Crew Cuts

20

C r e w c u t s I ns i de:Regat t as ,r ai n,andI r an.

10.20.11 vol. xlii, no. 30 The Indy is rowing merrily along.

Cover Design by

MIRANDA SHUGARS, SAYANTAN DEB, and ANGELA SONG

FORUM 3 To Crew or Not to Crew?

4 A Noble Peace 5 Intrigue in Iran 5 Apple of Our Eye 6 Just Keep Reading 6 Last Chance Dance ARTS 7 8 8 9

Lightbulb!

Happy Birthday?

Radio Hearts HROvation

SPORTS 10 Row, Row, Row Your Boat 11 Vintage Crew: 1982 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 Weike Wang (independent1969@gmail.com). Letters to the Editor and comments regarding the content of the publication should be addressed to Editor-in-Chief Yuying Luo (independent1969@gmail.com).

Yearly mail subscriptions are available for $30, and semester-long subscriptions are available for $15. To purchase a subscription, email subscriptions@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 © 2010 by The Harvard Independent. All rights reserved.

Co-President Co-President Editor-in-Chief Production Manager News and Forum Editor Arts Editor Associate Arts Editor Sports Editor Design Editor Columnists

Gary Gerbrandt '14 Whitney Lee '14 Meghan Brooks '14 Miranda Shugars '14 Christine Wolfe '14 Sayantan Deb '14 Curtis Lahaie '15 Michael Altman '14 Angela Song '14 Will Simmons '14 Sanyee Yuan '12

Staff Writers Arthur Bartolozzi '12 Cindy Hsu '14 Yuying Luo '12 Zena Mengesha '14 Marina Molarsky-Beck '15 Brad Rose '14 Kalyn Saulsberry '14 Marc Shi '14 Weike Wang '11 Celia Zhang '13 Graphics, Photography, and Design Staff Maria Barragan-Santana '14

Picks of the Week

47th Head of the Charles

Where: The Charles River When: Sat 10/22 8:00-5:00, Sun 10/23 8:00-4:30 What: The banks and bridges of the Charles River will be jam-packed with tourists, Harvard students, and Cambridge-resident revelers this beautiful fall weekend to celebrate the 47th Head of the Charles regatta.

Rowers from all over the world and vendors from all over Boston will converge on our campus this weekend, striving for glory and profit, (respectively). If you’re looking to snag a great viewing spot, get to the Weeks Footbridge or the Larz Anderson Bridge early, but if you’re just out to have a good time, wait for the afternoon sun to spread its warmth over the river.

Student Run Weatherization of OFA and OCS Where: Office of Career Services, 54 Dunster Street When: Sun 10/23 10:00-2:00 What: Want to help reduce Harvard’s greenhouse gas emissions while enjoying the company of environmentally conscious Harvard students and the sweet satisfaction of an honest day’s work? This Sunday, you can help insulate pipes, install energy-efficient lighting, and weatherstrip windows in the Office of Career Services or the Office for the Arts.

No experience is necessary, and lunch is provided. RSVP at https://docs. google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHU0VjIwa19sczZYWlBpR 2EzNktiWUE6MQ&ndplr=1

www.harvardindependent.com 2

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10.20.11 • The Harvard Independent

indy

Forum

Point/Counterpoint Is Crew Overrated?

Yes.

H

An argument for the defense.

By WEIKE WANG a rva r d

is

more

t h a n c r e w. Ye t , rowing and being “Harvard” have become permanently knotted in campus life and our popular image. Case in point: the Winklevoss twins.

It’s not a coincidence that at places like Harvard and Oxford, crew is God (as opposed to a university like Michigan State, where football reigns supreme).

Harvard is a place of classy academics and equally classy sportsmen. I’ll admit it; crew has class. Boats glide through waters like blades.

Crewmen row in sync.

Oars in and out. Crewmen behave. There’s no head-onhead muscle wreckage when teams get angry, unlike the many violent balland-goal oriented sports abounding at other schools.

But crew is just one of many athletic endeavors, and its overemphasis at Harvard only fuels our image as the too-into-itself Ivy Leaguer that makes up for its lack of mascot with lots and lots of crew. I have no issue with crew being a sport at Harvard. I just take issue with the fact that The Harvard Independent • 10.20.11

the sport to do at Harvard is crew.

The life of a rower is often glorified as picturesque and noble—rowing through sunsets and sunrises type of rubbish. Rowers frequently do two-a-days, rain or shine,

and at practice, a small man with a mega phone berates them as they row through sewage water. They say “no guts, no glory,” but there’s nothing glorious about plowing though literal excrement.

But to be fair, let’s think about some nice things to say about rowing at Harvard. · It makes lacrosse sound macho. · It’s the least exercise you can do while technically not sitting still. · It gives final club members something to do between parties. · It’s a good way to make girls think you’re athletic. · It’s still better than going to Yale.

Weike Wang ’11 (wangwe@post. harvard.edu) is not impressed.

I

t’s

By MEGHAN BROOKS the

o n ly

sport

that

originated as a form of capital punishment. It’s eight people, pulling faster and faster, knees bent, back straight, oar blades gliding in and out of water against the sun, the wind, and the rain.

It’s six a.m. practices and vomiting after erg sessions. It’s crazy; and yet, those who choose rowing—or as those pesky North Americans call it, crew—just love it.

“All other athletes just play games,” says a former rower who does not wish to be identified as such. “In crew you’re fully engaged on a physical and psychological level that you can’t reach in other sports, because in no other sport are your movements so intrinsically and obligatorily connected to your teammates’ in that everyone has to be in perfect rhythm or you’ll lose, (or you’ll flip the fricking boat).”

In other words, although the perfect-body producing physical requirements of crew are certainly an advantageous side-effect of the sport, what draws rowers to the water and keeps them there is the camaraderie. As my friend insists, there is no other sport in which the word “team” means more and to which the word “cult” is applied with greater loving accuracy. Rowers make friendships that could not be forged under any other circumstances—they spend infinite hours each year trapped on a narrow boat, spend even more time in training together, and ally themselves through a mutual dedication to the absolute madness of rowing. Rowers don’t just love rowing, but also other rowers.

If the overwhelming team aspect of rowing doesn’t prove its status as a legitimate sport, than the sheer mental and physical effort it requires certainly does.

Crew is perhaps the only sport that truly works every muscle of an athlete’s body. Back, arms, legs, and core—all feel an intense burn as lactic acid builds during

the pure cardio sprint of a race, and in land workouts, rowers cannot concentrate their efforts on a specific part of the body but must instead aim for total fitness.

Rowers eat their meals and rotate their sleep schedules as rowing demands of them. In a sport where each tenth of a second matters, a necessarily high dedication to training and physical preparedness makes crew not only a massive time commitment, but also a sport that produces true athletic bodies and spirits.

The extremely high fitness level of rowers should not be understated. However, the hardest part of crew, though perhaps also the most rewarding, is its mental aspects. Unlike “games”, where strategy and constant variation in play keeps things interesting, in crew there is nothing but brutal physical exertion. With no control over where they are going or how fast they are moving to get there (Coxswains man the rudder and mandate the speeds at which rowers should row), the mental aspect of crew is naught but sheer will. When every muscle of a rower’s body is burning, sweat is obscuring his or her vision, breathing is labored, and there are still three hundred meters left to go, quitting is never an option.

On the contrary, spurred on by the knowledge that one false stroke can lose a race, rowers draw on their obligations to their teammates and their personal determination to keep going. No other sport allows separate personal determinations to conjoin so beautifully nor captures the drama of pain and perseverance more viscerally. In short, crew is not overrated. It is rather a pinnacle of athleticism, camaraderie, and pure sport. It is, however, still crazy.

Meghan Brooks ’14 (meghanbrooks@ college) erged once. She is still sore.

independent1969@gmail.com

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Among Nobels: A Woman’s Vision T

The story of Sirleaf.

Nobel committee recognized seven Harvard alumni for their contributions to physics, medicine, economics, and international development.

Sharing the prize with Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the sole head of state awarded a Nobel Prize this year.

Citing “their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peacebuilding work,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee chose these three women as the ultimate representation of international peace building and societal development.

A 1971 graduate of the Kennedy School of Government, Sirleaf has struggled against deep-rooted misogyny in her native Liberia. Her trajectory is that of a visionary; she is a natural-born leader who seeks to better the lives of her people and set an example for the rest of the world. From her early years, she demonstrated a fearless approach to corruption and the evident gender disparity in the Liberian government. Beginning her political career at the Treasury Department in Liberia, she helped craft revolutionary debt-reducing policies.

Her determination and political pragmatism facilitated her quick rise in Liberian politics, ascending to the position of Liberian Finance Minister in 1979. Nevertheless, her domestic political stardom had to be cut short.

Following the 1980 Liberian coup d’état, Sirleaf had to flee into exile.

With her country always in mind, she worked for different international organizations that emphasized African development. Again, she quickly rose through the ranks of the World Bank and United Nations, culminating with her position as Senior Loan Officer and Assistant Secretary-General, respectively. Watching from afar, she saw her homeland turn into a wasteland as Liberia descended into civil war in 1989. In her 2011 commencement speech at Harvard University, Sirleaf recalled the depths to which Liberia had fallen: “A collapsed economy, huge domestic and external debt arrears, dysfunctional institutions, ruined infrastructure and social capital, poor regional and international 4

his year, the

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relationships, all completely degraded by the scourge of civil war.”

Returning to her native Liberia in 1997, Sirleaf entered the presidential elections with the hopes of gearing her country in the right direction.

She emerged a close second in the highly contested election of 1997. The mismanagement of the winner led, yet again, to civil chaos as Liberia entered yet another period of armed conflict.

Sirleaf had had enough. While in exile in the Ivory Coast, she vowed to return to Liberia after the war and set her country on the right political and economic path.

She did just that. In 2003, she returned to head the Liberian Governance Reform Commission.

She quickly set off to reduce political corruption and encourage equal representation by reforming the mechanisms of the general Auditing Commission, which controls the elections of the Executive and Legislation in Liberia. In 2005, Sirleaf had one goal in mind: become the first democratically elected female president in the African continent. After a vigorous campaign, her inauguration took place on January 16, 2006. “We [the vice-president and I] know that your vote was a vote for change; a vote for peace, security and stability; a vote for individual and national prosperity; a vote for healing and leadership. We have heard you loudly, and we humbly accept your vote of confidence and your mandate,” proclaimed Sirleaf in her 2006 Inaugural Address. Comparing her to Margaret Thatcher, CBS branded Sirleaf as the ‘Iron-Lady’ of Liberia in 2006. Her micromanagement of the national debt and her profound political reforms have made Liberia a more accountable and inclusive nation.

The massive changes in domestic policies are guiding Liberia towards development and social inclusion.

As an increasingly rising political star, Sirleaf has made increasing women’s right a priority not only at the national level, but also in the international stage. In a 2011 panel discussion of the Council of Women Leaders, she hailed the importance

By CARLOS SCHMIDT

of U.N. Women in facilitating the increase in the number of female representatives in government. “For us, democracy is becoming a global entitlement with women as a critical force – one that will increasingly be promoted and protected by collective national and international processes,” stated Sirleaf (to much acclamation from the audience). Speaking at the 2011 Commencement Ceremony at Harvard University, Sirleaf shared some advice with the recent graduates: “I urge you,

therefore, dear Harvard graduates, Class of 2011, to be fearless about the future. Just because something has not been done yet, doesn’t mean it can’t be done now.“ Currently, Sirleaf is seeking a second term as President of Liberia. She will stand for a presidential runoff election on November 8, 2011.

Carlos Schmidt ’15 (cschmidt@college) wishes all Harvard graduates could be this cool.

10.20.11 • The Harvard Independent

indy

Forum

StrangerThan Fiction

L

By CINDY HSU

Tuesday, the United States accused the Iranian government of plotting to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir. The alleged plot not only included the assassination of the Saudi ambassador, but is also said to have planned bombing raids on the Israeli and Saudi embassies in both Washington, D.C. and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Manssor Arbabsiar, an IranianAmerican from Texas, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s Qods Force, were charged in New York for participating in the plot. The Qods Force is a special unit of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has been known to sponsor and promote terrorist activities in other countries. Apparently, Arbabsiar had attempted to hire associates of a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the assassination. Arbabsiar was arrested on September 29, 2011, but Shakuri ast

remains at large.

Even though there has been skepticism about whether the Iraninan government had directed the plot, President Obama has made it clear that he supports the accusations and is now seeking to apply the “toughest sanctions” against Iran. The administration has already reached out to allies and the international community as international support may give the U.S. greater leverage over Iran. However, the degree of support that the United States will receive is still unknown. The administration plans to persuade other nations to endorse tougher sanctions against Iran, though the United States has already pushed its international partners to place limited sanctions against Iranian officials involved with the nuclear program. As Russia and China have been reluctant to fully support even the more lenient sanctions, it is doubtful that they

House of Jobs I

Explaining the Iranian assassination plot. would agree to more stringent bans.

Although Iranian officials have adamantly denied the charges of involvement, the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced this Monday that Iran is ready to investigate the assassination charges.

Salehi and other Iranian officials continued to maintain that the Iranian government played no part in the alleged plot, which has led to greater tension with the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Historical rivalry certainly gives Iran an incentive to plan the assassination and bomb attacks. As the Sunni Arab power in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia shares a historical rivalry with Iran, the countering Shiite power. Since the Iranian Revolution, the two nations have competed with each other over for the leadership of the Muslim world, as well as for claims as to who speaks for Islam.

The United States and Iran’s

relations were already strained at best, and this latest Iranian plot has only worsened the relationship between the two countries. While President Obama has not laid out specific sanctions, there is the possibility that demands for stricter sanctions may reignite debate over a potential military strike to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program. Some experts are concerned that the window to seriously damage the program may be closing, which will only fuel Conservatives’ demands for military action. Though President Obama has expressed desire to use diplomacy rather than the military in the past, the Iranian plot may have destroyed the possibility of settling the nuclear deadlock through diplomatic means.

Cindy Hsu ’14 (cindyhsu@college) gives this plot two thumbs down. Roger Ebert agrees.

By GARY GERBRANDT

How Apple has worked its way under our skin.

t’s a strange phenomenon to

explain. How has one company managed to come from nowhere and take over the consumer electronics market, fundamentally redefining several industries in the process? How is it that said company was fading into obscurity only little more than a decade ago? How has a movement sprung up that obsessively follows every possible move said company makes and analyzes them to the point of absurdity?

Apple, the company which made the ancient, plastic-chassis iMac which sits on my desk, which sold upwards of four million iPhone 4S devices this past weekend, and which designed and built almost every piece of electronics I have owned and used since 2007, is an enigma. Its obsession with marketing and good design has saved the company, rocketing it from obscurity to one of the world’s two or three most valuable companies.

When Steve Jobs left the company amid squabbling over the corporation’s future in the 1980s, Apple almost fell apart. It released a long string of weak, expensive products that relied on proprietary and inferior technology.

Some of the pieces that foreshadowed

The Harvard Independent • 10.20.11

yesterday’s iPods and today’s iPhones and iPads, such as the “innovative” Newton, were commercial failures and embarrassments. Apple spent millions of dollars and a good many years on a project to redesign the original Mac OS, one that was in the end completely shut down.

Meanwhile, Steve Jobs was founding Pixar and producing some of the highest-grossing and best-loved films of all time. The man who had run Apple in the early 1980s, when the company was producing some of its most widely purchased personal computers, was redefining the film industry. He was working on an experimental software company, NeXT, when Apple, lacking its crucial core (har har), purchased his company and reinstalled Jobs as its CEO. NeXT’s software became the basis for Mac OS X (a software running on a vast majority of Harvard students’ computers), which is in turn the basis for iOS, powering every iPad, iPhone and iPod touch in the world.

It’s amazing to consider that, ten years ago, the iPod was a novelty, a novelty that had just been announced and was an expensive, extraneous hunk of plastic. The iPod touch was released in 2007, the same year as the

iPhone. Apple’s modern MacBooks— with their familiar aluminum bodies and black glass screen bezels—were only first released in 2008. The iPad was released in 2010. Steve Jobs’ Apple completely changed the music and media industry with iTunes. Apple created a product with solid quality and better sex appeal, and it did so in just 13 years.

The future is now. We have a magical network that connects us to every other person in the world, and we navigate it wirelessly with our fingers on devices that fit in our pockets. Music, videos, books and virtually everything else on the Internet is always accessible. We have cameras in our pockets to record each moment of our life. In the time Steve Jobs spent leading Apple, he led a technological revolution that has left virtually no person untouched.

Steve Jobs’ biography is being released this coming Monday. It should be a fascinating story about a fascinating man, who has changed the world in remarkable ways.

Gary Gerbrandt ‘14 (garygerbrandt@college) is a Mac Man, backwards and forwards.

independent1969@gmail.com

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D

Anatomy of a Senior Thesis

uring this past summer, my first

goal upon arriving to New York City had been to obtain a library card. Between the 6pm closing time for different branches, the closedall-day-Sunday policy, and the fact that I typically got off from work at 7pm, I was not able to get my coveted card until a week into my stay in the Big Apple. Once I had it, though, I went crazy. Book-borrowing crazy.

I covered my half of the floor in the shared bedroom that I was subletting with library books. They all came from my reading list: ones that had been recently made into movies, ones that pertained to New York life, ones that topped the New York Times, and ones that I had been meaning to get around to during the school year.

One evening, my friend came to visit me and he clapped his hands in glee, pointing out that I was just like Matilda. I smiled wryly in response, although I was secretly pleased to be likened to one of my favorite literary characters (who wouldn’t be?).

Searching for books for my thesis was no different. Actually, it was just like my New York experience, except that I spent two weeks straight in the Harvard library system. I would look up books online on the Hollis catalog,

write down names and call numbers of the books that looked promising, and dive right into the stacks, where I would find additional books to supplement my list. I mostly made use of Gutman, Tozzer, Widener, and Lamont—I missed many meals because I would only be halfway through my newest list as the bells tolled for lunch and dinner.

My thesis had originally focused on interviewing other students, writing down their stories, creating monologues and characters out of their narratives, and staging a performance. So, my key words for my initial search had included ‘ethnography,’ ‘performance studies,’ ‘dramatic theory,’ ‘narrative theory,’ and ‘biography.’ However, once I changed my thesis to the subject of writing my own story and creating a performance out of my personal piece, I replaced the books on ethnography with ones centered on autoethnography and switched to looking up the art of autobiography and memoir.

In addition to books that delved into writing one’s own story, I put together a segment of my reading list that included examples of real stories and autobiographies. I couldn’t help but feel self-indulgent as I picked

The Senior Bucket List

I

The Harvard Gazette this past week when I learned that Fareed Zakaria, the international affairs expert and editor of Time magazine, had been named the 2012 commencement speaker. It didn’t hit me until after I had finished reading that Mr. Zakaria would be speaking at my commencement. It was yet another “oh-my-god-I’m-actually-graduating-inseven-months” moment. It happens every time I see a freshman wearing a ’15 shirt (the dorm t-shirts are still the same color after all these years), every time I am asked what year I am, and every time I get an email listing postgrad opportunities—that will soon be me. There are things I won’t miss about Harvard (no more move-ins up five flights of stairs), but the things I will miss far outnumber those that I was reading

6

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Part II: chopping down the syllabus.

By SANYEE YUAN the books out for this section simply because these were books that I would have happily read for fun.

First, I unearthed the Ashley Judd memoir, All That is Bitter and Sweet that I had been planning to read this summer, written by the actress slash activist (who’s one of my role models).

I also dug out CNN correspondents Anderson Cooper’s Dispatches from the Edge and Soledad O’Brien’s The Next Big Story from within Widener stacks—and peeled out Hollywood director Nora Ephron’s I Remember Nothing from the Farnsworth room in Lamont. I added on Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards, Ted Koppel, Tom Brokaw, and Walter Cronkite’s memoirs before stopping to take a breather. Then, I topped off the list with a book that had been featured on Good Morning America, written by a woman who had stood by her husband to save their marriage even when he said he no longer loved her. “I’ll study how she uses her own voice to recount this emotionally gripping time in her life,” I rationalized to myself, as I added the volume, This Is Not the Story You Think It Is, to my trusty Widenersupplied shopping basket for stackssleuths.

When no one was looking, I threw

Dance, Dance, Dance.

am willing to leave behind.

As a senior, I don’t feel as wise as I expected—just more seasoned (or jaded). I noticed myself take for granted everything around me: from the panoply of political and artistic leaders that visit our campus on a weekly basis to the amazing events put on by various student groups.

But now the specter of limited time is an unexpected motivator: no longer can I put off things that I wanted to do or experience until next year.

My housemaster said at our Red Tie dinner last year that one of the best pieces of advice he could give us was to make a list of things we wanted to do at Harvard as early as possible.

While there is the proverbial “the three things you have to do before you graduate Harvard” list, my list

since then has become quite extensive.

In this column, I will chronicle my journey in ticking off items on my senior bucket list.

First up: performing in a dance routine. Dance was one of the top things-to-do on my list. Having studied ballet for a few years and traditional Chinese dancing when I was younger (much younger), dancing was something I wanted to try when I first got into Harvard. However, I always ended up being too busy for weekly rehearsals.

It’s funny that as a senior and a thesis writer, I am finally able to find the time. As a disclaimer, I should mention that I am probably one of the most uncoordinated people out there, despite having studied dance and done gymnastics. This year, I joined AADT (Asian-American Dance Troupe) — the

in Eric Clapton and Patti Boyd’s autobiographies into the basket for good measure. After one of my friends had told me about their love triangle with George Harrison, I had been hankering to investigate and write a screenplay about the intrigue and forbidden romance. Now I could research them and simultaneously take down notes on writing autobiographically for my thesis.

By the time I finally sat down to go through my books and compile a syllabus for my thesis tutorial, I had stacks upon stacks of books covering my common room floor, and my library account listed 150 as the number checked out. I spent several nights sprawled on my beanbag chair, an island surrounded by piles of books, and finally narrowed down my syllabus to 112 books under three main sections. (1) Culture and Storytelling, (2) Methodology of Storytelling: How to Tell Stories, and (3) Examples / Representing Stories: Storytelling on the Stage and Page.

With the syllabus of stories honed and crafted now, it’s time for me to get to reading.

Sanyee Yuan ’12 (syuan@fas) thanks the men of Eliot Room B-53 for donating their extra bookshelf to give a home for her thesis books.

By YUYING LUO fact that AADT is a non-audition group also might have helped.

The first two rehearsals for my particular piece were a blur—an intense blur—but rehearsal has already become something I look forward to every week. Dancing is so different from anything else I am doing; part of me regrets not making dance a regular part of my life sooner.

The energy it gives me is something I didn’t realize I missed, and I am glad that I have discovered another cathartic outlet.

Next on the list: learning to drive.

Yuying Luo ’12 (yluo@fas) hopes that you will make a list too.

10.20.11 • The Harvard Independent

Last Light in Harvard's Sackler Museum.

I

would like to begin this article by

saying that all of the crankiness of last week is gone. Do not be afraid to read ahead; you will not find any post-375th celebration gloating about the rain. I did say that it was all a waste of time and money, and I won.

I mean yes, I did call God up and ask him to make it rain so that I could bask in my self-righteousness. The conversation went something like this: Will: Hey God, so, how about some rain on 375? I need to make a point about waste and elitism and blah blah blah.

God: Dude! Drew told me not to.

Will: Did I stutter?

God: (Silence) Will: Ya, that’s what I thought.

Peace out.

Joking aside, this week, I would like to take a closer look at an object in our very own Sackler Museum. If you have not stepped foot in the Sackler, all I can say is, “LOOK AT YOUR LIFE. LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES.” I don’t know if people still watch Sassy Gay Friend, so forgive me if that joke fell flat.

It is reasonable to assume that when one enters a museum, each work is arranged according to an established method of viewing, likely set down by the artist him/herself. When encountering a composition by Piet Mondrian, for instance, one can expect that it is hanging right side up and not upside-down. However, Untitled (Last Light) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres selfconsciously opposes this traditional viewing structure. As it hangs in the Harvard Art Museums, it consists The Harvard Independent • 10.20.11

of 24 identical light bulbs strung together by an electrical cord that is not visibly connected to a power source.

Arranged vertically on the front of the wall, the bulbs snake downward in an asymmetrical curve that seems both ordered and disparate. The first work visible when one enters the door of the museum, a visitor is sure to encounter it, but he will likely walk right by, unimpressed. GonzalezTorres, interestingly, stipulated that it be exhibited according to the desires of the current owner. It can be hung in multiple configurations, and it can be displayed with the power extinguished. Moreover, he even gave the owner the right to substitute the bulbs with similar ones if the exact bulbs are unavailable.

According to the record of the sale at Christie’s Auction House, Harvard paid a pretty penny for this piece.

You say, “Will! You’ve lost your mind! What ever happened to fiscal responsibility? My five year old could make this. ITS JUST LIGHT BULBS!” I reply, “I think you’re fourteen and an idiot.” Last Sassy Gay Friend reference, I promise.

I would argue that this is one of the most engaging works in Harvard’s entire collection. For one, the implications of its freedom of display certainly reshape both the traditional mores of viewership and the theories behind museum exhibition. Last Light has been shown on a wall, in a pile on the gallery floor, and in a simple straight line reaching down from the ceiling. The fact that Gonzalez-Torres left the configuration of his work to

By WILL SIMMONS the current owner opens up a new aesthetic freedom that combats the static nature of the modern museum.

Compared to many of other artworks in the Sacker, Last Light is a breath of fresh air that speaks to the possibility of a mutable, unpredictable art object.

An Aside: As I was typing this, my iTunes shuffle played the soundtrack from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, followed by Cher. I need help.

Conceptually, the piece is stunning.

The wall text accompanying Last Light makes clear the sorrowful feeling that permeates the piece; one realizes that these bulbs must flicker and burn out.

Much of the melancholy associated with Gonzalez-Torres’s work is tied to the fear manifest in the AIDS crisis. One of his most famous works, in fact, consists of two clocks hung together that begin life at the exact same moment. However, scholars like James Rondeau have noted that one battery must lose power first, and the gradual disappearance of synchronization calls to mind the grief of death. It is well known that Gonzalez-Torres’s partner lost his life to AIDS, and the sense of loss could certainly be said to tinge even the most lighthearted objects, like clocks and bulbs.

All of this can be called into question, of course, because most

modern discourse on art leaves out the intention and biography of the artist in formulating an interpretation about a work of art. This certainly makes sense, since the artist cannot be said to have some higher claim to the significance of a piece than anyone else. What, then, are we to think of the decidedly biographical discussion of Gonzalez-Torres’s art? How does his sexuality and specific place in history factor into Last Light? I would say that Harvard’s interpretation of Last Light is certainly rich and thought provoking, but it must not be presented as the only correct interpretation. Though one could say that conceptual art is a one-trick pony with a singular aesthetic agenda, it is my belief that multiple concepts can be garnered from this one work that have no relation to AIDS or sadness.

They key is to take any reading of an artwork with a grain of salt, as there are so many possible paths one can take. For this reason, the arts are especially valuable in an educational context, wherein students can test the limits of their own cognitive and aesthetic capacities.

Will Simmons ’14 (wsimmons@ college) hopes “Last Light” will shed some light on the multi-interpretative properties of conceptual art. independent1969@gmail.com

7

375 Candles

A review of Harvard's anniversary kickoff.

By CURTIS LAHAIE

Photo by Dean Shu

O

n October 14

, from seven p.m. until midnight, Harvard Yard was filled with undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and alumni in celebration of the 375 th anniversary of Harvard’s founding.

Like the thousands of others in attendance, I was able to experience the array of festivities in honor of Harvard’s birthday. There were some th

W

I walked into the first comp meeting for WHRB, Harvard’s FM radio station, I said to myself, “Oh, score.” The comp directors were nice, the basement of Pennypacker was cooler than any other freshman basement I’ve seen, and I could just tell that something special was going on there. As a sophomore, I’m supposed to be completely set in my social world, satisfied with my extracurriculars, and pretty much done with the comping process (the series of tasks that, when completed, make you an official member of a Harvard organization). Thanks to an anthropologist’s curiosity and a smidgen of geeky thrill seeking, however, I chose to throw caution to the winds and check out the world of radio this semester.

I believe in the power of radio.

Before we were wildly overwhelmed with media, radio was a hugely influential force in this country, and it still could be used to make an impact on many other countries as well. As someone who believes in the hen

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good times, but there were definitely some bad ones as well—some really bad ones.

The Highs First, the desserts were delicious.

The ginormous, H-shaped red velvet cake was truly delectable, as were the many other desserts spread all throughout the Yard, like the Taza

chocolate and liquid-nitrogen ice cream.

Another highlight was the music.

Although Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist and virtuoso, came on stage later than expected, his performance was well worth the wait. The cultural dances, the a cappella acts, and the performance by the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra gave the Yard a celebratory and exciting feel. And of course, closing out the night was a fun-filled dance party (followed, for many, by a mud fight)! Though many might have enjoyed the mud fight, it does bring to mind the many low points of the evening. …And the Lows Harvard was clearly not prepared for the rainy, volatile weather of that night. Since the celebration was in the Yard, people had to walk through mud to experience any of the festivities. I nearly ruined my shoes from walking through the thick mud that night, and I am sure I was not alone. I think rain also just made people illogical: they would often hold up their umbrellas even when it wasn’t raining, making the simple act of walking extremely cumbersome. Though Harvard did provide ponchos, they really didn’t solve the problem. What we truly needed was a completely different location, one without mud, to solve the issue at its root (pun intended).

Harvard was ill prepared in another

respect as well. There were far too many people in attendance. While the food itself was delicious, you had to wait in extremely long lines to be able to get a taste. Also, some of the performances were extremely hard to see because the view was constantly blocked by hordes of people. While the extravagant lighting, special effects, and oversized television screens would have, in any other case, added to the fun of the night, due to the rain and crowds you couldn’t really fully experience anything. Spreading out the activities a bit more would have given people more room to walk and take in the spectacle.

I hope that in the next 25 years H a r v a r d l e a r n s f r o m i t s 3 7 5 th mistakes and makes up for them with a dazzling 400 th celebration.

While I do admit that the food and music were fantastic and well worth the time and effort, the festivities would have been more enjoyable overall had Harvard been more prepared for the awful weather and the massive amount of people.

I do believe, though, that Harvard won’t have to wait twenty-five years to make up for last Friday night, since the celebratory events that are planned for the rest of the year will be, I am sure, much better.

Curtis Lahaie ’15 (clahaie@college.harvard. edu) can’t wait for Harvard to come back strong with other celebrations throughout the year.

Out of Earshot The nearly underground world of Harvard Radio.

By ZENA MENGESHA power of art to affect communities and the power of communication to do truly anything, I was extremely excited to start learning about what I consider an important part of mediascapes around the world.

However, it turns out that not everyone has that same view of radio’s importance to the world. To other people, radio is tired and old.

It has seen its days, and they are far behind us. Spoiler alert for the rest of the article: this is simply not true!

So what does the radio station have to offer a comper (and hopefully future WHRBie) like me? Well, obviously

they play killer music. We all think Pandora is super cool and whatnot, but if you want to broaden your horizons, radio is the way to go.

Plus, you get the human factor that no automated station can give. I’m not talking about those incredibly frustrating recorded ads that no one wants to hear, either. Live DJs are… alive. Lastly, no matter what your activities are, WHRB exposes you to a whole new community of people brought together by some kind of love of music. So, I’m more than halfway through the comp process and loving it. I’ve learned how to announce on

air, how to work some ancient but awesome soundboard equipment, and I’ve guest DJ-ed at 4 AM under the name “DJ PJ.” This was never meant to turn into a full-out endorsement of WHRB, but that’s just how it’s going to be. If you’re looking for a new (and at this point, probably hipster) art form to check out this week, make it radio, and make it WHRB. Stream it live at www.whrb.org.

Zena Mengesha ’14 (mengsha@college. harvard.edu) wonders if her comp director reads the Independent…

10.20.11 • The Harvard Independent

Setting the Audience Alight

By MARINA MOLARSKY-BECK

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weekend’s coinciding Freshman Parents’ Weekend a n d 3 7 5 th a n n i v e r s a r y celebrations brought a flood of visitors to Harvard’s campus. The college was abuzz with festivities to entertain both visitors and members of the Harvard community. It seemed that the campus had become one massive stage for a never-ending string of performances. The choices of entertainment overwhelmed in their variety; Harvard hosted theater, music, dance, and general merrymaking for three straight days.

My music-loving parents persuaded me to attend the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO) concert in Sanders Theatre on Saturday night, and the event proved to be the brilliant, shining peak in a weekend of delights.

Saturday night’s concert kicked off the HRO season to a soaring start. Despite having minimal time to practice as a complete unit, the orchestra played with the cohesion of a single organism.

The program began on a somber note with Peter Lieberson’s “Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres” from his 2005 Neruda Songs. Lieberson, a professor at Harvard in the 1980s, set this poem and others by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to music as a tribute to his wife, the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Lieberson composed his Neruda Songs knowing that Hunt Lieberson, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had little time to live.

The opening line of the poem, “Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres” translates to “My love, if I die and you don’t.” Lieberson’s music, like Neruda’s poem, aches with longing and a prophetic awareness of oncoming loss. Sofia Selowsky ’12 sang with great dignity, nuance, and sensitivity. With her magnetic presence and tremulous mezzosoprano, Selowsky held the audience of Sanders Theatre rapt.

Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde followed Lieberson’s song. Though the “Prelude and Liebestod” originates in Wagner’s opera, the HRO performed it as a purely orchestral work, without ast

The Harvard Independent • 10.20.11

The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra lights up Freshman Parents' Weekend.

vocals. Here the orchestra had a chance to really shine—and shine it did. Under the excellent direction of Assistant Conductor Matthew Aucoin ’12, the orchestra performed a stirring rendition of this soaring work.

The “Prelude and Liebestod” is a sort of SparkNotes version of Tristan und Isolde, an opera that usually takes four or so hours to perform. When Tristan und Isolde is performed in its entirety, the “Prelude” is at the very beginning and the “Liebestod” at the very end. In the opera, Isolde sings the “Liebestod” in the last moments before her death.

“Liebestod” means “love-death,” and for Wagner, Isolde’s death is as revelatory as it is tragic. In fact, Wagner referred to this aria in its orchestral form as the Verklärung, or “transfiguration.” The tense, fraught strains of the “Prelude” eventually give way to swelling arcs of sound in the “Liebestod” that seem to stretch towards the heavens.

As the “Liebestod” slowed to reach its graceful concluding notes, the audience burst into wild applause.

Although Sanders Theatre was not at capacity, its walls rang with the whooping and hollering of supporters in the upper balconies.

The evening drew to a close with Beethoven’s joyous Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. Wagner called Beethoven’s Seventh “the apotheosis of the dance,” and it indeed evokes the feeling of a divine whirl around a ballroom. The work begins with a feeling of quietude that evokes a spring morning and then builds steadily. Beethoven’s music becomes jubilant and expectant, celebratory and ecstatic.

The final movement, the “Allegro con brio,” careened forward at an exhilarating pace. Conductor Federico Cortese displayed a terrific oneness with the orchestra. As the last rapturous notes died out, both the conductor and the performers seemed to be gasping for breath.

Cortese achieved a strange kind of alchemy onstage that allowed the whole orchestra to play as if with one collective mind. At the symphony’s

close, violinists and woodwinds players exchanged giddy smiles. The audience rose almost immediately in a standing ovation.

Saturday’s concert was an evening of musical euphoria. Each and every member of the audience seemed to share the performers’ sense of excitement. As the throng filed out of Sanders Theatre, I overheard snatches of lively conversation.

Two young women were engaged

in a spirited argument about the marriage of language and music in the Neruda Songs. Several students congratulated Selowsky with warm hugs and bright smiles. One man, perhaps a visiting father, said, “That was really something.”

Marina Molarsky-Beck '15 (molarskybeck@ college.harvard.edu) is excited to see how the stage will light up next.

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Sports

Navigating the Charles

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The Indy's guide to the Head of the Charles.

Photos by Maria Barragan-Santana

By MICHAEL ALTMAN

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Harvard’s 3 7 5 th b i r t h d a y a n d i t s extravagantly wet celebration.

If you were disappointed that Friday night’s blowout was practically rained out, fret not: the 47th annual Head of the Charles Regatta is taking place this weekend. The annual race along the Charles River is the most exciting sporting event at Harvard, perhaps second only The Game. Here’s your guide to one of Harvard’s greatest athletic traditions.

Hosted by the Cambridge Boat Club, the Head of the Charles will take place on Saturday October 22nd and Sunday October 23 rd to. The two-day regatta features races from eight o’clock in the morning to fourthirty in the afternoon. The course is a little over three miles long, starting at Boston University’s DeWolfe Boathouse and ending just after the Eliot Bridge. With six bridges total and the regular occurrence of some collisions due to several sharp turns, the course is considered challenging.

Around 300,000 spectators attend throughout the weekend, making this race no small event.

Harvard tends to do well at Head of the Charles. Last year, Harvard placed sixth in men’s Championship Fours and second in men’s Championship Eights, and Radcliffe Crew placed fourth in women’s Championship Fours (each of these competitions are among the most prestigious of the whole regatta). In addition to these achievements, Harvard placed well in numerous other events.

Harvard alumni will also be making appearances in the races, as there are events for alumni and those in boat clubs. Many Harvard alumni rowers stay with the sport since it has such a deep-rooted tradition.

The regatta isn’t only about Harvard, however. Head of the Charles features almost 9,000 athletes and nearly 1,800 boats competing in 56 events, making it the largest two-day rowing event in the world.

Competitors come from high schools, colleges, and boat clubs from all over the world. Skill levels span from ast weekend marked

novice to Olympic, with competitors of ages 14 to 85 years old. This gives the race much more variety than most of the races taking place along the Charles, so there’s something for every spectator’s palate.

Though there are races taking place constantly throughout the day, the most prestigious competitions take place later on, typically in the afternoon. Men’s and women’s Championship Fours and Eights take place toward the end and are the highlight of the event. Not only will Harvard be trying to improve last year’s performance in these races, but many other highly competitive teams will also be vying for the top spot, including rowers from the U.S. National Team. To describe the competition as fierce would be a vast understatement.

The Head of the Charles has become more than just a boat race. The Charity Program, which began over a decade ago, has raised several hundred thousand dollars for various causes. The program guarantees entry for teams able to raise a specified amount, increasing the incentive to give back.

For those unacquainted with crew, the Head of the Charles may seem like a daunting, if not dull sporting event to attend. It’s okay; you’re not alone— literally. Given the regatta’s size and venue, spectators and attendees will be crowding the banks of the Charles River, cheering on boats from numerous schools and countries. Although you can watch hundreds of boats float by on the Charles on any given day, there are only two days per year during which you (and a few hundred thousand others) can watch them actually race by and carefully navigate the river.

Considering athletes from around the world train for years to compete in the Head of the Charles, no Harvard student should take this spectacular tradition for granted, and should make the most of the beautiful fall weekend we have ahead of us to enjoy the fun, food, and sport.

Michael Altman ’14 (maltman@college) is already staking out his spot on Weeks Footbridge.

10.20.11 • The Harvard Independent

Sports

indy

Head of the Charles, c. 1982

Poring over the archives this past week, the Indy editors weren’t particularly surprised to find that over the past forty-odd years certain stories—generally those focusing on annual events or complaining about the food, the housing, etc.—appear time and time again in roughly the same format. The Indy’s coverage of the Head of the Charles has been no exception to this rule. Head of the Charles traditionalists will be pleased to know that over the years the Indy has consistently recommended Weeks Footbridge and Larz Anderson Bridge for prime viewing, that students have always drunk too much (though the drinking aspect of the race lessened somewhat among undergraduates once Massachusetts raised the legal minimum to 21 in 1985), and that a good-natured rowdiness has been the prevailing spirit. In 1987 sports writer Bruce Lee roamed the “banks of the Charles turned fraternity house”, and in 1999 Jared Slade recounted his encounter with a drunk in a Santa suit and a Yankee’s cap against the magnificent backdrop of “shells(s) row(ing) in perfect unison with each other, frantically battling against time and other boats”. Just to give our readers a glimpse of the Head of the Charles in the days of yore, reprinted here for the first time is an abridged version of the Indy’s account of HOCR 1982.

Head Down by the River

Photos by Maria Barragan-Santana

By BILL FITZGERALD and ANDREA GERLIN

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et some sleep tonight.

You’re going to need it. Because, even for the sports-party aficionado, this weekend offers a challenging combination. For starters: a twonight string of parties at Princeton sandwiched around Saturday’s football game. Then it’s up nice and early—or late, depending on your perspective—and back to Cambridge for the main event: the Head of the Charles Regatta. It kicks off early (9:30) Sunday morning and continues, with beer flowing and crews rowing, until late in the afternoon.

Worry about getting back from Princeton, but don’t worry too much about following the action on the water; just sit back and enjoy the confusion. With 18 different events (40 or so entries in each), and nearly 1600 contestants from 200 rowing organizations, a portable personal computer is probably the only way to keep track of it all.

And even with technical aids, the race format makes it almost impossible to tell just who exactly is winning. The crews leave the starting line below the Boston University Bridge in 15-second intervals and then race against the clock—not each other—to the Eliot Bridge, five kilometers away. “The The Harvard Independent • 10.20.11

staggered start makes it difficult for the anxious observer like myself to figure out exactly who is winning,” observed Eliot House senior John Shubin. “Of course, if you watch #10, #11, and #12 go by and then see #25, you know that last crew has gained a lot of ground.”

But for those who insist on the distraction of the boats to complete their on-shore party, there are a number of locations upriver from which to watch the shells in action.

The earliest viewing can be had from the River Street and Western Avenue bridges. The problem is, though, that traffic conditions makes it difficult—and dangerous—to cross the street in order to grab sight of a favorite boat as it approaches and moves beyond the bridge.

A more desirable vantage point is the Weeks footbridge, which is upriver and connects the Dunster-Leverett area with the Business School. There are no hazardous automobiles on this bridge, only slightly intoxicated pedestrians. By the time the boats get here, the importance of the 15-second staggered starts has been diluted, and crews begin to pass each other. This stretch of the course, a tricky halfhairpin turn, often proves dangerous

for the now-tired oarsman. So for those who want to see action, there are few better spots than the Weeks footbridge.

Upriver, the Larz Anderson bridge provides a prime view of crews shoving off from, and returning to, the Harvard and Radcliffe boathouses. One of the best picnic sports is just beyond the Anderson bridge on the Cambridge bank. There is plenty of grassy space and, though some crews will be sailing along through open water, some bowto-bow battles will still be waged.

During this final kilometer, all but the well-conditioned crews become sloppy, setting the stage for what Dunster House rowing addict Ari Epstein calls “more bridge action.”

Take the history of action at the Eliot bridge, for example. For the past three years, the Northfield Mount Hermon prep school crew has crashed into this bridge, shattering their shell and any hope of finishing the race. And it can also be a dangerous area for experience crews, as Harvard and Yale heavyweights discovered last year in a near-miss which destroyed Yale’s starboard oars. Once this last of the bridges is cleared, there are but a few strokes remaining. From either riverbank, the view of the finals line is clear.

All the bumping and smashing under the bridges that punctuate the course, along with the tradition behind the regatta, tend to lend an Indy 500 type atmosphere to the day’s events—and is immensely entertaining. “I think part of the fun of being a spectator,” said Leo Lanzillo, a Kirkland House junior, “is getting to see all kinds of collisions.”

And though the racers obviously don’t find the accidents quite so hilarious, they, too, seem to enjoy the course. “It’s a lot of fun just to participate along the river as you are racing,” said Campbell Rogers, a Harvard heavyweight.

But, of course, there is the inevitable stick-in-the-mud—the fellow who says tradition be damned, the whole show is just an inconvenience. And we found him. “There is always a huge crowd and a lot of traffic,” snapped the Cambridge resident, obligingly. “It’s a tweedy, preppy occasion that’s kind of a pain in the neck.”

The Indy wonders if this page will be reprinted in thirty years—a veritable exercise in metajournalism.

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By MARIA BARRAGAN-SANTANA

captured & shot