NOVEMBER 3, 2017
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
VOL. 129, ISSUE 12
Citadel CEO Donates $125 Million, Econ Department Renamed BY ANNABELLE RICE NEWS REPORTER
T he Kenneth C. Griff in Charitable Fund gifted $125 million to UChicago’s Department of Economics—the second largest donation in University history—according to an announcement by President Robert Zimmer on Monday. The economics department will be
renamed the Kenneth C. Griffi n Department of Economics in recognition of the gift. The donation will be used to support scholarships, stipends, and research conducted by economics students and faculty. It will also support the creation of the Kenneth C. Griffi n Applied Economics Research Incubator, which will promote interdisciplinary collaboration and the
impacts of economic research. The gift will provide undergraduate grants to third and fourth-year economics students through the Odyssey Scholarship program and stipends to graduate students and researchers. Griffin is the founder and CEO of the asset manager Citadel and has been a member of UChicago’s Board of Trustees
since 2014. He has previously made donations to the Chicago Heights Early Childhood Center, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and the University of Chicago Charter School, according to Zimmer in an email sent to the University community. His total gifts to the school total almost $150 million. In a statement for UChicago
News, Griffi n praised UChicago’s impact on economics, citing the 29 Nobel Prizes awarded to University associates. “I am proud to support the extraordinary work of the economics department and a university so fundamentally committed to free expression, fi erce debate, and intellectual pursuit,” Griffi n said, according to a UChicago News article.
History Department’s Statement Sets Diversity Goals BY XIAOHE GRACE GU NEWS REPORTER
T he h ist or y depa r tment unanimously approved a mission statement that affirms its commitment to “diversity, inclusion, and equity.” The statement is part of the department’s ongoing efforts to ref lect diverse experiences in Chicago and nationally. In recent years, the department has worked on several diversity initiatives, including a d iversity h i r i ng committee formed last May as well as a process that brings talented s chol a r s f r om u nder r epr e sented groups to UChicago as postdocs and paves a path to full-time tenure jobs at the University. H ist or y pr ofessor Fa ith Hillis star ted d ra f ting the mission statement along with other faculty members this past summer. They believed that the statement was timely in the context of national political events. “We felt that progress that we’ve made in this domain in recent years has become more tenuous in this new climate. It’s necessary for those of us who truly believe that diversity benefits us intellectually to stand up and explain why we think that,” Hillis said. After faculty completed the draft of the statement, it was sent to about 20 faculty members within the department who had strongly supported the creation of the diversity
committee in the spring. It took these members a month and a half to ag ree on the wording. The statement was then taken to the department as a whole. On October 23, the entire department sat down, discussed the statement, and approved it unanimously. “A few people couldn’t be there [but] wrote in to express their support. T he way our rules work is only those that are present can vote. Everybody who was there voted for it,” said History Department Chair Emilio Kourí. Hillis found the approval process surprisingly smooth. “The discussion on the department level was quite cordial, actually,” she said. “The statement that was ratified is actually very similar to the one that circulated.” Medieval histor y professor R achel F u lt on Brow n’s high-profile and controversial statements supporting rightwing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos did not come up at all during the discussion. The department addressed Brown’s role in the controversy earlier in September, emphasizing that for scholars, free speech comes with responsibilities. K ou r í a nd H i l l is cla r i f ied that the depa r tment hopes the statement on diversity will represent its broader values. Brown said that the diversity statement does not pertain to her. “I don’t think it’s a direct Continued on page 2
Caroline Kubzansky
Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein discusses the White House and the current political environment after an IOP showing of All the President’s Men (coverage on page 2).
Provost Defends Admin’s Legal Opposition to Grad Union at Private Faculty Senate Meeting BY PETE GRIEVE NEWS EDITOR
Provost Daniel Diermeier reiterated the administration’s opposition to a graduate student union on Tuesday, telling members of the faculty senate in a closed-door meeting that the administration is keeping open legal options to challenge the union. Diermeier, along with Executive Vice Provost David Nirenberg and Senior Associate General Counsel Theodore Stamatakos, discussed the admin’s position at the first Council of the University Senate meeting this academic year—a week and a half after
HBO’s The Deuce Is an Ace Page 5
graduate students voted to form a union. President Robert J. Zimmer was at the meeting, though he did not speak at any length on the topic of unionization. The provost indicated that the University does not intend to negotiate with graduate students as long as it has legal recourse to challenge the union. The University has a pending request for a review of the decision, which opened the door for graduate students to unionize. At the Council meeting, Diermeier would not say one way or the other whether the University is committed to negotiating with graduate students if the University’s call for the decision to be over-
turned is denied. This account is based on conversations with two professors on the Council who attended the meeting and summarized the discussion, speaking anonymously due to uncertainty about what Council members are allowed to discuss publicly. A third professor confirmed in an e-mail that this summary is consistent with what they remember. THE MAROON’s request to attend Council meetings this year was denied two weeks ago, with the spokesperson for the Council saying the provost “affirms a decision made in the 1960s to treat discussions within the Coun-
Maroons Prepare for Macalester on Senior Day
Advertising in THE M AROON
Page 8
David Simon’s latest tour de force explores the seedy underbelly of the pornography industry.
UChicago football looks to close out its season on a high note.
Woe Is We
Aloha Poké Co. Placates As Expected
Page 3
Page 6
UChicago’s pervasive culture of misery is a negative feedback loop.
Are you ready to eat your weight in raw fish? Us, too.
Continued on page 2
If you want to place an ad in T HE M AROON, please email ads@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/pages/advertise
Excerpts from articles and comments published in T he Chicago Maroon may be duplicated and redistributed in other media and non-commercial publications without the prior consent of The Chicago Maroon so long as the redistributed article is not altered from the original without the consent of the Editorial Team. Commercial republication of material in The Chicago Maroon is prohibited without the consent of the Editorial Team or, in the case of reader comments, the author. All rights reserved. © The Chicago Maroon 2017
2
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 3, 2017
Events
History Department Statement Condemns Racism
11/3–11/6 Continued from front
Friday Leaders of Color Cultural Organization Mixer McCormick Lounge, 6 p.m. Multicultural organizations, including ACSA, MEChA, and OBS, will be holding a mixer for interested students.
response to me. The mission of our department has the entire time that I have been a member of the department, since 1994, been committed to this vision of having as many voices as we can,” Brown said. Faculty said that the statement guides the department to continuously evaluate itself and to take concrete
actions. “We want to guide our actions [with the statement] in terms of what we teach, who we hire, and the students that we have. Also, to send a message in particular to the students that these are things that the department faculty hold dear,” Kourí said. Other academic departments are following suit. The English department
published a letter addressing free expression and diversity of viewpoints on October 27. According to Hillis, history professor Mark Bradley, who was appointed deputy dean of the Social Sciences Division, is in the process of appointing a divisional committee to address the climate report that came out last year.
Sunday New Music Ensemble: Chicago Introductions Fulton Hall, 3 p.m. The New Music Ensemble’s autumn concert will feature new composers, including postdoctoral fellow Aaron Helgeson and graduate student composers Alison Yun-Fei Jiang, Maria Kaoutzani, Kevin Kay, and Ted Moore. See more at chicagomaroon.com/events. Submit your own events through our intuitive interface.
Advertising in THE M AROON If you want to place an ad in T HE M AROON, please email ads@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/pages/advertise.
SUBSCRIBE! Subscribe to the M AROON newsletter for e-mails every Tuesday and Friday
chicagomaroon.com/newsletter
UChicago Crime Lab Releases 2017 Gun Trace Report BY RIMSHA NAZEER NEWS REPORTER
A c cord i ng t o the Un iversity of Chicago Crime Lab’s 2017 Gun Trace Report, 2016 showed a significant increase in the homicide rate since 2015. The UChicago Crime Lab, in collaboration with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the city of Chicago, released the report this past Sunday. The UChicago Crime Lab is a privately funded, independent, nonpartisan academic research center founded in 2008 to help cities identify methods to control crime and violence. The report presents data trends pertaining to homicide and gun violence in Chicago for 2016, ref lecting a significant increase in violent crimes from 2015. The report reveals that Chicago saw 764 recorded homicides last year, a 58 percent increase in homicides and a 43 percent increase in nonfatal shootings compared with 2015. The report explains although an annual increase
of this size is not unexpected among American cities, it is rare for a city of Chicago’s size. The difference in overall homicide rates across the five largest U.S. cities is largely driven by differences in their gun homicide rates, since there is less variation in the non-gun homicide rate between the cities, the report states. According to the report, Chicago’s high overall homicide rate is entirely a product of its elevated gun homicide rate. Chicago has more total homicides than any other U.S. city and has a higher homicide rate per capita than any of the other largest cities in the country. However, Chicago’s homicide rate per 100,000 residents is relatively moderate compared with all other cities. In a press release on Sunday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel responded to the report: “ The Gun Trace Report once again shows that illegal guns, purchased outside of the city of Chicago and trafficked through an illegal
and unregulated market, have a profound impact on the lives of Chicagoans. We must work to expand the City’s model of regulations to stop this flow of illegal guns at the source statewide.” The report describes how guns are used in crimes across the city and where the weapons are coming from. It was found that 60 percent of the guns used in Chicago’s crimes originate from out of state, where there is less regulation over firearms. F rom 2 013 –2 016 , 21 percent of the guns used in Chicago crimes were traced back to Indiana. The next highest states were Mississippi with 5.1 percent and Wisconsin with 4 percent. The report concludes by advocating for a policy response that centers around the especially dense increase in gun violence in the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, conducted largely by adolescents in public places with illegally obtained firearms.
IOP Hosts Movie Showing, Discussion on White House BY CAROLINE KUBZANSKY NEWS REPORTER
The Institute of Politics hosted journalist Carl Bernstein at The Revival on Wednesday for a screening of the movie All the President’s Men and a discussion with Director of the IOP David Axelrod (A.B ’76). Following the movie—which chronicles Bernstein’s investigation of the Watergate scandal with fellow journalist, Bob Woodward—Axelrod asked Bernstein about the parallels between the Nixon era and Trump administration before opening the conversation to audience questions.
Bernstein drew a parallel between the Trump and Nixon administrations, pointing to each administration’s flurry of first amendment activity and distinct dislike of the press. However, Bernstein emphasized that, while the Nixon administration harshly criticized The Washington Post’s coverage of Watergate, the Trump administration’s attack on news organizations has been more vitriolic. “Trump has made the conduct of the press the issue: The enemy of the people isn’t ISIS, it’s the press,” he said. Aside from the differences in the two administrations, Bernstein repeatedly
stressed that the White House is a reflection of the country—and the country is a different place than it was in 1973, primarily in terms of changes to the way people get their news and in their decreased openness to “the best attainable version of the truth.” Bernstein attributed much of this to social media and what he called “thought siloing,” in which people seek to have their opinions reinforced rather than challenged. “We cannot have a fact-based debate. Richard Nixon lied situationally…. We have a president of the United States who lies about almost anything!” he said.
He also noted that some news organizations on both sides of the aisle are catering to people’s ideological insulation by seeking out news that advances their political goals, rather than publishing the most accurate truth possible. Bernstein said that this approach is a corruption of journalism’s purpose, contrasting his and Woodward’s thought processes during Watergate with the motives of some of today’s news organizations. “We saw our job as really trying to figure out what happened…. It’s not the press’s job to get a desirable political result, it’s to get the information out there,” he said.
Admin Won’t Negotiate While It Has Legal Recourse to Challenge Grad Union Continued from front
cil as confidential, including its agenda. It was and is felt that the possibility of conversation being made public would inhibit the frankness and candor of deliberation.” One professor who spoke to THE MAROON said that most of what was presented at the meeting was not new or surprising, as administrators have made similar arguments publicly. The University told THE MAROON that Diermeier was unable to commit to negotiating if the request for review is denied because he did not want to engage with hypotheticals. “Provost Diermeier was very clear that he declined to address hypothetical questions about the next steps in the NLRB process, in order for those present to engage in a full discussion about their views regarding the unionization effort,” a statement shared by spokesperson Jeremy Manier read. Diermeier acknowledged that graduate students, or at least a significant portion of graduate students, are unhappy, as indicated
by the vote. He said that it is time for the University to figure out the sources of their unhappiness. However, he said he feels a graduate student union could make doing so difficult. One of the professors who spoke to THE MAROON said this construction struck them as odd, given that Graduate Students United’s activism appears to be what has prompted the administration to acknowledge that graduate students are unhappy. The professor also said that if graduate students are unhappy, it’s likely at least in part because they feel the University mishandled its response to unionization efforts. Diermeier stressed the University’s belief that there could be problems stemming from the fact that the union would be subject to federal law, which he said is less filled out than state law is in this area (graduate unions at public universities are subject to state law). In his opening remarks, Diermeier said
the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has become a partisan entity, frequently switching positions as each president makes appointments to its five-member board. The Obama-era NLRB ruling that opened the possibility of graduate student unionization has been at risk since the Senate confirmed a Trump appointment to the NLRB in September, giving the board a 3–2 Republican majority. There is some uncertainty, however, if this majority will exist with respect to the unionization issue, because there have been calls for one of the Republican members of the Board to recuse himself due to his wife’s employment by the Trustees of Columbia University. After this story was published online, two sources told THE MAROON that the spokesperson for the Committee of the Council, Clifford Ando, wrote to all Council members encouraging them not to publicly discuss meetings. Ando spoke with THE MAROON about this, expressing frustration that members had vi-
olated a confidentiality rule. Ando suggested the idea that if someone voluntarily joins an organization and then knowingly breaks the rules, maybe that person should not have joined the organization in the first place, though he said that he probably would not go that far. He said Council members could propose a rule change to make the meetings public and the Council could have a vote on the issue, but he repeated that Council members should adhere to the existing rules. Ando said he consulted the provost before he wrote to the Council, and that he got approval. He acknowledged that members may not be familiar with the Council’s procedures, and he said it is possible that extended periods of time have passed without the issue of confidentiality coming up.
3
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 3, 2017
VIEWPOINTS Woe is We There Are Ways to Avoid UChicago’s Pervasive Culture of Misery
Ashton Hashemipour At least once a year, someone publishes a Viewpoints article about our university’s notoriously intense culture and the student body’s perpetual misery—feelings of academic hopelessness, the need to stay up all night, and the subsistence on double espressos. With harrowing stories about incidents like finding oneself unconscious on the bathroom f loor, these pieces scare us into recognizing the detrimental habits we’ve built up in college. While admirable for their vulnerability, they focus primarily on these anecdotes, with half-hearted calls to action (if any) inserted at the end. This causes many of us to read, nod our heads vigorously, and then proceed to pull our next all-nighter without much motivation for change. Our reluctance to change our harmful attitudes about work might be more dangerous than the attitudes themselves, which are so often discussed and called out. This has become the one thing on campus that we all have in common: Regardless of your political beliefs, RSO involvements, or major(s), if you’re not overwhelmed and miserable, then you’re not having the authentic UChicago experience. It’s almost like we take some perverse pleasure in knowing we’re miserable and doing nothing to better our experiences here. For one, th is attitude obv iously builds unhealthy habits. W hen, throughout my first year, I heard nearly every other student I came into contact with talking about how miserable they were, I incorrectly arrived at the conclusion that I wasn’t doing enough and that my healthy lifestyle was antithetical to the values of this university. So, I joined RSOs that I had almost no desire to be in, spending unnecessary hours every week to feel like I was doing enough—so that I could relate to my peers. Many others who feel this way take unnecessarily difficult classes or simply feel like they don’t belong at this university. Though I was lucky enough never to face any of the consequences of this type of lifestyle, I nonetheless was able
to understand the essence of the culture of our student body: You only feel like you’re doing enough after you start feeling terrible. And there are obvious physical side effects to this—sickness and sleep deprivation could cause you to lose focus when you need to be paying attention. More importantly, this could cause students’ long-term mental health to deteriorate. If your idea of normal is defined by the stress of those around you, that’ll have dire consequences on how you conceptualize your own happiness now and throughout the remainder of your life. Additionally, if you assume that everyone else is miserable, you, in turn, develop these same unhealthy habits, possibly reneging on actually meaningful commitments or necessary tasks. How many times have you heard “I have a midterm tomorrow; haven’t even started studying,” or “I haven’t done the reading in this course since second week”? Students learn to develop the mindset that it’s normal to be so overwhelmed that they don’t even do their work. Students go through their daily lives at this university thinking that misery is normal—that’s how people are supposed to feel. But they shouldn’t; this isn’t normal. Going to a university, especially this one, is a chance to learn about any topic you’ve ever been curious or passionate about, meet interesting and diverse people, and, above all, transition into being a healthy, self-actualized adult. While this university is certainly difficult, our experience here should not be glorified as a time of pure misery—it should be one where students are guided by their passions, one where they pursue the life of the mind within reason, and one where they don’t seek to conform to a culture based on misery. This means taking classes that you want to take and not feeling pressured to take the most difficult ones you can. During spring quarter last year, for example, three of my four classes had absolutely no bearing on my major or on
VIDEO
Alvin Shi
the Core—I took them just because the topic or professor interested me. This means joining organizations that you’re passionate about, not solely those that look good on a resume. And finally, this means living normally: not staying up for 22 hours a day, not thinking that these idolized habits of our student body
Media Coverage of Atrocities Propagates Islamophobia
Dylan Stafford D
BUSINESS
Adam Thorp, Editor-in-Chief Hannah Edgar, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Euirim Choi, Managing Editor Stephanie Liu, Managing Editor The MAROON Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and editors of THE MAROON.
NEWS
DESIGN
Katie Akin, editor Lee Harris, editor Eugenia Ko, editor Deepti Sailappan, editor Sonia Schlesinger, senior editor Jamie Ehrlich, senior editor Emily Feigenbaum, senior editor Pete Grieve, senior editor
Kay Yang, head designer COPY
Morganne Ramsey, copy chief Michelle Zhao, copy chief Katrina Lee, deputy copy chief Patrick Lou, deputy copy chief GREY CITY
VIEWPOINTS
Wendy Lee, editor
Cole Martin, editor Urvi Kumbhat, editor
SOCIAL MEDIA
ARTS
Alexia Bacigalupi, editor May Huang, editor
Jamie Ehrlich, editor ONLINE
Vishal Talasani, editor
SPORTS
PHOTO
Matthew Perry, editor
Feng Ye, editor Brooke Nagler, editor
Olive Lopez, director of development Antonia Salisbury, director of marketing Ross Piper, director of marketing Taylor Bachelis, director of operations Alex Markowitz, director of strategy Regina Filomeno, business manager Harry Backlund, distributor THIS ISSUE
Design Associates: Paula Martinez-Garcia, Ariel Pan, Alvin Shi Editor-in-Chief: Editor@ChicagoMaroon.com Newsroom Phone: (314) 239-0993 Business Phone: (773) 702-9555 Fax: (773) 702-3032 For advertising inquiries, please contact Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com or (773) 7029555. Circulation: 2,000. © 2017 THE CHICAGO MAROON Ida Noyes Hall / 1212 East 59th Street/ Chicago, IL 60637
A sht on Ha sh emipour i s a second-year in the College majoring in political science.
Breaking News, Broken Narratives
Grace Hauck, editor Andrew Mamo, chief financial officer
are normal, and, finally, appreciating the uniqueness of the experience that is university.
Another depraved man armed with nothing but a truck sped his way into a crowded bicycle lane on Tuesday. Then my phone lit up. “The Manhattan truck attack that killed at least eight was terrorism, the mayor said.” Like always, The New York Times had swiftly informed us of the news in a push notification. Good to know, I guess. Except—how on Earth did Mayor de Blasio and the Times discover the motive so quickly? Turns out it was pretty easy. The second half of the notification reported that officials said, “The motorist yelled ‘God is great’ in Arabic.” “Oh,” I thought. “That’s it.” It was odd. I didn’t remember promptly getting a notification about the Charlottesville truck driver’s obsession with Nazi
history or brandishing of “alt-right” imagery just before he attacked. And unlike this week’s truck attack in New York, the motive of the Charlottesville attack was hazy for some—including the President. Pundits openly puzzled: “Why’d he do it?” “Whose side was he on?” Increasingly, it’s clear that mainstream American news outlets report on the motives of attackers through editorial lenses that fit the suspect’s background. When discussing what caused Heather Heyer’s death—and the injuries of 19 others in Charlottesville, for example—those who believed it was terrorism were relegated to the opinion pages in spite of the attacker’s “alt-right” political motives. And when Stephen Paddock killed 59 people and injured over 500 others in the largest mass shooting in American history, his background was parsed in stories like one the Times bizarrely titled: “The Mystery of a Nondescript ‘Numbers Guy.’” Another piece equivocated in its headline: “Terrorizing if Not Clearly Terrorist: What to Call the Las Vegas Attack?” Continued on page 4
4
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 3, 2017
“The constant focus on the Muslim-ness of... attackers fans the flames of Islamophobia...” Continued from page 3 Truth is, most leading news outlets are, as some would say, “politically correct.” They seek to be “objective.” They’ll report that this week’s attack was an act of terror. They’ll slip in a line about how the perpetrator shouted “Allahu akbar!” just before the act, and they’ll be sure to speak with the imam at the attacker’s old mosque—ostensibly to capture a richer narrative of the perpetrator’s life. Yet, the use of language that sounds neutral tends to obscure the degree to which the disproportionate focus of the reporting actually works to reinforce misleading, and harmful, narratives. The unfortunate result of the media’s unrelenting focus on a particular type of terrorism—namely, terror committed by Muslims—is that craven politicians like President Donald Trump are able to exploit the fear subconsciously instilled in the public. Next only to the President, the media at-large does more to implicitly affirm the narrative about “Islamic-inspired
terrorism” than anyone or anything else. National outlets relentlessly cover tragedies that fit the “terrorism” mold even when the casualties from such events are more modest than those that don’t have a terrorism angle. While working at a large national news outlet this summer, I was surprised by the number of false alarms set off by reports of cars and trucks slamming into pedestrians. News editors would pay close attention to those alerts while mass shootings and stories about missing women would be passed over. Perhaps what is most lamentable is that it isn’t fringe or partisan media organizations that focus on attacks that would never get the same attention if it weren’t for the fascination with possible inspiration from the Islamic State. It’s organizations like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN. Fundamentally, the problem is that the narrative about terrorism and its purported connection to Islam is both prolific This crossword originally appeared in the Maroon on Friday, October 20. We have winner this week: (1) Phillip Adams, Vanessa Cai, Sabrina Wuu, and Jonathan Foldi (group-solved).
and powerful. That’s despite the degree to which it grossly misrepresents the number of people who die in terror attacks each year—and at the hands of Muslim perpetrators. In the United States, for example, about as many people die each year choking on food as dying at the hands of “radical Islamist violent extremists” in the 15 years after 9/11. All of which isn’t to suggest that what happened this week isn’t a tragedy worthy of righteous outrage. It is. Why, then, compound the pain and fear by furthering an ugly, albeit subtle, narrative about a nonexistent correlation between being Muslim and being a terrorist? Ironically, the answer may lie in the Times piece on the Las Vegas shooter, where it is stated—in quite a Freudian slip—that the gunman’s lack of a criminal record and clear ideological motive offers “little for Americans who crave an explanation for the tragedy to seize upon.” After tragedies, we seek explanation. We want to rationalize what simply cannot
be rationalized. And too often, the press is willing to offer this explanation to us. A country that replaced its de facto motto of “E Pluribus Unum” with an official motto of “In God We Trust” in 1956 has since been trained to duck in fear when the Arabic analog “Allahu akbar” (or “God is great”) is so much as uttered. The media— and elected officials— have played an enormous role in providing these easy explanations and easy narratives. The constant and peculiar focus on the Muslim-ness of a handful of attackers fans the flames of our Islamophobia. These fears not only denigrate and endanger an entire class of innocent people, but they also infect the subconscious of every last one of us in the process. Otherwise thoughtful news organizations ought to fundamentally rethink how they report on death, terror, and the attackers who cause both. Dylan Stafford is a second-year in the College majoring in political science.
125 YEARS OF INDEPENDENT STUDENT JOURNALISM, AT YOUR FINGERTIPS.
HELP US CONTINUE OUR ONGOING CAMPAIGN TO DIGITIZE THE MAROON.
crowdfunding.uchicago.edu Photo: Casey Kelbaugh
MA and PhD in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture Students at Bard Graduate Center in New York City study the cultural history of the material world from the arts of antiquity to the twenty-first century. Learn more at one of our fall open houses.
Address 38 West 86th Street, NYC
Open Houses October 15, 11 am October 29, 11 am November 6, 6 pm
For more information admissions@bgc.bard.edu bgc.bard.edu/admissions
5
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 3, 2017
ARTS Luis Tapia Finds Solace in Sculpture With Pilsen Exhibit BY JONATHAN MANDEL ARTS STAFF
I’ll admit that I was at first a little dubious about the latest exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, Luis Tapia: Sculpture as Sanctuary. Sculpture as sanctuary? It sounds like a caricature of vacuous “art speak.” But from the moment viewers walk into the exhibition and find themselves confronted by Tapia’s sculpture from earlier this year, “Broken Promises,” it becomes clear that Tapia and this exhibition as a whole pose a multitude of hard-hitting questions. Like most of the other pieces in the exhibition, “Broken Promises” is a hand-carved and painted wooden sculpture displayed in the round. It is modeled after the Statue of Liberty in New
Jonathan Mandel
“Broken Promises” (2017)
York, but with a few clear subversions that indicate that the icon’s promise of freedom has indeed been broken. A sign reading “FREEDOM” is splintered in half on Lady Liberty’s skull-and -rossbones-emblazoned pedestal while tears run down her face and her crown wilts. “ Broken P r om ises ” is one of a number of glaringly political pieces in Sculpture as Sanctuary. Others contrast the vulnerability, desperation, and heartbreaking humanity of the millions who attempt to cross the Mexican border into the United States alongside the severe, inhumane treatment they receive. Together with “Broken Promises,” these pieces frame the central question of the exhibition: If we can’t find sanctuary in the notion of our country and the freedom it promises, where can we? Jonathan Mandel Tapia has much to say in response “Cruising Hollywood: Homage to Magu” (2016) to this question. My personal favorite piece, however, A recurring theme in Tapia’s work grandmother, whose hand he is holdis the intersection of the divine and ing. The syringes and empty bottles is undoubtedly “Cruising Hollywood: the earthly. One of his pieces, “Juan that litter the grungy asphalt at their Homage to Magu,” one of a series of car Diego,” reimagines the first American feet melt away into irrelevance. On the dashboards that Tapia created. The car Catholic saint, granted miraculous other side of the sculpture, a rainbow itself appears old, with a few personal apparitions of the Virgin Mary, as a separates an idyllic scene of Jesus sur- knick-knacks, and through the windtattooed, modern Chicano man. He rounded by children and animals from shield can be seen the bustling streets holds a beer and dons a black “El Az- a garish and overwhelming barrage of of Hollywood, along with Tapia’s friend teca Taqueria” T-shirt with an image of corporate logos, as if seen through the Gilbert “ Mag u” Luján. T he Virg in the Virgin of Guadalupe on it. In pieces blithe imagination of a child. Anoth- tranquilly looks on from the rearview like these, Tapia seems to be heralding er sculpture, “Dos amigos con sus vi- mirror as if approving. What’s more the sacred significance in each individ- cios,” depicts two men with their arms comforting than cruising down familual person whom we might encounter around each other, holding beers and iar streets, in a beloved car, and spying in our day-to-day lives. His medium is conversing. Tapia illustrates the po- the face of an old friend? Reminding us of our capability to itself ref lective of the intersection of tential to find sanctuary in friendship, the lofty and the quotidian: His hand- even in the presence of external danger find transcendent moments of sanctucarved sculptures continue a venera- and violence, as implied by one of the ary in our everyday lives, Tapia espousble 400-year tradition and achieve a men’s dog tags and Che Guevara shirt, es tactics, as opposed to strategy, for seeking utopia. Rather than advocating grand level of autonomy, beauty, and and the other’s military jacket. meaning when displayed in the gallery. All of Tapia’s pieces are intensely a revolutionary program to create longStill, they reveal the omnipresent hand thought-provoking. Some posit the po- term changes, Tapia seems to promote of their mortal carver, as well as the tential to find sanctuary in one’s iden- the apprehension of small pockets of joy recalcitrant essence of the materials tity and culture, and others attack reli- and goodness all around us. For many viewers, Tapia’s sculpfrom which they are made. gion as a false locus of sanctuary. “Man Proceeding from the concurrence of Trapped in His Religion,” for example, tures themselves, which create warm, the sublime and the mundane, Tapia illustrates a figure resigned to his gild- i ntimat e relationsh ips w ith thei r reveals that we can find moments of ed cage, while in “Happy Birthday, Je- viewers, might provide such pockets or transcendent sanctuary in everyday sus!” a confused Christ examines the sanctuaries, just as the title suggests. Luis Tapia: Sculpture as Sanctuary life. In “Abuela,” for example, there is weapons and consumer commodities a palpable feeling of love and security used by people nominally devoted to will continue at the National Museum of Mexican Art through April 15. as a young boy curiously looks up at his Christianity.
Raw, Riotous, and Raunchy, HBO’s The Deuce Is an Ace BY IVAN OST ARTS STAFF
David Simon, the writer responsible for HBO’s critic-beloved The Wire and Treme, faces the curious fate of the successful arts kingpin: He is slowly losing his dimensions. One comment at a time, Simon is ground down from a complex, multi-faceted person into one who can be encapsulated with one word: genius. As shortsighted (and often silly) as it is to believe that media is the work of an auteur, Simon’s mark on his newest project, The Deuce, is unmistakable. The Deuce explores the blossoming of pornography in 1970s New York, where softening obscenity laws created opportunities to make—and show—longer and more explicit movies than were legal before. In traditional Simon style, the show probes questions local to its setting, like why someone would decide to become a prostitute. But even more quintessentially Simon is its refusal to let these questions become abstract. The show speaks of no one but its characters. We never learn why just
anyone might become a prostitute—we learn why Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) becames a prostitute. Sort of. At the end of the first season, we’re still waiting for the whole story. In any event, the answer is inextricable from The Deuce’s twisted, sexist world. It is a world in which everyone literally and figuratively fucks everyone else over. Prostitutes cower before petty, violent pimps. Anyone who skims a few quarters for himself when collecting money from coin machines faces casual, basement brutality from the show’s wide cast of mafiosos. Infidelity is dealt first with screaming, then with retribution. More importantly, though, is that this violence is symptomatic as characters continually compete with each other in twistedly symbiotic relationships. If pimps didn’t have total control over their “stable” of prostitutes, there wouldn’t be such violence. That only works if the prostitutes didn’t need the pimp’s protection when searching desperately, night after night, for enough money to crash somewhere for the day, buy a new fur, and do it all again. For a show often
focusing on dead prostitutes, The Deuce seems to have a fairly sunny take on human character. With a few exceptions, people aren’t evil solely for evil’s sake, but mostly for economic reasons. Those economic reasons cause all
sorts of problems. The prostitutes of The Deuce are the most dead-eyed, exhausted, beaten-down collection of characters on the show. While watching, I wondered often why they continued their Continued on page 6
Courtesy of HBO
Maggie Gyllenhaal is a producer of The Deuce and stars as Candy, an entrepreneurial prostitute in Times Square in the 1970s.
6
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 3, 2017
“It is a nasty, violent, dirty watch, but it is also a taste of life supersaturated.” Continued from page 5
work if it left them as miserable as they seemed to be. Even Candy, emotionally durable and committed to working without a pimp, shows little enthusiasm for her work and mostly leaves the trade by the end of the season. Other veterans, including Ruby/Thunderthighs (Pernell Walker), approach their work with more resilience and resignation, but they are the exception, not the rule. Yet there are those who are miserable, either trapped within the system or refusing to leave. Even Darlene (Dominique Fishback), when given a free pass back to her
hometown in North Carolina, ultimately decides to return to New York with a new recruit under her wing. There is some je ne sais quoi to the profession—a sticky, oily glamour—that calls these women back, day after day, even when working is the last thing they want to do. In that way, The Deuce rests a heavy weight on the shoulders of its characters. They are good people, honest and hardworking in the classic American way. Like everyone else, they have to work and find those jobs through the networks around them. So what hap-
pens when their networks are based on prostitution, crime, violence, and sexism? Well, just like everyone else, they keep going. Some win, some lose, some take it better than others. But central to The Deuce is the insistence that no one can stop—or, at least, no one knows that they can. Stuck as they are, it is no wonder that the characters of The Deuce seem so uncertain about themselves. Why do people become prostitutes? The question resurfaces again and again through the show, but is never really answered. To some extent, the answer seems to be
Courtesy of HBO
James Franco stars as twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino who become fronts for the mob.
that you just are. What is a true prostitute? Is there some way you have to be, or some kind of person? Not really. Characters in The Deuce start new businesses, change lines of work, become kingpins or down-and-outs or fight back against their parents freely and without consequence to their personality or sense of identity. The cast of most interesting characters is out to find themselves: Patrolman Alston ( Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) wonders what kind of cop he’ll be, Vincent (James Franco) finds out that he is not the kind of guy who can run a “massage parlor,” and Candy discovers that she wants to be a director. The frequency of these changes implies that these characters were never deeply settled in their identities in the first place. Instead, they were getting by in a system that demands, first and foremost, that you be something. It is both liberating and frightening to watch these characters change, both because we see that f lexibility is possible, but also that we might not be what we think we are in the first place. Questions like this are everywhere on The Deuce. It approaches real life so well that it feels like real life. In the way of good art, you don’t notice for a moment that there is a very clever mind—maybe even a genius—running the show, amping up the contrasts, the throughlines of theme and hints of change. It is a nasty, violent, dirty watch, but it is also a taste of life supersaturated. If you have the stomach for it, give it a try. You won’t feel better at the end, but you might feel a bit more real.
Aloha Poké Co. Placates as Expected BY ROSEMARIE HO ARTS STAFF
The hit Hawaiian fi sh-entrée chain, Aloha Poké Co., has recently opened a location in Hyde Park, following a massively successful year of expansion for the Chicago-based company, as well as the growing poke trend across the continental U.S. Like most of its fast poké and salad counterparts, poké bowls at Aloha Poké Co. are entirely customizable for set prices ($7.50 for a small, $9.50 for a large, and $14.50 for a whopping 24 ounces of food). Customers can choose from a base of white or brown rice or mixed greens, then add as many toppings as they wish. Only sashimi-grade ahi tuna and salmon are offered at this shop. Both can be served “naked” or marinated in a secret blend of sesame oil tossed with shoyu. Vegan and gluten-free options are also available. I ordered a big bowl of salmon on white rice, with furikake, crunch, eda-
mame, plus their house Samurai sauce that tasted like Japanese eel sauce (sweet and tangy) with sesame oil. My boyfriend ordered a small Volcano bowl with marinated ahi tuna, which, according to him, tasted like a “spicy tuna roll unrolled into a bowl,” with a generous helping of seaweed, jalapeño bits, ginger, and tobiko topped with a chili ponzu mayo sauce. The friendly staff did not skimp on the fish, which was fresh and chewy without tasting sterile. Both bowls were satisfying and fi lling; neither of us could fi nish our respective bowls. Sauces were a bit on the sweet side, and the toppings offered clearly indicated a calculated move away from poké’s traditional Hawaiian roots, especially with the ever-trendy avocado being an option. But Aloha Poké Co. is a fi ne addition to Hyde Park, which has recently gained more and more palatable pan-Asian options for students who have grown tired of Noodles Etc. Aloha Poké Co. is now open at 5221 South Harper Court, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. all days of the week.
Courtesy of Aloha Poké Co.
Poké is Hawaiian raw fish salad, often served with tuna or octopus.
Día de los Muertos Festivities Celebrate Family and Remembrance BY ABIGAIL KUCHNIR MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
At the same time that children and college students across the country are donning costumes and gorging on candy, Mexican communities across the United States and in Mexico are observing Día de los Muertos, a holiday that occurs from October 31 to November 2. Día de los Muertos was originally an Aztec tradition that took place at the beginning of summer in pre-Columbian Central America, but it has since shifted to its current date to
coincide with the Catholic tradition of All Saints’ Day, the same feast day in which Halloween has its roots. This past weekend, on October 29, the National Museum of Mexican Art located in Harrison Park in Pilsen, a largely Mexican neighborhood on Chicago’s near southwest side, hosted a Day of the Dead Xicágo celebration to kick off the Día de los Muertos festivities. The park outside the museum was fille d with ofrendas: altars filled with photographs, foods, and colorful decorations dedicated to loved ones who have died. Especially present among
the ofrendas were images of children who passed away, complete with their favorite toys and images of beloved characters. The spirit of the day did not feel tragic, even though children’s deaths featured prominently. Instead, there were lively performances by local groups and free pan de muerto covered with pink and purple sugar. Harrison Park was bursting with people and music. The line to enter the National Museum of Mexican Art stretched around the block as people clamored to see the exhibit of traditional and artistically interpreted ofren-
das inside. Local businesses had tents with food and drinks, and every hour a different music group performed on the main stage. Volunteers painted children’s faces and ran a crafts table for families. This year’s Día de los Muertos was a beautiful celebration of loved ones who have passed, and the members of the Chicago Mexican community in Pilsen came together with color and joy.
7
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 03, 2017
Maroons Look to Finish Season Undefeated WOMEN’S SOCCER
BY MIRANDA BURT SPORTS STAFF
The University of Chicago women’s soccer team has been more than dominant so far in the 2017 season, going 17–0 and accruing the No. 1 DIII women’s soccer ranking in the process. The women have won their games by a combined score of 65–4, and only one game had a winning margin of one goal. The Maroons have been even more successful against their UAA foes, five of which were ranked in the top 25. Goalkeepers Katie Donovan and Miranda Malone have combined to give the Maroons a
clean sweep in UAA play, as they have won their combined games by a score of 16–0. The Maroons have been led defensively by fourth-year captain Kelsey Moore. In addition to her defensive presence, Moore also has four goals, three of these being game winners, as well as two assists on the season. “We have had an unbelievable season so far. It’s something we’ve worked extremely hard for and something that I am very proud of. But, it’s by no means satisfying. We’re after a much larger goal, and we are going to keep on working till we achieve it,” Moore said, refer-
encing the possibility to win an NCAA title after the Maroons advanced to Final Four last year. The South Siders will face their biggest test of the year this Saturday as they take on the Bears of Wash U. Wash U currently holds the No. 6 national ranking, going 14–1–1 so far this season. The Bears tied Wheaton 2–2, while the Maroons pulled out their closest contest of the season, winning 2–1. Wash U’s only loss was to conference foe Carnegie Mellon, who the Maroons took care of 2–0. The Bears have been equally as tough defensively as the Chicago, but have only scored 44 goals to the South
WELCOME HOME
Across 1. Typical CDs store
BY CHRISTOPHER JONES
several hundred 4. Mindless
37. French vineyard
9. Last of 24 letters
38. Their mascot is a mon-
14. John, in Flanders (Alt.)
key*
15. DVD player button
41. “Braveheart” protagonist*
16. Number 1, and also num-
43. “Oh no!”
bers 2, 3, 4...
44. Asian country
17. Start of many book titles
46. “___ It”: High School Mu-
18. Cemitas Puebla offering
sical 2
19. City infamous for its wa-
47. Senate vote
ter crisis*
48. “What’s poppin’?”
20. Winner of the banner
49. Fetty ___
competition*
50. One hitting high As
22. Signing author?*
53. 90° from norte
23. Pie place, according to
57. Southern dining option*
a trope
60. Towards the forest*
24. Toddlers look up to them
62. Double-reeds
26. Bin closer?
63. Battery end
28. ___ Arbor
64. “L’etat, cest ___”: Louis
29. Its stone is emerald*
XIV
32. Saltwater
65. Left (Alt.)*
35. Obesity cause
66. Hawaiian state birds
67. Computerized text format 68. Transparency 69. Response to “Do you even lift?” 70. Pig’s pen
Down 1. Urban legends 2. Iranian faith 3. Inventor of a certain law of refraction* 4. Take yourself, in Madrid 5. On hand 6. Computerized text format 7. It’s used in signs 8. GRE provider 9. Did in 10. Spree locales 11. A contradiction with God, some contend
Siders’ 65. Moore spoke of the excitement and challenge of this upcoming weekend and Senior Day. “We’ve always had a historic rivalry with Wash U. But for some reason this year it seems exponentially bigger. There are a lot of factors playing into why we are so hyped for this game… but let’s just say we’re all looking forward to a great contest on Saturday.” The Maroons will take on the Bears this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at home. In addition to playing for a UAA championship and a perfect regular season record, Chicago will also honor its seniors before kickoff.
12. Parental unit?
sian restaurant)
13. Hawking subj.
54. “Super Smash Bros.”
21. Thing to walk
bounty hunter
22. A little yes, a little no
55. Somewhere between a
25. Be familiar with
walk and a canter (Alt.)*
27. Haul (in)
56. Enlighten, as students by
29. Would-be dr.’s exam
the Core
30. Chevron competitor
57. They can be tipped
31. Chinese currency (Alt.) *
58. Biblical murder victim
32. ___ Stark, the three- eyed
59. Beloved author Morrison
raven
61. Journey’s end (Abbr.)
33. Costa ___
63. /r/prequelMemes hero
34. Not at all tasty 36. Jessica of Fantastic Four
Send pictures of correctly
39. Grating
completed articles to editor@
40. Prospie activity
chicagomaroon.com with
42. Infatuated “Looney
your full name. The names
Tunes” skunk
of the first three successful
45. Birthed
solvers will be published with
49. Like many U of C
the solution in next Friday’s
doors
MAROON.
50. Chicago aquarium 51. 90° from norte 52. ___ Kebab (Chicago Per-
8
THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 03, 2017
SPORTS Maroons Prepare for Macalester on Senior Day FOOTBALL
BY JOEY GUTBROD SPORTS STAFF
The University of Chicago football team will have their last regular season game this Saturday, November 4, versus the Macalester College Scots. This date will also be Senior Day for the team. The Maroons have 18 fantastic seniors on their squad. Each of them will be honored as they play their last football game at Stagg Field. This weekend’s matchup will be quite the challenge for the Maroons, as Macalester has the impressive record of 5–3, with a 3–1 conference record. However, UChicago is coming off a great offensive spurt, scoring 91 points in their past two games. Despite losing their last game versus Ripon College, the Maroons scored 22 unanswered points in the middle of the game and made some great defensive plays, including six sacks and three fumble recoveries. The Scots, on the other hand, were brutally beaten down in their last game by St. Norbert, with a score of 47–7. In this game, Macalester only had 34 rushing yards total, and were sacked on six different occasions. It was truly an offensive nightmare for the Scots. If the Maroons can continue their successful
offensive run, while improving on any defensive errors, then they will have a good chance at upsetting this opponent. “We’ve really been working hard and putting all of our effort into practice to prepare for this game,” said second-year kicker Daniel Ducic. “They’re a good team, and the score will be close. But if we come with focus, the game will go well for us. Overall, we are very excited for the last home game this season.” The previous games between these two teams clearly favor the Maroons. In their last five meetings, the University of Chicago is 5–0 against Macalester. In the most recent game, the Maroons beat the Scots 24–7 at home. So, despite Macalester having the better overall record, many signs point toward Maroon success this upcoming weekend. Hopefully, this success can give Chicago the momentum to bring home a win at the Defne Anlas Second-year quarterback Marco Cobian rolls out of the pocket. MWC Championship Week on November 11th. ‘13). On the other side of the ball, defen- top against Macalester College and Overall, the talent of this year’s sive end Peter Casey leads the confer- to achieve a victory during the MWC football team is really shining through ence with 15 tackles for a loss and seven Championship Week. Come support this season. Running back Chandler sacks. His seven sacks contribute to the this Maroon football team at Stagg Carroll’s 15 touchdowns are the eighth team’s 23 sacks overall, which is second Field this Saturday at 1 p.m. as they best in all of Division III college foot- most in the MWC conference. fi nish off a strong, eventful season. ball. His 43 career touchdowns are two These players represent the talbehind the school’s record, which is held ent and potential of this squad. They by wide receiver Dee Brizzolara (A.B clearly have the ability to pull out on
Volleyball Gears Up for UAA Championship VOLLEYBALL
BY ANNA ROSE SPORTS STAFF
T his past weekend, the Maroon volleyball team competed in Aurora University’s Jim Coleman Memorial Tournament and went 3 –1 overall, defeating University of Dubuque, Concordia University Chicago, and North Park University, but coming up short to Aurora University. Although the squad lost an important match to Aurora, they are proud of their weekend performance overall and are excited for what is to come in the University Athletic Association (UA A) Championship this weekend. “ We rea l ly lea r ned a lot about ourselves this past weekend and how playing our style of volleyball really
makes a difference,” second-year libero Anne Marie Stifter said. “Obviously, we would have liked to win all of our games, but we learned from our loss to Aurora and will work this week in practice to prepare for UA A’s this weekend.” The Maroons do not have much time to ref lect, as they are looking ahead to this weekend and preparing for the UA A Championship tournament. On Friday, the squad will travel to Atlanta to compete in the tournament hosted by Emory University. They will first take on Rochester in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Eastern time. The Maroons last played the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets in September at the first round of the UA A Round Robin, where they dominated them, reigning
victorious in three consecutive sets. But even so, the squad is taking them lightly. To prepare for the big weekend, the Maroons are focusing on themselves, both mentally and physically. Honing their individual skills and concentrating on control and focus is the priority. “For this weekend at UA As, we are really focusing on how we play and not letting the other team dictate the pace of the game,” Stifter added. “We want to be in control during our matches. UA As are always super competitive and highly emotional, especially this year because we want to show how good we are and can be when we play our best. Our plan is to stay focused and in control.” F irst-year setter Emma Griff ith
echoed her teammate’s sentiments. “ This week we are working a lot on our routines to try to lessen the extra nerves we might have this weekend. We went back to the basics and focused on improving everything that has been working well for these past few months, just a little bit more.” A fter taking on Rochester in the quarterfinals on Friday, if they win, they will continue to the semifinals and challenge the winner of Wash U and NYU. With the fate of their season, and a bid to the national tournament on the line, the Chicago volleyball squad has an exciting and important weekend ahead of them.
Strong Start in the Pool for Maroons SWIMMING & DIVING
BY ANDREW BEYTAGH SPORTS STAFF
Last weekend, the University of Chicago swimming and diving teams kicked off their season with meets at Northwestern against the DI Wildcats and at Wheaton College against the DIII Thunder. Both meets produced stellar performances on
the men’s and the women’s sides. The men’s team was led by performances by second-year Reona Yamaguchi and thirdyear Michael Todd. On the women’s side, first-year Margaret Wolfson began her college career by placing second in the 200yard breaststroke against DI competition. Fourth-year Natalie DeMuro commented on the fi rst meet, “The competi-
UPCOMING GAMES SPORT
DAY
Opponent
TIME
Football
Saturday
Macalester
1 p.m.
Swimming & Diving
Saturday
Washington–St. Louis
1 p.m.
tion at Northwestern was fast, but we had some strong performances that will give us confidence going into this weekend.” The Maroons hope to continue their hot start this weekend with a home meet against UAA rival Wash U. “Wash U has traditionally been a close meet and one that gives us an early look at how we compare to other top DIII programs. The girls’ side lost to Wash U by four points at the dual meet last year, but we came back and beat them by almost 400 points at UAAs in February,” DeMuro said. “We’re hoping to build on last year’s conference results and come away with similar successes this weekend.” A key to the Maroons’ early season success hinges on the productivity of the underclassmen and freshmen. Second-year Scott Wu discussed going into
the meet against Wash U. “This past weekend there were flashes of brilliance, but we lacked depth.” Wu also mentioned the productivity so far of the fi rst-year class particularly on the women’s side. “First-years Gillian Gagnard and Margaret Wolfson are leading the team with intense training, which translated well to their swims at Northwestern.” The Maroons face off against Wash U this weekend at the Myers-McLoraine Pool. DeMuro and Wu both pointed to that fact that if the Maroons are going to compete on a national level, the freshman talent must produce at the big meets, continuing their success started last weekend.