ARTS Page 19
FORUM Flawed SOPA addresses a real issue 12
DRAMA QUEEN
SPORTS Men’s Basketball splits road matches 16 The Independent Student Newspaper
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Justice
Volume LXIV, Number 17
www.thejustice.org
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Waltham, Mass.
student union
Midyear search committee formed ■ Committee President
on Tuesday in a campuswide email, while the Senate passed an amendment to the Student Union Constitution on Sunday that would create a midyear senator position. Committee Founder and President Rebecca Lavinson ’13 proposed the formation of a midyear committee in an email to the Student Union late last semester and now plans to select six midyears for the group, with at least one from each class year, after interviewing candidates
Rebecca Lavinson ’13 reported 15 applications have been received so far. By tate herbert JUSTICE editorial assistant
Midyears made gains in representation this week as the new, Student Union-sponsored Midyear Committee began its search for members
next week. As of Thursday night, she reported that she had received 15 applicants, including many sophomores, some first-years and juniors, and no seniors. As a midyear herself, having been accepted for the spring 2010 semester, Lavinson is familiar with the program and the challenges facing the midyear community. “I just heard enough complaints about it
See COMMITTEE, 6 ☛
A FATE STILL UNLEARNED Transit from Brandeis to Boston will be affected under each of the two proposed scenarios for MBTA service changes. Local bus, express bus, and rapid transit fares are for CharlieCards only. CharlieTicket fares will be higher.
LOCAL BUS
RAPID TRANSIT (THE ‘T’)
Current Fare
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Current Fare
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
$1.25
$1.75
$1.50
$1.70
$2.40
$2.25
JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice
FIRST SWIM: Assistant Director of Athletics and former swim coach Jim Zotz unexpectedly jumps into the pool for the first time Saturday night.
Diving in
EXPRESS BUS
COMMUTER RAIL
Current Fare
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Current Fare
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
$2.80
$4.00
$3.50
$4.75
$7.00
$6.50
Pool opens doors after over 3 years of disrepair By ANDREW WINGENS JUSTICE EDITOR
Spring semester started with a splash as students dove into the newly renovated the pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center Saturday night after it had been in a state of disrepair for over three years. The weekend marked the opening of the pool with a “Making Waves” pool party sponsored by the Student Union, Student Events, WBRS, Athletics and the Department of Student Activities. The reopening of the pool came after the Board of Trustees unanimously approved a $3.5 million plan to renovate the pool last spring. The pool had been closed since fall 2008 due to infrastructure problems such as the broken heating systems, which the University decided not to immediately repair primarily
because of financial constraints, according to Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins. The renovations included repairs to the mechanical and electrical systems, repairs to the pool and the pool deck, new lighting in the facility, new team locker rooms, a new lobby and a refurbished entryway. Saturday night began with an opening presentation from Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa ’90, Assistant Director of Athletics Jim Zotz, Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and swimmers Julia Derk ’12 and Elise Allan ’12. Flagel said the pool is a symbol for the Brandeis community. “What you see in this pool is faith, is hope, is the idea that no matter how challenging things are, our students are committed, our administration listens, that
See DIVE, 4 ☛
Service eliminated completely on weekends and after 10 p.m. on weekdays in both scenarios.
MBTA threatens changes
DATA COURTESY OF MBTA. PHOTOS BY ADAM E. MOREIRA/Wikimedia Commons. DESIGN BY BRIAN BLUMENTHAL/the Justice.
■ The proposed cuts to
service may isolate or limit Brandeis students who rely on the commuter rail. By eitan cooper JUSTICE editor
Transportation into Boston from Brandeis, often made easy by a convenient train ride, may soon be complicated by proposed service changes. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Author-
ity, which provides a network of transportation services into and around the Boston area, is considering significant cutbacks and fare hikes across its entire system. A section found at the center of the MBTA homepage, titled “Join the Discussion,” highlights the facts and figures relating to the deficit and possible service changes. The MBTA is faced with a $185-million deficit and no simple way to increase revenue, according to the website.
Micaela Preskill ’10, a consumer associate at the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group who has worked on a campaign against the fare hikes, said “Fare hikes and service cuts are not the only options. … Next year, the MBTA will face an evenlarger budget shortfall, close to a quarter of a million dollars. Our transportation system cannot be maintained or improved without new sources of funding.” The MBTA published a com-
See TRANSPORTATION, 6 ☛
A baker’s business
Women try for win
Caught peeping
Maddie Ziff ’13 sells her homemade baked goods and pastries through her website for various events and parties.
The women’s basketball team lost another two conference matches, falling to 0-5 in UAA play.
University Police identified the individual seen looking into the women’s showers.
FEATURES
For tips or info email editor@thejustice.org
553 Bus eliminated on Saturdays in both scenarios and completely on weekdays in Scenario 1.
Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online at www.thejustice.org
8
INDEX
SPORTS 13 ARTS SPORTS
17 13
EDITORIAL FEATURES
10 7
OPINION POLICE LOG
11 2
COMMENTARY
News 3 11
COPYRIGHT 2012 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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THE JUSTICE
NEWS SENATE LOG
POLICE LOG
The Senate approved a name change for the club Positive Foundations, passed an amendment to the Student Union Constitution that implements a midyear senator position and discussed plans for outreach and upcoming events at its meeting Sunday night. Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 began the meeting by applauding “Making Waves,” the Saturday night reopening event for the pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center, which the Student Union helped sponsor. Rosen said that an estimated 700 people attended. Rosen also mentioned the possibility of a Union-organized student petition to protest the proposed Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority fare increases and called on senators to promote a March 1 town hall meeting in Waltham to discuss the price hikes. In official business, members of the Senate unanimously appointed North Quad Senator Charlotte Franco ’15 to the position of Senate clerk and unanimously approved a name change for the club formerly known as Positive Foundations. Positive Foundations, in an effort to clarify its mission, officially changed its name to Poverty Action Coalition. Rosen also submitted a proposal to amend the Union Constitution to provide for a midyear senator position. The proposal called for the election of one senator each January by members of that year’s midyear class, who will serve for one spring semester. After much debate, the amendment was passed by a vote of 18 to none, with two abstentions, and must now go to the student body for a referendum within 15 days of the proposal to the Senate. “It would be my greatest privilege to leave this place knowing that there is a midyear senate position,” Senator for the Class of 2012 Missy Skolnik said at the meeting. Other discussions centered around a Senate outreach project including dorm storming, the relatively high participation rate in the ongoing Einstein Bros. Bagels dining survey and brainstorming projects for the Campus Operations Work Group, which was created to address chronic campus housing problems.
Medical Emergency
Jan. 16—A student was reported to have bumped his head in the Usdan Student Center. BEMCo and University Police responded, and the student was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. Jan. 17—BEMCo and University Police responded to a call of an incoherent female feeling faint and dizzy in the Spingold Theater Center. The party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. Jan. 21—A caller reported that a female party in Scheffres was intoxicated and vomiting. BEMCo and University Police responded, and the party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. Jan. 21—University Police received a call that a male party in Massell Quad had a laceration on his bicep. BEMCo and University Police responded, and the party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital via University Police transport. Jan. 22—The community de-
velopment coordinator in the Charles River Apartments requested an ambulance for the transport of a voluntary psychological evaluation. The CDC had been in contact with staff from the Mailman House. The CDC stated that the incident had been going on for approximately an hour before the police were notified; an ambulance responded and transported the patient to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital without incident.
Miscellaneous
Jan. 16—University Police received a call that students were ice-skating on Massell Pond; they were told by police to stay off the ice for common-sense safety reasons. Jan. 18—University Police received several phone calls concerning an animal howling in the woods behind East Quad. The police checked East and North Quads, but did not see or hear anything. Jan. 18—The quad director on call in East called Univer-
sity Police and stated that she had spoken with the Waltham Police Department concerning the howling animal and was informed that it was a wounded coyote. She had contacted the CAs in East Quad to have their students stay away from the wooded area. Jan. 19—A traffic monitor reported a possible vehicle fire; University Police reported that the vehicle’s battery cables were smoking, but there was no fire. The Waltham Fire Department was dispatched and the situation was resolved. Jan. 20—A Waltham resident whose house borders University property reported that his young child was hit with a snowball. The reporting party claimed that the snowball was propelled from somewhere on University property. University Police compiled a report on the incident; no suspects were named.
Larceny
Jan. 17—A student in the Us-
BSF issues grants for three projects Three student projects, with a total cost of $19,681.58, have been funded by the Brandeis Sustainability Fund so far this year, according to an email from Sustainability Coordinator Janna Cohen-Rosenthal ’03. The first project, called the “GreenBean recycling machine,” is a Reverse Vending Machine that will be located in the Usdan Student Center and will offer a 5-cent deposit on bottles and cans that fall under the Bottle Bill Law in Massachusetts. If students place their bottles in the machine to be recycled, the deposit can be sent to a PayPal account, charity, or a WhoCash account. This project was led by Taylor Early ’15 and will use $15,968 from the fund. The second project, called “It’s A Breeze,” was led by Philip Lu ’12 and Katharine Glanbock ’14 and will use $2,226.58 from the BSF. This project will make drying racks available to students in order to cut down on energy used on laundry. The final project, “Windowfarms,” is a “vertical, hydroponic growing system” that will enable yearround vegetable growing for three windows in the Village Quad. This project was led by Eve Markvardt ’13 and used $1,487 from the fund. “The BSF is a great program, and it is really an opportunity to try out real-world solutions for sustainability,” said Cohen-Rosenthal in an interview with the Justice. Two other proposals that were deemed incomplete were invited to reapply for the next round of funding. The BSF did not go over their budget with this semester’s projects, and the remaining money will carry over to help fund projects next semester. According to the Brandeis website, “the Brandeis Sustainability Fund provides grants, advice and support to any undergraduate student for their projects promoting sustainability.” The BSF funded its first projects in fall 2010. One of those projects was ’DeisBikes 2.0, which provides rental bikes for students for a semester.
n A caption in News incorrectly stated that Latifa Ali spoke at Brandeis’ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. Ali spoke as part of the community service events, not the Memorial. (Jan.17, pg. 2) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.
Justice
the
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Jan. 20—A reporting party stated that a party ran through his hallway in Reitman knocking phones down and throwing water on a bulletin board. University Police checked the area, but the party was gone upon arrival. University Police compiled a report on the incident and will conduct a follow-up investigation. —compiled by Marielle Temkin
Brandeis prof buys farm
BRIEF
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
Vandalism
AP BRIEF
—Tate Herbert
—Sam Mintz
dan Student Center reported that her backpack containing her laptop was stolen. University Police compiled a report on the incident, and LTS was contacted by the student to attempt to track the computer on the University network. Jan. 19—A reporting party stated that a desktop computer was stolen from a lab in the Shapiro Science Complex. University Police compiled a report on the theft; there was no forced entry discovered, as the area was unlocked.
Hustle and bustle
JOSH HOROWITZ/the Justice
Students browse the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium during the Winter Involvement Fair on Sunday, marking the end of Winter Week. Representatives from over 100 clubs and organizations ranging from dance troupes to political groups had displays throughout the SCC.
GILL, Mass.—Brian Donahue has done the talk, he’s done the walk, and now he’s doing the math. And for him, it all adds up: his work as an associate professor at Brandeis, his three decades of working on a community farm in Weston and now, the 170-acre farm he recently bought off Bascom Road where he’s begun putting down roots with friends. Fortunately, it’s a sabbatical year for the 56-year-old History and American Studies professor, so he has time to build a house on the property where he is also establishing a farm, in addition to completing a study of the Eastern woodlands. That’s in addition to collaborating on a vision for sustainable agriculture in New England that says that the region can probably provide at least half of its total food supply by 2060. (The current level, he guesses, may be around 10 percent.) Donahue, who teaches courses on environmental history, sustainable farming and forestry and early American culture, was involved in developing Harvard Forest’s 2005 “Wildlands and Woodlands” document, which called for protecting half of the forests in Massachusetts by 2050, primarily through sustainable management practices and also collaborated on a similar 2010 vision for protecting 70 percent of New England’s forests by 2060. But Donahue—who dropped out of Brandeis as an undergraduate in the 1970s so he could work full-time on a farm in neighboring Weston, but returned in the 1980s to get his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate there—is also knee-deep in drafting a “New England Good Food Vision 2060.” In it, he maintains that even conserving 50 percent of southern New England in sustainably harvested “working” forest would still allow for farmland around the six-state region to be expanded threefold from 2 million acres to about 6 million acres. That would translate to about 15 percent of the region switching to active farming by 2060, about the same as it was in 1945.
ANNOUNCEMENTS Summer opportunities for COSI students
Come talk about summer options for Computer Science students, including the Justice Brandeis Semester, internships, research opportunities and more. Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m. in Volen 101.
Conducting a job search in education
Get advice on how to find a teaching job from a panel of experts including a public school human resources director, principals of public and Jewish day schools as well as counselors from the Hiatt Career Center. Mock interviews follow the panel discussion, which is moderated by Education Program Director Prof. Marya Levenson. Wednesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex Atrium.
City Year brown bag info session
Join Molly Brown, Recruitment Project Leader for City Year Boston, as she holds an information session to learn more about their year-in-service program.
Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Hiatt Career Center.
MAT open house
The Master of Arts in Teaching program is holding an open house on campus (morning, afternoon, or whole day—lunch provided). This is a great opportunity for those with elementary, middle and high school teaching interest to sit in on one of our classes, meet some of our outstanding faculty and visit with current students. You can also receive individual advising from one of our leading faculty members. Generous scholarship support is available. Thursday all day in the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex Atrium.
“The Medicalization of Grief”
In the U.S. today, there is a movement to transform the normal life cycle experience of “grief following a death” into a psychiatric illness. This shift is part of the larger phenomenon of the medicalization of human experience. The presentation by Phyllis Silverman, Ph.D. ’69, will illustrate how
grief is framed increasingly in the language of illness and will discuss the consequences of this shift. Sponsored by the Women’s Studies Research Center. Thursday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Epstein Lecture Hall in the Women’s Studies Research Center.
Study abroad mini fair
Come meet representatives from popular study abroad programs and learn about the Justice Brandeis Semester programs being offered. Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.
Strategic planning info-gathering session
This is one of many information-gathering sessions for University President Frederick Lawrence’s Strategic Planning Initiative. The session will be run by Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and Provost Steve Goldstein, as well as the Student Advisory Committee. Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. in Shapiro Lounge.
THE JUSTICE
administration
Frederick Lawrence aims to connect with Indian institutions and students. By sara dejene JUSTICE editor
This February, University President Frederick Lawrence and a delegation of professors and administrators will leave for a two-week trip to India in order to explore networking and partnership opportunities, according to a Jan. 13 BrandeisNOW press release. The trip, which is scheduled to take place from Feb. 2 to 12, will include visits to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. In an email to the Justice, Lawrence wrote that he and the members of his party will meet with scientists and university administrators, in addition to civil rights and social justice activists and alumni “who are working to make India and the world a better, healthier place.” University News Director Charles Radin, Director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life Daniel Terris, Prof. Bulbul Chakraborty (PHYS), Helaine and Alvin Allen Assistant Professor of Literature Harleen Singh (SAS), Prof. Preeta Banerjee (IBS) and Julie Smith-Bartoloni ’90 from the Office of Development and Alumni Relations will accompany Lawrence on this trip. In an interview with the Justice, Radin said that Lawrence will meet with various leaders in Delhi, such as Atul Punj, chairman of the Punj Lloyd Group, and Israeli ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz. Lawrence will also speak at two public forums: one in Delhi with former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee, who delivered a lecture at the University in April 2010, and one in Mumbai titled “Seeking Social Justice.” In Bangalore, Lawrence will visit the National Centre for Biological Sciences, the Indian School of Business and Director of the Indian Institute of Science Professor P. Balaram.
Lawrence will also make a two-day stop in Singapore with Terris, where he will meet with President of Singapore Management University Arnoud De Meyer, President of the National University of Singapore Tan Chorh Chuan and Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS Professor Kishmore Mahbubani, who was the former Singaporean ambassador to the United Nations. Lawrence will also meet with prospective students in both countries. The structure and goals of this trip are similar to that of Lawrence’s trip to Israel last summer. According to Lawrence in the email, both trips are a part of the Brandeis Global Initiative, which was developed by the Office of Global Affairs. “We are working to identify a limited number of countries in major regions of the world where the most valuable collaborations can be formed between Brandeis and local institutions,” wrote Lawrence. The trips to India and Israel were scheduled first because of the University’s existing connections in those countries, but the office is also “carefully exploring” potential additional collaborations with other countries. Radin said that the University already has ongoing partnerships with institutions such as The Energy and Resources Institute in Delhi. In Bangalore, Profs. Eve Marder (BIOL) and Chakraborty have ongoing research connections, which have “laid the groundwork” for more potential collaborations, said Radin. Lawrence wrote that there is a “vast potential” for partnership between the United States and India, especially in the fields of science, social justice and sustainable development. Radin said he hopes this trip will result in an increase in students from the India studying at the University, more study abroad opportunities for Brandeis students in India and further development with the Global Initiative. During his trip to Israel, Lawrence recounted many of his experiences on his blog. Radin confirmed Lawrence will continue to update his blog while he is in India.
TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Lawrence plans Feb trip to India ■ University President
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JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice
BAGEL STORE BLUES: Students were surveyed on whether or not they believe Einstein’s current weekend hours are sufficient.
Union sends out Einstein’s survey ■ This initiative follows up
on last semester’s P.O.D. Market hour extensions. By sara dejene JUSTICE editor
Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 sent out a survey in a Jan. 19 email to the student body in order to gather student opinion about potential changes to the hours at Einstein Bros. Bagels as part of the Senate AdHoc Dining Committee efforts to address hours at the dining location. This initiative follows Dining Services’ decision last semester to extend the hours of the Provisions on Demand Market from midnight until 2 a.m. on Sunday mornings because of Union efforts. “[The Student Union is] hoping to look into similar changes for Einstein’s Bros. Bagels in the Shapiro Campus Center,” wrote Rosen. In the email, Rosen included a link
to an eight-question survey that asked questions concerning weekend hours at Einstein’s. Students were asked how often they visit Einstein’s compared to how often they visit other dining locations and if they believe the current hours are sufficient. In addition, the survey asked which days students would prefer an extension of hours and whether or not they would make purchases at Einstein’s if those extensions are made. “Throughout the year, we have been hearing from our constituents that the current Einstein’s hours on weekends are inconvenient for them,” wrote Senator for the Class of 2014 Ricky Rosen in an email to the Justice. “And so the survey is a way of evaluating just what percentage of the student body supports this initiative.” Ricky Rosen worked on extending P.O.D. Market hours with the committee last semester. As of press time, the survey is still open, so the committee does not yet have the final count of student re-
sponses, but Herbie Rosen wrote that the committee wants to “continue [their] momentum” from their success with extending P.O.D. Market hours. The decision to extend P.O.D. Market hours was made after a series of trials were conducted last November. The hours were extended until 2 a.m. on Sunday mornings for three consecutive weeks. According to Herbie Rosen as reported in a Dec. 13, 2011 Justice article, the amount of transactions during the final night, 151, was the most realistic number and was enough to support a permanent extension of hours at the P.O.D. Market. “We are following the same steps that enabled us to push through the [P.O.D. Market] hours extension for this semester,” wrote Ricky Rosen. “[A]nd we believe that with the amount of student support that we have behind this initiative, we can get this thing done.” —Sam Mintz contributed reporting.
academics
Grady steps down as ExCEL administrator ■ Lexi Kriss ’11 will become
the interim administrator while the program evaluates its future with the University. By sam mintz JUSTICE editorial assistant
Audra Grady, the Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning program administrator, is leaving her position at the University to develop her yoga business and begin working for a consulting firm, according to Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong. Lexi Kriss ’11 will replace her as administrator on an interim basis while the program assesses its future in accordance with
the University-wide strategic planning process. “My time at Brandeis over the past two and a half years has been a wonderful exploration and exercise in moving an initiative forward,” wrote Grady in an email to the Justice. “The best part of the work I did was to bring people together in new and different ways that address contemporary student learning objectives, the Brandeis mission and local community needs.” The experiential learning program features academic internships for credit, experiential learning courses, research opportunities and events such as the annual “Experiential Learning, Engaged Learners” symposium. The symposium aims “to provide students, particularly freshmen, with information about some of the opportunities
that are going to be available to them, so they’ll learn about things they should be thinking about putting into their Brandeis education,” according to Wong. The symposium is on March 22 this year. “Experiential learning has a promising future and much potential at Brandeis, and Lexi is a perfect leader to ensure continuity during this transition,” Grady wrote. “[Lexi] is basically the perfect person to help us this spring,” said Wong in an interview with the Justice. “We’re lucky to have her, because she’s a great example of someone who’s taken advantage of a lot of EL opportunities.” Kriss, who worked in the Experiential Learning office when Grady was the administrator, was an “outstanding student” who was a Roosevelt fel-
low, a member of the Orientation core committee and a recipient of a Schiff Undergraduate Fellowship, according to Wong. Her experience with the program will be especially useful this spring as the program prepares to evaluate its future and submit a report to the strategic planning committee. “Through the strategic planning process, [we are going to] figure out what are the qualifications that [the next administrator] should have, and what are the main tasks we should focus on in the future,” said Wong. “We are really trying to figure out [how EL fits into the Brandeis experience] … One of the questions is going to be, ‘What is the role of EL going to be?’ How are we going to be talking about it in the future?” “This is one of the most exciting
moments for ExCEL because there is so much opportunity for growth and participation,” said Kriss in an email to the Justice. “Anything can happen.” The program was founded in 2005 in the form of an initiative called Learning by Doing: Deepening Liberal Arts through Experiential Learning, according to the Brandeis website. The initiative was funded by a two-and-ahalf year grant from the Davis Educational Foundation. After the grant expired, the University agreed to provide financial and administrative support for the program. Kriss said that experiential learning experiences are readily available at Brandeis. “There is an ExCEL opportunity out there for everyone because the choices are as diverse as our students.”
CRIME
Police identify man in locker room peeping incident ■ The suspect was found
with CCTV technology and information from University community members. By Fiona lockyer JUSTICE editor
In a campuswide email on Jan. 18, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote that the nearly two-week search for the individual found peering into an occupied shower in
the women’s locker room in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center has ended, as the individual was identified, interviewed and referred to the University’s student judicial process. In an email to the Justice, Director of Student Rights and Community Standards Dean Gendron wrote that “it is not possible to discuss any active conduct matter, nor is it possible to discuss any individual’s confidential records,” and that the individual’s violations of the Student Rights and Responsibilities
handbook are private and unable to be published. In an email to the Justice, Callahan explained that “the individual was located through information provided by Community members and the aid of [closed-circuit television] technology.” The individual will now have his case heard by the student judicial process. The victim, a graduate student, has not yet pressed charges but is working with Public Safety “relative to this process,” wrote Calla-
han. According to the public safety advisory released on Jan. 6, a man “described as a lanky, 6’3 white male with longish, light brown hair” was seen looking into the showers by a student who was showering there. In a Jan. 13 interview with the Justice, Callahan explained that the graduate student contacted Public Safety, which then found a picture of the intruder on the CCTV system and circulated that photo to the Department of Athletics, Student Life and the Department of Community
Living. As a result of the intruder and a desire to “tighten up security,” a card reader was installed at the front entrance of Gosman, and each student or community member wishing to enter the area must have their ID swiped. In his email to the Justice, Callahan wrote that the overall feedback on the card reader has been satisfactory. “There have been a few minor system glitches with some ID cards not in the system but we are working on that,” he wrote.
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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THE JUSTICE
MICHELLE WANG/the Justice
g n i n e p o l o Po s e v a w s e k ma DIVE: Students race in swim for charity CONTINUED FROM 1 we can do anything,” he said. And to create “Brandeis swagger,” Flagel created a cheer for the pool relay race that followed. “I am going to say ‘Bran,’ and you all say ‘Deis,’” exclaimed Flagel, to rounds of applause and cheering from the stands. Zotz then officiated a relay race between four teams made up of four students each. The teams selected different charities to race for, and the winning team’s charity won any donations made during the event. Allan, Antonio Cancio ’13, Jason Dick ’14 and Herbie Rosen ’12, who were racing for Ronald McDonald House, narrowly defeated the second-place team. The pool then opened up to swimming for the entire community and pizza was distributed in the Shapiro Gym, along with a photo booth and a mechanical shark set-up. PHOTO BY ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice DESIGN BY NAN PANG/the Justice
This year’s seniors, who swam on the University varsity swim team for two years, prior to the cancellation of the team, said they were excited to once again dive into the water. “It has been years. This is like, kind of what I dreamed of,” said David Fei ’12. Marc Eder ’12 agreed. “It feels good. I am glad the pool is back. I wish it were here two years ago, but I am glad it is here now.” Eder added that he hopes students who are not on the swim team maintain interest in the pool. “When the pool broke, there were like two people in here a day who weren’t on the swim team,” he said. Zotz, who coached the swim team before it was disbanded, said the University couldn’t “afford to have a facility that was closed” because it sent a “strange” message to prospective students.
“It’s just fantastic,” he said. “I’m excited for the general student body. It’s not just the swim team. … We just needed it,” he added. The new coach of the team will be Mike Kotch. Students who had previously never been to the pool facility also enjoyed the party. “It was just really exciting to see so many people here and to see the pool being used. Really especially to see the seniors … to see them have the pool back and how much that meant to them,” said Kelsey Grab ’12. “It’s exciting because I haven’t seen it before,” said Justin Lesser ’14. “As far as pools go, its pretty nice,” he later added. For at least one student, however, the pool was not the focus of the night. “The best part of this event was Andrew Flagel’s outfit,” remarked Nicole Litvak ’12.
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
NOW
THEN
ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice
SINK OR SWIM: Left, the pool in spring 2011, before renovations began. Right, students swim for the first time during a pool party to celebrate the reopening in the newly renovated pool Saturday night.
Linsey donates $1 million to University
THEN
NOW
Thelma Linsey, widow of former Brandeis Trustee Joseph Linsey, donated $1 million to “support the programs and operations of the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center, including the pool” Jan. 19, according to David Nathan, director of development communications. “In a conversation I had with Mrs. Linsey today, she mentioned how proud Mr. Linsey would be to see what Brandeis has become today,” wrote Nathan in an email to the Justice. Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa ’90 wrote in an email to the Justice that she values Linsey’s most recent gift. “We have always appreciated the generosity of the Linsey family. The late Joe Linsey, who is a member of the Brandeis Athletic Hall of Fame, was a huge supporter of our athletics program and his wife Mrs. Thelma Linsey continues to be as well,” wrote Sousa. Nathan wrote that Senior Vice President for Institu-
tional Advancement Nancy Winship, P ’10, P ’12 regularly meets with Linsey. University President Frederick Lawrence met with Linsey in early January to discuss the million-dollar gift, wrote Nathan. Joseph and Thelma Linsey have been longtime supporters of Brandeis and funded the initial construction of the pool. The recently completed $3.5 million renovation of the pool was funded separately, through a $10-million capital lease finance agreement, wrote Senior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Frances Drolette in an email to the Justice in April 2011. The term for the lease is seven years with an annual interest expense of about $150,000 per year. The annual principal payments on the lease are $1.3 million and it is funded through the capital budget, according to Drolette. —Andrew Wingens
ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice
LOCK IT UP: Renovated locker rooms, improvements to the pool deck, repairs to the mechanical and electrical systems, new lighting in the facility and a new entryway and lobby were among the changes made to the pool.
JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice
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THE JUSTICE
COMMITTEE: Union to elect midyear senator
CULTURE TALK
CONTINUED FROM 1
Study of people
JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice
Ieva Jusionyte, Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology, delivered a lecture last Tuesday in the Mandel Center for the Humanities titled “On and Off the Record: The Production of the Legal and Illegal in an Argentine Border Town.”
that I figured it was time to do something,” said Lavinson in an interview with the Justice. “Some people really had a bad experience, and … I don’t think that should happen because I loved my experience.” The committee will work with the Student Union and Brandeis administrators to share their ideas and try to improve communication in the midyear program, acting as a centralized resource for midyears. Although the committee does not have a concrete agenda yet, Lavinson said that she has “a number of ideas” and has received many more suggestions from potential committee members for how to improve the midyear program. Key issues that came up included communication between Brandeis and the midyears before their arrival, activities and programs before the students’ first spring semesters and study abroad opportunities. “There’s a lot that students don’t know going into this, and that is also kind of hard to find,” Lavinson explained. Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 called the committee “a great idea” in an interview with the Justice, adding that “midyears are a really important part of our university.” “It’s a pride status to be a midyear on campus, but it’s also challenging,” said Rosen. “We need to make sure that our university is responding to their needs.” As for his role, Rosen said that he would focus on “making sure [the committee] survives the transition” between him and his successor. The formation of the committee coincides with the passage in the Senate of an amendment to the Student Union Constitution that would cre-
ate a midyear senator position, if also passed in a referendum. The amendment passed by 18 votes to none, with two abstentions. According to the Union Constitution, the amendment must now be voted on by the student body no later than fifteen days after its proposal to the Senate. The vote is scheduled to take place on Feb. 1, according to Rosen. The proposed amendment to Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution stated that there will be a senator elected by the most recent midyear class to represent them for their first semester at Brandeis. Rosen presented the option at Sunday’s Senate meeting after receiving the required 10 signatures of support from senators who pledged to consider the measure. “[Midyears are] a large enough group of students that they should have some representation,” said Rosen at the meeting. Rosen added that the amendment was part of an effort to “give midyears a bigger voice here on campus” and ensure that they are represented more accurately than they have been in the past, by Village or freshman senators. A midyear senator position was last proposed during the last Constitutional review in 2009, but ultimately was not created due to errors in the voting process. The then-Union Secretary and then-Union President were impeached and censured, respectively, as a result of not sending the amendment to the student body for a vote within 15 days of its presentation to the Senate. If Rosen's proposal passes on Feb. 1, midyears from the Class of 2015 will be able to elect the first-ever midyear senator to represent them through the end of this semester.
AWARDS
Two alumni win National Jewish Book Awards
■ A ceremony will be held
in March to honor Jonathan Krasner ’88 Ph.D. ’02 and Deborah Dash Moore ’67 for their recent publications. By JONATHAN EPSTEIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Two Brandeis alumni won 2011 National Jewish Book Awards, and two other Brandeis alumni were honored as finalists, in a contest sponsored by The Jewish Book Council, which announced the results in a Jan. 10 press release. The National Jewish Book Awards “recognize[s] outstanding books of Jewish interest” in 14 categories and is in its 61st year, according to the press release. Jonathan Krasner ’88 Ph.D. ’02 won the American Jewish Studies Celebrate 350 Award, for The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education, which is about the modernization of Jewish education in the early
20th century. Deborah Dash Moore ’67, co-editor of Gender and Jewish History, won the Anthologies and Collections award. Krasner said in an interview with the Justice that his motivation for writing his book was dissertation work with Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS). His dissertation concerned the textbooks used in Jewish religious schools, which led him to become interested in the textbooks’ authors and Jewish education in general. Krasner was likewise inspired by a meeting with the centenarian Jewish educator Sam Dinin. “I realized that if I didn’t tell the story, and I didn’t think anybody else was going to, and many of these individuals like him had made a really big contribution to American Jewish life and their story had kind of been forgotten, so I wanted to tell it,” he said. Krasner said that there was a lot to learn “about American Jewish identity from looking at education because how parents decide to educate their kids can tell us a lot about what they think is important in terms of
Jewish life and what they think is less important.” Krasner, whose book The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education was recently published by Brandeis University Press, is currently an assistant professor of American Jewish history at Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati and has an Ed.M. from Harvard University. He served as the editor in chief of the Justice during his senior year as an undergrad at Brandeis. Moore stated that her friend and colleague, the late Yale Historian and activist Paula Hyman, was her motivation for creating a collection of original essays on Jewish feminist history and scholarship. Moore and Hyman were graduate students together studying Jewish History at Columbia University and co-editors of Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. When asked to highlight one essay from Gender and Jewish History, Moore chose one about Margaret Sanger’s decision to open the first American birth control clinic in the
Jewish neighborhood of Brownsville in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1916, because married Jewish women were more accepting of birth control. Moore, a professor at the University of Michigan, fondly recalled her undergraduate career, including taking a history course with Prof. David Hackett Fischer (HIST), who is still teaching at Brandeis. She added that she never took a course with a female professor at Brandeis but is happy that women can now freely pursue careers in academia. Moore’s next book is City of Promises, a three-volume history of Jews in New York City that she is editing and will be published in September. The Eichmann Trial, by Deborah Lipstadt M.A. ’72 Ph.D. ’76, was a finalist in the Holocaust category. Lipstadt, a professor at Emory University, said that she sought to highlight the role of firsthand survivor testimony in Adolf Eichmann’s trial, as opposed to the preference for documents that were less emotional during the Nuremberg Trials, and to highlight the trial’s importance in anticipation of its 50th anniversary.
Eliyana Adler M.A. ’95 Ph.D. ’03 was a finalist in Women’s Studies for In Her Hands: The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia. She is currently a research associate at the University of Maryland, College Park. Three Brandeis University Press books were finalists. Moses Mendelssohn: Writings on Judaism, Christianity and the Bible, edited by Michah Gottlieb, was a finalist in the Anthologies and Collections category; Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora, edited by Julia Lieberman, in Sephardic Culture; and Sexual Violence Against Jewish Women during the Holocaust, edited by Sonja Hedgepeth and Rochelle Saidel, in Women’s Studies. The Jewish Book Council honored Myra Hiatt Kraft ’64, a former board member of the organization and Brandeis trustee, with the establishment of the Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award in Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. A ceremony will be held to honor the winners at the Center for Jewish History in New York City on March 14.
TRANSPORTATION: Union plans MBTA petition CONTINUED FROM 1 prehensive document this month, highlighting two separate proposals for consideration. According to the document, “Scenario 1 includes a higher fare increase and a smaller number of service reductions. Scenario 2 includes a slightly lower fare increase but larger service reductions.” The fare hike scenario would leave the MBTA with the secondmost expensive single-fare subway ride in the nation. New York’s MetroCard, the most expensive in the country, currently costs $2.50. According to its website, the MBTA serves nearly five million people annually and is the nation’s fifth-largest transportation system.
Fares may rise as high as $2.40 per ride for the T, and as high as $7 for the Fitchburg line commuter rail service into Boston from the Brandeis/Roberts station. Either way, proposed changes will include the elimination of weekend commuter rail service into Boston and weekday service after 10:00 p.m. “It would have a pretty disabling effect. … It would be partially isolating, limiting our routes to get into Boston,” said Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12. Last week, students received an email from Rosen detailing the proposed cuts. Students on campus have had mixed reactions to the proposed cuts. Neriman Cavdar ’15 said of the
commuter rail schedule, “The times are already scattered. … If they cut that, you’ll have to come earlier to school or leave later.” Abby Zadina ’13 said, “Their service is already a hindrance to getting out and seeing Boston. … If they really want to make money, they should consider offering more services. … Increasing fares is fine by me.” The University has taken no immediate action in response to the proposed cuts, though Rosen speculated, “Riverside shuttles may soon become an option that we need to consider.” Transportation to the Riverside station would provide students with access to Boston via the Green Line, an option less efficient than the
commuter rail. Last semester, in response to pressure from the Student Union, the University experimented with a trial run of a Riverside shuttle. Low student turnout for the trial runs, combined with the high cost of running the shuttles, made the option ineffectual. “The MBTAs public review process has just begun so it is premature to develop a specific Brandeis plan for alternative transportation for our students, faculty and staff,” wrote Senior Vice President for External Affairs and Communications Andrew Gully in an email to the Justice. “Representatives from Brandeis will attend the public meeting in Waltham and we will carefully mon-
itor developments as the T finalizes its plans. As the picture becomes clear, we will weigh our options and students will be a part of that process.” In response to the proposed cuts, the Student Union is planning, among other things, to draft a petition expressing the community’s concerns, as well as a town hallstyle meeting. “We’ll get students to sound off on what they think should be said on behalf of the student body. … Our voices need to be heard,” said Rosen. The MBTA has organized 22 town hall-style meetings across the area. The meeting in Waltham will take place March 1 at the Government Center Auditorium from 6 to 8 p.m.
just
features
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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VERBATIM | HENRY KISSINGER We cannot always assure the future of our friends; we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are.
ON THIS DAY…
FUN FACT
In 1984, the first Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.
The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven.
Israeli immersion
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW LAVIN
ABROAD IN BE’ER SHEVA: The University’s new Hebrew-intensive study abroad program, which began this semester, takes place on the campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, located in Be’er Sheva, Israel.
A new abroad program offers a Hebrew-intensive semester By JESSIE MILLER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Study abroad options at Brandeis span the map from Amsterdam to Australia. We arrive in an unknown country and hope for the best. We occasionally mingle with the locals, testing our broken Chinese or Spanish in brief interactions. We take one or two classes in the country’s language, but often find ourselves reverting back to the comfort of the English language. But as part of a new program this semester, Heather Stoloff ’13 has been forced to leave her English behind for a semester solely of Hebrew in Be’er Sheva, Israel. In an innovative approach to Hebrew language education, the University is now offering a Hebrew-Intensive study abroad program in conjunction with Middlebury College at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, located in Be’er Sheva. Previously, the University offered a joint Hebrew summer program at Middlebury, but this new development is the result of many changes within the Hebrew department, including that students can no longer major in Hebrew. Despite these cutbacks, the department is encouraging students to continue studying the language both in and out of the classroom. The new program is one way of representing the University’s commitment to continuing a strong Hebrew department, according to Director of the Hebrew Language Program Prof. Vardit Ringvald (NEJS), one of the driving forces behind the creation of the program. Ringvald has been working closely with both Ben-Gurion and Middlebury College, located in Vermont, to ensure its success. “We are training the teachers [at Ben-Gurion] to be able to help our students achieve their goals based on what we understand,” Ringvald explained in an interview with the Justice. Ringvald has also been involved in creating the curriculum that the students will study and wants to make sure “students maximize
their stay in Israel vis-à-vis the language and the culture,” she said. While in Be’er Sheva, students will receive 16 credits by taking four classes: Modern Hebrew (10 hours per week), two electives on Israeli and Middle Eastern culture, religion or politics and a practicum that will help students with the full immersion experience of living and studying abroad. Along with their academic studies, the students will be able to travel to other parts of Israel and interact with people there. “Brandeis really wanted to expand what they are doing in Israel and this was a great opportunity,” explained Ringvald. The city of Be’er Sheva is located in the heart of the desert, making it an interesting place for a university of such livelihood. According to Ringvald, the reasons for choosing this location include its similarity to an American campus and the fact that most of the Israeli students live on campus, versus other schools where more students commute. Another key factor is “the openness of the teachers to accommodate our students and their commitment to our goals,” Ringvald said. “The students will have a complete sense of the life [of students in Israel] and will be able to interact with the community,” Ringvald said. “[Ben-Gurion University is] doing something a lot like our mission at Brandeis, which is social justice,” Ringvald explained. “[Students] will interact on a daily basis with Israelis ... and will be able to do a lot of projects associated with social justice, from working with Bedouins, children of immigrants and helping in different areas [of Be’er Sheva],” explains Ringvald. The students will also be able to use their language skills to “speak fluently ... with native speakers,” she said . In order to be eligible for the program, students must have at least an intermediate level of Hebrew, as all classes are taught in the lan-
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW LAVIN
CENTER FOR STUDIES: Ben-Gurion University is home to the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIE BERGER
LANGUAGE LEARNERS: Students studied with Prof. Ringvald (bottom right) at Middlebury last summer. guage. In accordance with Middlebury policy, students also must sign a pledge to only speak the target language in order to benefit fully from living in Israel. “In order to really study a language, you have to be immersed in it, ... [and students will] have a lot of opportunity to practice the language in the classroom and outside,” Ringvald said. Stoloff, who is currently enrolled in the program, says she became interested in the program because it “challenges students [to] speak Hebrew and gives them the opportunity to get away from the crutch of speaking English with other international students.” Though it will be difficult, Stoloff agrees that banning English “is the only way to make strides toward fluency.” While abroad, students will be living with Israeli college students. “They are going to be able to integrate in the Israeli culture without being grouped or separated in the university just because they are in a different program,”
Ringvald explains. They will also be able “to participate in many of our partner University’s clubs, sports, and other extracurricular activities alongside Israeli peers,” according to the Brandeis website. Ringvald said that the program has recently hired a new director, faculty member Tomer Levi (NEJS), who is in charge of supervising the students while they are there. Levi will maintain the “very strong connection to the methodology we use here at Middlebury and Brandeis,” Ringvald said. In the future, Ringvald expects the program to grow rapidly because of its innovative structure. “Everything will be done in Hebrew so the outcomes are going to be very successful in their ability to use the language, ... and it’s going to be the only program that offers this study,” thereby attracting even more students eager to immerse themselves in the Hebrew language.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW LAVIN
JOINING FORCES: The students on the program have the opportunity to take classes with Israeli students.
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Sweet
treats
Maddie Ziff ’13 caters events with her homemade desserts By rACHEL L. MILLER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Miniature Oreo red velvet cupcakes dipped in chocolate ganache, cupcakes with chocolate mint frosting, mini lemon meringue pies, chocolate toffee truffles, purple and orange checkerboard cookies and cake pops covered in chocolate and sprinkles. Drooling yet? These are just some of the delicious delicacies that Maddie Ziff ’13 bakes. Ziff began her official baking business with a website and business cards this past summer. While she had previously been selling her baked goods on and off to friends, Ziff now takes orders for her delectable desserts. She launched her business after a family friend made her a user-friendly website, iliketobake.com; one of Ziff’s friends made her business cards; and another friend lent her a good-quality camera for the year. “I’ve been learning to use photography to capture [my baked goods], because once you eat them, they’re gone,” said Ziff. Throughout high school, Ziff took various art classes and received a scholarship for a weekly art program at the University of Southern California. “It gave me a really good background in colors and shapes,” Ziff said. Now, Ziff’s artistic concentration lies in baking. As Ziff puts it, “I bake because it makes me happy.” Her love for baking began in high school when she started reading baking blogs, such as bakerella.com and bakeat350.blogspot.com. “I started to realize that if I enjoy sweets so much, I should just make them. And if I went to a restaurant and ate something, I would say ‘I can do that!’” she said. “Sometimes I’d watch the cake shows with my mom, ... and that was always fun, … but I learned mostly from food blogs and websites,” Ziff said. Instead of searching for a recipe from the get-go, Ziff usually stirs up an idea for a baked good herself. She will think of a dessert, such as a regular tart with chocolate pastry cream, chocolate ganache and raspberry marshmallow on top. She may find the crust recipe from one blog or website and pastry cream recipe from another and adjust both. “I usually work off a recipe I find online, read the reviews and make my own changes and see what feels right and kind of put them together in my own way,” Ziff explained. “I do a lot of brainstorming and think of flavors I want to combine.” In order to make the intricate and detailed cookies, Ziff comes up with some of her own ideas or finds clip art that she likes from the Internet. This past summer, Ziff embarked on an undertaking that she described as “incredibly intense.” “I worked at a summer camp a few summers ago; and at the end of the summer my boss said, ‘I’m getting married. Let me know if you’re in town for my wedding. You can make cupcakes.’ And we were both kind of like; ‘Haha, ok.’” To her surprise, Ziff received an email last February from her boss
saying, “So? Cupcakes?” “We had a few meetings and I talked her into a giant dessert table. It was at the end of the summer so I spent all of last summer preparing—testing recipes and gathering supplies,” she said. Ziff made 450 individual desserts and a little cake for the 150 wedding guests, a difficult project because baking can’t be done far in advance. As a result of this challenge, she learned how to structure her time, combine the correct proportions of ingredients and then transport all of the baked goods to the wedding hall about an hour away from her house. “The week before the wedding was absolutely crazy; probably upwards of 18 hours of baking a day for four days straight,” Ziff said. Together, Ziff and her mother, who often bakes with her, set up an entire dessert table while sporting their matching hot pink “I Like to Bake” t-shirts. Over this past winter break, Ziff took on yet another baking challenge. She built. a luxury sports-car cake. “A friend of mine was throwing a James Bond party and he asked for an Aston Martin [cake]. It was my first carved cake, so I was very careful,” Ziff said. “It was a giant block of cake that I made, and I took a knife to it. It was nerve-wracking, but I’m very happy with how it came out.” Though she was somewhat familiar with carving from watching food shows on television, she had never actually done it herself until that point. In addition to the intensive time and labor that it takes for Ziff to complete her works of art, not having a kitchen impedes Ziff’s ability to bake while at Brandeis. “I’ll wander into the Village when I need to, and I’ll make a batter in my room and use the Village ovens,” she explained.” “I have a friend off-campus so I’ll go [to her house to bake] sometimes. But I don’t get to bake nearly as much as I would like, … maybe a couple of times a month. … It seems like a lot, but when I’m at home, it’s like every day there is something new in the oven,” she said. Another factor that makes it more challenging for Ziff to bake at school is that she doesn’t have all of her baking supplies and utensils. However, if she does bake in school, one baking supply she does not need is a set of measuring spoons. “I feel comfortable with my batters and I can taste it and see when something’s off, or if the texture looks weird when I stir it. I have some recipes that I make over and over again,” she said. Ziff’s advice to an aspiring baker is to do your homework. “Find a good recipe, and until you know it well enough to become comfortable deviating, just stick with it and then see what you need to change,” Ziff said. “There are a couple websites that let you comment and rate [the recipes]. That’s usually a good starting place because you can see what other people have done,” she said. Ziff receives about an order a month at Brandeis from students or members of the community. “Usually at
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MADDIE ZIFF
BAKING BY THE BUNCH: Ziff finds a place to bake wherever she is, whether she’s at home or school.
DESSERTS ON DISPLAY: Ziff bakes and creates the dessert tables for a variety of events and parties. Brandeis, people want smaller things, like tarts or cookies for no particular reason. They just hear that I make treats, get excited and order something,” Ziff said. When she is home for the summer, Ziff receives about an order a week, usually for birthday cakes. As for now, Ziff sees her baking hobby as a “pretty consistent side thing.” “That’s what makes me happy, but as far as a career, I’m really not sure. I love it so much. I’d hate to find myself not liking it if
I turn it into a job— something that I have to do every day. Now I do it because I want to, and that’s different.” Another benefit of Ziff’s desserts in addition to the sweet taste and occasional profits? The stress relief. “Some days I’ll be feeling anxious and not know why. And I’ll realize, ‘Wait a minute, I haven’t baked in a week.’ So I bake cookies, put them in the oven, and everything’s okay.”
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, January 24, 2012
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A
clinical
cause PHOTOS COURTESY OF PAUL SUKIJTHAMAPAN
NURTURE IN NAMING: Paul Sukijthamapan ’13 delivered a baby, who was named after him, in the Bairo Pite Clinic in East Timor.
PEER TEACHING TALENTS: Program volunteers on the clinical staff educate each other on how to take patients’ blood pressure.
COGNITIVE THINKING: Sukijthamapan helps a schizophrenic patient with math work.
Students created Project Plus One to aid a clinic in East Timor By CELINE HACOBIAN JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
The island experiences cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis because of its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire. It earned the status of being its own country only 10 years ago. Its inhabitants spend much of their time on picturesque shores lined with banyan trees and fishermen catching the best seafood in the sea. However, East Timor is one of the poorest places in the world; almost half of the Timorese population is malnourished. Project Plus One, a club at Brandeis, is working to help the Bairo Pite Clinic in Dili, East Timor, by providing resources to reverse the lack of nutrition on the island. The Bairo Pite Clinic is one of few clinics in East Timor that treats “patients suffering from tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, hepatitis, leprosy, and HIV,” according to the Project Plus One website. However, being located in Dili, the clinic lacks adequate funds due to the lack of sufficient emphasis placed on health care by the Timorese government.
Paul Sukijthamapan ’13, the cofounder and chief executive officer of Project Plus One, says that the idea to create the organization and help the Bairo Pite Clinic started this past semester after he spent the summer in East Timor as part of an internship. His goals were to assist the clinic and “do something for the community health center to help care for people in need,” he said. At the end of the summer, Sukijthamapan asked himself, “Can I extend my internship to be longer than that? Can I create an organization of students to help clinics like this in the future?” Along with friends at Northeastern University in Boston and Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., he said he was determined “to improve the health of the underprivileged ... [by] connect[ing] undergraduate students ... with resources that we have here at the University.” Sukijthamapan worked with his network of friends and mentioned the idea of raising money for medical resources to their peers who were also interested in the project. It was decided that the Northeastern chapter would be focused on logistics, while
the Franklin and Marshall chapter would work on sending people to East Timor. These two other chapters have 15 members each, the same as the Brandeis group, whose main focus is fundraising in order to purchase medical supplies. Sukijthamapan and Sarah van Buren ’13, another member of Project Plus One on campus, agree that the class, “Global Perspectives on Health” influenced their involvement with the project and their desire to start the club at Brandeis. Their professor for the class, Dr. Sarita Bhalotra (Heller), makes sure the club members have an understanding of the island’s culture, according to the volunteers, and has been involved with multiple aspects of the global health field. “[She’s] been a practitioner, she’s been a patient, she’s been an administrator, she’s done it all,” van Buren said. “What’s great about [the project] is that it understands both our abilities and limitations as undergrads,” van Buren said. “A lot of us are pre-health students or interested in health care somehow ... and want to go into some pre-health administration.” “We’re not health care profession-
als yet, but we still have all this experience building up in us right now. So that’s where our abilities begin,” she said in an interview with the Justice. Van Buren says there is “a pretty good range” of majors among the students involved, including English, Environmental Studies and Economics. Sukijthamapan stresses that “it’s not like you have to be pre-med in order to be in a health project. We need people to work online. These are the skills we have to think about ... [in order] to improve health in all different angles.” Sukijthamapan believes that a crucial part of finding success with the club is being able to identify the locals’ needs. “There’s a lack of health care ... and medical supplies. ... The next step is to develop the opportunities we have and what solutions [we can],” he said. According to the Project Plus One website, “basic necessities such as aspirin, insulin, hand sanitizers, syringes, ... IV fluids ... [and] even pulse oximeters that monitor that lives of those on the surgery table are missing from the clinic.” The funds that the club raises will go toward collecting these supplies to take to East Timor
over the summer. Van Buren says the roughly 15 club members are applying for grants from the Davis Projects for Peace and the Millennium Campus Network. The club applies for any opportunity it can find to connect the local community of East Timor with medical resources, since students have access to apply, while those in East Timor do not, according to van Buren. While Sukijthamapan believes the Timorese have the knowledge and information they need to alleviate the problem, he says they lack the resources. The members of the project stress that any Brandeis students can join the movement. They can become a member of the Project Plus One club and give 15-minute lessons to other group members about their knowledge of various subjects including East Timor, fundraising opportunities or information on global health. “Now we can connect them with the resources that we have and the amount of interest of idealistic undergrads who are willing to do anything to make a change ... we can do something great,” Sukijthamapan said.
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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, Hillel Buechler, Eitan Cooper Bryan Flatt, Rebecca Klein, Asher Krell, Fiona Lockyer, Tess Raser and Robyn Spector, Associate Editors Sara Dejene and Andrew Wingens, News Editors Dafna Fine, Features Editor Shafaq Hasan, Forum Editor Adam Rabinowitz, Sports Editor Ariel Kay, Arts Editor Jenny Cheng and Joshua Linton, Acting Photography Editors Nan Pang, Layout Editor Marielle Temkin, Copy Editor Cody Yudkoff, Advertising Editor
Swimming into the future With the official reopening of the pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center this past Saturday, we join the rest of the University community in celebrating the close of a rather dry chapter in Brandeis history. After three years as one of the only top-tier American universities lacking a pool, this editorial board commends the University administration for finally implementing the necessary repairs in order to make the pool once again usable, and we hope that similar projects will be undertaken as needed for other parts of University infrastructure as well. The restoration of the pool now presents all students with an opportunity that had unfortunately been lacking here over the last three years: swimming. We are certainly pleased to see that the Swimming and Diving team will have its varsity status reinstated from its current club status. Furthermore, we encourage all students to take advantage of renewed free swim hours, including certain slots which have been designated single-sex in order to make more students comfortable with pool use. Saturday night’s event, “Making
Continue campus renovation Waves: The Brandeis Pool Party,” which was co-hosted by the Student Union, Student Events, WBRS, the Department of Athletics and the Department of Student Activities, was quite a success. We thank those groups for their involvement, along with Public Safety, which arranged for shuttles that would allow students a warmer means of getting to the party amid the frigid temperatures. Furthermore, we appreciate the student participation in the charity race took place at the start of the party. The reopening of the pool marks one very positive development for the University, but the factors that led to its initial closing were not unique to the pool. It remains a fact that University facilities require upkeep in order to avoid shutdowns like this one. We are pleased that the University allocated funds to restore and reopen the pool, yet we hope that other facets of the University that are in great need of increased upkeep, such as Usen Castle, also soon receive their much-needed repairs lest they too provisionally fall out of use.
Challenge MBTA cuts Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority proposed a reduction in operating hours and an increase in fare prices to go into effect this July in order to close the growing deficit gap while still continuing to provide their services. We’re pleased that Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 raised this issue in an email to the student body that encouraged students to oppose the cuts. Given our dependence on these services as a university and the potential negative ramifications of these changes, we encourage the student body to get involved in the discussion. Further, we urge the University to begin looking at providing alternative methods of transportation if these proposals should pass. The MBTA is considering two different scenarios, both of which would result in cutting the service hours of the Fitchburg commuter rail line after 10 p.m. on weekdays and completely eliminating service on weekends. The agency is also planning on decreasing the frequency of the 553 bus from Brandeis/Roberts Station to downtown Boston, often used by students and university employees. Further, the fare prices of the commuter rail and subway are both set to increase. While Brandeis’ proximity to Boston is often promoted in the University’s brochures and booklets, these proposed cuts would certainly strain this connection. By limiting the commuter rail’s service hours on weekdays and eliminating them on weekends, traveling back to the University from South Station, Logan Airport, internships or jobs would become time-consuming and expensive.
Plan for impact on campus The University should start planning how they are going to address the cuts given the impact they are going to have on campus. While the Riverside shuttles failed to gain support last semester, the Union should rethink providing a shuttle to the Riverside T station as the commuter rail becomes less available. The administration may also want to increase the number of shuttles currently offered Thursday through Sunday, open the service to other days earlier in the week and start operating earlier in the morning on weekends. Perhaps the University should consider charging students to operate the additional buses. While not ideal, a small fee compensates for the inconvenience of the commuter rail hours. Graduate students and University employees who rely on public transportation would also appreciate these shuttles taking the place of buses or the commuter rail. While it seems these cuts are under serious consideration, the Boston Globe recently reported the cuts may not be enough to bridge the deficit gap and bring the agency out of their financial sinkhole. As these plans appear to be flexible and the MBTA is open to suggestions, Mr. Rosen has encouraged students to voice their concerns to the agency by signing up for Waltham’s Town Hall Forum at the Government Center Auditorium on March 1 to discuss the proposals. We echo the Union’s sentiments and also encourage the administration to begin looking into employing additional shuttles if these cuts are made.
SARA WEININGER/the Justice
Expand the Religious Studies program Phillip GALLAGHER
BACK TO BASICS
When I first visited Brandeis and learned of its top-notch Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department, I expected the school to also have a large offering of courses in other various world religions. After all, Brandeis is a school that embraces both liberal arts and diversity. It would make sense that the University would regularly offer courses in several different religions, as is the trend at almost every other nonsectarian university, like Duke Univeristy and Tufts University. The Religious Studies program was originally designed to meet this need and broaden the religion course offerings of the University, but it has not been very successful. As the program is small and utilizes courses from other departments, it receives limited financial resources from the University to teach its own courses, according to Prof. Sarah Lamb (ANTH), who sits on the program steering committee. Ideally, it would offer several classes focusing on non-Western traditions to supplement those of the NEJS department, which has courses in Judaic, Islamic and Christian studies. However, the Religious Studies program has only offered three courses that focus on specific world traditions: one in Buddhism, one in Chinese thought and one in Hinduism, which is being offered for the first time this semester. Each of these three courses currently has over 40 students rolled (the Buddhism class most recently enrolled 56 students), demonstrating a sustained interest in the subject matter among Brandeis students. However, the Religious Studies program has been unable to sufficiently match this enthusiasm by offering additional courses to build on past material. For instance, a student interested in learning about Buddhist tradition and philosophy is essentially limited to the one Buddhism course offered; there are no additional courses to exclusively explore Buddhism at Brandeis. Oddly enough, one cannot major in Religious Studies without going through the laborious process of declaring an Independent Interdisciplinary Major, a program that involves custom-designing a major to one’s personal interests and requires a committee of faculty members for approval. This bureaucratic impediment hinders a student’s ability to pursue a wide-ranging course of study in religion. Alternatively, the program offers a minor, which appears to be in the middle of change due to the three different core courses offered since fall 2009. The original “Introduction to World Religions” core course has been temporarily put on hold, according to the administrator of the Religious studies program, Kathryn Howell, and has not been offered since the fall 2009 semester. Instead, the program has utilized classes from other departments, namely NEJS and Anthropology, to function as core courses. These changes, however, have not been reflected in the Learning Goals for the minor, which praise the “Introduction to World Religions” core course without recognizing its alternatives. I do believe that the Religious Studies program has the potential to effectively meet the needs of the student body. In the spirit of strategic planning, the University ought to consider expanding the program to satisfy new student interest in the subject matter. Most paramount of this expansion is to augment the program’s course offerings to allow for focused academic growth among students taking Religious Studies courses. I hope that the new course on Hinduism, which is a welcome addition to the course catalogue, will have a follow-up course if students are satisfied with the introductory course this semester. Additional courses in Buddhism and Chinese religious thought would help students build upon their knowledge from earlier classes as well. The program should offer a standardized major in Religious Studies in addition to the minor and the IIM option. Students are currently limited to the major in NEJS, which requires a large amount of Judaic and language study that may not hold universal appeal. A major in Religious Studies would permit greater freedom in exploring religious traditions and could incorporate a focus on in-depth comparison of different religions into the curriculum. A regular core course should be offered again for majors and minors. Having a core course can give a program more legitimacy and provide a launching pad for future growth. We are considered to be at the forefront of religious scholarship, but we appear to actually be behind the curve when it comes to embracing academic religious diversity. Expanding the Religious Studies program is a worthwhile method to rectify this problem.
OP-BOX Quote of the Week “Now we can connect them with the resources that we have and the amount of ... undergrads who are willing to do anything to make a change. ... We can do something great.” — Paul Sukijthamapan ‘13 said on starting Project Plus One to aid East Timor. (See Features pg. 9)
Brandeis Talks Back How often do you plan on using the pool?
Shengsheng Fu ’12 “Once a week.”
Sam Gordon ’14 “Maybe when it gets hotter outside.”
Corey Swartz ’14 “Not very often.”
Scott Kluger ’15 “I don’t have a swimsuit with me. Probably more often in the spring.” —Compiled by Rebecca Klein Photos by Tess Raser/ the Justice
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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Early admissions process is flawed By ULA RUTKOWSKA JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As college students, we all at some point entered into the dreaded college application process. For many of us, applying to a school early decision was presented as the ultimate opportunity to truly convey our interest in that particular school. However, considering the various perversions of the early admissions process over the years, it seems as if the system is no longer functioning in the way that it should. The likelihood of actually gaining admission to a school early decision has significantly decreased, as the pool is not only substantially larger, but it is also composed of a more diverse and qualified group of students. In an article featured by The New York Times titled “As a Broader Group Seeks Early Admission, Rejections Rise in the East” the two authors, Richard Pérez-Peña and Jenny Anderson, point out that the number of students applying to schools is drastically increasing as minorities, who are becoming more affluent, are entering into the early decision pool. At top schools, the early decision applicant pool is composed of students who are rather similar to one another. Although their backgrounds may be different, they all have a high GPA, good ACT or SAT scores and incredible recommendations and essays. Consequently, it has become difficult for the early decision process to be based solely on which applicant is the most qualified to attend that particular institution. Thus, the school may resort to finding students who make their student body more diverse. The students that might have been admitted several years ago are very different from those who are being accepted into college now. Universities relish the ability to indicate on their websites that they have students of all different ethncities from all over the world. Schools do not necessarily make their decision based on who wants to go to the school
TZIPORAH THOMPSON/the Justice
the most, but rather who they believe would add diversity and interest to their school. It is also important to consider how the number of applicants affects the way in which the process functions.
Due to an increase in applicants, the gap between regular and early decision acceptance rates is gradually closing. This past year, Brandeis accepted 48 percent of its early decision applicants, and 35 percent of its regular
decision. Although this difference is rather large in comparison to a school like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where the difference in the admission rate between early and regular decision is as low as one percent, the margin is gradually growing smaller as the number of applicants increases. The smaller the gap, the less valuable applying early decision actually becomes. Although Brandeis is not at this point yet, the trend could easily carry itself here as well. Moreover, for the last four years, Harvard and Princeton Universities have done away with the early decision process as they claim that it is in part unfair to those who need to compare financial aid packages before choosing which university to attend. By entering into a binding contract with the school, students who were not sure that they could afford the tuition were less likely to apply. Given the growing cost of higher education, receiving financial aid has become an important factor in the college process. Consequently, the schools eliminated early decision because they believed that it was favoring affluent students over minority students. This year, they have instated the option of applying early action, a non-binding contract with the school that gives the student the opportunity to pursue other options even after being accepted early. The general perception about the benefits of early decision is flawed. It appears to be an amazing opportunity to beat the system and gain acceptance to a school that might not otherwise be possible for them to gain admission. Instead, it is simply a means of ending the process quickly without necessary considerations. I like the concept of being given the opportunity to tell a school that they are your top choice, and thus I think that early action is more favorable option than early decision. As too many people have taken advantage of it, the initially beneficial system has become broken.
Refrain from passing judgment on Marines By JOSHUA NASS JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
One of the most popular stories in the news over the last few weeks has been the video that surfaced of four United States Marines urinating on the corpses of three members of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Before all the facts were in and without any hesitation, Leon Panetta, the secretary of defense, issued a statement characterizing the behavior of the marines as “utterly deplorable.” Following suit, Hillary Clinton said, “It is absolutely inconsistent with American values, with the standards of behavior that we expect from our military personnel.” Echoing the sentiment of the remarks made by Secretary of State Clinton, I too believe that we have always taken pride in being a country that holds itself to a higher standard, and therefore I refuse to condone the behavior of these Marines. However, at the same time, I do not believe charging these Marines with war crimes, as is being suggested by some of our elected officials, is justifiable or productive. Instead of putting them into a predicament where they could potentially be sentenced to prison by a military court, I believe the Marines should instead be punished outside the courtroom. Most importantly, it is our responsibility as patriotic Americans to at least attempt to contextualize the situation that our Marines find themselves in, before we prematurely begin judging and scolding them. As somebody who has not served, who am I to render judgment on the actions of such patriotic and courageous young men without even assessing the situation in which they
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find themselves? For all of us who, like myself, have no military background, the least we could do is respect our marines by giving them the courtesy they deserve and recognize our inability to accurately relate to their situation, as opposed to purporting to understand what it is like to serve and live under such tremendous fear and pressure on a regular basis. Another issue worthy of consideration is the apparent contradiction that is reinforced and brought to light by this story. We are at war with the Taliban. We have been since 2001, when then-President George W. Bush deployed troops to Afghanistan in an effort to oust the Taliban from power in the Afghani government. To put things into context, it was the Taliban that was responsible for lending sanctuary to al-Qaeda and their recently assassinated leader Osama Bin Laden. Of course, it was al-Qaeda that perpetrated and carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, causing the deaths of over 3,000 innocent Americans. Our servicemen are trained that in war, the enemy is to be killed; there is to be no mercy or any degree of restraint exhibited when dealing with the enemy. We train our troops to kill the enemy. But when it comes to urinating on their corpses, does it really seem right to criminally charge them? To me, this seems quite contradictory. Let’s attempt to put ourselves for a moment in the position of one of the “violating” Marines in this situation. On the battlefield, they witness the Taliban shooting at them and watch as their fellow Marines fall to the enemy’s gunfire.
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. Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication. All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors. A publication schedule and rate card is available upon request. Subscription rate: $35 per semester, $55 per year.
From their perspective, and understandably so, for every Taliban member dead, there is a greater chance they will personally survive another day of this war. So let’s pose the question that most in the media have not dared to: Is there honestly something criminal about urinating on the dead bodies of those that are accountable for the murder of so many of our men in uniform and for the harboring of those that murdered thousands of innocent Americans back home? Nobody can possibly contend that war is a perfect environment. It is far from peaceful. War is brutal and nothing about it is humane. There is nothing novel or unique about the dead being dehumanized over the course of war. Today’s technology allows such behavior to be captured and thereafter disseminated. Certainly, the implications of this video being released could pose serious safety risks not only for our men abroad, but also civilians back home. It is not uncommon for such footage to be used as propaganda by the enemy. So, certainly, this situation should not be condoned in it is understandable why so many are up and arms about it. But there are certain politicians and members of the media who are asking that the situation be treated as a war crime. In my view, that would be over the top and an unfitting subscription of punishment for these Marines. They should not be criminally charged. There is a distinction between punishing these Marines in a non-judicial fashion, and having them criminally charged in a military court. Punishing these Marines in a non-judicial
The Staff
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way would relieve them of potentially being subject to prison sentences and court-martials. After all, put yourself in these marines’ shoes. These murdered Taliban members were on the battlefield with the purpose of taking their lives. Would you have mercy on people looking to kill you, whether they be dead or alive? Lastly, we must be careful as a country to not allow our politicians or anybody else for that matter, to exploit the Marines in this situation for political gain. It seems increasingly clear that Panetta’s calls for harsh punishment are an effort to appease the Afghani government. In fact, during his statement of condemnation, Panetta proudly acknowledged that he had notified Afghan President Hamid Karzai that these Marines “would be held accountable to the fullest extent.” In my view, the Marines in this story should not be charged with war crimes, as is being suggested by some of our elected leaders and members of the media. Given the context of the inhumane and brutal nature of war, I contend that subjecting the Marines in this story to non-judicial punishment would be sufficient. Charging them criminally would justifiably be viewed as an attempt at exploiting them for a political purpose. I believe our Marines deserve more from us than simply using them as pawns in order to pander to the Afghan is and the rest of the world. While recognizing that a mistake was made, we ought to use this opportunity as a country to rally around our Marines, rather than turning our backs on them.
Editorial Assistants Advertising: David Wolkoff Arts: Emily Salloway Copy: Maya Riser-Kositsky Features: Celine Hacobian News: Tate Herbert, Sam Mintz Staff Senior Writers: Josh Asen, Aaron Berke, Wei Huan-Chen, Shelly Shore Senior Illustrator: Sara Weininger Senior Photographers: Hilary Heyison, Alex Margolis News: Shani Abramowitz, Tyler Belanga, Jonathan Epstein, Danielle Gross, Luke Hayslip Features: Claire Gohorel, Rachel Miller, Jessie Miller Forum: Aaron Fried, Philip Gallagher, Tien Le, Diego Medrano,
Sara Shahanaghi, Naomi Volk Sports: Julian Cardillo, Jacob Elder, Henry Loughlin, Jacob Lurie, Jacob Moskowitz, Becca Elwin Arts: Alex DeSilva, Olivia Leiter, Amy Melser, Leanne Ortbals, Louis Polisson, Mara Sassoon, Ayan Sanyal, Viet Tran, Dan Willey Photography: Jon Edelstein, Lydia Emmanouilidou, Morgan Fine, Nathaniel Freedman, Rachel Gordon, Yifan He, Josh Horowitz, Davida Judelson, Maya Shemtov, Josh Spriro, Madeleine Stix, Diana Wang, David Yun Copy: Aliza Braverman, Jennie Bromberg, Patricia Greene, Max Holzman, Eunice Ko, Megan Paris, Christine Phan, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Amanda Winn Layout: Rachel Burkhoff, Jassen Lu, Denny Poliferno, Michelle Yi Illustrations: Mara Sassoon, Arielle Shorr, Tziporah Thompson
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TUESDAY, jANUARY 24, 2012
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THE JUSTICE
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Go beyond SOPA bill to stop piracy By DAN WILLEY Justice staff writer
By now, nearly everyone is familiar with the Stop Online Piracy Act, or as it’s more commonly referred to, SOPA. Just in case you’ve been under a rock, SOPA is a once-broadly favored bipartisan bill making its way through Congress that would lend powerful tools to copyright holders to curb digital piracy. The bill allows a copyright holder, through the U.S. Department of Justice, to, in essence, take sites off of the Internet that infringe on their copyright, as well as cut off ad revenue generated by the site. According to one estimate by the nonprofit protest organizers Fight for the Future, over 115,000 websites participated in some form of protest against the bill last Wednesday, Jan. 18. Most notably, Internet giants such as Wikipedia, Twitter, Google, Reddit and Tumblr either completely blacked out their sites or directed users to information on the now-infamous bill. The protest proved successful, as both SOPA and its partner bill, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, have been shelved indefinitely in the protest’s wake. The number of supporters for the bill has quickly declined, and given its unpopularity during an election year, it seems likely that we won’t hear again from the bills for some time. Unfortunately, the underlying issue the bills seek to address remains unresolved: Internet piracy is rampant, and the government—as well as affected copyright holders—will continue to struggle to stem the tide. Foreign websites in particular remain exceedingly difficult to police, and while efforts such as those that recently took down Megaupload and Megavideo have been successful, other similar sites will almost inevitably pop up in their places. Regardless, several aspects of the bill make it clear that SOPA was not the solution. The bill would have made it far too easy for copyright holders, Internet service providers, search engines, payment processors and content providers to abuse it. Copyright holders simply needed to send a single letter claiming they had a “good faith belief” that a site was infringing upon the law by posting copyrighted material, and the site would then effectively disappear from the Internet. This all would take place without a court appointment, and it would be the alleged infringer’s responsibility to prove his or her innocence. Perhaps even more troubling was the bill’s provision allowing Internet service providers and search engines to proactively black out content based, again, on nothing more than a “good faith belief” that the provider was posting copyrighted material. Given that these same ISPs and search en-
MARA SASSOON/the Justice
gines are also content providers (for example, Google owns Youtube, and Comcast has ownership of several cable networks as well as NBCUniversal), there is obvious incentive for abuse. The bill further encourages this type of abuse by providing blanket immunity for ISPs against accusations of anticompetitive behavior. Beyond the possibility of abuse, the bill’s reach was also far too broad. If even just a portion of any given site contains infringing material, the entire domain name can face censorship. This means that users of that site, who didn’t themselves violate any law, could one day find that any data they stored on a blacked-out site is irretrievably gone and their accounts are terminated. This type of collateral damage, which harms those who use these services legally, is simply unacceptable. There may seem to be a lot of problems with
SOPA, but what I’ve listed here are only some of the most obvious dangers the law poses— this list certainly isn’t exhaustive. It’s clear that SOPA needs to be seriously retooled for it to be palatable, or even acceptable. But although SOPA isn’t a viable solution, Internet piracy remains a problem. In order to combat it successfully, there need to be some new enforcement mechanisms. It’s difficult to estimate just how much money and how many jobs the entertainment industry has lost due to piracy, but the impact is significant. Those who choose to pirate not only hurt the copyright holders, artists and those involved in producing the works, but they also harm other consumers—people who buy the same material legally and who are forced to pay more for each of their legitimate purchases so that the property owners can recoup the losses from piracy. It’s important to remember, even as we rec-
ognize SOPA’s faults, that the principle behind the law isn’t wrong: Piracy is illegal, and it’s also immoral. While many pirates—and some of SOPA’s most vocal critics—choose to steal as a sort of political message or out of some sense of justice, theft is theft. If you believe that copyright holders make too much money or don’t sell their products in a convenient way, you can choose not to purchase them. If enough people choose to abstain from buying a certain product, perhaps the sales model for that product will change. But stealing isn’t the answer. We as consumers have a duty to abide by the law and purchase our entertainment legally and legitimately—not just to avoid another SOPA, but because it’s the right thing to do. We should celebrate the tabling of this legislation, but we should also remember that it was designed to address a legitimate issue and that the issue still remains unresolved.
Steer clear of predatory for-profit colleges Sara
shahanaghi enlightened
For-profit colleges have been an issue of concern for some time now. In the past, these schools, which are run by profit-seeking companies, have been accused of sacrificing the quality of education and overcharging students in order to earn higher profits. Now there may be reason for increased worry. A recent report by the National Bureau of Economic Research detailed the potentially predatory nature of for-profit colleges. The report highlighted that students who attended forprofit colleges had higher rates of unemployment, lower wages, and higher student loan default rates than those who attended other institutions. Even more alarming, the study showed that for-profit colleges, which include large national chains such as the University of Phoenix and DeVry University, are quickly gaining ground: Enrollment in these schools has tripled since 2000, with other higher education institutions growing just 22 percent. In response to these fears, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has increased
scrutiny of for-profit colleges, according to a New York Times article earlier this month. Several powerful lenders to for-profit students were accused of providing loans that leave these students in financial turmoil, since many of them either cannot complete their programs or are not well-off enough to pay them off once they have graduated. While the government is taking an important step in protecting students from risky loans, they are not addressing the fundamental issue with for-profit colleges or the reason those schools are so appealing to many people. These schools often attract individuals who are dissatisfied with their jobs or are struggling to find work. Many have had little chance at an education before, as those enrolling are more likely to come from lower-income backgrounds and to be raising children as single parents, according to the NBER study. The government should work to lead individuals away from opportunistic for-profit colleges and toward programs that will increase their chances of attaining the careers they seek. The individuals enrolling in for-profit colleges are correct in believing that higher education leads to better employment in the future. While unemployment has been high since the recession began, those with college degrees have consistently fared better, according to data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most students enroll in for-profit schools with the hope that they will soon graduate
and be able to find a well-paying job. Helping those without college degrees or certificates attain higher education can help address the persistent unemployment the country is facing and help individuals avoid the pitfalls of for-profit colleges. Students who consult with for-profit colleges to choose the best program for them are often not given accurate information regarding graduates’ employment statistics, completion rates and loans, according to a 2010 investigational report by the Government Accountability Office. Because they are misinformed or uninformed by profit-seeking institutions that simply want to lure students in, they are unable to make the right decision when choosing between different schools and programs. The key is for the government to require both for-profit and traditional schools to submit accurate statistics. The government can then provide the public with this information in an unbiased setting. They can offer degreeor certificate-seeking individuals with online information and in-person advice. This service would match them with successful, affordable programs. Since people would have the ability to make informed decisions, they would naturally gravitate away from for-profit schools and towards local and community colleges, which can provide equivalent degrees at a fraction of the cost of a for-profit college. Most importantly, the government must pay more attention to ensure that students
have jobs once they graduate. Students at for-profit colleges are enticed into these programs because they are made to believe that they will find work upon graduating, which is why they are willing to invest so much money in their degrees. State governments should play a role in increasing graduate employment rates by requiring continuing education programs to invest sufficient resources in matching students with work. This would mean requiring institutions that do provide these programs to put more of their energies into their career services by seeking employers and directly matching them with students. When learning of the many individuals who are made financially worse off by attending for-profit colleges, it is easy to make the mistake of thinking that higher education is not for everyone. However, skilled labor is becoming more and more relevant, as many industries are experiencing shortages of skilled workers despite high national unemployment rates. Thus, making higher education possible for more people is necessary; it is the only way to expand the nation’s supply of skilled workers. The trick is to make higher education grow in the right direction and prevent predatory institutions from blighting the system. This requires the government to step in and make sure that those willing to go back to school actually have an opportunity at the brighter future they seek.
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, January 24, 2012
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SPORTS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Women continue their struggles ■ The women’s basketball team has struggled to find its chemistry this month, dropping another two games. By HENRY LOUGHLIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
One bad spell in a game can doom a team and write off any chance of victory. The women’s basketball team learned this unfortunate lesson last weekend in the latest portion of its University Athletic Association schedule. Trailing 39-25 at halftime against the University of Chicago, the Judges could not find a rhythm in the second half, digging a hole that would eventually lead to a humbling 76-48 defeat. The loss—the second consecutive on the Judges’ Midwest road trip, where they also faced Washington University in St. Louis—put the team at 7-9 and a disappointing 0-5 in conference play. Starting forward Samantha Anderson ’13 expressed her disappointment at the team’s inability to rebound from lapses on offense and defense last week. “We get down and we stay down,” she said. “We need to fight our way out in those types of situations, and today we just couldn’t do that.” While they were down 39-25 at the half, which was exactly half of the final margin by which they would lose, the Judges still had a chance to take back control of the game. After all, there were a total of four lead changes and two ties in the first half. However, the main problem rested in a startling ten turnovers and a 0-for-5 rate at the free-throw line. The Bears, however, did shoot 50 percent from the field in the first half, often a defensive effort that would bury an opposing team. However, the Judges were still alive. While staring up at a stillformidable 14-point gap, heading into the second half of the game, Brandeis was still very much alive. Two straight free throws from Chicago senior guard Meghan Herrick opened up the half and put the nail in the coffin for the Judges. The free throws marked the start of a 19-2-run that ultimately ended any hopes of the Judges making a comeback. However, there was reason to be hopeful for the women’s team. The Judges would proceed on a 21-16 run behind an impressive 10 points from Kendrew. It would not prove to be enough as the women suffered a blowout in the Windy City. Guard Morgan Kendrew ’12 led the Brandeis charge with 14 points, followed by graduate Dianna Cincotta ’11, MA ’12, who contributed an additional 10 points. Against No.7 WashU, the Judges started well, staying on pace with
MBBALL: Team splits on the road CONTINUED FROM 16
ASHER KRELL/Justice File Photo
STIFF ARM: Guard Kasey Dean ’14 attempts to elbow past an Emory defender en route to a 70-40 loss on Sunday, Jan. 15. the Bears throughout on the first half. While their shooting percentage was more inefficient than it was in Sunday’s game—completing just 40.7 percent of their efforts— Brandeis went into the half down by seven points and hopeful for a second half comeback. WashU maintained the lead largely due to its offensive efficiency. While the Judges only converted three of eight shots, the Bears were 12-for-20 on the offensive end. However, the second half proved to be a much different story. With the Judges shooting sixfor-21 from the field, the Bears would capitalize. WashU shot 10 of 24, including a notable five of sev-
en from the three-point range. The Bears, however, were firing on all cylinders on the defensive end. In the final 12 minutes, Brandeis was held to a mere two field goals, both off a pair of free throws from Anderson. Coupled with their home court advantage, Wash U seized the momentum of the match in the second half and never looked back, spoiling the Judges’ Friday night in the Midwest. Forward Samantha Anderson ’13 was top scorer for Brandeis, burying 10 points. Teammate Courtney Ness ’13 scored another nine points at the forward position. While the Judges look for their first conference win this weekend,
Anderson noted last week this slump could actually be of assistance to the team. “It comes down to motivation,” said Anderson. “Losing three in a row gives us huge motivation to prove ourselves in future games.” While the Judges naturally would have welcomed a rest after a demanding road trip, the team will have no time to recuperate. UAA opponents Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University will visit on Friday and Sunday. Friday’s contest is slated for a 6:00 tipoff, while Sunday’s game will begin at 2:00. — Adam Rabinowitz contributed reporting.
little bit and we were able to slowly chip away at their lead.” Brandeis then dominated the overtime period, outscoring the Maroons 17-9, sealing the victory. Kriskus highlighted the Judges’ offense, amassing a notable 31 points and seven rebounds in 41 minutes. Hughes tallied a tripledouble with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Stoyle had 11 points, five rebounds and three key steals off the bench for the Judges. Chicago guard Matt Johnson led all scorers with 44 points on 13-20 shooting, including eight for 14 from three-point land and 10-12 from the line. “He’s a great shooter who got hot and hit a lot of contested shots,” said Stoyle of Johnson. “He had a great game, but we were able to limit a lot of their other players and fought hard until the end for the win.” On Friday night, the Judges fell in another blowout loss to WashU. Despite WashU shooting 60 percent from the field, the Judges found themselves down 41-31 at halftime. “We battled in the first half, but in the second half, we lost a little bit of our focus,” said Hughes. The Bears continued their hot shooting in the second half, going 1732 from the field and five-seven from downtown. However, Brandeis’ downfall would be their cold shooting in the second half. The Judges shot just four-20 and were outscored 39-23 in the half, struggling offensively en route to the blowout loss. “In the second half, the communication wasn’t there,” Hughes said. “Against their offense with all of those screens, we needed to communicate better. WashU is a really good team, and I don’t take any credit away from them, but I believe we had too many self-inflicted wounds.” The Bears shot a season-best 56 percent from the field, including eight-15 from beyond the three-point arc. Guard Ben Bartoldus ’14 led the Judges with 15 points. Kriskus tallied an impressive stat line, scoring nine points, while also notching seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Hughes also contributed nine points in the loss. Brandeis returns home to next face off against Case Western Reserve on Friday night in another UAA matchup. Carnegie Mellon will then travel to Red Auerbach Arena on Sunday to wrap up the weekend’s action for the Judges.
TRACK AND FIELD
Squads make another statement on the raceway ■ The track and field teams
impressed in another Bostonarea meet, including wins in the mile run and triple jump. By jacob elder JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
The Brandeis indoor track and field team is on a roll after another strong showing last weekend. Several Judges finished ahead of the pack of collegians at the non-scoring Greater Boston Track Club Invitational at Harvard University. For the men’s squad, Chris Brown ’12 finished third in the men’s Bill Squires Open Mile with a time of four minutes, 8.45 seconds. Brown’s time is the second fastest in Division III and also best in the
University Athletic Association this season. He was over three seconds faster than his main opponent from Division I Providence College. Taylor Dundas ’12 took first place in his event with a time of 4:18.73, good for the 15th-fastest time in Division III. Brown was very pleased with the results of the conference meet, stating it was a good confidence builder. “It’s still pretty early in the season,” he said. “No one is racing at their best, but we are making strides toward being the best we could be. However, we are looking pretty good for our conference meet coming up [in the next few months].” Jumper Jeffrey Maser ’15 also indicated the positive results from the invitational stemmed from the players’ commitment to the team as well as from experienced coaching.
“This season, we’ve been working really hard as a team, and that clearly shows based on some of the results that the team has posted,” he said. “Mark [Reytblat] and John [Evans] continue to give us workouts that enable us to really focus on our events and strengthen ourselves at the same time.” Several women had notable finishes as well. Kim Farrington ’13 won the triple jump with a distance of 10.69 meters. That was .35 meters farther than the next-fastest collegiate, hailing from Division I Bryant University. Ali Kirsch ’14 was the top runner in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:26.07, good for a second-place finish. She defeated fellow long-distance runner Kristi Pisarik ’15 by 0.32 seconds. In the high jump, Lili Parenteau ’12
finished second with a height of 1.57 meters (5 feet, 1 ¾ inches), still failing to rival her previous best peformance at the Bowdoin Invitational on Jan. 14. Kate Warwick ’12 was the only participant in the 3,000-meter run but still managed to make a statement, finishing four seconds back from first with a time of 9:57.89. Brittany Bell ’13 finished second in the 60-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 8.05 seconds, while also notching a fourth-place finish in the finals with a time of 8.07. Maser was also impressed with the women’s results, stating that their dedication and skill will definitely show at future scoring events. “We’re approaching some scoring meets soon, and the work that the whole team has been putting in is definitely going to show at these meets,”
he said. “We have strong talent in every event, so I expect that we’re going to turn in some really strong performances when UAA Championships and other big scoring meets roll around.” Maser did give a disclaimer after this statement though, citing that it is important both squads maintain this focus throughout the season. “As the season goes on, we have to stay focused and be sure not to wear down at all,” he said. “It’s a long season, but as the team continues to put in great work, success is surely going to follow.” Both track squads return to competition at the Boston University Terrier Classic this Saturday. — Adam Rabinowitz contributed reporting.
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THE JUSTICE
Men’s BASKETBALL TEAM STATS
Points Per Game
Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference Overall W L D W L D Pct. Emory 4 1 0 15 1 0 .938 NYU 4 1 0 14 1 0 .933 WashU 4 1 0 12 4 0 .750 JUDGES 3 2 0 9 7 0 .562 Rochester 2 3 0 11 5 0 .688 Chicago 2 3 0 9 7 0 .562 Carnegie 1 4 0 6 10 0 .375 Case 0 5 0 8 8 0 .500
UPCOMING GAMES Friday vs. Case Sunday vs. Carnegie Friday, Dec. 3 at Case
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012
15
CLUB EVENT
jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS UAA STANDINGS
●
Ben Bartoldus ’14 leads the team with 12.9 points per game. Player PPG Ben Bartoldus 12.9 Derek Retos 12.2 Vytas Kriskus 11.1 Youri Dascy 9.8
Men’s volleyball serves up success at fundraiser
Rebonds Per Game Youri Dascy ’14 leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game. Player RPG Youri Dascy 7.4 Vytas Kriskus 5.6 Alex Stoyle 3.8 two tied with 3.2
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 5 0 0 16 0 0 .1000 Chicago 5 0 0 16 0 0 .1000 WashU 4 1 0 14 2 0 .875 Emory 4 1 0 13 3 0 .812 NYU 1 4 0 9 7 0 .562 Case 1 4 0 8 8 0 .500 JUDGES 0 5 0 7 9 0 .438 Carnegie 0 5 0 6 10 0 .375
Morgan Kendrew ’12 leads the team with 10.9 points per game. Player PPG Morgan Kendrew 10.9 Dianna Cincotta 9.4 Hannah Cain 7.0 Kelly Ethier 5.1
UPCOMING GAMES Friday vs. Case Sunday vs. Carnegie Friday, Dec.3 at Case
Rebounds Per Game Samantha Anderson ’13 leads with 6.8 rebounds per game. Player RPG Samantha Anderson 6.8 Hannah Cain 6.0 Kelly Ethier 3.9 Courtney Ness 3.6
FENCING 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 women’s team will compete at Wellesley College tomorrow, and both squads fence this Saturday at another conference meet at Boston College.
ALEX MARGOLIS/the Justice
EYE ON THE PRIZE: Yoni Sebag ’13 serves up the ball for his team in a tournament match at last Sunday’s club event.
■ The men’s volleyball
club hosted a fundraiser tournament to raise money for their trip to Nationals By BECCA ELWIN JUSTICE sTAFF writer
TRACK AND FIELD Results from the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational last Sunday.
NOTABLE FINISHES (Men’s)
NOTABLE FINISHES (Women’s)
MILE RUN Chris Brown
TIME 4:08.45
TRIPLE JUMP Kim Farrington
Taylor Dundas
4:18.73
3,000 METER RUN Kate Warwick
DISTANCE 10.69 meters TIME 9:57.86
UPCOMING MEET: The men’s and women’s track teams will next compete at the BU Terrier Classic, hosted by Boston University, this upcoming Saturday.
On a Sunday afternoon during the winter, the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center is usually packed with students and faculty cheering on the Judges’ basketball squads. With both teams playing in Chicago, the upper courts of Gosman were occupied for a very different reason; the first annual co-ed Mixed 4s Volleyball Tournament fundraiser. Last Sunday afternoon, 16 talented volleyball squads collaborated in an effort to raise money for the men’s volleyball club and earn the tournament trophy. The goal was to raise enough money to send the club to the National Collegiate Club Championship tournament in Kansas City,
Missouri during this April. Each of the participating teams paid an entry fee donation of $20. The event raised approximately $300 for the men’s club volleyball team. Reflecting on the tournament, David Perlow ’11, currently working toward a masters in International Economics and Finances and captain of the men’s volleyball squad, was pleased with the turnout for the event. He is also optimistic about the prospects of the fundraiser becoming an annual event in the upcoming years. “Every year, we try to raise money to finance our trip to Nationals,” Perlow said. “The more money we raise, the more players we can bring, which is great. This event helped us raise around $300 and will definitely help us reach our goal.” The rules of the double elimination tournament followed the same guidelines as those of intramural volleyball.
Perlow and other members of the men’s volleyball team believed this would allow the tournament to be accessible to players at all skill and experience levels. According to Ball So Hard University, the tournament winners, the victory allows for “bragging rights” and the opportunity to defend their title in future years. Consisting of Brandeis alumni and the current men’s volleyball coach, Ball So Hard University achieved a 15-7 victory in the final round to win the tournament. Perlow also expressed excitement about the upcoming season for the men’s volleyball squad. “With our season starting soon, it’s great to see everyone come out in support,” he said. “The diversity of our team really shows, and we are ready to start the season.” As well as Boston-area tournaments, the team will compete at the Collegiate Club Championships, the Division-I event that will be held in Kansas City later in the spring.
Boston Bruins beat Bruins lose their momentum and the Eastern Conference crown in a 3-2 defeat to the Rangers The Boston Bruins struggled to solve the New York Rangers’ lockdown defense in the first period last Saturday. After countless missed scoring opportunities and three failed power plays, New York seemed to have complete control of the game. The Rangers sealed this momentum with a demoralizing goal from right wing Ryan Callahan to take an early 1-0 lead in the second period. However, Bruins right wing Shawn Thornton would not back down. Thornton dropped gloves with Rangers center Mike Rupp. Despite receiving the five-minute fighting major, the battle provided the spark Boston needed. At three minutes and 18 seconds, left wing Milan Lucic fired a shot to defenseman Andrew Ference. Ference then hooked the puck past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game at one, send-
ing the TD Garden crowd into a frenzy. This goal would set the tone for the Bruins’ afternoon, trading goals with the persistent Rangers squad. This was a game that even (albeit briefly) overshadowed the New England Patriots’ AFC Championship match on Sunday, evidenced by Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s appearance. Boston, however, could not get the job done last Saturday, losing 3-2 in overtime after a game-winning goal by Rangers right wing Marian Gaborik and a chance at the Eastern Conference crown. Bruins center Rich Peverley expressed that the team played well, but that they lost to a strong squad. “The Rangers are a good team; they’re playing very well right now,” he said. “We had our chances, but simply couldn’t capitalize.” The first period represented a defen-
sive battle of wills, with neither team willing to concede the first goal of the game. The Bruins, though, had the upper hand, earning three power plays in the period. However, Boston, 11th in the league in converting power-play chances, failed to take advantage. The Rangers would not be denied, however, at the beginning of the second period. A mere one minute, 29 seconds into the period, right wing Ryan Callahan skated down the left wing of the ice after receiving a feed from left wing Brandon Prust. He then slapped it directly across the ice and behind the outstretched glove of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask for his 16th goal of the season. Thornton then initiated the fight that would lead to the game-tying goal. Gaborik would not let the Bruins’ lead last for long. At 14 :30, after receiving a lightning pass from left wing
Carl Hagelin, he initiated a strike over Rusk’s glove for a 2-1 New York lead. With the clock ticking down in the second period, Boston struck again. At 19 minutes, Peverley fed the pass to defenseman Adam McQuaid, who slotted the puck in the top left corner of the net to knot the game at 2-2. After the offensive explosion of the second period, tight defense dominated again in the third period. The Rangers had two power play opportunities in the third period, due to tripping penalties from Bruins center David Krejci and center Chris Kelly. Boston, though, could not secure the crucial goal in the third period, sending the game into overtime. This proved to be much of the same story in extra time, that is, until the last five seconds of the game. As the Bruins prepared to head into a shoot-
out, the Rangers had quite a surprise in store. With 3.6 seconds left, Rangers center Brad Richards lasered a pass to Gaborik, who valiantly tapped the puck past Rusk after two prior misses. Gaborik single-handedly preserved the Rangers’ spot at the top of the Eastern Conference. Forward Patrice Bergeron emphasized that the team played a strong game but simply didn’t get the win. “The game didn’t have a lot of surprises,” he said. “It was a well-structured match, what we expected; just not the result we wanted.” Boston rebounded from the loss with a thrilling 6-5 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers last Sunday and will next travel to face the Washington Capitals tonight at 7 p.m. — Adam Rabinowitz
just
Sports
Page 16
FROZEN IN DEFEAT The women’s basketball team has failed to earn a conference win this year, dropping another two UAA matches, p. 13.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
MAN ON A MISSION
Waltham, Mass.
NFL PLAYOFF RECAP
Patriots, Giants square off again in Super Bowl ■ After championship
round wins, the Patriots and Giants advance to a Super Bowl rematch. By JOSH ASEN JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo
CHARGE TO THE NET: Guard Tyrone Hughes ’12 breezed past an Emory defender for a scoring opportunity on Sunday, Jan. 15.
Men salvage road trip with another UAA win ■ The men’s basketball
team defeated UChicago in overtime last Sunday following a loss to WashU. By jacob moskowitz JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Even after a blowout loss to a 13-1 Emory University team just a week ago, the men’s basketball season seems to have taken a permanent turn for the better. After rebounding from a 2-5 start to the season with a six-game winning streak, including two University Athletic Association victories, the Judges found themselves at 6-5. Judges fans had reason to be worried, though. Facing the 12-3 Washington University in St. Louis Bears, Brandeis was blown out for the second game in a row, 80-54, last Friday night. However, the Judges team that
earned that six-game winning streak last month came to play last Sunday. Fueled by forward Vytas Kriskus ’12 and his 31 points, Brandeis overcame the University of Chicago Maroons 9789 in overtime. The Judges ended their Midwest road trip with a 9-7 overall record, 3-2 in the UAA. After yet another slow start, the Judges trailed 17-9 with 13 minutes, 42 seconds to play in the first half and Brandeis seemed doomed to follow the course of the previous two games. Fortunately, history did not repeat itself. Brandeis then went on a 12-0 run to take a 21-17 lead. The rest of the half proved to be a tight contest, with Brandeis’ largest lead resting at six. Chicago senior guard Matt Johnson nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to send the game into halftime knotted at 42 points apiece. The second half proved to be just as thrilling. With 10:03 remaining, Brandeis cut Chicago’s lead to four,
59-55, on a Kriskus layup. However, fueled by another nine points from Johnson, Chicago went on a 13-4 run to take a 72-59 lead with just 5:29 to play. But, the Judges would not concede the game so easily. Strong play from forward Alex Stoyle ’14 and guard Jay Freeman ’13 brought Brandeis right back into the game, trailing by just two points as the clock wound down in the second half. Guard Tyrone Hughes ’12 would save the Judges and send the match into overtime, on a tip-in basket at the buzzer that tied the game at 80. Stoyle explained Brandeis’ resurgence in the second half stemmed not just from pressure to avoid the fate of the last two matches, but also key offensive adjustments. “We started playing with more of a sense of urgency,” he said. “We started getting some turnovers out of our press. Coach changed up our offense a
See MBBALL, 13 ☛
Whether you like it or not, it’s going to be the most hyped rematch in Super Bowl history. The New England Patriots will face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. The NFL could not have written a better script for this year’s title game. These next 12 days will be packed with recounts of the Giants’ 17-14 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, the win that ended the Patriots’ pursuit of a perfect season. It will also bring up the heated tension that exists in the rivalry between Boston and New York. While the talk now centers around the rematch that will certainly be a highly watched Super Bowl, both teams narrowly defeated their opponents in their respective conference championship games to advance to Indianapolis. The Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens at home 23-20, while the Giants went on the road to stun the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in overtime. In Sunday’s first game, the Ravens nearly took the lead with less than 30 seconds left in the game. Baltimore wide receiver Lee Evans caught a pass in the end zone, but Patriots cornerback Sterling Moore knocked the ball out of Evans’ hands, resulting in an incomplete pass. On the next play, Moore deflected yet another ball thrown by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco on third-down, leading the way for kicker Billy Cundiff to attempt a game-tying 32-yard field goal that would presumably send the game into overtime. He missed it — wide left. The Patriots took a knee, and the game was over. “I’ve probably made that kick a thousand times in my career,” Cundiff told reporters after the game. “I went out there and I just didn’t convert. That’s the way things go. There’s no reason for it. It just didn’t go through.” Although the Patriots sealed the game on a missed field goal, head coach Bill Belichick was pleased with his team’s win. “Well, it’s awesome,” Belichick said of the win. “You’ve just got to give all the credit to the players. These guys fought all year and, just like today, it wasn’t always perfect, but they fought until the final gun, and we came out on top. So you’ve got to give the players all the credit; they’re the ones that won it today.” Although Patriots quarterback Tom Brady tied a playoff record by throwing six touchdowns in a playoff game last week against the Denver Broncos, Brady had no touchdown throws for the first time in 36 games. The Ravens also intercepted the quarterback twice during the game.
“Well, I sucked pretty bad today, but our defense saved us,” Brady said. “I’m going to try and go out and do a better job in a couple of weeks. But I’m proud of my teammates.” Ravens safety Ed Reed and football pundits criticized quarterback Flacco for his unflattering performance last week against the Houston Texans, but Flacco answered the call against the Patriots by throwing for 306 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Although the interception came midway through the fourth quarter, the Ravens intercepted the Patriots’ first offensive play on the following drive, preventing the Patriots from gaining any momentum. In the Giants’ win, played in rainy and muddy San Francisco by two aggressive and intimidating defenses, New York capitalized on a fumble by 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams in overtime. On a punt return in overtime, the Giants defensive line came through in the clutch, ramming Williams to recover the ball. With the ball on the 49ers 24-yard line, Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw rushed three times for 18 yards. After a kneel by quarterback Eli Manning to position the ball in the middle of the field, kicker Lawrence Tynes successfully kicked a 31-yard field goal to end the game. “It’s amazing,” said Tynes, who also kicked the game-winning field goal in overtime in the NFC Championship game prior to their Super Bowl victory against the Patriots. “I had dreams about this last night. It was from 42 [yards], not 31 [yards], but I was so nervous today before the game just anticipating this kind of game. I’m usually pretty cool, but there was something about tonight where I knew I was going to have to make a kick.” The Giants took a 10-7 lead into halftime, but San Francisco went up 14-10 going into the fourth quarter. Manning, who was sacked six times, knocked down 12 times and hit 20 times by the San Francisco defense, hit his receivers when it counted. He converted a 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mario Manningham with less than 10 minutes left. The 49ers then tied the game on their next drive with a field goal from kicker David Akers. In this championship game, though, it was the Giants who celebrated on a successful field goal. “It feels great,” Manning said. “That was a tough game. We had to fight for every yard we got,” said Manning. “They’re a good team. Their defense is stout.” With the championship games now over, all the attention is on the rivalry that has brewed between the Patriots and Giants since Super Bowl XLII. This season, the Giants defeated the Patriots 24-20 in Foxborough in Week 9 on a lastminute touchdown pass by Manning. It was Brady’s first regular season loss at home since 2006. It also happens to be the last time the Patriots lost a game this year. Let the hype begin. It’s going to be a heavyweight fight with a lot of bragging rights at stake.
just
January 24, 2012
ARTS p. 23
p. 22
Looking ahead to the Oscars
p. 21
p. 21
Photos: sethoscope and lincolnblues/Flickr Creative Commons. Design: Josh Horowitz and Robyn Spector/the Justice.
18
TUESDAY, january 24, 2012 ● THE JUSTICE
POP CULTURE
INSIDE ON CAMPUS
18-20
■ Jackie Theoharis ’14 profile
19
■ Spring theater preview
20
Though only a sophomore, Theoharis is already a veteran of the Brandeis stage. She also acts professionally in Boston. JustArts profiles the upcoming Brandeis Theater Ensemble and Undergraduate Theater Collective spring shows.
OFF CAMPUS
21-24
■ ‘The Artist’
21
■ ‘The Descendants’
21
■ ‘Mission: Impossible 4’
22
■ ‘Creed: Revelations’
22
■ ‘Loud and Incredibly Close
23
■ Lucy’s Ethiopian Cafe
23
This new silent black-and-white film delves into the past and comes out on top.
Alexander Payne’s latest film is a bittersweet family comedy set in Hawaii. The latest film in the series features Ethan Hunt hunting for a terrorist named Hendricks. In the beloved video game’s fourth installment, Altair, Ezio and Desmond unite.
This post-9/11 film follows a young boy who believes his father, who died in the attacks, left him a key to an unknown lock. Lucy’s pleases diners with its unique flavors and colorful atmosphere.
CALENDAR
Interview
by Shelly Shore
If you’ve been anywhere on the Internet for the past few weeks, you’ve heard about Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act, two pieces of legislation currently being considered by Congress. SOPA and PIPA are viewed by most Internet users as a precursor to Internet censorship. As a result, petitions, newsletters and Orwellian horror stories of what the Internet might look like under these bills have been flooding the blogosphere. In response to the proposed bills, several websites staged a blackout on Jan. 18, known now as Stop SOPA Day. The most famous shutdown was Wikipedia, which blocked access to all of its articles, except the pages written about SOPA and PIPA, and prompted millions of teenagers with homework assignments to take to Twitter in terror. Putting aside the fact that students apparently no longer know how to find information online without Wikipedia (in my day, kids, we used SparkNotes), the Wikipedia shutdown raised awareness by showing what things might be like if certain sites weren’t able to provide information. Some of the other websites participating in the blackout included popular celebrity gossip blog Oh No They Didn’t, the default Mozilla Firefox home page, Reddit, several web comics, TwitPic and MoveOn.org. Some blogging sites, including LiveJournal and Tumblr, offered users the option of shutting their blog for the day. Interestingly, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and eBay did not shut down for the blackout, despite issuing statements that opposed the bill. Because these sites remained up, users were able to use them to vent their frustrations with the blackout and spread information and call-your-representative links to their friends. While “Internet activism” is sometimes
Student of classical music branches out
Yoni Battat ’13 is a Music Performance major, the music director of Company B, founder of ’DeisKeit and is performing his own recital.
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES/Wikimedia Commons
SOPA SUPPORTER: U.S. Congressman Lamar Smith introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act. ridiculed, in this case it made a dramatic impact. Google confirmed a staggering 4.5 million users signed their petition protesting SOPA and PIPA and that over 350,000 emails were sent to representatives. The White House stated that over 103,000 people signed a petition directly to Obama to kill the bill, and over 2.4 million tweets between 12 a.m. and 4 p.m. EST were SOPA-related. But did the blackout make a difference beyond the web? Former co-sponsors of SOPA, Ben Cardin, Roy Blunt and Marco Rubio, are now opposing the bill—along with 24 other U.S. senators who previously supported it. Score one for the Tweeters.
What’s happening in Arts on campus this semester
ON-CAMPUS EVENTS
‘Feminism, Fiction and the Creation of Women’s Diaries’
Rebecca Steinitz, Ph.D., will discuss the false idea that diaries are mainly for women by looking at the history of the diary and how fiction has feminized the diary in previous centuries. Today at 12:30 p.m. in the Epstein Lecture Hall of the Women’s Studies Research Center.
Lunar New Year celebration
The Lunar New Year is approaching and in order to get into the spirit of the holiday, the South East Asia club is hosting a celebration for Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. There will be fan dancing, lion dancing and Vietnamese games, as well as traditional edible treats! Today at 8 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.
Ba’note auditions
Hillel’s all-female a cappella group is holding auditions tonight. Using trios as opposed to solos, the musicians focus on blending their voices during the performance of Jewish and non-Jewish songs. Tonight at 8 p.m. in the Feldberg Lounge of the Hassenfeld Conference Center. Callbacks are tomorrow night at 8 p.m.
Music colloquium
As part of the colloquium series in composition and musicology co-sponsored by the Mandel Center for the Humanities, composer John Mackey will lecture on the topic. Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the Slosberg Music Center Room 212.
Dusk ’til Dawn movie marathon
Student Events and Student Activities are presenting a marathon screening of Despicable Me, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II and The Hangover, with 15-minute intermissions between each film. Free popcorn, snacks, drinks and giveaways will be provided. Friday from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. in the Carl J. Shapiro Theater.
Dunya: Turkey earthquake relief concert
The word “dunya” means “world” in several different languages. This is a music colloquium founded by composer, musician and musicologist Mehmet Sanlikol and ethnomusicologist Robert Labaree in 2004. They have toured nationally and internationally and have been featured on NPR. Their most recent CD has been sent into the Grammys for consideration for this year’s awards. Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall. All proceeds will go to earthquake relief efforts in Turkey. There will be a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m., the concert begins at 8 p.m. and an artists’ reception will follow the conclusion of the concert at 9:30 p.m.
“Blue”: new work by Naoe Suzuki
PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES
FILM FESTIVAL: Student Events and Student Activities are hosting a movie marathon, “Dusk ’til Dawn” on Friday. ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II’ will be the second film shown. Painter Naoe Suzuki’s works, currently on display at the Women’s Studies Research Center, are stunning combinations of mineral pigment, graphite and sculptural materials depicting abstract images of water, organs, machinery and plant life. Suzuki was inspired to create the series when she began studying the ways in which water is used and misused throughout the world. Opening reception on Thursday, Jan. 26, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Women’s Studies Research Center gallery.
OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS ‘American Idiot’
In this musical, based on the soundtrack by Green Day, three friends must choose between following their dreams or staying within the safety of their hometown. Tonight through Sunday at the Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston. Ticket prices and show times vary.
‘The Rocky Horror Show’
The rock musical that inspired the cultclassic film will be performed onstage. Janet and Brad, caught in a storm with a flat tire, seek help from Dr. Frank-n-furter and his outlandish friends. Featuring cross-dressers, catchy tunes and an over-the-top plot, this performance is a must-see. Friday at 8 and 10:30 p.m. at the Oberon, 2 Arrow St., Cambridge. Table seats are $55 and standing room tickets are $35.
‘Cabaret’
The Woodland Theatre Company is putting on ‘Cabaret,’ a musical about Nazi Germany and the relationship between English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and Ameri-
can writer Cliff Bradshaw. Brandeis’ own Jackie Theoharis ’14 will be playing Fraulein Kost and Fritzie. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Jan. 29 at 2:00 p.m. at The Lowell Mason Auditorium on the campus of Medfield High School, 88R South St., Medfield. Tickets are $30.
‘As You Like It’
The American Reperatory Theatre is revamping Shakespeare in this wild version of As You Like It. Set in France, Rosalind and her friend Cecily escape from a conspiracy into the freedom of nature. This pastoral comedy recounts the friends’ adventures as they meet new people and experience unconventional romance. Through Jan. 29 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. Tickets are $15.
‘Sugar’
Robbie McCauley performs a one-woman show about her experiences with diabetes, using sugar as a metaphor for race, class, gender and health as part of Emerson College’s arts series and in collaboration with Artists in Context. Through Jan. 29 at the Jackie Liebergott Black Box at the Paramount Center, 559 Washington St., Boston. Ticket prices and showtimes vary.
Company One presents ‘Green Eyes’
Boston theater troupe Company One will be performing Tennessee Williams’ Green Eyes, its first site-specific show. Performed in a hotel room with an audience limited to 20, this experimental play portrays the impact of war on a couple honeymooning in New Orleans. Through Feb. 12 at the Ames Hotel, 1 Court St., Boston. Ticket prices and show times vary.
Brandeis Music majors are required to perform a recital their junior year. Violist Yoni Battat ’13 explained to justArts how he came to learn the viola, what went into creating his recital, and what other musical projects he’s involved with on campus. The concert will take place on Sunday, Feb. 12 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall JustArts: How did this concert where you’re doing your own performance with a few people come to happen? Yoni Battat: I’m a performance major in the Music department. … I’m a viola performance major, and one of the requirements is that you have to give a junior and senior recital. It’s kind of a culmination of the work you’ve been doing with your private teacher. JA: How did you decide which pieces to perform at the recital? YB: They like the junior recitals to be a little shorter and then the senior recitals are on the longer side, so I had time constraints. But [the pieces are] really just what I was working on with my private teacher, Prof. Mary Ruth Ray (MUS). … She’s the violist of the Lydian [String] Quartet, so I’ve been working with her a lot, and I really just chose pieces that I really like and that we’ve been working on together. I also tried to keep the program really practical, because I’m also playing a concerto with the orchestra in April, so I wanted a lot of time to prepare for that, too. JA: Did you compose one of the pieces you’re playing? YB: Yeah, I like to try and program some of my own music, just because I don’t have a lot of motivation to compose a lot, and when I’m the one who’s playing the music it gives me a really good excuse to write something. … I called [the piece] a “Fantasy Sonata for Viola and Marimba.” … I wrote it to play with a good friend of mine, Josh Goldman ’11, who graduated last year. He’s part of the [Masters in Arts and Teaching] program right now, so he’s still around. … He plays marimba, and we’ll do that piece on the program also. JA: How did you first get into playing viola? YB: Well, I started violin when I was 4 and I played all throughout elementary school and junior high, and in high school, I switched to a supplemental music program called [Educational Center for the Arts] in New Haven, Conn., and I was kind of put in a position where I needed to play viola, because the violist they had couldn’t make the concert or something like that. So I had to try playing the viola part and I really loved it. … So in about 10th grade I switched to viola, and it’s been working out. JA: Have you played previously at Brandeis? YB: Well I’ve been playing in the orchestra since freshman year, and I’ve also been taking ... a course that’s offered every semester in Chamber Music. … It’s just small string groups or piano sometimes, wind instruments, just small ensembles and there’s a lot of repertoire written for that kind of small ensembles. Usually it’s run by either Prof. Judy Eissenberg (MUS), who’s also a member of the [Lydian String] Quartet, or Evan Hirsch (MUS) who’s a really great pianist … on the faculty. And so I’ve been taking that course pretty much every semester that I’ve been here, and … you get put in with a group. One time I did a trio with a clarinet and stand-up pianist, one time I did a quintet, I did another trio with cello and violin. Every semester it’s been different. So we get to prepare a piece of chamber music at the end of the semester, so that’s been really fun and I’m doing that this semester, too. JA: Are there other styles of music you are interested in or involved in? YB: Yeah, I strongly believe that the most talented classical musicians have to be well-rounded and worldly, ... especially in the modern day you see performers like Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor or Itzhak Perlman, all of whom work with world music genres and other genres, so I think that’s really important and can only add to what you’re doing. So … I am part of the Klezmer ensemble at Brandeis, called ’DeisKeit, and along with Ethan Goldberg ’12, who’s a senior right now, we’ve kind of been the driving force behind that. We played on campus and professionally in the Boston area the past few years, which has been really fun. I’m also interested in Middle Eastern music. I took a course last semester with the new teaching fellow in the Music department Ann [Elizabeth] Lucas. I took her “Music and Culture in the Middle East” class last semester. She’s also going to be starting a Middle Eastern music ensemble that I’m a part of. I’m going to be playing violin and a Middle Eastern lute called the oud. So that’s going to be a lot of fun. Outside of that, I also sing in an a cappella group and I music direct my a capella group, Company B, and that’s a lot of fun. That’s a totally different kind of thing. —Ariel Kay
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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ON CAMPUS theater
Sophomore discusses love for the stage ■ Theoharis ’14 talks about
her latest and greatest roles in local theater productions, including classic ‘Cabaret.’ By ariel kay JUSTICE editor
College is a time to explore interests, pick a major and prepare for a career. For most of us, the subject we thought we would choose to study at the beginning of our college career is not the one we end up picking in the end. For Jackie Theoharis ’14, however, theater was a passion that she never thought twice about. “I love sharing things with the audience. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to perform, to bring such enjoyment to all these different people,” said Theoharis in an interview with justArts. She has been performing all her life, and although she is only a sophomore, Theoharis is already branching out into professional theater companies in addition to performing on the Brandeis stage. In a few days, Theoharis will be appearing in the Woodland Theater Company’s production of Cabaret. The musical takes place during the early days of Nazi Germany and centers around the Kit Kat Klub, a sleazy Berlin nightclub, and its performers and patrons. Theoharis plays Fräulein Kost, a prostitute who lives in a boarding house along with the Klub’s performers. “She is … [an] interesting one,” said Theoharis of her character. “She’s supposed to be a lot older, so I was surprised and a little nervous when I was cast, because normally she’s played by a 30-35-yearold woman, but the director [Doug Hodge] had a different take on it. She’s a prostitute, and she loves sailors. She’s so funny; … there are so many scenes where you see me coming out of a man’s room with three sailors at a time, it’s ridiculous.” Kost is a German character and has some ties to the Nazi party, though this connection is rather understated in the play. Theoharis says that knowing some of her character’s subtler motivations made Kost more interesting, both to her and, she thinks, to the play’s audience. Acting professionally and going to school full-time is not an easy task. “It’s busy,” says Theoharis. “It’s been crazy. Specifically for Cabaret, we’ve been rehearsing ev-
ery day, so it’s a lot. I have classes all day and then rehearsal at night. I’ve been exhausted from dancing and everything. But it’s all definitely worth it, I think. You just get such a great experience.” Theoharis has been involved in professional theater before. This summer, she performed with Reagal Players, a company located in Waltham, and she appeared in Turtle Lane Playhouse’s The Drowsy Chaperone. And this past fall, Theoharis sang and acted her way to a Best Supporting Actress Nomination for F.U.D.G.E. Theater Company’s Spring Awakening. The nomination comes from My Theatre, a subset of My Entertainment WORLD, a website that covers arts performances and programs in Toronto, New York, Boston and occasionally other cities. Theoharis played Ilse, a sexually abused student who runs away from home in late 19th-century Germany. My Theatre named 40 nominees in four divisions—National, Regional, Student and Other. Theoharis was nominated in the Regional category on Jan. 12. Theoharis has also performed in Brandeis theater. Her most recent role was Hope Cladwell in Tympanium Euphorium’s Urinetown: the Musical. Fräulein Kost is quite a departure from the overly cheerful Cladwell, but Theoharis is prepared to encounter all types of roles in her theater experience. “Obviously [acting is] something that I’m so passionate about and something that I’ve been doing forever,” said Theoharis. “I definitely want to at least try to make it a career, but I know that it’s very difficult. In the theater business, … it’s all very emotionally intense, if you live your life auditioning and constantly getting rejected. It’s basically a career you have to go into knowing that you’re going to be rejected. But really it’s something that I would at least want to try to do.” Theoharis has already proven herself to be a competent and committed performer, both at Brandeis and in the Boston theater scene. It will be exciting to see what she ends up doing in the future. Maybe someday we’ll even see her name in lights. Cabaret is playing at the Lowell Mason Auditorium on 88 R South, Medfield, Mass. Jan. 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WOODLAND THEATRE COMPANY
MUSICAL MAVEN: Theoharis ’14 struts her stuff as Fräulein Kost in the Woodland Theatre Company’s production of ‘Cabaret.’
Join the Arts section of theJustice! Write reviews for theater, movies, dance and music. Contact Ariel Kay at arts@thejustice.org for more information. AMY BISAILLON/the Justice
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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THE JUSTICE
Troupes plan this season’s shows
JULIAN AGIN-LIEBES/Justice File Photo
NO ERRORS: Hold Thy Peace performs a scene from ‘The Comedy of Errors’ in their March 2008 performance.
JustArts has a sneak peek of upcoming on-campus theater By aaron berke JUSTICE Senior WRITER
Well, Brandeisians, a new semester is upon us. Put away your iPads, forget about your Christmas and Hanukkah presents and stop going to bed at 5 a.m. In this second half of the 2011-2012 theatrical season, Brandeis is offering its usual delightful repertoire of comedies and dramas through the combined might of the Brandeis Theater Company and the Undergraduate Theater Collective. There’s so much diversity in this semester’s offerings, including the twisted tale of an amnesiac girl, an ’80s musical blockbuster that needs no introduction and a show about vibrators. These are some performances you don’t want to miss! The 24-Hour Play Festival—Feb. 4 through 5 (Brandeis Ensemble Theater) Brandeis Enesmble Theater presents its first-ever 24-hour production, in which actors, directors and stage hands unite from conception to performance within a one-day time frame (chugging Einstein’s espresso is quite handy here). These shows are always charged with anticipation, suspense and the chaotic sense that anything can go wrong—a combination which usually makes it all go so right. The play itself isn’t announced until the day of the performance, so everyone keep your eyes on this one. Ordinary Mind, Ordinary Day—Feb. 16 through 19 (Brandeis Theater Company) Brandeis Theater Company presents a unique stage interpretation of four of Virginia Woolfe’s stories. The famed writer of such classics as Mrs. Dalloway has a fluid, unconventional style that is intoxicatingly strange to read and the stage adaptations of her tales promises to challenge the mind with its complexity in similar ways. These are stories about everyday life, but their simplicity is challenged by passion and the quest to find meaning. Director Prof. Adrianne Krstansky (THA) said the play “seeks to discover how we create theater that brings to life not only the outside world but also the internal experience of a moment–a moment that may recall a catastrophic memory, a passionate longing, a forbidden question, a hidden truth.” Brandeis Cares—March 15 (Tympanium
Euphorium) This one-time event is a special production geared toward fundraising for the fight against AIDS. According to Tymp Vice President Ellyn Getz ’13, “Brandeis Cares is a Broadway revue benefit concert that raises money for Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. On March 15 at 7 p.m. in the Sherman Function Hall, at least 75 Brandeis students will be performing different musical numbers.” The acts will include improv, hip-hop dancing and a cappella. “We are thrilled to feature Senior Vice President [for Students and Enrollment] Andrew Flagel as our emcee for the event!” Getz added. “Tickets will be $3 for Brandeis students, and all ticket and raffle proceeds will be donated directly to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.” The group hopes to raise at least $1000.
Kuchinsky ’12: “Fuddy Meers tells the story of an amnesiac, Claire, who awakens each morning as a blank slate on which her husband, Richard, and teenage son, Kenny, must imprint the facts of her life. The day begins like any other, until a man under her bed tells Claire he is her brother rescuing her from her abusive husband.” Throughout the play, Claire doesn’t know what is happening and is confused about the strange characters, like her mother, whom she encoutners. “The play gets its name from Gertie’s attempt to say ‘funny mirrors’ while recounting to Claire a moment from Claire’s past,” Kuchinsky told justArts. ... “I believe each audience member can relate to the characters’ search for forgiveness, both from others and from within themselves.”
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown— March 15 through April 1 (Tympanium Euphorium) This production chronicles the classic character of Charlie Brown on his quest to determine what it really is that makes him a good person. This 1967 musical comedy, based off the classic Charles Schultz Peanuts comic strip, is a favorite among theater lovers, and this Tympanium Euphorium production will be no exception. Says director Jeremy Weinberg ’12 about the show: “I think Charlie Brown brings back childhood memories and is easy for anyone and everyone to relate to, which means there will hopefully be an audience of all ages. This is my first time directing (other than the Fall 2011 24-Hour Musical, The Wedding Tzinger) so I am going into this experience with an actor’s point of view.” Weinberg hopes this will be beneficial to the performance, allowing him to develop a stronger connection with the cast and the show. “I want the audience to walk out of the theater filled with happiness and nostalgia, and the idea that good theater can be a lot of fun!”
Footloose—March 25 through 29 (Hillel Theater Group) The beloved musical tells the story of Ren McCormack, an optimistic teenager from Chicago who moves to a small town, only to have his hopes dashed by the oppressive efforts of a local minister, who has banned all dancing and rock music. McCormack and his new friends desperately want to dance at the senior prom, so they rise up to overturn the ban. With the classic songs by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford, HTG’s annual spring semester musical is bound to be a delightful and inspiring romp and is sure to give audiences a wild ride back to the ’80s.
Fuddy Meers—March 15 through 18 (Brandeis Ensemble Theater) This dramatic and mind-bending tale revolves around an amnesiac and the convoluted path she takes on her journey to find truth. According to director Michelle
ALEX MARGOLIS/Justice File Photo
FROM KITCHEN TO BEDROOM: Paul Gale ’12 stirred up the crowd in a sketch from Boris’ Kitchen last show.
She Stoops to Conquer—March 29 through April 1 (Brandeis Theater Company) This 18th-century classic by Oliver Smith depicts the quest of a wealthy Londoner, Mr. Hardcastle, to find love who, in an ironic twist, only feels comfortable around women who are of a lower class than he. Kate, the rich woman whom is he is to marry, attempts to earn his love by pretending to be a commoner. The play’s events take place in a single night and the show promises to bring classy, farcical good fun to the Brandeis stage. According to director Prof. Eric Hill (THA),“She Stoops is an 18th-century comedy of manners, so you can expect a beautiful period set and lively period costumes. The play deals with mistaken identities and locations and is subtitled The
Mistakes of a Night, so expect comedy that revolves around that sort of thing along with crisp dialogue and humor of both language and character.” In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)— April 19 through 22 (Brandeis Players) In the Next Room, the Tony-nominated play by Sarah Ruhl, is coming to Brandeis. A comedic variation on the history of the vibrator is presented through main characters Sabrina Daldry and Catherine Givings, who tire of boring sex with their husbands and elect to become guinea pigs for doctors who wish to test out their new machine, the vibrator, as a treatment for hysteria. Lots of laughs and sexual promiscuity should be in order. Director Tess Suchoff ’13 concurs: “In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play takes us back to a time when sexuality was less understood and more of a taboo, …. The show promises both laughter and pulling at your heart strings as we dive into a world where gender roles begin to open, the love of one’s child can bring hate for another and sex can be fun in the snow.” Boris’ Kitchen’s Big Show—April 27 through 28 Brandeis’ premier improv troupe presents their semester show. Skits are being written at this very moment, so who knows what to expect—other than lots of laughs. Boris’ Kitchen president Briana Bensenouci ’12 describes BK’s unique process: “We go into spring semester knowing that we’re going to put on a full-length show in April but having no idea what the content of said show will be. At the beginning of the semester we’re in a state of excitement, anticipation and a little fear knowing that the show will be written over the next month or two. So for now, we cheer on our writing team as they brave a harsh sea of half-written jokes and unformed ideas and attempt to tame them into polished sketches.” Looks like we’ve got a heck of a semester ahead of us! Just remember on those dreary library-ridden days, when begging for death seems preferable to memorizing another Stokes’ theorem, that a Brandeis theater presentation is right around the corner.
LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/Justice File Photo
A SUCCESSFUL SHOW: HTG put on a good show with ‘White Liars/Black Comedy’ in November 2010.
THE JUSTICE
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012
OFF CAMPUS OSCAR CONTENDERS
‘Artist’ recreates magic of golden era ■ The new silent film brings
back the beauty of the early film age, before the time of talkies and technicolor. By wei-huan chen JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
Republicans aren’t the only people in a race right now. While Newt Gingrich and others look to the Florida primaries, the entertainment industry has its sights set on Feb. 26, when Billy Crystal hosts the 84th Academy Awards. Among the frontrunners for Best Picture and Best Director, a common theme has inexplicably emerged—celebrating the past. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris revisits Paris’ golden age; Martin Scorsese’s Hugo celebrates classic French filmmaker George Méliès; The Muppets (an underdog) revitalizes, well, the Muppets; and Steven Spielberg’s War Horse uses an iconic, old-fashioned style of cinematic narrative. It’s as if the top filmmakers last year all decided to hop on the same nostalgia train. I’m not sure how the trend got started– even The Descendants and Young Adult are about looking back. The one film, however, that best exemplifies this yearning for the past, this longing for an older style of film, is Michel Hazanavicius’ silent black-and-white film, The Artist. Critics predict that the film may snatch Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Jean Dujardin and even Best Actress for Bérénice Bejo. For the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to consider a film without sound or color to be the best
of 2011 is an insightful commentary on how critics and audiences feel about modern film. George Valentin (Dujardin) would relate. He’s a star of the late 1920s’ silent era, a handsome and self-obsessed actor of a time when acting equated to exaggerated gestures and facial expressions—none of that silly talky stuff. As Valentin walks out to an adoring crowd after a film screening, a young female fan (Bejo) accidentally bumps into him. Having intruded upon the great Valentin, the crowd goes silent. Yet he laughs, and she charms both him and the cameras on the spot. “Who’s that girl?” blares the tabloids. “The name’s Miller! Peppy Miller!” she exclaims later (via intertitles, of course). Buffered by newfound publicity, she auditions for one of Valentin’s films. The first moments of their interaction contain a subtlety that was unseen in the actual silent era. If romance is about the lines in between and the dialogue left unsaid, it’s no surprise that silent cinema produced few, if any, memorable romances. While Hazanavicius stays true to silent film, using classic-font intertitles and an energetic original score by Ludovic Bource—it’ll be stiff competition for John Williams’ War Horse score—he acknowledges that filmmakers have acquired new tricks in the past 80 years. Pans, wide-angle shots, montages and reflections in the mirror tease out Valentin and Miller’s feelings for each other, indicating a budding romance. Though their love is implied, it is never achieved. Valentin is married and Miller is too young–most importantly, however, Miller repre-
sents the new face of sound cinema. As “Talkies” become the hot new thing—Valentin remains too proud of his silent art to adapt, falling quickly into poverty and desperation. Miller is soon Hollywood’s favorite gal. But instead of leaving Valentin in the dust, she tries to help him out of his golden age stupor. Too bad Midnight in Paris’ nostalgic protagonist, Gil Pender, didn’t travel back in time to buy him a drink. Miller’s collaboration with Valentin, which artfully concludes the film, is triumphant in a way that’s only possible in a silent back-andwhite picture. Without sound, the audience is drawn deeper into the actors’ movements, even if they are exaggerated. After spending nearly the entire film’s length pouting and frowning, Valentin’s smile in the final scene redeems not only his character, but also his obsolete art form. The Artist clearly had its share of obstacles to overcome. As a silent film made in 2011, it predictably deterred most mainstream audiences. But The Artist is as universally entertaining as they come. Its story is more similar to Friends with Benefits than it is to Tree of Life. And the film is very aware of the fact that it’s silent, as is made clear when Valentin has a nightmare in which he can (gasp) suddenly hear the sounds of the world around him—it’s all very clever and meta, believe me. Like him, we are glad to return to the muted world. That says something. It’s been a long time since silent film had its day, but The Artist brings back the form’s glamour with such audacity that it very well may be the best film of 2011.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WEINSTEIN CO.
VINTAGE CHIC: Silence speaks volumes in Michael Hazanavicius’ latest film, ‘The Artist.’
MERIE WALLACE/Fox Searchlight
FAMILY AFFAIR: Protagonists Scotty (Clooney) and Alex (Woodley) visit Hawaii.
Clooney and Woodley make the perfect pair ■ In Alexander Payne’s
family drama, the fictional father-daughter duo brings passion to their lead roles. By ARIEL KAY JUSTICE EDITOR
It’s not easy to show up George Clooney. But Shailene Woodley, the 21-year-old actress with just two films under her belt, manages to do so in The Descendants. The film is director Alexander Payne’s muchanticipated follow-up to his 2004 film Sideways. Woodley, who plays Clooney’s daughter in the film, is the focus of the much-discussed underwater crying scene that has had critics buzzing since The Descendants first opened in early December. In the scene, Woodley manages to showcase her character’s shock and deep hurt while at the same time swimming underwater, tears included. Woodley is clearly not an actress to be overlooked. The Hawaiian-set film centers on
Matt King (Clooney) and his two daughters, the ill-tempered, resentful older child Alex (Woodley) and the odd and precocious younger daughter Scotty (Amara Miller). The movie begins as the King family members are struggling with the coma and eventual death of their wife and mother Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie). Matt is at a loss without her. He considers himself the “backup parent,” often away on business and otherwise preoccupied with his career as an attorney. Suddenly, he is forced not only to provide day-today care for his daughters, but also to guide them through this dark period in their lives, a task he’s not sure he can complete without somehow “messing up.” Adding to this miserable experience, Alex drops the bomb on her father that Elizabeth was cheating on him. The rest of the film follows Matt and Alex’s attempts to locate and confront Elizabeth’s lover, a real estate agent named Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard). Tagging along on this awkward family vacation is Alex’s friend Sid (Nick Krause), an
overly friendly stoner who immediately pushes Matt’s buttons. And so this strange foursome— Matt, Alex, Scotty and Sid—sets off to a smaller Hawaiian island to track down Brian. Alex comes up with this plan, and though she and Matt are at odds at the beginning of the film, it quickly becomes clear that the two make a good team. Alex gives her father the confidence he needs to stand up to Brian as well as to see Elizabeth for who she really was. Matt, in turn, begins to see his older daughter as a young woman and to treat her with the respect and support she needs. In a series of emotional scenes in Elizabeth’s hospital room, both characters deliver impassioned speeches to Elizabeth as she lies unconscious in her bed. Clooney and Woodley both do impressive jobs, but it is Woodley who truthfully captures the experience of an angry, scared teenager. It is this diatribe, as well as her previously mentioned underwater breakdown that will most likely earn Woodley a Best Supporting Actress Oscar
nomination today. As for the other secondary characters, Scotty and Sid, I had mixed feelings about both of them. Scotty is Matt and Alex’s primary concern, and they bond over their shared need to protect her. Scotty is the comic relief of The Descendants; she has a filthy vocabulary and strange ideas about the world around her, but she is also sweet and loves Matt unconditionally. It also doesn’t hurt that Miller is as cute as they come. However, this film is primarily about Matt and Alex’s relationship, and at times, Scotty’s presence seems superfluous. The same goes for Sid. It is unclear throughout the movie what he’s doing tagging along with the King family. At one point, Payne, who also wrote the film along with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, attempts to turn Sid into a wise-but-troubled teen, but the character shift is abrupt and clumsy, and only lasts for one scene, in which Matt asks him for advice on raising his two daughters. The other central character of
the film is Hawaii itself. Matt complains that most people think of Hawaii as a paradise where nothing goes wrong. But as we learn in the film, it’s just as messed up a place as any other, only with better weather. The film itself is beautiful, complete with stunning views of the state’s beaches and forests. Additionally, music supervisor Dondi Bastone—who also worked on Payne’s Election and Sideways— filled The Descendants’ soundtrack solely with Hawaiian music by both contemporary and classic artists. The film even includes an appearance by Kanak Attack, a local trio, performing at a restaurant where the family stops for lunch. The Descendants is not an easy film to watch. It deals with difficult subjects and its pacing is slow at points. But it also includes bright spots, such as Sid and Scotty’s antics and Woodley’s spot-on performance. And after its Golden Globes win for Best Drama, The Descendants has a serious chance of taking home a few Academy Awards come February.
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TUESDAY, january 24, 2012
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THE JUSTICE
A KILLER NEW GAME
Characters reunite in ‘Creed’ ■ In the fourth ‘Assassin’s
Creed’ game, ‘Revelations,’ Desmond experiences the memories of Altair and Ezio. By AARON BERKE JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER
Story is an integral component of any art form, and while it may not be as essential to video games as to other modes of creativity, a story elevates a good game to a great game. One of the best cinematic stories I’ve encountered in a recent game is that of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. The intricate, absurd and wildly original plot of Assassin’s Creed revolves around protagonist Desmond Miles, an assassin-in-training who interacts with a machine called the Animus, a device that uses neural mapping and reconfiguration to plunge Desmond into the memories of his ancestors Altair and Ezio, each of whom goes on his own journey to prevent artifacts known as the Pieces of Eden from falling into the hands of the evil Templars, who wish to use them to achieve world domination. In Revelations, Desmond finds his mind trapped in the “core” of the Animus. The machine’s bleeding effect (which allows Desmond to adapt his ancestors’ skills) has become so corrosive that he has lost his sense of self, and the Animus can no longer sort out his memories from that of Altair’s in 12th-century Jerusalem, or Ezio’s in 15th-century Italy. Desmond must delve through both his ancestors’ memories one last time while reliving his own in order to separate the three
identities or risk “deletion.” Meanwhile, Ezio also relives the memories of Altair through devices that the Assassin crusader developed, called Masyaf Keys. These keys allow Ezio to experience the life of Altair in its entirety, a journey that reflects upon Ezio’s own personal quest for meaning. Ezio’s travels also lead him to Constantinople, where the game creatively drops him right in the middle of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars. The method by which the game infuses its own creative branch of storytelling with historical events is truly marvelous, adding deeper layers and a stronger sense of legitimacy to the proceedings. As a gamer, you are placed alternatively in the perspectives of Desmond, Ezio and Altair. And though it is Ezio who is the central driving force of this particular Assassin’s Creed outing, you experience segments of each of the characters’ lives, and they are fleshed out so fully that the player begins to feel an emotional connection to each of them. As for the other facets of the game, they are just as compelling. The gameplay mechanics are excellent, if somewhat familiar. Ezio’s combat skills are thrilling, with different weapons to use including swords, axes, maces, guns and brand-new bomb-throwing mechanisms, all of which give the player a fluid and varied combat experience. The rest of the gameplay is extremely familiar to Assassin’s Creed players. Constantinople is Ezio’s playground as you climb, jump and swing across rooftops. Ezio has a new, extended hook blade that makes getting
around even easier than before. The mission styles are basically variations on modes we’ve seen before—there’s a target to assassinate, information to collect, a disciple to protect, etc. and you must do so through combative or stealth means. There’s a particularly fun mission where Ezio dresses up as a circus performer and infiltrates a carnival to track down a Byzantine spy. His costume is hilarious and, during the mission, every single button, instead of being used for combat, is used to prompt Ezio to sing a different song while playing his banjo. For the most part, these missions are all familiar, but what they lack in innovation they make up for in fun factor. Another excellent component of the game is Assassin-recruiting side quests. Throughout the game you are allowed to recruit up to 12 Assassin trainees who you may call to your side to defend you during combat and also bring to do special missions alongside you. You train them through meta-assignment maps of the Templar-controlled cities across the world. You send your Assassins to these cities for a variety of missions so that they rack up points and levelup. When they’ve reached high enough levels they make take over Assassin dens that you’ve established throughout Constantinople and they become more powerful assistants in combat while securing your control of the city. The best new gameplay addition to the series are the “Desmond’s Journey” mini-games, which prove a radical departure from the series. These side mis-
JOSH LIVINGSTON/Flickr Creative Commons
EPIC WARRIOR: Desmond’s ancestors, Ezio and Altair, lived in 15th-century Italy and 12th-century Jerusalem, repectively. ‘Creed’ features both locales.
sions are a first-person puzzle game in which you navigate through block structures called data-streams that represent memories from Desmond’s life. These bits are fascinating, as Desmond provides narration, describing his upbringing and eventually how he came to be kidnapped by Abstergo in the events of the first game. Though the scenery in this mode tends to be a bit repetitive and the blockbuilding techniques occasionally frustrating, it’s a refreshing break from the traditional thirdperson action/adventure mechanics, and the quest to uncover Desmond’s identity provides a fascinating narrative. As with the rest of the game, story fleshes out and gives mastery over what would otherwise be a significantly diminished effort. The graphics for Revelations reach a new height in this game: Constantinople is absolutely gorgeous to behold, and the character animations have never looked more fluid. The sound design is also superb with a wonderful musical score which really adds emotional weight to the events. And the voice acting is phenomenal, with the performers giving a sense of realism and honesty in their voice-overs which really help invest the players in their characters. But the knot that ties these loose threads together and invariably tightens them is the story. If this were the end of the series (Ubisoft is developing at least one more game for release later this year), it would be a conclusion that exemplifies the cinematic potential that a video game can achieve.
SOBCONTROL/Flickr Creative Commons
FILM
‘Ghost Protocol’ rejuvenates classic action series ■ Director Brad Bird (‘The
Iron Giant,’ ‘The Incredibles’) and the cast make ‘Mission: Impossible’ fun again. By alex desilva JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol is something of a throwback. In an age where most spy movies take their cue from the gritty Bourne series or Daniel Craig’s brooding, coldblooded take on James Bond, Ghost Protocol dares to be gleefully unrealistic and, most importantly, fun. Director Brad Bird has made a movie that injects some much-needed levity into the genre while putting his considerable skills in directing action films to good use in what might be one of the most purely entertaining movies of the season.
It’s been about six years since the spies of the IMF (that’s Impossible Mission Force) have been on the big screen, and things have gone a bit downhill for them in the interim. For one thing, Tom Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, has been spending most of that time in a Moscow prison, and for another, an IMF agent holding nuclear launch codes has just been killed by a mercenary in Budapest, Hungary. But a new team of agents, including actor Simon Pegg as tech man Benji Dunn, have arrived to bust Hunt out of prison and find the stolen codes, which have fallen into the hands of a rogue nuclear physicist known only as Cobalt. Things take another turn for the worse when, while trying to retrieve information on Cobalt from the Kremlin, a bomb is set off, devastating Red Square and implicating Hunt and, by extension, the U.S. government. After that, the government enacts
the titular “Ghost Protocol,” officially dissolving the IMF and leaving Hunt and his team to track down Cobalt and clear their names before he starts a nuclear war. Joined by IMFs senior analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton), whose boyfriend happened to be the agent killed in Budapest, Hunt’s team will have to go from Moscow to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and finally Mumbai, India, to hunt down Cobalt and stop a nuclear war. The movie is fairly long—over two hours—but it never drags, thanks in no small part to Bird’s talent for shooting action scenes. Until this film, Bird has worked exclusively in animation, with beloved hits like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles under his belt, and he’s lost none of what made those movies so great in the transition to live action. Just like in The Incredibles, he’s found a
way to balance seriousness and fun: keeping things entertaining while never losing sight of the stakes. He’s made a movie with properly despicable villains and truly likeable heroes and then lets them fight things out all over the globe. This is, first and foremost, a movie about Ethan Hunt and the people of the Impossible Mission Force doing, well, impossible things. From Cruise having to fight his way out of a Russian prison in the opening scenes to the end sequence in a multi-story Mumbai parking garage, Bird lets his creativity run free while never becoming over indulgent. With that in mind, the cast has to be given credit as well. Cruise has become something of a punchline ever since he decided Oprah’s couch was the perfect place to declare his love for Katie Holmes. Indeed, his best-received role since then has been the (admittedly hilarious) gag-
character Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder, with not much else to show besides a string of flops like Knight and Day. After all that, it’s kind of nice to see Cruise going back to his leading-man roots, and that, despite all the real-life weirdness, he can still be affable and funny enough to anchor a movie. The other standout here is Pegg, playing the nervous, wide-eyed techie who’s on his very first field mission. Bird and his team know that people want to see amazing gadgets and incredible stunts from their Mission: Impossible movies and were only happy to oblige. Watching it, you get the feeling that everything truly fell into the right place: Cruise is charming, Pegg is funny, the action is tight and the story is interesting. Bird has made what could very well be the definitive Mission: Impossible movie. Not bad for a guy who’s never done live-action before.
THE JUSTICE
●
TUESDAY, January 24, 2012
23
FILM
Post-9/11 film doesn’t relate ■ ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly
Close’ hopes to tug at the audience’s heartstrings, but it mostly just confuses viewers. By diego medrano JUSTICE STAFF WRITER
Making a movie that revolves around Sept. 11 is a risky endeavor. Downplaying the significance of the day seems disrespectful, and over-indulgence seems tasteless and cheapens the other events depicted. Pulling off a respectful film involves a certain level of tact and careful treading. Director Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close does manage to avoid both pitfalls, but it unfortunately fails to use 9/11 significantly enough to deem its inclusion necessary. The story follows Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a wide-eyed 11-yearold whose father (Tom Hanks) dies in the World Trade Center attacks. While coping with the death and searching through his father’s belongings, Oskar finds an envelope labeled “Black.” Inside the envelope is a key, which Oskar believes his father left behind for him. Oskar then devotes all of his attention to finding what the key unlocks and decides to visit people with the surname “Black,” finding their addresses from the telephone book. This quest involves Oskar literally walking—he fears the subways—his way across all five boroughs on an improbable search. For a protagonist, Oskar can be a lot to handle. Throughout the film, he never loses his initial intensity and treats every interaction as if the answer to his riddle is right around the corner. What the film’s trailers market as a whimsical journey is in fact an important mission for Oskar. He constantly questions everyone, and his search seems so much larger than this solitary young boy that it’s tough not to feel like the journey is a bit pointless. His energy, while refreshing and necessary to keep this journey interesting, can also become a bit exhausting. Not only do we follow Oskar, we’re forced into his neurosis. The streets feel extra crowded, we’re disgusted by people we see eating meat (Oskar is vegan), we share in his guilt over missing the final phone call from his father; we’re part audience and part participant. The camera often moves from his eyelevel upward, and even when we aren’t seeing the world from his perspective, we’re still rapidly following him. While this energy keeps us engaged, at 129 minutes, you might need an hour to recharge after the credits roll. When the audience isn’t tagging along with Oskar, his parents are, ei-
ther through flashbacks with his father or consolation and comfort by his mother (Sandra Bullock), who also struggles to completely connect with Oskar. The relationship with his father feels authentic and important, a credit to both Hanks and the film’s writer, Eric Roth. Hanks is perfect in his limited opportunities to act as a father, both infinitely patient and even indulging to Oskar’s wonder. Bullock has even fewer significant chances to show off her acting prowess but makes the most of them, seeming nurturing and patient, something Oskar requires in his particular state of grief. She’s likely in the film to help sell tickets, but to her credit, she gives as much as is demanded from her. Regardless of what the advertisements and billboards say, this isn’t Hanks’ and Bullock’s movie; It’s Horn’s. Oskar’s tiresome nature certainly isn’t Horn’s fault, as he does the role justice and carries a story that is much larger than his character. Yet he would tire out even the most patient audience member not given another character to explore. The most rewarding relationship is the one between Oskar and an elderly man living with Oskar’s grandmother called the Renter (Max von Sydow), who is mute and only communicates using a notepad. The pair is complementarily quirky and lovable, and their relationship gives way to the touching story behind the Renter’s muteness, which occured in another tragedy. While the Renter’s story reminds us of the various detrimental effects of tragedy, it also feels partly unnecessary; in fact, the entire setting feels unnecessary. Oskar’s story would work even without the backdrop of a terrorist attack. Since when is an 11-year-old child losing his father not compelling enough? Sure, 9/11 helps instantly create an atmosphere of uncertainty, but it also feels like a cheap way to play at our emotions. Everyone has his or her own way of healing, and while it’s interesting to see different people grieving over a shared experience, you can’t help but get the feeling that Roth doesn’t quite trust his material or the audience. While I haven’t read the book, if the movie is true to its source, then both should suffer from the same issue. The relationships are solid enough, the characters have enough depth, and the issues are universally applicable. Setting the events to revolve around 9/11 doesn’t offend as much as it leaves us scratching our heads once we take off the emotional blinders. It’s easy to get drawn in by a story involving 9/11, but an objective look may make its inclusion feel like a ploy. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close isn’t a bad movie, but the story still feels weighed down, even when Horn is trying so hard to lift us up.
FRANCOIS DUHAMEL/Warner Bros. Pictures
POUNDING THE PAVEMENT: Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) searches New York City to find clues that he believes his father left behind after passing away on Sept. 11.
FOOD
Lucy’s Café in Boston serves up Ethiopian treats ■ The restaurant offers
Ethiopian dishes in the traditional manner, meaning you eat with your hands. By EMILY SALLOWAY JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
As I walked into Lucy’s Ethiopian Café from the snowy night, I was instantly struck by the anonymity of the place. With a chalkboard-style menu taking up an entire wall and several two-person tables lining the room, I found myself afraid that this was just going to be another coffee shop on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. My two friends and I waited patiently for the sole waiter to come out from behind the counter. He smiled and led us to another room— one I hadn’t noticed before. The Gossip Room was so labeled in both English and what I could only
assume was Amharic, although it could just as easily have been another of the 90 languages spoken in Ethiopia. As soon as I was over the threshold, I realized how mistaken I had been in my first impression. The walls of this room were lined with wooden flute instruments and drum-like containers bearing five or six leather sinews sprawled spider-like against the warm orange paint. Artists’ drawings plastered one side and on the other were traditional masks, hand-woven bowls and beautiful tapestries depicting darkskinned men and women. Our hands and faces still stinging from the 10-minute walk from the shuttle stop, we ordered some peanut tea. None of us had ever heard of it before, and we were all curious. It arrived in tall mugs, steaming whiteyellow and smelling wonderfully of peanuts. It turned out to be delicious, like a melted peanut butter dessert, and I greedily inhaled the familiar scent with every sip.
I was the only one among my friends who had eaten in an Ethiopian restaurant before, so I explained to them how the food usually comes as a combination of spreads puddled onto a tangy sourdough flatbread called injera. As per custom, the food is eaten with one’s hands, using the bread as a scooping device. I ordered the green combo, which consisted of spinach mixed with chopped potatoes and herbs, gomen (spiced collared greens) and Ethiopian-style potato salad, which turned out to be cubes of potato with black pepper and carrot. My meal arrived in a three-cupped dish with the injera rolled into decorative folds on the side. My favorite of the combination was the spinach dish, which had just the right balance of spinach— sour and garlic. The potato salad was good, too, although I found it a bit strange to pick up and eat chunks of potato with pieces of bread. I thought the texture of the gomen was too sharp, scratching at my throat un-
comfortably with every swallow. My friend, however, claimed it to be her favorite of all the options. The injera was perfect, served room temperature, spongy and well proportioned. One of my friends got the attkilt combo. Attkilt is a type of cabbage salad, made with carrots, potatoes, peppers and onions. Her plate also came with gomen and miser wot, a popular lentil recipe with spicy hot berbere sauce. Being a vegetarian, she was pleased that the menu included so many veggie-filled options and happily ate every bite of her meal. My other friend ordered che che bsa, which the waiter kindly taught us to pronounce. Her dinner arrived in a small casserole dish and consisted of a bread-like stuffing with spicy yogurt on top. She found it to be really rich and opted to take some home at the end but nevertheless enjoyed it. I tried a taste and thought it was really spicy, burning my mouth for several minutes afterward, but I
am not a person who likes very hot foods. Our waiter was attentive and helpful, sure to ask us of any allergies before the meal. The food came out from the kitchen quickly and, although the restaurant was quite busy during the 6:30 p.m. time slot, he returned often to ask us if we needed anything. The one mishap of the evening was that he brought us the incorrect (and a more expensive) bill, but when we approached him about it, he quickly apologized and fixed his mistake. He even let us divide the check three ways, something that most restaurants seem to get frustrated about. Lucy’s Ethiopian Café, so titled after the common name of AL 288-1, the skeleton discovered in Ethiopia who is said to have lived 3.2 million years ago, was well worth the cold, especially for the peanut tea. I enjoyed its thick, frothy encompassment of one of my favorite foods and will not forget it any time soon.
24
TUESday, JANUARY 24, 2012 ● THE JUSTICE
TOP of the
ARTS ON VIEW
TRIVIA TIME
CHARTS
1. Who played Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show? 2. The Battle of Hastings was fought to control which country? 3. What award-winning Christmas book did Chris Van Allsburg write? 4. By which nickname did The Doors’ Jim Morrison refer to himself? 5. What Balkan leader’s real name was Josip Broz? 6. What shape did Hermione Granger’s patronus take in the Harry Potter series? 7. What kind of entertainer would use the “DeManche change”? 8. What is the Hawaiian word for “quick”? 9. Who wrote “Sonnets from the Portuguese”? 10. What is the largest tidal estuary in the United States?
1. Don Knotts 2. England 3.‘The Polar Express’ 4. The Lizard King 5. Tito 6. A silver otter 7. A magician 8. Wiki 9. Elizabeth Barrett Browning 10. Chesapeake Bay ANSWERS
STRANGE BUT TRUE It was 20th-century American critic John Leonard who made the following sage observation: “To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms.” You’ve probably never heard of the Spanish village of Lijar, located in the south of that country. This village, though, was involved in a nearly 100-year war that lasted well into the 20th century. It seems that in 1883, Alfonso XII, the king of Spain, made a state visit to Paris and received a less-than-royal welcome. Led by mayor Don Miguel Garcia Saez, the citizens of Lijar, after hearing that their monarch had been insulted and possibly accosted by mobs, declared war on France. Though there were no casualties—not even any gunfire—the war lasted until 1981. That was when the town council ruled that it would end hostilities with France thanks to the warm welcome King Juan Carlos of Spain received in France in 1976. The town of Adamant, Vermont, was once named Sodom. The townspeople voted to change the name in 1905. The first portable computer was made available to the public in 1975. In this instance, however, “portable” was used as a relative term; the IBM 5100 weighed 55 pounds. Only 5 percent of American men report that they feel satisfied with their looks. With women, it’s only 1 percent. In 2008, a study was conducted in the United Kingdom to determine what, if any, effect the consumption of tomatoes had on the human body’s reaction to sun exposure. The university students enrolled in the study who consumed the equivalent of about five tomatoes per day were 33 percent less likely to get sunburned than those who ate no tomatoes. Thought for the Day: “Several excuses are always less convincing than one.”
— Aldous Huxley
Top 10s for the week ending January 22 BOX OFFICE
1. Contraband 2. Beauty and the Beast 3D 3. Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol 4. Joyful Noise 5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 6. The Devil Inside 7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 8. Warhorse 9. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwreckecd 10. We Bought A Zoo
NYT BESTSELLERS
JENNY CHENG/the Justice
SUN MAKES FOR A NICE CHANGE: Justice Photography Editor Jenny Cheng ’14 captured this beachy scene of swimmers enjoying the beautiful weather at Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., last fall semester.
ACROSS 1 Les Miserables author 5 Brooks or Blanc 8 Vintage video game 12 Crudites veggie 14 Elliptical 15 Working 16 Peru’s capital 17 Tokyo’s old name 18 Attacked suddenly 20 Emergency light 23 Denomination 24 Lairs 25 Secretly 28 Past 29 Egg-shaped 30 Mentalist Geller 32 Busy 34 Conrad of Diff’rent Strokes 35 Ostentation 36 Property divider 37 Frolic 40 Turf 41 Hebrew month 42 Going there 47 Schnozz 48 Move to a new home 49 Examination 50 - volente 51 Recognized DOWN 1 Showtime alternative 2 Coffee shop vessel 3 Obtained 4 Earthy pigments 5 Magical power 6 “Xanadu” band, for short 7 Operatic text 8 Courteous 9 Metamorphoses writer 10 Appellation 11 Pleased 13 Relinquish 19 Rue the run 20 Rx overseers’ org. 21 Toy block brand 22 Soon, in verse 23 Unseen problems 25 Absolute ruler
CROSSWORD
Fiction 1. Believing the Lie — Elizabeth George 2. Private: #1 Suspect — James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 3. Gideon’s Corpse — Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child 4. Star Wars: Darth Plagueis — James Luceno 5. Death Comes to Pemberley— P.D. James Nonfiction 1. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History — Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice 2. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson 3. Through My Eyes — Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker 4. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard 5. Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
iTUNES
1. David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj — “Turn Me On” 2. Adele — “Set Fire to the Rain” 3. Kelly Clarkson — “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)” 4. Flo Rida — “Good Feeling” 5. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris — “We Found Love”
BILLBOARD
1. Adele — 21 2. David Crowder Band — Give Us A Rest or (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys]) 3. The Black Keys — El Camino 4. Drake — Take Care 5. Snow Patrol — Fallen Empires 6. Young Jeezy — TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition 7. Rihanna — Talk that Talk 8. Coldplay — Mylo Xyloto 9. Nickelback — Here and Now 10. Various Artists — Now 40
26 Campus area 27 Advanced math, for short 29 Midwestern state 31 Chemical suffix 33 Writing pad 34 Adorn 36 Popular cream-filled cake 37 Kindly bloke 38 Lotion additive 39 Tousle 40 Normandy battle town 43 Born 44 Pale 45 Dined on 46 Evergreen variety
Top of the Charts information provided by Fandango, the New York Times, Billboard. com and Apple.com.
Solution to last week’s crossword
STAFF PLAYLIST
“Staying Focused” By JESSIE MILLER
features staff writer
King Crossword Copyright 2012 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.
8
2 9
3 6
1
3 4
5 4
7 1
9
3
2
7
8 5 1
9 4
2
5
9 7 5 1 8 6 2
6 4
6
2
8
5
8 1
5 4
9 6
6 1 4 3 6 8 1
5 3
Solution to last week’s sudoku
Sudoku Copyright 2012 King Features Synd, Inc.
With five classes this semester, I’ve been doing a lot of studying and these songs really help me focus and avoid falling asleep on my textbooks. I love the calming melodies and meaningful lyrics. THE LIST 1.f“Revelry” — Kings of Leon 2. “The Drugs Don’t Work” — The Verve 3. “The Scientist” — Coldplay 4. “On Your Porch” — The Format 5. “I Gave You All” — Mumford & Sons 6. “Falling” — Florence and the Machines 7. “The Man Who Sold the World” — Nirvana 8. “Unwritten Law” — Elva 9. “Turning Tables” — Adele 10. “Eleanor Rigby” — The Beatles