The Justice, March 20, 2012 issue

arts page 21

SPORTS Baseball squad trains in Florida 16

ON THE CATWALK

FORUM Ban guns and invest in campus safety 12 The Independent Student Newspaper

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

Justice

Volume LXIV, Number 23

www.thejustice.org

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

campus speaker

Cupp speaks about politics

WALKING FOR A CAUSE

BRIEF Prof Rosbash named Peter Gruber Chair

■ The TV host and

columnist called out students for conforming to liberalism and not challenging authority.

By JONATHAN EPSTEIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

S.E. Cupp, a conservative commentator, spoke on the liberalconservative dichotomy of values in the Olin-Sang auditorium on Thursday, as part of an event sponsored by the Brandeis Libertarian-Conservative Union.

Cupp, a host on Glenn Beck TV and a New York Daily News columnist, began with an excoriation of what she perceives as liberal conformity on college campuses. “Your youth is supposed to be about rebellion. College is supposed to be about self-exploration, in more ways than one. It is supposed to be explorative, rebellious,” she said. “I do not know what is rebellious or explorative about trusting your professors or mimicking your other classmates.”

Citing an example of liberal conformity run amok, Cupp said, “There is nothing rebellious about sitting in a coffee shop smoking clove cigarettes and discussing The Communist Manifesto, or its sequel, The Feminine Mystique. There is nothing rebellious about marching through the quad with 300 other teenagers who have never had to pay taxes or seen a doctor’s bill, protesting war, inequality, global warming, meat, corporate corruption, etc.”

She extended this criticism to popular attitudes on religion, saying, “And there’s nothing rebellious about railing against the evils of organized religion, making fun of Christians [and] mocking morality as antiquated or philosophically problematic.”

Cupp provided a solution for the dearth of rebellion on campuses. “What would actually be rebellious is a march for fiscal

See CUPP, 5 ☛

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

Celebrating life Members of the Brandeis community joined together in Gosman on Saturday for the annual Relay for Life, a fundraising event that supports the American Cancer Society.

faculty

Hill and Brooten host sexual violence panels ■ The conference featured

two discussion panels with profesors from Brandeis and other universities.

By alana abramson JUSTICE editor

Profs. Anita Hill (Heller) and Bernadette Brooten (NEJS) hosted a conference yesterday to explore the issue of sexual assault of African-American women, which featured panel discussions with several outside professors

who research various aspects of sexual violence and race.

The conference, which was an allday affair that took place in the Levin Ballroom, was designed to foster discussion about the “multi-layered legal, religious and cultural histories which have created myths and stereotypes that add up to a ‘script’ that determines who will be readily believed as a victim, who will be doubted and what impact that has on who reports rape and who does not,” according to BrandeisNOW. It included two panels and a short play.

Hill opened the conference by say-

ing that its goal was to “expose slavery’s enduring legacy and give definition to the terms ‘justice’ and ‘fairness’ in the lives of African-American women who are victims of sexual assault.”

Hill also explained that an enhanced understanding of sexual assault could ultimately produce better enforcement of equal protection laws.

“Courtroom dramas, … as evidenced by plays like 12 Angry Men and television shows like Law and Order, resonate with the public and can effectively communicate nuanced legal and moral issues to a broader audience,”

The Peter and Patricia Gruber foundation named Prof.

Michael Rosbash (BIOL) the first Peter Gruber Endowed Chair in Neuroscience, according to remarks made by University President Frederick Lawrence during last Thursday’s faculty meeting.

The chair, which was endowed by the Gruber Foundation, “join[s] a name associated with funding science prizes with one Rosbash of the leading brain research centers in higher education,” according to a March 14 BrandeisNOW press release.

Rosbash, who could not be reached for comment by press time, said, according to the press release, that he was “honored.”

The Gruber Foundation is a private, U.S.-based philanthropic organization that “honors and encourages educational excellence, social justice and scientific achievements that better the human condition,” according to its website.

Rosbash was also named a 2009 laureate of the Gruber Neuroscience Prize, along with Prof. Emeritus Jeffrey Hall (BIOL) and head of the Laboratory of Genetics and Professor at Columbia University Michael Young. According to a June 15, 2011 press release from the foundation, they were recognized for “revealing the gene-driven mechanism that controls rhythm in the nervous system.”

In addition, Rosbash, Hall and Young were awarded the 2011 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Basic Research of Biology or Biochemistry from Columbia University earlier this year, according to a Jan. 3 BrandeisNOW press release.

In the press release, Rosbash described his research on circadian rhythms and sleep in Drosophila fruit flies. Rosbash said he hopes to understand the purpose and process of sleep beyond its relationship to circadian rhythms.

—Sara Dejene

See CONFERENCE, 5 ☛

Defeating depression

Spring break

Heller ranked

Linda Sexton speaks about her family life, severe depression and her life now in a lecture discussing her new book, ‘Half in Love.’

 The softball team traveled to Florida, earning three well-fought victories against conference opponents.

 The Heller school was named one of the top ten social policy graduate schools in the United States.

FEATURES 8

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Waltham, Mass.

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

INDEX

SPORTS 16

ARTS SPORTS

17 13

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 7

OPINION POLICE LOG

10 2

News 3

COPYRIGHT 2012 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Email managing@thejustice.org for home delivery.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

NEWS BRIEF

POLICE LOG

Phi Beta Kappa elects 77 new members of senior class

Medical Emergency

The Phi Beta Kappa Selection Committee elected 77 new members from the Class of 2012 and seven new members from the Class of 2013 to Phi Beta Kappa.

The Brandeis Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa elects about 10 percent of the senior class and about one percent of the junior class each year.

Selection is based on three criteria. One is the quality of academic record, of which the GPA is an important consideration. Another is the breadth of interest, indicated by courses taken beyond a student’s concentration.

The third is the opinions of faculty and senior administrators concerning the scholarly achievements and character of the candidate in the form of letters of recommendation.

The Phi Beta Kappa Selection Committee met recently and elected Alana C. Abramson, SerafinaNatali V. Amarilio, Jesse A. Appell, Raechel L. Banks, Michael A. Baum, Chet M. Berman, Daniel E. Bernazzani, Tarun R. Bhatia, Hannah L. Blumberg, Brian N. Blumenthal, Joshua K. Bookman, Philip Braunstein, Hillel Y. Buechler, Adam B. Cohen, Hamilton F. Cook, Samuel H. Datlof, Talya Davidoff, Calliope Desenberg, Kayla H. Dinces, Abigail S. Drapkin, Amy R. Eisenberg, Emily R. Farver, Meryl J. Feinstein, Juliette O. Flam, Russell P. Foxworthy, Kassandra J. Gibbs, Ethan C. Goldberg, Daniel S. Graulich, Samantha L. Grosser, Leah W. Hartman, Elizabeth C. Hinchey, Ariel P. Hirsch, Dane P. Isenberg, Allison R. Joseph, Rebecca C. Joy, Michelle S. Kaplow, Austen D. Katz, Sabrina R. Katz, Yeon Soo Kim, Katherine L. Kolios, Emily G. Krainer, Emily E. Kraus, Abby L. Kulawitz, Jacob A. Laband, Christopher Lau, Daniel L. Liebman, Nicole Z. Litvak, Joshua M. McGrath, Sarah J. McWhirter, Shayna A. Medley, Jonathan R. Megerian, Shane B. Morris, Aaron J. Mowitz, Jessica L. Nusbaum, Leanne R. Ortbals, Alexander R. Pagan, Sidak S. Pannu, Michael K. Perloff, Mara W. Rosenberg, Dara S. Rosenkrantz, Geraldine O. Rothschild, Frank A. Scangarello, Alexander I. Schneider, Carolyn M. Schweitzer, Andres Vahid Shahidinejad, Daniel A. Shimansky, Cassandra M. Shull, Ilana S. Sidorsky, Meital Singer, Rachel A. Soule, Marianne F. Specker, Maxim I. Starobinets, Jeremy W. Weinberg, Johanna L. Wickemeyer, Florence H. Yellin, Xi Zhang and Danielle L. Zionts.

Starobinets was also elected to the society as a junior in 2011.

Students elected from the Class of 2013 are: Alex Bargar, Sonya Entova, Keith W. Frankston, Lev Gorfinkel, Daniel R. Noar, Asher R. Preska Steinberg and Maya Tydykov.

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honors organization in the United States.

Founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776, its high and rigorous standards of excellence have made election to it one of the greatest academic honors an undergraduate attending a college in the United States can receive.

Brandeis founded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1962, putting it ahead of every other university in America in terms of the time it took the university from the time of its founding to the time it became eligible to establish a chapter.

No other university in the United States has been granted the privilege to form a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa more quickly than Brandeis.

The initiation ceremony will be held on May 19 during Commencement weekend on the main stage of the Spingold Theater Center at 1:30 p.m.

March 12—A student in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center injured himself while playing Frisbee. University Police responded; the party was treated and transported via ambulance to the hospital for further care.

March 15—University Police received a call stating that a female staff member at the Sherman Dining Hall was feeling faint and dizzy. BEMCo responded, and the party was treated on-scene with a signed refusal for further care.

Larceny

March 12—A party in the Shapiro Campus Center reported that her Apple MacBook had been stolen while she was in the bathroom either in the SCC or in OlinSang. University Police compiled a report on the theft.

March 13—University Police compiled a report on the theft of an interface module with a value of $3,000 from the

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS n A student in Forum’s “Brandeis Talks Back” was misquoted. The quotation attributed to Jake Weiner ’13 should have said “It should not be the only source you use when learning about Kony,” not “It should be the only source you use when learning about Kony.” (March 13, p.6) n A photo caption in Arts mistakenly identified its subject as Malika Imhotep ’15. In fact, the person pictured is a student from Harvard who attended the same event. (March 13, p. 17) n A photo caption in Sports should have specified that it was a Justice file photo. (March 13, p. 12) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@ thejustice.org.

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SENATE LOG projection booth in the Usdan Student Center. The incident occurred between March 7 and 12.

March 13—A party in the Shapiro Campus Center reported that his or her laptop had been stolen while unattended in an office area. A report was compiled on the theft.

March 13—University Police compiled a report on the theft of cash from an unattended backpack in the Shapiro Campus Center.

March 16—A party in Village C reported that his laptop, which had been left unattended, had been stolen. University Police compiled a report.

March 17—A student in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center reported that her unattended laptop and camera had been stolen. University Police compiled a report on the theft.

Vandalism

been parked in lower J Lot, had been vandalized. University Police compiled a report on the incident.

March 14—University Police reported that the identifying number on the exterior of Ziv 130 had been spray-painted. Facilities was notified to correct the matter.

Disturbance

March 16—A reporting party stated that fireworks had gone off near the North Quad lot. They also stated that there are often parties in the woods near the area and requested that a consistent patrol be scheduled in the area; University Police will increase patrols there.

March 18—University Police on patrol reported hearing fireworks in the area of the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center but checked the area and did not find anything.

March 13—A party reported that his vehicle, which had

—compiled by Marielle Temkin

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

Home sweet home Juniors examine a floor plan for the Foster Mod Apartments while pondering housing decisions for the 2012-2013 academic year yesterday, during one of the three housing selection sessions. Housing selection sessions, which began Sunday, will continue until midnight tonight.

Bylaw changes approved The Union Senate approved 12 of the 15 proposed amendments discussed at its March 18 meeting.

Executive Senator Missy Skolnik ’12 began the meeting by informing the Senate on behalf of Union Vice President Gloria Park ’13 that senators must increase their overall attendance to Senate committee meetings.

Skolnik also said that several senators from the Class of 2012 met last week to discuss Senior Week, including the possibility of a Senate money resolution providing for approximately $2 per-attendee for a senior barbecue.

Skolnik also reported that Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 is interested in exploring whether the Union is satisfied with using Robert’s Rules of Order for its meetings, or if, perhaps, some other system may be preferable.

In terms of new business, Skolnik stated that vote counts to both recognize and charter the Special Olympics club had been miscalculated during last week’s meeting. That club was, in fact, only recognized.

The Senate approved a Senate money resolution presented by Midyear Senator Derek Komar ’15 for a $50 vacuum cleaner for the Village.

The Senate then discussed several proposed amendments to its bylaws.

The Senate ultimately approved 12 such amendments, including the elimination of a requirement for the body to provide shuttle services to Long Island for Thanksgiving and to any location for Passover break. Several minor Senate- and club-related procedural changes were also approved.

The Senate also voted to table an amendment that would require “all Union Officers” to “familiarize themselves with [the] bylaws and the Union constitution” after being elected or appointed. The decision to delay the vote by one week came after a lengthy discussion on how such an amendment would or could be enforced, including the possibility of a test for elected officials or a presentation on the matter by a leading Union official.

Class of 2014 Senator Ricky Rosen reported that Director of Dining Services Aaron Bennos stated that he would speak with Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins later this week concerning the expansion of Sunday hours for Einstein Bros. Bagels. Rosen said that a trial period for expanded hours— having the venue open at noon or 2 p.m. rather than the current 5 p.m. on Sundays—would hopefully occur after Passover break, and that the expanded hours would be balanced with comparable cuts of other venues’ hours, potentially including Sunday morning hours at Lower Usdan.

Castle Quad Senator Kelsey Dean ’14 reported that she had heard back from most of the 283 clubs listed on the club center website, and that next week she will request the de-charter of 50 or so clubs that are presumed to be inactive. It was then determined that the Senate would vote to de-charter all the clubs in question together, after examining the list for active clubs that may have been overlooked.

—Hillel Buechler

ANNOUNCEMENTS Israel foreign policy expert Ehud Eiran

The Politics Department and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies present a discussion with Dr. Ehud Eiran, a post-doctoral fellow in the Division of International Relations at Haifa University and former assistant to the foreign policy advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister. Dr. Eiran’s talk is titled “Our Test Grows Out of Their Weakness: Israel and the Security Challenge of the Feeble Lebanese State 1968-2000.”

Wednesday from noon to 1:45 p.m. in the Mandel Center Reading Room.

Study Abroad info session

Each of the Study Abroad Information Sessions will give an overview of the offcampus study process at Brandeis, including tips for researching programs and destinations, the application process, getting credit for work off campus and financial aid.

Attending a general information session is mandatory for students wishing to study off campus for the semester or academic year.

Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Usdan Student Center International Lounge.

U.S. PIRG information session

Business in Latin America panel

Meet alumna Micaela Preskill for a chance to learn about entry-level jobs focused on social justice at U.S. Public Interest Research Groups.

Attendees at this session will have a chance to sign up for a full-time interview with Micaela. Sponsored by the Hiatt Career Center.

Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Hiatt Career Center.

Come hear faculty and student experiences of research in Cuba this past winter, the present and prospective regional business climate, and how business affects and is affected by contemporary social issues such as poverty, government, infrastructure, traditional economies and legal issues.

Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Sherman Function Hall.

Experiential Learning symposium

Public Health Forum

The 2012 Experiential Learning Symposium is an opportunity to acknowledge the work of Brandeis Experiential Learning students and to connect to future opportunities.

Over 23 majors will be represented.

Many resources about experiential learning practicums, internships, the Justice Brandeis Semster (JBS), study abroad, scholarships and community service will be available.

Thursday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in Levin Ballroom.

The Hiatt Career Center and the Office of Career Services at The Heller School for Social Policy & Management present the University’s second annual Public Health Forum. Join them for a keynote address followed by networking with alumni and professionals from 20 other organizations who will be sharing insights about their organizations, the healthcare sector and their own careers.

Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Napoli Room, Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.

THE JUSTICE

campus speaker

about the relationship between Islamic culture and modern American Muslims.

By tate herbert JUSTICE editorial assistant

Suhaib Webb, imam at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury and “one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world,” according to the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center, delivered the keynote address at Islam Awareness Week Thursday night in Rapaporte Treasure Hall in Goldfarb Library. The event was sponsored

by Brandeis’ Muslim Student Association.

Other events during the week included a lecture, “Islam 101,” on Monday, cosponsored by the Brandeis Interfaith Group; “Scarves for Solidarity” on Tuesday, during which BMSA encouraged students to wear hijabs, or traditional Muslim headscarves, during the day and learn more about the tradition at an event that night, cosponsored by Girl Effect; and the weekly Jummah prayer session in the International Lounge on Friday, led by Muslim Chaplain Talal Eid. Prof. Joseph Lumbard (NEJS) introduced Webb, describing him as a “contemporary educator” who “bridges gaps between Islam and many other things.”

Webb, who converted to Islam in 1992 as a college freshman in his native Oklahoma, spoke about his experience as a convert, the challenges facing Islam in America today and the role that American Islamic culture and modernity plays in interpreting Islamic law.

Webb described the social and cultural challenges that he faced during his conversion process.

“We forget that fraternity is an integral part of religion,” said Webb, reflecting on his struggle to adjust socially to his newfound faith.

Before finishing his degree in education at the University of Central Oklahoma and his studies at Al-Azhar University in Egypt, Webb worked as a DJ and producer, which his speech reflected with references to artists such as Nas, Beyoncé and the Wu-Tang Clan mixed among passages he quoted from the

Quran.

“At times, I think the best way to teach religion is not through theology, but … to humanize,” said Webb. “[Muslims] have a challenge to make our scholarship speak to America.” Webb suggested that the religion faces this challenge with more apt interpretations of Islamic law in different cultures, as well as inclusiveness and increased participation in social services and the arts.

“One of the things that pushed me away from religion was religious people,” he continued. Webb, who has memorized the Quran, estimated that about 85 to 90 percent of it is written in such a way that is open to interpretation and that much of this depends on culture and what is appropriate in specific situations.

“Culture shades meaning in law,” he said, referring specifically to Islamic Sharia law.

In terms of extreme interpretations, including those of what he called “the pseudo-jihadists” or “modernists,” he said “We believe in the preservation of life… I would say the secular world has contributed to the slaughter of human beings, not just religion.”

American Muslims who are grappling with their religion are partly having “an interpretive struggle,” said Webb.

During a question-and-answer session with the audience, he addressed this theme again, saying that sometimes traditional religious guidance has failed people struggling with modern times.

“Sunday school ain’t cutting it, bro,” he quipped. “Learning needs to be a give and take.”

“I was really happy to see that he was coming to Brandeis,” said Noam Sienna MA ’11 MAT ’12, who attended the event and said he follows Webb online.

“He tells it to us in a way that’s not force-fed,” said Frishta Abawi ’13, president of BMSA. “It was just a nice way for him to introduce what we believe in … He managed to kind of remind us why we love the religion and remind us what we need to look at rather than what is written in the books.”

“We want to let everyone know about Islam, but it is also about embracing all the different types of Muslims that we have on this campus,” said Abawi of Islam Awareness Week overall.

Heller School ranked among top ten social policy graduate schools in the United States The Heller School for Social Policy and Management is listed among the top 10 social policy graduate schools in the country, according to rankings released

by U.S. News and World Report on March 15.

“It is terrific to have this recognition by our peers,” said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School, in an interview with the Justice.

“We are thrilled.”

Brandeis shares its number nine ranking with the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy in Los Angeles, while Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government received the top honor this year.

Heller has gone unranked since 2007, when it was ranked third in the nation, and was not included in the last survey of public affairs schools in 2008, according to Lynch. “We always knew we were there, [but] it is good to have that out in the U.S.

News and World Report rankings,” she said.“It’s great to be back on the map and be in the top 10.”

“Having said that, … this is nice, but it is not something that should really be overplayed,” Lynch continued.

The schools considered for the rankings train “social policy analysts and social workers [who] aim to improve the lives of children, the elderly, minority groups, disadvantaged populations, and others,” according to the U.S. News website.

Heller is Brandeis’ first professional school, founded in 1959, and it currently offers master’s programs in Public Policy, Nonprofit Management, Sustainable International Development, International Health Policy and Management and Coexistence and Conflict, as well as a doctorate in Social Policy.

—Tate Herbert

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JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

Modern politics Waltham educator Catherine White spoke about the American Constitution and related it to modern politics and liberty on Wednesday in Lown Auditorium. The event was sponsored by the Brandeis Tea Party Nation.

awards

University placed on honor roll for community service ■ The Department of

BRIEF

TUESDAY, march 20, 2012

TALKING LIBERTY IN LOWN

Suhaib Webb gives keynote at Islam Week ■ The Boston imam spoke

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Community Service plans to apply for a more competitive classification in 2015.

By sam mintz JUSTICE editor

Brandeis was placed on the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, according to a BrandeisNOW press release. This is the second time that the University has received this honor; the first was in 2010.

According to BrandeisNOW, the honor roll “recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities.”

Director of Community Service Lucas Malo said in an interview with the Justice that the award distinguishes Brandeis from other institutions and illustrates the impact that Brandeis has in the Waltham community.

“It says how committed Brandeis students are to service. It is part of [students’] cores and one of the reason why [students] come here,” he said.

The honor roll, which began in 2006, is run by Learn and

Serve America, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

According to its website, the Corporation is a “federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve.”

This year, 642 schools were recognized in the annual honor roll. Other Boston-area schools that were mentioned include Bentley University, Boston College and Tufts University.

Malo also elaborated that students here often think “outside the box” when taking part in community service.

“Some students just do handson service hours, some students do global issues where they are not even facing the concerns right in front of their faces but they are still passionate about making that change,” he said.

He pointed to fundraising efforts, like Relay for Life, which was held this past weekend, to demonstrate students’ commitment and passion for service.

“Hundreds of students came out on St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t think that would have happened on another campus.”

While Malo welcomed the recognition from the honor roll, he also explained that there is a higher classification of recognition, called the Carnegie Classification for Civic Engagement. The University plans to apply to this classification, as it has more of a direct impact on rankings and funding. The Carnegie Foundation will be accepting applications to the highly competitive classification in 2015.

Community services at Brandeis covers a wide range of activities, including tutoring, meal donatin and medical work. Many of the most popular service activities are offered by the Waltham Group, which, according to the University website, “responds to the needs of the community and is a center for service and advocacy” and is widely thought to be the most popular club on campus.

On April 30, the Department of Community Service along with Academic Services, the Student Union and many other organizations will be sponsoring the 3rd annual Celebration of Service at Brandeis. According to the University website, the event is a “community-wide celebration of Brandeis’ commitment to Service and Social Justice.” University President Frederick Lawrence will speak at the event.

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CUPP: Columnist criticizes modern protest movements CONTINUED FROM 1 responsibility,” despite the fact that it “does not sound sexy,” she explained.

Concluding her speech, Cupp conjectured that it is unnatural to want a powerful government. “We are all natural conservatives,” because “we are instinctively and biologically self preservationists,” she surmised. We want to live “in a free and decent society, where we have total, or near total, control over the sovereignty of our own lives, our destinies, our families, our wallets. We are not programmed to want the state to make our decisions, to decide how we spend our money, to take away our inalienable rights in the interest of feigned fairness.”

Cupp did acknowledge the limits of downsizing government and conceded that libertarianism was impractical on a large scale.

She put forth a critical view of previous and contemporary American protest movements. She labeled the generation of student protestors in the 1960s as a “weird, drug-addled cult of unwashed morons.” She stated that they were foolish for challenging the establishment because the Democratic Party was in power. She also said this is similar to today’s Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Speaking on the Occupy movement, Cupp asserted, “when they take up Obama’s class-war narrative, they are not … fighting the establishment. They are really just pawns for a reelection bid. They are empowering the establishment, of course. They are not standing up for the little guy.”

“It is about taking power away from individual voters and giving more of it to the government, specifically a really, really small group of people in the government, literally the one-percent,” she added, decrying that this generation of liberals believes “growing government counts as a cause.”

Asked to speak about her atheism, Cupp replied that she still respects religion and that her non-belief in God “does not make me mad at Her,” adding, “I’m not a militant atheist.” Cupp emphasized that she does not criticize those who do believe and that it is acceptable, for politicians like Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin to be influenced by religious belief.

Preceding the event was a controversy on the event’s Facebook page between BLCU members and Brandeis feminists, who objected that the first line of the event description read, “Do you like beautiful women? Do you like politics?”

Asked for her opinion on the matter, Cupp responded, “I am careful about how I present myself. … I don’t believe that, just because I’m young and female, … I should have to ugly up, or dress like a man to be taken seriously.” eliciting nearunanimous applause from the politically diverse audience.

There was also a dispute over the financing of the event, causing the BLCU to seek funding from outside of Brandeis, according toBLCU vice-president Ricky Rosen ’14. “Because the [Finance] Board would not give us sufficient funding for the event, we worked with Young America’s Foundation, a national organization that provides funding for conservative speakers to come to college campuses, and they provided financial assistance for the event,” he said in an interview with the Justice.

Rosen added that the event, which had a turnout of roughly 50 students, had the potential to broaden the influence of conservatives on campus. “The common perception among Brandeis students is that there are not a lot of conservatives on this campus,” he said. “We hope that this event is the beginning of a more diversified political culture here at Brandeis and that BLCU can build off this momentum and become a legitimate political force on campus.

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012

5

CONFERENCE: Scholars discuss race and crime CONTINUED FROM 1

BRINGING CONSERVATISM BACK: Conservative political commentator and analyst S.E. Cupp speaks in Olin-Sang auditorium on college students’ political leanings.

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she explained. “And creative expression of the racialized experience of sexual assault could elevate a general audience’s understanding of the subject in ways that ultimately result in better enforcement of the law.”

University President Frederick Lawrence, who also addressed the event, used the opportunity to speak about the broader implications of criminal law and the immorality of targeting someone because of his or her racial or ethnic background.

“The aspirations of the criminal justice system are to announce the values of society and what the basis of the circle is. That means if we do not describe the essence of a crime properly, we are losing the opportunity to announce the society’s values, and we are delegitimizing the pain that certain communities feel,” said Lawrence, after he congratulated Brooten and Hill for formulating and convening the conference.

Brooten also lauded Hill for her passion in combating sexual assault.

She emphasized the importance of community in this issue, saying, “We are not leaving women alone to deal with an assault; we’re thinking what we can do as a community to support, have a vision of a better future.”

Brooten continued that it was particularly important for African-Americans to unite on this issue because of the discrimination they still face un-

der the law.

“According to meta-analyses of social scientific and legal research, … black women who experience rape and other forms of sexual assault are less likely to report to law enforcement,” she said. “If they report, prosecutors are less likely to prosecute, and if the prosecutor does move ahead, and the case goes to trial, the jury is less likely to convict than if the rape complainant were white.”

Supporters of the cause also expressed their support.

Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush wrote a letter to the conference, in which he stated, “We know that changing belief is extremely difficult, but changing behavior … is a vitally important first step.”

Prof. Faith Smith (AAAS) hosted a panel discussion as part of the conference about cultural perceptions of sexual violence.

In the panel, Professor Adrienne Davis, vice provost and professor at Washington University in St. Louis Law School, talked about the claims of sexual assault at Duke University in 2006. The lacrosse players accused were ultimately acquitted in that case.

Davis used this example as a microcosm of the challenges African-Americans face in the law. She said that the roots of this extend back to slavery, which took control of both AfricanAmericans and their sexual lives.

She said this type of behavior continued even after slavery was abol-

ished, as a white man was not convicted of raping a black woman until the 20th century.

Professor Régine Jean-Charles of Boston College discussed how rape is understood in Africa and the Caribbean. She talked about the activism of women there and explained that she is writing a book that will provide a new framework for how violence is understood in a global age.

Professor Traci West of Drew University explained that the focus of her work was mainly on religion and the “traps and resources it offers for black women who are victims and survivors of sexual assault and sexual violence.”

She subsequently talked about her current research, in which she is exploring what it means for Americans to learn from Africa and African diaspora sources how to end sexual violence.

The panel concluded with a question-and-answer session.

In an email to the Justice, Brooten thanked the Brandeis community for its support.

“I am deeply grateful to all of those who gathered together at Brandeis today to make a real difference in the lives of Black women and of their families,” she wrote. “The performer and the speakers, whether courageous pioneers in the field or innovative younger voices, energized the audience to action.”

—Sam Mintz contributed reporting.

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

DISRUPTING THE SCRIPT: Prof. Anita Hill spoke at the conference about the relationship between race and sexual violence.

N K A O ?

C U O R O L U E Y NK YO IS AD T T E I TH KE TH JOIN B LAYOUT A M Contact Nan Pang at layout@thejustice.org

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VERBATIM | PAULO COELHO Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.

ON THIS DAY…

FUN FACT

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published.

Pieces of bread were used to erase lead pencil before rubber came into use.

A welcome return to campus

Recent alumni discuss experiences working at the University

By GABRIELLE SANTORO JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

As Brandeis undergraduate students approach the end of their time at the University, many wish to extend their stay just a little bit longer. After spending semester upon semester making friends, playing frisbee on the Great Lawn, sharing conversations and bagels in the morning at Einstein Bros.

Bagels, or unwinding with a campus stroll after class, it can be difficult to make plans to move beyond Brandeis. But several recent graduates have decided that being finished with their studies does not mean they have finished with the University altogether. These recent alumni have transitioned from Brandeis students to staff members.

Aaron Louison ’11, one returning graduate, works in the Office of Annual Giving within the Department of Development and Alumni Relations. Louison started working as a Phonathon caller during his junior year, and there, he developed an interest in fundraising in higher education.

“I happened to be pretty good at it,” he says. “Then I was appointed to serve as the senior class gift cochair during my senior year. So I served as both that and a Phonathon caller in my senior year.

I was fundraising over the phone and in person for the University. I really enjoyed fundraising for the school. We set a new record for the senior class gift, and in doing so, I realized that fundraising was a cool career path to go into.”

Louison explains that his interest in fundraising for the University is tied to his grandmother’s role in fundraising for the Brandeis National Women’s Committee as the president of the chapter in Fall River, Mass. He shares that “it has been in [my] family, not only to care about Brandeis but to also fundraise for it,” Louison said.

He considers himself lucky to have this position because he says he feels invested in the University both as a former student and a

staff member. “I would be helping Brandeis regardless of whether I worked here. It makes the work that I do at Brandeis that much more enjoyable, because I really enjoy helping Brandeis.”

Another former student who is involved in fundraising at the University is Emily Maskas ’11.

She is the campaign coordinator of the Campaign for Brandeis, which builds funds for the University.

Like Louison, Maskas also took on this position as a result of undergraduate involvement; she worked at the Phonathon center during all of her four years on campus. Maskas appreciates the work that she does with the Campaign for Brandeis, as she has long-term career aspirations in the museum field.

“Museums rely very heavily on development and donor relations, so this is really good experience,” she says.

Maskas appreciates seeing how the Brandeis administration functions and is happy to confirm through working there that “they really care about the students.”

Another recent graduate who shares a sense of satisfaction in developing closer involvement at the University is Lexi Kriss ’11, the Experiential and CommunityEngaged Learning department administrator.

“I basically help facilitate the Experiential Learning opportunities between students, faculty, staff and the community partners.

We work on those relationships, and we create new opportunities. … I also work on the large events, like the Experiential Learning Symposium,” she explains.

Kriss says that she feels that she has an advantage working with Experiential Learning as a former student worker in the department and as a recent graduate.

“I feel like I have the best of both worlds, because I was just a student, [which makes it] really easy to reach out to people because I still know a lot of [community members].”

There is a great benefit to work-

Literary connections

Florida bookstore raises funds with used books

By DAFNA FINE JUSTICE staff writer

It’s the age of the Kindle and online books, a world where hard copies are becoming increasingly rare. E-Books are ordered through Amazon and iTunes and are read on iPads. But one small used bookstore can be found in Boca Raton,

Fla., where the classics still line the shelves. William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are among those who find a place on the stacks.

Brandeis Books, a non-profit bookstore that sells used books to raise money for the University, began in 1995 when two members of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee opened the

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEXI KRISS

LASTING CONNECTIONS: Lexi Kriss ’11 now works for Experiential Learning. ing in an environment that is already familiar, as Kriss affirms.

Another former student, Rebeccah Ulm ’11, feels the same way. Ulm, who is in the post-baccalaureate program, was encouraged to take the opportunity to continue her studies as a Fine Arts and Art History major by one of her professors. She also serves as the educational coordinator at the Rose Art Museum.

“I am really glad that I got to stay on at the Rose longer; I still feel a strong connection [to it],” she claims.

store in Florida. “[The creators] decided that it would be a unique way to sell books and raise money for the library at Brandeis. They rented a store in Boca Raton, their husbands built the bookshelves and the store came into being,” said Molly Seiden, an organizer and volunteer at the bookstore. The women put out the word that they were accepting used books and the store took off, according to Seiden.

Open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day but Sunday, the Florida bookstore is staffed by volunteers from the National Women’s Committee that come from Delray Beach, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton, Fla. to run the store. On average, there are as many as five or six volunteers working throughout the day, according to Seiden.

The store boasts a wide selection of used books from different genres, all of which are donated to the store.

“It is easier to tell you what we don’t sell,” Seiden said when asked about the collection. “We don’t sell magazines because we don’t have room for them. We don’t have textbooks, and we don’t sell computer business books, because by the time we get them, they’re so out of date and nobody wants them,” she said. Other than that, the store takes whatever it can and will even pick the books up from homes.

As an undergraduate, Ulm was the president of the Student Committee for the Rose Art Museum, and through her choice to stay at Brandeis, she has been able to extend her involvement with the organization. The student guide program, which is part of Ulm’s objective as educational coordinator, “is in tandem with the initiatives of SCRAM,” … “so [I am] involved in it, in an auxiliary way.”

This group of new alumni has also found difficulties in changing identities from students to young professionals while in the same

“If you can’t come to the store, we’ll go out and get them and bring to them to the store. We’ll even pack them up. There are a lot of old retirees down here, and they physically cannot do it. A lot of people are moving into a care situation from a house, and they’re too frail,” Seiden explained.

While some are valuable classics, others are trashy novels, still popular, but worth less. “We are always looking for the extra-special ones, but you take what you get,” Seiden said. “Sometimes you’re surprised and they’re marvelous, and sometimes you think, ‘Why we did we bother?’ There’s nothing you can do about that.”

Certain books are sold for as cheap as three or four dollars and are sold for next to nothing when the store runs its half-price sale.

Others are rare collections, which bring large amounts of revenue to the store. About three months ago, the store received a valuable collection that Seiden described as absolutely incredible. “We priced them, we looked them up [and] one man wrote us a check for over $900 that first day,” she said.

Still, the store has good days and bad days, according to Seiden.

“There are days when you pick up nothing but Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel. That’s not going to bring you any money,” she said. While

environment. Julie Judson ’11, who serves as the senior department coordinator in University President Frederick Lawrence’s office, notes the strange feeling of being at Brandeis and not being a student.

“I still know a ton of people on campus, and that’s been really great. But I never want to see them on campus. I want to see them off campus somewhere. I just really wanted to make my life different than student life, because it would have made it hard to be here every day and miss my friends [who are no longer at the University],” she says.

It is more typical for graduates to go through that transition outside of a school environment, and Judson explains what a difference it makes to do it in a place where she was once a student.

“I think that I will always care about Brandeis, and accepting the role as a [staff] person so soon after graduation is something I am still grappling with. To me, what’s important is being able to do my job in a really great way and also loving the University the way I did before,” she said.

Judson points out that she values working in “an office that makes real change for the University, ... [because] it [involves] constantly making decisions [and] meeting new people. There is always something happening, which is exciting.”

She states that this aspect of her work is great as it is part of the reason why she loved being at the University. “[Brandeis is] an institution that gave me everything that I am today.”

These recent alumni made the decision to stay on campus because they all value their undergraduate experience at Brandeis, and see that the University’s value to them in terms of a career does not stop after graduation.

“I think Brandeis is a great place to work; I’m tied to this place. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t plan on leaving Brandeis at all,” Judson remarked.

Seiden said the amount donated to the University varies depending on the year’s revenue, “It is adequate for Brandeis to still sign our lease.

It’s enough to keep our store going,” she said.

The clientele varies, though usually the store attracts an older crowd because of its location. “Don’t forget this is Florida,” Seiden said. “The young kids tend to go Kindle.”

Though the Boca Raton store is still succeeding, modern technology has driven many of the Brandeis bookstores out of business. “They were many, many [Brandeis bookstores]. There aren’t any more.”

“We’re feeding the dinosaur.

Heard of the Kindle?” Seiden joked.

“Many bookstores have folded. You have to get lucky. And so far we are still in existence.” The store has no trouble keeping the shelves fully stocked and does so with almost no advertising because of their budget constraints. The other Brandeis Books still standing is located in Tuscon, Ariz.

Books are also sold through Brandeis Books Online, where customers can browse and buy from the store’s online inventory.

Though Seiden is not an alumna of the University, she says she loves working on the bookstore because of its educational aspect. “I can think of much worse projects,” she laughed.

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Overcoming despair PHOTOS COURTESY OF LINDA SEXTON

RELATING TO READERS: Countless readers of Sexton’s works express their gratitude for her honest writing, saying that they can relate to the issues of suicide and depression that Sexton’s own family experienced.

Linda Sexton delivers lecture on depression struggles and book By rachel L. miller justice staff writer

Linda Gray Sexton, poet, author, and daughter of Pulitzer Prizewinning poet Anne Sexton, spent days on end in bed, cushioning her numbness with sleep. It became a buffer for her struggle with depression, suicidal thoughts and emotions tied to her mother’s suicide.

The “land of the bed” became her comfort zone in which to separate from reality.

Sexton spoke eloquently and poetically to a large audience in the Mandel Center for the Humanities Reading Room on Thursday, March 1.

The event was co-sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and coordinated by Prof. Dawn Skorczewski (ENG), who recently published a book about Sexton’s mother’s recorded therapy sessions titled The Accident of Hope: The Therapy Tapes of Anne Sexton.

Sexton started off by discussing her latest work, Half in Love, a memoir about her personal struggle with depression and suicide.

She made it clear that her work is not a mental health text or a selfhelp book, although it has definitely helped several individuals struggling with similar issues.

Anne Sexton, Linda’s mother, killed herself in 1974 when she was 45 years old and Linda was a senior at Harvard University.

“None of us really understood the pain that took my mother to her final self-destruction. We all felt baffled, angry, guilty and ultimately rejected,” Sexton said.

Sexton, therefore, wanted to reach out to the people and families who had lost loved ones to suicide or who live with people who are overwhelmed by depression. She wanted to show them that she survived depression and suicidal attempts.

Sexton was willing to expose her own life, feelings and family in her deeply personal memoir because, as she said in her lecture, “There is tremendous power in being willing to lay bare one’s soul in public.”

Before delving into her personal story, Sexton explained to the audience the prevalence of depression and suicide. According to her, over one million people commit suicide worldwide annually, which is two times the number of homicides.

Aside from hypertension, more Americans suffer from major depression than from any other general medical issue.

More than 20 million people in the United States are affected by

depression. Sexton noted that both mental illness and suicide are now considered largely hereditary.

Brain chemistry, she said, is the source of mental illness, not laziness, self-pity or selfishness.

Sexton and her sister made a pact early in their lives that they would never do what their mother was doing—attempting to commit suicide and disregarding her family’s needs.

“For me, suicide was a legacy, something that was handed down through the generations. My mother’s elder sister killed herself with an overdose of pharmaceuticals.

And my mother’s aunt used a shotgun. My mother herself turned on the ignition of her car, and let the tide of carbon monoxide take over,” she said.

Sexton read emotionally charged excerpts from her memoir regarding her struggle with depression and suicide and how it coincided with her role in life as a sister, daughter, wife, friend and mother.

Sexton courageously read aloud the section of the book in which she describes in detail her last suicide attempt.

She spoke about how depression had taken over her life and how she lost perspective on it.

“Even my love for my sons could not keep me from ruminating over my cutting, that lesser cousin to suicide,” she said.

Searching for Mercy Street, another of Sexton’s books, speaks to the process of her maturation into a woman and mother.

This book was an attempt to reach out to her mother after her death, despite her mother’s many problems. Sexton described the ways in which she began to know her mother as an adult, especially with the birth of her two sons.

“I discovered a fresh understanding of and compassion for how difficult being a parent is, even when it is not complicated by mental illness.”

Sexton added, “I had yet to learn how to come to terms with my mother’s death. I needed to confront and disentangle myself from the strong tentacles her suicide had attached to my life.”

Sexton spoke about her process of recovery, including time spent in rehab and speaking with her therapist, whom she praised and credited with a major role in turning her life around.

Students at the lecture expressed their appreciation for Sexton’s willingness to speak about the taboo topic of depression and suicide so explicitly.

REACHING OUT: Sexton gives lectures to many audiences, although her family has reservations about sharing its story publicly.

“I just want to thank you for speaking and it is so important that an event like this was [coordinated],” one student commented.

“I came thinking that it was going to be depressing, … because it was about suicide, … but I was one of those people who thought that suicide was selfish. … Actually hearing the thoughts of someone who went through it all, [has changed] my perspective,” said Yeji Son ’14.

“It was a learning experience for me. ... It was really interesting to hear form the point of view from someone who was so open. I didn’t realize how intimate [her lecture] would be,” Tammy Chung ’14 said.

Sexton has rebuilt relationships with her family and friends and her sons still stand by her side. The best part, she said, is that she found a new partner, whom she married in 2009.

She has finally started writing again after taking a break throughout her depression.

Sexton concluded by reassuring the audience that “I am still here, and I am better than I have been before. I would say if I was half in love with death back then, now I am fully in love with life—if that does not sound like a cliché.”

CONQUERING STRUGGLES: Readers are inspired by Sexton’s positive outlook on life.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, March 20, 2012 ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

SURVIVOR LAP: Survivors of the battle against cancer celebrated a walk around the Gosman track, as part of the event’s opening ceremony.

All-night awareness Relay for Life raises over $77,000 for cancer research

By ANDREW WINGENS JUSTICE EDITOR

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE: Above, University President Frederick Lawrence addressed the crowd in Gosman Sports and Convocation center on Saturday night. Below, students remember victims of cancer during the luminaria ceremony.

The Brandeis Relay for Life Committee raised over $77,000 and attracted more than 850 people to the fifth-annual Relay for Life event Saturday night in the Shapiro Gym in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, according to Event Chair Hannah Katcoff ’12.

Relay for Life is an event held at various locations nationwide designed to raise money for combating cancer through the American Cancer Society.

Participants sign up as part of teams and raise money for the event. They then spend all night circling the track until the closing ceremony at 4 a.m. Various a cappella groups performed, and participants passed the time by throwing footballs and frisbees.

The 88 teams that were a part of the relay on Saturday included Greek life, student government, theater and performing groups and groups of friends joining together

to participate. Student groups also performed over the course of the night.

Relay raised $65,000 last year and set this year’s goal at $72,000.

“We are really excited that we surpassed it,” wrote Katcoff in an email to the Justice. “I am determined to hit $80,000, so our Relay committee might hold some more fundraisers until we get there!”

“I think it is an incredibly fun night, it is a powerful night, even if people do not really know what is going on. Just the fact that people come out and have fun and spend time together for a good cause, I think is wonderful,” said Jordan Klebanow ’13, who supports the event in part because he lost his grandmother to cancer.

The event also included a special reception and dinner for cancer survivors and a luminaria ceremony to remember those who died of cancer and honor those currently combating the sickness.

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

DANCING QUEENS: Above, Abby Armstrong ‘13, along with over 75 other students joined in the sample zumba lesson, one of the evening’s activities. Below, students enjoy some

of the student peformances on Saturday night.

JON EDELSTEIN/the Justice

ROBYN SPECTOR/the Justice

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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 Andrew Wingens, Deputy Editor Alana Abramson, Rebecca Blady, Eitan Cooper, Bryan Flatt, Rebecca Klein, Asher Krell, Fiona Lockyer, Tess Raser, Robyn Spector and Marielle Temkin, Associate Editors Sara Dejene, News Editor Sam Mintz, Acting News Editor Celine Hacobian, Features Editor Shafaq Hasan, Forum Editor Adam Rabinowitz, Sports Editor Ariel Kay and Emily Salloway, Arts Editors Jenny Cheng and Joshua Linton, Photography Editors Nan Pang, Layout Editor Hillel Buechler, Online Editor Maya Riser-Kositsky, Copy Editor David Wolkoff, Advertising Editor

Invest in innovation Last week, Prof. Michael Rosbash (BIOL) was named the Peter Gruber Endowed Chair for his groundbreaking research in neuroscience. With the endowment, Rosbash will now receive funding to continue and support his research.

We’re glad this prize program and similar endowments recognize our University’s commitment to the science disciplines. Further, we urge the administration to continue investing in the work being conducted at the University to solidify our position as a research university within the science community.

As part of an evolving private research university, the administration has shown an interest in the sciences over the past few years. In 2006, the Board of Trustees approved $80 million, and accepted $75 million in donations, to demolish the old Kalman and Friedland Science buildings to build the current Carl J. Shapiro Science Center, according to former Vice President of Capital Projects Dan Feldman. Without the construction of this new complex, students would not have the benefit of using state-of-the-art equipment and newly furnished laboratories.

Moreover, in 2009, the Office of Capital Projects website reported plans to revamp the Science Center with another building that was expected to house “teaching labs, a large lecture hall, and three levels of additional Chemistry research laboratories.” Though this plan was indefinitely put on hold due to budgetary limitations, the intention to im-

Support science research prove the Center demonstrated the administration’s prolonged commitment to maintaining our status as a research university.

While these projects were implemented or discussed under former President Emeritus Jehuda Reinharz, we encourage University President Frederick Lawrence to continue the University’s investment in the science disciplines.

Currently, the University’s website lists faculty research in a variety of fields, from biochemistry to psychology. By continuing to secure endowments and supporting faculty members in their research ventures, the University will be reinforcing its dedication to producing pioneering work for the sciences.

Our University’s continued involvement and advancement in the higher education science community is vital.

As a field that is completely reliant on innovation and research, it’s important to give our faculty the tools and opportunity to be able to compete with universities employing cutting-edge technology and knowledge.

While we still look forward to comparable advancements in the liberal arts, we still appreciate being informed and honoring the innovations being made by our science faulty.

We commend the administrations, past and present, for their work in making it possible to be a research university, and moving forward should continue to support our faculty and staff’s research.

Keep giving back This past week, the University was placed on the White House’s 2012 Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the second consecutive year due to its continued commitment to service.

The award recognizes universities that not only consider the service necessary within their own campuses, but actively reach out to solve their surrounding communities’ problems and issues. This recognition comes at an appropriate time, as last weekend the University hosted the annual Relay for Life fundraiser and benefit concert Brandeis Cares, to raise awareness about the battle against cancer and AIDS, respectively. In light of this recent recognition, we applaud the student body’s continued commitment to service, as it is vital to ensuring a productive community.

This year was the fifth consecutive year the University held Relay for Life, the annual walkathon dedicated to raising cancer awareness. While the event was just as successful as previous years in regards to participation, the 12-hour event raised a record $77,000, shattering the Relay for Life’s committee’s previous fundraising efforts.

This record-breaking participation and fundraising demonstrate the community’s overwhelmingly positive attitude towards service. Furthermore, last Thursday Tympanium Euphorium host-

Retain interest in community ed Brandeis Cares, a benefit concert that featured several performances showcasing the various talents of the University community. With Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel serving as an emcee and a wide range of groups like the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance and the Undergraduate Theater Collective sponsoring the event, it was apparent that the coordinators were enthusiastically working to garner attendance and aimed to incorporate all members of the Brandeis community.

The success and widespread student involvement of these events, along with the other community service opportunities available on campus, demonstrate the reason our University was included on the list of institutions dedicated to improving their communities. As the University now begins to welcome prospective students on campus, we’re glad the student body has been eagerly displaying its passion for community service and accurately portraying the University’s continued dedication to improving our community.

We urge the student body to continue its efforts to facilitate a productive and involved student body so we can receive a place on the White House honor roll for a third consecutive year.

SARA WEININGER/the Justice

Abstinence-only law breeds ignorance Naomi

Volk et cetera

A new bill in Utah, vetoed on Friday by Governor Gary Herbert, tried to effectively implement abstinence-only sex education in Utah public schools. According to an article

by CNN, the bill would have made it so that “Utah’s teachers [would not have been] allowed to inform students about contraceptives, ‘the intricacies of intercourse,’ homosexuality, or sexual activity outside of marriage.” Although the idea was, luckily, defeated by Utah’s governor, the fact that it became a bill in the first place shows the potential danger from such thinking. Schools can, under the bill, either have teachers talk about anatomy and HIV and AIDS or choose to not teach their pupils anything about sex at all. According to the bill’s sponsor, Utah state Republican Representative Bill Wright, sexual education should be conducted at home.

While it’s true that parents should have some sort of “the birds and bees” talk with their children, it doesn’t mean it will happen. “Should” and “will” are two very different things. In fact, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, although parents can opt out of school-based sexual education for their children, most do not. It seems that parents themselves do not want to discuss the “intricacies of intercourse” with their children either. And if parents do not want to do it and teachers cannot do it, how will these children learn how to protect themselves when they will, inevitably, have sex at some point in their lives?

Now, some may say that the only way to stop teenagers from having sex is by not talking to them about it. They may believe that if teenagers do not know about sex and only think about it as something that happens after marriage, then teenage sex out of wedlock will not happen.

But according to a report by the AIDS Research Institute at the University of California San Francisco, a 2001 periodical by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy reported that, “A large body of evaluation research clearly shows that sex and HIV education programs included in this review do not increase sexual activity. … To the contrary, some sex and HIV education programs delay the onset of sex, reduce the frequency of sex, or reduce the number of sexual partners.”

The fact of the matter is that abstinence-only sexual education programs do not work. According to a January 2010 New York Times article, Cecile Roberts, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a not-for-profit organization focused on reproductive rights, reported that increasing pregnancy and abortion rates “[make] it crystal clear that abstinence-only sex education for teenagers does not work.”

It is disturbing that lawmakers continually attempt to create abstinence-only sexual education programs when the overwhelming evidence is that teaching about sex not only helps ensure safe sex, but may help prevent teenagers from having sex in the first place.

And let’s not forget about the most outrageous part of the bill—the fact that homosexuality is somehow analogous to sex outside of wedlock and contraception. It’s a ridiculous act of bigotry that implies that we can, in the same way we are trying to prevent teenage sex, “prevent” people from becoming gay by not explaining the complexities of homosexuality.

Not only is this untrue, but it creates an atmosphere of intolerance and ignorance and should not be allowed. But then again, ignorance is exactly what these lawmakers wanted.

Instead of creating an informed public capable of making its own, safe decisions, this bill serves to act as the negligent parent, refusing to understand the reality of its children and hoping that by refusing to interfere with development, the children will somehow come to understand the way the way the world works when and only when the parent decides the time is right.

This, to me, is the definition of ignorance and stupidity.

Premarital sex exists whether lawmakers want to believe it or not But ignoring the concept does not mean it will go away.

When has that ever worked before? Instead of pretending premarital sex doesn’t exist, we have to educate teenagers about how to have safe sex and how to protect themselves. Closing your eyes to what you define as a problem never makes it go away— because it’s still there as soon as you open your eyes.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “The people who are successful aren’t always the most talented, but they’re usually the most persistent.

They keep working at it ... and [don’t take] any rejection personally.”

—Ben Gold ’13 on his hopes of breaking into the world of Broadway (See Arts, p. 19)

Brandeis Talks Back What have you done to take advantage of the unusually warm weather?

Maayan Bar-yam ’12 “I replaced the swing that came down on the Great Lawn.”

Jordan Brown ’12 “I’m holding a funeral for my igloo.”

Manny Zahonet ’14 “I learned how to play ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ on a violin.”

Clay Williams ’14 “We’re going to have a picnic on the Mandel [Center] roof.”

—Compiled by Shafaq Hasan Photos by Joshua Linton/ the Justice

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‘Bully’ undermines power of language

By Glen Chagi chesir JUSTICE contributing WRITER

When I think about my elementary and high school experiences, a host of memories come to mind ranging from the first day of class to the last.

The memories of good grades, recess and certain clubs or extracurricular activities all bring a smile to our faces.

Yet some memories bring out a very different reaction. Bad grades and break-ups, among others, are part of the experience we would like to forget.

One such memory that almost every student likely remembers is bullying.

Cynthia Lowen, an award-winning writer, author and producer, has joined the fight against bullying.

Lowen started “The Bully Project,” a fund that helped pay for her documentary Bully.

According to Lowen, the movie is about “the violence, intimidation, threats, derogation and abuse 13 million American kids will experience this year.”

The movie, however, was given an R rating rating by the Motion Picture Association of America due to excessive inappropriate and profane language, prohibiting most kids from seeing it.

As a result, a 17-year-old girl from Michigan, Katy Butler, delivered a petition with over 225,000 signatures to the MPAA urging them to change the rating to PG-13, thus allowing students to see it. Butler has taken a stand in the fight against bullying; beside meeting with the MPAA and Lowen, she has met with policymakers and news agencies in Washington, D.C. including the Washington Post. Despite Butler’s best efforts, the MPAA has not changed the rating.

Lowen fully endorsed the petition in an article published in The Huffington Post on March 13 titled, “Give Kids the Respect They Deserve.”

Lowen argues that we must depict bullying as realistically as possible: “If we expect middle and high school students to have the courage, integrity and strength to take on bullying, we must empower them with the respect to handle the language that honestly depicts their world.”

However, Lowen underestimates the power of language.

A curse word can be extremely hurtful to a child, and allowing this movie to nonchalantly

ARIELLE SHORR/ the Justice

throw these words around will cause the words to lose their power.

The intent of the movie is to show how a bully can wound another child; the swear words are a means to show exactly how malicious bullies can be.

However, by allowing children to hear these words become more ubiquitous and as part of the diction of the film, they will lose that value.

No longer are they viewed as the extreme and hurtful words that they are.

Rather, they will be integrated into the mainstream vocabulary of the children to which the movie hopes to connect. Profane language is profane for a reason. Children must be taught that curse words have a certain connotation and meaning.

They should not be thrown around lightly in a movie, no matter what the cause.

The film obviously still has merit and the

message is valid. We should do whatever we can to create a proper and nurturing environment in our schools, and the removal of bullying is a just cause.

For example, in-school speakers, educational programs and support from parents are some of the many ways to combat bullying that do not require explicit use of profanity. The efforts can be just as powerful and get the message of the movie across but do not require the use of such harsh language.

Perhaps a better solution to allow students to see the movie would be to release a censored version.

No major censoring would be required, so the overall point of the movie would still come across.

Rather, removing the explicit words the MPAA has issue with will allow children to see the movie while not diminishing the power

and strength a curse word can have.

So often we have conversations with our friends, peers, professors and parents in which we curse in order to portray a point. Curse words are losing the intensity that should be associated with them.

They are not meant for casual conversation; they are meant to be aggressive and harsh and can be incredibly damaging to children with developing minds.

The message behind the movie is clear: Stop the bullying that is going on in schools across the country. Lowen feels that profanity is one of the main tools used by bullies and its effects on hundreds of thousands of students must be brought out into the open.

However, profanity is not appropriate for our everyday conversation, and it is certainly not appropriate for a movie geared toward children, no matter what the cause.

Embrace concern for persecuted Christians

By MICHAEL KOSOWSKY SPECIAL TO THE jUSTICE

The term “Middle East” generally conjures up images of the war in Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iranian nuclear threat and the recent Arab Spring.

Rarely does one think of Christianity as a minority religion that has been persecuted, its holy sites vandalized and its worshippers abused and murdered throughout the Middle East.

Michael Oren, the United States ambassador to Israel, recently wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal, in which he stated that the Middle East was 20 percent Christian at the start of the previous century and just 5 percent Christian today.

Two hundred thousand Coptic Christians were forced to flee their homes in Egypt within the past year.

The Coptic Christians have lived in Egypt since the first century of the Common Era and were the dominant religion in Egypt until the emergence of Islam. The Copts currently consist of 10 percent of Egypt’s population and used to live peacefully next to their Muslim neighbors.

However, this recently changed when they were attacked by violent mobs of Salafi Islamists, shot at by the Egyptian army, had their churches burned and their priests beaten.

Last October, between 20 and 35 Coptic Christians were murdered by Egyptian security officers while protesting the government’s failure

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to protect Egyptian churches. Egyptian media called upon citizens to defend the army and attack the Copts. Where is the uproar about the treatment of the Copts?

Christians are also being persecuted by their neighbors in Lebanon.

After the Israeli army withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000, the Hezbollah terrorist organization slowly took over the area.

There used to be a stable Christian population in Southern Lebanon.

Now, many of them have been forced to flee, while those who remain live in constant fear.

Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, many Gazan Christians have fled into Israel, as conditions in Gaza have become awful for the local Christians.

It is illegal to publicly display Christian symbols in Gaza, and people have been shot for simply carrying crucifixes or for being accused of trying to spread Christianity. Oren mentioned an incident that took place a few years ago, in which Rami Ayad, the only Christian bookstore owner in Gaza, was tortured and shot in his store and a YMCA was bombed. The culprits in both cases were never arrested.

Moreover, Christians face serious discrimination in Palestinian-controlled territories in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority recently declared the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem, a site that was victim to many bombings in the First Intifada, “illegitimate.”

The First Baptist Church, founded 30 years ago, has over 400 member families and is host

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to a Bible college.

Now, however, any official business conducted in the church, such as marriages, is no longer considered legal. Bethlehem pastor Naim Khoury suggested that the church’s activism for a peaceful solution to the conflict, without bias toward either side, may have played a role in the decision to declare the church illegitimate.

In 2007, the Iranian parliament passed a law with an overwhelming majority punishing with death any male who leaves Islam.

This law has been used to execute at least four people so far as well as to imprison several more. Most recently, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity, as noted by Oren in his article.

Where is the uproar?

When American soldiers in Afghanistan burned Qurans that were being used to pass messages among prisoners detained by the U.S. Army, mass riots ensued.

American soldiers were murdered in retaliation by radicals who were angered by the desecration of the Quran. The response to the Quran burning was seen even far away, as Muslims all over the world voiced their anger about the Quran desecration. In Libya, Islamists desecrated the graves of British servicemen who died in North Africa during the Second World War, as well as those of Jews and Christians.

The wide extent of the reaction to the Quran burning shows how Muslims around the world exhibited support for their fellow Muslims. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t react when Chris-

The Staff

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

tians are persecuted, let alone respond the way it does when the Islamic holy book is burned.

The problem may stem from the fact that Christianity is the largest religion in the Western world. For Europeans and Americans, it is hard to imagine Christianity as a persecuted religion.

Therefore, we tend to view the many occurrences of persecution against Middle Eastern Christians as isolated instances rather than as a general pattern that is growing more and more worrisome.

This attitude needs to change if there is any hope for the future of Christianity in the Middle East.

The world must speak up now. Why do we react every time offensive material is published about Islam, but we don’t react when Christians are also being persecuted?

The right for one to practice Christianity without fearing for one’s life must be protected just as much as the right to practice Islam without others publicly desecrating your religion.

Christians are being persecuted in many countries throughout the Middle East, in places were they have lived safely for thousands of years.

Unfortunately, the only country in the Middle East where they can live safely now is Israel.

We must change that.

Editor’s note: Michael Kosowsky ’14 is a Brandeis University Campus Fellow for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

Editorial Assistants News: Tate Herbert Layout: Rachel Burkhoff Staff Senior Writers: Josh Asen, Aaron Berke, Wei Huan-Chen, Amy Melser, Shelly Shore Senior Illustrator: Sara Weininger Senior Photographer: Alex Margolis News: Shani Abramowitz, Tyler Belanga, Jonathan Epstein, Danielle Gross, Luke Hayslip, Raquel Kallas Features: Selene Campion, Jessie Miller, Rachel Miller, Gabrielle Santoro Forum: Aaron Fried, Philip Gallagher, Diego Medrano, Joshua Nass, Sara Shahanaghi, Naomi Volk Sports: Julian Cardillo, Jacob Elder, Becca Elwin, Henry Loughlin, Jacob Lurie, Jacob Moskowitz, Madeleine Stix

Arts: Damiana Andonova, Alex DeSilva, Olivia Leiter, Amy Melser, Leanne Ortbals, Louis Polisson, Mara Sassoon, Ayan Sanyal, Maya Shemtov, Aziz Sohail, Viet Tran, Dan Willey Photography: Jon Edelstein, Nathaniel Freedman,Josh Josh Horowitz, Josh Spriro, Diana Wang, Michelle Wang, Anne Yatskar Copy: Aliza Braverman, Jennie Bromberg, Kinza Kukhari, Patricia Greene, Andrew Hayes, Max Holzman, Brittany Joyce, Eunice Ko, Megan Paris, Christine Phan, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Leah Rogers, Suzy Schatz, Will Schneiderman, Amanda Winn Layout: Jassen Lu, Denny Poliferno, Michelle Yi Illustrations: Mara Sassoon, Arielle Shorr, Tziporah Thompson

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TUESDAY, march 20, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

FORUM

Ban guns and prioritize campus safety Diego

Medrano Missing link

Colorado’s Supreme Court recently struck down the University of Colorado’s ban on concealed firearms. While carrying weapons without a permit is still banned from the campus, those with a permit to have concealed weapons must be allowed to bring them on campus.

The Supreme Court didn’t declare the ban unconstitutional. It made its ruling based on a technicality that had only allowed for concealed weapon bans in elementary schools, secondary schools and public buildings with security checkpoints, but the ruling did not include universities. The court could have included universities, but chose not to.

When looking at decisions like these, we must consider all aspects of the issue. The decision is important and there are ramifications, but why is this even a problem in the first place? There are issues of both rights and security at play.

I feel that universities are primarily places of learning and should be shielded from the outside world to an extent. Obviously, students should be aware of issues outside the university and should have outlets to express themselves on campus, but that doesn’t mean that the issues have to physically manifest themselves.

That is to say, just because someone supports gun rights doesn’t mean he has to have his guns on campus to pledge his support.

There are already measures in place to protect the campus. To me, this isn’t an issue of the larger matter of gun rights in this nation, but of gun rights at universities. Whichever side you fall on in the larger debate, there are plenty of reasons to support universities’ gun bans.

The first issue for a school to address is why students would feel the need to bring a gun on campus at all, or even professors and other faculty, for that matter.

If the community felt completely safe, there would be no need. To avoid these sorts of debates, schools need to focus on comprehensively improving the safety of their campuses and ensuring that community members feel safe. That doesn’t mean simply increasing the number of gun-carrying police officers.

This would send the same message that guns are equivalent to or even facilitate safety. Schools need to give community members more ways to feel in control of their own safety without something as drastic as a gun.

There will always be those who believe they have a patriotic obligation to carry a gun, but for the majority, it’s important to offer them other options.

Whether the school offers more self-defense classes, has more emergency posts or even offers for security escorts to students who feel

MARA SASSOON/the Justice

unsafe walking home alone, there are plenty of alternatives to guns.

It is equally important to not undermine the rights of the students. College is all about expression and sharing beliefs. The same way we need to be open-minded of other religions, we need to be open-minded about all beliefs.

This issue will not be solved by suppressing the rights of students or by imposing a belief system.

However, universities can combat the problem by listening to students and acknowledging what they are feeling. They must get to the source of the problem, so that even if schools are able to ban firearms, the students won’t feel as if they aren’t heard.

I’m not sounding any alarms about this. I don’t think that allowing people with gun permits on campus will suddenly result in mass shootings. The same permit regulations apply.

People must be over 21 and are subject to back-

ground checks. Personally, I think the regulations aren’t strict enough, but that’s another issue altogether. Hypothetically, the majority of students wouldn’t be able to have guns at all.

What is still scary to think about is that college is still a developmental period, and many of us aren’t as grown up as we like to think we are. While Columbine High School has not had another major shooting since the massacre in 1999, all it takes is one incident to forever scar the reputation of a school and shatter the sense of safety in a community. Likewise, Virginia Tech University has been marked by its tragic massacre. It shouldn’t take a tragedy to finally allow for a ban on firearms.

Furthermore, allowing firearms on campus sends the wrong message about the school because issues like these distract from academics and turn attention elsewhere. A school could have great marks across the board, but

if prospective students don’t feel safe, they won’t attend, and their parents won’t let them.

While some insist on expressing their constitutional right to bear arms, they don’t realize how they are adversely affecting the perception of the community at large.

This isn’t an issue of the school trying to limit constitutional rights.

This is a common sense issue of school simply not being the appropriate place for guns.

Gun owner or not, most people could probably agree with that.

But in order for a community to buy into that line of thinking, the school needs to do more to show that they have everyone’s safety at heart.

Schools need to realize that they can remove the need for guns without infringing upon anyone’s rights.

Until that balance is found, the community’s safety is in jeopardy.

Feminism loses credibility amid misconceptions Shafaq

hasan into the fire

This past week was Feminist Coming Out Week. I’m not a feminist, but if I were, I probably wouldn’t burn my bras—they’re expensive.

I wouldn’t be a hippie or a conspirator.

And as a general rule, I would shave my armpits. I’m not a feminist, but if I were, I would also be particularly upset at the variety of misconceptions that have contaminated the label from overexposure in mainstream culture.

Each new generation brings another wave of misrepresentations, which blurs the meaning and diminishes the power of feminism, especially among those that claim to identify with the label.

So, how about the basics? Feminists fight to ensure that women have the same equal rights and liberties as men.

Though the term has evolved over the years, the fight has always been for some form of equality, whether it be social, political, economic or all three.

While most believe feminism first emerged during the bra-burning, free-love-hippies era, perhaps one of the earliest collective movements toward women’s rights was the fight for suffrage in the early 20th century.

Feminism then continued into the ’60s, battling the pressures to conform to the image of the 1950s model housewife, where it evolved into the modern hodgepodge movement it is today. There’s something certainly humbling about seeing where the fight for equality started and how it has disintegrated in recent years.

Now, instead, we have radio host, political commentator and regular idiot Rush Limbaugh comparing feminists to Nazis (“feminazis”) because of their pro-choice attitude toward abortion.

But Limbaugh isn’t the only one ostracizing feminists. Recently, Republican Party candidate Rick Santorum was asked in an interview about his 2005 book, It Takes a Family, where he refers to “radical feminists” causing the demise of the idea of the stay-at-home mom.

He leads the crusade against radical feminists, which he believes diminish the importance of the soccer mom in favor of the working mom.

There seems to be a universal hatred of feminists, and why shouldn’t there be? From the definitions presented by Limbaugh and Santorum, they’re annoying, they’re ruining

the fundamental character of our society, and they’re indoctrinating others to do the same.

On the surface, these reasons seem to form the common perception of feminists.

These seem to be the reasons many are unwilling to identify with the term. But the problem is that nobody knows what this term means anymore.

It’s a cliché, a lost movement or a catch-all phrase for every individual fighting for gender equality.

Over the years, the general perception of the token feminist has devolved to represent a group of individuals who cry wolf at the mention of discrimination and hate men—just for good measure. While there are certainly many variations of this prototype, the general gist is that nobody really wants to listen to a feminist because everybody thinks they already know what he or she is going to say.

These stereotypes have become embedded in our society and continually detract from the initial spirit of women fighting for suffrage and against the oppressive powers of the corset.

We seem to have forgotten about the unassuming beginnings of the battle for women’s rights.

Feminism has now grown to include every issue our politically correct society feels necessary to involve, from race to class, age and ethnicity.

To create the impression of inclusivity be-

cause it marries so well with gender equality, the brand has expanded to include everything under the sun.

But by trying to fit these issues under the umbrella of one “ism,” feminism has effectively lost its identity. As it now means something different to each person, the struggle is devolving into the semantics of the definition of the word rather than the cause. As the trouble with grouping any number of people under one name, each feminist has a different agenda, and no one really knows what they’re fighting for anymore.

We need to reassess what this fight is for by beginning to understand the evolving image of the feminist.

While I don’t believe there’s anything inherently wrong with their message, the movement itself has become a disorganized cacophony of half-truths and misconceptions.

While the movement itself does maintain and evoke some of these stereotypes to a degree, these misrepresentations are also perpetuated by our own weariness at hearing about women’s rights and issues.

Gender equality will never be fully achieved in the idealized way the movement advocates; however, this is an issue that should not be glossed over and clouded by misconceptions and stereotypes.

Instead, perhaps separating the cause from the now misconstrued feminist movement will better facilitate equality.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, March 20, 2012

13

Swinging for the

fences IMAGES COURTESY OF ANDREW KAHN

HIDDEN TALENT: In addition to Andrew Kahn's success in the business world, he also has time to hone his art skills, having drawn editorial cartoons for the NCAA and also for the Justice while at Brandeis.

Andrew Kahn ’03 rises in business

By HENRY LOUGHLIN JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

SEE YA: Kahn makes solid contact for the Judges during a game in his college career.

SNOWBIRDS: Kahn (left) often skis with friends and co-workers at Mammoth Mountain.

While most careers involve the mundane numbers-crunching and marketing presentations, there exist paths to careers in business that are by no means conventional.

Andrew Kahn '03 pursued one of those unconventional routes to his business career after graduating from Brandeis.

Kahn began his journey into capitalism with a detour “down under.”

A first team all-conference outfielder and winner of the Athletic Director’s Award for outstanding athletic and academic performance on Brandeis’ baseball team. Kahn, however, was not ready to give up on his dream of playing baseball just yet, and so, he made the decision of a lifetime: he scraped up his savings and flew to Australia with fellow teammate Jon Brown ’03 to play professional baseball for a year before returning to the United States.

“It was amazing,” said Kahn in a phone interview with the Justice. “[The Brandeis baseball team] had a great run in ’02 and ’03, making the NCAA tournaments in consecutive seasons, and Jon and I were looking to keep playing. An old Brandeis coach got us connected with the opportunity in Sydney, and so we took advantage of the opportunity to play professional baseball.”

“We lived out of a Suzuki Sidekick the team gave us, which we eventually had to sell because we ran it into the ground. It was an awesome experience.”

At Australia, Kahn got his first taste of the business world. Besides playing baseball, he and Brown ran baseball clinics at local elementary

schools and gave private lessons.

Following his time in Australia, Kahn decided to head back to the States. An Economics major who wrote his honors thesis on the economics of minor league baseball wanted to try his hand at sports business, reputed for its difficulty at getting a foot in the door. Luckily, a fortuitous opportunity arose with Mandalay Entertainment Group.

“I had a family friend who connected me to Mandalay,” he said.

“They told me that if I wanted to learn the sports business the right way, I had to move to ‘Frisco,’ to which I replied, ‘Sure, I would love to go to San Francisco. Little did I know that they meant Frisco, Texas,” Kahn laughed.

He worked at Mandalay for five years, eventually rising to the role of vice president of business development for the Frisco RoughRiders, managing a department of seven and $5 million in sponsorship funds.

Eventually, however, Kahn’s California roots tugged hard enough at his heartstrings that he began to look for a path back home. Kahn pursued his Master's in Business Administration at UCLA Anderson School of Management, graduating last spring.

With the digital revolution taking place, in which many industries are forced to shift from paper to computers, a company’s need to capitalize on the Internet and its many distribution channels is the norm. This has never been more true than at his current employer, Ticketmaster, where Kahn works in strategy and business development.

“We are concerned about the

way that the market changes,” said Kahn. “We are very progressive and focusing on setting trends.”

His experience at Mandalay, Ticketmaster and his MBA internships at Universal Sports Network and a NYC-based hedge fund have helped Kahn learn the inner workings of business, especially in terms of strategy.

“I am intimately involved in planning the strategy of our business,” he said. “I work as an internal consultant, figuring out what the future of our business will be like.

Mergers and acquisitions, business development, new product development, and solving general business issues are all things for which I am responsible.”

Just as there is uncertainty in the business world, Kahn admitted that, as a West Coast native, he was taking a chance in coming to Brandeis.

“I did not know anybody and I was forced to start over in terms of making friends,” he said.

However, he added that Brandeis’ academic strength and the camaraderie of the baseball team, where coach Varney and his teammates pushed him to become a “better teammate and person”—coupled with his decision to write a senior thesis on something that he was passionate about— proved to be key factors in career success so far.

A former cartoonist for the Justice, Kahn still enjoys utilizing his creative talents in his spare time and remains an avid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers. He admits that the best part of being in Los Angeles is the ability to surf.

Just 31 years old, Kahn has had quite an illustrious career and looks to have a bright future ahead.

SCHOOL'S OUT: Kahn (center) is shown with classmates from the UCLA School of Management at commencement last spring.

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facebook.com/thejusticeonline Crown Center for Middle East Studies Brandeis University

The Two-State Solution: Is it Still Relevant?

Debating Israel and Palestine An exciting panel discussion to celebrate the release of the Crown Center's new book by Prof. Asher Susser, Israel, Jordan, and Palestine: The Two-State Imperative

Tuesday, April 3, 2012 Hassenfeld Conference Center 6:00pm - 8:00pm Panelists: • Dr.

Ahmad Khalidi, Senior Associate Member of St Antony’s College, Oxford • Dr. Aaron David Miller, Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars • Prof. Asher Susser, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University

Event Details :

www.brandeis.edu/crown

THE JUSTICE

jUDGES BY THE NUMBERS TEAM STATS

Runs Batted In

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference

W L Emory 7 1 WashU 5 3 Case 4 4 Rochester 3 5 JUDGES 1 7 Chicago 0 0

Overall W L Pct. 14 7 .667 12 6 .667 10 6 .625 3 5 .375 5 10 .333 0 0 .000

UPCOMING GAMES: Today vs. Bridgewater State Tomorrow vs. Wentworth Thursday at Salve Regina Sunday vs. Framingham State

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012

15

CLUB SPORTS

baseball UAA STANDINGS

●

Pat Nicholson ’11, MA ’12 leads the team with eight RBIs. Player RBI Pat Nicholson 8 Sean O’Hare 7 three tied with 6 4 Kyle Brenner

Lacrosse team prepares for a frenetic schedule

Strikeouts Kyle Brenner ’15 leads the pitching staff with 10 Ks. Player Ks Kyle Brenner 10 Colin Markel 9 9 Pat Nicholson Mike Swerdloff 7

SOFTBALL UAA STANDINGS

TEAM STATS

Not including Monday’s games UAA Conference

Emory WashU Rochester Case JUDGES Chicago

W 6 4 4 3 3 0

L 2 4 4 5 5 0

W 23 10 5 6 3 2

Runs Batted In

Overall L 3 5 6 7 5 0

Pct. .885 .667 .455 .462 .375 .1000

UPCOMING GAMES: Friday vs. WPI (2) Saturday at Salem State (2) Tues March 27 vs. Emerson (2) Wed March 28 vs. Wellesley (2)

Brittany Grimm ’15 leads the squad with six RBIs. Player RBI 6 Brittany Grimm Anya Kamber 4 Marianne Specker 4 3 three tied with

Strikeouts Caroline Miller ’12 leads all pitchers with 18 strikeouts.

Player Ks Caroline Miller 18 Melissa Nolan 7 3 Nikki Cote Casey Ducinski 2

FENCING Overall Results from the fencing squads this season.

TOP PERFORMERS (Men’s)

TOP PERFORMERS (Women’s)

SABER Adam Mandel

RECORD 52-14

SABER Zoe Messinger

RECORD 52-36

ÉPÉE Alex Powell

RECORD 46-29

ÉPÉE Leah Mack

RECORD 52-39

RECORD 52-20

FOIL Vikki Nunley

RECORD 43-16

FOIL Julian Cardillo

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSHUA LINTON

UPCOMING MEET: Julian Cardillo ’14 will next travel to Ohio State University this Thursday to compete in the NCAA Division I Fencing Championships.

JUDGES’ HONOR: Madeleine Stix’ 12 (center), the captain of the club, is pictured with two of her teammates at a practice.

■ The women’s lacrosse

team looks to benefit from veteran leadership in the next two months of competition.

By henry loughlin

TENNIS

JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Results from the Middlebury Invitational on March 9-10.

NOTABLE FINISHES (Men’s)

NOTABLE FINISHES (Women’s)

MEN’S SINGLES Steven Milo

RECORD 5-3

WOMEN’S SINGLES Carley Cooke

MEN’S DOUBLES Milo/Josh Jordan

RECORD 2-2

WOMEN’S DOUBLES RECORD Cooke/Faith Broderick 6-1

RECORD 8-2

UPCOMING MEET: The men’s tennis team will take on Bentley College tomorrow at 3 p.m., while the women’s squad faces off against Bentley this Thursday at 3 p.m.

Though there are many different sports teams that utilize Gordon Field, one team, while lesser-known, has made its name in Brandeis athletes.

The women’s lacrosse squad has the unique ability to bring together players of both veteran and novice skill. While they fell in their first game of the season to Harvard University by a score of 15-3, Annie Cui ’15 believes that the first game did not reflect the team’s potential. “[The game] was really fun even though we did not have any [substitutes],” said Cui. “We were still able to play a full game.”

The team is coached by Kasey Beckwith, a former standout at

Roger Williams University, who holds the distinction of being the school’s second-highest goal scorer. In addition to practicing twice a week, the team also competes once every two weeks, with upcoming contests against Boston College, Brown University, College of the Holy Cross and Wentworth Institute of Technology.

While some players are new to the game, Cui explained that each player on the team is willing to hone their skills to succeed in the future.

“There are players of all different skill levels and even a few new players that have never played before,” she said. “But they are all really quick to learn, and everyone on the team helps each other, including our coach. Everyone is really willing to learn to play the game and improve as a team.”

Despite having experience in the sport, the team places an emphasis on the basics of lacrosse, such as conditioning and defense, noting

that they are integral to success in the game. However, the squad also works rigorously on more sophisticated elements of the game, including ball-handling and stick skills.

Taking the extensive practices and team chemistry into account, Cui felt that the squad showed a lot of potential in the game against Harvard and will continue to do so in future matches.

“I was really impressed at how well we played together at our first game,” she said. “Even though it was challenging without subs, the girls never gave up and we really stuck together and played like a team. I think it is a great activity to be involved in and anyone who is interested should try it out.”

As in the rest of the nation, lacrosse is catching on at Brandeis.

The squad next faces off against Boston College at Chestnut Hill this Saturday at 7 p.m.

— Editor’s Note: Madeleine Stix ’12 is a Justice Sports staff writer.

boston bruins beat Bruins draw upon luck of the Irish at home, notching a tight shootout victory over the surging Flyers The luck of the Irish seemed to be in the air for the Bruins last Saturday in a home game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Whether it was truly the magic of St. Patrick’s Day or due to the loud, rowdy chants of “let’s go Bruins,” Boston managed to end their season-long four-game losing streak in a 3-2 shootout win over the Flyers. Philadelphia gave the Bruins all it could handle, forcing a shootout. However, the Bruins drew upon some holiday spirit, winning the shootout 3-2 to improve their record to 41-27-3.

Boston jumped right out of the gates, notching two goals in the first period alone. The Bruins finally clicked on offense, especially after being outscored 12-2 in their Florida road trip last week.

At the six minute, 23 second mark, Philadelphia goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov saved a shot from Boston left wing

Benoit Pouliot, but center Chris Kelly put in the rebound for his 17th goal of the season.

About halfway into the first period, the Bruins conceded a key opportunity after committing a penalty. After a scramble for the puck, Boston surprisingly had a chance at a shorthanded goal, but Bryzgalov notched the save.

However, at 17:07, Bruins center Tyler Seguin took a pass from center Patrice Bergeron to secure his 25th goal of the season.

“We knew they were going to be desperate,” Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. “They have not been playing too well as of late. ... We knew they were going to come out with a big effort. They smoked us the first half of the game.”

While a fast-paced tempo was on display during the second period and each team received many scoring opportu-

nities, both squads did not have much to show by the second intermission.

However, nine minutes into the second period, the Flyers finally got on the board. Right wing Matt Read deflected a shot from center Danny Briere into the net, cutting the Bruins’ lead to one.

Defense proved to be the name of the game for the rest of the second period and much of the third. After the Flyers’ second-period goal, neither team managed to slap the puck into the net for 24 minutes. Each team found openings, but the goaltenders on each side set up an iron curtain around the creases. With around four minutes to go, the crowd was confident the Bruins had the game in hand—their defense seemed impenetrable.

However, at the 15-minute mark, Boston would encounter misfortune once again. Boston goaltender Tim

Thomas deflected a shot from Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn, but right wing Jakub Voracek was able to sneak it past a small opening to tie the game.

While the Bruins offense still sputtered, Thomas continued to come through in the clutch. His stellar goaltending effort forced overtime, and even then, the Bruins goalie would carry a lackluster offense.

With the crowd firmly behind them, and the prospects of a shootout looming, Boston’s offense came alive once again. Center David Krejçí and Seguin both scored to open the shootout, but the goals were answered by Read and then by center Claude Giroux.

Bergeron scored the third straight goal for the Bruins, sending the crowd into frenzy. Brière had a chance to tie the shootout, but the puck landed into

Thomas’ mitt, giving the Bruins their first victory since March 8 against the Buffalo Sabres.

Bryzgalov and the Flyers came into the game having won seven games in a row. The slick goaltender allowed an average of just 0.99 goals per game during that stretch, including a franchiserecord shutout streak of 249:43. On Saturday, the Bruins managed five total goals against him.

“Sometimes when you lose in a shootout, you take it personally. But if you win you feel real good,” said Thomas. “That was a hard, 65-minute effort today.”

Boston will embark on a challenging West Coast road trip this week, first squaring off against the San Jose Sharks this Thursday at 10:30 p.m.

— Jacob Moskowitz

just

Sports

Page 16

GYM, TEAMWORK, LAX The women's lacrosse squad faces its toughest test, squaring off against five premier college teams in the next month, p.15.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Waltham, Mass.

SOFTBALL

POWER PITCHER

Team fares well in conference games ■ The softball team turned

in a solid performance in its slate of UAA games, winning three out of eight games.

By JACOB ELDER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo

BRINGING THE HEAT: Dylan Britton ’13 winds up for the pitch in a 10-8 home win against Worcester State University last April 12.

Judges struggle in UAA play on Florida road trip ■ The baseball team faced a

imposing group of opponents in its conference schedule, only winning one match.

By adam rabinowitz JUSTICE EDITOR

With a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth inning in last Saturday's game against Case Western Reserve University and trailing 9-1 with two outs, pitcher Pat Nicholson ’11, MA ’12 had the opportunity to inject some life into the Judges’ bats with a key hit. Instead, he weakly popped up the ball to second base, and just like that, the Brandeis bats were down swinging.

After a marathon stretch in which the Judges played eight games in seven days, Brandeis headed home.

The at-bat by Nicholson ended a disappointing 1-7 road trip in Florida against University Athletic Association opponents, with the lone win coming against Case last Thursday.

Pitcher Alex Tynan ’12 noted that the key difficulty for the team last week was to drive in runners and to better execute on offense.

“I think it is just a matter of the fundamentals,” he said. “We need to get guys over, runners in scoring position and overall just play better and be more efficient on offense.”

Brandeis looked to depart from Florida on a high note, striving for its second victory over the Case Spartans. In the first inning, that possibility did not seem too far-fetched.

After outfielder Zach Bardwell ’15 capitalized on a balk and defensive miscue, first baseman Kyle Brenner ’15 brought him home with a wellplaced RBI single. However, the lead would not last for long. Nicholson was battered by an explosive Case offense, surrendering seven runs, five of which were earned, in three innings of play. The Spartans cruised to

a 9-1 victory in the Judges' last game in Florida.

Last Friday, Brandeis was flying high heading into a game against Rochester, looking to build upon its victory over Case. Center fielder Zach Malis ’12 provided an RBI double to bring the Judges to within one. After giving up another two runs, Brandeis had some intervention from Lady Luck in the seventh inning. Outfielder Sean O’Hare ’12 came up with the clutch hit, sending a screamer into left-center to drive third baseman Brian Ing ’14 in at home. Catcher Kenny Destremps ’12 drilled a ball right at the opposing shortstop, but it popped right out of the glove, allowing Dominic Schwartz '14 to cut the lead to 5-4.

That was all Lady Luck had in store for the Judges, who lost 6-4.

Given that it was the Ides of March, Brandeis would have been expected to run into misfortune. Fortunately, it was a positive fate, as the Judges notched their first UAA victory over Case by a score of 4-3 last Thursday.

Michael Swerdloff ’13 scattered eight hits over eight and one third innings of work. In the eighth inning, Brandeis was down by a run and faced defeat, but Brenner ensured that would not be the case. He belted a line drive down the left field line, bringing in two runs and carrying the Judges to a win.

Looking to move past a blowout loss to Washington University in St. Louis earlier in the week, the Judges were ready to give the WashU Bears a run for their money last Wednesday. They certainly did. Malis put Brandeis on the scoreboard in the fourth inning with an RBI single. Colin Markel ’14 lost control after that though, giving up five runs in the next three innings. The offense nearly bailed him out in the ninth inning, as O’Hare and Destremps knocked in back-to-back RBI singles, but it could not get the job done in a 5-3 defeat.

As if the long road trip was not bad enough, the Judges faced the ultimate

test of endurance in a double-header last Tuesday against the University of Rochester and Emory University.

Brandeis jumped right out of the gates in the first inning, piling on four runs against Rochester. Designated hitter Dan Gad ’15 started the onslaught with a two-RBI single. Destremps and Ing also knocked in two runs. However, from there, the offensive firepower vanished. Britton coughed up six runs between the third and fifth innings, while Brandeis had nothing in the tank, ultimately leading to a 6-5 loss.

A similar fate beset Brandeis in the afternoon game against the Emory Eagles. This time, the Judges took a while to heat up, giving up five runs in the first inning. However, in the fifth inning, Brandeis made a statement. Loading up the bases, Malis clobbered a ball right over the left field fence for his first career grand slam to bring the Judges to a 6-5 lead.

Again, Brandeis did not have much left to offer, only notching one additional run in an eventual 11-7 loss.

The Judges brought the Massachusetts chill to Florida to start off the tournament, at first unable to produce a single run in a 6-0 shutout loss to Emory. While the offense finally began to warm up the next day against the Bears, the pitchers were frozen in dismay. Surrendering seven runs in the seventh inning alone, the Judges fell to Washington University in a 14-2 rout.

While he was impressed with the team’s effort last week, Tynan stated that he thinks the team will greatly benefit from playing back at home.

“We are a really great group,” he said. “We played hard, put in all of our effort and greatly enjoyed this trip. It will be good to get back up to Massachusetts though and hopefully build up a streak.”

Brandeis will not get much rest, squaring off against Bridgewater State University today at 3 p.m. at home.

The softball team flew to sunny Altamonte Springs, Florida, prepared for a wild week of games. The squad certainly was not disappointed, playing eight games over five days at the University Athletic Association Tournament. The Judges had to prove their mettle against some of the best Division III talent in the nation but still notched a 3-5 conference record for the week.

Amanda Genovese ’15 was particularly impressed with the team’s perseverance and effort.

“The highlight of the week was when we finally came together as a team to beat Case and have a great game against WashU,” she said.

Given that the team had its season opener last Tuesday, the Judges took some time to find their rhythm, dropping the season opener 8-0 against Emory University, the defending UAA champion. Brandeis notched two hits during the game, singles from Marianne Specker ’12 and Melissa Nolan ’14.

It did not take long for Brandeis to assert itself against its conference rivals, sweeping its doubleheader, as the team defeated the University of Rochester 2-1 and Case Western Reserve University 7-5.

The bats only stayed alive for one inning in the Judges’ match against Rochester. The YellowJackets scored first off a single, but Brandeis fought back in the bottom of the frame to score with a pair of two-out runs.

Specker began the rally with a single and then moved into scoring position.

Anya Kamber ’15 tied the game by hitting a double, while outfielder Lauren Porcaro ’12 drove Nolan in for the game-winning run.

Later in the day, the Brandeis batters finally found their groove, notching 11 hits, five of which were extra bases. The squad trailed early but responded with three two-out runs in the third for the lead, including RBI doubles from Specker and Nolan.

In the top of the fifth, the Judges took advantage of three Case errors to score four runs on four hits. Nolan then ultimately came up with a squeeze bunt single that proved to be the game-winning run.

However, the next day was quite a different story, as the Judges were routed in their second doubleheader.

Brandeis fell to No. 21 Washington University in St. Louis and No. 2 Emory University 12-3 and 15-0, respectively.

In the game against Washington, Brandeis rallied from a five-run deficit but still fell short. Caroline Miller ’12 allowed five runs in her first two innings of work. In the fourth and fifth innings, the Judges would not go down that easily. Specker figured prominently in the rally, scoring off a single by Porcaro and then driving in Brittany Grimm '12 for an RBI. On Friday, the Judges lost 8-7 in a nail-biter to Rochester. Brandeis clawed its way back from a six-run deficit in the sixth inning only to lose at the end of the game. Genovese drew a walk while the bases were loaded and drove in second baseman Megan DeNubila ’15. Leah McWilliams '12 and Kamber belted two clutch RBI singles to cut the lead to 7-5. Miller batted in two more RBIs to tie the game at 7-7. However, Nolan coughed up the game-winning run in the seventh inning.

The final day of the tournament proved to be a back-and-forth affair, winning a 11-3 blowout over Case but losing in a close-knit 5-4 affair to the Bears.

The Judges entered the fifth inning trailing 3-1 in their game against Case. Specker doubled, while Mimi Theodore '12 then scored off a sacrifice fly from Kamber. Nolan delivered a clutch RBI single to help Brandeis take the lead. In the sixth inning, the Judges caught fire and brought 10 batters to the plate to score seven runs and notch the 11-3 rout.

Brandeis could not hold on to an early lead against the Bears. After Grimm singled home and Genovese and Specker each notched an RBI double, Washington responded with two runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Brandeis rallied in the fifth with a single from Genovese and a two-run home run from Grimm. However, WashU countered with three straight singles to notch the 5-4 loss.

Catcher Cori Coleman ’15 believed the tournament was a great learning experience for the team and prepared them well for future games.

“The tournament was a great bonding experience and it lets us hone our skills for the long season coming on,” she said.

Brandeis next returns to action on Friday at 3:00 p.m. against Worcester Polytechnic Institute at home.

California dreamin'

Andrew Kahn '03, former Australian baseball player and sports marketing director, continues to make his mark in business, p. 13.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW KAHN

just

March 20, 2012

S T R A

a r B

s i e d n

s e r a C

s t n e d u t s s e t i S n D u I A t s n i a g a p. 20 Photo: Asher Krell/the Justice. Design: Robyn Spector and Jenny Cheng/the Justice.

18

TUESDAY, march 20, 2012 ● THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

19-21

■ Ben Gold ’13 recital

19

■ MusicUnitesUS panel

19

Junior Music and Theater double major Ben Gold talks to JustArts about his recent performance in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Four panelists discussed cultural advocacy and ways to continue the practice of art in developing countries as a follow-up to last week’s raga concert.

■ Brandeis Cares

20 Typanium Euphorium’s musical revue featured performers old and new in support of Broadway Cares.

■ ‘Fuddy Meers’ review

20

■ SKIN fashion show

21

■ Talujon concert

21

OFF CAMPUS

23

Brandeis Ensemble Theatre’s production of this dark comedy piqued our curiosity.

The Brandeis Asian American Student Association’s annual fashion show was a huge success.

The world-renowned percussion ensemble took on some of Brandeis’ graduate student compositions.

■ ‘Community’ season premiere 23 This character-driven episode revitalized interest in the popular series.

■ ‘Les Miserables’

23

JustArts reviews the show’s 25th anniversary tour which is now playing in Boston.

CALENDAR

Interview

by Shelly Shore

Move over, Game of Thrones! Hollywood has its own incest scandal, and it doesn’t need an HBO production budget to play it out on all the tabloids.

This week’s big story is all about the Houston family. On March 14, Star Magazine announced that just a month after her mother’s tragic death, Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown is engaged—to her “adopted” brother, Nick Gordon!

“Nick proposed to Krissy on March 10, and she said yes,” a friend of the family told Star. “Krissy said Nick is the only person she trusts in the world. They have a very deep connection.”

In a way, it makes sense. Gordon, 22, and Bobbi Kristina, 19, have been friends for years. Ten years, to be exact; in 2002, Whitney Houston unofficially adopted Gordon when he was having problems at home and brought him to live with her.

Connections and true love are all well and good, but some fans are a little creeped out.

While no formal adoption procedures ever took place, Gordon has been called Houston’s “secret son” for years, and he and Bobbi Kristina called each other “baby sis” and “brudder” on Twitter. Earlier this week, though, Gordon confirmed their new relationship, tweeting, “Yeah we got a little closer and what!!!”

All abuse of exclamation points aside, fans aren’t the only ones turned off by the new romance.

After viewing a video of Houston and Gordon holding hands and kissing in Atlanta (brought to her by everyone’s favorite sleazy but eerily accurate news source, TMZ) Houson’s grandmother Cissy Houston told a close friend, “What [Houston and Gorodon] are doing is incestuous.” Yikes! Not exactly the reaction you want when you tell the family you’re getting married.

Stepner shares insight on Lydian Quartet

 JustArts spoke with Prof. Daniel Stepner (MUS), first violin of the Lydian String Quartet, about his experience in the world of chamber music.

ASTERIO TECSON/Wikimedia Commons

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM: Bobbi Kristina Houston is marrying her “adopted” brother, Nick.

Still, Houston doesn’t seem fazed by her grandmother’s disapproval.

According to TMZ, she has told friends that she “doesn’t give a damn about what Cissy thinks. … Because Nick’s not her blood brother, she definitely doesn’t consider it incest.” As one source “close to the family” said, Houston “can’t please everyone, so she’s going to please herself.”

Houston has a point: She and Gordon technically aren’t related by law or blood, so they aren’t breaking any laws.

And hey, it’s nowhere near as creepy as Morgan Freeman potentially marrying his step-granddaughter. As my pun-loving father would say, when it comes to incest, you really need to keep it relative to the situation.

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus this semester

ON-CAMPUS EVENTS Wit and the Present Moment

This talk is part of the European Cultural Studies Spring Lemon Cake Lecture Series.

Northwestern Univeristy professor Gary Saul Morson will be discussing the nature of witticisms and sayings. Lunch and lemon cake will be served.

Tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m. in Shiffman 219.

Musika Rox: Rhythms of the Middle East

B’yachad’s annual performance will be a night celebrating the diversity of Middle Eastern cultures. B’yachad will bring original dance numbers to the stage, showcasing choreography that reflects the many traditional and modern styles present in Israeli dance.

There will also be an exciting lineup of guest performers representing different flavors of dance, music and poetry. Tickets are $5 at the door or free with a Brandeis student ID. Tomorrow at 8 p.m. in the Levin Ballroom.

Troubling Futures: The Emotional Impact of Climate Change Cinema

Alexa Weik von Mossner, of the University of Fribourg and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, will discuss how popular films and documentaries shape the way we think about global warming.

Thursday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in Shiffman 219.

‘Footloose’

The Hillel Theater Group presents this classic musical about a boy who moves to a small Texas town where dancing is outlawed. The musical that made Kevin Bacon a star includes great songs such as “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”

Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Carl J. Shapiro Theater.

Indie Louies Film Festival

This annual student-produced film festival kicks off with a pizza party and a screening of last semester’s five 48-Hour Films.

For your entertainment (and allowing for a break from watching a screen), there will be live performances by student musicians and comedians. At 9 p.m., visiting band Foxy Shazam will take the stage.The screenings will take place on the second day of the festival. There are 27 short films, many of which were produced by Brandeis students or are Brandeis-affiliated.The festival concludes with an awards banquet and prizes for acting, directing and other production positions.

48-hour film screenings and concert on Friday at 6 p.m. in Cholmondeley’s, festival screenings on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Mandel Center for the Humanities auditorium and awards banquet at 6 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room.

Jill Dreeben and Peter Clemente concert

Celebrated musicians flutist Jill Dreeben and guitarist Pete Clemente will perform

JOSH SPIRO/Justice File Photo

PUT YOUR HANDS UP: B’Yachad, Brandeis’ Israeli dance troupe, hosts Musika Rox, a performance of Middle Eastern dances. Guest groups will also perform at this year’s event on Wednesday at 8 p.m. works by Bach, Katherine Hoover and Joan Tower. Dreeben and Clemente will also perform a world premier of John Kusiak’s “Monhegan Suite.”

Friday from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Temptasion: BAASA’s 40th Anniversary Party

The Brandeis Asian American Student Association concludes Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a huge intercollegiate party. The party will include a henna station, a casino and prize giveaways. DJ Octokyu will be providing entertainment for the evening.

Friday from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the Levin Ballroom.

Sderot benefit concert

The Brandeis-Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry is sponsoring this concert and dance party to benefit the children of Sderot, an Israeli town close to the Gaza border that is hit frequently with rocket fire.

Saturday from 2 to 11:30 p.m. in the South Campus Commons.

Katharine Peña, soprano: senior recital

Senior voice student Katharine Peña will present her senior recital of classical works.

Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Graduate musicologists recital

Want to see your music professors perform for you? Come to this concert.

Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

Amelia Lavranchuk, soprano: senior recital

Senior voice student Amelia Lavranchuk will present her senior recital of classical

works.

Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall.

‘Not My Life’

The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism presents this chilling film that explores the lives of trafficked children on five continents. These children are kidnapped or sold into slavery, where they are forced to do hard labor or work in the sex industry. Preceding the screening, Dr. MeiMei Ellerman, member of GaIDI and Board Director of the Polaris Project will give a talk about modern-day slavery.

Monday at 7:45 p.m. in Olin-Sang 101.

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS ‘Les Miserables’

One of the most well-known and beloved Broadway musicals, Les Miserables is a love story set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. The play is based on Victor Hugo’s seminar 1862 novel of the same name. The performance includes such favorites as “On My Own,” “Do You Hear the People Sing” and “I Dreamed a Dream.” Read JustArts’ review of the show on page 23.

March 22 through 24 at the Wilbur Theatre, located at 246 Tremont St., Boston. Tickets cost $50 to $75.

‘Next to Normal’

This three-time Tony-winning rock musical takes a dark look at bipolar disorder, depression and mental illness. Next to Normal is also one of only eight plays to win a Pulitzer Prize for drama, which it received in 2009.

Running through April 9 at the SpeakEasy Stage Company, located at 527 Tremont St., Boston.

The Lydian String Quartet’s current members include music profesors Daniel Stepner and Judith Eissenberg, violins; Mary Ruth Ray, viola; and Joshua Gordon, cello. The Lydian String Quartet, whose artistic flair has inspired worldwide critical acclaim, frequently performs, presenting students with a wonderful opportunity to listen to professional musicians. Their next concert will take place April 29 during the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts.

JustArts: How long have you been a part of the Lydian String Quartet?

Daniel Stepner: I joined the Lydian String Quartet in 1987. This is my 24th year! The quartet had been founded in 1980, seven years before my joining.

JA: Why is the world of chamber music so appealing to you? What makes chamber music so special —that is, how does it differ from playing in an orchestra?

DS: Chamber music offers a musician a unique opportunity for both self-expression and for being part of a community. Orchestral playing is wonderful for the social as well as the musical aspect.

Chamber music offers both aspects in even more intense fashion; there is constant give and take, as well as the challenge of intermittent solo playing—no one else is playing your line! Then, too, there’s the wonderful 300-year repertoire we have inherited.

JA: Are you involved in other music ensembles?

DS: Yes—we all are, though the Lydian Quartet is our major commitment. I belong to the Boston Museum Trio (resident at the Museum of Fine Arts), and I am artistic director of the Aston Magna [Music] Festival, a summer series in the Berkshires.

JA: The Lydian String Quartet has won acclaim not only for their mastery of standard repertoire, but also for their programming of contemporary pieces. What motivates the quartet to commission such a wide range of pieces?

DS: Quartet repertory is a living, breathing organism—begun 300 years ago in central Europe, but developed all over the world. New quartets are being written today—we just had a commission competition for a new quartet and got entries from more than 400 composers! We have made a point of playing music from many cultures, as well as from our core repertoire. This makes us feel as though we are cosmopolitan missionaries for art, rather than museum keepers of specialized artifacts.

JA: What would you consider to be the Lydian String Quartet’s greatest accomplishment?

DS: We try to balance our programming with new and old, formal and informal. Having a residency at a university gives us the flexibility to do this. Our most recent project is a recording of the five last quartets of Beethoven, which should be coming out very shortly.

JA: The Lydian String Quartet often gives lectures before performances. What do people, non-musicians included, gain from listening to these lectures? Does the information enhance the performance for the audience?

DS: The lectures are meant to create a historical and cultural context for the music we are playing at that particular concert. We also share some of our thoughts about the learning and rehearsal process. We assume that this will enhance the listener’s experience. The lectures are not meant for music specialists, rather for music lovers who want to know more about what they are about to hear.

JA: How often does the Lydian String Quartet play at Brandeis?

DS: We play three concerts a year at Brandeis.

We also tour and present similar programs out of town. As individuals, we give recitals at Brandeis as well.

JA: Where else, besides Brandeis, does the Lydian String Quartet perform?

DS: We tour in the area and farther afield as well. This year we played in Kentucky, Tennessee [and] New Hampshire. We have played in Europe and as far afield in the U.S. as California.

JA: When is the Lydian String Quartet’s next concert at Brandeis?

DS: Our next concert at Brandeis is April 29, during the [Leonard Bernstein] Festival of the [Creative] Arts.

JA: In past seasons, the Lydian String Quartet has created intriguing themed programs. Is there a theme involved in the upcoming concert at Brandeis?

DS: For the upcoming concert, we will be presenting three works composed by Brandeis faculty composers honoring our new president, Frederick Lawrence.

—Emily Simons

THE JUSTICE

●

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012

19

ON CAMPUS CULTURE

PLAYING THE PART

Panelists advocate the arts in preservation of cultures ■ Following last week’s raga

concert, MusicUnitesUS discussed the power of music around the world.

By aziz sohail JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

MONSTER MASH: Gold ’13 performed a song from ‘Avenue Q’ at Brandeis Cares.

Ben Gold loves the spotlight ■ From singing to acting,

Gold has found his niche in the arts at Brandeis, but it wasn’t always that way.

By viet tran JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Ben Gold ’13, a Music and Theater double major, is now highly involved in the performance scene at Brandeis. He has performed in numerous musicals and is a member of the a cappella group Proscenium. His love for musical theater stems from more humble beginnings.

In an interview with justArts, Gold described his younger self as tone-deaf and somewhat unskilled: “I didn’t even know I could act or sing until I was about 12.” An audition for a musical the summer after fifth grade changed the course of his dreams.

“I [now] realize how much happier it’s made me,” Gold said. “I guess I love to sing and act because it’s an emotional release. I’m typically a quiet person in real life and don’t wear my emotions on my sleeve. …

When I’m onstage singing, acting or both, it’s a way to express a part of me that might not get expressed otherwise.”

This discovery has led him to performances in numerous musicals through high school, community theaters and college.

Gold recently showcased his talents in a solo voice recital in the Slosberg Recital Hall Sunday evening. His performance was divided into sets of themes that included exotic locations, love, religion and society. The program spanned music from operettas of the late 1800s and continued throughout the history of musicals to include, among others, pieces by Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Noel Coward, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim.

Accompanied by professional musician Sarah Troxler on piano,

Gold expressed a range of emotions throughout his songs, most of which he selected himself. “A lot of them I like just because they are funny,” he explained. “Other ones are really powerful, with character and emotion behind them. You can really get into [them].”

One of the most humorous numbers was “Haben Sie Gehört Das Dëustche Band” from The Producers, in which Gold played a writer for a fictional musical in production called Springtime for Hitler. He noted that this song is one of his favorites to perform: “What [Brooks] does with his lyrics [is] really brilliant.

[They have] clever stuff in them.”

During other parts of his recital, Gold showed a sense of drama and poignancy, as with “This is Not Over Yet,” from Parade.

Gold also revels in the act of performing itself. “During performances, whether it’s straight theater or musical theater, I usually don’t feel that nervous,” he said. “Sometimes I get jittery before the show, but that usually stops once I go onstage. I definitely respond to the audience’s energy. … If they seem very into the performance, I’ll feel more energized. ...

Getting a reaction from the audience, whether it’s laughter, horror or even just applause, is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, feelings ever.”

Presently, Gold has set his sights on continuing performance in his life after college. Though it will take a lot of work, Gold plans to “[keep] practicing, keep working at it and keep growing.” He believes “that no matter how good you are, there’s always room to get better, ways to improve, and things to do differently. I mean, a lot of it is just working on your craft.”

Gold has talked with many performers and actors in New York City to learn the ways of show business.

“A lot of being successful is being persistent,” he said. “The people who are successful aren’t always the most talented, but they’re usually the most persistent. They keep working at it. … and [don’t take] any rejection personally.”

On March 13, the director of MusicUnitesUS, Prof. Judith Eissenberg (MUS), brought together four esteemed individuals in a panel focusing on the field of cultural advocacy and making a difference through the arts.

The program started with the moderator, ethnomusicologist and Dartmouth College professor Theodore Levin, introducing the four panelists and explaining the layout of the evening. Each of the panelists presented for around 12 minutes.

The presentations were followed by an hour of discussion.

Richard Kurin, the under secretary of History, Art and Culture at the Smithsonian discussed the Haiti Project, which attempts to contain what Kurin called a “cultural disaster” following Haiti’s massive 2010 earthquake, which destroyed the presidential palace, historic churches and the National Museum, along with many homes.

He pointed out that the United States does not have a ministry of culture or a fund for cultural emergency relief, and that this is a consistent dilemma in the field of cultural advocacy and cultural diplomacy.

Kurin also spoke about the different ways in which the Smithsonian partnered with different organiza-

tions and the community to preserve and recover art pieces and created residencies and art therapy programs for children.

Ethel Raim, the artistic director for the Center for Traditional Music and Dance then talked about her organization, based in New York City.

The organization focuses on preserving the culture of immigrant communities by encouraging artists within those communities to continue their cultural practices and gives them a platform to showcase their work through programming, concerts and tours.

Raim has worked specifically within the Greek and Macedonian immigrant communities. She pointed out that this sort of work is “dependent on the partnerships and developments with institutes and community centers” since these places have space and money for many projects to be successful.

Jessye Kass ’13, the only student on the panel, discussed at length the Attukwei Art Foundation, an organization she co-founded in Ghana. Kass sees her cultural advocacy work through a different lens than the other panelists. Her organization has very specific goals to provide “art therapy programs and a cathartic outlet for children,” as opposed to the broader goals of the other groups.

The Attukwei Art Foundation relies on volunteers and workers who come to Ghana and are placed in schools and communities to work with children for a minimum of four weeks. Kass talked at length about her experiences with many children, especially one, Christa-

bell, through whose story she came to believe in the power of art to change and heal.

Finally, the fourth panelist, Zeyba Rahman, director of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music (North America and Asia), talked about the many projects she has been involved in. Describing herself as an individual “working on the cross roads of culture and civil society,” she said that, “culture is a resource that society needs to move from today to tomorrow.”

The Fes festival, one of the largest of its kind, brings together musicians from all over the world in the city of Fes, in Morocco, for over a week of cultural and musical programming. According to Rahman, this festival was created by another Muslim, a Sufi who was concerned about the polarization of the West and the Muslim world in the 1990s.

The festival’s goal and concern become even more important after 9/11.

At the end of the presentations, the audience had 15 minutes for questions and discussion, but it felt too short for all the ideas the talk had stirred. However, many questions were asked, such as how to reach out to communities in the U.S. in regards to cultural diplomacy.

I wish the panelists had kept their presentations to less than ten minutes so that the audience could have had a greater chance for discussion. While the presentations were informative and articulated the dilemmas facing cultural advocates, there was little analysis and almost no conversation on how to move forward.

JENNY CHENG/the Justice

VoiceMale release party Last night, VoiceMale held a concert in the Shapiro Campus Center atrium to promote the release of its new CD, Phoenix. This is the all-male a cappella group’s eighth album.

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TUESDAY, march 20, 2012

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THE JUSTICE

theater

WHEN MOM ATTACKS

Performers gather to raise funds for AIDS ■ Brandeis Cares raised

nearly $1,000 for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.

By MAYA SHEMTOV JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

From burlesque cabaret and flashy show tunes to crass comedy and hip-hop dancers, Brandeis Cares encompassed a wide variety of popular Broadway music while engaging the audience on a personal level through the intimate seating arrangement.

This gala charity concert, organized by Tympanium Euphorium, was put on to raise money for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, the nation’s top industry-based HIV/ AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. The event was co-sponsored by the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance, the Undergraduate Departmental Representative program and the Undergraduate Theater Collective.

Director Ellyn Getz ’13 said that aside from being an amazing performance with a huge turnout, the event raised about $950 through a raffle, ticket sales and a silent auction.

Many professors and students attended, including University President Frederick Lawrence. The emcees of the event were Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and student Deirdre Connelly ’13.

Getz first performed in the Brandeis Cares show two years ago.

Raising money for AIDS research became especially important to her because, her character Mimi, in last year’s production of Rent, was HIVpositive. As a method actress, Getz tries to put herself in the situation her character is embodying to really experience and research it. For the role of Mimi, she gave up eating candy for two months to feel, on a smaller scale, the effects of deprivation and withdrawal. She also spoke to many people at Brandeis who have lost loved ones to the disease: “This showed me how [HIV/AIDS] really is such a far reaching illness and how important the cause was.”

“It was amazing to represent Brandeis in the Broadway world [through this musical and working with Broadway Cares].” One of the bigger numbers in the show was the In the Heights medley directed by Iyvon Edebiri ’13. In the Heights depicts three days in the lives of lowerclass families living in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. The medley featured the hip-hop dance group Kaos Kids along with other featured dancers. Abby Armstrong ’13, who directed the music for the act, said, “It was an incredible experience working with so many different types of people—from those who proudly call themselves ‘musi-

cal theater people’ to those who have never sung in front of a live audience.

It was amazing watching the eclectic cast bond over the course of our brief rehearsal process.” In the Heights brought amazing energy and had the audience dancing in their seats. In the Heights was choreographed by Stephanie Ramos ’14 and David Robles ’13, who are members of Kaos Kids.

Armstrong, who performed in the number, explains that this performance was different from what is usually done at Brandeis. “In The Heights is the kind of musical most people would say we would never be able to do at Brandeis because they say it is too dance heavy or it is too ethnicityspecific, but as a team, Iyvon, David, Stephanie, the incredibly talented cast and I proved those statements wrong,” Armstrong said.

They have been asked to perform the In The Heights medley for the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts later this semester.

From the heart-warming rendition of “Good Morning, Baltimore” from Hairspray by first-time performer Alison Uliss ’12, to an improvised musical by Zane Relethford ’13, Elly Kalfus ’13 and Caroline Grassi ’12, the show really showed the breadth of talent at Brandeis. The improvised musical featured a man who grew up in a cave, and his wife must explain to him how things work in the Western world. The improvised musical was quirky, but catchy, and included several songs.

Aside from performance groups, this event also included politically and socially minded clubs. FACE AIDS, a global youth movement allied with Partners in Health that is dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa and promoting global health, sold pins at the event to raise money to build a health center in Rwanda. This is the first year a FACE AIDS chapter has existed at Brandeis.

According to Rohan Narayanan ’15, who is on the executive board of the chapter, the club has plans to be involved in many more events in the future. “So far, we’ve sold lots of pins and we’re co-planning some great fundraising events in April,” Narayanan said. “We’ve also made partnerships with various clubs and organizations on campus like Triskelion and Colleges Against Cancer and with sorority [Kappa Beta Gamma].”

Getz hopes to try to make Brandeis Cares a bigger part of the Brandeis Community and stay involved in future years. She says Brandeis’s support for the cause, Broadway Cares, will also continue through other theater events. “I plan to set up a donation table at each of the shows that take place at Brandeis including Fuddy Meers and other performances that the undergrad theater collective are setting up in the next few weeks” Getz said.

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

MUSICALITY: Jason Dick ’14 serenades his musical partner with “All the Wasted Time.”

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

WATCH YOUR BACK: Claire’s mother (Jen Kleinrock ’12) attacks the Limping Man (Peter Charland ’14) in a chaotic scene.

BET tackles an amnesiac’s worst nightmare in ‘Meers’ ■ ‘Fuddy Meers’ is a dark

comedy featuring disfigured characters, mental illness and a talking puppet, Binky.

By talia helfrick JUSTICE contributing WRITER

Although the playbills were misprinted, reading “Fuddy Meeds” on the cover, and the performance started about 15 minutes late, BET’s quirky, comedic rendition of Fuddy Meers went on and exceeded my expectations. The play kept the audience laughing hysterically and wondering what conclusion would manifest from the seemingly disconnected events.

When the show opens, it’s morning. Claire’s (Jackie Theoharis ’14) husband Richard (Herbie Rosen ’12) wakes her up with a cup of coffee, like he does every day, only Claire can’t remember that this is routine.

She can’t remember her name, if she likes juice, or even who her son, Kenny (Neal Rabinowitz ’13), is.

The audience soon learns that, for the past two years, Claire has been suffering from psychogenic amnesia, meaning that each morning when she wakes up, she has forgotten everything from the day before.

On this particular day, Claire asks Richard what caused the amnesia, but he refuses to give her an answer, sparking the audience’s curiosity. Minutes later, Claire finds herself kidnapped by a man who claims to be her brother, Zach (Peter Charland ’14).

Unable to remember whether the deformed, limping man is actually her brother or if she is in danger, a naïve Claire goes with him. While in the car, the limping man refuses to tell Claire what caused her amnesia or his deformities, heightening the audience’s curiosity.

The two drive to their mother’s house, where the audience discovers only more questions: Why does the

limping man have such a passionate hatred for bacon? What is it that the limping man won’t let their mother, Gertie (Jen Kleinrock ’12), tell Claire? And who in the world is Millet—the man with the puppet (Matt Eames ’13) who appears at Gertie’s house?

Unfortunately, Claire’s mother, having suffered from a stroke, has very impaired speech and is unable to provide Claire with any answers.

At first, the events seemed disconnected, but as the play approaches its ending, loose ends tie together, with the final scene ultimately connecting all the dots. Because the audience does not truly understand the plot until the very end, Fuddy Meers captivates its audience for its entirety.

Fuddy Meers’ director, Michelle Kuchinsky ’12, and the cast were able to make the chaotic nature of the play coherent, and although the mayhem and confusion were the basis of the play, they were very well managed and not overbearing.

Despite the set’s and lighting’s simplicity, the acting brought life to the stage. Each member of the cast had such a specific, unique character, and each of them nailed the part.

Most notably, Rabinowitz perfectly captured the persona of an angry teenage stoner. His character experiences severe personality shifts during the course of the play, and he handles them with apparent ease.

At first, Kenny is indifferent to the happenings surrounding him, but he later exhibits anger so passionate it is palpable. Rabinowitz earned loud laughs from the audience while acting obviously intoxicated but later was also able to instill fear in the audience during his angry outbursts.

Eames, who played Millet, as well as Millet’s puppet Hinky Binky, also exuded the seamless sense of duality that Rabinowitz had, but he was able to simultaneously divide himself into literally two characters. He acted out each role distinctly, never muddling the two. One minute,

Eames was Millet, Zach’s scared and quiet henchman, and the next, he was a mean and inappropriate puppet named Binky.

At first glance, Rosen’s character, Richard, seems uncomplicated—a sweet, attentive husband of little or no interest to the audience. However, his character is arguably the most dynamic in the play. With each scene, the play revealed more about his colored past. Rosen, like Rabinowitz, was able to capture the essence of both of these two distinct personalities: the bad boy and the good husband.

Theoharis was a wonderful lead.

Her character’s confusion and innocence were completely believable.

Her acting captivated the audience, allowing us to sympathize with her pain. Together, Rosen and Theoharis formed a dynamic and skillful duo.

Melanie Pollock ’13 also put in a notable performace as Heidi, a character who is introduced to the audience as a police officer but whose role is complicated as the play moves forward.

Kleinrock humorously muttered her lines incoherently—but just intelligibly enough—for the audience to catch her drift. Kleinrock’s impaired speech was executed so well that one might think that Kleinrock herself, not her character, had suffered from a stroke.

Like Kleinrock, Charland’s mysterious limping man also had a speech impediment, only his speech was punctuated by a pronounced lisp. Charland was able to perfectly act out his character’s deformities without letting them overshadow his acting.

Thanks to its superb actors and the intricacy of the script, all of the mysteries of the play were solved by its end.

However, the show truly questioned the idea of whether or not it is better to forget painful memories.

Fuddy Meers reminds the audience that not everything is always as it seems.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, march 20, 2012

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fashion

SKIN models Asian-American designs ■ Fashion-conscious

students walked the catwalk in clothes from ASN, Anna Sui and Vera Wang.

By DAMIANA ANDONOVA JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Brandeis Asian American Student Association organized the SKIN fashion show titled “Starry Night” in Levin Ballroom last Friday, March 17.

BAASA started the SKIN Fashion Show in 2006 to celebrate AsianAmerican culture, creativity, style and the advancement of Asian fashion designers.

SKIN 2012 celebrated not only Asian American culture but also BAASA’s 40th anniversary. It was a sexy, fun and most of all well-organized “Starry Night” SKIN 2012 was comprised of a red-carpet photo shoot, in which guests competed for “Best Dressed;” well-synchronized and dynamic dance performances; speeches from Brandeisians about their involvement in the fashion industry; and a cocktail party after the show.

The models strutted down the catwalk to a full audience thanks to a fantastic public relations campaign.

Jae Jung ’15, who is on the executive board of BAASA and was the assistant event coordinator, told justArts, “The promotion team this year [was] very good. … This year, they used a lot of social media and really worked on getting the message out.” SKIN 2012 sold out its 250 tickets at 2:50 p.m. on the day of the show.

Vicky Lee ’13, co-president of BAASA, added, “This year, we quadrupled our attendance. It really was because of the public relations.

Facebook was used extensively, and so was ‘word of mouth.’ We had

a week to promote the event, even though we [have] had the models since last October [or] November and have been planning for the show ever since. We wanted to make sure everything went well, but unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties.”

These technical difficulties were completely overlooked by the responsive and enthusiastic audience. It also helped to have a wellprepared emcee, Dan Ding ’12, who chose to sing Disney tunes while a video presentation by Andy Tsang, founder of ASN Clothing, was being fixed.

Beyond the logistics and organization of the event itself, the models and presenters clearly had a passion for fashion. The event committee did a fantastic job procuring and coordinating outfits for ladies and gentleman alike in the categories of high fashion, casual, smart casual and couples’ clothing, all of which were courtesy of ASN clothing, Rent the Runway, Anna Sui and Vera Wang.

I think the models were gorgeous, elegant, classy and funky-chic, and the audience seemed to agree. Attendee Shaefali Shandilya ’13 said, “It was such a great show. The clothes are awesome and the struts were entertaining.” Jennifer Sikov ’15 noted that “It really seemed like it was enjoyable for both models and the audience.”

At least one performer agreed with the audience members’ observations. Model Chaimae Mechtaly ’15, explained her reason for signing up for SKIN in an interview with justArts: “I wanted to interact with Asians and learn about their culture.”

Her experienced fulfilled her hopes: “I know more now, and I’ve made friendships with a lot of people. Doing the catwalk was fun, and the rehearsals were worth it.”

The fashion itself was very interesting. Words like elegant, strong,

crisp, graceful and flowing come to mind. The men’s fashion was classy and put-together, but it contrasted with the choice of shoes, which ranged from construction boots to Converse.

When asked what Asian fashion meant to her, Vicky Lee said, “It’s about being who you are. It’s your identity.” Co-president Stephanie Lee ’13 agreed with her twin sister and added, “It reveals not only who you are, but it is a developing, always evolving way to express yourself and your identity.”

Ji Yun Lee ’11 spoke about her experience in the fashion industry.

Lee has made great strides since her time at Brandeis, where she received a fashion scholarship. She interned with international fashion magazines and is currently working with Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Her inspirational story urged fellow Brandeisians to seek out creative ways to explore their interests in fashion even though Brandeis doesn’t offer fashion and design classes. She explained how she incorporated her interests in various classes and internships she procured.

Proceeds from SKIN 2012 went to a new charity founded by Paul Sukijthamapan ’13, called Project Plus One, which received official not-for-profit status last month.

“Each project we fund,” he said, “enables communities of poverty to help themselves. These projects take place in Asian communities like East Timor, which is why we are collecting donations here tonight.”

BAASA’s SKIN fashion show not only celebrated Asian fashion and culture, but also demonstrated the power of a strong public relations campaign and great event planning skills. The co-presidents truly have much to be proud of—a successful, exciting and most of all, well-executed event.

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

CHIC: Olivia Lu ’14, voted one of the best-dressed audience members, posed onstage.

music

Talujon interprets grad student compositions ■ The three-person representation from Talujon percussion ensemble performed last weekend.

By olivia leiter JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Last Saturday, Travis Alford a Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory and six other Brandeis graduate students composed pieces for the “Ecstatically Eclectic” concert at Slosberg Recital Hall. Each piece was specifically written for Talujon, a visiting contemporary percussion ensemble, to perform on stage.

“I love the act of creating, and I love taking some initial little scraps of ideas and watching them become something.

I also love working with performers,” Alford told justArts. “To me, they are just as responsible for making the piece as I am, which is probably why I’m also attracted to improvisation. Before it’s performed, a piece is just ink on a page, visual art, and it becomes music when it’s interpreted by the players.”

According to Alford, there is a symbiotic relationship between composer and performer. The composer draws upon abstractions, “little scraps of ideas,” and decodes them into a concrete musical language. The performer interprets the “ink on a page” and brings it to life.

The first piece, “Froschteichmusik,” composed by Alford, started out with soft drum rumbling that constantly varied between crescendo and decrescendo. In the second piece, “Melancholia,” composed by Mu-Xuan Lin, a graduate student, the musicians tapped lightly on the xylophone and marimba and beat softly on the drums.

The piece seemed like it was always leading up to something, but the momentum never reached a climax. The tentative quality of the piece had a Sisyphus-like, unresolved nature that I found disconcerting; I felt trapped in a mysterious, ambiguous state of limbo

JENNY CHENG/the Justice

WE GOT THE BEAT: (Left to right) Michael Lipsey, Matt Ward and Matthew Gold visited the Slosberg Recital Hall for an exploration of several Brandeis graduate composers’ works. where there is no sense of finality. This piece was not about rhythm or melody, but about this absurd experience, this other-worldly sphere that I had entered.

In another piece, “Duet for Vibraphone and Marimba,” composed by masters student in Music Compositino and Theory Rebecca Sacks, two Talujon members seemed to feed off one another, engaging in a kind of musical dialogue. Matthew Gold played a central beat while Michael Lipsey seemed to improvise around this beat. In the last piece, “Tableaus,” composed by Ph.D. candidate in Music Cowmposition and Theory Christian Gentry, almost all of the instruments were played. At the very end, the musicians started breaking out into a chant and beating a gong. I was a little overwhelmed by

the cacophony of sounds; there was so much to take in.

While some of the other pieces were a little unsettling because they had this uncanny foreshadowing quality, this piece was almost over-stimulating. Every time the musician struck the gong I felt a pang of anxiety. I felt attached to the piece; I could not hum along or sit back and clear my mind; I was a part of the experience.

The composers’ backgrounds and influences varied. “I started hearing everything from Bach and Beethoven to Schoenberg and Ligeti basically for the first time, and it created this weird collage of sounds in my mind that I think is still present in my music today,” Alford explained. “I went for a Masters at the New England Conservatory, where I was exposed to the ‘contemporary im-

provisation’ scene. This was a turning point for me, as I started to think more ‘experimentally’ about the nature of composition, its processes, and its reception.”

Lin, who grew up in Taiwan and attended college in the U.S., explained that her influence stemmed from, “art, dance and Modern Theater. [She tries] to engage the narrative form out of different expressive art forms.”

“I have been influenced by all sorts of music,” another composer, Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition and Theory James Borchers said. “I’ve played with rock bands, jazz, orchestra, chamber music, Indonesian Gamelan, guitar ensembles, [and] avant-garde experimental groups.”

California native Richard Chowenhill, a masters student in Music Com-

position and Theory described his hometown as “an area with an incredibly diverse music scene,” and added, “I am driven by the desire to push myself past current boundaries and onto new levels of mastery and ability, with the ultimate goal of developing a new, unique and recognizable sound, the sound of my own artistic voice.”

It was clear that each piece was composed by a different student—each piece had a particular nuance in mood and style, reflective of a distinct human perspective. There was something exciting about the raw nature of the music. The show contained so much diversity, in the assortment of instruments, the style of each piece and the student composers. During the entire concert, I felt an overriding sense of celebration of eclecticism and originality.

Join the Arts section of

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Write reviews for theater, movies, dance and music.

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

AMY BISAILLON/the Justice

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, mARCH 20, 2012

23

OFF CAMPUS HUGO’S HEROES

DEEN VAN MEER/Broadway in Boston

LET THEM EAT CAKE: ‘Les Misérables’ is one of the greatest musicals of all time. Broadway in Boston brought the production, which tells the story of the French Revolution, to the Boston Opera House.

‘Les Misérables’ comes to Boston stage ■ The famous love story of

Cosette and Marius comes to the Boston Opera House for a run now through April 1.

By damiana andonova JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

On Thursday evening, the LermanNeubauer Fellows and Martin Luther King Scholars enjoyed a trip to the Boston Opera House, where we watched Broadway in Boston’s production Les Misérables. The show is being put on now in honor of its 25th anniversary.

I found it difficult to walk up the stairs to my seat without staring at the striking ceiling painted with cherubs and adorned with gold fixtures. Sitting on the left of the mezzanine, the stage was in clear view, as were the stunning ceilings.

J. Mark McVey (Jean Valjean), Julie Benko (Cosette) and Andrew Varela (Javert) wowed the audience with flawless ease. It was a stupendous show. Co-Directors Laurence Connor’s and James Powell’s interpretation of the play captured every bit of emotion from the original novel by Victor Hugo, moving the audience to tears and standing ovations.

Set against the backdrop of the

French Revolution, the play centers on the lower class and its struggles to support itself. Les Misérables recounts the story of how a once-imprisoned man, Valjean, seeks redemption. The play begins with scenes of peasant sailors and Valjean’s exit from prison. We see him feeling judged and ultimately succumbing to the beliefs of others after he cannot find a job and steals from the one man who believed Valjean had a soul, the clergyman.

After getting caught, the clergyman forgives Valjean and he is given a second chance. Valjean emotionally reacts and promises he will become an honest man. In scenes following, we find him as a mayor and owner of a factory. After learning about the struggles of a factory girl he fired, he promises to redeem himself by caring for her daughter.

Meanwhile, Javert, a policeman, hopes to recapture Valjean and send him back to prison. The daughter of the factory girl, Cosette, grows up and falls in love with Marius (Max Quinlan), a student-soldier who fights in the war. Valjean believes he has a duty to save Marius. After the war, Javert ultimately finds redemption in the bottom of the Seine after jumping off a bridge, and old Jean Valjean finds solace in adopting and safeguarding Cosette and her Marius.

What made this performance so emotive and worthy of commendation was the behind-the-scenes work that went into it. Stunning stage sets, strong direction and a captivating combination of both old-fashioned theater performances and 21st century lighting and design effects all contributed to the feel of the piece.

McVey’s singing was chillingly breathtaking, and the extensive, highly stylized projected scenery added to production’s sense of reality. The visual projections, coupled with actual stage props, also helped Varela’s equally beautiful performance of Javert.

And while I found Julie Benko’s performance of little Cosette almost ethereal, one of my companions disagreed, saying she found the girl playing Young Cosette to be a “weak singer.”

Even though we disagreed in some aspects, in the end my friend also thought the show was “brilliant.” Because she had seen Les Misérables before and I had not, I asked her for her expert opinion. “Technically, it was about the same as the other two productions I’ve seen of it, which is to say, excellent,” she said. “The 25th anniversary edition is definitely different from the original: they added a couple of songs, most notably ‘Soliloquy’ in the beginning, to add clarity, but it made the show, already over three hours in

DEEN VAN MEER/Braodway in Boston

RAISE A GLASS: Townspeople gather at a local pub to plot their revolutionary activities. length in its full performance, even longer. Overall, the actors were good, although none really stood out as ‘the best,’ and the ensemble was fantastic, both musically and acting-wise.”

The 25th anniversary production had strong themes of religion, which were made even more obvious in this theatrical experience because of the strong emotional intensity not found in the original edition of the play.

The apparent themes of religion made some of my group members a

bit weary. I think the religious themes helped create an emotional, moving experience for the audience, as we saw two men choose to follow God in two completely different ways. In some aspects, though, I agree that it also hindered the play by making it too predictable, even for a musical based on a book.

While some may dislike the emotional intensity of the musical, Les Misérables was indeed inspiring and beautiful—a feast for the eyes.

television

‘Community’ returns triumphant from hiatus ■ The beloved ensemble

comedy is in danger of not being renewed, but a strong comeback works in its favor.

By alex desilva JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

It’s been a rough couple of months for Community fans. After ending its winter run on a high note with an ostensibly Christmas-themed episode (which quickly became an excuse to skewer Glee), the show was suddenly pulled from NBC’s lineup, going on what the network termed a “hiatus.”

To many fans, it looked like NBC was going to finally pull Community from the schedule altogether after two and a half seasons.

For the uninitiated, Community follows the lives of seven students at Greendale Community College who, after forming a study group on the fly in the first episode, have become a tight-knit circle of friends. Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) is the group’s de facto leader and protagonist of the show, a smooth-talking former lawyer who’s trying to get his life back on track. He started the study group in hopes of wooing Britta (Gillian

Jacobs), an outspoken activist who seems to know quite a bit less about the world than she’d care to admit.

Britta frequently clashes with the more traditional Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), a single mother with dreams of opening her own business.

Meanwhile, Troy (Donald Glover), a former football player, and the pop culture-obsessed Abed (Dani Pudi) provide most of the group’s wackiness and have what might be one of the funniest and most weirdly caring friendships in all of television.

Rounding out the younger group members is Annie (Alison Brie), an uptight bookworm, while wealthy baby boomer Pierce (Chevy Chase) is generally used as the group’s “out-oftouch old man.”

As for the threats of cancellation, well, the fans had reason to worry on some level. Community has had fairly low ratings for most of its run despite a loyal—and well-deserved—core of fans. Creator Dan Harmon’s love of meta-commentary and experimental “genre” episodes, while being some of the best parts of one of network television’s best shows, hasn’t helped bring in new viewers.

With all this in mind, fans were in for a happy surprise a few weeks ago when it was announced that Commu-

nity would be returning for the spring.

Their patience was finally rewarded on Thursday with “Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts.” The episode was both a welcome return for fans of the show and Harmon’s best chance to gain new viewers. Therefore, the creator replaced the show’s usual strangeness with a more traditional, character-driven plot.

In the episode, Shirley is trying to open up a sandwich shop in an empty storefront on campus with help from wealthy Pierce. But her on-again, off-again husband Andre (The Cosby Show’s Malcolm-Jamal Warner) proposes to her and she accepts and lets her plans for a business fall by the wayside. The wedding-averse Britta is soon roped into helping plan the rehearsal dinner, which is, of course, in the library’s study room. Jeff, also not a fan of marriage, has to write a speech for Shirley and Andre. Meanwhile, Troy and Abed try their best to make a good impression on the guests by “de-weirding” themselves, while Pierce attempts to get Shirley refocused on opening the sandwich shop.

The only person left out, and probably the weakest written character in the episode, is Annie, who’s stuck with the “wedding-obsessed woman” role.

The plot itself is pretty standard

sitcom fare, which, in all honesty, is par for the course with Community; if there’s anything Harmon loves more than meta-comedy and genre parodies, it’s pointing out and playing with the tropes that have become the foundation of American television. “Urban Matrimony” deviates from the formula by notably—some would say consciously—not poking fun at sitcom tropes. There’s no mention of the show’s break, no “it’s been a while” bit; even Abed, the show’s go-to character for pointing out an episode’s relation to pop culture, is resoundingly silent. This episode was all about the characters, and it’s probably the best way the show could have come back.

In spite of all the hype over its meta-ness, one of Community’s greatest strengths has always been its characters. The writers have always been great at making the characters both broad enough to be funny and emotionally grounded enough to be engaging, which can be easily lost on newcomers who come to the show expecting nothing but Cougar Town references and spot-on parodies of Glee. The focus on characters lets new viewers ease themselves into the show while reminding returning viewers just why they’ve become so

attached to Greendale Community College and its students.

Of course, that’s not to say that this episode was all heart and no humor. There was plenty in “Urban Matrimony” to laugh at, much of it courtesy of Jacobs, who not only got in the best quote of the night—“[a metaphor] is a thought wearing another thought’s hat!”—but also got to show off her skill at playing drunk.

Also great were fan favorites Troy and Abed, who gave old fans invites to mainstays like Inspector Spacetime (the Community universe’s version of Dr. Who), their “Dreamatorium” (an empty room where they let their imaginations loose), and Pierce’s father’s ivory wig (which, yes, is a wig that’s been carved from ivory).

In all, “Urban Matrimony” was a great return for one of the best shows on network TV. While the fans have been anticipating this episode for weeks, the real test will be to see if it was able to win any new viewers.

Community has had a tough battle to stay on the air, and NBC has yet to make an announcement on a fourth season. So if you find yourself bored at eight o’clock on a Thursday night, do yourself a favor and turn on NBC. The Greendale Human Beings would appreciate it.

24

TUESday, March 20, 2012 ● THE JUSTICE

TOP of the

ARTS ON VIEW

TRIVIA TIME 1. What is the meaning of the Latin phrase novus ordo seclorum, located on the Great Seal on a U.S. $1 bill?

2. What is the name for a seashell collector or expert?

3. What Mexican muralist was married to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo?

4. What was the name of Casper the Friendly Ghost’s horse?

5. Where did the sport of jai alai originate?

6. Where is Death Valley located?

7. Which PBS documentary series featured the song “Ashokan Farewell” as its theme music?

8. What is the brand name for the sedative diazepam?

9. Who was the first to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901?

10. What was the stage name of the actor who was born Laszlo Lowenstein?

ANSWERS 1. A new order of the ages 2. Conchologist 3. Diego Rivera 4. Nightmare 5. Spain’s Basque region 6. Southern California 7. The Civil War by Ken Burns 8. Valium 9. French poet Sully Prudhomme 10. Peter Lorre

STRANGE BUT TRUE  It was Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw who made the following sage observation: “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”  We’re all familiar with the act of CPR—we often see a film or television character come to the rescue and save a life using the technique. And on TV, according to a recent study, CPR is shown as being successful 75 percent of the time. The reality is not quite so rosy, though. A study conducted in 2010 found that when CPR is used in real life, only about 8 percent of the patients were still alive after one month. Of those who did survive that long, 97 percent couldn’t live a normal life.  Do you suffer from astraphobia? If so, I hope you don’t live in Florida. Those who are afraid of lightning would be terrified in the Sunshine State, especially in Tampa, which is known as the lightning capital of the world.  Researchers in the United Kingdom have invented a robot that eats slugs and is powered by the gas from the decaying creatures. They have dubbed their creation the SlugBot.  For six generations, many members of the Fugate family of the Appalachian region of Kentucky have suffered from a rare blood disorder called methemoglobinemia. The disorder seems to have no adverse health effects, but it’s not at all difficult to diagnose it at a glance: Sufferers have blue skin. Not just a slight tinge, either; various family members have been described as “blue as Lake Louise,” “the bluest woman I ever saw” and “almost purple.”

CHARTS Top 10s for the week ending March 11 BOX OFFICE

1. 21 Jump Street 2. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3. John Carter 4. Project X 5. A Thousand Words 6. Act of Valor 7. Safe House 8. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 9. Casa De Mi Padre 10. This Means War

NYT BESTSELLERS

Fiction 1. The Thief ­— Clive Cussler and Justin Scott 2. Lone Wolf — Jodi Picoult 3. A Rising Thunder — David Weber 4. Fair Game — Patricia Briggs 5. Kill Shot — Vince Flynn JOSHUA LINTON/The Justice

LONG AND LONESOME ROAD: Photography Editor Joshua Linton ’14 snapped this photo of an iconic road (you may have seen it in ‘Forrest Gump’) winding its way through Monument Valley in Arizona.

ACROSS 1. Letterman’s network 4. Agreed 9. Make up your mind 12. Luau serving 13. Reserved 14. Actress Myrna 15. Prankster’s shout 17.Bankbook abbr.

18. “Sprechen __ Deutsch?”

19. Isn’t honest with 21. Zero 24. Apple computer 25. Fuss 26. Explosive letters 28. Set of moral rules 31. Kittenish calls 33. Rowing need 35. Slugger Sammy 36. Hammerhead parts 38. Society newcomer 40. “__ the fields we go” 41. Some reddish deer 43. Chopped down 45. Islamic decree (Var.) 47. Swiss canton 48. Past 49. Foul play 54. Twosome 55. Bay window 56. Genetic stuff 57. Moray, for one 58. Lipstick alternative 59. Morning moisture DOWN 1. Tax pro, for short 2. Jazz style 3. Knight’s address 4. Illinois city 5. Raging fire 6. Life story 7. Food-poisoning bacteria 8. Remove calcium from 9. Traditional 10. Versifier 11. Glitch in print 16. Somewhat (Suff.)

20. Dines 21. Bivouac 22. Notion, in Nantes

CROSSWORD

iTUNES

1. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe — “We are Young” 2. The Wanted — “Glad You Came” 3. Kelly Clarkson — “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” 4. Adele — “Set Fire to the Rain” 5. Gotye — “Somebody that I Used To Know” 6. Katy Perry — “Part of Me” 7. Flo Rida feat. Sia —“Wild Ones” 8. Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe” 9. Carrie Underwood — “Good Girl” 10. LMFAO — “Sexy and I Know It”

BILLBOARD

23. Nail gun, e.g.

27. Young fellow 29. “Got it” 30. Hallmark item 32. Winter forecast 34. Shows to be false 37. Veteran sailor 39. Emeralds, e.g.

42. Laverne’s pal, familiarly 44. Back talk 45. Lose color 46. Chills and fever 50. City of Brazil, for short 51. Peculiar 52. Individual 53. Legislation

1. Bruce Springsteen — Wrecking Ball 2. Adele — 21 3. Various Artists — Now 41 4. Lady Antebellum — Own the Night 5. Coldplay — Mylo Xyloto 6. Whitney Houston — Whitney: The Greatest Hits 7. Drake — Take Care 8. Lil Wayne — Tha Carter IV 9. Luke Bryan — Spring Break 4...

Suntan City 10. Andrew Bird — Break It Yourself

Solution to last week’s crossword

Top of the Charts information provided by Fandango, the New York Times, Billboard. com and Apple.com.

STAFF PLAYLIST

King Crossword Copyright 2012 King Features Synd, Inc.

SUDOKU

“Sunny Day Songs”

By RAQUEL KALLAS Justice staff writer

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.

 A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; a group of geese in the air is a skein. nMore Monopoly money is printed yearly than real money throughout the world.

Thought for the Day: “A stockbroker urged me to buy a stock that would triple its value every year. I told him, ‘At my age, I don’t even buy green bananas.”’

— Claude Pepper

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. The Power of Habit — ­ Charles Duhigg 3. Steve Jobs — ­ Walter Isaacson 4. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever — Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard 5. Quiet — Susan Cain

Solution to last week’s sudoku

Sudoku Copyright 2012 King Features Synd, Inc.

Beautiful weather is in the forecast for this week.

Make sure to kick back outside and enjoy it! Here are some songs that complement the sunshine.

THE LIST 1. “Good for Great” — Matt & Kim 2. “Little Secrets” — Passion Pit 3. “What You Know” — Two Door Cinema Club 4. “Float On”— Modest Mouse 5. “Don’t Mind if I Do” — Mac Miller 6. “Up Up and Away” — Kid Cudi 7. “Tattoo of the Sun” — Third Eye Blind 8. “Look Around” — Red Hot Chili Peppers 9. “Believe”—The Bravery 10. “She’s Got You High”— Mumm-Ra