The Justice, December 13, 2011 issue

ARTS PAGE 19

SPORTS Women extend their winning streak 16

SLAM DUNK

FORUM Question Facebook’s privacy controls 12 The Independent Student Newspaper

the

of

B r a n d e is U n i v e r sit y S i n c e 1 9 4 9

Justice

Volume LXIV, Number 15

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

STUDENT UNION

Rosen outlines future projects

BRIEF

Flagel reveals admissions statistics for Class of 2015 at faculty meeting

■ The Union President

promised to improve communication between the Union and the student body.

By TATE HERBERT JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 delivered his first State of the Union address Thursday night in the Atrium of the Mandel Center for the Humanities, applauding the Union’s fall semester activities and outlining its plans and projects for next semester, which ranged from the initiation of a “color wars” tradition on campus to a campaign to renovate East Quad and Usen Castle. About 50 to 100 students and administrators attended the address.

In the midst of the constitutional review and ongoing concerns about finance and money allocations, Rosen pledged to improve communication between the Union and the student body, making sure the Union is “more transparent, efficient, and better representatives for the students” he said.

Rosen began by acknowledging “structural problems within the Union” and the Union’s plans to go ahead with a constitutional review two years ahead of schedule.

Problems included the flaw in the abstain option of the election system, which was resolved after review of this fall’s elections, and a confusing allocation process, which has been addressed through the Club Leader’s Conference and may see revisions later in the year.

Rosen also lauded an especially active Senate that filled all of its positions this year after considerable effort and some retooling of the election process.

Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel presented admissions statistics for the Class of 2015 at Thursday evening’s faculty meeting, stating that Brandeis has seen an increased acceptance rate and a decrease in the matriculation rate, while noting that the class of 2015 is “one of the highest-caliber classes that we’ve had.”

According to the presentation, the number of students who applied to Brandeis for fall enrollment was 8,917, up from 7,694 in 2010. 3,566 were accepted for a rate of 39.99 percent, an increase of two and a half percent from last year.

Out of those, 858 matriculated, or 24.06 percent, a decrease of just over two percent from last year.

The acceptance rate has fluctuated around 40 percent for the past two years, while the matriculation rate, or yield, has decreased steadily.

Flagel said that the Office of Admissions’ goals were to “bring in a size class at 855 [and] to bring in an outstanding caliber class,” adding that “there was not a targeted accept or yield rate.”

In his presentation, Flagel called the data “a very nice trend in upward momentum of the number of people interested in [Brandeis].”

Overall, SAT scores, GPA and class rank were higher than previous years, with over half of students in the top ten percent of SAT scorers nationally.

However, Flagel downplayed the importance of such rankings, calling them “nearly as statistically relevant as shoe size.”

“All of them are indicators, [but] none of them tell the story of who our students are,” he added.

Flagel did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

STATE OF THE UNION: Rosen reflected on the Union's fall activities and discussed possible initiatives for the spring semester.

Among the activities mentioned were the efforts of the Ad Hoc Dining Committee and Senator for the Class of 2014 Ricky Rosen to improve campus dining, the success of the Turkey Shuttles and the Rumba

dance, the formation of the Club Support committee and the execution of the PULSE survey and Riverside shuttle trials.

While Rosen said that the Riverside shuttles did not attract enough

people to justify regular operation, he suggested that there would be another set of trials next semester during weekdays with the ultimate

See UNION, 5 ☛

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Grogan selected for Board of Trustees ■ Chairman of the Board

Malcolm Sherman said that Grogan was selected for his leadership skills.

By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

Paul S. Grogan, the president and chief executive officer of The Boston Foundation, has been elected to serve on the University Board of Trustees, Chairman Malcolm L. Sherman announced at a Board meeting last week.

Sherman described Grogan as a “very intelligent” individual who is knowledgeable in the area of philanthropy. “He was selected because he is a significant leader in the city of Boston and in Massachusetts on so many issues that are important today— education, health care, trouble in the streets,” he said in a phone interview with the Justice.

“Greater Boston is the high[er] education capital of America, and within it, Brandeis University is a very special institution. I am deeply honored to accept Brandeis’ offer to join the Board of Trustees,” Grogan said in a

Dec. 12 BrandeisNOW press release.

Grogan could not be reached for an interview by press time.

Grogan was interviewed by Sherman and University President Fredrick Lawrence beGrogan fore being brought before the members of the nominating committee for another interview, according to Sherman. The nominating committee then voted to recommend

Grogan to the Board of Trustees. “He is a major figure in the greater Boston philanthropic world, and he brings to our board a wealth of experience in the not-for-profit sector. Paul cares deeply about the issues of equality and access about which we at Brandeis also feel strongly,” Lawrence said in a Dec. 12 BrandeisNOW press release.

The Boston Foundation is a community foundation that “devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are

—Tate Herbert and Sara Dejene

See TRUSTEE, 5 ☛

Improving literacy

Men notch upset win

Univ launches app

 Stacy Ratner ’94 founded a nonprofit organization to improve reading rates in Chicago.

The men’s basketball team shocked Amherst last Saturday in a 76-61 victory.

 The Brandeis iPhone application was developed with a California vendor.

FEATURES 9 For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org

Waltham, Mass.

Let your voice be heard!

Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org

INDEX

SPORTS 16 ARTS SPORTS

17 16

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 8

OPINION POLICE LOG

10 2

COMMENTARY

NEWS 3 11

COPYRIGHT 2011 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.

2

TUESDAY, December 13, 2011

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THE JUSTICE

NEWS AP BRIEF

POLICE LOG

UNH researchers experiment with tomato plants as holiday decor

Medical Emergency

DURHAM, N.H.—Think poinsettia plants are passé? Had enough holly at the holidays? Try tomatoes.

Besides growing dozens of varieties of poinsettias for a national research project, the University of New Hampshire has been experimenting with dwarf tomato plants as holiday decor. Researchers grew about six dozen plants in three varieties and showed them off along with the poinsettias at a holiday open house recently.

“There’s been so much interest in vegetable gardening in the last few seasons, and it’s starting to become a larger part of spring production in retail greenhouses across the country. People are interested in growing their own food,’’ said David Goudreault, assistant manager of the Macfarlane Greenhouses at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station.

“We just thought it’s green, it’s got red on it, and it kind of fits in with that whole concept,” he said of tomato plants. “It’s something that could be locally grown, and it could be a nice little gift to bring to a holiday dinner.”

Though ornamental chili peppers have become more popular as holiday plants in recent years, the peppers that make for the most attractive plant often are too tough or hot to eat, Goudreault said. That wouldn’t be the case with tomatoes.

“On a sunny windowsill, a plant like this bears tasty, edible fruit, so it could be an interesting little addition,” he said.

During the open house, people were asked in a survey whether they would consider buying tomato plants as hostess gifts or for holiday decorating.

More than 80 percent of those surveyed on the open house’s first day said yes.

“I don’t think they knew what to expect, but everyone thought the plants were beautiful. They liked the abundance of fruit,” Goudreault said.

One couple was particularly thrilled— they buy tomato plants from the UNH greenhouse each March and give them as late Christmas presents, Goudreault said. Next year, they might be able to give the gifts on time.

“Now that we know that people are open to the idea, next season what we’ll likely do is evaluate a number of dwarf tomatoes and see what their potential is for fall production,” he said.

Researchers planted three small, fast-growing varieties—“Red Robin,” “Micro Tom” and “Sweet ‘n Neat”—in 4.5-inch and 6.5-inch pots. With their dense leaves and bushy shape, the plants ended up roughly the same size as the popular poinsettias.

But they’d cost much less to grow, Goudreault said.

“We would probably start them about the same time as a poinsettia cutting, but the initial cost is much less. They take up less space, insects and pests are not as much of an issue, they’re much less demanding,” he said. “If you started them early enough you could cool them down and grow them at slightly cooler temperatures to finish them off in time.”

This year’s crop was a modest first step toward exploring the idea of growing tomatoes as holiday ornamentals, he said. Researchers wanted to try a few plants and see how the public reacted before committing more resources.

In future years, they might do a more extensive experiment that delves into the best way to grow the plants, how much to sell them for and other areas, he said.

Richard Jauron, a horticulture professor at Iowa State University, said the New Hampshire experiment seemed to fit into a pattern of a never-ending search for unusual ways to celebrate the holidays with plants.

From unusual-colored poinsettias to cactuses and flowers like an amaryllis or cyclamen, people often seek plants to spruce up their holidays.

And what people choose can vary depending on where they live, Jauron said.

“In Arizona and California they will decorate their cactus,” he said.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS n The Senate Log incorrectly stated the amount of a Senate Money Resolution. The SMR for pictures for the Student Union bulletin board was for $75, not for $151.71.

(Dec. 6, pg. 2) n An article in Forum incorrectly described an Israeli family. The family should have been described as “the Sumarian family,” not “a Sumarian family”; Sumarian is the family name. (Dec. 6, pg. 11) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.

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The Justice Brandeis University Mailstop 214 P.O. Box 549110 Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Phone: (781) 736-3750

Dec. 5—A female party in the Shiffman Humanities Center was reported to be having trouble breathing. University Police and BEMCo responded; the party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Dec. 5—A student in Reitman reported twisting his ankle and requested BEMCo. University Police and BEMCo responded.

The party was treated onscene with a signed refusal for further care.

Dec. 5—A student in Cable fell off her bed and injured her shoulder.

She requested BEMCo to respond. An ambulance was requested to transport the party to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Dec. 6—A reporting party stated that he hit his head playing basketball 45 minutes prior to calling, and he said he had a laceration.

University Police transport-

ed the subject and a member of BEMCo via police cruiser to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Dec. 7—University Police received a report of a student with a lacerated foot. BEMCo treated the party on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Dec. 8—A reporting party stated that there was a woman lying in the hallway of Usen Residence Hall having a seizure.

BEMCo and University Police were notified, along with an ambulance.

The party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Dec. 10—University Police received a report that a party in Cable had a high fever.

BEMCo was notified and requested an ambulance to respond.

The party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Dec. 11—A party in Gordon reported a female party vomiting in the bathroom. University Police and BEMCo respond-

ed, and the party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Traffic

Dec. 6—A reporting party stated that she found damage to her vehicle, which was parked in Tower Lot. University Police compiled a report on the damage.

Disturbance

Dec. 6—Loud music in the Foster Mods was reported. University Police checked the area but did not find anything.

Dec. 9—University Police received a call that students in the Castle were running up and down the fire escape and urinating off the stairs.

University Police checked the area, stopped four students and sent them on their way without incident.

Miscellaneous

Dec. 5—University Police received a report of a car parked

in front of Deroy with an occupant smoking marijuana.

University Police checked the area and did not find anything.

Dec. 7—A party reported that a staff member stole a ladder in the Castle.

There have been no other reporting parties relevant to this issue.

University Police compiled a report on the matter; an investigation will follow.

Dec. 8—A party in Lown reported receiving a harassing email.

University Police compiled a report on the incident.

Dec. 10—A manager at the Sherman Dining Hall reported that a student sat in the dining hall all day and refused to pay for a second meal.

University Police spoke with the student, and he agreed to pay without incident. University Police left without any further action.

—compiled by Marielle Temkin

AP BRIEF Police evict Occupy protesters, arrest 46

Finals stress: busted

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

Students receive professional massages at the “Winter Wonderland Stressbuster” yesterday in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium. The event was put on by Student Events and also featured hot chocolate, a photo booth, a mug-decorating station and gingerbread houses.

ANNOUNCEMENTS ‘The Argument’ – A fiction reading

Rachel Kadish will read from her collection of short stories titled The Argument and invites discussion. Through a wide span of characters and voices, the stories, set in Israel and the U.S., pose questions about love, humor, memory and Jewish and human identity. Is an argument a form of faith, or the end of faith? When and how does laughter trump loss, beauty trump fear? In the aftermath of the Holocaust, is memory always a virtue?

What, if anything, does a reparation claim repair?

Today from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Epstein Lecture Hall in the Women’s Studies Research Center.

BUHF Stress Buster

Looking for a fun study break, or a great way to kick off finals week? Come the Brandeis University Health and Fitness Stress Buster event. It will be held in the Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room today from 1 to 3 p.m.

Today from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room.

Summer internship funding info session

Given the chance, how would you change the world? Here’s your opportunity to work for coexistence, peace, social justice, gender rights and more. Come learn about the following summer internship funding opportunities: Sorensen Fellowship, Davis Projects for Peace, Eli Segal Citizen Leadership Fellowship, Hiatt Career Center WOW Fellowships and Rapaporte Foundation Grants. All are welcome!

Today from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Usdan Student Center Alumni Lounge.

Orientation to campus recruiting

Participating in campus recruiting gives you the opportunity to connect with employers and Brandeis alumni in your field of interest.

During the workshop, you will learn about campus recruiting requirements and how to effectively use the B.hired job and internship database as a valuable resource during your job and internship search.

Today from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Hiatt Career Center.

BOSTON—Police officers swept through Dewey Square early Saturday, tearing down tents at the Occupy Boston encampment and arresting dozens of protesters, bringing a peaceful end to the 10-week demonstration.

Officers began moving into the encampment at about 5 a.m. to “ensure compliance with the trespassing law,” police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

The city had set a deadline for midnight Thursday for the protesters to abandon the site, but police took no action until early Saturday, making Boston the latest city where officials moved to oust protesters demonstrating against what they call corporate greed and economic injustice.

As police moved in, about two dozen demonstrators linked arms and sat down in nonviolent protest and officers soon began arresting them. The protesters were “very accommodating” to the officers, Driscoll said. Forty-six people were arrested on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct, police said. No injuries were reported.

The entire operation lasted less than an hour.

“In the interest of public safety, we had to act,” Mayor Thomas Menino said. “Our response was about respect for people. We have to remember people must be our focus in government.”

On Saturday afternoon, Dewey Square was blocked off by metal barricades, and about 15 police officers were stationed at points around the small park as workers aerated the compacted soil, spread new soil and prepared to lay turfgrass, probably by early next week.

Graffiti and signs that marked a bordering building had been washed off, and workers cleared out shrubs and flower beds.

Steve Anderson, director of park operations at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which Dewey Square is part of, said he conceded to protesters early on that the lawn would be ruined, but they cooperated with his requests to spare shrubs and trees and not camp on certain areas.

Protesters first erected the encampment on Sept. 30. Many pulled up stakes and left the encampment Thursday after learning of the midnight deadline Menino had set for them to leave the square, but others stayed, and some said they were prepared to be arrested.

While Menino previously had said the city had no plans to forcibly remove the encampment, he appeared to have become increasingly impatient with the protesters in recent days, saying the occupation had become a public health and safety hazard.

Menino said overtime costs for police patrolling Dewey Square were nearing $1 million, out of this year’s $30 million police overtime budget.

NOTE TO READERS: The Justice is on hiatus for winter recess. Our next issue will be published January 17, 2012.

Check our website, www.thejustice.org, periodically for updates.

THE JUSTICE

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

POD Market hours extended permanently Ricky Rosen and Herbie Rosen said that they plan to negotiate Sunday hours at Einstein Bros. Bagels.

By sara dejene JUSTICE editor

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

MEATLESS MONDAYS: Alexis Fox, of the Humane Society of the United States, spoke about the importance of animal rights.

Students for Environmental Action hosts free food banquet ■ Chef David Scott Gross of New Jersey catered the event using only vegan ingredients grown by local farmers.

Senator for the Class of 2014 Ricky Rosen announced on Facebook that the Provisions on Demand Market will now permanently remain open until 2 a.m. on Sundays.

This decision by Aramark and the administration comes in the same week that Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 announced in his State of the Union address last Thursday that more trials for a shuttle to the Riverside MBTA station will be conducted next semester.

In a Nov. 4 email to the student body, Herbie Rosen announced the trial extensions of hours at the P.O.D. Market, which previously closed at midnight.

According to Director of Dining Operations Matthew Thompson, there were 222 transactions between midnight and 2 a.m. on Nov. 6, 251 on Nov. 13 and 151 on Nov. 20.

In the same article, Herbie Rosen said that 151 transactions appeared to be the most realistic number and that it was enough to advocate for a permanent extension of P.O.D. Market hours.

In an interview with the Justice, Herbie Rosen said that he was “really happy” about the success of the trials.

“The challenge is we have a certain amount of students here, and there is only so much use each dining facility can get,” he said. “But I’m glad that we showed that the [P.O.D. Market] gets a lot of use during that time.”

“Hopefully we continue that. ...

I’m glad they listened to us,” he added.

“I’m extremely excited,” said Ricky Rosen in an interview with

the Justice. “It represents the culmination of a long and hard semester of work from the Ad Hoc Dining Committee, from myself and from the Student Union on the whole.

It’s great to see that our initiative has paid off.”

In his State of the Union Address, Herbie Rosen announced an initiative to look into opening Einstein Bros. Bagels earlier on Sundays.

In an interview with the Justice, he said that he has not yet formally approached Dining Services about this issue but that they are aware of his intentions to negotiate Einstein’s hours.

Ricky Rosen said that while the ad hoc committee will continue to address dining issues at the P.O.D. Market, he and the other members will direct their attention to weekend hours at Einstein’s, specifically that it opens late on Sundays.

“When you’re making changes like these, you need a lot of student demand, you need a lot of reason for change,” said Ricky Rosen about his outlook on the new initiative.

“But after accomplishing what we did at the [P.O.D. Market],” he continued, “it represents a foundation we can build off of.”

In addition to dining issues, Herbie Rosen discussed efforts to continue an altered version of Riverside shuttle trials next semester.

According to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan, a total of 145 students used the shuttles during the trials, which is 12 percent of the buses’ total capacity and not enough to justify a permanent installment of a shuttle to Riverside.

However, Herbie Rosen said that he would like to work with the Graduate Student Association to conduct more trials during the weekdays, and he has been speaking with the GSA and will continue to meet with them next semester.

“There will probably be one or two more trial runs, but the ultimate goal is to just get Riverside on the Waltham route,” said Herbie Rosen in an interview with the Justice.

BRIEF

By LUKE HAYSLIP JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

University releases iPhone app with California software vendor

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

FREE FOOD: Students were served local organic and vegan food at the SEA banquet.

Amherst College.

Next to speak was Alex Goldstein ’06, press secretary at the Office of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who recalled his path to politics and his experiences at Brandeis. A former member of Brandeis’ Rugby Team, the Justice and False Advertising, Goldstein graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Politics.

Once the speakers finished, the banquet portion of the event commenced.

This year, SEA hired Chef David Scott Gross from Manalapan, N.J. to cater the banquet. Among the items on the menu were black olive tapenade, pasta primavera and sweet potato fries. Gross graduated

3

STUDENT LIFE

■ For their next initiative,

Students for Environmental Action hosted the second-annual SEA free food banquet to promote local and organic food projects this past Tuesday in the Levin Ballroom.

The event featured two speakers who discussed the importance of animal rights and healthy food coalitions.

The first speaker, Alexis Fox, the Humane Society of the United States’ state director for Massachusetts, spoke of the progress that Brandeis has made on campus, as well as what she and the HSUS are striving to achieve in the near future.

Fox is the leading innovator of the idea for Meatless Mondays, an initiative that she hopes will be taking place next year on campus. While the school had already agreed to this promise, the initiative has not been put into action yet, according to both SEA and Fox. The event emphasized the importance of taking care of the environment, specifically what Brandeis students can do on campus and in their personal lives.

Fox noted that Brandeis was the first school in the Boston area to only use cage-free eggs. She added that this created a domino effect for the promotion of cage-free eggs in Boston schools: Harvard University followed the precedent, as did

●

from Johnson and Wales University with an associate’s degree in Culinary Arts and a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and food service management. He was joined by his sous chef, Justin Brown.

In an interview with the Justice, Gross explained that the ingredients for the banquet were both grown by local farmers and locally purchased and were all vegan and vegetarian.

When asked about his interest in the banquet, Gross commented that he’s “all for eco-friendly foods and for helping out small businesses” and that he is “quite interested in making the food industry more eco-friendly and environmentally responsible.”

Last Friday, the University released its first iPhone application, according to Associate Vice President for Communications Bill Burger in an interview with the Justice.

The application currently has seven different features: News, Maps, Videos, Photos, Athletics, Emergency and Library. Brandeis worked in a “development partnership” with a California company called EZ Axess to create the app, said Burger, setting requirements and providing some of the design of the app, such as the icons on its home screen.

“We’ve been thinking about [the application] for a while,” said Burger, since many other universities have them. “We were approached by this vendor, with an attractive business model, so it made sense to move ahead,” explained Burger.

According to EZ Axess’ website, the company offers a mobile platform for universities and police departments for free. The company plans

to charge in the future for the development of new premium features.

The University plans to continue developing the app and adding more features, although none have been announced at the moment, according to Burger. There has only been limited feedback so far, as the app has not yet been officially promoted within the Brandeis community. Burger said that they plan to make a “broader” announcement today and that they will be working during the next few months to raise awareness of the app.

“I hope that it gives [the Brandeis community] just another way to interact with Brandeis, to get information about Brandeis,” said Burger.

The app is available from the iTunes App Store for iOS devices, and there also a web app version with limited features available for other smart phones at m.brandeis.edu.

—Brian Blumenthal and Sara Dejene

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THE JUSTICE

UNION: Input presented at brainstorm CONTINUED FROM 1

goal of having a Riverside stop on the Waltham Crystal Shuttle next year.

“While the numbers were low … we still believe that Riverside [shuttles] should be an option,” said Rosen.

In response to feedback from the PULSE survey series, Rosen said that representatives from the Union had worked with Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren to coordinate the opening of rooms in Olin-Sang and Hassenfeld Conference Center for additional study space during finals.

“This semester has been one of progress, and I believe it sets us up well for the second half of the year,” said Rosen.

Rosen went on to list plans for the spring semester, including a “Snowball Mixer” for midyears, the proposal of a midyear senator position, potential renovations to East Quad and Usen Castle and the establishment of a “color wars” tradition in the spring, involving color-coordinated teams and a variety of challenges.

Rosen said that he would propose the midyear senator position soon.

If approved, the student body would have a chance to vote on it next semester.

Any potential renovations will be looked into by a newly approved

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

5

FACULTY MEETING

Campus Operations Work Group, which will survey students on housing and submit recommendations to the administration and Board of Trustees.

Rosen hinted that there was also a Harry Potter-themed fundraising event in the works, to take place in the Castle and benefit relief efforts for Somalia and Turkey, but did not mention details.

As part of the night’s program, a short question-and-answer session with Union representatives and an audience brainstorming session for the recently announced strategic planning process followed Rosen’s address.

Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and Provost Steve Goldstein ’78 moderated the brainstorming session, during which students responded to a list of prompts that asked for “bold ideas” and views of Brandeis from their perspective.

Many students raised concerns about housing and keeping the student body small, while others suggested the eventual establishment of a law school and reorganization of the campus layout.

Flagel encouraged students to “think big” and added that there would be other options to submit ideas or comments to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. Students can send suggestions to the committee via email.

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

A high-caliber class Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel presented statistics on admissions for the Class of 2015 at the faculty meeting, which took place last Thursday in Olin-Sang 101. See the article on page 1 for more information.

TRUSTEE: Grogan served as trustee of his alma mater CONTINUED FROM 1

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

STUDENT INPUT: A strategic planning brainstorming session follwed the speech.

extended to everyone,” according to its website. Grogan is also a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which “aims to help sustain democracy by leading journalism to its best possible future in the 21st century,” according to its website. He

is a former trustee of his alma mater Williams College and serves as a director of Community Development Trust, a for-profit company, and New Profit Inc., a national venture philanthropy fund.

Prior to working at The Boston Foundation, Grogan served as vice

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president for Government, Community and Public Affairs at Harvard University from 1999 to 2001. He was also a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School.

—Alana Abramson contributed reporting.

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features

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

just

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THE JUSTICE

VERBATIM | HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 1949, the Knesset voted to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.

August has the highest percentage of births.

CLOSING THE GAP: The bookstore opened in 2006 to improve literacy in Chicago.

THE BASIC ELEMENTS: Open Books sells the books that it receives as donations from members of the Chicago community and others who ship books to the store.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STACY RATNER

ONE-ON-ONE INTERACTION: A volunteer gives a student individual attention with reading in the Open Books Buddies program.

Revolutionizing reading

Stacy Ratner ’94 fights illiteracy in Chicago with Open Books

By CELINE HACOBIAN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

The city is filled with individuals who struggle with limited literacy skills and faces some of the worst literacy rates in the nation. A large number of adults have difficulty reading simple food ingredient labels and bus schedules, while children struggle with age-appropriate children’s books. Looking to revolutionize reading in her hometown of Chicago, Stacy Ratner ’94 started Open Books Ltd. The Chicago native, who majored in Comparative Literature and decided to attend Brandeis because of its strong humanities program, founded Open Books to improve illiteracy rates in Chicago.

Founded in 2006, Open Books serves as “a nonprofit social venture that operates an extraordinary bookstore, provides community programs, and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy in Chicago and beyond,” according to its website.

The idea for Open Books began when Ratner realized something had to be done about the fact that “over half the adult population in Chicago has limited literacy skill,” Ratner said.

“They have trouble with reading labels on cans of food, reading bus schedules [or] getting a job because they have to fill out the application—stuff which is really limiting to their everyday lives and to their prospect of leading the kinds of secure, settled, financially stable lives all of us would like people to be able to live in,” Ratner explained.

Besides collecting and selling used books, Ratner and her team of volunteers run a series of literacy programs for thousands of students across the Chicago area.

Programs include Open Books Buddies, which offers one-on-one

BOOKWORM: Stacy Ratner ’94, who began the nonprofit organization in 2006, runs numerous reading and writing programs. reading with elementary school students; Adventures In Creative Writing, which consists of writing workshops for fourth through 12th graders; and ReadThenWrite, a sixto eight-week program for teenagers that combines a book discussion club and publishing experience, with the help of the program’s volunteers.

“They spend two hours with us, doing some warm-up exercises and then some thinking about writing, and then we do samples, and they write their own story or their own poem, depending on which workshop they’re here for,” Ratner said.

The program then publishes the students’ work, who receive an

anthology of the entire class’ writing at the end of the session. Open Books also holds a book launch party in the bookstore for the authors and their friends, family and the community, all of whom are also given a copy of the students’ work.

“The reason why it’s all non-fiction is that we think it’s very important that kids have stories to tell about their lives and that that matters,” Ratner explained.

“We do a lot of discussion activities around the book that we’re reading: Why is it science fiction? What is it that makes it a memoir? What is the author using to make that the case? And then the kids actually write their own significant piece in

that genre, so [it is] their own memoir, their own loosely based science fiction,” she said.

Ratner credits a course she took at the University as a major influence in her involvement with literature as a career.

“I had actually just taken a course on literature of the Spanish Civil War, and I found it an amazing and compelling course and part of that was that we were allowed to go down to the archives of the library and look through all the materials,” she said.

As her passion for literature grew, Ratner became interested in the statistics of the illiteracy of her hometown. Though she did not plan on

focusing on the problem while she was in college and even spent time doing graphic design for a catalog in Holliston, Mass. after graduating, “five years ago, ... I said I really want to do something I care about, and so [I started] Open Books,” she said.

The program depends on volunteers who help the kids discuss their work and edit pieces to get them ready for publication.

“We have volunteer activities all the time. We’re always looking for volunteers. Generally, of course, we always need financial support, every nonprofit does, but something that we always need [is] books. We love book donations,” Ratner said.

For now, Ratner plans to keep the nonprofit based in Chicago where the support is most needed.

“It’s more important than ever that we continue to offer community space in a used bookstore, especially when so many are having trouble,” she explained.

“And we will continue to offer programs that are more and more transformative. We’ve learned a lot in five years in inventing and piloting and refining the programs that we do,” she said.

“But I’m very excited to see in the near and the long-term future what programs we can add that are really more unique than what we do now and more distinctive and more interesting for more kids,” she continued.

Ratner believes that the solution to this problem begins with the younger generation, “so that [the problem of illiteracy] is not the statistic five, 10, 15 years from now,” she said.

“If you’re going to change the world a generation from now, that world is coming up through all the grades right now, and so it’s important to be working at as many levels as we can,” she said.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, December 13, 2011

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WORLDVIEW: SPAIN

Rare meetings in Madrid

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JESSICA GOKHBERG

CULTURAL CENTER: Jessica Gokhberg ’13 visited Gran Vía, the “Great Way,” a street that is known for its architecture and is filled with shops, hotels and theaters stretching from Calle de Alcala to Plaza de España.

Jessica Gokhberg ’13 gets a taste of Spanish culture while abroad

By Jessica Gokhberg special to the justice

Of course, there was that moment when I stepped off of the plane in Madrid and realized that I was not in Kansas anymore. Of course, there was that moment when I took my first taxi and couldn’t summon up my seven years of Spanish in order to say numero noventa y uno, my host’s house number. And who knew that coming to Spain as someone who is lactose intolerant, I would have to know two different words for “cream” so that when I tell a waiter I’m allergic to crema, they won’t still give me nata?

There are thousands of international students studying in Madrid, each trying to find their own niche in this loud, wine-filled city.

For some it’s in the squatter neighborhood of Lavapiés, full of ethnic food and fruit stands. Others prefer the center of the city and its seven-story club Kapital, or maybe Gran Vía, the Broadway of Madrid.

Whatever your cup of tea, I’ve discovered that Madrid will have it—and will present it to you with a side of fresh olives and chorizo.

My niche: el barrio Salamanca, living with Laura Rodriguez. Salamanca is what Madrileños would call pijo, or posh. But on the scale of pijo-ness, the block I live on is pretty low.

My host’s family has been living in this three-bedroom apartment since the 1930’s, sometimes with eight children all at once.

Right now, it is inhabited by 64-year-old Laura and her students.

Across the street and down the block is Pedro, who sells all the meat and bread to the residents of the neighborhood—and has for 20 years. He probably eats as much meat as he sells, and his belly is almost as large as the store itself. Next to him are the Cubans who sell the fruit, then the older Spanish woman who sells the desserts and so on.

Although the metro system in Madrid is one of the best in the world, I always choose to walk the three kilometers to class, simply to say hello to these shopkeepers. Each morning, I pass them sweeping the leaves off the sidewalk in front of their stores.

I walk home for lunch and see the businessmen and women drinking a beer together, eating some tapas before heading home. I walk back in the afternoon at the same time that the parents pick up their children in uniforms and give them little jamón sandwiches to fight off hunger until the regular 10 p.m. dinner.

In the evening, I see the same shopkeepers greeting every known passerby with the exuberance only a Spaniard could give to a conversation.

My walk is like clockwork: the same women wearing the same fur coats, buying the same newspapers from the same convenience stand every day.

Señora Laura Rodriguez, however, knows how to spice up any pijo lifestyle.

She claims to be the ex-stepmother and occasional drinking partner of Nicholas Cage.

She was also the wise voice who guided Antonio Banderas into his acting career two de-

cades ago in a little pueblo outside Madrid.

There’s also the detail that she is the ex-wife of the grandson of José Ortega y Gasset, the great Spanish liberal philosopher.

When I first met Laura, she regaled me with magnificent stories of Maltan prime ministers and Arabian lovers while simultaneously inhaling an entire pack of cigarettes.

The first day with my host was a struggle.

I’m lactose intolerant and was vegetarian at that point, so there was, well, nothing she could think of to prepare for me to eat when we first met. Our first big lunch together and all we could agree on was red wine.

In a stroke of genius Laura runs into my room and yells “tortilla de patatas!” Tortilla de patatas is a classic Spanish dish, a type of potato-and-egg omelet. Little does she know that tortilla de patatas is the reason I chose to study in Spain over any other Spanish-speaking country. What’s more is that she asked me to help her cook it so I can prepare it at home for myself.

However, my program has a rule that the students are not allowed to use their hosts’ kitchens. All of our meals are prepared for us, and that’s that. Of course, Laura broke the rule my first night.

I cut two potatoes just the way Laura told me to, mixed in the three eggs and poured almost a liter of olive oil into the skillet. Laura slowly emptied the mixture into the sizzling oil and turned the heat down to the temperature she knows is perfect from her years of experience.

Flipping the tortilla is the art of the dish, though; you can’t let one side cook longer than the other, and since once side is still uncooked, you have to be careful not to spill any of the yolk.

Laura just so happens to have an oliveskinned, green-eyed, tall Spanish nephew named Nacho who loves to cook, so we mixed all of the ingredients and let señor flip our tortilla.

I have been living in Madrid for almost four months now. I have had countless unique experiences and found the quirks of Spanish culture.

Why do Spaniards not consider jamón to be meat? How can Madrileños be that cold that they need a knee-length winter coat in the middle of October when it’s still 50 degrees Fahrenheit out?

The experiences that count, however, are the ones I have with the individuals I meet here. I’ll always remember the toothless Romanian man who plays the violin three blocks away. And the old saxophonist who masterfully plays all the Disney animated movie songs in the Alonso Martínez metro stop.

I’m sad that when I return to Brandeis I won’t be stopped by every friend and acquaintance I meet and asked with extravagant gestures the details of my morning that passersby have to dodge.

But this Madrileña will return in a month with tortilla de patatas in hand and dos besitos to give, making my way to class, Spanishstyle.

CHRISTMAS CHEER: The metro stop in the central neighborhood of Chueca is lit up for the holiday season.

SIGHTSEERS: Jessica Gokhberg ’13 (center) and friends visit the second-century aqueduct in Segovia.

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TUESDAY, december 13, 2011

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THE JUSTICE

Justice Justice

the the

Established 1949, Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Established 1949

Emily Kraus, Editor in Chief Nashrah Rahman, Managing Editor Brian N. Blumenthal, Production Editor Alana Abramson, Rebecca Blady, Eitan Cooper, Bryan Flatt, Rebecca Klein, Asher Krell, Tess Raser and Robyn Spector, Associate Editors Sara Dejene and Andrew Wingens, News Editors Dafna Fine, Features Editor Shafaq Hasan, Acting Forum Editor Adam Rabinowitz, Acting Sports Editor Ariel Kay, Arts Editor Yosef Schaffel and Tali Smookler, Photography Editors Nan Pang, Layout Editor Marielle Temkin, Copy Editor Cody Yudkoff, Advertising Editor

Reassess Admissions’ goal This semester’s monthly faculty meeting on Dec. 8 unveiled the admissions report for the current first-year class.

According to the report, not only is the University matriculating more students, but the students enrolling here are academically accomplished as well.

Compared to the Class of 2012, the Class of 2015 has higher GPAs, SAT scores and class rankings. The report claims that by accepting and matriculating more students, Admissions’ goal of accepting students of a higher caliber is met.

While we are pleased to see the University maintain and even increase its academic caliber by accepting a talented student body, we believe that a growing class size is still problematic. As we reported earlier this semester, the Class of 2015 has approximately 864 students who were regularly admitted and 108 midyears, bringing the class total to 972 students.

These students were selected from 8,900 applicants, the largest pool in the University’s history.

This semester, their presence has been noticeable, as there are more forced triples in first-year residences and longer lines in the dining halls.

We do not think that while the academic standards of the applicants increase,

Large class affects campus we do not think that the standard of living on campus should decrease. As the student body becomes larger, so do class sizes, which makes it more difficult to engage and make connections with our professors.

This, in turn, will affect the very character of Brandeis, a small school that prides itself on a close, interactive community.

Though we understand the administration is working toward and enlarging the student body, we urge them to consider the effect this will have on the community and campus.

Given that the administration is currently in the process of creating the strategic plan, this is the appropriate time to reevaluate this goal and realistically reflect on whether more students will bring positive change.

We appreciate the report’s findings, but encourage the University committee, as they accept students who will be members of the Class of 2016, to keep in mind the negative effects a larger class size has on our campus. Even though higher statistics reflect well on us, it is important to maintain our character as a university as we consider our goals moving forward.

Increase campus resources During final exams, students are usually scrambling to finish last minute projects and papers before the semester comes to a close. When rushing to complete a paper and still attempting to arrive at a class on time, students may find themselves inconveniently out of reach of printers or computers between classes.

We encourage the administration to give more complete and comprehensive access to these resources by installing them in academic buildings around campus.

Although the library has both printers and computers for public use, their inclusion in the academic buildings would be both convenient and efficient.

Students who may not have time to go to the library or the Shapiro Campus Center computer lab before a class would be able to stay near their classes and complete their assignments without the hassle of hurrying to one of the current resource-equipped buildings in the passing period before their next lecture.

Including printers elsewhere on campus would also alleviate the traffic in the library, where individuals oftentimes have to wait for their turn to use the printer.

As students usually have to lug their computers along with their books around campus, having computers in academic buildings would allow students the option of leaving theirs at home.

For those students who don’t have laptops or whose professors don’t allow computers in class, additional computers in the atrium of the Mandel Center for the Humanities and the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center atrium can

Install printers in Mandel help decrease the need to carry around personal computers.

While we encourage the administration to seriously assess the appropriate areas where these resources would be most useful, we also ask that students take advantage of the study resources newly made available to them by the administration and Student Union.

Recently, Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 announced in the bi-annual State of the Union address that academic buildings. These buildings, Olin-Sang and the Levine-Ross and Lurias rooms in the Hassenfeld Conference Center, will be open as study spaces starting Dec. 10. If students show interest and use these spaces appropriately, then Mr. Rosen mentioned that the Union would consider using the Mandel Center and Science Complex as additional study spaces.

As we mentioned earlier last month, according to the Union’s Pulse survey, the lack of study space on campus has become problematic for students, but using academic buildings would offer a feasible solution. These new options indicate that the Union and administration are working toward addressing students’ concerns.

As a next step, the administration should consider the convenience of having additional printers and computers in academic buildings to further address the student body’s needs. The addition of these resources will not only help ease the stresses and anxieties of coursework but also make these important resources more accessible to students.

SARA WEININGER/the Justice

Expand affirmative action beyond race Philip

Gallagher Back to basics

A recent report by the Obama administration provides an enlightening and carefully thought-out approach to designing affirmative action policy with the purpose of fostering diversity in higher education.

Utilizing legal precedent from the Supreme Court, the report suggests using race itself as a last resort in admissions decisions while at the same time recognizing that creating a diverse student body involves more than ethnicity. Although the report does not fully acknowledge the social benefits of affirmative action, the policies it recommends move affirmative action closer to an ideal social purpose of leveling the college admissions playing field for disadvantaged but hardworking students, regardless of ethnicity.

The awareness that diversity comes in multiple forms is probably the most important component of Obama’s report. The common but falsely held popular belief that affirmative action means blindly accepting ethnic minorities is rejected. Instead, the report advocates that higher education institutions should design affirmative action policies that do their best to avoid race and use other criteria, such as socioeconomic status, parents’ educations or quality of secondary school. If the purpose of diversity is to introduce new opinions, perspectives and personal backgrounds into a student body, all three of those certainly qualify as diversifying factors.

The report differentiates these types of measures as “raceneutral approaches” to admission, but they are actually more effective approaches to achieving a diverse student body than race.

Students who are of a low socioeconomic status, have parents who did not attend college or attended a low-performing school are the ones who will have a different perspective on society than the average upper-class pupil. Ideally, these students will be able to translate this perspective into novel ideas in class and meaningful dialogue in dormitories.

Furthermore, students meeting “race-neutral” criteria normally face the greatest challenges of actually applying to, paying for and attending college and, thus, benefit the most from affirmative action policies.

They may not have the same financial or personal support system as is present in many upper-class families, who believe college applications are more important than birthdays and budget away thousands of dollars to be spent on essay coaches and SAT tutors.

The question then arises as to whether there might be overlap between students who meet these “race-neutral” measures and students of minority backgrounds. The answer is a resounding yes. Statistics from the Pew Research Center indicate that on average white households have an income twenty times higher than that of black households and eighteen times higher than that of Hispanic households.

If the plurality of students who fit “race-neutral” criteria is minorities, then the plurality of the students who receive the benefits of affirmative action will also be minorities.

However, evaluating applicants using race explicitly as a factor for admission is questionable. There are minority students who come from the middle or upper class, have solid support systems to help them prepare for college and are performing at the same level as of their white peers.

At the same time, there are white students who meet the “race-neutral” criteria and face many obstacles in their quest to attend college.

In both cases, affirmative action based on race is misplaced, as upper-class minority students don’t need it, while the lower-class white students do. In regards to contributions to oncampus diversity, both the upper-class minority students and the lower-class white students bring a unique perspective on society to campus, but neither perspective should be considered superior to the other.

Utilizing this type of affirmative action policy could help higher education institutions create diverse student bodies and also maintain equitable standards for admission. The report’s advocacy of shifting the focus of affirmative action away from race and towards “race-neutral” measures moves affirmative action toward achieving its ideal social goal.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “If you’re going to change the world a generation from now, that world is coming up from all the grades. ...

It’s important to be working at as many levels as we can.”

— Stacy Ratner ’94 on starting Open Books to improve literacy in Chicago (Features, page 7)

Brandeis Talks Back What are you looking forward to most next semester?

Rebecca Ehrenkranz ’13 “It getting warmer.”

Alexandra Shapiro ’13 “My friends coming back from abroad.”

Nate Shammay ’14 “The snow.”

Christopher Knight ’14 “This semester being over.”

—Compiled by Shafaq Hasan Photos by Tali Smookler/ the Justice

THE JUSTICE

READER COMMENTARY Labels and terms deter conversation In response to your article “Embrace our Campus Conservatives” (Dec. 6): ”Conservative” and “liberal” are themselves dirty words.

Dirty, not in the sense of being obscene, but in the sense of being caked with the detritus of long-dead debates and stained from sloppy use.

Our national debate on issues is all-too-often reduced to “conservative” and “liberal” positions, to which two imagined opposing sides “equal time” must be given. Being at one or the other pole, we are led to accept, determines what a person believes about religion, economics, civil liberties, education, the validity of scientific theories, the attractiveness of automobiles, and whether to buy a latte from Starbucks or a regular coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts.

I agree totally that students with differing political views should engage in debate.

I would demand no less from Brandeis students.

Let’s talk about the environment, free trade, educational policy, the meaning of a “war on terror,” animal rights, funding for science, etc.

There’s no shortage of political issues to discuss. In the interest of a meaningful debate, though, I’d urge to you avoid the simplistic labels and dirty words and actually look for common ground with specific ideas.

—Steven F. Karel Editor’s note: Steven F. Karel is a Senior Research and Technology Specialist of the University’s Division of Science.

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TUESDAY, December 13, 2011

Eradicate stigma of ambition Hannah

goldberg everything illuminated About 11 months ago, I could not wait for winter break to end so I could return to Brandeis. I was tired of the inevitable lull I would experience in every conversation after I told someone I am majoring in Neuroscience.

This never happens to me at Brandeis, where it is the norm for students to be intellectually curious and excited about classes. Never have I felt isolated by my track of study until this year, when, as a junior, more and more people began asking me what I plan to do after college, and I respond that I plan on applying to medical school this summer. While Brandeis may be an extremely nourishing environment for the motivated, interested student, it provides less of a haven for students set on a career as a doctor.

Even at Brandeis, there exists a negative stigma directed at pre-med students that suggests that all pre-med students treat their bodies and egos brutally by signing up for demanding and timeconsuming course-loads, which they trudge through on little sleep.

This is, for the most part, an accurate statement. However, these qualities of over-the-top diligence are not only found in pre-med students but, rather, are common to most students who

know what they want to do after college and are determined to attain that goal. If students know that they must rise, literally rise, to the top of the class in challenging, “weeding” courses in order to have a chance at the career they have loved studying for thus far, you better believe they are going to put their all into their work. We could just as easily be discussing a journalism student who wants an internship at The New York Times after college or a student dreaming of attending Harvard Law after Brandeis. Just like pre-med students, these students are going to want to make sure that they produce the best work they can, which will provide them with the best experience possible and will one day be relevant to their career. As you can see, the “sin” of overachieving applies not only to pre-med students but also to any student who aims for a competitive job position after college.

Furthermore, students who already have an idea of what they would like to do after college, have arrived at that conclusion because they hopefully have loved the courses they are taken and enjoy putting effort into their work. For students who love what they are studying, or at the very least love where they’re studying, hard work is not torture. Usually, people view ambition as an admirable trait. Paradoxically, there is an unfair stereotype cast upon pre-med students.

People assume that a student’s ambition to be a doctor is poorly founded or naïve. When people come across pre-med students, they wonder how a 21-year-old student can possibly be prepared to make such a large life commitment. Have they considered going into research? Are they blinded by a parent’s ambition or a desire to a finan-

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cially lucrative career? Do they realize what the demanding style of living that accompanies life as a doctor? Have they passed up the opportunity to study the humanities, thereby missing an equal, if not greater academic love?

Yes, deciding as a junior, or even as a senior in college, that you would like to spend your career as a doctor is a large commitment, and medical school is a massive financial obligation.

Of course, as with any career, there is an aspect of blind faith involved in ultimately choosing to pursue a career in medicine. Just as one should not dissuade a talented and dedicated student from pursuing a career in journalism or law, it is unfair to assume that a pre-med student is misguided in her determination or interest in medicine.By the time students need to begin applying to medical school, they have been provided ample opportunity to “get their feet wet” in medicine, whether it is through volunteering in hospitals, working as an EMT or personal experience within the field of medicine.

Additionally, many pre-med students choose to pursue their other passions while at Brandeis, either by majoring in humanities or by being involved in one of Brandeis’ 200 -plus clubs. Often, students who decide to apply to medical school take comfort in the fact that, despite the added rigor and competition that are inherent to their science classes, they still enjoy the competitive work just as much as their humanities classes.

Although setting one’s sights on a career in medicine is an ambitious and bold move, it is important for non-pre-med students and professors to understand the source of the ambition and rationale that accompanies such a decision.

Drive for success hinders true happiness Diego

Medrano missing link

During finals, it gets tough asking people how they’re doing. If they’re legitimately doing well and they’re happy and peppy, they’re obnoxious.

If they’re tired, overworked and mentally fried, you feel for them, but they’re kind of depressing. Sure, some people are well-adjusted and perfectly balanced, but they seem like they’re in the minority. The stress and anxiety is understandable; this is a trying time.

Yet many college graduates find themselves with the same sort of anxiety even after they leave school.

Daniel Gulati of the Harvard Business Review recently published an article titled “Why We’re Unhappy,” in which he discusses how many people in their 20s are generally unhappy with their situations even when they have high-paying jobs and steady relationships.

He goes on to describe a “hollowness” that these people feel despite their success.

He attributes this hollowness to three main points: High-paying jobs at large companies are no longer as secure as they used to be; Facebook and social networks create a sort of “keeping up with the Joneses” philosophy where everyone values their own success based on the accomplishments they see others having; and young people are graduating from college often and often have many more opportunities available to them, increasing anxiety about what choices are “right.”

His solution to these pitfalls is to essentially worry more about passion than money and to experiment with new areas.

I couldn’t agree more with his solution.

I know it sounds naïve and idealistic to say to forget about money and to follow your dreams.

But it doesn’t have to be that ungrounded in reality. If not “follow your dreams,” at least try something new.

How many people stuck in law classes would be happier writing, playing music, even working in a lab or just doing anything else? It may not be realistic to expect people to drop everything they’ve been working on for

Write to us

The Justice welcomes letters to the editor responding to published material. Please submit letters through our Web site at www.thejustice.org. Anonymous submissions cannot be accepted.

Letters should not exceed 300 words, and may be edited for space, style, grammar, spelling, libel and clarity, and must relate to material published in the Justice. Letters from off-campus sources should include location. The Justice does not print letters to the editor and oped submissions that have been submitted to other publications.

Op-ed submissions of general interest to the University community­—that do not respond explicitly to articles printed in the Justice—are also welcome and should be limited to 800 words. All submissions are due Friday at 12 p.m.

ARIELLE SHORR /the Justice

the chance to find something else that makes them happy, but at least it’s worth considering.

The more engrained someone is in a pursuit, the scarier the prospect of changing directions becomes, but sometimes you just have to take a risk.

This definitely isn’t what parents like to hear.

When so many parents are helping their children attend world-class universities, they’re investing in a future. I can imagine their uneasiness upon hearing their investment may be wasted on the six strings of a

Fine Print

The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the opposite page, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers.

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,200 undergraduates, 800 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff.

In addition, the Justice is mailed weekly to paid subscribers and distributed throughout Waltham, Mass. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods.

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guitar, but life isn’t just about business and money.

The intangible value of happiness should outweigh six-figure salaries. As much as they may fight you, taking a risk to follow your passions is an independent endeavor and your parents will still love you.

Think about how many people enter Brandeis, or any school for that matter, wanting to be doctors, lawyers, bankers and corporate businessmen. They often follow strict paths filled with classes they don’t enjoy and that might not even come to them naturally.

Their cause is noble—who doesn’t want a re-

The Staff

For information on joining the Justice, write to editor@ thejustice.org.

spectable, high-paying job?—but some seem miserable and unsure of exactly why they’re pursuing a certain field. Too often, those pursuits are the default choices of the intelligent, ambitious and ultimately lost students. I’m not trying to paint people with too broad a brush, but it’s something we’ve all encountered.

The same people who are currently “occupying” financial districts or stand opposed to the same institutions may have ended up working at those banks if the offer was large enough. And I get it: financial stability is important and everyone has to grow up sometime, but perhaps the willingness to “sell-out” so quickly is what’s leading to so many technically successful but realistically troubled graduates. A huge part of the issue is that our society idealizes college and white-collar jobs.

Most college graduates don’t want to work hard at labor-intensive jobs even if it means financial security.

They see their degree as a free pass to never having to do that type of work, especially when they could have done it without four years of education and debt.

They often never consider that a job like that could make them happier than life in a cubicle.

What this nation really loves is success. It doesn’t have to be multimillion dollar success, but success nonetheless. Everyone wants to be accomplished and the easiest, most pain-free way to be successful is to get a degree, find a job that pays well and join the upper-middle class.

What people don’t realize is that following a dream doesn’t mean you can’t be successful or that success is all-or-nothing. Following a dream carries with it a connotation of risk and improbability, but really it’s about diversifying experiences and finding something that evokes a passion, then finding a way of making that into work.

There are a thousand clichés I could use to convince you to take a chance, but you’ve probably heard them all, and they probably haven’t worked.

That’s because no inspirational quote can successfully diminish your fear and anxiety at trying something new.

At the end of the day, it’s about an individual taking it upon him or herself to find happiness. We might as well start while we’re young rather than find ourselves in the future wishing we’d tried more things while we could.

Editorial Assistants

Stoker, Naomi Volk

Advertising: David Wolkoff Copy: Maya Riser-Kositsky Features: Celine Hacobian News: Sam Mintz Photos: Jenny Cheng, Joshua Linton

Sports: Julian Cardillo, Jacob Elder, Henry Loughlin, Jacob Lurie, Jacob

Staff

Freedman, Rachel Gordon, Yifan He, Josh Horowitz, Davida Judelson, Maya

Senior Writers: Josh Asen, Aaron Berke, Jeffrey Boxer, Max Goldstein Senior Illustrator: Rishika Assomull Senior Photographer: Hilary Heyison, Alex Margolis, Janey Zitomer News: Shani Abramowitz, Tyler Belanga, Jonathan Epstein, Danielle Gross, Luke Hayslip, Tate Herbert Features: Dave Benger, Claire Gohorel, Rachel Miller, Jessie Miller Forum: Hillel Buechler, Aaron Fried, Philip Gallagher, Hannah Goldberg, Tien Le, Diego Medrano, Liz Posner, Sara Shahanaghi, Leah Smith, Elizabeth

Moskowitz, Natalie Shushan Arts: Damiana Andonova, Alex DeSilva, Leah Igdalsky, Olivia Leiter, Amy Melser, Leanne Ortbals, Louis Polisson, Mara Sassoon, Ayan Sanyal, Viet Tran, Dan Willey Photography: Jon Edelstein, Lydia Emmanouilidou, Morgan Fine, Nathaniel Shemtov, Josh Spriro, Madeleine Stix, Diana Wang, David Yun Copy: Aliza Braverman, Jennie Bromberg, Rebecca Brooks, Allyson Cartter, Hilary Cheney, Erica Cooperberg, Patricia Greene, Celine Hacobian, Max Holzman, Liana Johnson, Eunice Ko, Felicia Kuperwaser, Tarini Nalwa, Megan Paris, Christine Phan, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Holly Spicer, Amanda Winn Layout: Rachel Burkhoff, Denny Poliferno, Michelle Yi Illustrations: Arielle Shorr, Sara Weininger

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TUESDAY, december 13, 2011

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THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Take caution when trusting Facebook Liz

posner but i digress

One of my best friends recently told me a Facebook horror story that completely changed my attitude about the site. She Googled herself one day and was disgusted to find that the first hit that showed up was a chatroom moderated by two users who were taking her Facebook profile pictures and sharing them with the entire group. A few users waited all week long for new pictures of her and posted grotesque and sexually suggestive comments that I feel uncomfortable repeating in this article. My friend was so freaked out that she had her parents call the police and begin an ongoing investigation to try to remove the chatroom. Now she’s afraid that potential employers will search her, find the pictures and comments, and judge her based on them.

My friend’s story is one of the more extreme examples of privacy violation, yet it offers a cautionary tale about what can be done with our Facebook information.

Anyone you accept as a “friend” has access to your pictures and can do whatever they like with them.

Many of us know this in the back of our minds but don’t do anything about it. The only case in which I have ever “blocked” a Facebook friend was when I found out that my aunt was tattling to my mother about my party pictures.

However, after hearing my friend’s story and those of the recent events involving Facebook’s skirmish with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, I realize it should not just be these kinds of enemies we should be worried about.

Users should be cautious of both untrustworthy “friends” and of the administrators of the site itself.

The Federal Trade Commission recently found Facebook in violation of a number of privacy laws and leveled an eight-count complaint against the company in regards to its nonchalant views toward privacy laws. The case found that despite Facebook’s assurances of confidentiality to users, the company shared information it had promised to keep private with third-party companies in order to sell advertising space.

No charges were made, and the two entities arrived at a settlement.

Now, Facebook must be reviewed every two years by the FTC for the next two decades, and each violation found could subject the company to a daily fine of $16,000 until the infraction is resolved.

My personal favorite part of the otherwise dry report is that it ends by urging readers to “like” the FTC on Facebook and to follow them on Twitter.

Facebook has, is and always will be dependent on the money it gains from advertising,

SARA WEININGER/the Justice

and the FTC agreement details its privacy agreement with Facebook as in effect for the next twenty years. We’ve all heard the scarestories that companies are data-mining practically all of the information that you put online and will have access to it even after you delete your account.

This settlement essentially verified that fact.

With all of this information about privacy violations emerging, why do people still trust Facebook? The site changes its layout and features all the time without any forewarning to users, and this settlement only feeds the notion that Facebook only cares about its infringements in a retroactive manner.

Pretty much any privacy infringement Facebook causes is solved by an apology in a Mark Zuckerberg blog post.

The fact of the matter is that, until a brighter and shinier form of social media comes around, Facebook will hold onto its undeniable monopoly.

Twitter and MySpace are legitimate alter-

natives, but they are nowhere close to competing with Facebook.

And, let’s be honest, how many of us actually make good on our resolutions to finally delete our accounts because Facebook violates our privacy, sucks away our time and judges our personal worth by the number of “friends” we accumulate? Our generation has got it bad for Facebook.

Don’t get me wrong—I use the site almost every day, and I don’t plan on deleting my account.

It’s a great way to share photo albums and keep in touch with friends studying abroad.

I keep my privacy settings secure and try to avoid looking like a drunk college student in every picture I upload. But being careful isn’t always enough.

There’s no reason why we should blindly trust the site like we do.

Facebook users should keep in mind the plain fact that the site is not your friend. It is a business first and foremost, despite the array of smiling familiar faces that greet you

every time you log on.

Plus, anyone can use Facebook, and so anyone can use Facebook against you.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t post anything ever again, but definitely don’t post a picture or status that you wouldn’t want anyone in particular to see.

Putting pictures on Facebook is essentially sending your private information out into the unknown.

Of course you trust your friends, but by allowing everyone to see all the pictures you took at that frat party last weekend, you are surrendering your private control of those pictures to the public.

The police told my friend that one of her Facebook friends must have downloaded the pictures from her profile and uploaded that to the chatroom.

I think about what happened to her almost every time I log onto Facebook now, and I can’t help but think, as I scroll suspiciously down my news feed, what kind of “friends” are these, anyway?

Remove politics from Israel abroad program

By JOSHUA NASS JUSTICE contributing WRITER

Within our culture and society, there exists a strong tendency for wrongfully injecting politics into areas that ought to be immune from it.

A classic example of such wrongful politicization is the recent letter, authored by California State University administrators, staff, faculty and some students, rallying against the reinstatement of study abroad programs in Israel.

Although these study abroad programs have been suspended since 2002 due to security risks, the chancellor of the schools has recently reconsidered the decision keeping students from studying abroad in Israel.

While the authors of the letter claim to not be politically motivated, it is difficult to take their word for it judging by the very issues they express.

Upon examining the letter, it’s clear that its authors have an agenda to carry out, rooted in intellectually dishonest, anti-Israel propaganda. In their letter, they exploit the commonly-used tactic of critics of Israel—when they compare Israel to apartheid in South Africa, referring to the racial segregation imposed by the government of South Africa between 1948 and 1994.

Although such a comparison is in and of itself unjust, one of the primary authors, David Klein, a professor of mathematics at CSU North Ridge, takes making faulty comparisons to an

unprecedented level.

In elucidating the reasons for disallowing students to study abroad in Israel, Klein states, “We’re choosing not to have relationships with institutions that participate in apartheid in the same way that in the lead-up to World War II, universities broke off relations with universities in Nazi Germany.” Comparing the Israeli government to the Nazis? Such unjust, unfair and even insulting comparisons severely undermine whatever credibility the authors of this letter may have had to begin with.

“

Injecting politics into students’ study abroad program opportunities is simply unfair.

In the letter, Klein and his co-authors outline several concerns for allowing students to study abroad in Israel. Among them is the fear that students of Middle-Eastern origin could potentially become the subjects of discrimination while in Israel. Such a “concern” is absolutely frivolous in nature.

In Israel, Arabs are afforded rights to citizenship and even serve as members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. There are presently over 1,100,000 Arabs living in Israel.

Most importantly, it is well documented that Arabs in Israel enjoy far more freedoms and rights than those in most other Middle-Eastern countries. For example, as opposed to most other Middle-Eastern countries where women are treated as second-class citizens, all women in Israel enjoy the right to vote. Arabic itself is an official language in Israel. There are more than 300,000 Arab children who are enrolled in Israeli schools, in addition to the hundreds of Arab schools existing around the country.

There is a sitting justice on the Supreme Court who is Arab. The current deputy mayor of Tel Aviv is Arab. Oscar Abu Razaq, an Arab, is currently the Director General of the Ministry of Interior. Salah Tarif, an Arab, served as a minister in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet. It is clear by reviewing the treatment of Arabs in Israel, there is absolutely no reason to believe that there would be any danger posed to Middle-Eastern students studying abroad in Israel.

The authors exhibit absolute and utter hypocrisy in their apparent intentions for writing the letter. They clearly express that their main grievance with Israel is what they allege to be infringements of its citizens’ liberties and freedoms, particularly those of Arabs.

Their accusations are untrue, and preventing students from going to Israel to study abroad undermines their intentions as the very freedoms of the students themselves are curtailed.

If the CSU chancellor makes a judgment that there are no safety risks involved in studying abroad in Israel, he should certainly stay true to his convictions and not bow to such propagandists.

He should stand on the side of truth, and also on the side of the students he’s meant to serve. The university should allow students the rightful opportunity to have the experience of a lifetime studying abroad in Israel. Injecting politics into students’ study abroad program opportunities is simply unfair. Let’s afford our students the opportunity to make choices for themselves and not have the politicallymotivated views of a select group of individuals make decisions for them.

Prohibiting study abroad programs in Israel to be reinstated on the basis of a political driven letter would effectively undermine our students’ freedoms.

Whether it be students’ decisions regarding their academic careers or studying abroad, we must ensure that those choices are not made for students on the basis of somebody else’s politics, but on the basis of what they themselves deem to be most productive to further their education. The choice should be left to them, not up to anybody else.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, december 13, 2011

13

SPORTS TRACK

Squads finish strong at home ■ The men’s and women’s track teams both notched third-place finishes at the Reggie Poyau Invitational.

By HENRY LOUGHLIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

It may have been just another race in the eyes of Chris Brown ’12 and Taylor Dundas ’14, but the one-mile race proved to be the main event for those on hand at the Reggie Poyau Invitational at home last Saturday.

Though many runners set a scorching pace right from the opening gun, Brown and Dundas sat back at the outset of the race. Most of the pack made its way through the first quarter mile in a notable 70 seconds.

“It went out kind of slow,” said Brown. “We just kind of let the other guys do the work.”

The remaining six laps, however, were a different story, as Brown and Dundas ramped up the pace to finish with record-breaking times.

The runners finished with times of 4 minutes, 20.96 seconds and 4:23.67, respectively. The marks currently stand as the fifth- [and] sixth- best times nationally in Division III. “We were very happy with that opener,” said Dundas, whose previous personal best stood at 4:18.

“We have only done about two other workouts [since the end of cross country], so to come away with that was satisfying.”

Those two runners were not the only performers to excel on the track last Saturday.

Both the men’s and women’s teams featured four individual winners en route to notching third-place finishes.

Kate Warwick ‘12 and Lily Parenteau ‘12 both notched Athlete of the Week honors on the women’s side, while Chris Brown won the distinction for his performance in distance.

Stonehill College ended up taking the top spot for both genders.

In addition to Brown, Vincent Asante ’14, Brian Foley ’13 and Kensai Hughes ’14 finished at the top of their events.

Asante won the final of his event by 12-hundredths of a second, finishing the 55-meter race in 6.59 seconds.

This effort would lead to a 10th-place ranking in Division III. Foley also placed well, completing the 400-meter race in 51.41 seconds.

Hughes, seeded seventh, managed to improve his ranking with a long jump of 20 feet, 2.5 inches.

Hughes showed his versatility at the meet, also notching a third-place finish in the 200-meter race with a time of 23.81 seconds.

The 1,000-meter run featured two scorers in Marc Boutin ’12, who placed third with a finish of 2:34.44, followed by Michael Rosenbach ’15,

WBBALL: Judges notch a win on the road CONTINUED FROM 16

NATHANIEL FREEDMAN/the Justice

BOLTING AHEAD: Brittany Bell ’13 speeds past two runners en route to a strong finish at Brandeis’ Reggie Poyau Invitational. who took sixth with a finish of 2:36.41.

Ed Colvin ‘14 was third in the 5,000-meter race, clocking out at 15:46.14. Jeffrey Maser ’15 picked up a pair of fourths in the 55-meter hurdles, with a time of 8.98 seconds, while he also jumped a new personal best in the high jump at 6 feet, 2 inches.

On the women’s side, Kate Warwick ’12—fresh off competing at the NCAA Division III Championship in cross country—took the 3,000-meter run in 10:12.23, 12 seconds ahead of Miriam Stulin ’15.

Lily Parenteau ’12 took the high jump, leaping 5 feet, 1.5 inches. Kim Farrington ’13 won the triple jump, going the distance of 35 feet, 1/2 inch.

The women’s 4x400 meter squad, consisting of Casey McGown ’13, Ali Kirsch ’14, Annifreed Sinjour ’13 and Michelle Fry ’15 took home top honors, covering the track in 4:12.04, en route to their first-place finish.

Brittany Bell ’13, fresh off a secondplace finish at the Jay Carisella Invitational last weekend at Roxbury, Mass., continued her prowess in the 55-meter race, claiming the runnerup spot with a finish of 7.40 seconds.

Vicky Sanford ’14 was second in the 1,000-meter with a time of 3:06.31, two spots ahead of Kristi Pisarik ’15, who finished at 3:09.78.

Fry finished third in the 400-meter race, while McGown placed fifth in 1:02.33. Kirsch took bronze in the 400

at 2:26.47.

After Brown took home an impressive finish in the mile run, he reflected on the overall performance of the track teams this weekend.

“We still have a long way to go before reaching top form,” said Brown.

“However, the meet proved to be a good benchmark for us.”

Brandeis’ already strong distance crew will look to improve as the season progresses.

Assuming no unexpected hurdles obstruct the Brandeis indoor track squads, the track—and the team’s potential for success—is wide open.

The teams will next compete at the Dartmouth Relays at Dartmouth College on Jan. 8.

throughout the game. Brandeis went 20-of-51, shooting 39.2 percent from the field while Roger Williams went 17 of 73, shooting 23.3 percent.

Earlier in the week, against Eastern Nazarene on Monday, Brandeis put together its most complete offensive performance of the season.

While the Judges trailed early 13-12, with 12:13 left in the first half, a fast-break layup from Cincotta put the Judges up for good.

Brandeis took a 31-21 lead into halftime and never looked back.

In the second half, the Judges extended that lead to over 20 points and never let up, leading to a 64-38 rout.

Overall, Brandeis shot 26-64 from the field, while also tying Eastern Nazarene 49-49 in rebounds.

Both Cincotta and Kendrew finished the game in double figures, scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Guard Kasey Dean ’14 led the Judges with a notable eight rebounds off the bench.

The Judges now head into a three-week break, riding high on a three-game winning streak.

Brandeis hopes to keep that momentum going in January.

Ness was very proud of the team’s win, but she is also very optimistic about the team’s potential to continue their success after the break.

“We know what we’re capable [of], and we are learning the kind of force we have the potential to be. ... It’s a great confidencebuilder for the team,” she said.

Brandeis next hosts Husson College at 1 p.m. on Dec. 31.

The team will then start up University Athletic Association play on Jan. 7 against New York University and then Jan. 13 at home versus the University of Rochester.

AP BRIEF

Marlins and Angels make a statement at one of baseball’s wildest winter meetings DALLAS—The Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Angels didn’t just dominate the podium at the winter meetings; they were the only teams that used them to reshape their clubs.

As Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes and some other All-Stars found new homes, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies were uncharacteristically quiet this week, failing to make any big freeagent signings or major trades.

Not like last year, when the Red Sox landed Carl Crawford and the Yankees and Phillies wooed Cliff Lee. Perhaps it’s a sign that the luxury tax is working, that the highrevenue teams have maxed out their spending. Or perhaps that the big-market powers all had first basemen, and the starting pitchers available were secondtier at best.

“We did go into the meetings

with kind of a healthy skepticism about free agency, but certainly not a prohibition against signing free agents,’’ Red Sox President Larry Lucchino said Thursday.

“We won’t ever go that far, but what we did last year is not something that people expect us to duplicate or replicate, when you spend nearly $300 million on free agent signings,” he said.

“That’s not something you’re likely to do year in and year out.

It could turn into some real money.’’

Miami and the Angels committed $522.5 million to just five free agents.

The new-look, new-attitude, formerly low-budget Marlins reached agreements with AllStar closer Heath Bell ($27 million for three years), All-Star shortstop Reyes ($106 million for six seasons) and All-Star lefthander Mark Buehrle ($58 million for four years), a total of $191

million even before they failed to reel in Pujols and C.J. Wilson.

The Angels closed the meeting by reaching a $254 million, 10-year deal with Pujols —the second-largest contract in baseball history —and a $77.5 million, five-year agreement with Wilson.

That’s $331.5 million, if you’re counting, for a team that began 2011 year with the fourth-highest payroll.

“This was the Marlins’ winter meetings up until the last few minutes,’’ Wilson’s agent, Bob Garber, said as team officials were heading home.

Agent Scott Boras, who usually seizes the winter meetings spotlight, stayed in the background.

He planned to meet Friday with client Prince Fielder to report on what teams are interested in the other free agent slugging first baseman.

Fielder is still in the early stages of making a decision. The

Cardinals now have an opening, and the Chicago Cubs also appear to be a good fit, but other teams could pursue Fielder if they’re willing to provide a nine-figure deal.

Boras also represents Edwin Jackson, another starting pitcher from a relatively weak freeagent group, as well as relievers Ryan Madson and Francisco Rodriguez.

In the game of closer musical chairs, there may not be enough seats, with Francisco Cordero also looking for a job and Oakland’s Andrew Bailey possibly available in the trade market.

The Angels and Marlins already have made their push.

With a lone World Series title in 2002, the year before Arte Moreno bought the franchise from The Walt Disney Co., the Angels want to overtake the financially struggling Dodgers as the most prestigious team in

southern California.

“This is obviously the moment where we have thrown our hat in the ring,’’ new Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said in announcing the deals with Pujols and Wilson.

The Marlins, with revenue from their new ballpark, want to become an NL power.

They want to make fans forget when the club was dismantled following surprise titles in 1997 and 2003.

“It’s an energy city, and I think that’s one of the things that brings the players there.

They see the energy,’’ Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said. “I want our team to be important.’’

Already, the rest of baseball has noticed.

“It changed the market,’’ San Diego Padres general manager Josh Byrnes said. “It changed the landscape of the game of major league baseball.’’

14

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

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THE JUSTICE

BRANDEIS BEGINNINGS: Gliedman is pictured above in his time at Brandeis.

ALL SMILES: Gliedman revels in his current post at the NBA, overseeing all information and technology-based services.

Nothing but (Inter)net By jeffrey boxer JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

Besides the occasional intramural game at Brandeis, Michael Gliedman ’85 was never much of a basketball player.

Yet, the Scarsdale, N.Y. native has found himself “running point” for one of the largest and fastestgrowing teams in the NBA: the league’s information technology department.

Gliedman is in his 12th year as senior vice president and chief information officer with the NBA, a job that, according to his biography on the league’s website, has him “[overseeing] the league’s drive to become one of the preeminent technology-driven sports organizations in the world.”

More specifically, Gliedman’s team serves nearly 250 technical systems across 13 different countries.

“On one hand, it’s a traditional IT [information technology] setup,” Gliedman explained. “We run the data center and the network,

and we provide systems and services for business-specific groups across the organization.”

“Then, on the other hand, we run things like stats, clocks, scoring systems and web systems and provide data and video feeds to companies such as ESPN and Turner [Broadcasting System], various gaming companies as well as overseas partners.”

Gliedman is also responsible for the league’s vast archive of hundreds of thousands of hours of high-quality video.

Each highlight is annotated with statistics and other information that help to give a full picture of the games played. Furthermore, the videos are also rated based on the quality of the play.

“So if someone wanted to find all three-star footage of Kobe Bryant shooting three-pointers, they can just search our archive,” he said.

Gliedman was a Computer Science major at Brandeis and then turned an internship at Logical Resources, Inc. on Bear Hill Road in Waltham to a full-time job.

After graduating from Columbia Business School, Gliedman got a job with Booz Allen & Hamilton, a business strategy and technology consulting firm, and he specialized in media and entertainment technology.

He then became the senior vice president of application development for InfoWorks—a Viacom technology service—before joining the NBA in 1999.

Though he doesn’t have much of a background in sports, Gliedman said that his work at Booz Allen and Viacom prepared him for the job of CIO. “I’ve always been a media and entertainment person, and I consider sports another type of media and entertainment,” he explained.

“We deal with the same types of systems: TV, video, ad sales and systems that traffic shows and commercials. That’s consistent with the work I did at Booz Allen and Viacom.”

Gliedman’s interest in media and entertainment sprang not from a love of sports, but from his musi-

Michael Gliedman ’85 works as the CIO of the NBA

cal background.

While at Brandeis, Gliedman played guitar in a cover band called Occasional Sax. The group played various shows in the area, including house parties and several gigs at the Stein.

Eventually, Occasional Sax broke up, but after several tryouts, Gliedman ended up joining an alloriginal band that became a local favorite on Boston’s WFNX during the late ’80s.

“In 1990, we decided to take a break, but by chance, we all ended up moving to the New York area.

At some point 10 years later, we ran into each other and thought it might be fun to give it another go.”

The group, now called Element 4, performs every few months in New York City. According to the band’s website, the group plays in “a retro ’80s style.”

While the recently concluded NBA lockout may have helped some musical careers—with players such as Boston Celtics guard Marquis Daniels and Milwaukee Bucks guard Stephen Jackson re-

leasing their own tracks during the 160-day work stoppage—Gliedman didn’t have as much free time to work with his band.

“We were as busy as ever,” he said. “We were preparing for the season to start at any moment, so there really wasn’t any downtime.”

Though he didn’t come to the NBA because of a passion for basketball, Gliedman said the he has certainly developed one along the way.

“I didn’t come here because of the sports, but I’ve been here for more than a decade, and you begin to absorb it by osmosis,” he said.

“It’s a regular part of our day— watching videos and monitoring games and making sure everything looks and works right.”

Gliedman can be proud of his work, as the NBA is widely regarded as one of the most technologically savvy leagues among the four major sports.

As leader of the pack, it looks like Gliedman may be wearing the captain’s “C” on his suit jacket for years to come.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICHAEL GLIEDMAN

ROCKING OUT: Michael Gliedman ’85 (center) is shown performing with his band, Occasional Sax, at the Stein in the mid-1980s, for one of the group’s concerts during his time at Brandeis.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, December 13, 2011

15

INTRAMURAL SPORTS

jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS Men’s BASKETBALL UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Points Per Game

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference

W L D W Emory 0 0 0 8 NYU 0 0 0 5 Rochester 0 0 0 8 WashU 0 0 0 7 Case 0 0 0 6 Chicago 0 0 0 5 JUDGES 0 0 0 5 Carnegie 0 0 0 4

Overall L D Pct. 0 0 .1000 0 0 .1000 2 0 .800 2 0 .778 2 0 .750 3 0 .625 5 0 .500 5 0 .444

UPCOMING GAMES Friday, Dec. 30 vs. Bates Saturday, Jan. 7 at NYU Friday, Jan. 13 vs. Rochester

Derek Retos ’12 leads the team with 16.1 points per game.

Player PPG Derek Retos 16.1 Youri Dascy 12.5 Ben Bartoldus 12.3 Vytas Kriskus 8.6

Rebonds Per Game Youri Dascy ’14 leads the team with 9.3 rebounds per game.

Player RPG Youri Dascy 9.3 Alex Stoyle 7.0 Vytas Kriskus 4.6 Alex Schmidt 3.9

WOMen’s basketball UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Not including Monday’s games

Points Per Game

UAA Conference Overall

W L D W L D Pct. Rochester 0 0 0 9 0 0 .1000 Chicago 0 0 0 6 0 0 .1000 WashU 0 0 0 7 1 0 .875 Emory 0 0 0 6 2 0 .750 NYU 0 0 0 5 2 0 .714 Case 0 0 0 6 3 0 .667 JUDGES 0 0 0 6 4 0 .600 Carnegie 0 0 0 4 5 0 .444

Dianna Cincotta ’11 leads the team with 10 points per game.

Player PPG Dianna Cincotta 10.0 Morgan Kendrew 8.0 Hannah Cain 7.6 Shannon Hassan 6.7

UPCOMING GAMES Saturday, Dec. 31 vs. Husson Saturday, Jan. 7 at NYU Friday, Jan. 13 vs. Rochester

Rebounds Per Game Samantha Anderson ’13 leads with 7.5 rebounds per game.

Player RPG Samantha Anderson 7.5 Hannah Cain 5.1 Kelly Ethier 4.7 Shannon Hassan 4.1

FENCING

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

SET UP: Ari Silver ’12 taps the ball up for one of his teammates in the men’s intramural volleyball championship last week.

Results from the Brandeis Invitational at home on Sunday, Dec. 5

TOP FINISHERS (Men’s)

TOP FINISHERS (Women’s)

SABER RECORD Jess Ochs-Willard 7-2

SABER Zoe Messinger

RECORD 7-2

FOIL Julian Cardillo

RECORD 8-4

FOIL Vikki Nunley

RECORD 8-4

ÉPÉE Alex Powell

RECORD 4-1

ÉPÉE Emily Mandel

RECORD 3-1

UPCOMING MEET: The men’s and women’s teams will next compete at the second Northeast Conference Meet at Boston College on Jan. 28, 2012.

Volleyball teams go in for the kill in the final round ■ All three divisions

concluded their intramural volleyball season with the championships last week.

By JEFFREY BOXER JUSTICE senior writer

TRACK AND FIELD Results from the Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational last Saturday

NOTABLE FINISHES (Men’s)

NOTABLE FINISHES (Women’s)

55-METER DASH Vincent Asante

TIME 6.64

50-METER DASH Brittany Bell

MILE RUN Chris Brown Taylor Dundas

TIME 4:20.96 4:23.67

3,000 METER RUN TIME Kate Warwick 10:12.23 Miriam Stulin 10:24.93

TIME 7.36

UPCOMING MEET: The men’s and women’s track teams will next compete at the Dartmouth Relays at Dartmouth College on Jan. 8, 2012.

An exciting season of intramural volleyball came to a close last week as each of the three divisions squared off in their respective championship matches.

You’ve Been Served captured the co-ed crown, while Signaled Alfred Music took home the men’s title and Bumpin’ Brandeis Babes won the women’s league.

The women’s match was the most exciting one of the night, as it took three sets for the topseeded Bumpin’ Brandeis Babes to knock off No. 2 Can We Kick It by scores of 25-23, 17-25 and 25-14.

While Bumpin’ Brandeis Babes captured a tight first set, Can We Kick It would not be swept. The

team rolled to a notable second set victory. Bumpin’ Brandeis Babes, however, regrouped to notch the third set by a convincing margin.

The champions were led by Bella Hu ’13 and Samantha Heller ’12, both of whom formerly played on the varsity volleyball team at Brandeis.

“It was really intense; they were really scrappy,” Hu explained.

“Both teams had a lot of the same players as last year, and they won the championship last year, so I was really impressed with them.

But we played a lot more organized this time around, and we were able to pull it out.”

In the men’s division, No. 2 Signaled Alfred Music beat the lowest seed to make it to the championship game, facing off against No. 4 What Are You A Girl Or Sumthin.

Signaled Alfred Music won in straight sets by margins of 25-15 and 25-20. David Perlow ’11 MA ’12 earned himself MVP honors with a dominant performance You’ve Been Served knocked off

Set Meme Up in the co-ed division in straight sets, 25-20 and 25-15.

You’ve Been Served was led by captain and Operations and Event Director for Brandeis Athletics Marni Friedman as well as Marshall Santoso ’11 MA ’13, who is an assistant coach for the varsity volleyball team.

Both staff members figured prominently in the squad’s memorable run, dropping just one set all season during its undefeated campaign.

“We essentially had four volleyball coaches on our team,” Santoso said.

“You had me; [women’s head volleyball coach] Michelle Kim; Shannon [Eagan], who is also an assistant; and [Friedman], who used to be. But they were really, really athletic. They got a bunch of balls over, … and it was definitely a game worthy of being a final.”

Intramural athletes will continue with the basketball season, which is set to take place shortly after the upcoming break.

Boston Bruins beat Bruins stumble to start off the month of December, falling in a shutout loss to the Florida Panthers Bruins right wing Shawn Thornton and Florida Panthers right wing Krystofer Barch battled it out early in the first period in a fight that would serve as a good indicator for how the rest of the game would unfold: scrappy opponents facing off in a battle of endurance.

However, the Bruins would not be able to penetrate Florida’s stingy defense in a 2-0 loss last Thursday.

The Panthers, now an overall 16-8-4 on the year, have emerged as a surprising playoff threat in the Eastern Conference.

With a 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, the Bruins rest at 18-9-1 on the season.

Throughout the first and second periods, the two teams fought evenly for possession.

While Boston held a slight edge in

shots on goal in the first two periods, neither team managed to score.

The Bruins offense did have several close post opportunities in the early stages of the game, but failed to capitalize. Bruins coach Claude Julien was disappointed at the team’s effort to convert on scoring chances.

“We had about 40 shots on net, but we forced a lot of plays,” Julien said.

“There were about four or five posts, and you can say what you want about those, but you’ve got to find ways to bury those goals, and I think we’ve got to do a better job of that.”

Panthers goalkeeper José Théodore led a team that was well-prepared for the Bruins attack.

In the beginning of the third period, the Bruins dominated offensively, but again failed to put any points on the board against the seemingly impen-

etrable Panthers goaltender.

Théodore, in his second shutout of the season and 600th National Hockey League game, stayed strong through a barrage of shots on goal, eliciting sighs of disappointment from the sold-out stands of TD Garden. In their 101st straight sold-out home game, the Bruins kept fans anxious and hopeful for a score.

On the defensive end, Bruins goalkeeper Tim Thomas and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg remained solid throughout the game, only allowing a decisive score with only 2 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game.

However, Seidenberg acknowledged that the team should have been more effective on both sides of the rink.

“We just didn’t play well enough on both blue lines,” he said. “We just turned the puck over too many times

and just made the little mistakes that cost the game at the end.”

Panthers right wing Tomás Kopecký seized the scoring opportunity that the Panthers had been waiting for all night on a rebounded shot from defenseman Dmitry Kulikov. Center Shawn Matthias picked up the assist.

“We knew [Thomas] was going to be playing hard; we knew [it was] going to be a tight game,” said Kopecký. “After the second period we just said, we need to stay patient.’”

In a game where the Bruins were 0-4 on the power play, Julien pulled Thomas with one minute remaining.

The Panthers quickly fired off their second goal of the night on an empty net back-hand goal from forward Kris Versteeg with 41.9 seconds left.

Julien noted the advantages the Bruins held in possession but that

their scoring opportunities were not enough to overcome their ineffectiveness on offense or ability to counter the patience of the Panthers offense.

“Nothing was really clean tonight.

I think that’s what really made our game hard,” he said. “My feeling after each period was that as long as we didn’t score, they were going to hang in there and just wait for the opportunity. And they did.”

Left wing Milan Lucic agreed with Julien that the team’s inability to convert on scoring chances cost them the game.

“We did a good job of getting shots and scoring chances, but that’s all they are if you don’t get results.”

The Bruins next play the Los Angeles Kings tonight at home at 7 p.m.

—Becca Elwin

just

Sports

Page 16

A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES justSports sat down with Michael Gliedman ’85, senior vice president and chief information officer for the NBA , p. 14.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Waltham, Mass.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Judges stun the 2nd-ranked Lord Jeffs ■ The men’s basketball team

got back on track last week with two wins, including an upset victory over Amherst.

By JACOB MOSKOWITZ JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

As the clock wound down to the final minute in the men’s basketball match against Amherst College last Saturday, Brandeis students stormed onto the court, mobbing the players after a Cinderella upset.

Brandeis outscored the No. 2-ranked Lord Jeffs by 11 points in the second half en route to a impressive 76-61 victory. Despite going 2-5 in their first seven games, the Judges have righted the ship, reeling off their third win in a row and improving their record to 5-5. Amherst falls to 8-1 with the loss.

Guard Ben Bartoldus ’14 turned in another impressive performance, finishing with a career-high 23 points, leading all scorers on the night. Bartoldus has averaged 19 points per game over the team’s last four games, a huge factor in Brandeis’ winning streak.

“I personally needed to find my rhythm again after missing the preseason,” Bartoldus said. “My team and coaching staff have always had confidence in me.”

Forward Vytas Kriskus ’12, starting for the second game in a row, had another standout performance, finishing second on the team in scoring with 17 points while also adding nine rebounds. Center Youri Dascy ’14 finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, and guard Derek Retos ’14 scored nine on three-of-five shooting from three-point range. Point guard Tyrone Hughes ’12 rounded out the starting five with eight points and eight assists.

Overall, Bartoldus acknowledged it was an exciting game for the Judges to play in, especially against such a formidable opponent.

“We were all really excited and focused for this game,” Bartoldus said.

“This game gave our team the opportunity to showcase our true talent.

Plus, it’s Amherst. That’s motivation; we have to beat them.”

Hughes noted that the team finally came together in the game against Amherst.

“We had to put our foot down and stop the bleeding,” he said. “We were making excuses for ourselves and just not remaining focused and paying attention to detail.”

The game started out in seesaw fashion, with neither team possessing a lead larger than six. The Judges found themselves down 20-14 midway through the first half, but they fought

to take back the lead 23-22. After that, Brandeis would not look back.

With 15 seconds left in the half and the Judges leading 29-28, Hughes drove down the lane. He kicked the ball out to Kriskus on the wing, who nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Judges a 32-28 lead at the half.

Brandeis started the second half with the same offensive intensity, outscoring Amherst 17-6 over the first 6 minutes, 28 seconds. Bartoldus led the charge, scoring 11 points during that span, including two long three-pointers, extending the lead to 13 points.

However, the Lord Jeffs would not give up so easily. With 10:51 to play, they cut the lead back down to 50-44.

After the teams traded baskets, the Judges reeled off another big run over the next five minutes, outscoring Amherst 14-4 to take a commanding 66-50 lead. Brandeis held on to its doubledigit lead for the rest of the game.

The Gosman Sports and Convocation Center was shaking, with fans mobbed as close to the court as they could get.

Earlier in the week, the Judges traveled to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, knocking off the Trailblazers 83-68. They led from wire to wire, with the Judges’ lead stretching to as many as 18 points. Bartoldus led Brandeis in scoring with 22 points Midway through the opening half, Brandeis found itself up 27-12. The teams played relatively evenly for the rest of the half, as the Judges ended with a 45-31 lead.

MCLA rallied in the second half, cutting the lead to nine points with 6:10 left in the game. Another Retos three-pointer thwarted the rally. After that dagger, MCLA never seriously threatened again.

Retos finished with 21 points, shooting 4-8 from three-point range.

Kriskus added 13 points in just 21 minutes, and Dascy rounded out his night with 11 points and nine rebounds. Hughes scored seven points and dished out six assists.

Overall, Hughes emphasized that the Judges’ newfound offensive and defensive prowess was the key factors in the victory.

“We bought into what coach [Meehan] was saying about keeping people out of the middle of the lane because that’s when they’re most dangerous,” he said.

“On offense, we’re learning to stay disciplined by setting good screens.

In turn, that’s opening up the driving lanes for me to create and attack … as well as enabling our shooters to take good, open shots.”

After a long break, the Judges next play at home against Bates College on Dec. 30. They begin University Athletic Association play a week later, starting at New York University on Jan. 7.

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

FLYING HIGH: Forward Vytus Kriskus ’12 soars to the basket, attempting to dunk over an Amherst defender in last week’s victory.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Team heads into the break with a key road win ■ The women’s basketball

team continues to roll, notching a commanding victory over Roger Williams.

By jacob elder JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The women’s basketball team is heading into winter break on a high note after notching two notable wins last week.

On Saturday, led by a career-high 15 points from guard Hannah Cain ’15, Brandeis prevailed over Roger Williams University 57-48 on the road.

Earlier in the week, Brandeis

pulled out a win at home against Eastern Nazarene University 64-38.

With the two victories, the Judges extended their winning streak to a season-high three games, improving their record on the season to 6-4.

Brandeis now holds seventh place in the University Athletic Association standings.

Saturday’s win against Roger Williams did not come easily.

In what has been a common theme throughout the Judges’ season, the team found itself in a seven-point hole early in the second half.

Yet, in typical Brandeis fashion, the Judges stormed ahead with a 25-9 run to close the second half and notch the victory.

The first half was a neck-and-neck

affair, possessing four ties and five lead changes. The Judges took a 3029 lead into halftime, but Roger Williams reversed that lead early in the second with a layup to make it 33-31 with 15 minutes, 56 seconds to play.

The Hawks then went on a 6-1 run, as they held their largest lead of the game, 39-32, at the 12:22 mark. Roger Williams looked to have the edge throughout the rest of the game.

However, momentum quickly shifted to the Judges’ side, with Brandeis regaining the lead after a three-point play by guard Morgan Kendrew ’15 with 8:18 left.

That shot ignited a 12-3 run for the Judges, who eventually upped their lead to seven points with just over four minutes left in the game.

The Hawks couldn’t counter against a streaking Judges offense, failing to mount a comeback. Roger Williams shot an underwhelming 20 percent from the floor throughout the rest of the fourth quarter to seal the Brandeis win.

Cain led all scorers with a careerhigh 15 points and seven rebounds.

Guard Dianna Cincotta ’11, MA ’12 finished with 13 points. Forward Courtney Ness ’13 also recorded a well-rounded statline of nine points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

The Judges reached a team record, notching 11 blocks in the match; their most in a single game since 2004.

Ness was pleased with Cain’s dis-

play of her talent on the court last Saturday.

“She is an incredible athlete and a great leader on the floor,” said Ness. “Its easy to forget that she’s [a] freshman when she plays.”

The Judges, however, were outrebounded 52-40 in the contest. Out of Roger Williams’ 52 rebounds, 28 were on the offensive end, leading to a 16-5 edge on second-chance points for the Hawks. While Brandeis was able to offset this deficiency with excellent shooting in the second half, the team could suffer in the long run from an inefficient defense.

Despite the deceptive final score, both teams struggled offensively

See WBBALL, 13 ☛

just

ARTS

December 13, 2011

finds hope p. 20 in the most unusual places

Photos and Design: Asher Krell/the Justice.

18

TUESDAY, december 13, 2011 ● THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

18-21

■ “New Works for Strings”

19

■ ‘Embodied Resistance’

19

■ ‘Urinetown: the Musical’

20

Graduate students in Composition and Theory premiered their most recent experimental works on string instruments.

A talk by a publisher and a writer featured in this newly published book about non-normative bodies was held in the WSRC. Tympanium Euphonium performed its final show of the semester, a hilariously sarcastic parody of big-budget musicals.

■ Slam Poetry finals

20

On Tuesday, the top five poets from the Slam Poetry Team were selected to go on to the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational.

■ Senior studio art exhibition

21

Seniors’ artworks created in the off-campus studio were presented in this mid-year showcase in the Dreitzer Gallery.

23-24

OFF CAMPUS

■ ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’ 23 Amy Winehouse’s death shook the music industry this summer. Now a compilation CD featuring her never-before-released recordings and covers has come out.

■ ‘New Year’s Eve’

23

Director Garry Marshall’s latest film, New Year’s Eve, features an abundance of famous faces. However, the star-studded cast doesn’t make up for the film’s messy presentation and boring plot lines.

CALENDAR

Interview

by Shelly Shore

I’ll come clean about it: I love guilty-pleasure reality shows. I’ve recently (it hurts, but I’ll admit it) ventured into the Kardashian empire and watched Kourtney and Kim Take New York.

For the record, Kourtney’s boyfriend Scott Disick needs a talk show. He’s hilarious.

But there’s more to reality shows than just guilty-pleasure amusement—the staging (and a lot of the events that lead to those crazy scenes are staged, don’t let anyone tell you differently) and the editing of reality TV reflects very specific values, though those values differ depending on whether they’re broadcasted by MTV, Lifetime or the CW Network.

The second season of Teen Mom 2 premiered on Tuesday, and pop culture gurus are already talking societal implications—a decline in the intelligence of viewers coupled with a desire for more simplistic programming, the destruction of the family unit and the old favorite: the glamorization of teen pregnancy and motherhood.

For the record, Teen Mom 2 is my mother’s favorite reality series, and this is a woman with a law degree, so I don’t know that it’s necessarily the intelligence of viewers that’s declining; just the willingness of intelligent people to watch unintelligent programming.

Picking up where last season left off, Teen Mom 2’s premiere episode featured the drama viewers have come to expect from the show.

These outrageous scenes included abusive domestic situations between teen mom Janelle and her mother, Leah’s (now-ex) husband expressing angry jealousy when he finds out that Leah works in a co-ed office, Kailyn lying to her baby-daddy about taking her son trick-or-treating with her new boyfriend and Chelsea’s babydaddy, Adam, trying to emotionally manipulate her into rekindling their relationship. The anti-role-model behavior of the parents (both teen and adult) on the show wouldn’t be such a problem if the show’s major viewership wasn’t clustered in the 12- to 18-year-old age range, ac-

BET’s “Quickies” features new talent and more one-acts

 This year’s “Quickies” event has more performances than ever before, which organizers attribute to their new play-writing workshops and broader campus outreach.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MTV

BABY WITH A BABY: Janelle has been one of the most controversial young mothers on ‘Teen Mom 2.’ cording to MTV’s reports.

Another bit of Teen Mom news this week featured Amber Portwood, one of the mothers from the first edition of Teen Mom. On Wednesday, Portwood told E! News that she had recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and dissociative disorder. Anyone who has watched the show is probably unsurprised by this revelation, but we have to wonder—could Amber have gotten help sooner if people hadn’t been so entertained by her life, or would she never have gotten help without so much public backlash over her behavior?

It’s a tricky ethical issue. Unfortunately, as long as the ratings stay high and the classiness stays low, I’m willing to bet that the ethics of reality television aren’t going to improve any time soon.

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

ON-CAMPUS EVENTS “Messiah” sing

The Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, the University Chorus and the Brandeis Chamber Choir are collaborating in this annual event, a concert devoted to Handel’s famous oratorio, traditionally sung around Christmas time.

Solos will be performed by theater and music professors. Students are invited to come and sing along (music will be provided).

Today from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.

Brandeis Ensemble Theater presents ‘Quickies’

The annual presentation of student-written, student-produced short plays will be put on for one night only today. This year, eight original 10-minute pieces will be performed.

The plays cover a wide variety of topics and theater styles, including comedy, drama and surrealism.

Today from 8 to 11 p.m. in the Carl J. Shapiro Theater.

“Demon or Darling? Older Mothers and their Adult Children in the Movies”

Women’s Studies Research Center scholarin-residence Elizabeth Warren Markson will give a talk examining the relationships between mothers and their grown children as depicted in films from the 1930s to the 1990s.

Markson was also a professor of gerontology at several universities and has published books and articles on the cultural representation of aging women.

Thursday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Epstein Lecture Hall.

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS ‘Imaginary Invalid’

The Boston University College of Fine Arts presents a play about the wealthy Argan, a housebound hypochondriac whose scheme to marry his daughter to a doctor is driven by one thing: free medical care. The comedy is a satire of both French society and the medical profession.

Running through Friday in the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA located at 527 Tremont St, Boston. Tickets are $12 for the general public.

Yelimane Fall

Senegalese graphic artist and muralist Yelimane Fall is now presenting his latest works on the Boston University campus. Fall is also a community activist, and his art has been influenced by Muslim religious leaders and principles. As part of the show, Fall will work alongside students to create an original piece, similar to his projects with young people in Senegal.

Running through Friday at the Sherman Gallery at Boston University, located at 775 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. Admission is free.

New England Conservatory Youth Jazz Orchestra concert This preparatory student jazz orchestra

BOB JAGENDORF/Flickr Creative Commons

KICKING QUEENS: The Radio City Rockettes are famous for their synchronized high kicks and similar appearances. The group is now taking its show on the road and is currently performing in Boston. is made up of amateur pre-college-age musicians. The orchestra was founded in 2008 by celebrated jazz musician Ken Schaphorst, who chairs the NEC’s college-level jazz studies department.

Friday at 8 p.m. in the New England Conservatory’s Brown Hall, located at 290 Huntington Ave., Boston. Admission is free.

‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents an evening of humorous songs that capture the spirit of 1930s Harlem. Numbers to be performed include, “Honeysuckle Rose,” “The Joint is Jumpin’” and “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love.”

Running through Saturday at the Lyric Stage Company, located at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston. Tickets start at $27.

‘Urban Nutcracker’ with BalletRox

This classic Boston performance follows E. T. A. Hoffman’s original story, The Nutcracker, but sets the tale in modern-day Boston. The company also infuses swing, hip-hop and tap dance styles into the ballet and features over 50 local children.

Running through Sunday at the Wheelock Family Theater, located at 200 The Riverway, Boston, in Wheelock College’s campus. Tickets start at $25.

‘This Shining Night’

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus presents their annual holiday show, featuring both traditional Christmas tunes such as “O Holy Night,” as well as African and Jewish music and several ancient British carols adapted to modern instrumentation by rock musician Sting.

Running through Monday at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, located at 30

Gainsborough St., Boston. Tickets start at $16.

‘Radio City Christmas Spectacular’ starring the Rockettes

The world-famous Radio City Rockettes will dance their way through brand-new scenes in an array of glamorous costumes.

Running through Wednesday, Dec. 28 at the Citi Wang Theatre located at 270 Tremont St, Boston. Tickets start at $25.

“Winter Solstice Night at the Museum”

Interested in a nontraditional holiday event? You’ve found it at the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s winter solstice celebration. During the museum’s extended hours, the Pinewoods Morris Men will perform the traditional Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, the oldest ritual English dance known to scholars. The Morris Men will wear real antlers attached to their heads while performing this dance, which involves weaving in hypnotic patterns. Musician David Coffin will also demonstrate ancient horn instrument music.

Wednesday, Dec. 21 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, located at 26 Oxford St, Cambridge. Tickets are $9 for general admission and $7 for students.

‘Arabian Nights’

This play tells the story of King Shahrayar, who brands all women unfaithful after learning of his first wife’s infidelity. He takes a new bride every night until he weds Shahrazad, who enchants him with magical stories and wins his love in the process. This play is presented by The Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater.

Running through Saturday, Dec. 31 in Central Square Theater, located at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Tickets are $20 for those with a valid college ID.

“Quickies” is the annual event that lets new student playwrights get their feet wet in a fun, easy way. This week, justArts spoke with the three main coordinators of this year’s Quickies: director and co-producer Herbie Rosen ’12, coproducer Abby Armstrong ’13, and stage manager Kelsey Strouse ‘13. Rosen has been involved with the event for the past three years, his sophomore year acting in one of the pieces while at the same time co-producing. This year, Rosen, in addition to producing again, has written and directed one of the acts himself. Armstrong is new to “Quickies” this year but will also be directing a piece in addition to producing. Strouse stage managed the show for the first time last year.

All three organizers are involved in Brandeis Ensemble Theater and other theater groups on campus.

JustArts: How is ‘Quickies’ created each year?

Herbie Rosen: Basically, this is put on by Brandeis Ensemble Theater, which is dedicated to ensemble and experiential works, so we have students submit one-acts that they have written and we put out the call at the beginning of the semester. We get them submitted around mid-November and the two producers ... on the Ensemble Theater board sit down, go over the one-acts, and select them.

This year we have eight, the most we’ve ever had in an actual festival. Then the writers get to choose if they want to direct their own, and then we invite students who have emailed us over the semester interested in directing, place the directors, and then we have a casting call for anybody available. We then cast them … and tell them, okay, three to five hours [of rehearsal] maximum before the show, just get it done, quick.

JA: Have you participated in “Quickies” in the past?

Kelsey Strouse: I got to stage manage it last year, and it was a blast.

JA: How is the show this year different from last year’s?

Abby Armstrong: This year we have been embarking on a new method of preparing for “Quickies,” in that we started the year off by pursuing play-writing workshops, to not only publicize “Quickies” as an event but also get playwrights from all over Brandeis’ campus, not just usual [Undergraduate Theater Collective] theater people to come and write Quickies.

JA: What was the response like to that?

AA: We had two workshopping sessions with the Brandeis professor who teaches a play writing course. There were 12 people enrolled in the workshop and it was a really great response, especially because they were really encouraged to bring back their work for critiques and to workshop it. I think it has really increased the quality of the Quickies that have been submitted this year and that is why we have so many this year.

JA: Are there any Quickies that are particularly notable this year and that are different than acts that have been selected in the past?

HR: We’ve got one that’s going to be kind of emotional, which should be fun. Honestly, we’re just excited because there are eight of them, we’ve never done eight. They’re all going to fit in nice with the show. They’re all very different, some very funny. We’ve got kind of a nice range of emotions. And its not just knockknock jokes in terms of the humor; it’s creative approaches. There will be turkeys, cops, robbers … cats, cancer patients, and some Jewish humor.

KS: Lots of Jewish humor.

JA: What is it like putting on a show in such a short amount of time?

KS: For me, it’s a blast because everyone is just really, really dedicated and we’ve all put in work in different times and different places so its just exciting when everyone comes together and we can create one final project ... everyone can see the work that everyone else has put into it.

JA: How is being an actor or director different from being a producer?

HR: [As a producer,] I don’t have to worry about the pressure of lines, but it’s just fun to be able to share this work with the students and focus more on the logistics and making this happen, and realizing really how last- minute this thing is. This entire thing, I don’t think we’ve come into this prepared at all and that’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be.

JA: What has been your favorite part of this experience?

KS: The best is yet to come.

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

19

ON CAMPUS campus speaker

Book questions ideas of body normalcy ■ An intersex woman who

contributed a chapter to ‘Embodied Resistance’ spoke about her experiences with genital surgery on Thursday.

By Hayley deberry and olivia leiter JUSTICE STAFF WRITERs

“Circumcision. Childhood vaccinations. Preschool beauty pageants. Steroids and sports. Designer vaginas.

Hair straightening. Drag queens and kings. Burkas. Eyelid surgery. Sexual dysfunction. End-of-life care. …

Despite the widely varying views expressed about ‘the body,’ people tend to agree on this point: when it comes to the body, there’s tremendous pressure to play by the rules.”

Thus begins the introduction of Embodied Resistance: Challenging the Norms, Breaking the Rules, a collection of ethnographic research and personal stories about individuals who transgress body norms. Chris Bobel, associate professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and co-editor of the work with other Samantha Kwan started her talk about the recently published book last Thursday at the Women’s Studies Research Center Epstein Lecture Hall. Bobel explained, “I taught a course called ‘Gender and the Body’ seven years ago, and I found that when we talk about resistance to norms, students really come to life.”

Bobel defined embodied resistance as “oppositional action or nonviolence that defies contextual body norms.”

The 16 research-based chapters of her book address an array of questions

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

BORN DIFFERENT: Leidolf was born without a uterus due to a rare syndrome known as MRKH. about resistance. Some of these questions include: Why do some resist while most of us comply, even if we do so grudgingly? Who are the resisters?

Are there certain conditions under which resistance is more possible?

What role does privilege play? How does resistance occur?

The book comprises four sections.

Part I is titled “Rewriting Gender Scripts” and talks about socially constructed femininity and masculinity, exploring ways that some people defy these gendered norms. Part II, “Chal-

lenging Marginalization,” explores more public acts of resistance. For example, the book talks about the Red Hat Society, a group of middleaged and older women who are “not dead yet.” They resist the role of aging women by having fun and being social. Part III, “Defying Authoritative Knowledge and Conventional Wisdom,” discusses alternative ways of looking at the world. Finally, Bobel explained that the last section of the book, “Negotiating Boundaries and Meanings,” focuses on “the relation-

al dimension of ‘doing’ resistance.”

Each section, rich in images and individual accounts, paints a multifaceted picture of the body and inspires a more in-depth understanding of its social significance.

Following Bobel’s talk, Esther Morris Leidolf—a woman who contributed a section to Embodied Resistance on her experience as an intersex adolescent—spoke at length about her adulthood and the sad truths about intersex life in America’s binary-obsessed society. As a teenager, Leidolf was diagnosed with Mayer-RokitanskyKuster-Hauser syndrome, meaning that she was born without a uterus and could not menstruate. However, to all her male doctors, her condition was first and foremost a “social emergency” that had to be corrected, lest she be unable to practice a “normal sex life with her husband.” As a teenage, Liedolf therefore underwent a series of painful, traumatizing surgeries to conform to the standards imposed on her. In her talk, Leidolf asked us to consider the conservative assumptions inherent in the mindset of her doctors.

Leidolf enlightened her audience to the countless social assumptions involved in medical approaches to the 36 different medically-defined intersex conditions. Doctors can legally operate on an intersex infant or minor without parents’ consent on the grounds that the individual in question needs to be normalized so that he or she may identify as male or female. But the basis for determining whether a child may or may not live a normal sex life in the future is, in part, chalked up to a measurement of a baby’s genitals. “If a baby girl has a clitoris larger than this,” said Leidolf, holding up the back end of a retract-

able ballpoint pen, “she will lose it,” meaning doctors would remove it.

What’s more is that the default gender assignment for intersex individuals is female because, as Leidolf learned from a doctor of hers, “It’s easier to dig a hole than build a pole.”

The surgeries designed to create a more “normal” vagina “severed [Leidolf’s] relationship with [her] gender identity.” The traumatizing procedures she endured to build her a vagina that could accommodate a penis were cosmetic and medically unnecessary, as are 95 percent of intersex surgeries performed, according to Leidolf. “People ask me, ‘Didn’t you want a vagina?’ I’ll never know,” she explained. She has, however, managed to overcome her own personal suffering so that she can give talks such as this one in order to break our society’s fixation on gender normality. At the request of an audience member, Leidolf challenged the assumption that normal sexual function should be limited to heterosexual intercourse.

Though this issue is gaining increasing attention, the wide range of intersex conditions makes it difficult for these individuals to form a community. Those willing to open up about their experiences are therefore hugely important to the growth of the cause. “It’s tough to go public with your privates,” she admitted at the conclusion of her talk. “Who determines if [what we’re born with are] the right gonads? God should, but doctors do.” It is people like Leidolf, who challenge and inform society on the world’s sexual diversity, who represent the progress being made toward our acceptance of this diversity and our allowance of intersex individuals to make their own decisions regarding their genders and identities.

concert

Graduate students debut nontraditional works ■ Young composers showed off

their pieces at “New Works for Strings,” from the “New Music” concert series.

By VIET TRAN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Art is born from past art but manages to create something new and unfamiliar. The graduate student composers at Brandeis continued this process on Saturday in the Slosberg Recital Hall with their concert “New Works for Strings,” where their string compositions were performed by the Lydian String Quartet.

The concert is part of the “New Music Brandeis” concert series in which Brandeis’ graduate student composers showcase their original work.

“4-Constraints” certainly embodies something new and unfamiliar, written by Michele Zaccagnini, Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory, and conducted by Jeffrey Means. Zaccagnini composed each of the four movements with a rigid structure by writing in “the Fibonacci series (both rhythmically and in the ordering of the different pitch-sets)” or through “the opening sentence of Dante’s Inferno in morse code,” as the program explains. The work was a curious rhythm. It felt like a Jackson Pollack painting, a splatter of paint translated into sound, both random and focused.

Jared Redmond, a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory, composed “Cypresses,” a melancholic, romantic work. The imagery I visualized as I listened was not simply Cypress trees, but Vincent Van Gogh’s painting of cypresses, in which abnormal colors painfully writhe on the canvas. Redmond sees a new perspective here: a sharp, maddening vision created by his use of untraditional chords. The work built in intensity to a disturbing effect before finishing with unresolved questions.

“19c,” written by Florie Namir, a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory, felt like a psychic

confusion, a daze one feels after a traumatic experience. Namir createsd this effect through a seeming lack of meter and unsettling, hypnotic chords.

All the composers wrote in this daring style: atonal, abstract and seemingly random. At first hearing, the sounds could be confused for noise, but there were intricate patterns within the music that drew the audience in. The songs required nontraditional techniques, such as col legno (hitting the wooden side of the bow against the string) and untraditional meters. Most of all, they required an adaptive and keen ear.

“Selective Defrosting,” written

by Tina Tallon, an M.F.A. candidate in Music Composition and Theory, asked the quartet to use further nontraditional techniques, such as suppressing the natural vibration of the string so that the rustling friction against the bow creates the airy effect of a cold wind. A sudden rattled pluck of the cello’s strings triggered the rush of the violins before the settled down. Dark fear and agitation enveloped the piece.

The concert took another turn in “Pattern Music for String Quartet,” written by David Dominique, a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory. I heard a technique completely unimaginable in Haydn’s time. The wispy sound of glissando harmonics—created by sliding one’s fingers rapidly over the strings— emitted eerie sliding pitches. The deliberate scraping of bows reproduced the sound of grating metal. The repetitive plucking at high pitches hit the listener like hammer against wood.

The effect drew curiosity from the listener, causing him or her to question the meaning of the work.

During the intermission, a member of the audience remarked on the fine line between the child who throws together creations without purpose and the student who has gone through all the training, understands the rules of music and breaks them with intent— one who understands them well enough to manipulate them.

This was evident throughout “New Works for Strings,” particularly in

JENNY CHENG/the Justice

HELPING HANDS: The Lydian String Quartet accompanied the Ph.D. and M.F.A. candidates in their innovative songs for strings. the last piece, in which the players were hooked up to microphones producing electronic echoes. Soprano Jennifer Ashe added dramatic richness to the piece. In “String Quartet No. 1,” composer Peter Van Zandt Lane, a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory reconstructed the elements of sound and the role of electronics and voice to form a new sort of musical, portraying the entire arc of life, death and renewal.

The Lydian String Quartet executed these works with intensity.

They played with precision, vitality and full understanding of the color

of a musical line and the reaction of a chord. I was amazed at how they could focus on music that was seemingly chaotic and without meter.

Certainly, no quartet of lesser caliber could pull this off.

This music seemed in line with artistic progress. Just as painting has evolved from realism to the abstract, and poetry from rhymed-metered verse to free verse, this new age of noise-music feels just right. I have heard this type of music brilliantly used in movies such as There Will Be Blood and The Social Network, in which an electronic cacophony high-

lights the corruption of power and the loss of innocence. The Social Network even won the Oscar for Best Original Score, composed by Atticus Ross and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Raznor, for the use of this modern style.

I have tried to make sense of this new music style, but this line of thought always leads to more questions. What is the meaning of these pieces? Perhaps I’m asking the wrong question. These composers left me uncomfortable in my seat and confused by the lack of structure, with the terrific music on the edge of noise.

But all I can say is that I liked it.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

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THE JUSTICE

DIRTY MUSICAL FUN

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

FREE TO PEE: Bobby Strong (Jason Dick ’14), center, leads the rebellion against Urine Good Company, the corporation that charges the townsfolk for every bowel movement, after his father is arrested.

‘Urinetown’ brings irreverent humor to life ■ Tympanium Euphonium’s

‘Urinetown: the Musical’ skewers music theater tropes and over-powerful companies.

By ariel kay JUSTICE editor

I saw Tympanium Euphonium’s Urinetown: the Musical over 24 hours ago, and yet I still can’t get that fateful chorus, “Urinetown/This is Urinetown/You’re in Urinetown,” out of my head. The eponymous song appears near the beginning of the play and serves as a chance for the characters to air their grievances: They live in a town where, due to a 20-year drought, water has become “worth its weight in gold.” Thus, everyone must pay to do their business at one of the town’s Public Amenities. And if you don’t have the cash, you just have to hold it.

If the police catch someone peeing for free, they cart them off to Urinetown,

a place no one seems to know much about but which is certainly worse than where they live now.

Urinetown is a sarcastic send-up of capitalism, big business and musicals themselves. The play opens with Officer Lockstock (Justy Kosek ’14), a corrupt police officer who enforces the pay-to-pee rules, welcoming the audience and Little Sally (Aliza Sotsky ’15) to Urinetown. “Not the place, of course. The musical. Urinetown ‘the place’ is … well, it’s a place you’ll hear people referring to a lot through the show. … It’s kind of a mythical place, you understand. A bad place. A place you won’t see until Act Two. And then? Well, let’s just say it’s filled with symbolism and things like that.” This open breaking of the fourth wall and the characters’ acknowledgment that they are simultaneously living their lives and acting in a musical immediately sets Urinetown apart from the traditional Broadway show. Writer Greg Kotis and lyricist Mark Hollmann use their characters to poke fun

at traditional theater from within a musical. Meta.

As the plot progresses, the audience learns that the Urine Good Company, a monopolistic mega-corporation with ties to the government that owns the Public Amenities and controls the water supply, is about to raise its prices. Bobby Strong (Jason Dick ’14), an assistant manager at Public Amenity Number Nine, decides that enough is enough, and he opens the toilets to all, free of charge. Amenity Number Nine is used by the poorest of the poor citizens of the town, many of whom have been sent away to Urinetown for violating the law and peeing without payment, including Bobby’s father, Old Man Strong (Harry Webb ’12).

Bobby leads the charge against Urine Good Company’s owner, Caldwell B. Cladwell (Daniel Liebman ’12), convincing his fellow citizens to fight back.

Urinetown’s greatest strength is its manic pace. Jokes fly across the stage one right after another. The

funniest stunts are often created by background characters and are not always caught by the entire audience.

Physical comedy, such as Caldwell’s underling Mr. McQueen’s (Zachary Smith ’15) pulled faces and comical stances, came just as quickly. Director Johanna Wickemeyer ’12 and choreographer Danielle Zipkin ’12 were not afraid to make Urinetown absurd, and therefore hilarious.

One of the best physical gags of the show occurred during the song “Mr. Cladwell.” Liebman parades around the stage as a chorus of Urine Good Company workers proclaim his greatness and his daughter, Hope Cladwell (Jackie Theoharis ’14), points and sing-shouts “That’s my daddy! That’s my daddy!” hysterically. At the song’s culmination, Liebman throws off his suit jacket, revealing a sparkly red vest underneath, and the office workers form a high-kicking chorus line.

Unfortunately, Urinetown’s characters and songs are more enjoyable than its actual plot, which got a bit

muddled in the second act, especially after the sudden death of Bobby Strong. Hope Cladwell, who takes up the leadership position against her father, is not as charismatic a character, particularly when Theoharis did not have Dick as a comedic partner.

The second act also features two pseudo-gospel songs that are meant to be funny simply because they are sung by the clueless Hope and Bobby but which fell flat after the initial joke.

The songs, “Run, Freedom, Run” and “I See a River” also didn’t do justice to Dick’s or Theoharis’ voices, which were impressive during other numbers.

Despite these complaints, at the end of the performance, it was clear that the audience had greatly enjoyed the musical. Viewers gave many of the actors a standing ovation. Their laughs throughout the night proved that not only was Urinetown a great success but that everyone, despite how they may try to hide it, loves a good poop joke.

POETRY

Five slammers crowned victorious at competition ■ The Slam Poetry Finals,

which were held this week, featured a range of impressive emotional performances.

By haYley deberry JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The evening of Dec. 6 marked a groundbreaking success for Brandeis’ Slam Poetry Team. In the Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room, the team hosted its Slam Poetry Finals competition, an event that emcee Hyder Kazmi ’12 called “the biggest and best slam in Brandeis history.” The three-hour event aimed to select five of Brandeis’ top slam poets to compete in the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, which will be held in Los Angeles this April.

The competition was judged by five impartial attendees who had never previously attended a poetry slam chosen from the audience at the beginning of the event. The baseline against which they judged the performers were poems presented by two “sacrificial poets”—Brandeis alumni Jason Henry Simon-Bierenbaum ’11 and Rachel Parkin ’11—who had returned to perform at the slam. Each poet had no more than three minutes to perform.

The winners were chosen based on the judges’ cumulative scores, from which the highest and lowest scores were eliminated.

Poet Amalie Kwassman ’13 opened the first round of the show with a confident, understated poem, boldly rejecting the devaluation of women’s minds

in favor of their bodies. Kwassman walked off to tumultuous applause, having established the passionate, reverent energy that the audience as well as the performers sustained for the duration of the three-hour event. “I really enjoyed performing, and I enjoyed just giving them a piece of my mind without trying to be anything I’m not, and just going up there and being myself and not being afraid of it,” Kwassman reflected in an interview with justArts at the end of the slam.

The first round saw a steady stream of 10 phenomenal performances, including a poem by Cristina Dones ’14 boldly dedicated to the “ignorant s---s” who “mistake her last name for mediocrity” and associate her with the stereotype that Bronx dwellers are uneducated. Having released her feelings on the stage, though, Dones gave an honest interview concerning the anger in her poem: “My first poem I was really excited to perform because I’ve dealt with a lot of ignorance at Brandeis and so it was just something that I felt like I needed to say for once,” she said. Indeed, Dones’ work radiated emotions ranging from rage to infectious lust to anguish over the loss of her grandfather to cancer.

The competition intensified in the second round of the Poetry Slam Finals, which included the strongest poems of the evening. Malika “Ra” Imhotep ’15 performed a poem reflecting on how our generation has “become complacent” and how America’s youth has been so homogenized that “we are all the same angry hipster” such that we “forget what the original looks like.”

Though nervous, Imhotep’s anxiety

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

FROM THE HEART: Christina Dones ’14 expresses her frustration through spoken word. gave her performance an urgency that riled up the audience as well, especially in her third poem, in which she discussed the pain of “waiting outside of love for a chance to bask in its mystery.”

Jordan Hinahara ’12 performed a fantastic piece inspired by a Canadian policeman’s suggestion in January of this year that women should stop dressing like “sluts” if they don’t want to be raped. She passionately questioned the motivations of a society that “forgets to say not to rape people,” reminding us that “my thighs are [not] his property if he can see them.” Hinahara explained, “I was really, really

excited to get up there and do a poem that I call ‘Slut Walk,’ … because it’s something that I think resonates for a lot of people, and especially for a lot of women, in the society that we’re in.”

In the final round of the competition, poet Jessica Hood ’15 fired up the stage with a poem attacking the desire of black women to conform to narrow, unrealistic standards of beauty that are “turning America’s black youth into Oreo cookies.”

Violently emotional poetry was not the only style exhibited at the event, however. Emily Duggan ’15 performed a thoughtful piece reflecting on letting oneself go, quietly asking, “If my

teeth are this gross, then what must my love be like?” Sara Kass Levy’s ’12 words, while delivered serenely, knew no mercy. Her statement, “You are a photonegative of everything you ever hoped to be,” excited her audience fantastically.

Usman Hameedi ’12, the president of the Slam Poetry Team, ended the slam with an immensely successful finale, abandoning the microphone to walk among the audience members, attacking stereotypes attached to PakistaniAmericans with an “alphabetical Armageddon” that exposed America’s cultural ignorance. The poem both moved and delighted the audience, and Hameedi took first place for the third year in a row at the end of the night.

The team, led by Hameedi in L.A., will also include Levy, Hood, Imhotep and Duggan. “I’m gonna be captain of a very strong team, and I’m looking forward to working with everybody.

Everyone is bringing such strengths to this team and I’m looking forward to pushing people in the right way so I can help them grow to where they need to be as poets,” Hameedi said.

Though these five came out on top, the other participating poets weren’t far behind. “The points [scores] were literally decimal points [apart]. … I was calculating and I was shaking in my seat, they were so close,” said scorekeeper Amanda Dryer ’13.

“It was an amazing slam,” reflected Levy after the event. “This is one of the best slams I’ve ever been to. The amount of talent in this room is just incredible and I’m so excited to get started with the team. We’re going to win. We’re just going to win.”

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, decemBER 13, 2011

21

Seniors on display

Sinéad Sinnott “I like to use a lot of bright colors. A lot of my paintings are copied from my stitching drawings. I commute from home, and stitching is a non-messy medium.”

Ari Tretin “I’m interested in light and color and plays on illusion.”

Srdjan Bodruzic “Art was always accessible to me. I developed on my own without a teacher. … I picked up drawing, but I always wanted to do painting. I took painting with [Prof.] Susan Lichtman (FA).

Painting is so different from drawing. It’s so much more about color and less about structure. I’m not really thinking about motifs; my work is more exploratory of color and light.”

Studio Art seniors unveil personal works

By OLIVIA LEITER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

What is Prospect Street Studio? and what happens there?

Viewers found out Last Wednesday, when Brandeis seniors showcased their paintings, sculptures and prints at the Spingold Theater Center in the Dreitzer Gallery for the senior studio opening reception. A sizeable crowd got a taste of the student work created at Prospect Street, the private offcampus studio space. Read about some of the artists featured in the show and what they have to say about their work.

Hilary Cohen “My pieces are about identity and gender. Clothing, identity, sexuality—it’s all a fluid thing. The words written on the figures in this piece are all things I’ve been called in my life. You wear these names on the outside; they become a part of who you are.”

The senior Studio Art exhibition runs through Jan. 20.

PHOTOS BY JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

Advertise in theJustice and reach the entire Brandeis community!

Run your ad for the rest of the semester and receive a 25-percent discount.

Classified ads starting at $10 Perfect for advertising local businesses or club events

To place an ad or for more information, contact Cody Yudkoff at ads@thejustice.org.

Join the Arts section of

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the

Write reviews for theater, movies, dance and music.

Contact Ariel Kay at arts@thejustice.org for more information.

AMY BISAILLON/the Justice

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, december 13, 2011

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OFF CAMPUS MUSIC

Winehouse CD reminds fans of her legacy ■ ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures,’

a compilation album made up of never-released songs, shows off a different side of the recently deceased singer.

By ARIEL KAY JUSTICE EDITOR

As 2011 draws to a close, a lot of year-end lists have been cropping up: Best Films of 2011, Best Songs, etc. Along with these comes the most disheartening list, Notable Deaths of 2011. Steve Jobs, Sidney Lumet, Elizabeth Taylor and Andy Rooney all passed away this year. In the music industry, the most shocking and saddening death of all was, in my opinion, the loss of Amy Winehouse.

Winehouse’s unexpected death on July 23 was crushing for several reasons: She was young, she was enormously talented, and she was clearly just getting started. Her death at age 27 also made her a member of the “Forever 27” club, a group predominantly made up of musicians who all died at this age. The list includes Jim Morrison, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Janis Joplin, in additional to over 30 other artists.

Winehouse reminds me of Cobain in some ways. He was the most recent big-name inductee to the Forever 27 club before her. Both were innovators in their genre (grunge and neosoul, respectively). Both released few albums (Nirvana had three major studio releases before Cobain’s death, Winehouse had only two).

Both were in tumultuous romantic relationships with frequently intoxicated paramours who were partially blamed for their deaths (Courtney Love and Blake Fielder-Civil, respectively). Lastly, both had a strong lovehate relationship with the media that made them both famous and miserable.

Now, almost five months after Winehouse’s death, her compilation album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures has been released. Producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi put the CD together with the Winehouse family’s

blessing. It features 12 tracks, including three new recordings of previously released Winehouse songs. Five of the songs—including Winehouse and Ronson’s biggest hit “Valerie,” originally by the Zutons—are covers. This is a departure for Winehouse, who had previously released only two songs, both on her sophomore album Back to Black, that she had not written or co-written herself.

The album opens with the reggaeinspired “Our Day Will Come,” originally sung by 1960s outfit Ruby and the Romantics. The song was recorded in 2003 for Winehouse’s first album, Frank, but never made it onto the CD. It is now being released as the second single off Lioness.

The hopeful lyrics in “Our Day Will Come,” which include the lines, “Our dreams are meant to be/ because we’ll always stay/in love this way,” are quite different from Winehouse’s own, which typically deal with cheating lovers and general romantic hardship. Her voice, however, is as distinct as ever. Winehouse had the impressive talent of being able to sound as though she was grinning while she sang. Her smooth voice fills the record, dominating the instruments and the “ooo” of the background singers.

It is not until two songs later, however, on “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” originally recorded by the Shirelles in 1960, that Winehouse really lets her pipes shine. Winehouse is known for her deep, pack-a-day alto, but on “Tomorrow,” she belts out a passionate high note I’d never heard her reach before. That’s the beauty of Lioness. It allows listeners to get a taste of Winehouse that she hadn’t previously shared with her fans and shows how the singer had grown throughout her career.

One track that was a letdown was “Like Smoke,” featuring rapper Nas. Winehouse certainly had a hip-hop influence in her music, but she never before featured another person on a song, let alone a rapper. Nas is undeniably talented at wordplay, but his style does not mesh well with Winehouse’s. She also only sings the chorus, while Nas performs both the song’s verses. It was the second verse—which features lyr-

ics about the suffering economy and then somehow includes the lines “You colder than penguin poo,” and “See a penguin, he drags his s--- on the ground all day/And there’s a dragon?”—that really struck me as out of place. After wondering what Nas could possibly be talking about, I concluded that the dragon reference could be about how he looks when he smokes pot (this makes slightly more sense if you listen to the rest of the song). Still, I didn’t get what that had to do with penguins, or the economy, or what Winehouse sings about in the chorus, which is—what else?—her relationship.

Though “Like Smoke” hits a sour note, Lioness quickly gets back into form with a slowed-down version of “Valerie” called “Valerie (’68 Version).” Next up was a delightful surprise: Winehouse’s cover of the bossa nova hit “The Girl from Ipanema,” originally recorded by Antônio Carlos Jobim. The song features playful scatting and luxurious singing from Winehouse. She sounds like the cat that ate the canary, her tone and the lyrics combining into what sounds like the soundtrack to a sun-drenched tropical locale.

One other track of note on Lioness is Winehouse’s duet with Tony Bennett, “Body and Soul,” first recorded in 1939 by Coleman Hawkins and originally released earlier this year on Bennett’s CD Duets II. “Body and Soul” was the last track that Winehouse ever recorded. Unlike her collaboration with Nas, Bennett and Winehouse are partners in this song, and Bennett’s raspy voice sounds great with Winehouse’s throaty one.

The song sounds a bit like a lounge act by the end, but, after all, that’s Bennett’s style.

Lioness: Hidden Treasures does not always have the emotional drive or confident sass that made Winehouse such a memorable performer. However, it contains some of her best vocal work, and the mix of genres, covers and originals means that all of the singer’s various styles can be heard. While I’d still recommend Back to Black as Winehouse’s strongest work, Lioness rounds out her discography and will give her fans something more to remember her by.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

BEEHIVE BABE: Winehouse was known for her ’60s style and rebellious nature.

FILM

Plots fall apart in Marshall’s ‘New Year’s Eve’ ■ Over 18 big-name actors

appear in this holiday movie composed of intertwined vignettes, but none of them make the film any less boring.

By DIEGO MEDRANO JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Your favorite actor or actress is in New Year’s Eve. I promise.

He or she might be an extra, walking past the camera waving a million-dollar check. Or he or she might have a cameo where playing a shallow version of a character you loved from another movie, but they’re there. They have to be. Everyone is in this movie.

That’s pretty much the premise.

For anyone who saw last year’s Valentine’s Day, also directed by Garry Marshall, you know what to expect.

Marshall takes over two dozen stars, pairs them up, gives them storylines that seem ripped off from bad Lifetime holiday movies, finds ways for those storylines to somehow intersect and then pushes out some overbearing, warm and fuzzy message.

This time the random vignettes revolve around the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve in New York City.

Hilary Swank plays Claire Morgan, who is in charge of the actual ball dropping along with her friend Brandon, a New York City police officer played by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges who seems to provide nothing but moral support (who brings his best performance since 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious). Of course the drop doesn’t

PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES

COUNTDOWN TO 2012: Katherine Heigl (right) and Sofia Vergara play chefs in ‘Eve.’ go as planned, and it becomes a race against time to fix it. I won’t ruin the ending for you, but if you can’t already predict what happens, this is the perfect movie for you.

Then we have Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid, accompanied by Zac Efron as Paul. In this story, Ingrid decides to cross everything off of her New Year’s resolution list in one day, and Paul helps her so she will give him tickets to the biggest after-party in the city. This is easily the most awkward of the stories, as Ingrid literally seems like someone who escaped from a mental ward and is trying to

“live it up” just one more time before she is forced back. Meanwhile, Efron forgot he wasn’t acting in a Disney TV movie as the cool youngster who helps her achieve her goals and then seems somewhat romantically involved with her. There may be a better film trapped somewhere in this mess ... but probably not.

Sarah Jessica Parker plays Kim, a fashion designer and mother to Hailey (Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine). Hailey just wants to spend New Year’s Eve with her boyfriend and get the midnight kiss that she longs for. Unfortunately for Hailey,

her mother is boring, overprotective and prone to overacting, which leads to a New Year’s chase around the city as Kim tries to figure out where her daughter ran off to. The two have no chemistry, and the thinking behind casting them together was probably “they’re both blondish.”

To round things out, we have Jon Bon Jovi and Katherine Heigl (accompanied by sidekick Sofia Vergara of Modern Family) with a rock-starversus-talented-chef love story that’s both improbable and unappetizing.

Then Jessica Biel and Seth Myers show up, playing an expecting couple trying to have their child be the first baby born in 2012 for a $25,000 cash prize. To their credit, this is the only enjoyable storyline in the entire movie, but it gets hidden in the heap of other terrible plots. Josh Duhamel plays a CEO bachelor finally looking to settle down with the woman whom he met—get this—last New Year’s Eve. There’s Ashton Kutcher as a depressed yuppie who fatefully gets stuck in an elevator with Lea Michele (of Glee).

Finally, we have Robert DeNiro playing a bed-ridden father dying of cancer and regretting everything he’s ever done, who only wants to see the ball drop one last time before he dies. Truthfully, you’re kind of rooting for DeNiro to die to save him from this role. Oh yeah, Halle Berry is his nurse, and her husband is rapper-actor Common, who appears in the film for 30 seconds (literally) in a video chat on Christmas because he’s a soldier stuck in Iraq.

This movie tries so hard to appeal to everyone that it ends up appealing to

no one.

This is the type of movie where the production team thought it would be a good idea to give Bon Jovi (essentially playing himself) and Vergara’s increasingly offensive stereotypical role more screen time than the two best performers, DeNiro and Berry.

The entire idea is actually brilliant. Every person in this movie probably signed on knowing they’d only have to film for about a day and then could take home a big paycheck.

With so many popular actors and actresses, this movie is bound to make millions because the cast seems like it’s too good to fail.

My biggest issue with New Year’s Eve is the overarching feeling that the audience has been tricked out of its money by the time the movie ends. The characters in this movie aren’t counting down to midnight nearly as much as the viewers are.

The stories are predictable, and the lines can be broken down into a combination of bad soap opera dialogue and Hallmark cards. It’s not that Marshall’s aspirations are too lofty. In fact, it’s the opposite. His aspirations are only to get all of these names in the same movie and watch his bank account grow. Movies like this can work. Take 2003’s Love Actually, which was successful because each story was given the individual attention it deserved. Here, every story could be a bad movie all on its own.

New Year’s Eve’s main claim is that a new year gives way to fresh starts and new opportunities. If that’s true, then here’s one for the studios: Never make a movie like this again.

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TUESday, December 13, 2011 ● THE JUSTICE

TOP of the

ARTS ON VIEW

TRIVIA TIME

CHARTS

1. Who wrote the Little House on the Prairie book series?

2. What is the official animal of Oklahoma?

3. By what other name did Southerners refer to the Battle of Bull Run? 4. What was the first name of pirate Captain Kidd?

5. How many Oscars did Schindler’s List win?

6. What is the approximate total square mileage of land in Hong Kong?

7. Who played the character of Norm on Cheers?

8. What did Robert Goddard develop in 1926?

9. Exactly how long was Franklin Roosevelt’s term as president?

10. What common vegetable’s Latin name is Solanum tuberosum?

1. Laura Ingalls Wilder 2. Buffalo 3. Manassas 4. William 5. Seven 6. 407 7. George Wendt 8. The liquid-fuel rocket 9. 12 years, 42 days 10. Potato ANSWERS

STRANGE BUT TRUE  It was American inventor and businessman Thomas Alva Edison who made the following sage observation: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” qIf you’re planning a trip to Peru to ring in the new year, you might want to bring along some yellow underwear. In that country, it’s considered lucky to wear it on the first day of the new year.  Another story to add to the file on clueless criminals: In 2010, two men in Portland, Ore. went to a supermarket and started removing price tags from items and filling their backpacks with the loot. However, they didn’t even make it out of the store with their ill-gotten gains. It seems that the would-be crooks decided to do their shoplifting during a “Shop With a Cop” promotion, and there were 60 police officers already in the store—in uniform.  You may be surprised to learn that the Statue of Liberty is not located in New York. While it is on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, it’s technically within the territorial waters of Jersey City, N.J.  If you’re going to be traveling to California anytime soon, you might want to keep this in mind: In that state, shooting game from a moving vehicle is illegal—unless the animal you’re aiming for is a whale.  A baseball will travel farther on a hot day than on a cold one. qThe oldest bakery yet uncovered was found by archaeologists digging in the Egyptian city of Giza in 2002. They say that the baking trays, bread molds and ovens foundthere date back to 2,500 B.C., right around the time the pyramids were being built.

Top 10s for the week ending December 11 BOX OFFICE

1. New Year’s Eve 2. The Sitter 3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 4. The Muppets 5. Arthur Christmas 6. Hugo 7. The Descendants 8. Happy Feet Two 9. Jack and Jill 10. Immortals

NYT BESTSELLERS

TALI SMOOKLER/the Justice

WHAT A VIEW: Justice Photography Editor Tali Smookler ’13 took this photo in the Negev of Israel in 2007 during her three-month stay in the country. See if you can spot the person somewhere in the picture.

ACROSS 1. Winged 5. Turn blue?

8. Frog’s cousin 12. Rickey flavor 13. Mardi Gras VIP 14. Shake in the grass?

15. Poetic foot 16. Shrill bark 17. Detail 18. Company of actors 20. Parliamentarian 22. From stem to stern 26. Elevator passage 29. Golf position 30. Confucians’ “way” 31. Swine 32. Artist Vermeer 33. West Side Story gang 34. Mimic 35. Play on words 36. Makes weary 37. Everywhere 40. Pealed 41. Costello’s partner 45. Bloodhound’s clue 47. Back talk 49. Sandwich cookie 50. Gloomy 51. Actress Mendes 52. — a soul (nobody) 53. Catch sight of 54. “Oh, yeah? — who?”

55. Shade providers DOWN 1. Came to earth 2. Taleteller 3. Bullets and such 4. Snubs 5. Laundromat machine 6. Verily 7. Tell how 8. Bronze winner’s placek 9. Passé 10. Hearty brew 11. Beavers’ construction 19. Cauldron 21. Inseparable 23. African antelope

CROSSWORD

iTUNES

BILLBOARD

24. Destiny 25. Throw 26. Persian bigwig 27. Kachina worshipper 28. Demographic division 32. Impenetrable thickets 33. Samson’s weapon, courtesy of an ass 35. Skillet 36. Occupation 38. Wizard Potter 39. Bolivian capital 42. Verbal 43. Contract clause 44. Santa has a sack full of 45. Rhyming tribute 46. Two, in Tijuana 48. “— been had!”

1. Michael Bublé — Christmas 2. Adele — 21 3. Justin Bieber — Under the Mistletoe 4. Drake — Take Care 5. Nickelback — Here and Now 6. Mary J. Blige — My Life II ... the Journey Continues (Act 1) 7. Rihanna — Talk that Talk 8. Andrea Bocelli — Concerto: One Night in Central Park 9. Various Artists — Now 40 10. Lady Antebellum — Own the Night Top of the Charts information provided

by Fandango, the New York Times, BillBoard.com and Apple.com.

Solution to last week’s crossword

King Crossword Copyright 2011 King Features Synd, Inc.

SUDOKU INSTRUCTIONS: Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Thought for the Day: “Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”

— Mark Twain

Nonfiction 1. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson 2. Killing Lincoln — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard 3. Being George Washington — Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe 4. Unbroken — Laura Hillenbrand 5. Jack Kennedy — Chris Matthews 1. LMFAO — “Sexy and I Know It” 2. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris — “We Found Love” 3. Flo Rida — “Good Feeling” 4. Bruno Mars — “It Will Rain” 5. Katy Perry — “The One That Got Away” 6. Glee Cast — “We Are Young (Glee Cast Version)” 7. Adele — “Someone Like You” 8. Toby Keith — “Red Solo Cup” 9. T-Pain (feat. Wiz Khalifa & Lily Allen) — “5 O’Clock” 10. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera — “Moves like Jagger (Studio Recording from The Voice Performance)”

dBabies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the child reaches two to six years of age.

Fiction 1. The Drop — Michael Connelly 2. 11/22/63 — Stephen King 3. Explosive Eighteen — Janet Evanovich 4. The Litigators — John Grisham 5. Kill Alex Cross — James Patteson

Solution to last week’s sudoku

Sudoku Copyright 2011 King Features Synd, Inc.

STAFF PLAYLIST

“Study Buddy ”

By ALANA ABRAMSON

Justice ASSOCIATE EDITOR

With finals right around the corner, I find the need to listen to songs that remind me of more stressfree times, mainly ones that bring up memories of summer. Below is an eclectic mix.

THE LIST 1.f“Shake it Out” — Florence + the Machine 2. “White Houses” — Vanessa Carlton 3. “Fire and Rain” — Mat Kearney 4. “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” — Jay-Z 5. “Kiss a Girl” — Keith Urban 6. “Change” — Taylor Swift 7. “No Reins” — Rascal Flatts 8. “Shattered (Turn the Car Around)” — O. A. R. 9. “Hold Up My Heart” — Brooke White 10. “Crash and Burn” — Savage Garden