Odes by The Harvard Independent

10.24.13

The Indy is getting down with Dionysus Cover Design by ANNA PAPP

VOL. XLV, NO. 8

CONTENTS FORUM 3 An Apple a Day Keeps the Cholera Away 4 Decorated NEWS 5 Journey to Journalism 6 Viral Veritas 6 Collegiate Considerations ARTS 7 Getting Graphic 8 Ars Longa, Vita Brevis 9 Snap, Crackle, Pops 9 In Vino, Veritas 10 Written Words, Spoken Songs SPORTS 11 Ruggers 11 ...and Rowers 12 Pigskin Putdown 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 Angela Song (president@harvardindependent. com) or Managing Editor Sayantan Deb (managingeditor@ harvardindependent.com). Letters to the Editor and comments regarding the content of the publication should be addressed to Editor-in-Chief Christine Wolfe (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.

President Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Director of Production

Angela Song '14 Christine Wolfe '14 Sayantan Deb '14 Miranda Shugars '14

News and Forum Editor Arts Editor Sports Editor Design Editor Graphics Editor Associate News Editor Associate Forum Editor Associate Arts Editor Associate Design Editor

Whitney Gao '16 Curtis Lahaie '15 Sean Frazzette '16 Alex Chen '16 Anna Papp '16 Milly Wang '16 Kalyn Saulsberry '14 Sarah Rosenthal '15 Travis Hallett '14

Cartoonist John McCallum '16 Business Manager Albert Murzakhanov '16 Columnists Aditya Agrawal '17 Michael Feehly '14 Jackie Leong '16 Andrew Lin '17 Madi Taylor '16 Shreya Vardhan '17 Senior Staff Writers Michael Altman '14 Meghan Brooks '14 Whitney Lee '14 Staff Writers Manik Bhatia '16 Xanni Brown '14 Terilyn Chen '16 Lauren Covalucci '14 Clare Duncan '14 Caroline Gentile '17 Gary Gerbrandt '14 Travis Hallett '14 Shaquilla Harrigan '16 Yuqi Hou '15 Cindy Hsu '14 Eldo Kim '16 Chloe Li '16 Orlea Miller '16 Albert Murzhakanov '16 Carlos Schmidt '15 Frank Tamberino '16

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THATKIDYOUHATE Has Dysentery You may: make apple pie. By LAUREN COVALUCCI Day 1: We decided today to set out on our big adventure. It’s the first time I’ve done anything like this, really — I’ve always been satisfied by what I’m comfortable with. But I’m grown now, and it’s time to strike out on my own and bake an apple pie from scratch. I hope Pa would be proud of me. Day 2: I went around town today to buy all the things I need for the coming weeks. Until now it hadn’t hit me: this is a real big undertaking. I need two different kinds of sugar, cinnamon, butter, flour, a few varieties of apples, and shortening. I didn’t even know they sold shortening above the MasonDixon line. Gathering all the supplies really tuckered me out, and the sun was near set before I was finished. What have I gotten myself into? Day 6: The crust is done. Boy, was that work. I spent half the day scavenging for recipes before I found a few edible ones, then I mixed them all together and they tasted all right. (I haven’t had anything make the return trip, that is.) Day 11: Folks have been getting cantankerous about when these pies are going to get done. All I hear is, “Ford the stream!” and, “Dysentery!” Well you can’t get dysentery from pie, damn fools, and there ain’t a thing wrong with eating food that’s had a few days out in the sunshine. That’s how you get your Vitamin D.

Day 35: I did something risky today. There’s no telling whether or not the call will pan out, but what’s done is done and all I can do is hope for the best. I put honey in with the syrup for the pie filling. Would’ve made Pa smile. I think it will be real good with the brown sugar and cinnamon, but folks are skeptical. I’ll show ‘em. I’ll show ‘em all.

butter and sugar I had left, and I had to decide quick, since the ovens were running and I only had two more hours to use the kitchen. I went with a nice lattice-work top crust and glazed it with an egg, sugar, and cinnamon wash so it comes out nice and crispy. Only time will tell whether I did right by my pie. It’s going in the oven tomorrow.

Day 44: These past few weeks have been tough, and I’ll be the first to admit it. But I’m right proud of how far I’ve come. Everyone back East didn’t even think I’d make it a few hours in before I’d lose interest and eat all the apples. But you know what, it ain’t just any old body who can spend 44 days cooking and have the better part of a pie to show for it. This isn’t over yet, and I still have a long way to go, but soon I’m going to have to preheat the oven and I want to enjoy the easy days while they last.

Day 59: It’s out. We’re through. It was touch-and-go for a minute, there — I couldn’t get the temperature quite right for the first bit and I worry that it browned a little too much on the top. The hard part’s over, though, and all it’s gotta do now is cool down a bit. I’m mighty thankful for all the good fortune I’ve had so far. Wish you could be here with me when I finally take a bite, Pa.

Day 50: I can’t sleep. We came to a crossroads today. I had to make an important call fast, and I worry I chose wrong. I was planning on a full top crust but I ran out of dough too quick to cover the whole pie. I either had to patch something together or try and make a crumble topping out of the

Day 61: I dropped the pie on the floor. I reckon I don’t have long for this world. May God receive my poor, broken soul. Lauren Covalucci ’14 (covalucci@college) next attempt? Mango tarts on the Amazon Trail.

Day 24: I reckon I’ve spent the whole past week skinning and chopping. It’s hard to get it all done while the sun’s up, and I don’t want to waste our candles so I can cut up apples at night (pies are better when prepared in natural light). I’ll be honest — I don’t know how much longer I can last out here. It takes a whole lot of trouble to get to pie, so all I can do is hope that pie’s worth it. Day 26: It’s a sad day for everyone. We’ve just had our first casualty. I’ll never forget the sight of it, and it happened so fast. Right away there was shouting, and the blood — blood everywhere. After I cut my finger I had to leave a Band-Aid on it so that I wouldn’t bleed into the apples. 5 minutes later: The bleeding has stopped. We’re rolling on. The Harvard Independent • 10.17.13

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A Guide to Dorm Décor And why Target can only take you so far. By SHIRLEY CHOICER Not too long ago, during the bygone, end-of-summer days, I had a vision when I walked into Target and Bed Bath and Beyond to start shopping for school. Browsing through the perfectly typical “college” dorms pictured in catalogs, I had a vision that my own dorm would look better — if not equal to — the catalog dorm rooms. So I bought all the cool decorations I saw in the catalogs, and sure enough, my room looked exactly like the Target catalog rooms. But something felt off; while I succeeded in creating the cookie cutter dorm room, I failed miserably at making my dorm the cozy dorm I wanted. While the room did have all the matchy patterns and organizing filers typical of all dorms, somehow the room seemed too “catalogy” and without hominess. Not to mention how disorganized our room was with the roll up window screens literally falling apart (three work orders have been filed to date). After settling in for a couple of weeks, I gave up hope on the idea that catalog rooms are ideal rooms. This was both a positive yet slightly disappointing discovery; while I was glad that I no longer had the pressure to see my room as a blank art canvas that I had to turn into IKEA-level simplicity and elegance, at the same time, I felt bitter about the false advertising of the marketing world. Sadly, though, I learned that I just have serious artistic disabilities that result in a mediocre room when I visited a friend’s dorm just a few days ago. Words cannot do this room justice. This room made perfect use of the gigantic space it had with posters, furniture, plants, pillows from home, and photos. Unlike my room, which can be likened to trying on new sneakers on for the first time, venturing into that room felt like stepping into a pair of broken-in shoes that snuggle with your feet. What is the key to this work of art? This was the type of room I was looking for, and for the benefit of all readers, my conversation with the dweller of the abode led me to distill the elements of the perfect room to two pieces, the first of which is listed here: A quick guide to dorm decoration: »» Go to boarding school. ›› It seems as though every boarding school student has managed 4

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to master this fine art of dorm décor. Of the many things students learn in high school, who knew dorm design would be one of them? Have a boarding school friend help you. Seriously, they know what they’re doing. Get rid of all the typical stuff you would find at Target. ›› In other words, don’t be like me or you’ll end up with a room that looks like the rooms of thousands of freshmen across America. Christmas lights. ›› Absolute must. Plants. ›› Prioritize if your room does not include exposed brick or red wood. Posters. ›› From the inspirational to Jackson Pollack, go wild. ›› Note: while posters are necessary in filling the otherwise dull blank walls, placement is key. Each wall should really only have one poster, unless you plan on layering, in which case, posters of varying sizes is key. Rug ›› Yes, my room has a rug with pictures of abstract figs and owls, but seriously, a rug will do wonders to add life to the middle of the room. High school memorabilia ›› Varsity letters, flags, pins — you name it. Don’t forget your alma maters. Harvard’s banner. ›› The return on investment of those outrageously overpriced felt banners is surprisingly high — they really add an “Old Harvard” feel to a dorm, especially for those living in the Yard. Balance. ›› Less can be more in many cases, so use your judgment wisely. A blank wall to collect memories of the coming year. ›› While this may seem dumb and awkwardly empty now, you’ll look back on this decision happily come May. A Map of the World. Have all visitors sign it!

To say that this list was complete would be a lie, because in fact, these are but a few tips and hints that can make any dorm more ‘dormy.’ Sitting in that room, I felt like I could sit there for days just noting all the ways it succeeded in dorm decoration. But to that end, the second element of the perfect room is one that I am sure all upperclassmen already know and one that freshmen are starting to realize as we near our second month of school. While the tips above provide a way for us to create and furnish rooms that are unique to a certain extent to ourselves, they really provide just a starting place for us to build the rest of our freshmen year on. In other words, embrace your coffee-stained futon and the weird band posters you think are cool but perhaps will realize are not. The dorm with inviting Christmas lights and inspirational posters will serve as a cozy starting point for many late night conversations and study breaks with roommates. Yet most of the character that makes a dorm room your dorm room will be what you do in the dorm room, not what the dorm room itself looks like, though an inviting room does help facilitate those experiences. So while I have come to accept and appreciate the mounds of unwashed clothing, Cliffbar wrappers and scraps of DAPA to-do list sticky notes that litter my room as characteristic of my freshman year experience, I would still urge those with dorm decorating talent, like the dwellers of the photographed dorms, to seriously consider starting a business. Regardless, everyone should take some time and think about adding some life to your rooms or ask a friend to decorate with you. Why not make some new memories in the process of it? Shirley Choicer ’17 (shirleychoicer@college) will be right back — making a mad dash to purchase some Chili lights.

10.17.13 • The Harvard Independent

News

The Roadway to Journalism

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A career roundtable with David Shribman By MILLY WANG

hat does it take to be a great journalist? Energy, passion, a great sense of humor, and dedication to one’s work. David Shribman has these qualities in spades. On Friday, October 18th, Shribman, the executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, hosted a career roundtable discussion on jobs in writing and publishing at the Institute of Politics. This event attracted students from all years and concentrations, which really pays tribute to the diversity and versatility of journalism. “A newspaper internship is a classic summer internship,” Shribman began by saying. “We’ll send you out with a notebook, camera, car, and sometimes a pen, and see what comes back.” In his prolific career lifetime, he has covered six presidential elections, known one pope, visited different places from around the world, and met

Photo by Milly Wang

The Harvard Independent • 10.24.13

many interesting people. But how did he end up in journalism? Back in college, he didn’t quite know if he wanted to be a college professor or a journalist. But by the time that he graduated from Dartmouth, he had already had a couple internships in journalism under his belt and knew that this was the path that he wanted to take. “I knew that I could do this work, and I liked doing it,” he answered. “I’ve always wanted to be a journalist. And for the first time, journalists were being paid upper-middle level wages.” The journey hasn’t been all easy though. Shribman reportedly applied to a hundred places, but only got offers from two. “But really, one is all you need,” he quipped with a grin. He advised all prospective journalism interns to apply to as many opportunities as possible, and to not be discouraged if they don’t get accepted to their first choice.

“Of course, some will get accepted to the first thing that they apply to, and that’s great,” he said. “But most of us won’t and that completely fine. Don’t give up.” His great sense of humor and pride for the paper and all its journalists really shone through throughout the discussion. The Pittsburgh PostGazette has great diversity — with one reporter from Kazakhstan, three Russian speakers, and many more with international experiences on staff. Shribman noted that you don’t necessarily have to have a degree or a background in journalism to become a great journalist. So what qualities should aspiring journalists possess? “Passion. A nimble mind and nimble fingers. And be well-read and well-educated,” Shribman reveals. He recommends that you come to an internship interview having read the paper that you’re applying for and be caught up on current affairs.

The top seven tips that he suggests for budding journalists to keep in mind are: 1. Demonstrate a willingness to work and work hard. 2. Possess a sense of teamwork. 3. Have a sense of curiosity. 4. Be down to earth. 5. Dress maturely at the workplace. 6. Behave in a professional manner. 7. Come prepared to have a good time. He also recommends sending in paper applications instead of email applications and including a few of the stories that you’ve written in the past with the application. Definitely include your level of proficiency with multimedia, as these skills are in hot demand. “The best way to get a job in the journalism industry is to have an internship under your belt,” he said. It shows that you are serious about it. It’s insurance to your employer that you can do your job. And it gives you a chance to get hired at the place you interned at. “And it shows that you come cheaply,” he added with a laugh. Since walking down the path of journalism many years ago, David Shribman has not looked back. “This is a great way of life,” he divulged. “It’s a lot of work. We go to work even if it snows, and even if it floods. Of course, we will not abuse you or exploit you, but we will definitely give you a lot of stories to cover. Unlike almost every other profession, none of us hate our jobs. I can guarantee that you’ll have a good time.” And the best thing about journalism, he felt, was getting to chance to see how the world works. “The world often doesn’t work the way that you think it does,” he confessed. “And journalism allows you to search beneath the surface of life and lives.” Milly Wang ’16 (keqimillywang@college) is now way too excited for the future. harvardindependent.com

News

Da’Quan Takes on Lamont When online comedy meets midterm tragedy. By CAROLINE GENTILE

ressed in a large tan overcoat, an oversized Celtics jersey, Timberlands, and a Versace chain, internet sensation Da’Quan made it rain business cards in the Yard, danced on tables in Lamont, and gave an a cappella rendition of Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees” in the Science Center. Needless to say, Harvard students were completely befuddled. During the last weekend of September, Da’Quan rapped and danced his way around Harvard’s campus to make another one of his sketch comedy videos. Lucas Brody is not actually the disruptive hoodlum he acts like in these videos. He is a member of a production company based in New York called GOLDTOP, which specializes in making trending comedic videos. His character Da’Quan has a Twitter account (@DaQuanTho) and also visited the University of Georgia and the University of Michigan, but his stint at Harvard has garnered national attention for being particularly hilarious. The juxtaposition of such a ridiculous character as Da’Quan with Harvard students is quite funny, indeed. When faced with someone as seemingly insane as Da’Quan, most Harvard students had no idea what to make of him, and often did not know

that he was an actor making a comedy video. Even those who did still didn’t know what to make of him. At the beginning of the video, Da’Quan dances with the cheerleaders at the tailgate before the Harvard vs. Brown football game. Brody and his videographer informed them they were making a video, but members of the team were still confused. Freshman cheerleader, Isabel Lee, describes him as “not seem[ing] like a real person because he gives off such a carefree vibe.” So carefree, in fact, that he ignored the cheerleading captains’ request not to be filmed, which would have been in violation of certain regulations for the team. After telling them that he would only take a picture with them, clips, not just pictures, of the cheerleaders and Da’Quan appear in the final cut of the video that is currently on YouTube. Though Da’Quan’s character is supposed to push the envelope of social norms, Brody and his team’s deception of the cheerleaders borderlines on simply inappropriate. Still, the goal of the video was to entertain, not to deceive Harvard cheerleaders, and entertain it did. Many Harvard students, including Lee, find it as funny as the rest of the nation did. There are a lot of stereotypes about Harvard, and while they

don’t all necessarily hold true, there are definitely instances when they do — and it’s hysterical. For example, there is a stereotype of Harvard students being uptight and “un-fun” due to the academic rigor here. In Da’Quan’s video, students, who were probably cramming for the first round of midterms, shushed his dancing and rapping in Lamont, which only furthers this stereotype. Of course, midterms are undoubtedly a time when it is okay to be uptight, but every once in a while, maybe we could all learn a lesson from the carefree, ridiculous antics of Da’Quan, and not take ourselves too seriously. Caroline Gentile ’17 (cgentile@college) would like to bond with Da’Quan over Versace Versace Versace Versace.

Photo by Caroline Gentile

Successful Conversations

Michèle Flournoy gives some solid advice.

By SHIRLEY CHOICER

ast Friday, the IOP’s Womens’ Initiative In Leadership hosted a special lunch with the Honorable Michèle Flournoy, Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, to speak about her career experiences in a field mostly dominated by males. In the informal discussion composed of a lottery-determined group of fifteen students, Flournoy offered not only insights from her own experiences at Harvard and in her career but also much applicable advice to students from both the undergraduate college and Harvard Kennedy School. Michèle Flournoy’s long and successful career in defense policy began at Harvard, where she concentrated in Social Studies with a focus in International Relations. Flournoy’s career, focusing on international defense and security, 6

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has led her to cofound the Center for a New American Security, serve as a research professor at the National Defense University, and contribute to Barack Obama’s re-election bid, among many other paths. In 2009, Flournoy also served as the highestranking woman to hold a post at the Pentagon when she served as the Secretary of Defense for Policy of the United States. While most of the discussion focused on Flournoy’s experiences, she made an active effort to impart lessons learned about leadership to the young, mostly female crowd in attendance. Speaking from her own experiences, Flournoy pointed to many characteristics of effective leadership in policy, including articulate speech, respectful treatment of and investment in people, clear visions, and humility.

Michèle Flournoy also applied lessons learned in her career back to applicable advice for students — Flournoy reflected on a lesson imparted to her to “choose the boss, not the job.” Choosing a boss who will encourage your growth or challenge you is much more important than the task at hand. Flournoy linked this lesson back to college by advising students to choose teachers based on the quality of teachers rather than simply by course titles. Harvard clubs regularly invite speakers to reflect on their own experiences and impart advice, but rarely in such intimate circles with women with as varied and successful c a r e e r s a s M i c h è l e F l o u r n o y. Especially during the stress and anxiety that inevitably comes during these few midterm weeks, Flournoy’s

humility in discussing her experiences certainly left the audience with a greater determination to work. One of Flournoy’s ending remarks alluded to the importance of passionate and hard work for a successful career. It is the occasional talks like Flournoy’s that reminds students that hard work now will pay off in fulfilling future careers. Shirley Choicer ’17 (shirleychoicer@college) thinks even the great and powerful were deterred by midterms at some point.

10.24.13 • The Harvard Independent

A rambling review: The Crunch. A

s with all important things, I learned about The Crunch via Facebook, albeit as a nameless, infant publication with a tentative promised bi-annual release. It belonged to a group I had joined almost capriciously, the so-called Harvard Graphic Novel Society, then still getting its feet off the ground. As a freshman, I didn’t pay much attention and forgot to go to meetings. After all, I too was just finding my way around the visual stories business — I’d joined the page on the promise to myself that I’d finally get around to creating something vaguely graphic-novelish that year. Then I closed the computer and called it a day. Nearly a year later. in 2013, both of us have delivered on our promises, though through my own laziness and tendency to forget deadlines, they haven’t had the pleasure of intersecting. I’ve become an eager navigator of the world of speech bubbles and panels. Meanwhile, the Harvard Graphic Novel Society has grown up into the Harvard College Comics Club. Its once-mystical publication, while still young, is no longer nameless. It is called The Crunch. And you should experience it. I refrain from the phrase “read it” because, honestly, that takes too much credit from the visuals. What makes The Crunch unique relative to others artsminded publications such as Tuesday and The Advocate is that the text and the visuals blend and work off of each other. If we bar the fact that the content is, in fact, comics, then that’s all it really is — a synergy between the spoken and the unspoken. Crunch understands this. “Comics are deceptively simple,” the editors write. “One can uncover profound messages beyond the surface of image and text.” And so it is in the pages that follow. Before seeing The Crunch, I had often wondered about the group’s sudden name change—more importantly, the distinction between graphic novels and comics. Seeing the announcement—again, on Facebook—was simply puzzling, but the publication ultimately produced is the embodiment. There are no “novels” within the pages, per se, but a collection The Harvard Independent • 10.17.13

of beautiful snippets and fragments. The Crunch is not only about stories told, but quirks explored and emotions tapped. A flip-though of its contents is at once captivating and baffling. At this time, there is only one edition of The Crunch published — its debut, if you will. For those who haven’t seen it, this is my space to convince you to find your way to it. For those who have — well, you understand what I’m talking about. The first thing you’ll notice is that the whole thing is printed in greyscale. The official reason is that printing in color costs too much—and for anyone involved in publishing, you’ll know that scrounging up the dough for even partial color is indeed a fair amount of effort, especially for a young publication. To be perfectly candid, however, I hope for the sake of the HCCC that in the coming years, they never move beyond black and white at all. The profound contrast offers The Crunch a strange gravity. Perhaps it is because the styles of the contributors are so diverse, the strongest thing holding them together is the continuum of pure darks and greys. In fact, the entire thing vibrates with energy. It feels organic. Nearly everything that can stand to be hand-lettered is, including the cover itself. I believe I only caught a few instances of digital lettering, and only one jarred me significantly (it had been lettered in a serif font bearing an uncanny resemblance to Times New Roman or one of its many cousins). The rest of The Crunch flows together like a strange dream, from one scene to the next. There are odd travelers, odder friends, identity crises, and ghosts—just to name a few. And there is nothing to piece them together, not the handwritten text that differs between every story, not the spaces between when there are sequences that have no text at all save for a byline. And yet the whole thing is undeniably cohesive. I believe I must chalk it up to the whimsy that seeps from the pages themselves, and which builds up in a slow momentum by the page. Of course, I have to add that The Crunch, while great, is still getting a handle on itself, and of course isn’t flawless. However, because comics as a

medium are so incredibly distinctive, judging based on art, writing quality, or overall message is hardly fair. There were a number of pieces that did not speak to me at all — but I know that there must be someone out there with whom they do resonate. That, in the end, is the purpose of visual stories, after all: to speak to an individual on a personal level, to stay with them even after they’ve flipped the page, echoing deep in the tone of the chord they’ve struck. To those pieces that I did not appreciate quite so much, I wish them well on their way to reaching somehow the souls who will. Personally, my favorite page in the current – and as of now, only — issue is not a comic at all, but simply the penultimate page. “Thank you for visiting,” it reads in hand-done blocklettering, “please exit through the gift shop.” That’s what The Crunch is at the core, a fact that it seems to be perfectly aware of. Comics ensnare the sense and take the reader—or experiencer, if I’m to keep any sort of consistency here—for a ride. As with traditional literature and art, comics are here to make you question what you know, and perhaps help you along in what you don’t. Unlike fine art, they don’t stand to be perfect, but emotive, and however they manage that is the artist’s prerogative. So it’s not “thank you for looking,” or “thank you for reading.” That strips the content of all that makes it perfectly unique. The Crunch marches on, however, and I eagerly await the next edition. For all you comickers out there, the deadline is the first of November. So get out your inks and start creating—perhaps you’ll be part of the next experience. I maintain high hopes that HCCC can move further beyond its debut. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting, reading, sketching speech bubbles on the sides of my notes as I go. Jackie Leong ’16 (jacquelineleong@college) doesn’t mind when things get graphic.

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When The Curtains Rise | by Shreya Vardhan

Sights, sounds, and words at Harvard.

t begins, of course, with a script: words. In what ways does the performance of a play translate those words? It lends color and texture to the images, and defines the voices and tones of the conversations. Two shows by the Harvard-Radcliffe Drama Club this weekend — an ancient Greek tragedy and a 19th century farce — differed not only in origin and genre but also in the predominant mode of expression: while The Bacchae at the Loeb Ex was a series of vivid and moving images, Is He Dead? at the Adams Pool Theatre was a delightful polyphony full of clever lines in lively voices. The Bacchae is Eurypides’s story of the tragic conflict between Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy, and Pentheus, King of Thebes, who strongly disapproves of both. This retelling of this classic story adds one striking — and very effective — twist to it: Dionysus chooses to appear in the form of a woman rather than a man. Seeking to be recognized as a fullfledged god (a recognition denied to her on account of her parentage), Dionysus enters Thebes with her mirthful Bacchae, a cult of young women devoted to her who indulge nightly in orgiastic songs, dances, and rites in the forest. As the women of Thebes begin to join their ranks, an enraged Pentheus imprisons their leader (Dionysus in disguise) and tries to put an end to the Bacchic rites. A bloody contest ensues. The play interestingly mixes the depiction of both abstract sentiments and very concrete events. It is filled with elements of Classical Greek storytelling — and that is a very elemental kind of storytelling indeed — contests, challenges, worship, intrigue, and deception; the hubris of mortals; the wrath of the gods and their terrible power. At the same time, the constant endeavour of the performance — through details of stage setting, acting and interaction between characters — is the depiction of emotional complexity. The Bacchae is a vividly visual experience. The first thing you see as you walk into the theatre is Dionysus sitting at the edge of the stage, silently looking around at the audience in a sneering, casually appraising sort of way while drumbeats sound in the background. There is a tree in a corner, composed of reddish wooden planks, and red candles on the floor beside it. There are also a couple of antique chairs lying by the stage, which over the course of the play serve not only as seats for offenders in custody or for characters watching the action unfold, but also —in a clever play of 8 harvardindependent.com

light and shadow — as prison bars. Every part of the stage is employed, even the bars of the ceiling, from among which (for instance) a head peeking from the top of a tree might look down. You have a sense of being surrounded by the story; it leaves you with an impression of bounty and abandon that is itself reminiscent of a Bacchic rite. The constant presence of the Bacchae, with their colourful costumes and resonating voices, is responsible in largest part for this impression. Their first entry brings a very tangible sense of laughter and revelling to the stage. There is a number of very powerful scenes: in one of these, in response to Dionysus’s command to raise a divine earthquake, the Bacchae set up a vigorous, eerie rhythm with the stomping of their feat and their dance; in another, the stage is covered with a wrathful cloud of smoke from which voices and forms gradually emerge. The four Bacchae are essentially a collective role (and they represent a much larger group quite effectively); they laugh and dance in unison, and often echo each other in different pitches and tones. They also occasionally break out of this collective into individual characters, transforming seamlessly into Pentheus’s messengers or into members of their cult, sometimes voicing an emotion that suddenly contradicts the prevailing mood and changes it. Enactment and narration is often combined in interesting ways in the play; as one of the Bacchae narrates an occurrence, the others enact fragments of it. In each scene, the cast simply unites to represent one emotion as fully as possible. The characters of Mark Twain’s Is He Dead?, on the other hand, are not symbols; they are very cohesive people, replete with individual absurdities. The play tells the story of a fictionalized version of the French artist Jean-François Millet, whose considerable talent has thus far failed to translate into considerable finances. He is in the debt of a picture dealer named Andre — with luxuriant mustache and a still more luxuriant French accent, to whom he risks losing not only a large amount of money but also his girlfriend Marie unless he succeeds in selling his paintings. Of course, this is an impossible undertaking, as no painter, in the public’s estimation, can be good until he is dead; Millet’s friends, Chicago, Dutchy, and O’Shaughnessy persuade him to go along with what seems to be the only solution: to pretend to be dead and assume the role of his (imaginary) twin sister, the widow Tillou. This enterprise has a number of unforeseen consequences, and hilarity

ensues. The stage is set up in a rather conventional way — very different, of course, from The Bacchae — that somehow bears the air of a lively domestic comedy: You can almost see the playwright’s description of the room (Artist’s studio. Paintings on wall. Door to the left. Door to the right.), and every scene is in fact set in that one room. A wholesome number and variety of characters, played by uniformly excellent actors, populate this space in the course of the play; the multifarious ridiculousness of these people is the main source of humour and entertainment, and it is certainly a sound source that yields both clever wordplay and slapstick humour. While The Bacchae tries to break from ordinary gestures and forms of expression to represent deep sentiment, Is He Dead? takes the opposite approach: actions, gestures and words of our daily lives are reproduced, and their comical aspects are exaggerated. The greatest charm of the play is in its brilliant dialogues and in the hilarious course of the story. All the while, the central question of how an artist cannot be great unless he’s dead remains a significant point of social satire, in Mark Twain’s characteristic way of dealing with serious ideas playfully. It was interesting, then, to see through these shows how versatile the ways employed by theatre to tell a story can be, and even how the same dramatic devices can be used in various ways. Interestingly, both plays used cross-dressing and dual roles, to very different effects. The Bacchae and Is He Dead? proved two very distinct and very memorable theatrical experiences. Shreya Vardhan ’17 (shreyavardhan@college) thinks Mark Twain was extremely funny, but will always frown upon his remarks on Jane Austen, 10.17.13 • The Harvard Independent

It’s All Fun and Games The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club puts on a wild performance of The Bacchae.

By RAYNOR KUANG

or a play centered on Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry, rawness in all its forms is everything. The Bacchae, a play by the ancient Greek tragedian Euripides, undertakes an analysis of rawness as madness. The story examines an incident from Greek mythology in which Dionysus returns to his hometown of Thebes and inspires the women of the city to become the Bacchae, frenzied devotees of the god who engage in all sorts of lawless celebration. Pentheus, the sensible king of Thebes, views the festivities with reproach, while his mother Agave engages in a midlife crisis gone bad. The Harvard-Radcliff Dramatic Club’s production of The Bacchae, directed by Anna Hagen ‘15, recognizes those themes and works on delving even deeper into rawness and embracing intimacy. The production uses the Loeb Experimental Theater — an enclosed “black box” of a stage barely bigger than a dorm suite common room — to artfully establish a claustrophobic atmosphere and force the stage upon the audience. As the audience first walks into the room, they’re confronted by the darkest of lighting and a glibly smiling Dionysus, played by Rachel Gibian ‘15, who sits on the edge of the stage while a strong bass pulses overhead. Much the same takes place for the remainder of the play. Dionysus carries herself (yes, herself: androgeneity is part and parcel of Dionysus’s resume) with a skillfully tuned sultriness, making full use of a tight black miniskirt outfit to pull off some very Sharon Stoneesque moments. Agave, played by Carter Stratton ’16, and the chorus (a group of characters who fulfill various roles in the play and comment with narratorial authority — played by Mary Hallowell ‘14, Caroline Hubbard ‘17, and Sara Rosenburg ‘16), who make up the Bacchae, race to and fro in frenzies about the stage, unleashing shrieks and moans in conjunction with the most The Harvard Independent • 10.17.13

sensual of Euripides’s dialogue to create an undeniably sexual atmosphere, one that feels loose and unrestrained. The loud thunking of some clever chair props builds a strong beat that resonates on a feral frequency. With that bare humanity in tow, the HRDC’s performance reached near to The Bacchae’s status as pure tragedy, yet freshman James Graham’s performance as Pentheus worryingly compromised that label. Pentheus’s demeanor was so bratty, his dialogue played in such a spoiled manner — a omnipresent slouch and sneer that presented too much Graham and too little Pentheus — that the play seemed more pathetic than tragic. By the play’s end, it felt like Pentheus deserved his fate, or at least something that would get him off the stage. Dionysus at times suffered from similar pretentions, when vengeance became merely melodramatic — somewhat symptomatic of the play’s end, when the mourning seemed almost awkwardly abrupt — and the sexy act felt like uncomfortably watching a rather unsexy schoolgirl flirt. Agave and the chorus’s performance, however, was exemplary, a discordant display of emotions that fit perfectly into the play’s scheme of madness, and the cast was mostly laudable in smoothly executing a stage choreography that appeared frenetic yet under control. That said, Pentheus’s exasperating character might well be taken as the true point of the play. While the stuffy and authoritarian Pentheus at moments underlines the liberating fun of the Bacchae, he also serves as a chilling reminder of what can go wrong — the “until” to the fun and games. Hagen’s direction is aware of this, and for all the rapidly moving, chaotic elements in the production, the play ended on a fittingly somber tone. Even Dionysus for a moment appears grounded from godliness. For all the wild entertainment of The Bacchae, the ride ends, stomachchurned, hair-mussed, but with a new sense of release that threatens to break out dangerously at any time. Raynor Kuang ’17 (raynorkuang@college) would love to get a little raw, if only his roommates would stop taking videos of his dancing.

Pops Lock & Drop It A review of the Harvard Pops fall concert. By WILL HARRINGTON

he Harvard Pops are usually nothing but fun, and they delivered again with their latest fall show Pops Gets a Clue. If you’ve never been to a Pops concert before, here’s the skinny. They’re one of the funniest groups on campus. They use orchestral arrangements of pop songs combined with an original script to tell a story about — something. The music advances the plot in some way that is either related to the title and mood of the piece, or not at all, because they just wanted to play it! This time, however, the show focused on a murder at Cambridge University in Harvard, England, where we followed an intrepid reporter for the student publication Magenta as she solved the crime. From self-referential jokes about Dean Pfister simply loving a good mystery like theirs, a certain other publication’s reputation for misquoting, and a poster that seemed to show Sherlock Holmes smoking a bubble pipe and eating a lolly, Pops kept it real. The actors they have running through the Adams tunnels (there’s a video segment, with live underscoring) carry their script throughout most of the show. Lines are misread from time-to-time: you can tell, and it doesn’t matter. There is a beautiful lack of pretention in the show, the music is superb and properly orchestral and grand and moving, but the whole business is still intimate and fun. And I open with a review of the script and non-music portion of the show because I want to emphasize that Pops isn’t a concert — it’s a performance. Not that anybody should ever need an excuse to perform “Wannabe” while backed by a section of violins and accordion, but they have one. The dialogue often leads into the music (“Wannabe” is led in by an interrogation seeking what they want to hear) giving the show a seamless transition. Without the dialogue, it wouldn’t be Pops. It wouldn’t be bad, or better, it just wouldn’t be Pops. And then the music plays. And it is good. They shine because they successfully use all the talent they have. Keep an eye on Sam Wu ‘17, who arranged and contributed two original pieces. His music was beautiful and I look forward to listening to his further contributions to the arts at Harvard. His work wonderfully incorporated the variety of instruments that Pops has to work with, from the accordion and theremin to the brass and woodwinds — all instruments played excellently. Pops has a real strength in both depth of players and ability. The performances are held in Lowell Lecture Hall so it’s possible to sit next to, and not just in front of, the action. I sat across from the violin section and I found myself able to see the three rows lined-up, playing in identical physical unison like their wrists and elbows were each attached to a puppeteers pole, and it sounded great too. Three people perfectly playing, alongside the rest of their cohort in first violin, and that’s not even including the second violins sitting next to them and all the other instruments. They play and sound professional in the low-key environment they build. Maybe somebody with more musical background can tell me they were all flat, or slow, or fast, but I wouldn’t want to hear it. Pops is a force to be reckoned with; they have skill, talent, and creativity, and they bring it all together to put on a really fun show. I look forward to their spring concert on April 4. Will Harrington ‘16 (harrington@college.harvard.edu) is not afraid to admit that his favorite Spice Girl is Sporty Spice. harvardindependent.com

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Hyacinths and Biscuits / by michael feehly

Voices of Cambridge: a highlight of Boston Book Festival.

ith the bustle of the Head of the Charles clogging up the Square, word of the Boston Book Festival eluded even the most reliable ears on the ground. The only visible evidence of it within the Harvard bubble was the Saturday closure of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop — surprisingly, a source of consternation for a few tourists I dashed past on my way to Copley Square. I was on my way to Copley to take part in the Book Festival, to take my leave of the somewhat over-boisterous festival along the Charles. Remember those not-too-distant autumns when there would be snow falling during the regatta, the flakes stirred into the river by the oars, the oarsmen’s white-steam breath in visible unison? I’m drawn wherever there is the most poetry; absent snow, I set course for Boston. If circumstances permitted time for only one event, Voices of Cambridge was that event. I should know, or at least so hope, since I had time for only one reading and decided on attending a reading of three Cambridge poets — if I name them, it’ll be clear why this reading was singularly appetizing and necessary. The first reader was David Rivard, author of Otherwise Elsewhere and director of the MFA writing program at the University of New Hampshire. Reading second was Stephen Burt, director of undergraduate studies in English here at Harvard, an influential critic of contemporary American poetry, and author most recently of Belmont. Last but by no means least — Lucie BrockBroido! Brock-Broido is the director of poetry in the writing department of the Columbia University School of the Arts; she could easily lay claim to the title of ‘most important woman in American poetry,’ especially now upon the release of her newest volume Stay, Illusion. Stay, Illusion is Brock-Broido’s first book since 2004. “I only write a book every ten years or so,” she joked. Rivard began the reading with a series of poems he referred to as protest songs — true to the Cambridge spirit, he added. With a tall pint of coppercolored beer on the lectern, Rivard read for 15 minutes. His verse was strong, direct, and used what the patterns of everyday speech, heightened to poetry by his delivery and well-timed deployment of elevated 10 harvardindependent.com

diction. Rivard brought a mixture of verve, political engagement, and refreshingly direct and intelligible style to the reading; the voices of his poems’ speakers captured an important aspect of the spirit of Cambridge — the working class and gritty side of the city, the fraternal twin of Harvard’s ivy and ivory. Some applause, I heard. It’s a difficult thing: to applaud at a poetry reading. Consider: the poetry reading is a serious affair, a high-minded hour not unlike a sermon, an aesthetic purgative sometimes taxing on the attention and the body. So — don’t applaud? Yet, consider: the poetry reading is a performance, a display of virtuosity not entirely different from that of a vocal soloist. So, applaud! Or not. The best rule of thumb is to keep your hands firmly clasped upon your knees until others break out into applause — concert etiquette applies at the poetry reading. Don’t be the guy who claps before the concerto ends; don’t be the gal who claps at a stanza break, not the poem’s end. After Rivard sat down, Stephen Burt leapt to the lectern. Truth be told — I’ve never taken a class with Professor Burt, but I do see him often in Mather Dining Hall for lunch. (Professor Burt — if you were reading, I’d love to have lunch with you, talk poetry.) I mention this because it wasn’t a surprise to see him there, for, unlike most poets who are names on a page to me, I had a mental image and idea of the man who would be reading. Besides, I’d read Burt’s work — spent the summer with my nose between the pages of his essays, his poetry; spent my summer waiting for Belmont to be released, bought by Widener, put on the shelf in the Woodberry Poetry Room. I thought I would be immune to any surprise, but I had been mistaken. Burt had energy, electrifying energy. Even in reading a brand new poem — not yet published! — Burt had confidence and fluency beyond my expectations. His latest poems from Belmont touched upon the experiences of suburban life, young parents with young children, and the challenges these present to one’s sense of self. A highlight of Burt’s performance was his reading from his own son’s book Why I Am Not a Toddler — written by Cooper Bennett Burt, aged one, with help from his father. Nothing could be a clear exploration of this question of parenthood

than such a book, which conflates father and son. This prompted another joke from Lucie Brock-Broido as she took the podium: “Most of my poems are written by cats.” Brock-Broido read three poems from Stay, Illusion: “Freedom of Speech,” “Contributor’s Note,” and “Of Rickey Ray Rector.” Although her reading was the shortest, I thought it was the most powerful and affecting. When BrockBroido spoke about her poems, her voice was light, her verbal path wandering into digression, her frame slightly trembling. But when she spoke as poet, and read her poetry, her voice became firm, an irresistible, entrancing instrument; her body became solid as conviction. Watching Brock-Broido read was watching a transfiguration. It would have been enough — just this perfect execution. Yet, there was more: Brock-Broido’s new poems are breathtaking. I purchased a copy — Lucie was kind enough to sign it, draw a little heart on the Knopf Borzoi. In “Contributor’s Note”: “See, each four-legged rests his face against / The fence’s slats and asks / No questions: why or how. How long.” The poem creates a complex world of relationship between the poet who must submit a contributor’s note for publication and the horses on a farm who question, or don’t, the intentions of the farmers who slaughter the horses but are “not making use / Of every single part of the horse / That was given… / His mane. His heart his gait his cello tail / His joy in finding apples fallen.” Her sympathy for animals extends throughout the work, expanding to sympathy for executed men in her poems “Of Rickey Ray Rector” and “Of Tookie Williams.” Though Brock-Broido may have anxieties concerning the task of writing, the duty of the poet to make the most of her talents, she is perhaps too exacting, too stringent with herself. Her work — and the work of Burt and Rivard — confirmed in my eyes that the Boston Book Festival made use of every ounce of the poets’ literary talents. Michael Feehly ’14 (michael.feehly@college. harvard.edu) is off for a jog in the broken but beautiful world Brock-Broido inhabits. 10.17.13 • The Harvard Independent

Sports

indy

Food Is Where the Head Is

A review for those of us only in it for the atmosphere. By MEGHAN BROOKS

he weather for this weekend’s Head of the Charles — the forty-ninth — was glorious. Saturday, spectators walked the banks of the Charles in sunglasses and short sleeves, or likelier, polos and sleeveless Patagonia vests. Sunday, the temperatures dropped, but the sun remained. Blondes in aviators and Barbour jackets ate kettlecorn while browsing the Brooks Brothers tent, passing by rows of seventysomethings in pilled Harvard pullovers encamped in folding chairs among the reeds. Throughout, college boys in Nantucket red shorts dangled over the Weeks Bridge balustrade, whooping at boats speeding below, and then rushing (or attempting to rush) through the crowd as the crews emerged on the other side. They are the last vestiges of the early years of the Head of the Charles, when it was renown for drawing massive crowds of drunken college students from throughout the Northeast. Years of Dartmouth kids sleeping in House hallways and Yalies belligerently urinating in the Yard prompted a Harvard and Cambridge police crackdown on open container laws and an administrative ban on the traditional keggers and the frowned-upon “Houses-as-

hostels” phenomenon. As such, Head of the Charles weekend stirs little excitement in most corners of campus, and the riverbank is likelier to host toddlers and their grandparents than the full membership of a BU frat. What remains, then, for those of us too enchanted by the fall sun to spend the weekend planted in the library as we should, are free samples. While the tents closer to Weld Boathouse by the Anderson Memorial Bridge are generally dedicated to prep staples and regatta merchandise (baseball cap with logo, anyone?), beyond the food stands selling clam chowder, fried dough, and the usual festival fare, are the yuppie companies looking to hook the “young affluent alumni” — per the organizing committee’s phrasing — on their overpriced granola bars and gluten-free gummy snacks via free samples. In the last three years alone, the banks of the Charles have seen, among other samples, Turkey Hill ice cream cups, Stacy’s pita chips, 5-hour energy samples, Sabra hummus, Special K and PopChips popcorn chips, Lärabars, Starbucks energy drinks, veggie chips, Amy’s macaroni and cheese, Kashi granola bars, UnReal

Scaredy Cats

candy, and all the chapstick a pair of lips might need. In those halcyon days, a pair of roommates could swing through the Weld exhibition and within half an hour have accumulated enough samples to last through November. This weekend, however, pickings were sparse. Along the entirety of the Harvard side of the riverbank, Dunster to Eliot, the free samples were 5-hour energy shots, protein milk, MorningStar mini burgers, and miniature thinkThin granola bars. Needless to say, Harvard students trawling the river for free snacks felt short-changed. Harvard and the Cambridge police took our day drinking from us, and now forces beyond our knowledge have thinned the free samples. While Brooks Brothers will likely not be moved, for those of us unable or unwilling to shell out one hundred and fifty dollars for a quilted vest or even five dollars for a plate of fried dough, is the Head of the Charles to be solely about rowing? I certainly hope not. Meghan Brooks ’14 (meghanbrooks@college) find the thinkThin bars unpalatable.

Women’s Rugby shuts out the Princeton Tigers.

By SHAQUILLA HARRIGAN

aturday was a fantastic day for athletics in the Boston/ Cambridge area. The Red Sox won the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers and are going to the World Series. The Harvard Football team beat Lafayette 35-16. But, most importantly, the Women’s Rugby Team destroyed Princeton 36-0. Heading into its final game of the season, the newest varsity sport had much to be proud of. The team, with incredible senior leadership from Ali Haber, Xanni Brown, Brandy Machado, Shelby Lin, Cayla Calderwood, Rachael Foo, Gracie Hurley, Angela Song, and Nida Naushad, has performed remarkably well under the pressure of its first varsity season. Calderwood explained that this final game had much more importance than only a victory: “Before the season ends myself and the other seniors would really like to help ingrain in the team a tradition of success that can continue in the years to come.” Everything leading up to the start of the game was a harbinger for the team’s success over Princeton. The sun was shining and the there was a The Harvard Independent • 10.24.13

perfect breeze to welcome fans to the team’s last home game of the season. Even the Harvard Band took a break from warm-ups to play fight songs on behalf of the team. Early in the game, Aniebiet Abasi ‘15 scored the team’s first try, and Captain Xanni Brown tacked on the conversion shortly after. Abasi has scored in every game this season except for one. Princeton came close to scoring a try but was interrupted by Harvard’s stanch defense, which became a theme for the day. Close to the end of the first half, Brown scored both a try and the conversion. Princeton closed the first half without answering any of Harvard’s tries, and the Crimson led the Tigers 14-0. At the start of the second half, Cayla Calderwood scored a third try for Harvard on an amazing run through and past the squad in orange. Brown brought Harvard’s point total to twenty-one, with her third perfect conversion kick of the game. Despite not making the final two conversions of the game, Brown added onto the onslaught by touching down two more times.

Captain Ali Haber closed out the game by scoring a final try with 5:02 minutes of playing time left. The Harvard Crimson turned a slew of tigers into scaredy cats by winning the game 36-0. Calderwood noted the importance of the win, saying, “Beating Princeton is something everyone on the team has been looking forward to for a long time, but the exciting thing about the win was seeing how much better we were playing, how this team that had been built up into a goliath in our minds was totally within our reach now.” The team’s play seems to be becoming more dominant by the minute in the past few games. “I think our turnaround from the Dartmouth game to the Brown and Princeton games has been the most exciting thing this season,” Haber explained, referring to the team’s two dominant victories after a disappointing 10-5 loss to the Big Green earlier this year. “We are so much closer to realizing our potential because of the support and resources and full-time coaching that came as a result of varsity status.” The amount of hard work and dedication the team has put in

since the first game has given the team the momentum to roll over both Brown and Princeton. Hopefully this momentum and tenacity will continue into the team’s play-off season. Saturday’s win against Princeton brought the Crimson’s record to 3-2, and secured the Women’s Rugby team’s spot in the Ivy League Championships on November 2nd and 3rd. Harvard’s first game will be against Brown, whom the Crimson dominated 57-7 earlier in the season. But some of the team is looking for more than just the Bears. “I think the whole team is really looking forward to another shot at Dartmouth,” Calderwood noted. “We’re hoping to really perfect a few specific technical skills before then that should help us play with aggression and in control at the same time” Haber probably summed up the plan for weekend best and most succinctly: “I want to win, and I’m looking forward to playing our hardest to accomplish that” Shaquilla Harrigan ‘16 (sharrigan01@ college.harvard.edu) thinks rugby’s rules are way more understandable than football’s. harvardindependent.com

Sports

Crimson Cruising

Harvard notches fifth victory of the season to stay unbeaten. By SEAN FRAZZETTE

n a sunny Saturday afternoon, Harvard (5-0), ranked twenty-fifth in the Football Championship Subdivision, dominated the Lafayette Leopards (1-5) to the tune of a 35-16 victory, keeping the Crimson undefeated on the season and in great position heading into five straight Ivy League contests to end the year. Lafayette, a member of the Patriot League, has had little luck this year against the Ivies, losing 27-21 to Penn and 42-26 to Princeton earlier in the season. Harvard received the ball to start the game and immediately went to work, executing perfectly both runs and passes, for a fifteen play, seventy-two yard drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown pass from senior Michael Pruneau to senior tight end Cameron Brate. The rest of the first quarter, however, was only a series of punts back and forth, as the game looked to be tightly contested by the Leopards after their initial sloppy defense. But on Lafayette’s first drive of the second quarter, in what looked to be a promising series, sophomore quarterback Andrew Dzurik threw an interception to junior lineback Connor Sheehan, which was returned thirtyfive yards to the Lafayette fortyfive. The turnover offered Harvard’s offense great field position, which was then bolstered only a few plays later by a pass interference call on Lafayette, giving the Crimson an extra fifteen-yards. Two plays later, sophomore running back Paul Stanton Jr. punched the ball into the end zone to give Harvard a 14-0 lead. Lafayette knocked in on a field goal on the next drive, closing the score to 14-3, which was where it remained until half time. Harvard had another interception on Dzurik, but couldn’t advance the ball much farther. To start the second half, the Leopards put in freshman quarterback Drew Reed, who promptly tossed the third interception of the game to senior defensive back DJ Monroe. While Harvard did nothing after that turnover, Stanton Jr. did score on the next drive, his second score of the game, putting the Crimson up 21-3. Both teams exchanged fumbles at the end of the third, but the score remained going into the fourth 12 harvardindependent.com

quarter. Barely a minute into the forth quarter, Pruneau tossed a thirtyseven yard pass to senior Ricky Zorn, followed by a fifty-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Andrew Fischer. Reed eventually answered a few drives later for Lafayette’s first touchdown of the game, but Pruneau threw his third scoring strike, again to Brate, on the following drive. Reed scored once more through the air for Lafayette but failed on the two point conversion. At that point the game was out of reach, and the 35-16 score remained as final. In the end, Michael Pruneau finished the game 17-29 for 263 yards and 3 touchdown strikes, while Stanton added 113 yards and 2 touchdowns from the ground. But beyond the strong offense, which boasted 450 yards, the Crimson sported a bend-but-don’t-break defense all game. While the Leopards were able to amass a solid 412 yards of total offense, the Crimson forced three interceptions, a fumble lost, three sacks, and five quarterback hurries. Pruneau has been especially strong this season since taking over for injured starter Conner Hempel. The senior has completed 70.6% of his passes for 652 yards, five touchdowns, and only one interception in the three games he has played since Hempel was injured. Stanton Jr. has also been a force on the ground driving the ball into the end zone eight times this season, along with 443 yards rushing. The team defense, which has struggled at times this season to stop the opposition, posted their first game of allowing under twenty points all season, bringing the average points against to 23.6. The offense continued its productivity, totaling over thirty points once again, as they have every game this season, bringing their average to 38.6 points per game. This game was a good sign for the Crimson as they face their toughest opponent yet next week in the Princeton Tigers (4-1). Princeton, who is 2-0 in the Ivy League, beat Harvard in a heartbreaker, 39-34, last year. The Tigers have been very strong this season, with their only loss coming by one point to sixteenth ranked Lehigh in the first game of the season. This season, the team from New Jersey

has averaged a dominant 42.4 points per game, while only allowing 20.2. The game promises to be one packed with Ivy League championship hopes. It will be at Harvard on October 26, at 1:00 pm. As the season moves on, the Crimson look to be in excellent position to once again contend for the Ivy League title. Last year, the squad entered the Princeton game with a similar 5-0 record, before finishing the season 3-2, with losses to the Tigers and Penn Quakers, who went on to win the League. Hopefully this year, the big games don’t slip away from the Crimson as they seek to win their second title in three years, and their seventh since Coach Tim Murphy took over in 1994. Since 2001, Harvard has

won five Ivy League titles and has posted the fourth highest Division I winning percentage, trailing only perennial Football Bowl Subdivision contenders Boise State, Oklahoma, and Ohio State. The Crimson will look to continue their winning ways as the season continues. Sean Frazzette ’16 (sfrazzette@college) wants Harvard-Yale to come sooner.

Photo by Sean Frazzette

10.24.13 • The Harvard Independent