Speaking Up by The Harvard Independent

10. 02. 14

I ns i de : S wi pi ngLe f torRi g ht ? Ba s i cBe v e r a g e s Bo wl e r sa ndBa t s me n

S pe a ki ngUp

10.02.14 VOL. XLVI, NO. 4

10.02.14

The Indy is coming soon with controversy.

Inside: Swiping Left or Right? Basic Beverages Bowlers and Batsmen

Speaking Up

Cover design by Anna Papp

CONTENTS FORUM 3 Finger Work NEWS 4 Do Ivy Leaguers Dream of Identical Sheep? 5 The O Page 6 Mister President ARTS 7 #PSL 8 What will be Art? SPORTS 9 GOOOOOOOOAL 10 Chirp Chirp 11 But Horses Can't Swim?

President Albert Murzakhanov '16 Editor-in-Chief Sean Frazzette '16 Director of Production Anna Papp '16 News Editor Forum Editor Arts Editor Sports Editor Associate Sports Editor Associate Forum Editor Associate Arts Editor

Milly Wang '16 Caroline Gentile '17 Sarah Rosenthal '15 Shaquilla Harrigan '16 Peyton Fine '17 Aditya Agrawal '17 Michael Luo '16

Illustrator Yaara Yacoby '17 Designer Alice Linder '17 Business Managers Farhana Nabi '16 Manik Bhatia '16 Staff Writers Whitney Gao '16 Manik Bhatia '16 Terilyn Chen '16 Yuqi Hou '15 Chloe Li '16 Dominique Luongo '17 Orlea Miller '16 Albert Murzhakanov '16 Carlos Schmidt '15 Frank Tamberino '16 Jackie Leong '16 Andrew Lin '17 Madi Taylor '16 Shreya Vardhan '17 Peyton Fine '17 Michael Luo '16 Eloise Lynton '17

DESTINATION OF THE WEEK: Belfast, Northern Ireland As Harvard College's weekly undergraduate newsmagazine, the Harvard Independent provides in-depth, critical coverage of issues and events of interest to the Harvard College community. The Independent has no political affiliation, instead offering diverse commentary on news, arts, sports, and student life. For publication information and general inquiries, contact President Albert Murzakhanov (president@harvardindependent.com). Letters to the Editor and comments regarding the content of the publication should be addressed to Editor-in-Chief Sean Frazzette (editorinchief@ harvardindependent.com). For email subscriptions please email president@harvardindependent. com. The Harvard Independent is published weekly during the academic year, except during vacations, by The Harvard Independent, Inc., Student Organization Center at Hilles, Box 201, 59 Shepard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Copyright ÂŠ 2014 by The Harvard Independent. All rights reserved.

Forum

The Truth about Tinder

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Finding love in a hopeless (?) place. By CAROLINE GENTILE

ne of my favorite questions to ask a happy couple is how they met. Usually, the responses I get are “we met through mutual friends,” or, “we met at a bar.” After a while, these get pretty lame. The first response that truly got my attention was when I heard of someone meeting her boyfriend on Tinder. I’ll admit it; I totally judged her. How did she know that he wasn’t using fake pictures on his profile? It would be all too easy. Since Tinder doesn’t show people’s last names, it makes it very hard to verify someone’s identity. How did she know that he wasn’t just looking to hook up? After all, my perception of Tinder was that people just used it to have sex. How could a glorified version of “Hot or Not” be anything but? Most importantly, how could she have made sure that this guy wasn’t a serial killer?! If they use Craigslist, I’m sure nothing would stop a serial killer from making a Tinder profile. But she seemed really happy with this Tinder boy. From what she told me, he seemed like the perfect boyfriend; he took her out on romantic dates, and he even took care of her when she got sick, after only knowing her for four days. Still, though, I was skeptical. He could still murder her yet! Eventually, I got to meet this mysterious Tinder suitor. Shockingly, he was just a normal guy. Better than normal, even. He was smart, good-looking, and very nice — definitely not the skeevy predator I had imagined. And he treated his girlfriend like a princess. They seemed perfect together. Once I realized that theirs was an admirable, healthy relationship, I had to know more details about how they had met. Hopefully this interview of the happy couple (whose identities shall remain anonymous) will dispel all of your hesitations about Tinder like it did for me. Maybe it will even inspire you to go find yourself a significant other on Tinder! Me: Why did you have Tinder to begin with? The boy: I didn’t really know that many people in Boston and I was 20, so I couldn’t go to bars. So I downloaded it in hopes that it would lead to meeting people. The girl: I was bored and thought it would be fun! I didn’t really think anything would come of it. Me: What was your first impression of each other based on your respective Tinder profiles? The boy: I saw that she was three years younger than me and hoped she was lying. But she was really cute, and she went to Harvard so I assumed that she was driven and just a quality person. Actually, to be honest, my friend and I also had a competition to see who could match with a Harvard girl first to find our future breadwinners — so that we could be trophy husbands. The girl: I almost swiped left because he had a beard and I’m usually not into that. One of his pictures was with a baby goat, though, and I thought that was adorable. And he didn’t have a beard in all of his pictures. If it got down to it, I figured I could convince him to stay shaven. Me: How did you start talking on Tinder? The girl: Usually I didn’t talk to my matches because they would say some really creepy things. But he opened with something funny, so I figured that starting a conversation with him would at the very least be entertaining. It was mostly flirty banter until he asked me to hang out. Me: How did you plan your first date? The boy: I just asked her if she wanted to get food and walk along the Charles. The Harvard Independent • 10.02.14

The girl: I wanted to make sure that whatever we did, it was in public and in daylight. Me: What was your first date like? The boy: When she came up to me, I thought, “Wow, she’s even cuter than her pictures.” Right when we started talking, it just seemed like everything she said, we had in common. It was actually really creepy how much stuff we had in common. The girl: After talking on Tinder, I had a really good feeling about our first date even before it happened. Once we actually met in person, we couldn’t stop finding things to talk about. There was never a dull moment in our conversation. Me: What kinds of reactions do you get when you tell your friends that you met your significant other on Tinder? The boy: Half are inquisitive, half are in awe. The girl: Some were pretty judgmental at first, but then they realized what a good match we are. Others just think it’s outright hilarious. Me: Have you deleted your Tinder profiles since you started dating? The girl: Yes! The boy: I tried using it as a marketing platform to pub an event for my fraternity, but it didn’t go over too well. I had much better luck finding my girlfriend. Caroline Gentile ’17 (cgentile@college) met her boyfriend on Tinder. This entire article is actually based on her relationship. So much for anonymity! Illustrations by Yaara Yacoby harvardindependent.com

News

Of Sheep and Ivy Leaguers

Dereciewicz brings home a strong showing at Harvard talk. By ADITYA AGRAWAL

he Mahindra Center for Humanities at Harvard hosted ‘20 Questions’ — a Question and Answer session with William Dereciewicz, the (in)famous author of the now viral article in the New Republic — “Don’t Send Your Kids to the Ivy League”. The article crystallizes the broader argument set forth in his recently published book “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life” regarding issues of education, character and careerism at America’s top institutions of higher education. Hosted at William Paine Hall on Monday, 22 September, the event was moderated by the Homi K. Bhabha, director of the Mahindra Center, and included Rakesh Khurana, Dean of the College, Diana Sorensen, Divisional Dean for Arts and Humanities, Fawwaz Habbal, Executive Dean for Research and Education at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) amongst the panelists on call. The session saw an expectedly gregarious turnout comprising students, members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and alumni. After a introductory thoughts on the issue at hand by Bhabha, Dereciewicz took to the podium to briefly illuminate the audience on his point of view before he yielded the floor to field questions from the audience and the other panelists. Dereciewicz posits in his book that the Ivy League and other comparable institutions in the United States fail to provide conditions conducive to the incubation of a soul and a sense of direction in its students. The situation, Dereciewicz argues, is sustained by different levers within college working in tandem to preclude scholarly discoveries of what Dereciewicz calls “their own values and measures of success”: from an application environment that prizes marketable resumes to an academic environment that prizes exclusively vocational courses of study such as economics or engineering over the liberal arts that, in Dereciewicz’s view, help students truly discover themselves and find meaning in their larger lives. The author started out on strong ground when the questions were opened to his fellow panelists. Dean Khurana could barely hide the causticity of his question behind his façade of ambivalence, when he asked Dereciewicz about what he missed most about academia. It is a well-known fact that Dereciewicz, having received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Columbia, was a lecturer at Yale until 2008, which is when he was

denied tenure. The author, however, gracefully subverted the barbed undertones of the question, and confidently pitched that he missed “mentoring” students the most, and giving them a sense of direction about their lives. Habal followed with a question riding high on the minds of the audience — do all streams not have tools to reach the same

would open up doors for its graduates in places unexpected. Overall, Dereciewicz managed to give a strong showing despite the tangible opposition to the author and his ideas amongst the panelists and the audience, and passably defended his book. Several audience members, in principle opposed to his arguments, were visibly impressed with his dialectical defense of his idea. Ayesha A. Mangaldas ’17 was awed at how different the writer turned out to be from what she had mentally pictured coming into the talk. She had anticipated Dereciewicz as a begrudged “Ivy hater” whose book was motivated more by personal issues than by actual concerns. The talk, however, allowed Mangaldas to see a side of him she had never expected: he was personally and genuinely invested in the issue, and was not just a speculator who cried wolf, but one who intelligibly deconstructed the system and offered clear, if somewhat weak, solutions for the dysfunctions identified.

"Multiple questioners seemed to echo the sentiment that in this age and time, there were multiple shaping influences that went into cultivating a 'soul'; why should college be burdened entirely with the onus of this responsibility?"

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end goal? “Is it not better to study at bigger colleges where undergraduates can work or research with top faculty?” Habal asked. Dereciewicz, however, was of the view that that while such avenues might enable a person to solve problems in the specialized technical way, but not the most human way, which again traced back to his argument that college’s primary aim was to helps its students realize their humanness The floor was later opened to the audience for questions. Multiple questioners seemed to echo the sentiment that in this age and time, there were multiple shaping influences that went into cultivating a ‘soul’; why should college be burdened entirely with the onus of this responsibility? Dereciewicz acknowledged the presence of these contributing presences, by asserted that college was the most forceful these since it represents for most of its students, a good four years if independent wayfaring outside of parental and familial guidance. Dereciewicz later went on to make the somewhat intrepid assertion that faculty at top colleges recognized well the dynamics of the present situation but stayed “complacent,” as a way of furthering their hierarchical ambitions at these institutions, and focusing majorly on activities such as research. This statement elicited an indignant response from Michael D. Smith, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who expressed his disappointment in Dereciewicz’s claim at length. Smith said, “I’ve never heard anyone on the faculty tell me that they're satisfied. It would be nice if we could have a conversation about this without the ‘we don’t care.’ That is absolutely not true. I just want to make that very clear.” As the evening approached its end, Dereciewicz boldly addressed another concer: that claims of unemployment post a humanities degree from an Ivy were “true but grossly exaggerated”, and that the Harvard degree

Aditya Agrawal ’17 (adityaagrawal@college) thinks that sheep are cute, and would love to send his sheep children to the Ivy League. Photograph courtesy of George Gastin on Wikimedia Commons.

10.02.14 • The Harvard Independent

News

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Celebrating the Arts & Activism W.E.B Du Bois Medal Awarded to 8 Legends.

By SHAQUILLA HARRIGAN AND ALBERT MURZAKHANOV

his Tuesday marked the 9th annual W.E.B. Du Bois Medal Ceremony sponsored by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Honoring the legacy of black sociologist, writer, and first African-American recipient of a PhD from Harvard, W.E.B. Du Bois, the medal ceremony awards the most prominent artists, scholars, activists, and philanthropists who have greatly contributed to African and African American Culture. The honorees were John Lewis, Maya Angelou (medal accepted by Oprah Winfrey), David Adjaye, Harry Belafonte, Steve McQueen, Shonda Rhimes, Harvey Weinstein, and Oprah Winfrey. This year’s ceremony was not only a space for celebration of black achievement, but it also was a space for mourning and a call to action. The legacy of Maya Angelou and the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO were addressed during the evening. Professor Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. moderated the evening alongside Glenn Hutchins from the Hutchins Family Foundation. Gates and Hutchins announced the opening of The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art in the fall of 2014. The museum will be the, “premier site of the study and exhibition of African and African American Culture.” Gates also stated that the Cooper Gallery will be the first of its kind among the Ivy League schools. Professor Gates seamlessly transitioned the arts into advocacy as he introduced Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to present the first medal. Governor Patrick awarded civil rights activist and Georgia State Representative, John Lewis with a medal. He called John Lewis a “pillar of the Civil Rights movement.” In one of the most poignant moments during the evening, African and African American Studies professor Jamaica Kincaid delivered a eulogy-like address on behalf of Maya Angelou’s posthumous receiving of the medal. “She turned gold into something more precious,” said Kincaid in reference to

Angelou’s uncanny lyricism. As Oprah Winfrey accepted the award on behalf of her close friend and mentor, Winfrey recounted memories of “sitting in her kitchen eating biscuits” and her relationship with Angelou blossoming from friendship into becoming her “sister-daughter.” Dean of the Graduate School of Design Mohsen Mostafavi’s introduction of architect David Adjaye highlighted how Adjaye’s work blended education, culture, and activism. Mostafavi said Adjaye’s “mixture of heritage and circumstance has given him an affinity for Africa.” Next to be honored was Grammy winner and humanitarian Harry Belafonte. He received a medal for his dedication to both activism and music. Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, Michael Smith said Belafonte was “drawn to art forms that were meant to be subversive.” Belafonte was the first American to sell over one million albums. Shonda Rhimes, creator, head writer, and executive producer of hits like Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder, is one of the most dynamic showrunners in television today. Rhimes has twice been named to TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people. “I don’t think it should be considered remarkable for the people we see on television to look like the rest of the world,” stated Shonda Rhimes as she humbly accepted her award. Harvey Weinstein, American film producer and film studio executive, cofounded The Weinstein Company with his brother in 2005. He was recognized for being one of Hollywood’s most prolific producers of African American films which include Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Fruitvale Station, 20 Feet from Stardom, Django Unchained, The Great Debaters, Cry, the Beloved Country, and Sarafina!. Weinstein said his parents always encouraged him to have courage and fight for those whose voices are not always heard. Weinstein joked that he could finally brag to his mother that he got an award from Harvard. The first black person to receive the Academy Award for Best Picture, Steve McQueen was recognized as an artist and filmmaker who made film history with his 2013 adaptation of Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiography, 12 Years a Slave. McQueen’s words resonated with the audience when he said he wanted his film to be a “platform for a time in history that was not recognized visually or verbally.” As an activist and visual artist, McQueen closed saying “As an artist, my only doctrine is to not let the dust settle.” Welcoming Winfrey back to Harvard a year-and-a-half later after receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and addressing the graduates during the 2013 commencement exercises, President Drew Faust stated, “She is an American phenomenon from the roots up.” Born into poverty in rural Mississippi, Winfrey grew up driven by the philosophy that each person could and should do more. The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College also performed several times throughout the event. Audience members and honorees alike swayed along to the melodies of their spirituals. Various dignitaries and Harvard faculty members read selections from the works of W.E.B. Du Bois and other prominent black thinkers. This medal ceremony had notes of celebration and remembrance; it also challenged each person to do more for humanity. The W.E.B. Du Bois medal ceremony also showed that social justice can be achieved through artistic and cultural pursuits. Shaquilla Harrigan ‘16 (sharrigan01@colllege) and Albert Murzakhanov ‘16 (amurzakhanov@college) left the W.E.B. DuBois Medal Ceremony inspired. Photograph courtesy of Shaquilla Harrigan

The Harvard Independent • 10.02.14

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News

The Man in Charge President of the Philippines comes to Harvard. By TERILYN CHEN

resident Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines delivered a public address and answered questions from an audience at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Monday afternoon in a lotteried event organized by the Institute of Politics. In a prepared speech addressed to undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, officials from the Filipino government, as well as other members of the Harvard community, Aquino stressed the importance of daring to go against the political status quo and with the aid of four case studies, described how his administration has been putting this into practice. David Ellwood, Dean of the Kennedy School of Government, moderated the event and prefaced Aquino’s speech. In his introduction, Ellwood described the Philippines as a “nation of courage and progress in the face of adversity,” gave a brief background of Aquino, as well as of his parents, the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino, and acknowledged progress being made in areas such as education, ethnic/religious tensions, and poverty reduction. The Dean also praised Aquino’s character and leadership. “He is…someone capable of reaching across the political divide, something that, by the way, we can learn from in this country,” Ellwood said. Following this, Aquino began his speech with jokes about the pronunciation of “Harvard” with a Bostonian accent (“Hahvahd”) and his failure to get a Harvard t-shirt despite having lived in Boston for two and half years during his family’s exile from the Philippines. He then spoke of the legacy left by his parents, as well as lessons he had learned in his youth that were important in shaping his political philosophy. “As a young man, I was taught that not opposing an oppressive structure was tantamount to perpetuating it,” Aquino said. “If you recognize a problem, and choose not to do anything about it, then you become complicit, and in fact, you even exacerbate it.” After a brief explanation of the nonviolent civil resistance of the 1986 People Power Revolution that ended the oppressive Martial Law rule of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, and the disappointment and apathy that was generated by subsequent governments, Aquino brought the focus back to his own presidency. He offered four case studies on how his administration has been “fulfilling [their] mandate for change” by eliminating corruption to eliminate poverty. Aquino’s case studies used specific anecdotes and examples to highlight programs and issues

such as a national Conditional Cash Transfer program, initiatives to cut red tape and improve budgeting, peace negotiations to address tensions between the government and Muslim Filipinos, and tensions with China over the South China Sea.

portant to have freedom of speech, but also to be courteous and to respect others’ opinions even if it doesn’t agree with your opinion and you don’t get the answer you want.” Mark Natividad, who is Co-President of the Philippine Forum and a junior at the College, called the experience as a whole an honor. “Rarely do you get to meet a president of a country, let alone one of my heritage,” he said. “It was great to hear his answers, to get to know the political and social issues of the country right now. It was great to hear his Administration is working for the people, and how he cares for the Filipino people. And we got to give him [a Harvard] shirt on behalf of the Philippine Forum.”

“He is someone capable of reaching across the political divide, something that, by the way, we can learn from in this country,” Ellwood said.

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The question-and-answer portion of the event featured questions about the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Bill of 2012, rights of indigenous peoples in the Philippines, federal policies for Filipino-Americans to serve in the Philippines, strong political dynasties, and engagement of Filipino-identifying people who are not Filipino citizens, among others. One man who asked the President why the Filipino government was purchasing arms from countries like Canada, the United States, and Germany argued with the President after a response was given, and was escorted out of the Forum. When asked what was most memorable or enjoyable about the event, Ida Tamarin, a Kennedy School student working toward a Master of Public Administration/ International Development expressed appreciation of the President’s speech, but wished some members of the audience were more respectful during the question-andanswer portion. “I’m glad the President shared his thoughts with us,” she said. “I thought his speech was inspiring — for young people, for Harvard students — to do more, to do beyond what they would. I wish [the man who asked about the purchase of firearms from Western countries] was more respectful. It’s im-

Terylin Chen ‘16 (terilynchen@college) would love to hear from more world leaders in the future.

10.02.14 • The Harvard Independent

Sugar and (Pumpkin) Spice The rise of the #PSL

number of you are ready to skip over this article. You’ve already given it your ‘can-he-be-any-more-basic’ eye-roll and are ready to flip the page. Some of you are ready to read this piece with lusty fervor as you discover the truth about your favorite seasonal beverage. To the first type of reader, I assure you, I have only sipped a Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) once in my life. To those rabid with anger at my heathenism, I assure you, I found the taste to be satisfying. Nonetheless, many of us have passionate opinions about the PSL and its role in our society. What caused this drink to go from a 100-store release eleven years ago to an abbreviated and trending hashtag that is tweeted over 3,000 times a day? Even Dunkin Donuts, a franchise opposed to the basic and the bougie, has succumbed to the production of their own version of knock-off PSLs. To be honest, I had never heard the pumpkin spiced latte abbreviated, nor had I seen it hashtagged until my friend texted “#PSL” to me a few days ago — I had no idea that the Pumpkin Spice Latte merited an abbreviation. As an avid (daily) “bux” customer, I found myself surprised that I had missed this entire social movement. But sure enough, as I walked into Starbucks to grab my morning iced coffee, “PSL” was written in frosty letters on the glass door. It was a smack in the face to my “bux” pride, and I set out on a journey to learn more. According to Starbucks, we can thank Peter Dukes, the director of espresso Americas, for the creation of the PSL. He and his team built a recipe that has remained unchanged for over 11 years, and will likely remain unchanged as its seasonal success continues. But Peter Dukes created something more than a latte — he created a pop-culture icon (I’m not about to gush about the cultural importance of the PSL). It’s a pop-culture icon that couldn’t be more “basic” — it’s a 14 on the pH scale. There are many of us who damn this unnatural, high-calorie beverage. The hashtags irritate us. There is no way to make it vegan (even with soy), and no matter how hard I try, I still can’t pronounce a majority of the ingredients that compose it. More importantly, there’s no pumpkin in a pumpkin spice latte. Some of you are probably snapping your fingers. You’re thinking “yesss — put the PSL in its place.” You should stop snapping. The pumpkin spice latte is… well…it’s a latte of pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice is not pumpkin; rather, it is a delicious seasonal flavoring composed of ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon. All of that judgment seems so unnecessary now, doesn’t it? Suddenly, it all makes sense. I found this revelation troubling. All of the shade I had wanted to throw directly at the PSL was seemingly no longer valid. The name finally makes sense — but does the popularity make sense? Before I began this journey, I was inclined to judge any person to jump on the “PSL-bandwagon.” And I first had to ask myself, “Why, Dakota? Why must you judge these happy individuals sipping their unnatural and oddly flavored beverage?” So I asked the person sitting next to me as I wrote this, “What’s wrong with a PSL?” Her response: “Because dat shit is basic.”

“

By DAKOTA SANTANA-GRACE

But apparently, so is my love of Britney. And my love of Ke$ha. And the fact that I’m willing to walk home barefoot to spare my shoes the trauma of a Boston rainstorm. I’m not ashamed. But let’s be clear, basic is arbitrary. It was created for the sole purpose of passing judgment. It’s not constructive, and it’s uncritical. Tell me what basic means, and then we can have a conversation about it. Unfortunately, it seems like no one can agree on what “basic” means, because its definition seems to lack complexity. Given this reality, I don’t feel comfortable judging the PSL based on its basicness — unless we’re talking about its actual place on the pH scale. THE FINAL JUDGMENT: Let the PSL do its thang. It makes a lot of people smile. Judging food and beverage preferences is, frankly, quite boring. It’s like trying to tell me that I shouldn’t be obsessed with kiwi fruits or have such a strong affinity for dark chocolate. (Yawn) Your opinion is grounded in nothing other than a vapid norming of what is culturally “complex” and, therefore, desirable. Frankly, calling something basic, when it is such a definitionally unsound term, requires a fairly basic thought process. Taking a step further, the word “basic” seems pretty damn basic. And I mean that in the literal sense of the word, as in “lacking in complexity.”

I don’t feel comfortable judging the PSL based on its basicness — unless we’re talking about its actual place on the pH scale.

The Harvard Independent • 10.02.14

Dakota Santana-Grace (dsantanagrace@college) is probably listening to Ariana Grande right now.

Photo by Alice Linder/the Harvard Independent

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October Arts Preview Related events, lectures, and opening to look forward to this month. By SARAH ROSENTHAL

Peter Cook, “Nose-to-Nose”

Tuesday, October 7, 6:30-8:00 pm Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/peter-cook-nose-to-nose.html One of many fascinating public lectures offered at the GSD, this talk presented by Sir Peter Cook promises to be intriguing. The architect will cover a selection of his work, with “forays into the seaside, kiosks, not-quite-architecture architecture, the continual observation of people, cartoons, the essential silliness of daily life, and the construction of ‘cheerful’ buildings s (Graz Kunsthaus), blue buildings, Vienna Law Faculty, Australian architecture school, the “Archigram” memory lingering, and a vehement disinterest in abstraction.”

Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer – Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston

Sunday, October 12, 7:00 pm Sanders Theater http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/cal/details.php?ID=44868 See world famous bassist/composer Edgar Meyer and mandolinist/composer Chris Tile perform together in Sanders. Tickets are a bit pricey at $70, $60, $45, and $30 for an obstructed view, but this is your chance to hear two remarkable Macarthur Fellows.

Cristina Diaz Moreno and Efrén García Grinda, The Sandwich Man (Er zi de da wan ou) “Rare New Species” Sunday, October 26, 4:30 pm Thursday, October 16, 6:30-9:00 pm Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/cristina-diaz-moreno-and-efren-garciagrinda-rare-new-species.html Another captivating lecture from the series at the GSD, this time featuring the Madrid and London-based duo who will present their projects with their own “weird vocabulary.” According to the GSD’s description, they will discuss “the space of mediation between people, objects, natural species, and built environments.” Based on the image featured in the lecture listing, showing a faceted, hot pink, reflective, organically-shaped structure, it seems to promise a compelling examination of one group’s approach to contemporary architectural space and form.

Books &Poets: on the Porous Experience of the Book in Physical & Imagined Space: Joshua Beckman

Thursday, October 16, 6:00 pm Edison Newman Room, Houghton Library http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/cal/details.php?ID=45032 At this event, presented as part of the Bagley Wright Lecture Series, poet Joshua Beckman will discuss various topics relating to the space, physicality, and objecthood of books, as well as the private vs public experience of poetry. Rare books including manuscripts by William Burroughs, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau will be on view for those attending the event.

Simon Fujiwara: Three Easy Pieces – Exhibition Opening and Reception

Thursday, October 23, 6:30-8:00 pm; Exhibition through December 21, 2014 Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Lecture Hall http://ccva.fas.harvard.edu/fujiwara-exhibition This exhibition features three installations exploring notions of memory and familial and racial identity in order to “reconstitute notions of truth, authenticity, and the credibility of the artist as narrator, leveraging new perspectives on sexuality, globalism, and race.” The artist will be giving a talk in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition. 8 harvardindependent.com

Harvard Film Archive http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2014sepoct/hou.html#sandwich Made up of three episodes adapted from the stories of Huang Chungming, this 1983 Taiwanese film, directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Wan Jen, and Tseng Chuang-hsiang, focuses on the working poor of Taiwan as a distinct culture from Mainland China. The film, with its bleak and honest tales, had a huge impact on notions of contemporary Taiwanese culture.

How Wonder Woman Got into Harvard – Lecture by Professor Jill Lepore

Thursday, October 30, 4:15 pm Knafel Center of Radcliffe http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-jill-lepore-lecture This illustrated lecture by Harvard professor and New Yorker staff writer, whose latest book titled The Secret History of Wonder Woman will examine Wonder Woman’s secret identity and her relation to Harvard and Radcliffe.

A look into the future: Sweet Talk – A Lecture by Kara Walker

Monday, December 8, 4:15 Knafel Center of Radcliffe http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-kara-walker-lecture Renowned artist of many works exploring race and slave history, gender, sexuality, and other topics will be giving a talk. Her piece A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant gained a large amount of attention for its elegant use of sugar as a medium given the historical content at stake. Registration for the event opens in November. Photograph courtesy of Jean-Pol Grandmont on Wikimedia Commons

10.02.14 • The Harvard Independent

Sports

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Going for Six Men’s Soccer heads into conference games with winning streak.

By CAROLINE CRONIN

he Crimson soccer team will be heading into its conference line-up with a few well-deserved wins under its belt and will face off against the Yale Bulldogs this very Saturday at Soldiers Field. The season began a little shakily with the first three games ending in losses. But the boys brought it home with three solid wins against Boston College, Hartford, and Manhattan. They topped off those successes with their fourth consecutive win at home, beating out the Northeastern Huskies at the last minute and then proved it is not all about home field advantage as they traveled to UMass Amherst, scoring a win in overtime. Sophomore forward starter and a major player in both of the Crimson’s latest wins, Daniel Smith agrees that the team has already matured this season in the face of tough competition. The game against the Northeastern Huskies took place last Tuesday night under the bright lights of Ohiri Field, part of the Soldiers Field soccer stadium. The Huskies were the first and only to score in the first half as they matched the Crimson for speed, but managed to keep possession for longer periods of time. The Huskies kept that style in the beginning of the second half as they celebrated their second (and last) goal of the game. The Crimson banded together by meeting on the field to talk each other up and analyze where they could improve. “The coaches and everyone have been really good about giving each other feedback on the field. Talking to coaches and teammates helps as we keep pushing to get better,” Smith states. This process worked well as the boys were able to pull themselves together in time for Andrew Wheeler Omiuno to score, assisted by Matt Sheeleigh and Michael Klain. The fans went wild and a new hope was kindled in both the players and spectators for it was now 1-2 Huskies in the middle of the second

half, which is all the time in the world for a few driven individuals. The Crimson fought it out against the Huskies who were desperately hanging on to their lead but couldn’t quite beat the onslaught of Harvard as the Crimson kept coming back to score. At last, Smith placed himself at the perfect position on offense to head the ball into the Northeastern goal, just out of the Huskies goalie’s reach. The tying goal brought the audience to its feet and the athletes to a higher level of competition. Just as the Northeastern morale seemed at an all time low, the Crimson gave it everything they had and left it out on the field! With a minute left in the game, the Harvard offense out-muscled the Northeastern defense. Then, midfielder Andrew Chang, with a single kick, curved the ball past the goalie and secured the win for Harvard. The team cheered and took their hard-earned victory lap after the final buzzer as the Huskies regretted their earlier celebrations and a group of rather obnoxious Northeastern students, trudged away — dejected. From this close game Daniel Smith states, “We learned that even when things don’t start our way, we keep doing what we know we can do, and things will be fine.” Smith certainly was right as UMass Amherst learned the hard way at last Friday’s game where, once again, the Crimson were down by 2 and battled its way to victory. The team went to goal often, but Jake Freeman was the first to score at the end of the first half. The team kept this momentum in the second half as Daniel Smith tied the game (again!). With no last minute goals being scored on either team, the game went into overtime until forward Hiroki Kobayashi of Harvard sent the ball flying high from a header to the top of the goal, and Harvard once again felt the joys of triumph. As Smith says, the team “trusts in our process, trust in each

other, and keep fighting.” This year’s soccer team sure does look like they’ve got the fight and drive to go far in the Ivy League. We will soon see if they can carry their winning streak one game further when the Yale Bulldogs visit on Saturday. Perhaps the Crimson can avenge last year’s loss. According to Smith, “It was a tough opener against Yale last year, but we are in a good spot this year. I think there will be lots of fans and I think we will win.” Well, soccer fanatics, let’s get out there and cheer the boys on to that win and a 6 game winning streak. Caroline Cronin ’18 (ccronin01@college) loves soccer and is excited to watch the Harvard boys crush the Bulldogs in a classic Ivy League rivalry.

Photo courtesy of Aemilia Phillips

The Harvard Independent • 10.02.14

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Building a Legacy

Harvard Cricket team wins Ivies and looks ahead. By SHAQUILLA HARRIGAN

hen most people think about cricket, images of posh Brits playing with tea breaks between innings on a Sunday afternoon come to mind. Few (at least in America) follow and know the nuances of a sport that is often misguidedly compared to baseball. At Harvard, few students think about our very own club cricket team. Originally founded in 1868, the Harvard Club Cricket team was revitalized again in 2011 after being inactive for several decades. The team is building a legacy forged with camaraderie, familial and cultural tradition, and a hard work ethic. Harvard cricket is not only a winning team, but it is also a family of twenty-three guys who have a passion for a sport that has yet to catch on with mainstream American culture. Captain Manik Kuchroo, a junior, describes the team as “positive, focused, and intense.” He adds, “[They’re] great people. They’ve become [my] best friends.” Their phenomenal record showcases the intensity of Harvard cricket’s play this season. The team is currently 10-2 since the start of their season last March and is 7-0 since returning to campus this fall. Vice captain Rishav Mukherji says that this winning streak is new and in previous years, Harvard had lost more games than they had won. Throughout the entire season to date, Harvard cricket has not only won games, but they have also dominated their opponents by wide margins. The American College Cricket’s Ivy League Championships was evidence of Harvard’s ascension to dominance in collegiate cricket. In the semi-finals, Harvard destroyed Cornell by a margin of 41 runs. Then, in a rematch of last year’s finals, Harvard played Penn. In one of the closet games of their season, Harvard defeated Penn by 13 runs to take home the Ivy League championships. Vivek Jayaram, sophomore and the other vice captain, said, “The team has really come a long way in the past year.” He later adds, “We had our shit

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together.” Penn was a tough test considering the Quakers beat Harvard last year, but Harvard was “well prepared.” Mukherji also says, “Beating Penn was a confidence booster. [I’m] hoping we continue our streak.” Harvard’s hard earned championship was a team effort. The club cricket team is stacked with talent that includes players who have been playing since childhood or were a part of youth world cup teams. Despite the entire team playing at a high level, the work of several key players stood out. In a complicated algorithm that calculates scoring, bowling, and other statistics, the ACC named HKS graduate student Barney Gilbert as the Ivy League MVP. Gilbert, who used to play cricket with the Oxford Blues First 11, says of the honor, “I was pretty flattered to win the award. Things hadn’t gone so well for me in training running up to the tournament, so it was very pleasing when things came together on the day.” In addition to Gilbert, fielders Vidit Munshi and Danny Yetman also made critical plays that significantly impacted the outcome against Penn. Yetman, an American-born cricket player who unlike most of his teammates doesn’t come from a cricket family, made two amazing diving catches. Described by one of his captains as “the best wicket keeper in Massachusetts if not New England,” Norman Guscott also was a key contributor. Looking ahead from Ivies, the Harvard cricket team beat Boston University last weekend and is busy preparing for the Northeastern Championships October 4th through October 5th in New York. Described by several members of the Harvard cricket team as the toughest region, the Northeast Championships will feature formidable opponents like Rutgers and Carnegie Mellon. In preparation for the Northeastern Championships, Harvard has been hosting practices designed to fine tune the already well-oiled team.

Jayaram says they have been booking practices and games at real cricket fields because their normal astro-turfed Jordan Field is very different from a regulation cricket field. “Jordan Field is 30 yards and a normal cricket field is 50.” Jayaram continues, “The outfield impacts how easy it is to bat. Real grounds have real grass. Jordan’s turf changes the game flow.” Mukherji also says that the team, a selfcoached team, has been hosting specialized fielding and batting practices. Going into the Northeastern championships, Gilbert says, “I think the squad feels pretty confident going into the weekend. The standard will be up a notch from the Ivies but I think we’re ready for it.” He also emphasizes the impact fielding will have on the outcome of the team’s performance. “We’ve been doing a lot of work at saving runs in the field and making sure we hold onto our catches.” Overall, the team feels confident about the tournament considering how tightly they have been playing all season. Having already won the Ivy League championships, the Harvard cricket team automatically qualifies for the ACC National Championships this March. Considering the team’s tenacity and amazing record thus far, Harvard cricket has potential to be serious contenders. Mukherji says Harvard is “a team of fighters.” As far as the long-term future of Harvard cricket is concerned, the team stands a great chance to popularize cricket not only at Harvard, but maybe even America. Jayaram says, “Harvard Cricket is one small piece of American cricket, but cricket is on the rise.” At its core, however, Harvard cricket is a team full of diverse, talented players who come together to play a game they love. Shaquilla Harrigan ‘16 (sharrigan01@college) wishes the Harvard cricket team good luck this weekend!

10.02.14 • The Harvard Independent

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Sports

Rough waters for HMWP Men’s Water Polo Splits Weekend Round Robin

Photo by Peyton Fine/The Harvard Independent

By PEYTON FINE

ll-American Ben Zepfel was very clear in his expectations for Harvard’s opening weekend at Blodgett Pool: “Our ultimate goal was 4-0.” After multiple tournaments away from Cambridge that included a win over ranked opponent Navy and a narrow defeat to perennial power UC Santa Clara, the Crimson had reason for optimism. The team came into the weekend ranked 16th in the nation after starting the season 5-2, and its four opponents for the weekend barely had a combined record over .500. The weekend failed to get off the ground for the team. The first game of the weekend against St. Francis was delayed by over forty minutes because the second referee had yet to arrive. For the Crimson, the late start would continue into the game. St. Francis jumped all over Harvard leading 4-1 after only seven minutes. Defensively, Harvard could not defend the two-meter from St. Francis’s Bora Dimitrov, who scored four goals in the game and caused multiple ejections, the equivalent to a power play in hockey. Zepfel attributed the defensive lapse to laziness to open the game. Offensively, the Crimson were plagued by turnovers. As the Crimson attempted to claw their way back into the game, each goal seemed to be lost to turnovers. Head coach Ted Minnis said, “We have to pay attention to the details, and we can’t try to force the ball into two-meters.” St. Francis had made a point to keep the ball out of the area in front of the goal by running what Zepfel characterized as a “full drop.” A full-drop is like packing the paint in basketball, thereby forcing the offense to shoot from the outside. Coach Minnis put it best: “We simply didn’t shoot the ball well.” The turnovers, the poor

The Harvard Independent • 10.02.14

shooting, and the lackluster defense spelled disaster for Harvard as they lost the opening game of the weekend to a team that entered the weekend with a 2-6 record. Harvard rebounded with a 10-4 drubbing of Iona. The Crimson seemed to fix all of the problems from the last game. The defense was stifling. Zepfel spent most of his time defending the point man far from the goal, and it caused issues all day for Iona. Possessions for Iona were laborious and ended in turnovers or shots which goalie Colin Woolway easily parried. Iona had scored eleven goals or more in every single game this season, but in this particular game, it was all Harvard. After the loss to St, Francis, Zepfel was clear that the team “would come out fired up.” It showed as Harvard evened its weekend record. The third game of the weekend against Fordham exhibited an offensive adjustment in addition to the upped defensive intensity. Coach Minnis played sophomore Dan Stevens alongside Zepfel. It changed the offense to something unseen in the first two games of the weekend. Now, the Crimson had two bodies consistently in the two-meter area in front of the net, rather than just Zepfel. For some of the match, the new strategy paid dividends as Zepfel scored a hat trick. However, at times the offense stalled particularly in the second period. It was at that point that goalie Colin Woolway stepped up. He made six saves in the game (three coming in the second period) and one of which was a particularly impressive save from a shot just outside two meters. In the end, Harvard pulled out a 10-8 victory holding off a push from Fordham in the beginning of the third period. The offensive woes that were evident during the Fordham match and the defensive issues that hurt the Crimson during the St. Francis match again

were evident against Brown. Brown, the only team that was ranked ahead of Harvard coming into the weekend, opened up with a suffocating defense. The Bears held Harvard to one goal in the first period. Harvard simply could not get the ball to two-meters and settled for outside shot possession after possession. Blake Lee had two goals from outside, and Joey Colton was red-hot with four goals against Brown, but it simply was not enough consistent enough to keep up with Brown’s offense. In addition to controlling the two-meter when Harvard was on offense, Brown dominated the area on its own offensive possessions. In the third period the Bears scored five goals, many of which came off easy shots from inside five-meters or power plays from ejections. To put that into perspective, Brown scored more goals in one period than Harvard allowed all game against Iona. When the dust had settled, Harvard had been defeated 13-8. In basketball, if you cannot control the paint, chances are you will be in trouble. In water polo, the “paint” is the two-meter zone in front of the net. All weekend, Harvard had problems getting the ball into that area on offense and defending the area defensively. Coach Minnis said, “We have to do a better job of getting some movement and not be one-dimensional forcing the ball into two-meters.” Harvard must find a way to make headway in the two-meter if they expect to compete at the national level. Peyton Fine ’17 (peytonfine@college) was disappointed to see the Crimson’s performance this weekend, but believes the problem is isolated enough for the team to fix it and move forward.

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