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obama Presidential hopeful endorsed by two N.C. superdelegates,PAGE 3
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The Tower of Campus Thought and Action
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Officers worry losses Panelists stress trust, sincerity endanger security Use of contract security workersraises red flags, but admins sayDuke is safe by
Rob Copeland THE CHRONICLE
As the Duke University Police Department grapples with a slew of recent departures, some officers question the safety of students, faculty and staff. In the event of a catastrophe such as an on-campus shooting, some officers speculate that the results would be tragic. “There would be a much larger HJii loss of life th an nec
.
A Look
.
Part 3 of 3
Administrators said the surge in off-campus crime is drawing officers away from the Gothic Wonderland and more frequently into the streets of the Bull City. merit.
essary,”
one officer said. Officers interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional consequences. Nearly one-third of the DUPD force has left in the past two years. That loss would have been difficult at any time, but the crime uptick since last Fall has only heightened the importance of the problem. Some of the activity has occurred close or adjacent to campus, in areas where DUPD maintains an extended jurisdiction agreement with the Durham Police Depart-
Frustrations at new policies The past two days, The Chronicle has examined the escalating rate of attrition among DUPD officers. For some officers, the answer to these problems is simple: a leadership change, and the sooner the better, Aaron Graves, associate vice president for campus safety and security, arrived at Duke in January 2006 from the University of Southem California, where he was chief of public safety. Some officers sayhis tenure here should be a short one. For others, it is less clear-cut. “In my experience, there are many reasons why people choose to leave a police department, including retirement, opportunities for higher compensation or different working conditions at a municipal police force,” retiring DUPD Director Robert Dean —a four-decade department veteran—wrote in an e-mail. “I know that some of those who have left had decided to SEE DUPD ON PAGE 8
ZACHARY TRACER/THE CHRONICLE
Gang Yue, chair of UNC's Department ofAsian Studies, speaks on the Tibet-China situation in Griffith Film Theater Wednesday. by
Audrey McGowan THE CHRONICLE
Despite recent national and on-campus tension, the four panelists who spoke at Wednesday night’s “A Conversation on Tibet,” sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, stressed overcoming divisive issues and looking for a practical solution to an issue of global significance. Gang Yue, a Chinese citizen and chair of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spoke about the importance of trusting in the sincerity of the Dalai Lama. He also warned against racial tensions that he said the Tibetan riots had created. “Do not fight racism with racism. If you do that you play right into the hands of extremists
on both sides,” he said. “Racism is contagious and no one is immune to that disease.” Sisters Losang Rabgey, an explorer for National Geographic, and Tashi Rabgey, lecturer and director of the University of Virginia’s Contemporary Tibetan Studies Initiative, both emphasized the importance of preserving Tibetan culture through educating the region’s children, rather than focusing on recent talk of an Olym-
pic boycott. “The Olympics will come and go and we’ll still be stuck with this problem,” Losang Rabgey said, “The most important stakeholders are the people who live in Tibet and the children who will inherit the political mess we’re creating.” SEE TIBET ON PAGE 10
Independents bear burden of Few closing
We are all Hokies
by
Catherine Butsch THE CHRONICLE
LESTODD/DUKE PHOTOGRAPHY
Thirty-two community members—each one representing a victim in the April 16,2007Virginia Tech massacre—lie in silence in front of the Chapel Wednesday to protest gun laws. More than 80 schools across theUnited States participated in the protest PAGE 5
Room Pix ’OB brought good news for some—and perhaps not-so-good news for unaffiliated students. In January, Residence Life and Housing Services assigned the five selective living groups in Few Quadrangle housing on West Campus for the 2008-2009 school year while the quadrangle undergoes renovations. Meanwhile, unaffiliated risingjuniors and seniors learned that doubles on West would not be available to them for next year, 58 rising sophomore women were initially without housing assignments on West and four current freshman men were asked to switch housing assignments. “I think [the two events] are definitely related,” said outgoing Campus Council President Ryan Todd, a senior. SEE INDEPENDENTS ON PAGE
9
THE CHRONICLE
2 | THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
U.S. NEWS
WORLD NEWS Fighting in Gaza kills at least 20
ENTERTAINMENT Martha's dog dies of renal failure
WASHINGTON U.S. executions are all but sure to resume soon after a nationwide halt, cleared Wednesday by a splintered Supreme Court that approved the most widely used method of lethal injection. Voting 7-2, the conservative court led by Chief Justice John Roberts rebuffed the latest assault on capital punishment, this time by foes focusing on methods rather than on the legality of the death penalty itself. Justice John Paul Stevens voted with the majority on the question of lethal injections but said for the first time that he now believes the death penalty is unconstitutional.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Israel struck hard Gaza on against targets in Wednesday, killing at least 20 Palestinians in a day of heavy fighting that also saw three Israeli soldiers killed in a Hamas ambush. Several civilians were among the dead including five children and a Reuters cameraman killed while covering the conflict, according to Palestinian officials. The surge in violence came after a relatively quiet month and threatened to unravel an Egyptian effort to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
NEW YORK —Martha Stewart's dog Paw Paw, who was a familiar face on her television show and in her magazine, has died of renal failure. The 60-pound chow, whose full name was Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow, was almost 13. Stewart has had him since birth and named him Paw Paw for his large paws, says a spokeswoman.
Ricin victim arrested for'exotic idea'
Thousands of police paNEW DELHI trolled central New Delhi, guarding against anti-China protests for the Olympic torch relayThursday in India, the heart of the world's Tibetan exile community. About 100 Tibetan exiles tried to breach the security cordon Wednesday around theChinese Embassy, and police dragged away about 50 of them, loading them into police vans—but not ged to spray paint "No Olymstreet near the embassy.
Supreme Court OKs lethal injection
LAS VEGAS An unemployed graphic designer who authorities believe was nearly killed by ricin was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he possessed the deadly toxin as part of an "exotic idea," never carried out, to poison his enemies. Roger Bergendorff was arrested upon his release from the hospital where he had been
—
India gears up for Olympic protests
SPORTS
Patriots' Vince Wilfork fundraises FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Vince Wilfork's father was so weak from diabetes that he couldn't walk. So the boy who would grow into a 325-pound nose tackle would carry him to the bathroom. Vince has seen the devastation—physical and emotional—that diabetes can bring.So the New England Patriots nose tackle will spend the first day of the NFL draft at his annual bowling party and fundraiser for research into it.
ODDS & ENDS Wife uses YouTube in divorce case NEW YORK
We're the YouTube Genera-
tion, living in the YouTube Era, in a YouTube
prices continue to rise 'GTON Inflation rose again ;h, reflecting big jumps in the energy and airline tickets. And ecast isfor even bigger energy;ed increases to come, includi the possibility of $4 per gallon tsoline by Memorial Day. Those inflation pressures e occurring just as the conomy seems to be sinkig into a recession, with xmsumers cutting back on pending.
World. And now we apparently have a YouTube Divorce. Some prominent New York divorce lawyers couldn't think of another case where a spouse—-in this instance, the wife of a major Broadway theater operator—had taken to YouTube to spill the secrets of a marriage in an apparent effort to gain leverage and humiliate the other side. "This is absolutely a new step, and I think it's scary," said Bonnie Rabin, a divorce lawyer who has handled high-profile cases. "People used to worry about getting on Page Six (the gossip page of the New York Post). But this? It brings the concept of humiliation to a whole new level."
The
Strategic Plan for Duke Athletics Wi 11 be discussed at the Academic Council Meeting on
A copy of the plan is available at Qoduke.com.
Faculty and students are encouraged to attend the meeting and/or provide comments by Tuesday April 22nd to Christophe Kennedy (ckennedy@duke.edu) or Michael Gillespie (mgillesp@duke.edu)
THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY,
APRIL 17,2008 I 3
Court allows Pressler to bypass arbitration
CHRONICLE FILE
PHOTO
Rep. David Price, D-N.C, was one of two N.C. superdelegates to voice support for presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-111., Wednesday.
2 N.C. superdelegates move to Obama camp presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama received two key endorsements from Rep. David Price, D-N.C. and Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C. Wednesday. Price and Watt—both superdelegates whose votes will be counted at the Democratic National Convention in August —announced their endorsement in a conference call with reporters. Both congressmen had previously endorsed former N.C. senator John Edwards for the Democratic nomination. “Like a lot of former Edwards supporters, I’m supporting Barack Obama because he will bring this country the
Democratic
kind of change I want to see,” Price, who is currendy on leave from a post as professor of political science and public policy to serve in the House, said in a prepared statement.
He added that he agreed with Obama’s stances on diplomacy and the war in Iraq. He said Obama was committed to winning the N.C. primary May 6 and would also be a strong candidate in the general election. “With Barack Obama as our nominee, I believe we can turn North Carolina blue this year,” Price said.
—from staff reports
A ruling Wednesday will allow former men’s lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler to take his suit against the University to court without going through University arbitration process. Duke’s attorneys argued that Pressler must use a University arbitration process with his libel and slander claims. Superior Court Judge Howard Manning, however, ruled that Pressler is no longer contractually obligated to use the arbitration process of his former employer. The suit alleges that John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, made deliberately slanderous comments about Pressler in an interview with the media after his coaching contract with the University was cancelled in 2006. Pressler and the University reached a confidential financial settlement last year.
—-from staffreports
CORRECTIONS Captions for photos accompanying the article"Student's home vandalized in China" in Wednesday's paper gave incorrect dates. A protest on the Chapel Quadrangle occurred April 9. In addition, it is not clear when Freshman Grace Wang's paren s ome was van a tze .
SARA
GUERRERO/CHRONICLE FILE
PHOTO
Former lacrosse coach MikePressler can avoidarbitration in his suit against Duke, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The article "Class council pitches Ist'Back to East'party" in Wednesday's paper erred in stating the cost of attending party.The party will cost $5.00 for students who preregister, but there is no additional charge for dinner, contrary to w^at was stated in the article,
A feature picture in Wednesday s paper misidentified comedian George Kanter. .
THE CHRONICLE
4 1 THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
Rivera finds posterity in civil rights photos from demolition. The house, located at 1712 Fayetteville Street, is the propLocals barely took notice of the dusty erty of NCCU.Officials hope to demolwhite signs over Lumberton, N.C.’s movie ish the crumbling structure to make way theater; one entrance for whites, one for for a new convocation center. But some blacks and one for Indians. groups decry the move as historically insensitive. But when a photographer from a naOn his blog, Preservation Durham tionally syndicated newspaper arrived in 1948 to document the segregated theater, member GaryKueber writes that it is an “athe quickly found himself in the back of a tempt to chip away at [Durham’s] AfricanAmerican history.” Rivera himself, however, police car. told the officer to find the law under feels differently. “I which I was arrested,” said Alexander Ri“That house has no value,” he said. “I would never bother speaking up in its devera. “He left me with the chief [of police] and went out to look. After a long time he fense.” came back because he couldn’t find anyRegardless of what happens to the Rivera house however, many, including Shirl thing and they let me go.” For Rivera, 94, the incident is memoSpicer, a former North Carolina Museum rable as his first and only arrest, but it was of History curator responsible for creating an exhibit of far from the only Rivera’s phototime his camera There WCFC SOITie StOlieS that graphs, which are went where it was currently on disnot welcome. In were dangerOUS and some play, said he has a career spanning five decades, three that were comical and some a legacy worth e“ S *at were a lot of fun.” h th e tographs, Rivera Alex Rivera articles he wrote . . . . . and the images turned his lens on 7 cwd n ghts photographer he took) he be some of the most came a true supimportant—and controversial porter of [civil events of the civil rights movement. rights] causes,” she said. “He told a story a lot of times that othA North Carolina native, Rivera took his erwise never would have been told,” said first newspaperjob in the 19305,after dropRobert Lawson, campus photographer at ping out of Howard University in WashingNorth Carolina Central University and a ton, D.C., because he couldn’t foot the tuition bills. It was a career, he said—not an longtime friend of Rivera’s. Rivera is once the attempt at advocacy, Today, again in But that job quickly took Rivera to the spotlight as local preservationists wage a campaign to save his former house heart of the civil rights struggle. Ryan Brown THE CHRONICLE
by
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ALEX RIVERA/SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
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A photo taken by Alex Rivera, a civil rights photographer, depicts everyday life in the Jim Crow South. In 1947, when a group of parents in Clarendon County, S.C., initiated a desegregation lawsuit against their local school board, Rivera was there to document it, camera in hand. His photographs recorded the case’s most dramatic moments—the headline-making rallies, confrontations and speeches—but he also captured the day to day grittiness of the struggle. In one photograph, he shows movement leaders clustered around a church donation platter brimming with crumpled dollar bills—a collection from local community members to help fund the suit.
Seven years later, the Clarendon case reached the Supreme Court, one of five cases that joined to form the groundbreaking 1954 Brown v. Board of Education. By that time, Rivera was a well-established correspondent, traveling widely to record the everyday realities of the Jim Crow South. “There were some stories that were dangerous and some that were comical and some that were a lot of fun,” Rivera said. He covered the murder of Isaiah Nixon, the last reported lynching victim in SEE RIVERA ON PAGE
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THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008 1 5
About
40 Durham community members gathered in front of the Chapel at noon Wednesday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre and protest easy access to guns across the nation. Dressed in full black and wearing orange and maroon ribbons, the protestors —mostly middle-aged women —staged a silent lie-in for three minutes to signify the small amount of time it takes for someone to purchase a gun. The demonstration was part of a nation-wide event observed by at least 80 colleges in 33 states around the country, including four other schools in North Carolina —Shuchi Parikh
about if this was a pathogen or polluted water and every other month a child dies. This community, I believe, would take immediate action. People in Durham who are dying are oftentimes African American. Is it because "This is a year after Virginia Tech, these are invisible people to us? It reand we wanted to show our solidar- ally doesn't add up that we are not ity and compassion with not only responding with the kind of urgency that campus but all that is occurring or clarity of purpose that we would if it were some other source." throughout the nation." Rev. Mark Rutledge, Westminster Marcia Owen, Trinity 78 and the outreach coordinator for Religious Fellowship Campus minister Coalition fora Nonviolent Durham "[Guns] are a legal consumer "It was mostly -a remembrance product. What happened on the Virginia Tech campus really happens on honoring the people who were killed. a regular basis in Durham.... Think It was also to protest easy access to "We've gathered today to realize the fragility of life, to realize the cost to God and to realize how precious is the gift of love." Rev Sam Wells, dean of the Chapel
STEVEN SENNE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Students from schoolsaround the Boston area lie motionless during a three-minute silent lie-in protest at Simmons College.
guns. You or I could go to any gun shop and buy a gun in three to five minutes and do whatever damage we want.... We're all confused about what the Second Amendment means, but I don't think it means you and I can go out and buy a gun." Rev Jeanette Stokes, executive director ofDurham's Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South "I just think we need to put these things in front of our consciousness. It shouldn't be this way." Rev. Ron Moss, retired from United Methodist Campus Ministry at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
SPENCER GREEN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mourners gather in front of the memorial for the shooting victims who died in the Virginia Tech massacre.
Garrett Evans, a shooting survivor, participates in the lie-in silent memorial outsidethe State ofIllinois building.
6 | THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
THE CHRONICLE
Duke more than just a part of family for legacies by
Ally Helmers THE CHRONICLE
Freshman Kelsey Bandeen was born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean but was raised a Blue Devil. Having lived in London for most ofher life, Bandeen followed the paths of her father, grandfather, two uncles and an aunt to the American South for college. When she finally traveled the 4,000 miles to matriculate at Duke, she knew she had made the right decision. “Duke has been a part of my family for a long time,” Bandeen said. “It is the only Amer-
ican school that I am really familiar with.” This year, a record number of children and stepchildren of alumni—3oo—were admitted in the Class of 2012, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag said. Although this is in part a result of the general increase in applications to Duke, Guttentag said alumni enthusiasm is a large factor in legacy students’ consideration of the University. This year, Duke received 20,337 applications, compared to 19,170 last year. “We’ve seen increases in [legacy] appli-
ZACHARY TRACER/THE
CHRONICLE
Freshman Kelsey Bandeen, a legacy student, attended Duke in part because of her family's roots at the University. The number of legacy applications have increased in seven of the last nine years.
cations in seven of the last nine years,” he said. “It doesn’t surprise me that this group of applicants that knows Duke well would apply in greater numbers as the University becomes more visible and more popular.” Children of both undergraduate and graduate alumni are also applying in record numbers under the early decision process, Guttentag said, adding that a little more than 20 percent of all legacy applicants applied
early.
“We often hear that alumni kids have been dreaming of being accepted to Duke since grade school,” said Sterly Wilder, Trinity ’B3 and executive director of alumni affairs. “They have been coming to campus with their parents, wearing Duke T-shirts and following Duke sports for most of their lives. This connection to Duke translates into more deciding to apply early decision.” But some legacies, like sophomore Emily Melson, said they were not always eager to follow in family members’ footsteps. “If anything, being a legacy made me less inclined to come to Duke,” said Melson, whose parents and maternal grandparents graduated from Duke. “I was very aware of the belief that legacy students benefit from easier admissions standards, and I didn’t want anyone thinking I wasn’t qualified to come here just because both of my parents did.” Still, Melson said she quickly found Duke to be a great fit despite her initial misgivings. “The fact that I chose to go to school where my parents did actually makes a lot of sense given how similar I am to both [of them],” she said. When reviewing the application of a legacy student, Guttentag said the admissions office works alongside the Office of
Alumni Affairs through the Duke Alumni Admissions Program to evaluate the level of commitment a family has made to the University. This process aids in the admissions board’s personal understanding of the applicant, he said. “[For staff members of the alumni office] the notion of commitment is quite broad,” Guttentag said. “It’s not just a matter offinancial contributions, but a matter of all the different ways that a family can maintain its ties to Duke.” According to the Alumni Association Web site, applications from children and grandchildren of alumni are granted a third read—one extra—to “make certain that nothing important was missed.” Students of alumni at other selective private universities nationwide generally reap admissions benefits similar to those received by Duke legacies, Guttentag said. “My impression is that the admissions rate for children of alumni, as a rule of thumb, is roughly double the overall admit rate,” he said. He noted, however, that the majority of alumni children, like other applicants, are not admitted. For his part, Dean of Undergraduate Education Steve Nowicki said his legacy status at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., was probably a factor in his acceptance. “I was rejected to nearly every school I applied to except for Tufts, which was my father’s alma mater,” he said. “I think an institution does have an interest in breeding loyalty.” Freshman Sam Heroy, whose father and two grandfathers attended Duke, said the consideration of loyalty is important, especially in SEE LEGACIES ON PAGE
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THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY, APRIL 17,
DUKE STUDENT GOVERNMENT
DSG tables annual SOFC budget by
Diana Sheldon THE CHRONICLE
Duke Student Government tabled several agenda items due to the semester’s approaching end at its meet-
ing Wednesday night.
Decisions concerning the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association’s recognized status and the Student Organization Finance Committee’s Annual Budget were both postponed. Academic Affairs Senator Gregory Morrison, a freshman, raised a motion to suspend the recognized status of DCSSA because of the release of personal information about freshman Grace Wang on the DCSSA listserv. “I feel that these actions do not hold to the standard that we would expect of an organization recognized by Duke,” Morrison said. Several senators said they were nervous about suspending the group. They said DSG needs to anticipate how their actions will be perceived at Duke and on a larger level. Presi-
SARA GUERRERO/THE CHRONICLE
New Duke Student Government representatives are sworn in at the group's meeting Wednesday night.
dent Paul Slattery, a senior, was particularly vocal on this issue and said a decision could not be made presendy by DSC. “Of all the random things we’ve done this year, this could literally be seen as an international issue,” Slattery said. “We must act rationally.” Executive Chief ofStaff Kevin Troy, a junior, encouraged senators to consider the significance of suspending the recognized status of DCSSA, suggesting instead the creation of a committee next fall to further investigate the situation surrounding the DCSSA listserv. “I think that suspension is quite rash,” he said. “We don’tknow enough about who exactly did this and the extent of the group’s involvement to suspend their recognition. The best course of action is to reject this movement and to appoint a committee to look into the situation.” The SOFC Annual Budget was not approved either because some senators said they needed more time to look over it. SOFC Chair Alex Crable, a junior, said the committee had met with each of the groups funded in the budget. He said the one significant change from last year’s budget was that SOFC would provide a grant to the Sports Club Council—which encompasses all club teams—instead of funding the teams individually. Some senators said they were reluctant to approve SOFC’s budget because they felt that clubs were not given any warning of the size of the new budget or an opportunity to oppose their current budgets. Members said they were similarly hesitant about The Chanticleer’s $134,850 current annual budget. Senators will vote on the SOFC budget as well as two other agenda items—the bylaws of SOFC and the Intercommunity Council —through e-mail by Tuesday.
In other business: Representatives elected sophomore Sam Halls to the position of next year’s SOFC chair. They also chose StudentAffairs Senator Isaac Mizrahi, a freshman, to be incoming president pro tempore.
RIVERA from page 4 Georgia, and the birth of Reidsville, North Carolina’s Futz quadruplets, known as “the world’s only identical
quadruplets.”
James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Nat King Cole have also all stepped in front ofhis camera. Rivera’s photographs captured the complexities of an era. In 1959, he took pictures of North Carolina’s vehemently segregationist governor, Luther Hodges proudly welcoming Sekou Toure, the black president of the Republic of Guinea, to the state. Despite years in the pages of national newspapers, however, some, like Lawson, said they worry that Rivera’s legacy is in danger of being forgotten. “I talk to students now and they can barely believe [segregation] happened,” Lawson said. “But it was real for all of us and unless we keep being aware of that, it could easily happen again. That’s why [Rivera’s] photographs are so important.”
LEGACIES from page 6 families that do not donate heavily to the University. “I think that a little help from [the University] is nice, both in the sense that I will take what I can get and that my parents, who helped make Duke what it is, deserve to get some small say for their kid,” he said. Nowicki added that although many legacy students do come from families of means, the admissions office does a thorough job in evaluating donations factors only secondarily. “As Duke’s reputation goes up, the competition gets stiffer,” he said. “We don’t have to feel insecure about who we’re admitting.” Although Guttentag said family ties are a part of making Duke special, he added that most alumni probably just want their children to feel comfortable in a familiar place. “My dad never pushed or even encouraged [Duke] for the legacy aspect,” Heroy said. “But I think he is happy I went here nonetheless—especially considering my two brothers went to my mom’s alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill.”
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THE CHRONICLE
8 | THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008 to Mahato? I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t be alarmist, and I don’t think we are in a crisis.” Trask said he recognizes the urgency of the issue, but said students, faculty and staff are safe. do so before new management came to Duke.” Graves declined repeated requests to be interviewed for Kernel Dawkins, vice president for campus services, said this article. In a brief telephone conversation, be said he was he expects to complete a full assessment of the issues in DUPD by summer, as Sibson Consulting —hired by the examining the issues within the department. Leadership, however, is not the only concern for some University in February—completes its analysis. Meanwhile, the University is relying on more contract secuofficers. They said they are worried about the frequency and area of off-campus patrols, the use of contract security workers, under the belief that some tasks may be adequaterity to cover for commissioned officers and a new policy ly performed without fully commissioned officers, Trask said. Approximately three years ago, Duke began using 10 to 20 change that some officers say takes power out of their hands and puts it in the central office Alliedßarton contract security workers to supplement DUPD officers. The recent increase in That policy—explained in an internal memo from Dean dated risible off-campus crimes has [Contract security workers] are highly led to increased use of the strategy. Sept. 12—orders officers to seek “In the wake of several of these not a deterrent. Sometimes a permission from a senior staff member on duty before taking incidences of assaults off campus, gun is necessary.” additional patrolling was done by suspects into custody. i am concerned that inadequate DUPD officer Duke police officers off campus, which meant that some of the supervision has created a lack of roles they were filling on campus credibility in the eyes ofmany in our community,” Dean wrote in the memo. “This has been further were being backstopped by security officers, 1 Dawkins said. exacerlxitcd by the perception that we and the Durham Police “So what we’ve done is attempted to rotate our forces to Department arc ‘Out to get Duke Students.’.... It is a baseless where we perceive there to be significant problems.” accusation. Nevertheless it is a very' real perception.” He added that student safety' is “absolutely not” at risk The policy leads to a conflict of interest, one officer with fewer DUPD officers on campus. Some DUPD officers, however, disagree with the Universaid, as public relations concerns or other motives may be prioritized over student safety. sity’s use of.Alliedßarton security. One officer referred to the contract security workers as “paper tigers” and suggested that The University’s interests often aren’t morally or ethically right, the officer added. He offered as an example the lower cost of using them may be a factor in the UniversiDuke’s tendency to reduce off-campus patrols to avoid ty's decision-making process —an assertion Dawkins denied. a public perception of the University acting unilaterally “They are not a deterrent,” one officer said of contract security. “Sometimes a gun is necessary.” against the Durham community. In that case, the potential for harm to Duke’s reputation triumphed over patrols that could have protected stuToo soon to tell dents and staff in the surrounding area, he said. It is too early to draw conclusions about changes to Following thedeath of graduate student Abhijit Mahatojan. crime numbers since Graves’ arrival. 18, however, patrols have been restored in full, officers said. Figures are only available through the end of 2006, and information from 2007 will not be released until October, when it must be available as mandated by the Clery Act, Maj. Gloria i don’t think we are in a crisis’ Top administrators aren’t tipping their hands about pos- Graham, DUPD’s operations commander, wrote in an e-mail. sible leadership changes. Executive Vice President Tallman Available statistics paint an unclear picture ofcampus safety. Trask will only say that he is leaving all options on the table. Only diree indices saw significant changes from 2005 to 2006. “Would Duke officers on patrol have prevented what Burglaries inched up from 44 incidents to 49. Forcible sexual
offenses, however, halved from eight to four, and liquor law violation referrals dropped by more than 150 to 294. Some officers said little substantial progress on Duke’s preparedness for an emergency has been made since the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, although the University has announced a number ofemergency notification improvements. Ultimately, officers who expressed concerns about leadership said they are motivated to speak out by the feeling that DUPD’s retention problem may ultimately wreak havoc on campus security. “We’re talking about the safety of the student body and employees,” one officer said. “We’re going to be in jeopardy.” Chelsea Allison contributed to this article.
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. .Keptical of die effectiveness of the community policing model since before Graves and Graham arrived. Officers leave every year because they are frustrated by the constraints of the model, according to interviews with some former officers. They said the strategy works well in theory, but that on the street it limits their ability to make split-second decisions and protect the community. Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said there is a tricky balance at play. On one hand, officers have an obligation to enforce the law; on the other, the University' would prefer DUPD to be somewhat less aggressive against Duke’s own students, he said. . —Rob Copeland
Announcement of Award Recipients Congratulations to the following students, student organizations, faculty and administrators, who have been awarded Duke University's most prestigious campus-wide honors for leadership and service.
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
Leading at Duke Awards
Recognizes one graduating senior for his or her outstanding commitment to service.
Recognize the contributions of non-graduating, underclass students and student organizations to University life. Leading at Duke Awards are given in each of the following four categories.
Baldwin Scholars Unsung Heroine Award Recognizes a woman (any Duke
undergraduate, graduate, alumna, faculty, administrator, staff, or retiree)
who has demonstrated
extraordinary dedication to issues that face women at Duke or in the larger comqiunity. Recipient: Denise Comer
Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Awards Recognize graduating seniors for their outstanding commitment to the ideals of service-learning.
Recipients: Sarah Gordon & Grant Smith
Julie Anne Levey Memorial Leadership Award
Recognizes an emerging leader in the first-year class who has demonstrated initiative', creativity, and a clear commitment to making a difference in the lives of his or her peers. Recipient: Alex Reese
collective contributions to the Duke and larger communities through extraordinary leadership in their curricular and co-curricular endeavors are grounded in values that support the as found in the Duke lard. Student Affairs idership and Service each of the following tegories. -
-
Leadership in Arts Individual Recipient: Ail Group Recipient: De
Leadership in Health and Recipient: Priyanka A
<
Recipient: Claire Lauterbach
Student Affairs Distinguished Leadership and Service Awards Recognize graduating students whose
Community
Leading By Exampk Recipient; Lauren Ma
Shivam Joshi t to Diversity David Wynn
Leadership in Servi Recipient:
Wesiey Fellowship, United Methodist Campus Ministry
Demonstration of Integrity Recipient: Kamaria Campbell
Outstanding Service in Student Organization Advising
Expanding the Boundaries
Recognizes the contributions of Duke
faculty and staff who serve as volunteer or staffadvisors to student organizations.
Recipients: Blair Hedges (Jewish Life at Duke) & Lieutenant Colonel Mark Tribus (Duke Army ROIC)
Fleishman
made outstanding contributions to each of the following three communities.
Duke Community Recipients: Ben Adams
Geoffrey Bass Katelyn Donnelly Shawn Jones Carla Jordan-Detamore Bronwyn Lewis James Melton Albert Osueke Brian Ovalle Simone
Randolph
Chris Sanders (awardedposthumously) Claire Teigland Ryan Todd Hasnain Zaidi
Durham
&
Local Community
Recipients:
of Learning Recipients; Anne
William j. Griffith University Service Awards Recognize graduating students who have
&
Adam Hartstone-Rose
Building Alliances through
Collective Engagement Recipient: Katharine Eggleston
Kelley Akhiemokhali Amy Brown David Fiocco Sarah Gordon Brence Perneil
Global Community Recipient: Ashley Sobel
THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008 | 9
THE CHRONICLE
INDEPENDENTS from pagel “The selective living groups take up space that could have otherwise been allocated. [Giving all five selective living groups housing on West] might not have been the best decision in hindsight.” Associate Dean for Residential Life Joe Gonzalez said with Few Quad’s closing during fall semester, choices had to be made to accommodate student interest in the best way possible. He added, however, that some students may have benefitted more than others. Many students interviewed for this article said they felt that unaffiliated students were at a disadvantage during the housing selection process this year. “The point is that RLHS and Campus Council are supposed to represent the entire student body, but clearly that didn’t happen,” sophomore Caroline Hanson wrote in an e-mail. “It didn’t have to be an either/or between selectives and independents.... There were a lot of ways they could have accommodated both, but they chose to make independents bear all of the burden of the Few renovations.” Students in selective living groups also said they did not understand RLHS’ decision. “[lt] seems kind of weird to me that they didn’t move any of the selective living groups,” said Eric Ness, a sophomore who will live in the West Campus Wellness Living Learning Community in Crowell Quadrangle next year. Ness added that he had trouble arranging housing through RLHS for next year before he was selected to live in the Wellness Community. Other students said they had similar experiences. “There’s more insecurity now in choosing housing as a rising sophomore that [you don’t have] in a [fraternity] or a selective living group,” said Pat Lang, one of
Some students said unaffiliated students were disadvantaged during the housing selection process thisyear, which was altered to accomodate theFew Quadranglerenovations. the freshmen who was asked to give up the room he had selected for next year in Craven Quadrangle. “For choosing not to be in [a selective living group], we’re almost
unjustly punished.” Todd said he realized that some unaffiliated students might feel disadvantaged in this year’s Room Pix process. “The living groups were preferred in this process at least for next semester,” he said. But some administrators said they do not consider the problem as big as many students say. “I think to characterize this in any significant way as an overwhelming disadvantage or violation ofprinciple is to blow this way out of proportion,” Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta wrote in an e-mail. When the Few Quad renovations were
first announced, RLHS offered the selective living groups in the quad several alternate living situations for next year, including splitting up their sections between West and Central campuses and having no sections at all. Residential Group Assessment Committee scores, determined by a student committee in December, were to give higherscoring certain groups priority in choosing a location for next year. “It will not be the case that if all groups do well they will all stay on West Campus because the selective/independent ratio has to be maintained on West Campus,” Campus Council Vice PresidentKevin Thompson, a junior, told The Chronicle in October. But in January, representatives ofall five groups confirmed that they had all been assigned new sections on West for next year.
“The scores of the Few groups were among the highest of all the groups,” Thompson told The Chronicle last week. “All the scores are within a few points of each other. [lt would have been] hard to say that one group that scored just one percentage point below had to move to Central.” Thompson also noted that the percentage of beds allocated to students in selective living sections next year will not significantly exceed that of previous years. Students still said, however, that the process appeared biased. “All of the selective living groups were able to pull strings to stay on West, kicking out independents,” sophomore Emily Matthews wrote in an e-mail. “It’s sad that we get the short end of the stick just because we chose not to affiliate.”
ea-ing Fal An evening with
Ocean Psalms Thursday, April 17
7:00 p.m. at the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Come and encounter a spirituality focused on the sea, with meditative images (from the N.C. coast), biblical texts, music, prayers, stories, poetry, songs & blessings. The creators of Ocean Psalms, former Duke Divinity School Professor Teresa Berger (now at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music) and Dr. Loma Collingridge (Australian composer and musician), will present this multimedia project, an attempt to deepen the life of the spirit by reverent attentiveness to the “ocean depths” (Psalm 68).
Copies of the newly released CD-ROM Ocean Psalms will be available
CGXN PSXLM
M6DITXTIONS, i'TOP^I€S, PKXY6M, SONGS
XND BUSSINCS FW)M TH£ SEX &
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Lecture Series Calendar All are invited
Hh
to
attend a series
ofrelated lectures leading up to this grandperformance!
Admission is free.
An Evening with Wilfred Owens Life and Poetry by George D. Gopen, Professor of the Practice of Rhetoric, Duke University Tuesday, April 15 at 6:00 pm in Reynolds Lecture Hall (0016 Westbrook Bldg)
Hh War and Reconciliation by Justin Welby, Dean ofLiverpool Cathedral andformer Sub-Dean and Canonfor Reconciliation Ministry, Coventry Cathedral
Friday, April 18 at 6:00 pm in Reynolds Lecture Hall (0016 Westbrook Bldg) and Saturday, April 19 at 6:00 pm in Reynolds Lecture Hall (0016 Westbrook Bldg) Britten and Pacificism by Philip Rupprecht, Associate Professor ofMusic, Duke University Friday, April 18 at 4:00 pm in Biddle Music Building, Room 104
THE CHRONICLE
10 I THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
TIBET from page 1 Scott Savitt, Trinity ’B5 and a former reporter for United Press International and the Los Angeles Times in China, said it was important to separate Chinese policy from Chinese people. “The Chinese government is doing this, not the Chinese people,” he said. “It is so important to make this distinction. These words are what are hurting people. We all have to be so careful of the words we use.” Freshman Vince Taweel, who said he decided to participate in last week’s rally for Tibet after watching the actions of proChina protestors, said he thought the panelists worked to pacify all of the audience members. “It wasn’t what 1 expected at all,” he said. “The panelists were definitely trying to avoid major issues that could have caused tension in the audience.” Others said they also thought panelists avoided potentially controversial topics. “I fell the panelists skirted around
issues for the sake of political correctness,” freshman Jack Zhang said. “There were a lot of empty acknowledgments on both sides.” Panelists did disagree on whether or not the Chipese government was committing “cultural genocide” in Tibet. Tashi Rabgey criticized the Chinese government for excluding the Tibetan language from school systems. However, Yue said no genocide was occurring, noting that thousands of languages had disappeared naturally in the past century. “1 think most Americans got their idea of cultural genocide from ‘Seven Years in Tibet,’” he said. The panelists recognized the suffering of the Tibetan people and the importance of resolving the issue for individuals whose lives had been affected by the recent riots. “These are human-scale problems and we need human-made solutions,” Tashi Rabgey said. “We need the best of Tibetans, the best of Chinese, the best of people all around the world.”
The speech of Little B f
orn
HEATHER GUO/THE CHRONICLE ZACHARY TRACER/THE CHRONICLE
Panelists disagreed on whether or not the Chinese government has committed cultural genocide in Tibet.
Erwin Chemerinsky, professor ofLaw and political science, speaks at "Chemerinsky's Last Stand" in Biological Sciences Wednesday. He will leave to become dean at UC-Irvine.
Come see: New
York Times bestselling author
David Horowitz Speaking on:
Islamo Fascism, The Muslim Students Association,
and the Jihad Against th Thursday, April 17, 7:00 PM Physics 128
jp jtl s _ r WT'M
arts&entertainment
recess m volume UD, issue 29
BomMI arrives SEE MUSIC PAGE 3 april 17,2008
Pornographer, now Destroyer
COURTESY DEPARTMENT
OF THEATER
STUDIES
Graveyard Days will appear in the 2008 Theater New Works Productions and Musical Theater Workshhop, a showcase of plays that focus on an analysis offear.
Theater Works sets stage for students by
Claire Finch
THE CHRONICLE
Starting this weekend, students can partake in the generally-exclusive experience of viewing a collection of brand-new theater works. Attendance of the 2008 Theater New Works Productions and Musical Theater Workshop presents audiences with 10 novel student-produced plays and musicals. Entitled Buffet of Fear, the 2008 New Works Productions features readings of six original student plays taking place this Thursday through Saturday. The festival is an established annual event meant to promote innovative theater activity. “Each year [the Department ofTheater Studies] has a New Works festival because part of our mission is to be involved with the creation of new work in theater,” said
Miriam Sauls, the department’s director of theater and communications. The pieces are the culmination of the course Theater Studies 182: New Works in Progress Workshop, which was thematically centered on an analysis of fear. The study of terror played a seminal role in the production of the works, which are all variations on horror plays. “A lot of the discussions grew from the question of ‘What is the nature of fear?’” said sophomore Stephanie Bazell, whose play will be debuting in the festival. “We created different fear pieces—different things that we personally were afraid of, which varied from sharks to cockroaches to murder. So the process was sort of a discovery of fear, but the actual plays are basically horror, or takes on horror plays.” In fact, the majority of the plays fea-
tured in the event tend to be humorous interpretations of their spookier counterparts. “We’ve been cracking up rehearsing,” said senior Sean Murnane, another student whose work will be showcased this weekend. “A lot of the stuff turned out to be a lot more funny than scary,” This year, the festival breaks with precedent by expanding to include the work of a professional writer. On Sunday, two established actors will team up with students to perform in a reading of playwright Megan Mastyn-Brown’s new piece, Going After Alice. Mastyn-Brown is a member of the acclaimed LAByrinth Theater Company, which was started by the famed actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz. SEE THEATER ON PAGE 6
The Sunday Brunch serves up sex by
Dan Bejar built his name as Destroyer but has become equally well known for his involvement in indie supergroups the New Pomographers and Swan Lake. He has kept Destroyer going over the years and recently released Trouble in Dreams. Bejar is now embarking on a lour to promote his new album, recess' Andrew Hibbard recently spoke to Bejar via e-mail about his lengthy career, his side projects and his upcoming tour. Given the unique nature of all your music and your songwriting especially, can you describe the process you go through when you write a song? Even if it wasn’t 3:43 a.m. in a Days Inn in Bismarck, N.D. right now with Blazing Saddles bubbling in the background, I would have a rough time describing the kind of foggy process from which a Destroyer song is emitted. All I can say is that these days it is generally a words-first scenario, though those words have gotta be vaguely musical from the get-go or I lose interest. At some point, I’ll lose a wrestling match with a guitar and end-up strumming it to find some chords. With so many people applying labels like cryptic poetry to your lyrics, what do you hope people get from your songwriting? An overwhelming emotional response to cryptic poetry, like an anvil gut, like any other song. Swan Lake, the New Pornographers and Hello, Blue Roses all have really unique styles and lineups. How do you balance all of these styles and influences with Destroyer? They are all styles and influences that are mostly the result of people other than myself. Also, Destroyer music is a result SEE DESTROYER ON PAGE 7
Jessica Lighter THE CHRONICLE
In college, Sunday brunch serves an essential function—allowing students to openly exchange their walks of shame, drunken hook-ups and emergency room visits of the past weekend. Capitalizing on such a wealth of experiences, sophomore Trevor Ragan has created a Web site—to ultimately gather material for a book—that collects information about one of the most discussed topics on college campuses nationwide: sex. The Web site, The Sunday Brunch, is an open forum on which individuals can anonymously post the details of their sexual counters and advice, Ragan said. The book will be called F- and consist of a main section on sex-related stories and another on a broad range of sex-related advice (the actual name of the book and sub-sections cannot be printed). “I’ve seriously thought of everything anyone could ever know and have made it into a topic,” Ragan said. “Anywhere from kissing to having sex in a car.” Ragan said the section on the site consisting of sex-related stories is further divided into three parts; “Oh F—,” “What the F—” and “F —Yes!” “Oh F—” addresses horrific but amusing experiences such as “my mom walked in on us” or “my condom SIMEON LAW/THE CHRONICLE
Sunday Brunch, unlike other college gossip sites, offers advice instead of slander.
SEE BRUNCH ON PAGE 3
COURTESY DAN BEJAR
Dan Bejar rose to prominence as a key member of the Canadian supergroupThe New Pornographers.
trill 7, 2008
recess
PAGE 2
Editor’s Note 29: on eggs Hello world. This isAlex Warrwriting, and,
to quote a beloved editor of yesteryear, we’ve never met. There are several reasons for this.
It could be my heterosexual life-mate Varun usually uses this space to blather on about the prominent issues of the day. Perhaps it’s because Tm a level one ninja on Facebook and silence is my hot hot sex. But mainly I prefer to express my opinions through the humor of sandbox. Not so today. Today I want to talk very seriously about two things: eggsand respect. I know that these topics seem disparate at best, but earlier this week eggs became a temporary vehicle for the expression of respect, or rather, the lack thereof. Last Monday night several students had eggs thrown at them on West Campus. Two big, w hite, male college students were hiding in nearby bushes and fled. While I w as not personally struck (ninja for the win), I share the anger of those who were. I understand full well that many of you
r
tipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or antitrade sentiment as away to explain their frustrations.” Barack Obama, professional jerkface. Dearest Barack (or should I say Hussein?)
Really? I’m bitter? Bitter, you say? For your information, I’m too tired and depressed from my meaningless, working-class, plebian job to even be bitter. I’ll have you know that I’m currendy too busy attending monster truck rallies, drinking Pabsl Blue Ribbon or listening to Kenny Chesney to be bitter. Besides, bitter isn’t even an emotion. It’s a Sour Patch Kids flavor. And everyone knows that you can’t be a Sour Patch Kids flavor. So there. You think that you are so high and
iJ
TIME WARNER CABLE MUSIC PAVILION
mighty with your big, fancy campaign and your complete set of teeth. Well, I’ve got news for you. So maybe I never “went to law school” or currently “have a job” or even “pay my child support.” I’m still a person! An illiterate person, but a person nonetheless! If I weren’t juggling my Bible, handgun and three illegitimate kids as I type this, I’d flip you the bird. But I doubt you would even see that bird with your nose so high in the air (not to mendon full of narcotics). It’s people like you (and by you, I mean Mexicans), that make this country the wasteland it is today. Congratulations, Barack, you just lost a voter. Now I’m voting for Hillary. Hillary Duff, that is. Is she 18 yet? Who am I kidding? I don’t care. Sincerely,
Billy-Jo William Joseph
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will be tempted to discard the whole business offhand, or believe that I am overreacting. I respectfully disagree. The issue is not the egg itself, which is harmless enough in the grand scheme of things, but rather the disrespect it symbolizes, which is not. The simple truth is that there is a significant difference between someone who would hurl an egg at a complete stranger and someone who would not. A lack of maturity and a selfish entitlement come to mind, but I am concerned it is something deeper. A kind of cruelty is implied as is a lack of empathy, or at the very least an indifference toward it. These are the first people to turn on the island, the ones who light the fires, the faceless weaklings who tip the scales in the 11thhour toward chaos. For such, the burning cross and the swastika are literally an egg’s throw away. Anger feels right but is wasted. Pity them. —Alex Warr, Managing Editor
recesseditors Nerdy things we secretly d0... Vanin Lella/David Graham Alex Warr/Nancy Wang Baishi Wu/Andrew Hibbard Irem Mertol/Glen Gutterson Bryan Zupon/irreplaceable Bryan Sayler/Jordan Axl Andrew Hibbard/Baishi Wu
Nancy Wang/Jessie Tang Lucie Zhang/Janet Wu David Graham/Chelsea Allison
,Rho Tau
I do nothing nerdy...secredy ..starching our indie-shirt collection The stacks in Teer Meredith Shiner repeatedly beating Zelda Final Fantasy, the other gay one Asians Facebook stalking picking out his/her hair
A|
iril 17, 2008
PAGE 3
BRUNCH FROM PAGE 1
COURTESY BOMBADIL
'
Bombadil, with three members in the class of 2006, were pioneers in the now booming Duke music scene and now have a record deal.
Bombadil creates more Buzz Baishi Wu
THE CHRONICLE
Bombadil has come a long way. And I don’t mean from Bolivia, as their vivid use of charangos and zamponas might suggest. Nor do I mean from Middle Earth, despite the eerie connection the band shares with their weirdly magnetic Tolkien character. Since graduating from Duke in 2006 as just another college band, the group is scheduled to release their first full length album, A Buzz, A Buzz, in addition to performing at this summer’s Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee. “We can now devote more time [to the band] then we could ever devote before,” said guitarist Bryan Rahija. ‘You don’t reach a point where you’ve made it. You have to keep
churning out stuff, keep improving, keep playing
and keep building interest.” Long before Duke University Union and Small Town Records began to nurture the university music scene, Bombadil emerged after guitarist Bryan Rahija and bassist Daniel Michalak studied abroad with Duke in the Andes. They returned from this life-changing trip to become pioneers in the Duke music scene. Now two years removed from life at Duke, the suspenders-clad foursome has endured growing pains (the drummer has changed twice) to emerge and imprint their whimsical melodies onto a Southern culture with an established folk tradition. The band’s grassroots approach of touring local venues resulted in an appearance alongside folk icons the Avett Brothers, a performance which led to their signing with Ramseur Records. Yet, despite their recent success, the
band strives to stay true to their humble beginnings. With an approach to life atypical of Duke students, Bombadil’s innate passion for music not-so-ironically imitates the carefree nature of their namesake, Tom Bombadil. “The whole industry is built around hype these days with blogs, Pitchfork and the Internet,” Rahija said. “It’s just this race to instantaneous fame. We are trying to build something long-term.” Truly masters of stage presence, Bombadil, donned in the attire ofold Bolivian men, engages their audience and displays a vaudevillian type of flair, bouncing back and forth between obscure instruments learned from an elementary school in South America. With the upcoming release of their first full-length album, Rahija described the challenge of translating their unique stomp-grass sound and creating media that merges the living room and the rock club. In A Buzz, A Buzz, Bombadil combines their typical cacophonous, folk-tastic orchestral arrangements with several tracks that dial down the quirky, offering nothing more than bare vocals over the piano. ‘You take that energy and that volume and you play something really hard in the studio, then you listen back to what you recorded and go, ‘Huh?’” Rahija added, referring to their raucous stage sound. “We are stUI looking to figure out how to translate that energy into tape.”
•
by
Bombadil will be holding an album release party April 25 at the Cat’s Cradle. Also performing are Nathan Oliver and The Lave
Language.
broke.” “What the F—by contrast, consists of the most disturbing and revolting sexual encounters and “F—Yes!” comprises of “the good ones you want to brag about to your friends.” Although Ragan said he initially thought he would have to struggle to obtain female input, about 60 percent of the submissions to the site have been from women. “The weird thing about [“F— Yes!”] is that of the 20 stories in that section, 15 are from girls,” he added. Even though Ragan specifically drew a distinction between his site and sites like Juicy Campus, several students said the two resemble one another in focus and target audience. “I feel like it’s just another kind of popular thing on the Internet that will disappear as quickly as it came up, just like Juicy Campus,” freshman Matt Isabel said. “They are all Web sites thatrare supposed to shock you and surprise you. They all play on the same sort of theme and [are similar in] how they are getting their audience.” Senior Tom Donaho said the site reminds him of another item of contemporary literature. “Sounds to me like someone has been reading Tucker Max too much,” he said. Students were split over whether they agreed with the Web site and the book, with some having said they saw them merely as alternative mediums of information. “What’s the difference between reading [these stories] in a magazine and reading [them] in a book?” freshman Lydia Greene said. “We all read them and think they’re hilarious.” Others, however, said though sexual advice and a forum to openly discuss sexual issues might be beneficial to students, the title of the book, as well as the title’s implications, are crude and offensive. Sophomore Veronica Bustabad, for instance, said people need to be open about sex, but should do so in a constructive manner. Therefore, she said she has no problem with the site but does not see how it could be useful. “I don’t know that I will be resorting to this as a resource, but for some people it works,” she said. Over the summer, Ragan said he plans to extend The Sunday Brunch to include subjects such as sports, school and life that will not be featured in the book. He added that the school section will contain student opinions about the best alcoholic drinks, tips to passing certain classes, easy professors and dating in college. Even though he had originally created the site as a means to obtain information for a book, he is now focusing most of his attention on enhancing and developing the site. “Right now I’m so excited about the site that’s coming that I’m not even thinking about the book,” he said.
Cat’s Cradle 300 E. Main St. Carrboro
967-9053
Three Movies and a Funeral Sunday, April 20 at spm Nasher Museum THIS IS MADNESS: A Black Theater Workshop Monday, April 21 at Bpm Brody Theater, East Campus
1
A multi-media performance of the adaptation of short stories by prominent writers, as part of A Sense of Place seminar." W
Free
A supersoul showcase of scenes and speeches from Black Power plays of the 1960's 70's. Say it loud! with THE SPORT OF THEATER; an Independent Study Experiment at 1 Opm with Chris Davis, DeMarcus Nelson, Ryan McFayden, Matt Zafirovski and Ellary Porterfield in scenes from plays and movies with sporting life themes. &
Free
Musical Theater Workshop Tuesday, April 22 at Bpm Sheafer Theater, West Campus The Musical Theater Workshop class will be performing four original One Act Musicals created by the students in the Musical Theater Composition class. Free
Advance sales Schoolkids (C.H., Raleigh,) CD Alley (CH) Chaz's Bull City Records (Durham) Charge by phone at 919 967 9053 Or on the web http://WWW.ETIX.COM www.catscradle.com @
&
For more information visit www.duke.edu/web/theaterstudies
@
April
recess
PAGE 4
17. 2008
FORBIDDEN KINGDOM DIR. R. MINKOFF UONSGATE
SMART PEOPLE DIR. N. MURRO MIRAMAX
����� Centered around the less-than-ideal lives of the intellectually superior Weatherhold family. Smart People will remind students and professors stuck in the world of straight A’s and Ph. D’s that sometimes brainpower is just no substitute for compassion. Weatherhold (Dennis Lawrence Quaid) is a cynical professor at Carnegie Mellon and a middle-aged widower. As if the demands of single-handedly raising his two children Vanessa (Ellen Page) and James (Ashton Holmes) has not been enough to manage, Lawrence is then faced with the unannounced arrival of his unemployed, adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church). After yet another exasperating day of analyzing Victorian literature and avoiding his students, Lawrence discovers his tatty white sedan, which harbors the vital contents of his briefcase, has been towed. In a scene that most Duke drivers can relate to, lawrence attempts to circumvent the University parking system by scaling the impoundment lot fence, only to succeed in securing himself a night in the hospital and six months with his freeloading brother for a chauffeur. Could it get any worse for our halfhearted hero? However, it is this impromptu visit to the ER where Lawrence meets Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), a former student of his who had always had a “thing” for her bumbling professor. After several painfully awkward encounters, and two failed dates Lawrence finally manages to make it home past 8:45 p.m. (wink, wink, nod, nod, poke, poke) and, for the time being, appears to have found love again. However, as the ties between this dysfunctional family thicken—Ellen Page’s character begins to fall for her pseudo-uncle (Juno anyone?) while James passes off bar tabs for textbook charges—Lawrence discovers that his own ambitions have blinded him from the lives of his loved ones and the passion for teaching he once knew. Although at times the film appears too fixed in the sardonic world of the Weatherhold’s for its audience to appreciate, director Noam Murro succeeds in capturing the internalized anguish of this emotionally unreceptive family. Quaid proves endearing in his role, uncovering both the dry and emotive sides of Lawrence, but it is truly Church who steals the show, drawing laughter in the most tasteless of moments with that unmistakable deadpan drone he immortalized in Sideways. In an age when kids are being brought up to believe that an Ivy League education is worth more than their mortal soul, Smart People is here to remind us that our ambition is only a piece of the larger crossword puzzle. —Emily Ackerman
Jackie Chan. Jet Li. One screen. One big let down. The' fight scenes were great—like all the new* martial-arts movies coming out these days —but even the spectacle of a white-clad Jet Li sparring with a Rastafarian Jackie Chan is not enough to salvage this storyline. But let’s keep to what matters most; the moves those guys were throwing were freakin’ sweet! Seriously, watching the Praying Mantis style take on Tiger style should be a prerequisite of achieving full manhood. No life is complete without experiencing the awesomeness of Asian women battling each other and wishing you were the token white guy in the film. Speaking as an awesome .Asian woman, 1 am deeply disappointed with the leading girl, Sparrow. I mean, if you’re a young spry .Asian without parents telling you stories about how sex can result in an early death, why wouldn’t you jump on the only white boy around the second you see him? All the Asian guys I know have [Editor’s note: ASA has threatened suit and the rest has been censored.] Sure the fight moves were impressive, and there is at least one good sequence featuring just the two
Question: Why do Chinese people from
main (read: only) vixens battling it out. But overall, Sparrow is nothing more than a pigeonholed, one-dimensional stereotype who failed to own her manufactured sex-appeal. And what was up with the fullydothed-will-not-put-out orphan speaking in the third person for most of the movie? Seriously? With a name like Sparrow and the typical backstory involving death and destruction, you would expect her to be messed up in a more twisted and impressive way (think: O-Ren Ishii). Now it is time for Vamn the Editor to weigh in. As Braden and Nancy have already articulated, this movie blows.
the Middle Ages speak English? Answer Because the filmmakers are lazy. I think the most surprising thing about the film is that the terrible dialogue was actually written by somebody who learned English as a first language. I mean, yeah, it is really awesome that you managed to write an entire film as if it were a Japanese-imported videogame from the ’Bos, but the over-emotional script is a little much. At least the cinematography was pretty. P.S. Sparrow is hot. —Braden Hendricks, Nancy Wang and Varan Leila
the inevitable eerie turn once the travelers reach the jungle. As they scrounge around looking for the path that leads to the site, the would-be tomb-raiders notice they are being watched by two Mayan children. As anyone who has seen Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto knows, small, silent Mayan children can be very, very creepy. • Director Cartel? Smith uses that fact to great effect, but after that, the plot becomes increasingly predictable. The Americans—accustomed to luxury and a carefree life—all of a sudden find themselves pitted in an unfamiliar place where they must now struggle to survive. With the addition of a carnivorous menace with a taste for human flesh, the movie degrades into standard horror fare. The tourists, having found the ancient ruins, are now trapped on top of the massive pyramid by armed Mayan villagers, Smith takes the film where we expect it
go —the trapped explorers struggle monster residing within and with their own increasingly fragile psyches as food and water run out —but the end result is dissatisfying, If this movie is meant to be taken as a full-fledged psychological thriller, that attempt falls short. The horror does not seem to warp the minds of the young vacationers as much as it ought to, the one exception being, Stacy, who completely loses her mind. As for the horror aspect itself, the film imitates the torture-porn style of Saw and Hostile in subjecting the audience to disgusting blood and gore rather than true terror. As such, there is no real suspense to be had here. Instead, one will find only the strong desire to turn away and wince while trying to suppress gags of popcorn and soda —Braden Hendricks
Marshall (Kristen Bell), he is devastated. After a few weeks of feeling miserable, Peter decides, on the urgings of his halfbrother, Brian (Bill Hader), to take a holiday in Hawaii to clear his mind. Relaxation seems likely for Peter when he hits it off with the holers hot customer service representative, Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis). Dracula puppet rock opera to the clips But by cruel coincidence, Sarah is taking a of Sarah Marshall’s Veronica Mars spoof break at the same resort with her new boyfeaturing William Baldwin and Jason friend, famous English rock singer, Aldous Bateman. Snow (Russell Brand), The comedy is energized by imperWritten by and starring Segel, a longfect, offbeat characters who spark wacky time member off the Judd Apatow actsituations. The film succeeds because the ing cabal, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a characters are perfectly developed. Peter crowd-pleasing romantic-comedy that is vulnerable and pathetic but far from delightfully follow* in the footsteps of two-dimensional. He is sympathetic but previous Apatow flicks, Knocked Up and also a bit of a slacker and a slob, content Superbad. From Segefs self-deprecation to sit at home watching TV instead of purto typical R-rated raunchiness, the script suing his dreams. Bell has the tough role is absolutely overflowing with laughs. of the pseudo-villain, but she’s cute and The fdm is filled with plenty of hilarilikable enough to pull it off without too ous non-sequiturs from Peter’s original much residual hatred.Kunis is very likable
and does well as the straight man to set up Segel’s funniest scenes. Apatow fans will notice many familiar faces. Superbad’s Jonah Hill makes an appearance as a bumbling waiter/stalker, and Paul Rudd is featured as the ultrastoned surfing instructor. Hader also steals some scenes, dropping one hilarious oneliner after another. The film is far from perfect—and much of the story feels recycled from previous Apatow movies—but this does not significantly detract from the movie’s humor. Overall, the film is a must-see for any fan of comedy. —Caleb Seeley
THE RUINS DIR. C. SMITH DREAMWORKS
� ���� The tagline says, “Terror has evolved,” but the new thriller, The Ruins, is really just more of the same old, same old. Adapted from a 2006 novel of the same name by Scott Smith, The Ruins follows the misfortunes of four American tourists Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), Eric (Shawn Ashmore), Stacy (Laura Ramsey) and Amy (Jena Malone) —on vacation in Mexico. They, along with acquaintances Mathias (Joe Anderson) and Dmitri (Dimitri Baveas), venture out to uncharted Mayan ruins where Mathias’ brother has joined an archaeological dig. The movie, light-hearted and reminiscent ofany number of spring break (think American Pie) films up until this point, takes —
to
against the
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL dir. n. sroum UNIVERSAL
����� When Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) is dumped by his girlfriend, TV star Sarah
trill?,
2008
THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE MY BLOODY UNDERGROUND
����� The Brian Jonestown Massacre are dinosaurs, managing somehow to be relics of two long gone eras: the mid to late 19605, which they hearken back to in their songs and band name, and the indie- scene from which they emerged in the mid-90s. In the wake of indie music’s mainstreaming via Zach “Scrubs isn’t Funny” Braff s Garden State, the band’s brand of the genre seems out of place. Replete with tape hiss, studio noise and three unprintable song tides, the rough-edged and at times inaccessible My Bloody Underground, the band’s ninth LP in almost 18 years, continues in the tradition set by the band’s back catalogue while also plotting a radical new trajectory. To be certain, My Bloody Underground is a difficult album with 13 songs, each clocking over four minutes, with studio noise and silence between them. But the songs are gold. Reading not so far into the albums title, we can hear the group mining two genre-defining bands:
recess My Bloody Valentine and the VelUnderground. The sinister and murky guitars recall Velvets’ best known albums, while the electronic squall on “Who Cares Why” and “Golden Frost” suggest the best ofKevin Shields. Throbbing bass, pulsing percussion and vocals hidden low in the mix suggest Can and Neu! in addition to the Massacre’s garage-rock forebears. “Darkwave Drive/Big Drill Car” echoes the Spaghetti Western soundtracks of Ennio Morricone, while the third and fourth unutterably-titled tracks are a droning Indian folkjam and a four-minute instrumental piano interlude, respectively. Elsewhere, the band dabbles in electronic experimentation, with (I’m going to guess) Icelandic vocals on the echo-laden “Ljosmyndir” and the droning analog synthesizers of “Black Hole Symphony.” Having long ago staked out their aesthetic, the Massacre is unafraid to harken back to these bands, wearing theirinfluences on their sleeves, album or otherwise, while still managing to maintain their own unique sound—culminating in a sprawling, puzzling, and gloriously shambolic record. Brown-Pinsky
PAGES
vet
MARIAH CAREY E
=
MC
2
ISLAND
����� Kissing Ali Locker the summer after sixth grade. Beating Mario Golf. My Bar Mitzvah. The first time I saw Mariah Carey on a tire swing in the “Always Be My Baby” video. In no particular order, these are the moments thatdefined my childhood. This is precisely why I so eagerly anticipated the release ofMariah Carey’s eleventh album, the kind-of-cleverly tided E=MC2. Unfortunately, Mariah’s latest work failed to fulfill my boyhood expectations.
Don’t get me wrong, E=MC2 has some definite highlights. On the now übiquitous first single,
“Touch My Body,” Mariah does a fantastic job of combining sexy (She pleads to “Let me rub my face/All around your waist/Just a litde taste”) with a hint of scary (If I tell anyone about our secret canoodling, she vows to “hunt me down”). “Side Effects,” an upbeat club anthem, sounds like any other Scott Storch production, which means you’ll like it but you’ll probably be ashamed of it. The work of Swiss Beatz on “0.0.C.,” a song I can guarantee you will dance to this summer, is equally admirable. Finally, Damian Marley’s reggae-rap lyrics on “Cruise Control” are the undoubted highlight of the album, effectively saving a track that features Mariah trying to sing in her own Jamaican accent. However, the middle tracks of E=MC 2 deteriorate into Jer-
maine Dupri-produced power ballads that quickly become tiresome and monotonous. “I Stay in Love,” “Love Story” and “Last Kiss” are highly predictable tracks with lyrics that detail all the cliches about love you can think of. Worse yet, sometimes Carey’s work is too pop for a pop album. “I’m That Chick” is so bubble-gum and flower that it should come with a warning to diabetics and people with severe allergies. Sadly, while there are definite strong points on E=MC2 , the unstoppable and unrivaled sex goddess that was the Mariah Carey of my childhood—the one behind the life-changing songs “Honey” and “Fantasy”—will have to remain just that, a memory. Getting older sucks. —Jordan Axt
the Kooks display a sense of self-awareness that is fundamental to their music. Their sound is ultimately an extension of the band’s philosophy —that music should be fun, uplifting and universally appealing. In those respects at least, the album is a success. However, it is that very attempt to gain widespread appeal that threatens to be the Kooks’ downfall. While enjoyable, each song so closely resembles its predecessor that it becomes unremarkable. Tracks “Mr. Maker” and “Shine On” boast unpretentious lyrics tinged with romantic optimism characteristic of the Kooks, while an equally spir-
ited “Do You Wanna” shows off a naive arrogance as Pritchard chants “Do you wanna, do you wanna make love to me?/I know you wanna, I know you wanna make love to me.” Songs like “Gap” and “See the Sun” have the potential to become popular singles, yet they too are almost overshadowed by the album’s overall monotony. Though repetitious, Konk is far from offensive. On the contrary, at times it is almost irritatingly likeable. But without further development or striking originality, the Kooks will be hard-pressed to achieve the scope of their ambition. —Mary Conyers Tucker
THE KOOKS KONK ASTRALWERKS
����� MAN MAN RABBIT HABITS ANTI
����� Venturing into the world of Man Man is an at-your-own-risk endeavor. Don’t believe me? They even have their fans sign waivers before each concert that read, “Soul corruption and face melting both intentional and likely.” (This may or may not be true). But considering comparisons to avant-garde forefathers Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, the listener already knows what he is getting into. And with names like Honus Honus, Sergei Sogay, Critter Crat, Pow Pow and Chang Wang, the men of Man Man are equipped to carry the torch. Rather than Six Demon Bags scattered lovesickness, Rabbit Habits is perfected chaos that permeates with a brimming evil throughout. At the forefront of the mix, Honus Honus’s vocals grate and strain as he spits tales of a cast of unfor-
characters. “Mister Jung Stuffed” and “Hurly/Burly” are done in true Man Man style, fastpaced and peppered with out-oftune horns and xylophones. “Top Drawer” is a slower march on which a possessed Honus screams, ‘You need a black Cadillac/So death can drive it or ride in the back.” On “Poor Jackie,” Honus trades in his lovesick past for contempt with, “I don’t see what everybody/Sees in your sexy body/All I see is a shallow grave/Trapped inside a pretty face.” The closer “Whalebones” is the sad dirge at the end of a vaudeville act and ends the album on a more subdued note. Basically, Rabbit Habits is a mix tape made for the Devil. As Honus Honus summons Lucifer himself on his Rhodes piano, the rest of the cast create an otherworldly atmosphere with dissonant horns and desperate vocals that let a bit of demonic influence simmer to the surface. All this pushes Man Man to the edge of insanity, but somehow they haven’t yet sold their souls. —Stefanija Giric tunate
With the recent surge of ret-
ro-inspired Brit pop in the indie scene, innovative bands come as a refreshing change. Unfortunately, the Kooks are not one of them. They are, however, a successful addition to the ranks. foursome, The Brighton whose debut album Inside In/lnside Out saw unexpected success in 2006, returns with upbeat, infectious melodies and youthful emotion that are so addictive it’s impossible to hate. Their new release, Konk, picks up where Inside In/Inside Out left off, creating a fast-paced blend ofvintage guitar riffs softened by frontman Luke Pritchard’s thick English accent. On Konk, the Kooks further demonstrate their ability to appeal to the masses, drawing influence from fellow Brits Oasis, Coldplay and the Kinks. The band’s name itself is an allusion to David Bowie’s song “Kooks,” while the album’s titlereferences Konk Studios, owned by Kinks’ singer/songwriter Ray Davies. With such subtle conceits,
April 17,
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PAGE 6
Union joins sketch and 'toons
COURTESY KEVIN
KALLAUGHER
Duke University Union will bring political cartoons and The Second City sketch comedy troupe together next week in Reynolds. by
Jessie tang
THE CHRONICLE
On the evening of April 24, caricatures will come to life, figuratively speaking. The Art of Political Satire successfully weaves together the media of sketch comedy and
political cartooning. Sponsored by Duke University Union’s Live Entertainment committee, the show is a partnership between The Economist and Chicago-based comedy troupe The Second City. Their collaboration represents a unique fusion of im-
provisational skits and stand-up cartooning centered on the craft of satire. “There’s a great synergyhere between Second City and The Economist magazine,” said the show’s director Marc Warzecha. “Satire is an element of what we do, butfor us to team up with another organization like this is a new and exciting thing. We sort of enhance each other in this format and setting.” The two companies joined in 2007 for their first performance in Chicago. Because it was so successful, they decided to take the show on the road, where they will visit several cities across the UnitedStates and eventually globe-trot to Australia. The political cartoonist featured in the show, Kevin ‘Kal’ Kallaugher, is not a stranger to Duke’s campus. His exhibit, Mightier Than the Sword: The Satirical Pen of KAL is currently hanging in Rubenstein Hall. This year marks Kallaugher’s 30th anniversary with The Economist, and Kallaugher thought that it would be “great to showcase [what the magazine has to offer] in this crazy electoral madness” with the show.
Students may also be familiar with Second City, which boasts notable alumni such as Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey, from their previous September show in Reynolds Theater. However, the upcoming show differs from the usual set-up because in addition to set sketches and improv acts, there will also be live cartooning and 3-D animation. As part of the event, Kallaugher involves the audience by teaching them how to draw political cartoons of their own. Warzecha and Kallaugher will also answer questions during intermission and discuss how the two institutions approach the topic of satire. “We don’t do political cartoons, and they don’t do sketch comedy,” Warzecha said. “They’re different art forms. There’s a curiosity on both sides of what we want to comment on in the world of politics and, in general, how we choose to comment on that.” Despite the differences between sketch comedy and cartooning, there lies a parallel set of improvisational skills that applies to both. “Doing political cartooning is a lot like improv,” Kallaugher said. “You work under a deadline, everyday. You have to assemble a whole range of crazy things, distill it to its uttermost simplicity, tinker with it a little bit and send it out for everyone to see.” The Art of Political Satire begins at 7 p.m. on April 24 in Reynolds Industries Theater. Tickets are $lO for Duke students and employees, $l5 for the generalpublic.
Duke Symphony Orchestra Harry Davidson, music director
Hansel & Gretel Friday, April 18 at 7:30 pm & Sunday, April Baldwin Auditorium A semi-staged concert production of Humperdinck’s opera, sung in English by professional opera singers and the Durham Children’s Choir Scott Hill, director $lO general admission $5 students/senior citizens Children under 12 free
919-684-4444, ivivw.tickets.duke.edu
20
at 3 pm
2i >OOB
THEATER FROM PAGE 1 Because the reading is more informal, its emphasis is on Mastyn-Brown’s script itself, which tells the tale of a married couple’s grief after they lose their son in the Iraq war. “[The actors] will be very familiar with the text, but we won’t have furniture and props, and people will be holding scripts,” said professor Jody McAuliffe, who is directing the reading. “The focus is on the material. It’s not on production —the ideals that you can really hear the play.” Fans ofmusical theater can likewise have the chance to see the first-ever performance of original musicals in next Tuesday’s musical theater workshop. Professor John Glum, chair of the theater studies department, said in an e-mail that the experiences of attending each event are essentially “no different, except that one [of the productions] is all musicals.” The musicals are the ultimate product of two separate Theater Studies classes: one in which students write the musicals and accompanying music, and the other where students perform their classmates’ finished pieces. Similar to the dramatic works, the musicals have a primarily playful tone. For example, titles of the works include the humorously ironic Polygamy: The Musical and The Bible: In 20 Minutes or Less. The latter promises to live up to its name’s entertainment potential, boasting the subversively comic highlights ofunionized angels and a Noah’s Ark scene complete with music straight out of The Lion King s “Circle ofLife” sequence. The classes are open to students of all levels, so having already produced several ofyour own musicals is not a must. “I would say the levels ofmusical ability ran the gamut from having taken a few music classes to having written musicals before,” said Andrew Bentz, a first-year graduate student who helped produce and also performs in The Bible. Individual performances aside, the two new works events are most remarkable in their rare support of stu-
dent-produced pieces. “The class itself has been a really good experience because you probably are not going to have the opportunity to write a musical and then to have it performed unless you are a professional,” said sophomore Kristin Sourbeer, who wrote the lyrics for The Bible. “But as far as being a college student and having it performed, it’s hard—so this experience has been really cool.” The 2008 New Works TheaterProductions will be held April 17-19 at Brody Theater on East Campus and theMusical Theater Workshop will be held Toes. April 22 at 8 p.m. in Sheafer Theater. The reading of Going After Alice will be performed Sunday, April 20 at 2 p.m. in the Sheaf er Theater.
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but now that I do, I feel pretty good about I’m now a little obsessed with the perit. Except for that last bit about “industry feet signal path. Which is something this 10ng”... they’ve worked for years to keep me in How do you feel about your growing the dark about. They also can turn a cornrise in popularplete mess into a pretty goo ity and the increase in media “I would have a rough time song... Which attention you has given me a describing the kind of foggy are receiving? certain amount I don’t think of undue confiwhich a Destroyprocess from this is factually dence in the er song is emitted.” correct. The studio. You’ve said spilled ink-to-reDan Bejar cords-sold-andbefore you are not a big people-comingout-to-our-shows fan of touring. has always been This is a pretty extensive tour you are embarking on right very deceptive in the Destroyer world You’ve been working a lot with John Collins now. Why is this tour so big and has your and Dave Carswell over the years even outside opinion changed after doing touring more ofDestroyer. Howhas thisrelationship affected extensively since being with Merge? I never toured before signing with your growth as a musician over the years?
DESTROYER FROM PAGE 1 of the people playing the music and the stuff they come up with, more than a conscious effort evoke a certain style or influence Trouble in Dreams, stylistically, is in the same vein as Rubies. Why did you decide to keep a similar feel with this album? I don’t see many similarities at all. I feel there’s way more similarities to This Night and Your Blues, if one were going to try and draw parallels to past Destroyer albums. Problem is Rubies is the only Destroyer record most people have ever heard. Destroyer has now been around for over a decade. How do you feel about your career this far and being in the industry this long? I’ve never thought about it for a second,
Merge, so I’m not sure how that has been a factor, since there’s no before and after. This tour isn’t much bigger than the smallest tour in the world. It’s just more driving. I read an interview after you released Rubies that said some of your best shows were in Chapel Hill. Why do you feel that way and what can we expect from your show at the Cat’s Cradle? Well, I think I was talking about the last show we played in Chapel Hill, during the Rubies tour... But it’s true that I always look forward to playing in Carborro. Not sure what to expect from the show this time around. Loud, a little ragged. Once you wrap up this tour, what’s next? Serious hiatus.
Destroyer will be playing Sunday, April 21
at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, N. C. The show starts at 9:30p.m. Tickets are $l2.
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VOTE
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april 17,2008
sports
BLUE DEVILS BEGIN ACC TOURNAMENT
HOT STREAK JKE CONTINUES WINNING WAYS WITH 16-2 ROOT PAGE 13
No. 6 seed Duke takes on 11th-seeded Boston College Thursday in the first round of the ACC tournament in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
PIS ammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmsmmmmm
FOOTBALL
Cutcliffe impressed by Duke’s spring effort by
body fat percentage of 10.9 percent but has
Will Flaherty THE CHRONICLE
David Cutcliffe has prowled many a practice sideline in his long coaching career, but the focused work done by his Blue Devils on Brooks Field this spring surprised him more than anything he has seen before. “I don’tknow if I’ve ever been around a team that didn’t waste a single minute on the practice field,” Cutcliffe said Wednesday. “Now that doesn’t mean that it was all absolutely correct, or good, but it meant that their focus and their intensity level and their attitude never changed, never wavered. I never one time wanted to restart a period or restart a practice.... Honestly, it’s the first time I can say that in my career.” With only a final workout Friday and the spring game Saturday afternoon remaining in the spring practice period, Cutcliffe only has a few days left to evaluate his team in a practice environment. But with nearly three months of offseason conditioning and the past month of practices and scrimmages to consider, Cutcliffe cited his team’s great gains in strength and conditioning as the spring period’s top dividend. CutclifFe said that the team has lost a collective 400 pounds since Jan. 10, and many players who have not shed weight have simply shed body fat and offset it by gains in lean muscle. Senior wide receiver Eron Riley, for example, entered the season with a
since reduced his percentage to 6.0 percent in his most recent test, all while maintaining his same overall weight of 210 lbs. “When I first got back from Christmas, I was fat,” Riley said. “But from the different workouts we’ve done, I credit a lot of the success to [Strength and Conditioning] Coach Durphy, Coach Falcone and Coach Combs. Also, we take some of the responsibility on our own to watch what we eat. Instead of ordering four drumsticks from RFC, we’ll get a breast or something like that.” Riley added that he has personally seen gains in speed and strength due to this additional work, and thathe has seen similarresults among his teammates in the weightroom. “When we’re working out, they’ll give us an assigned weight, but most of us end up bumping it up a little bit towards the end,” Riley said. “If we’ve got four sets of five, or something like that, by set three we’re bumping up the weight from what they’ve assigned us, so we’re getting a lot stronger.” The gains haven’t stopped since the team donned pads to open spring practice, either. Due to the team’s limited roster depth—they suited only 64 position players for Wednesday’s workout—Cutcliffe lauded the positive impact of added reps
during practice.
TRACK AND FIELD
LAWSON KURTZ/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 12
With a rigorous offseason conditioning regimen, Duke's players have lost a collective 400 pounds since January.
THE BEST ATHLETE AT DUKE? Senior decathlete preps for ACC championships Thursday by
Tyler
SARA GUERRERO/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
Decathlete Tyler Clarke competes in the ACC championship Thursday.
Greg Beaton THE CHRONICLE
Clarke’s mom believes her son is the best athlete in the history of Duke University. Her logic isn’t that crazy: If the decathlon is the sporting event designed to identify the best allaround athlete, and Clarke is Duke’s all-time record holder in the decathlon, then he is the school’s best athlete ever. “I don’t actually think that,” said Clarke, downplaying his mother’s statement as loving hyperbole. “I know there are far greater men that have come through Duke’s athletics system than me.” The title of best Duke athlete ever can be left up for debate, but Clarke has certainly left his mark on the Blue Devils’ track and field program during his four years at Duke. Last season, he set school records for the heptathlon during the indoor track season and then followed that up by breaking the decathlonrecord in the spring. As the postseason nears with the ACC championships in Atlanta this weekend, the IC4A championships in May and potentially the NCAA championships in June, Clarke is looking to further cement his status as the Blue Devil’s best decathlete and gain recognition on the national level. Clarke set the mark by posting a 6,811 in 2007. The qualifying number for the IC4A is 6,200, while
the standard for the NCAA is 6,200 But it didn’t always come so easily for Clarke, who was a hurdling and high-jumping champion at Clackamas High School in Clackamas, Ore. Duke recruited him to compete in the decathlon, which meant training for eight new events—six of which he had never even tried before arriving in Durham. “It’s a really steep learning curve,” Clarke said. “The toughest thing was definitely the pole vault. It’s scary as hell to run as fast as you can down the runway and put your life in the pole’s hands. It took me a year and a half not to be scared to death every time I was on the runway.” After initially doubting his ability to compete in the decathlon on the college level and seeing his spring season come to an end prematurely because of a hamstring injury as a freshman, Clarke began to see progress in some of the more difficult events as a sophomore. For a decathlete, that progress comes at a higher price than anyone else because of the rigorous training necessary to perform all 10 events. On any given day, Clarke practices two or three events, with the goal of working on each at least once a week. Some events, like the hurdles and 400-meter were natural for Clarke. Others, like the throwing SEE CLARKE ON PAGE 14
THE CHRONICLE
12 [THURSDAY,APRIL 17,2(XJ8
FOOTBALL from page 11 “Conditioning level helps you focus, helps you maintain your intensity, and when you’ve got 66, 64, 67, 68 players out there, they’re getting a lot of work,” Cutcliffe said. “There’s no place to run and hide. There are a lot of reps, and we practice with high intensity and high tempo.... Our conditioning level will be great when we come back in August.”
Fixing a special problem Cognizant of Duke’s numerous miscues on special teams in the past, Cutcliffe stressed from the beginning of spring practice that developing consistency among his specialists would be a priority for this spring. The renovation of this unit, however, seems to still be a work in progress. “Do you know how big a play it is when someone pins someone down inside the five-yard-line, or you’ve got a punter when you’re hacked up that hits a 55- or 60-yardcr?” Cutcliffe said. “That’s making a play. We’ve got people capable of making a play, but they don’t do it on a consistent basis. They don’t challenge themselves enough, consistently or make it tough enough.” Cutcliffe mentioned that incumbent kicker joe Surgan nailed a 55-yard kick straight through the uprights in a recent
practice, earning him a day off from conditioning drills. Despite the positive signs from such flashes of brilliance on the back fields, Cutcliffe adamantly said practice situations pale in comparison to live game scenarios. “I promise you that I’m not as tough as a crowd is going to be on the road at Clemson or Virginia Tech on a specialist,” Cutcliffe said. “They think I am, and I’m going to make them think I’m as tough as that to perform under, but I’m expecting to see drastic improvement from our specialists when we start back in August.” With such uncertainty, Cutcliffe said that his starters on the unit are “completely undecided,” and that newcomers in the fall will have an opportunity to compete for playing time. Incoming recruit Paul Asack joins the team as a scholarship kicker in the fall and will compete for the position with Surgan and freshman Will Snyderwine, who joined the team as a walk-on last season. Lewis retains starting spot Entering his third season under as many different offensive coordinators, quarterback Thaddeus Lewis knows what it is like to go through the growing pains of learning a new offense. But with that experience under his belt, Lewis has progressed quickly this spring and secured the team’s starting quarterback position entering the offseason. Cutcliffe cited Lewis’ performance in the team’s last scrimmage Saturday as the quarterback’s best of the spring. Lewis went 17-of-25 in the air with 151 passing yards. “He really has started to pick up what we want in the tempo of the offense,” Cutcliffe said. “All of them are throwing more consistently, with accuracy and on-time and with where it’s supposed to go, [but] Thaddeus right now is our starter.”
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DOUGLAS/THE CHRONICLE
More than 20 studentsattended open tryouts to walk on to Duke's football team under the leadership of first-year head coachDavid Cutcliffe.The auditioners ran sprints before participating in select drills.
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THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
BASEBALL
Freiman stays hot as Blue Devils roll again First baseman Nate Freiman missed 18 games with a midseason injury and only returned last weekend. Now, he’s making up for lost time in a big way. The junior slugger continued a'torrid streak at the plate, finishing DUKE 16 4-for-6 with three runs and three CAMPBELL y RBI as the Blue Devils (26-12) pounded Campbell 16-2 Wednesday night in Buies Creek. The productive night capped a two-day, three-game stretch in which Freiman hit 10-for-15 with 10 RBI. Freiman, however, was not the only Blue Devil to stroke the ball Wednesday against the Camels (15-23). Duke pounded out 20 hits en route to the easy victory. Sophomores Ryan McCurdy and Alex Hassan each posted three hits, while three other players also enjoyed multi-hit games. Freshman shortstop Jake Lemmerman crushed his second home run of the season in Duke’s seven-run fourth inning, when the Blue Devils amassed six hits and batted around.
It started when Hassan singled through the left side, folllowed by catcher Matt William’s right-field double and another double from Freiman. Three batters later, sophomore Gabriel Saade belted a two-run triple to left-center field. After senior Kyle Kreick reached on an error, Lemmerman hit his bomb to cap the scoring. With the scoring outburst, Duke had built a 13-1 lead and cruised the rest of the way. The Blue Devils added tallies in the fifth, sixth and ninth innings—some because of Campbell’s eight errors. Three Duke pitchers combined for a no-hitter against N.C. Central Tuesday night, and the hitless streak was broken in the first inning against Campbell. But the Blue Devil hurlers worked well with the lead, surrendering just eight hits. Sophomore Jonathan Foreman pitched five innings to get the win, his second of the year. He only yielded five hits and one earned run while striking out three. Duke returns to action this weekend when ACC power Clemson comes to Durham for a three-game series starting Friday night.
—-from staff reports
lAN SOILEAU/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
Junior first baseman NateFreiman finished 4-for-6with three RBI in Duke's 16-2 win over Campbell Wednesday.
I 13
14
|
THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
CLARKE from page 11 competitions, took more work. “He’s put in a lot of time not only to learn to do all the events, but to do them well,” said assistant coach Ryan Dali, who oversees Clarke’s progress. “He’s worked very hard over the past three and a halfyears to become one of the best decathletes in the ACC.” Clarke’s tenure at Duke won’t end with this spring’s last postseason run, because of an NCAA rule year regarding medical-redshirt policy. The new law
means that Clarke will get a reprieve for his shortened outdoor freshman season and would be able to come back and compete again as a fifth-year senior, “Everyone told me I had the rest of my life to work and only one more year- to compete,” Clarke said. “I didn’t feel comfortable leaving an extra year of eligibility on the table. I love what I’m doing here.” That will give Clarke an extra year to train, with one last, lofty goal: Reach his first national-championship competition, “That would be the ultimate way to finish things off,” he said.
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SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Senior decathlete Tyler Clarke will compete in the ACC championships, starting today in Atlanta. He is also eligible for the IC4A championships.
It's the end of the year
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THE CHRONICLE
18 I THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
David Horowitz: an unwelcome guest £
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case, there seems to be little author David Horow- reason to expect a second itz gives a stage for an dose of Horowitz to provide inflammatory demagogue. anything more substantial It will mark an encore apthan the rather unconstruclive first, pearance for Horowitz, This editorial who came to largely bePage Auditorium in March cause Horowitz’s approach 2006 with a speech sponis an indiscriminate, scatsored by Students for Acatershot attack on the left. demic Freedom amid genHis proposed Academic Bill eral hoopla and audience of Rights calls for professors antics from his opponents to cleanse their lectures of politics or opinion—a and supporters. Inviting Horowitz as a dangerously restrictive and speaker so soon after his SAFlaughably impossible task sponsored appearance signals for any professor in all but a preference on the part of the most strictly scienceDuke Conservative Union for based courses. His proposinciting belligerent dispute al, rather than protecting rather than encouraging inthe rights of politically conservative students, would telligent discourse. The two are not always impoverish the curriculum mutually exclusive, but in this of the nation’s universities.
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He seeks to severely curtail faculty freedom in the classroom, and his overblown, hyperbolic criticisms of certain ideas as “dangerous” are haphazard at best. Moreover, he espouses political views that can only be described as bigoted—his proposal to combat so-called “Islamofascism” is for Muslims to do away with chunks of the Quran. Where are his calls for Jews and Christians to do the same for offensive portions of their holy books? Finally, Horowitz’s motivations for coming to Duke are questionable. He seems to be making an appearance expressly to incite anger among students. Bridge-building across ideological divides is not at the top of his priority list, nor does it have to be.
1 think to characterize this in any significant way as overwhelming disadvantage or violation ofprinciple is to blow this way out ofproportion. :
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Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta year’s Room Pix process. Many students complain that selective living group members were advantaged over unaffiliated students. See story page L
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The Chronicle
1nc 1993 .
DAVID GRAHAM, Editor SEAN MORONEY, Managing Editor SHREYA RAO, News Editor MEREDITH SHINER, Sports Editor SARA GUERRERO, Photography Editor LESLIE GRIFFITH, Editorial Page Editor WENJIA ZHANG, News Managing Editor JONATHAN ANGIER, General Manager CHELSEA ALLISON, University Editor SHUCHIPARIKH, University Editor LAUREN KOBYLARZ, OnlineEditor TIM BRITTON, Sports Managing Editor HEATHER GUO, News PhotographyEditor KEVIN HWANG, News Photography Editor NAUREEN KHAN, City & State Editor GABRIELLE MCGLYNN, City & State Editor JOECLARK, Health & ScienceEditor REBECCA WU, Health & Science Editor VARUN LELLA, Recess Editor LAURA BETH DOUGLAS, Sports Photography Editor RACHEL RODRIGUEZ, Online Design Editor KATHERINE MACILWAINE, Features Editor LISA MA. Editorial Page Managing Editor RYAN MCCARTNEY, Editorial Page Managing Editor LYSA CHEN, WireEditor EUGENE WANG, Wire Editor ALEX WARR, Recess Managing Editor IREM MERTOL, Recess PhotographyEditor SARAH BALL, TowerviewEditor MICHAEL MOORE, Towerview Editor PAIKLINSAWAT, TowerviewManaging Photography Editor PETE KIEHART, TowerviewPhotography Editor MINGYANG LIU, Senior Editor ADAM EAGLIN, Sen/or Editor MOLLY MCGARRETT, SeniorEditor ANDREW YAFFE, Senior Editor GREGORY BEATON, Sports SeniorEditor MARY WEAVER, Operations Manager CHRISSY BECK, Advertising/MarketingDirector BARBARA STARBUCK, Production Manager YU-HSIEN HUANG, Supplements Coordinator NALINIAKOLEKAR, UniversityAd Sales Manager MONICA FRANKLIN, Durham Ad Sales Manager STEPHANIE RISBON, Administrative Coordinator TheChronicle is published by the Duke Student Publishing Company, Inc, a non-profit corporation independent ofDuke University. The opinions expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of Duke University,its students, faculty, staff, administration or trustees.Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board.Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors. To reach the Editorial Office at 301 Flowers Building, call 684-2663 or fax684-4696.T0 reach the Business Office at 103 West Union Building, call 684-3811.T0 reach the Advertising Office at 101 West Union Building call 684-3811 or fax 684-8295. Visit The Chronicle Online at httpWwww.dukechronicle.com. C 2008 The Chronicle, Box 90858, Durham, N.C. 27708. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior, written permission of the Business Office. Each individual is entitled to one free copy.
visit from Horowitz will contribute to sensible discourse when even the fliers announcing his arrival are big on shock value and small on substance. Nevertheless, Horowitz certainly has the right to speak here—and students have the right to criticize the contents of his speech. It would also be worthwhile to see Duke faculty involved in the event, if only to make it more engaging and productive than it currently promises to be. We are not calling for Horowitz to be censored, though we recognize that he does not share the same reluctance when it comes to stifling the voicesofcertain professors at Duke and elsewhere.
It is not that his presence is in any way a threat; it’s just that the prospect of listening to him voice the same turgid, pointlessly inflammatory rhetoric is, frankly, unexciting. To put it more bluntly: There are plenty of prominent, intelligent conservative figures within and beyond the political and academic realms. Perhaps the DCU could look into inviting one of them in the future. Until then, we welcome Horowitz to Duke with open minds if not with open arms. Unlike the man himself, we trust students’ ability to freely form opinions rather than be forced into them, despite the “dangerous” ideas that we allow to be expressed on our campus.
A call to arms
ontherecord
The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form ofletters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for
But it’s unclearwhat new in-
sight, or insight at all, a repeat
Sixty-eight
percent of eighth graders are not
proficient in math. Eighty-five million people in this country have no or inadequate health insurance. Thirty-two percent of black men spend time in prison. In Afghanistan and Iraq, 4,507
Americans have died But the state of the Union is strong. There’s away to fix our broken schools, to diffuse the health care crisis, to eradicate the impact of racism and to teach the elad gross average American smile what it means to maintain our desired way of life. In addition, we can alter the path of global wanning, clean up our neighborhoods, reinforce our cracking infrastructure and inspire generations ofAmericans to come. And say goodbye to enormous college tuition costs. In an evolving U.S. workforce requiring a higher level of training than ever before, college will be free. The solution: a national service program. Not compulsory service, of course. It would be unAmerican to make people serve. Instead, we offer incentives. The incentive to join: a free ride in college. Before going to college, participants would sign a contract with the government guaranteeing a certain number of years of service after graduation in return for paid college tuition! Service projects would include road construction, medical research, teaching, law enforcement—you name it. At the end of the contract, the student is released into the general workforce with applicable skills and considerable experience. Go back just 47 years ago. It was a time of tremendous anxiety. World War II had ended, but the specter of war still haunted the Earth. The Americans had been humiliated in the Bay of Pigs disaster. The Soviet Union had launched not only Sputnik, but now a man into orbit around the planet. It was a war between ideologies—capitalism against communism—and a Cold War between two superpowers. America seemed to be behind in both. It was a time when we took our national reputation in the international arena seriously. President John F. Kennedy was the face of the United States, and that familiar visage appeared in news media everywhere as the world waited with bated breath. To the moon, Alice. Back then, we didn’t have hybrid cars or laptops or even pluots. But we had a will of steel and a desire
1969, to the world’s shock, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon—the “giant leap for mankind.” We didn’t have to be limited to just one leap. But we’ve stopped jumping. The Soviets are gone and our biggest enemies hide in caves and release home videos every few months to local news networks. There’s no reason for us to compete in a technological race because we’re already in first place. We set a goal. We achieved it. We were satisfied. And now we are complacent. The same goes with race relations. We got a Civil Rights Act. We can eat together, live next to one another and marry each other. But we don’t. Health care. Best health care system in the world. When people with money are seriously sick, they come here. But those without money, even those who live in this country, often don’t get any treatment until it’s too late. Education. We are home to the premier palaces of higher education in the world. But our students in middle school can’t read or do math. War. People die, we foot the bill, but most of us will never understand what it means to be stationed on the violent frontiers of our nation’s internationalinfluence. It’s time for a call to arms. It’s time for a leader to stand before the nation once again and ask us to save our country. A call for environmentalists to save the planet from global warming. A call for medical analysts to determine how to provide medical care to the impoverished American. A call for chemists and physicists and engineers to get us off fossil fuels. A call for teachers, attorneys, policy experts, construction workers, architects and urban planners to put this country back on the right track physically and ideologically. A call for military strategists and professional soldiers to get our men and women the results they work so hard for in countries seemingly steeped in chaos. A national service program. And this call won’t favor one racial group or gender over another. All will share in its rewards, and all will learn from each other. Finally, an equal playing field. It can be done. Another giant leap. But this time, it won’t be one man on a distant rock. It will be right here, starting with people our age. We are always told that children are our future. It’s time for that future to become a present. But program or not, the solution to the problem will always be the same. The solution is you. to be the best in the world. In
Elad Gross is a Trinity sophomore. This is his final column of the semester.
THE CHRONICLE
THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008 | 19
commentaries
I am so cool
letterstotheeditor Brodhead responds to threats on student I am distressed by the news reported in Wednesday’s Chronicle that a Duke student and her family in China have been subjected to attacks as a result of the student’s participation at a rally last week at Duke. Physical intimidation is the antithesis of reason, and there can be no justification for such attacks. The deepest principle involved in the discussions at Duke about the current conflict between China and Tibet is not the principle offree speech, as important as that is. It’s the principle of education through dialogue. Universities, in particular, must give wide latitude to free speech and free debate because the pursuit of truth through the encounter of divergent points of view is the very stuff ofeducation. This community must stand united in its affirmation of the principles of open and unfettered debate. I am pleased that the leaders of the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association and others at Duke have strongly condemned the attacks against our student. Richard Brodhead President ASA responds to ‘racism’ charges I would like to quickly address the accusations by Craig Reeson that (1) the Asian Students Association is hypocritical in condemning racial stereotypes used by the Chronicle, (2) ASA is a racist organization, and (3) ASA officers are corrupt and unrepresentative of Asians on campus. 1. The use of any stereotype to elicit cheap laughf ter is in poor taste. The challenging of stereotypes through humor is meant to elicit thought. Although both employ humor, one is the end, and one is the means to an end. I apologize for being brief, but any-
one who watched the Self-Esteemer skit at Lunar New Year should understand. 2. Attributing one person’s words, however reprehensible they might be, to an organization is irresponsible. Obviously, ASA does not endorse the racist comments as quoted by Reeson and views those comments as unacceptable. However, I believe that because Reeson specifically called out three students by name, contacting each student individually would have been a more appropriate and tactful response. Exposing personal complaints in a public newspaper only serves to create animosity, not
understanding.
3. ASA as an organization is far from perfect, but its officers do make conscious efforts to better represent its constituency. Besides general body meetings, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that all ASA Executive meetings (every Sunday at 2 p.m. in Meeting Room B) are open to all members of the Duke community. Past meeting minutes are available at www.dukeasa.com. This coming Monday, April 21, we will be holding a discussion on Asian-American standards of beauty and body image in the Multicultural Center at 7 p.m. Afterwards ASA officers encourage and invite any complaints, concerns or questions. You are also welcome to just stop by and grab a Cookout burger or shake. I assure you that in the future we will definitely redouble efforts to become more accessible to the student body—at the very least, you won’t need to write The Chronicle in order to get a hold of us.
Muyan Jin
Trinity ’O9 ASA VP Political Affairs 2007-2008 ASA VP Community Affairs 2008-2009
A walk on the wild side
I
have never exactly been one with nature. Growing up, I had no desire to run around in parks, splash in puddles or make mud pies. I never even felt the urge to torture an ant or two with a magnifying glass (mostly because I was much too afraid). Preferring to stay inside with my crayons and coloring books thanrisk getting dirty and bruised, I was not what you would call lysa chen an outdoorsy kid. A large part of this is hi, society related to my aforementioned irrational fears of things that flap around and animate objects that are relatively 2D. I blame my parents. When I was five years old, my parents took me to a museum where there was a special underwater exhibit—a room painted ocean blue with fish-filled tanks embedded in the walls and humongous cardboard fish cutouts hanging from the ceiling. The unusual environment was too much for my kindergarten heart to handle. I kindly asked my parents if we could please exit the room, and when they said no, I switched on my cunning negotiation skills. I collapsed on the floor screaming until my mother could drag me out. I had nightmares of giant wriggling fish until the eighth grade (unless you count last night). Unfortunately, nature has relatively 2D creatures that flap around in abundance. Though fish are the demons of the sea, there are also butterflies and birds, which get double the points. Two 2D wings mean twice the flapping and twice the terror. Bugs shaped like leaves are also extra horrifying if only because they are lying to us. So ifI am so easily upset by critters like fish, birds and bugs, you’d wonder why I enrolled in Dynamic Oceans, a class for which I had to go on a field trip to a marine lab where fish, birds and bugs were in plentiful supply. I wonder, too. It’s probably because I am absolutely brilliant and always plan ahead. But because I am ever the cheerful optimist (I hate my life), I decided to look forward to this educational weekend getaway. Nature couldn’t be as bad as I remembered. And with that thought, I sealed my fate.
The weekend started out well enough, with a boat
trip to an island off the marine lab. The island itself was magical. My group hiked through a Spanish moss-covered forest to the top of a large sand dune, revealing the most
wonderful view. There were rolling hills of sand covered in grayish-green grasses. In the distance, we could see ponies grazing. And clusters of large bushes, the perfect size for little gnomes to dwell inside, were scattered about. I was sure if we walked a bit farther we’d spot a field of daisies made ofrainbow smiles and kittens’ kisses. I was so moved that I was inspired to take a cell-phone picture and text it to my friend. And then I stepped on a cactus. Yelping with pain, I hopped on one foot as the rest of my hiking group ignored my plight and walked past. As I was apparently not particularly great at avoiding cacti on two feet, you can only imagine how that went. With now two needle-impaled feet, I tried to hobble on the sides of my shoes as I desperately tried to close the growing distance between myself and the rest of the group while searching for a cacti-free zone on which to sit and pry the needles from my flesh. My instinct was just to sit down quickly and free myself from the pain, but whiler cactus needles in my bottom region would certainly distract from my throbbing feet, I was pretty sure that would not improve my situation. Eventually I caught up to the group, which had stopped in the midst of an excitipg discussion about erosion, and plopped myself down on the sand. Unfortunately, at this point, some of the cactus needles had decided to hold a party in my right foot, burying themselves deep into my flesh, probably a result ofmy failed side-shoe hobbling. Why nature felt the need for this cactus shtick I have no idea. In my opinion, the whole situation was unnecessary. I guess you can’t capture natural beauty in a picture as I’d tried. I mean, obviously you can, because I did. But perhaps nature punished me, the anti-nature, because I did it with a sense of irony. Mother Nature doesn’t like irony. Well, joke’s on her. Because those needles are still in my foot, and after all this time, and all that pain, nature and I are finally one.
Lysa Chen is a Trinity sophomore and wire editor Chronicle. This is herfinal column.
of The
As
I get ready
to
graduate—in the middle of a month-
long existential crisis over what the hell I am going to do with my life post-Duke—l figure my last column is as good a time as ever to reflect upon all my accomplishments during my tenure at this institution. Pardon the cliche. No, you aren’t going to find my name on the Phi Beta Kappa list published in Tuesday’s Chronicle. And I haven’t engaged in an ambitious humanitarian effort in a third-world country, nor dan belzer did I bother to join any w.w.j.d. clubs, organizations or extracurricular activities Needless to say, my Duke career is marked by a complete lack of involvement in anything at all. Save my weekly musings in this paper. For four years I have gone to class (sometimes), done my work on time and managed to stay out of trouble. I made friends, enemies and met countless people who simply entered and left my life with little more than an
afterthought.
I arrived my freshman year a true product of California, piercings and all. I listened solely to punk, indie, emo, screamo, hardcore and pretty much anything else coming out of Southern California. I thought Dickies were cool. I made fun of kids rocking Polo, Lacoste and Abercrombie (and will still snicker at someone wearing the Hollister “Del Mar, Ca” T-shirts). Shit, if my freshman self could have seen me now, I would make fun of me. I was a gung-ho political science major, bleeding heart and all. That is until the 2004 election, and my first PoliSci class, hardened my heart and turned me off from the field entirely. As the apathy set in, I spent the rest of the year trying to figure out why going greek, wearing collared shirts and generally looking like everyone else was the thing to do at Duke. I found it all pretty alien. By my sophomore year I had almost entirely shed my old Califomicated self—well, to a reasonable extent (I still contend that “gnarly,” “dank” and “sick” are phenomenal adjectives) . Gone were the piercings and exclusively Volcom-tee wardrobe. I found it was much easier to blend in at Duke than to stick out. I spent most of the year a part of the insignificant masses—an afterthought to anyone for all intents and purposes. Amid this wholly inconsequential existence, I was convinced to put an amusing tidbit I had previously written onto the Internet. The remainder of the semester was a roller coaster ofemotions—alternating between euphoria, paranoia and the occasional delusion of grandiose. The lacrosse scandal—and my emergence as an unexpected source for information on the case—only increased the pressure I felt, and ultimately led the “Dukeobsrvr” blog to national exposure. That summer I found myselfquoted, albeit anonymously, in several major media outlets. It was pretty cool—all this by some unknown sophomore. Then came Madrid, study abroad and quite possibly the greatest part of my Duke experience. I hung up the blogging boots, although I deeply missed having my own little megaphone to shout from. There is really no better feeling than being heard by an audience. Unfortunately, the increased rumors about my identity and my increasing resolve that I would somehow face consequences for exercising my right to free speech kept me away from trying to write for a while. However, as I returned to Duke I had so much to say, and nowhere to write it. And finally, I wanted to sign my name to something. The time eventually came at the beginning of this year. Twenty-one columns later, it is now my time to say goodbye. I hope you have enjoyed my weekly effort to provide a quick diversion from derivatives, labs and painfully boring lectures. I apologize to all who I have offended. Well, not really. I’m an ass. I have the patience of a five-year-old. And my mouth is fouler than my column will ever be. Sorry. It’s just me. Thanks for reading, and giving me the opportunity to spit my thoughts at you. As for my final words of wisdom: Don’t take life too seriously, or you will never get out alive. Wait, what? Lastly, if I could thank Duke for one thing, it’s that it taught me that there is more to life than being a bro from Cali. I sure wouldn’t have learned that lesson at UCLA. Dan Belzer is
a
Trinity senior. This is his final column
20 | THURSDAY, APRIL 17,2008
THE CHRONICLE