5-4 in the final set, Hernandez clearly had the crowd in his corner as he took the final set to earn a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 upset over Duke’s highly-ranked player. The Blue Devils will look to return to their winning ways after the loss to their rival as the team heads into its final weekend of ACC games with home matches against Florida State on Friday and Miami on Sunday. “Playing UNC is always intense and we have no time to feel sorry as we prepare for this weekend,” Smith said.
8 | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 the chronicle
Morgan from page 7
two commitments potentially detracting from one another due to the intensive amount of time each requires, that but ultimately consumed a significant appears to be far from the case. In fact, portion of his summer. For much of that many of the skills that aided Morgan time, mornings were spent at football throughout his Duke career in anchoring workouts, with the rest of the day spent the Blue Devils’ offensive line translate on writing. to the concert hall. For previous perforWhen he began creating the piece, mances, he was the concertmaster, a role however, he did not know it would be traditionally assigned to the first clarinet performed on a large scale. Yet, he saw player in a wind symphony. a call for undergraduate compositions “He is so committed to music and and after working football, but he with members of has been at evthe music depart- “You can [only] go to school ery rehearsal, ment, he finished and he’s usually and play sports for so long, one of the first a first draft by the end of winter members there but music will always be break. He comwarming up,” with you.” pleted the final Mösebichleredition about a said. — Bryan Morgan Bryant month ago. “He’s in such a Throughout key position in his time in the football—I think wind symphony—this is Morgan’s third that definitely translates into music.” semester in the band—it has been surAlthough April’s NFL Draft is rapidly prisingly easy for him to balance his approaching, it is unlikely that Morgan commitment to music with his dedica- will be selected. Yet, while his days of tion to football. Because the football competitive football may be over, his days team practices in the morning and the with the clarinet and music are only besymphony rehearses at night, the two ginning. rarely overlap. In addition to being a music major, The only time they did was during the Morgan will graduate in May with a certifseason when team meetings were held icate in Early Childhood Studies. He will on Thursday evenings to prepare for have a year to figure out exactly what he Saturday’s game. In those situations, the wants to do after college while spending orchestra always took precedence. Cutc- next year earning his teaching license. liffe and the team treated the symphony He said he can imagine himself being rehearsals as a class. a music teacher for kids, in addition to “We are extremely proud of Bryan and working as a conductor and composer. what he accomplished on the field, and it “I just want to show children... someis even more fun to be proud of Bryan for thing they can hold onto forever,” Morgan what he does off the field,” head coach Da- said. “You can [only] go to school and play vid Cutcliffe said. sports for so long, but music will always be While it would be easy to imagine the with you.”
Courtney Douglas/The Chronicle
Morgan has successfully split his time between football and first-chair clarinet for the Wind Symphony.
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10 | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 the chronicle commentaries
New guidelines alone cannot fix gender issues Institutions of higher edu- law—by “failing to eliminate cation are reforming their a hostile sexual environment gender discrimination poli- on campus.” Examples of this cies in an attempt to make hostility on Yale’s campus incampuses safer for female clude Yale fraternity memstudents. bers holding posters in front This is the of the univerfirst editorial in sity Women’s editorial a series of two Center that about gender issues at Duke. read “We Love Yale Sluts” Today we will explore new and an incident last October federal guidelines on gender where fraternity pledges went equity. Tomorrow we will dis- through residential quadrancuss the potential of campus gles chanting sexist slogans. culture to create change. The developments at This wave of changes fol- Yale have not gone unnolows a complaint filed against ticed. Earlier this month, Yale University by a group of Vice President Joe Biden current students and recent announced new clarificagraduates. The Department tions to Title IX, adding of Education’s Office of Civil that “when it comes to sexRights is investigating the ual abuse, it is quite simple: complaint, which alleges that No means no.” These new Yale has violated Title IX— clarifications include a recthe federal gender equality ommended change in the
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onlinecomment
Did some of you folks have meanie beans for lunch? There is nothing wrong with Scott’s article. School pride is a good thing.
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—“DW Duke” commenting on the column “Why I love Duke.” See more at www.dukechronicle.com.
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level of evidence needed to find a person guilty of sexual assault. Currently many colleges require “clear and convincing” evidence to find the accused party guilty of sexual misconduct. The Department of Education aims to lessen this burden of proof by recommending that colleges instead look for a “preponderance of evidence”—a standard that basically requires 51 percent certainty before finding a person guilty. In light of this change, Stanford University announced Tuesday that it has lowered its burden of proof to fit the preponderance of evidence standard. Duke will likely follow suit in adapting to the Title IX clarifications.
This transition in lowering the burden of proof is a good step forward. But Duke and its peer institutions cannot afford to wait for sexual misconduct to occur to take action. In addition to changing their Title IX standards, colleges must address the aspects of campus culture that objectify women and perpetuate gender violence. According to the Office of Gender Violence Prevention and Intervention and the Duke Women’s Center, of the 72 students who received service between July and December 2010, there were 17 sexual assault cases, 15 instances of sexual harassment and 12 instances of rape. Recent Department of Education data show that 20 percent
of women in college will be victims of actual or attempted sexual assault. It is time that we stand together and combat pernicious attitudes about women on Duke’s campus. Female students should not be afraid to report instances of violence out of fear of being labeled a “slut.” Students need to be aware of what qualifies as sexual assault and how they can report it. There is no reason that a female student at Duke should leave campus with lower self-esteem than when she entered. Duke is taking a step in the right direction in following changes to Title IX. Now it is up to the campus community to show that gender violence and misogyny will not be tolerated.
Duke promotes many cultures, all bad
H
ave you ever seen a column in this paper The Hook-up Culture: that used the term “culture,” as in, say, I don’t have a girlfriend. There’s got to be a “campus culture?” I sure haven’t. good reason for this, and it can’t have anything to With the help of my crack team of Deputy do with me. Or with those villagers I met last sumDead Poets, I have spent the entire mer. Because they were very, very semester meticulously combing 25 nice. And poor. But also nice. years of Chronicle archives in search My singleness must be Duke’s of any use of the word “culture” in fault. It can’t be my fault, and it the pages of this newspaper. Our can’t just be bad luck. People who search turned up... nothing. Before learned as much as I did last sumtoday, no one had ever described mer (when I was in that village, Duke as having an internal culture remember) don’t have faults, and of any kind. we don’t get unlucky. This absence is highly suspicious connor southard There’s only one solution to and is almost certainly the product of this troubling trend. We need to dead poet a nefarious cover-up perpetrated by get to the bottom of this. We need the administration. I have dutifully to hold an open forum, immeditaken it upon myself to shed light on the various ately, with a mass Facebook invite and everything. cultures that thrive here at Duke. Q-Ville Culture: Duke’s club Quidditch team has become abThe Culture of Effortless Imperfection: It’s 3 p.m. on a beautiful spring day. I pass by surdly prominent on campus, with ordinary stua West Campus bench and see a shirtless young dents living in awe of these young men and womman enjoying a cheap beer and scratching his en simply because they can run pretty well with navel. Nearby, his friends barbecue and blast a broom between their legs. Working from a tip either Tom Petty or a boldly mediocre Atlanta given by a loyal reader, a Deputy Dead Poet discovered that a number of the Quidditch team’s playrapper. This guy, with his farmer’s tan and his awe- ers were admitted to Duke despite unusually low somely battered boat shoes, looks perfectly Ordinary Wizarding Level scores. Clearly, this abominable state of affairs calls for happy. That’s what he wants us to think. Beneath this seemingly chill surface, his mind nothing less than a passive aggressive e-mail from is racing. He has to work hard to appear so the Allen Building. I’m counting on you, Larry. completely indifferent to schoolwork, ideas, Online Commenter Playa-hata Culture: They know what they did. national and international affairs and pretty much anything that doesn’t come in a can and Satire Culture: Recently, this newspaper has published several profess to be “beer.” The appearance of utter imperfection is never accomplished without columns that claim to be “satire,” a form of “huboth self-conscious effort and a pair of salmon- mor.” Any attempt at satire—or, “making fun of stuff”—is deeply offensive to those members of colored shorts. How can we let this young man know that we the Duke community who suffer from a chronic feel for him, that it doesn’t have to be this way? lack of a sense of humor. I urge all such humor-impaired students, facWe could start by finding him something in a nice ulty and alumni to write morbidly serious letters earth tone. to the editor, expressing your displeasure. Be sure Experiencing Other Cultures: During my time in a remote village somewhere to mention your nostalgia for the old days, like the you’ve probably never even heard of, I learned the late 1960s, when students nationwide were more value of being nice to other people, and it really respectful of everything—especially administrahit home with me. It was like, “POW!”—an impor- tive buildings. Whom should we hold responsible for these tant kind of “POW.” I will now have all kinds of perspective—we’re destructive cultures, now that they have been talking insight, kids—when I start my internship at brought to light? Basically, pretty much everyone a company you definitely have heard of (bet you but me deserves blame. So, we should blame my can’t guess which one!) this summer. Tons of... editors, my roommate, all administrators (TRIPLE BLAME) and your parents, who sent you to Duke sympathy, humility and other good words, too. Actually, there’s nothing wrong with what I was in the first place. Oh, but especially: you. doing in that village. It was all pretty much the opConnor Southard is proud to call himself a feminist. posite of wrong. It changed my life. Which is why I This is his last column of the semester. felt compelled to tell you about it.
the chronicle
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 | 11
commentaries
Entrepreneurship and growth
I
he key to understanding the workers had no rights. Not slaves, to be Civil War, which began 150 years sure, but not really free, either. ago this week, is to realize that In the United States, everyday low it’s still being fought. Indeed, it’s be- wages and the diminution of worker ing fought now more inrights spread north, tensely than at any time abetted not just by Walharold meyerson mart’s since the 1960s. growth but also L.A.Weekly Then, African Ameriby the growing mobility cans and white Northern of capital and the Southliberals and moderates battled Southern ern domination of the Republican Party. white segregationists and Goldwater con- With Ronald Reagan’s election as presiservatives to establish equal racial access dent, the Republican right, centered to the ballot, housing and public facili- in the white South, took control of the ties. Today’s battle more closely resem- GOP and hostility toward unions became bles the one that inaugurated the Civil the norm for American business. The War, which centered on the expansion incomes of American workers, which of slavery to the lands west of the Missis- previously had risen as the economy sippi. As in 1861, we are again divided grew, began to flat-line. Low-wage jobs over whether Southern or Northern la- abounded; mid-wage jobs decreased. bor systems, and Southern or Northern Nationally, the South’s low-wage, versions of government, shall become no-union labor system has prevailed, the national norm. though in many Northern and Western In the private-sector economy, the cities that remain bastions of liberalism, Southern labor system—in which work- governments have enacted living-wage ers are paid less and have fewer rights— ordinances and blocked the entry of has been winning for decades. Despite Walmart into their markets. their huge growth in members during In the public sector, the battle bethe 1930s and 1940s, unions never suc- tween Republicans’ radical anti-govceeded in penetrating the South, where ernment agenda and the Democrats’ white racial animosity toward blacks (semi-hemi-demi, alas) defense of govthwarted efforts to build working-class ernment’s role in nation-building is just solidarity. The gap between Northern the latest version of the sectional conflict and Southern wages remained vast— that has divided America since the early so vast that many Northern companies 19th century, when Northern Whigs began relocating facilities there, par- such as Abraham Lincoln favored govticularly after the civil rights revolution ernment investment in canals, roads and of the ‘60s made the South seem less rails against the opposition of Southern culturally foreign. agrarians. Today, under Republican budWith the arrival of Walmart in 1962 get constraints, the traditional Southern and the company’s expansion into Amer- underinvestment in infrastructure and ica’s leading private-sector employer, the education threatens to become the naSouthern labor system came north. Fero- tional norm. ciously anti-union, and bitterly opposed The division between Republicans to President John F. Kennedy’s decision and Democrats over government’s to extend the minimum wage to cover proper role has been deepened by the retail workers, Walmart developed a re-sectionalization and heightened rabusiness model— documented by histo- cialization of American politics. In the rian Nelson Lichtenstein, among others Deep South today, there are almost no —that was premised on low-wage work- white elected Democrats (just one white ers being economically compelled to Democratic U.S. representative in all of shop at the lowest-priced chain—which, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia not coincidentally, was Walmart. As Wal- and South Carolina). mart grew, it used its market power to Moreover, as the share of Americans compel manufacturers and companies who are white continues to shrink, Realong its supply chain to lower their wag- publicans are doubling down on identity es. When Americans could no longer politics. In Texas, Wisconsin and other be found to make products as cheaply states controlled by Republicans, legislaas Walmart wished, the chain turned tion designed to diminish minority parto China, where labor was cheap and ticipation in elections is advancing. Republican lawmakers’ almost-universal opposition to the Dream Act, which would grant citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants who have served in our military or gone to college, views on certain volatile subjects. During our own past involvement displays a refusal to acknowledge the calling for greater integration of minority recruitment weekends, humanity of minority youths that would several minority students on campus reached out to us to express have done a segregationist proud. support—but with the caveat that they could not speak out publicly With its paranoid misreading of for fear of being ostracized by minority peers. That Duke students Obama as a socialist (echoing the 1860 hold those fears should lead us to reflect on whether the Duke South’s misreading of Lincoln as an abocommunity truly is a welcoming place for all voices to be heard. litionist), with its zeal for confrontation As this valuable discussion over minority recruitment weekand its utter disregard, evident in its 2012 ends continues on campus more broadly, we hope that it does budget proposal, for the minority poor, so with a greater sensitivity to the diversity of opinion among today’s Republican right betrays a mindminority students. While ethnic affinity groups certainly speak set that hearkens back to the secessionfor a number of minority students, they do not speak for all of ists who fired on Fort Sumter. Shutting them. Let not those voices be ignored. down the government isn’t comparable to shooting it down, of course, but the Vikram Srinivasan, South’s war on egalitarian government Trinity ’10 and labor standards threatens again to Natalie Figuereo diminish our country. Trinity ’10 Anthony Lee Harold Meyerson is editor-at-large of AmerTrinity ’10 ican Prospect and the L.A. Weekly. This colCo-Founders, One Duke, United umn originally appeared in The Washington Post on April 13.
have spent this past week at Stanford Uni- of Silicon Valley roamed the earth—would versity attending the Forum for Ameri- provide a crucial foundation for sustained incan/Chinese Exchange at Stanford. novation. FACES is arguably the most prestigious of the This law, part of the original California many student conferences that have sprung Civil Code, forbade the binding of workers up in the last decade devoted in the state to non-compete to U.S.-China relations. It is no contracts. In passing this legsurprise that business is a freislation, lawmakers sought to quent topic at a conference like shift labor movements away FACES. Not only do the United from dying industries like States and China have the two gold mining. largest economies in the world, The law is enforced today they also have the most dynamas it was legislated more than a ic. A lot of that dynamism is due century ago, and the inability paul horak to entrepreneurs. to enforce non-compete conthe road ahead Entrepreneurship and intracts—whether they are from novation are the talk of our California or not—is a partictimes. For the last century, they have been ular draw to highly skilled workers in search of the greatest drivers of economic growth and the maximum return on their abilities. Some development, the catalysts for 20th-century of the appeal of Silicon Valley, then, was not economist Joseph Schumpeter’s “creative the product of design, but rather of chance. destruction,” whereby the old and inefficient But even to say that an institutional infraare cast aside and replaced by more competi- structure is a necessary condition for great tive and productive ideas or technologies. innovation is a stretch. Just look at China. The process is similar to Darwin’s theory of Its banks are immature, its intellectual propevolution by natural selection, in which or- erty laws are substandard and its tradition is ganisms best suited to their environments, hardly a risk-taking one. But China is growing, “the fittest,” survive and reproduce, passing and a lot of that growth can be attributed to on their favorable traits. its entrepreneurs responding to a wider uniSilicon Valley is the ultimate environment verse of opportunities. Perhaps China has for testing new ideas, and it is something that stumbled on a new model of innovation: It has people all over the world are trying to emulate government-designed centers for technologiwith limited success. What gives? Institutional cal innovation in Chongqing, and Hangzhou disparity among different countries is part of is described as “a national experimental city” the answer. In the United States, we have a and “a key national base” for technology demature financial system that makes investing velopment. These could be a new parallel to easy and straightforward. There are laws that America’s organic Silicon Valley. protect intellectual property and make it easy For many, the success of companies like to start a business. Perhaps most importantly, Google and Facebook represents the particuthere are bankruptcy laws in place that allow lar institutional strengths of the American entrepreneurs to fail and learn from their mis- system: easy access to credit, an abundance takes. Most of the entrepreneurs I have talked of loans, strong venture capital activities and to share more failure stories than success sto- a culture that embraces failure as the first ries, and they seem grateful for the second step toward success. Considering today’s ecochance. nomic reality, however, it may be time to critiBut institutions cannot be the only answer: cally consider the strengths and weaknesses There are a host of other nations that have of American innovation. Our reliance on a banks, laws and traditions similar to the ones fixed formula for entrepreneurship—even we have here. They consciously try to mix if that formula accounts for the possibility of these ingredients together but seldom come failure—could trap us in a paradox of convenout with anything like Silicon Valley. And to tional (and unproductive) innovation. Now be fair, Silicon Valley was neither a planned is the time to consider new models and new nor expected center of innovation. California, approaches that challenge our expectations, now the global epicenter for innovation, owes starting with those being implemented outits success more to chance than any true fore- side our own borders. sight on the part of its lawmakers or the U.S. government. It just so happened that a law Paul Horak is a Trinity sophomore. This is his passed in 1872—long before the innovators final column of the semester.
lettertotheeditor Opening the dialogue We commend Brandon Locke, Trinity ’13, for his courage in raising the issue of minority recruitment weekends for campus debate, and for doing so in such a personal and public way. Clearly race continues to be the subject of heated and passionate debate at Duke. Such conversations are controversial because they are important; they capture disagreements over our deepest beliefs. But it is only through engaging those differences without fear that students learn and grow. Still, we are dismayed by how this debate unfolded on The Chronicle’s editorial page, and particularly The Chronicle’s online comment boards as we watched from afar as recent Duke alumni. Too often disagreements with Locke were couched in personal attacks, at times racially tinged. Students are certainly entitled to oppose Locke’s views, but to question his “personal identification” as a black student or to suggest that his experience as a black student is illegitimate, as some have done, should not be tolerated in the Duke community. Although online Chronicle comments may fail to reflect popular discourse, these types of dismissive insults have long been a common experience for minority students on campus with differing
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An ongoing Civil War
12 | THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 the chronicle
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National Day of Silence The Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), is a student-led day of action when concerned students take some form of vow of silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying, and harassment —in effect, the silencing—experienced by LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) students and their allies. Visit studentaffairs.duke.edu/lgbt for more info.
Passover Celebrate Passover at the Freeman Center for Jewish Life. Jewish Life at Duke offers two Seders at the Freeman Center and also provides Seder plates, Donate To haggadahs and assistance for students who would like to host their own Seder. Kosher for Passover meals are served throughout the entire holiday. For a Passover schedules and other information, visit studentaffairs.duke.edu/jewishlife/passover
Wellness Wednesdays! Summer Self-Care Once a month, the Duke Student Wellness Center provides educational sessions on health, wellness, and campus life, designed to create a healthier community. With only a few weeks left until summer, come and learn ways to take care of yourself and stay healthy over your summer break! This dynamic program will provide answers to your questions and information you can share with your friends! Refreshments provided. Visit studentaffairs.duke.edu/duwell for more info.
11TH Annual Unity Through Diversity Forum: Asian/American The Duke Center for Multicultural Affairs and the Duke International House invite students, staff, faculty, and other community members to attend the 11th Annual Unity Through Diversity Forum: Asian/American. As the presence of Asian international students and Asian-American students on campus grows and as the University seeks out new partnerships with Asian countries, it is important to think about the linkages between Asian and Asian-American issues. This year’s Forum will unpack this diverse demographic and make a case for how to think about Asian identity in a global context. To register, visit studentaffairs.duke.edu/mcc/events and click on the Forum entry.
studentaffairs.duke.edu/events Careers in Writing and Editing for Digital and Print Media for Graduate Students and Postdocs 4/14, 12-1:15 pm, Smith Warehouse, C105, Bay 4, 1st Floor Register at studentaffairs.duke.edu/career Career Corner in the Women’s Center 4/14, 2-5 pm, Women’s Center Wild Edibles - Outdoor Adventure Series 4/14, 3-5 pm, The Outpost 11th Annual Unity Through Diversity Forum: Asian/American 4/14, 5-6:30 pm, Perkins Library, Gothic Reading Room
Jummu’ah Muslim Life Weekly Worship Service 4/15, 12:45 pm, York Reading Room, Gray 229 Nags Head Trip Outdoor Adventure Series 4/15 - 04/17, Nags Head, NC More information and registration at studentaffairs.duke.edu/osaf/outpostadventure-series Shabbat with Jewish Life at Duke - Reform & Conservative Services and Benenson Family Shabbat Dinner 4/15, 6:15-8:15 pm, Freeman Center for Jewish Life
Duke Marketing Club CEO Speaker Series: Bob McDonald, P&G CEO 4/14, 7:30-8:30 pm, Social Sciences 136
Passover - Jewish Holiday 4/18-20, More information at
Day of Silence 4/15, all day, The Center for LGBT Life, 2 West Union Building
Summer Self-Care 4/20, 12-1 pm, Bryan Center, Center for Multicultural Affairs
Global Café 4/15, 9-10 am, International House
Jazz at the Mary Lou 4/20, 9:30 pm-12:30am, Mary Lou Williams Center
Graduate Student Resume/CV Review on West Campus 4/15, 11:30am-1:30pm, Bryan Center, Meeting Room A
myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Passover.htm