The Brandeis Hoot - Sept 2, 2011

Volume 8 Number 14

www.thebrandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

September 2, 2011

Lawrence outlines vision of ‘selective excellence’ Lawrence and Goldstein outline academic future

By Nathan Koskella Editor

photo courtesy of bemco

rescue squad Michael Kenwood ’94 (second from left) with his classmates and BEMCo colleagues.

BEMCo alum dies in hurricane rescue

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

Hurricane Irene struck the Brandeis family with tragedy this weekend, claiming the life of Michael Kenwood ’94, a university alumnus who lived the values of heroism and selflessness to their fullest degree.

Kenwood, a former director of the Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps

(BEMCo) who dedicated his life to saving others as a volunteer emergency medical technician, died Sunday after attempting a rescue in Princeton Township, NJ, during Hurricane Irene. He was 39.

“Michael is a hero. Not for how he lost his life. But for how he lived it,” Peter Simon ’94, a close friend of Kenwood and president of the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad, said

in a eulogy Thursday afternoon at the The Robert Shoem Menorah Chapel in Paramus. “For how he volunteered to make his community better, for how he served our Squad, and for how he loved his family and friends.”

Kenwood served as a volunteer EMT on the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad and responded to a call See BEMCO, page 15

When President Fred Lawrence took the office of president Jan. 1, his top priorities were already out of his hands: He had to hire half an administration to run from scratch. But the resignations of the second-in-command provost and the dean of arts and sciences also presented him with an opportunity to personally reshape Brandeis academics, the university’s most important asset and objective, with an entirely new vision.

The vision may be one of “selective excellence,” a phrase of Lawrence’s that his new provost Steve Goldstein chose to interpret by saying, “Nothing we do at Brandeis is worth doing unless we’re doing it with excellence.”

When asked independently if this included specific departmental cuts or other priority shifts of one discipline over another, both men were noncommittal.

With his appointments of University of Chicago professor and hospital administrator Goldstein as provost and Professor Susan Birren as dean, Lawrence picked one outsider, one longtime Brandeisian; one far-off administrator, one homegrown faculty member; one scientist and one more scientist.

Lawrence in an interview with The Hoot acknowledged the similarity of Goldstein and Birren’s credentials, but lauded their overall fit for the university’s successful administration. “They both have expertise in the field and they have a broad understanding,” the president said. “I received a range of opinions from the faculty, and Susan [especially, since she has known faculty here for years] was broadly supported.” Lawrence said the same went for Goldstein when he was introduced to the school.

See VISION, page 15

News Analysis

Lawrence leadership style offers new vision, direction for Brandeis

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

As university President Fred Lawrence welcomed his first incoming class at Brandeis this week, he talked confidently about a university that has rediscovered itself following an international controversy over The Rose Art Museum.

The Rose settlement reflects just one example of how Lawrence’s leadership style is vastly different from his predecessor, Jehuda Reinharz.

When Lawrence, Provost Steve Goldstein, Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren and Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel took the stage at the orientation “Brandeis Beginnings” on Monday to welcome new students and their parents, our community saw an entirely new leadership team that began when Lawrence took office in January.

University presidents serve as the leader of a community and their job encompasses a wide range of roles—fundraising and alumni development, student life, academics, admissions, campus infrastructure and relations with parents.

Lawrence has just completed his eighth month in office and so, while he has begun laying the groundwork for a strategic vision in each of these areas, it is his attitude and the Brandeis image he reflects that others are reacting to most.

When Lawrence commented on the strategic vision of the university, he explained, “I think The Rose was a chapter that needed to be closed.” That’s a different line of reasoning than Reinharz adopted, who attempted to spin the story, backpedal and downplay its importance.

Lawrence recognized the significance of The

Adventures of Couch Surfing page 17

Rose to Brandeis when he began meeting with the litigants in the lawsuit last fall before he took office. That’s a different line of decision-making than Reinharz had, who believed that major decisions on The Rose did not need community input.

Those styles in decision-making represent the difference between confidence and arrogance. Friends of Brandeis will disagree with Lawrence’s policies in the future, but they are unlikely to call him arrogant, as one rabbi did of Reinharz while protesting the decision to select Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to deliver the 2010 commencement address.

As he welcomed the new students to campus on Monday in the Gosman Athletic Center, Lawrence told them, “Everyone of you richly belongs here and deserves to be here. And if you ever run out of confidence in yourselves, then you borrow some of mine, because I’ve got more than enough for each and every one of you with a little left over.”

In an interview on his first official day of work Thursday, Flagel reflected on the mistakes that university administrators can make and continue to repeat, explaining that he is always careful to avoid that process.

“There’s a theory called ‘garbage-can decision-making.’ And another word for it is having a solution in search of a problem,” Flagel said.

“Here’s something that worked for me, so I’m just going to keep doing that. Doesn’t matter if it’s what fits.”

For now, that theory of decision-making is no longer taking place at Brandeis. And for that reason, this university has discovered a new image, receiving more positive media attention See LAWRENCE, page 4

photo by nafiz ‘fizz ’ ahmed/the hoot

brandeis beginnings Lawrence and senior administrators share a laugh Monday in Gosman.

Goldstein and Birren named to top posts

By Nathan Koskella Editor

President Lawrence made his top two academic appointments during the summer recess, naming Steve Goldstein the university provost and announcing Professor Susan Birren of biology to become the dean of arts and sciences.

The announcements completed a months-long search for the top two academic administrators at the university.

Steve Goldstein ’78, a professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, has been appointed provost and chief academic officer, university President Fred Lawrence announced Wednesday.

The board of trustees unanimously accepted Lawrence’s naming of Goldstein, a pediatric physician and former faculty member at Yale, to succeed eight-year provost Marty Krauss as Brandeis’ second-in-command.

“His background in education and his Brandeis experience as an undergraduate, un-

Lessons of the Rose Art Museum Impressions, page 7

derstanding the mission of the liberal arts university,” Lawrence said in an interview with The Hoot, was integral to his selection. “He has the skills of an administrator, the skills of a scholar and the skills of a teacher—with the soul of the Brandeis experience,” he said.

Brandeis, proud of terming itself “the liberal arts university,” will now have a medical doctor and scientific researcher atop its academic administration. Lawrence made clear that even with all Goldstein’s success in science and medicine, he found “a passion for the arts and humanities” in Goldstein as well.

Goldstein said that far from being forced to balance the liberals arts and humanities with the sciences, he does not find them to be “separate endeavors.”

“They all start with the same basic core skills: motivation and rationality,” he said. Even to Goldstein, a medical doctor and scientific researcher, “the importance to society of the arts See ADMINISTRATION, page 3

Senior Releases New Single page 12

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

September 2, 2011

Univ strengthens LA development, recruitment

By Debby Brodsky Staff

As Brandeis University’s student body continues to grow, so does its strong network of alumni. In the past year there has been a surge of activity in Los Angeles for student recruitment, fundraising and alumni outreach. Due to the outreach efforts of President Fred Lawrence and his wife Kathy Lawrence, Brandeis is now working to solidify its presence even further and has made Southern California a special priority.

“Brandeis has always had a significant presence in Southern California,” said Nancy Winship, senior vice president for institutional advancement, the university’s chief development officer. “We hope to build on that solid foundation to become even more prominent in future years,” she said.

President Lawrence has visited Southern California several times this year to meet with alumni, parents, prospective students and friends. He has also hosted large-scale events in an effort to expand the Brandeis network in Los Angeles.

“The Los Angeles area is not only home to more than 2,000 Brandeis alumni, it is the ideal environment for alumni relations to flourish, because the population of Los Angeles is just as diverse as the Brandeis campus,” Winship said.

One prominent alumni organization, Brandeis National Committee (BNC), has flourishing chapters in 13 states. Brandeis alumni in Southern California maintain the third largest Brandeis National Committee (BNC-LA) chapter in the United States, following Florida and New Jersey. Spanning Beverley Hills, Culver City, Los Angeles, Marina Del Rey and Santa Monica, BNC-LA primarily focuses on raising money for Brandeis University and its libraries. Chapters also focus on maintaining existing alumni relations within each region, by hosting groups to discuss current events, go to the opera, go fishing and learn about computer technology.

In addition to BNC-LA, Southern California is also home to the Alumni Club of Southern California, which actively sponsors events throughout the year.

In order to maintain alumni activity, Brandeis also focuses on recruiting prospective first-years from the Los Angeles area, and relies heavily upon social media to reach out to prospective students.

“We need to make sure we do a good job of communicating our message through print and electronic media,” Mark Spencer, dean of admissions, said.

“Also, because of this access to the campus issue, a few years ago the admissions office hired a regional admissions officer who is based in San Diego. That position now makes it easier for us to have more of a consistent presence on the West Coast and we have become more involved in high school programs and case study programs, which makes it easier for us to bring Brandeis to students on the West Coast.”

Brandeis has long maintained a presence in Los Angeles, and even boasts a handful of celebrities as alumni. David Crane ’79 and Marta Kauffman ’78, co-creators of “Friends,” actress Loretta Devine ’76, and Emmy award-winning actress Debra Messing ’90, all represent Brandeis

College news around the region Regis College and Brandeis announce grad student class sharing program Regis College and Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management signed a cross-registration agreement Wednesday allowing graduate students to take courses at each other’s school, according to institution officials.

Students may take one course outside their own school each semester, and full-time students must maintain a full-time course load at their home institutions. Participation will depend on factors such as class size and course prerequisites.

Regis currently offers cross-registration with Babson College, Bentley University and Boston College. Brandeis also offers courses at these universities for grad students, as well as Boston University, Tufts University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Massachusetts in Boston.

“I believe that partnerships like this one are becoming an increasingly significant part of the higher education landscape,” said Antoinette Hays, Regis College president, in prepared remarks. “Colleges and universities throughout the rich higher education environment of greater Boston are identifying their particular strengths and affinities and making agreements to support the paths of college students toward productive outcomes, including career preparation.”

Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School, said that the agreement creates opportunities for synergy between the two institutions.

“Having a transfer agreement in place with an institution like Regis College is of great benefit to our students,” she said in a statement. “This agreement assists us in offering students in both institutions an even richer range of courses.”

Trend continues to smoke-free campuses Several more colleges in Massachusetts will soon become smoke-free, banning the possession or use of cigarettes or cigars throughout their campuses, according to The Boston Globe.

The University of Massachusetts-Amherst will phase in their policy for a complete ban by 2013 and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy adopted an immediately policy in July.

Bridgewater State University and Salem State are also signing on, becoming part of a group of more than 500 schools in the nation to become smoke-free.

These steps come after two community colleges, Bristol and Bay State, already established bans.

The Globe also reported that the colleges are planning on helping students meet the procedures, including quitting programs and even pharmaceutical aids like nicotine gum and patches.

Some colleges will not actually enforce their

policies, like Salem State; Bridgewater, contrarily, “reserves the right to initiate disciplinary procedures, up to and including termination for employees or expulsion for students, against any individual found to be in continuous violation of this policy.”

Yale lab accident raises questions on safety Yale University was found to be at fault by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration this week for failing to provide the necessary safeguards and even education designed to prevent student endangerment in regard to the death of student Michele Dufault in a lab accident. The university disputes the results, according the college’s premiere student newspaper, The Daily News.

While OSHA did not find specific safety hazards and thus could not levy fines as it is generally empowered to do, the federal workplace safety bureau issued several recommendations that amounted to a rebuke of the administration’s handling of the school and student safety.

Yale defended itself by saying its lab involved in the incident had met all of the regulations of American National Standards Institute for both personal protection and training.

In the wake of both the critical report and its dispute, Yale also announced that it will initiate its own investigation.

Nathan Koskella, Editor

through their accomplishments in Los Angeles.

As a student from Los Angeles, Zoe Shiovitz ’13, explained that West Coast alumni work to keep current and prospective first-years interested and involved in Brandeis activities each year. “Every summer there is a new student send-off that both current and new students are invited to attend,” she said. “The alumni in Los Angeles also conduct interviews for prospective students.”

For West Coast students especially, studying at Brandeis poses several challenges, yet it also provides a unique experience, unlike that of students from the East Coast. “Some aspects of going to school far from home are positive, like getting to experience a new city, state and climate. Say goodbye to the beach and hello to the warmest coat you can find,” said Shiovitz.

Spencer’s advice for new first-years from Los Angeles? “You’re going to love shopping for a bulky, heavy winter coat! Seriously, it’ll be fun and you’ll get to enjoy four great seasons.”

Flagel named SVP for students and enrollment

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

Brandeis named Andrew Flagel the new senior vice president for students and enrollment last month, as the board of trustees voted to approve President Fred Lawrence’s selection for the top admissions and student life position.

He will join a team of new senior administrators appointed over the summer, including Provost Steve Goldstein and Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Birren.

Flagel, who officially began work on Thursday, served as dean of admissions and associate vice president of enrollment development at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. “This position really combines the roles that I enjoy most at an institution that really values the things that I’m most committed too,” Flagel said in an interview in his office Thursday afternoon.

Flagel’s role at Brandeis will be split between his responsibilities to oversee the Division of Student Affairs, including athletics, student activities, community living, the interfaith chaplaincy, orientation, the health center, psychological counseling center and other departments. He will also provide oversight in Enrollment Management, including the Office of Admissions and the Office of Student Financial Services.

Flagel who began work early this week as he met with orientation leaders and first year students dealing with a hectic schedule from Hurricane Irene during move-in weekend, expressed optimism about student enthusiasm and spirit on campus.

“I think that Brandeis has some of the most amazing school spirit in the nation,” Flagel said.

“This place embodies spirit.”

Before his time at George Mason, Flagel served as director of admissions and recruitment at the University of Michigan Flint campus, director of enrollment and public relations at the Congressional Youth Leadership Council and regional director of admissions at George Washington University.

At George Mason, Flagel worked on initiatives ranging from diversity and international student enrollment to experiential learning programs.

Flagel also served as an advisor to the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and the Alphi Phi sorority at George Mason.

September 2, 2011

NEWS 3

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Goldstein, Birren named to top posts ADMINISTRATION, from page 1

and humanities is equal or even greater to that of the sciences.”

Goldstein will be the first provost since a university restructuring committee strengthened the office’s powers relative to other senior staff. The provost is “first among equals” after the president, according to university administration, and the dean of arts and sciences, graduate schools heads and registrar are among those who will report to Goldstein.

He said that his experience managing medical education and running hospital centers would lend itself well to the university environment as well.

“The levels of complexity are similar, if not identical—the people there have their equivalents at a university,” Goldstein, who will be in charge of a staff representing one of the most diverse portfolios on campus, said.

One of Goldstein’s biggest goals when he takes over formally on Sept. 1 will be getting to know the student population.

“I want them to know not just my name but my face. And also, what a provost is,” he said, “and I want to be available to the students.”

The new provost mentioned office hours and other student interaction as part of his “weekly schedule” and even suggested a weekly “Lunch with the Provost” table event, if possible. Interested students would be able to sign up and ask Goldstein about his work and anything Brandeis related, especially providing an outlet for students on academics.

In addition to the faculties of Chicago and Yale, Goldstein holds other professional credentials as a doctor, including as physicianin-chief at Comer Children’s Hospital and as editor of the Quarterly Review of Biophysics. He and his wife, Emily Novick, a former Brandeis residence life staff member when she met her husband, have three children, two of whom are college students.

Birren will succeed Dean Adam Jaffe, who will return to the economics department, effective July 1.

“I’m totally excited to accept the position,” Birren said in an interview with The Hoot, adding that “the challenge and promise of doing this is that I can really help to foster research and education for the liberal arts.”

Both Birren and Goldstein have backgrounds in the sciences and have committed publicly to disciplines outside their own as they take over the helm of “the liberal arts university.”

“I wouldn’t be in this job if I wasn’t excited about the scholars and the scholarship of my colleagues and the diverse undergraduates” on this campus, Birren said, and “it has been my great pleasure to interact with colleagues across many disciplines and programs and I am consistently amazed and inspired by their creative and scholarly work.”

Goldstein said that Birren was chosen among a field of “extraordinary” candidates.

“Susan is thoughtful and insightful, and while she has applied that in her own scholarly work to the sciences, she brings that same thought and commitment [now] to lead the interdisciplinary work” of the dean, he said.

Birren joined the Brandeis faculty as an assistant professor of neurobiology in 1994, having since been tenured and chair of the university’s Committee on Centers and Institutes, under the office of the provost. According to the search committee, all top candidates for dean were current faculty members, but Birren was chosen for her distinguished experience.

Birren holds a PhD in biological chemistry from the University of California-Los Angeles and did post-doctoral work at the CalTech, where she studied the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the development of the mammalian nervous system.

photo by nafiz “fizz ” ahmed/the hoot

rose art museum

Univ settles Rose Art Museum lawsuit

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

Brandeis will not sell any artwork from The Rose Art Museum as part of a settlement agreed to with Rose benefactors, university President Fred Lawrence announced in June.

“The Rose plays a key role not just in the creative arts, but throughout the curriculum,” Lawrence said in a phone interview this summer.

“It’s very hard to understand American history without paying some attention to contemporary art.”

Options to rent art from the museum, however, are still possible in the future, Lawrence said. “All options that will be considered will be consistent with the role of The Rose as a first class art museum,” Lawrence said.

In addition to not selling any of the artwork, Brandeis also agreed in the settlement to hire and employ a new museum director. Other

conditions agreed upon with Gerald and Sandra Fineberg, large donors to the museum, include opening renovated space this fall for its 50th anniversary, along with doubling the size of the Fineberg plaque and moving it to a more prominent position.

For Lawrence, who inherited The Rose controversy when he took office this year, the settlement comes after two years of international spotlight and criticism of the university and its former president, Jehuda Reinharz. In early 2009, Reinharz announced plans to sell artwork in order to make up for revenue losses and a budget gap resulting from the recession.

After being named president last July, Lawrence said he met with Lois Foster, one of the four plaintiffs in the case, in the fall and continued meeting with her and other plaintiffs after he took office. Throughout the presidential transition, Lawrence said he realized that if the case with Meryl Rose, Jonathan Lee, Gerald Fineberg

and Lois Foster was not resolved before Dec. 31, 2010, it would become his responsibility.

“I am very pleased to inform you that Brandeis and the four plaintiffs involved in The Rose Art Museum litigation have reached an agreement to settle the case,” Lawrence wrote in an e-mail to the Brandeis community in June.

“The agreement emphasizes that The Rose is and will remain a university art museum open to the public and that Brandeis has no plan to sell artwork.”

Meryl Rose, in a phone interview with The Hoot Thursday evening, said that there is, “No question—but for this lawsuit this collection would be gone which would have been a horrendous crime. They would have sold off the whole collection. That’s pretty awful to think about.

“The only reason that I did this was because it was the right thing to do. Period,” Rose said.

In Memoriam: Myra Kraft ’64

By Nathan Koskella Editor

Myra Hiatt Kraft ’64, who helped govern the university for 25 years as a trustee and became, of its alumni, one of the most influential as a philanthropist in Massachusetts and around the world, died of cancer on July 20. She was 68.

Kraft’s association with Brandeis endured and even grew long after she earned her B.A. in history. Like her father, Jacob Hiatt of Hiatt Career Center fame and a power-broker in the university’s earliest years, she and her husband, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, became heavily involved with the university’s development. The couple has been among the university’s most generous benefactors, endowing scholarships for deserving students and frequently meeting with administration officials about both fundraising and international outreach, particularly with university-Israel connections.

On the board of trustees, of which she at one time served as vice chairwoman, Kraft led the Students and Enrollment and Development committees and also served on the powerful Executive and Governing panels. She joined Brandeis’ governing body in 1986 after eight years as a university fellow.

In a life of service that extended beyond just being a checkbook for some of the state’s biggest charities, to which Kraft and her husband have donated more than $100 million, she led some of its most prominent charities, including the famous Boys and Girls Club of Boston, which even waived their term limits so she could continue running it, and the area Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Kraft also served on the boards of such famous causes as the United Way of Greater Boston, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the American Repertory Theater.

Kraft is credited by The Boston Globe and others as not merely a generous woman of wealth but as someone who made the business of not making any money for oneself a very personal endeavor. The International Herald Tribune has praised her for “modeling a new form of engaged giving that is transforming the relationship between philanthropist and philanthropy.” In 2003, Boston Magazine named her

near the very top of the “most powerful women” in the greater area, a list that otherwise included politicians of the highest echelon and the investments manager at the giant Fidelity.

Her legacy at Brandeis lives on through the Jacob Hiatt Memorial Fund, the Myra and Robert Kraft Israel Initiative, and not one but two endowed chairs by the family at the university, one in Christianity and Christian studies and another in Arab politics.

In a statement to The Globe, university President Fred Lawrence called her a “true Brandeisian” who was “always reaching out to students, faculty and other trustees and served as a model to all of us in so many ways.” In a special interview with The Hoot the president credited her involvement with the presidential search committee: “She was not only very important in bringing me to Brandeis, but she and her family were very important in welcoming me to Brandeis—they hosted my inaugural reception

dinner and I believe it was among the last public events of that nature she attended.”

Board of trustees chairman Mal Sherman, who served with Kraft during her time as vice chair and who is a longtime personal friend, called her “an outstanding member of our board, of our community, and one who will be sorely missed.”

Kraft was “highly respected for her passion, for her knowledge, and someone who was admired by all of us: She always asked the right questions,” Sherman said. He also added that as chair of the Students and Enrollment Committee, one he called the most important the university administration possessed, she “always listened to student concerns carefully” and was heavily involved with the university’s effort to put students first.

Instead of sending flowers, the family requested that donations be made in Myra Kraft’s name to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston.

4 NEWS

The Brandeis Hoot

September 2, 2011

Lawrence meets with university presidents in Israel

By Destiny D. Aquino Editor

President Lawrence led a 12-daylong trip to Israel this past June in order to foster global communications and knowledge of Brandeis abroad.

On June 23, Lawrence attended and spoke at the Israeli Presidential forum, a world-renowned conference that 3,500 people attend annually.

President Lawrence and Vice President of Global Affairs Dan Terris, part of a delegation that included Provost Steve A.N. Goldstein, Physics Professor Seth Fraden, Biology Professor Lizbeth Hedstrom and Associate Provost for Innovation Irene Abrams, also visited multiple high schools and universities.

“What I felt at every stage, at all the universities we went and several high schools I spoke at, was great interest in America generally but particularly in Brandeis as a university that albeit not religious and non-sectarian has got very strong roots in the Jewish community, which makes it a very interesting place for Israelis to think about studying and doing collaboration. So I found tremendous enthusiasm for that,” Lawrence said.

At the conference, Lawrence’s main message was his belief that the task of universities today is to prepare their students for a world that he thinks, “we literally cannot imagine.” He also spoke about his belief that critical thinking and communication skills are a necessity in the changing world and that these are skills liberal arts institutions instill in their students.

Lawrence spoke at a lecture entitled “The University of Tomorrow.” Other higher education colleagues such as former Harvard President Larry Summers, University of California President Mark Yudof, Hebrew University President Menachem BenSasson and Beijing University Executive Vice President Wu Zhipan also spoke at the lecture.

Speakers discussed issues such as the responsibility of universities to greater society; facilitating and sponsoring more research in the applied sciences; the global abilities and responsibilities of modern universities; and the future of higher education.

“We are trying to train people for a world that we literally cannot imagine,” he said. “I don’t mean figuratively that we cannot imagine and I am

israeli adventure: Lawrence speaks at the Israeli Presidential Conference in June, addressing international higher education professionals.

not speaking hyperbolically. I mean a world that we literally cannot imagine.”

“What will the workplace look like 30 years from now, 40 years from now, when my students from Brandeis University will be in the workforce? In a literal sense it is impossible to imagine. Let me give you the flavor of it. The iPads and the laptops and the phones that we have today will seem to them like slide rules and manual typewriters seem to us. So we know that it will be unimaginable in that sense,” Lawrence added.

While this event was the main hallmark of the trip President Lawrence also focused on fostering life-long relationships with our alumni living in Israel. photos courtesy of brandeisnow Alumni from classes 1957 to 2011 attended

an event at the David Citadel Hotel and current students who were working on social justice and peace initiatives in Israel over the summer also attended.

In a June 12 Brandeis Now article regarding the trip Lawrence explained “This trip is a wonderful opportunity to build on our historical connections with Israel,” he said. “Its purpose is to enhance our engagement in a whole range of areas. We want to reach out to the science community, our alumni and friends, and to students who may be interested in what Brandeis can offer them. We have a lot of shared interests that we want to explore further.

“Brandeis faculty have many solid relationships with members of Israel’s scientific community whose work has helped make Israel a superstar in developing new technology and finding practical applications that improve people’s lives,” Lawrence said. “The time is right to explore taking these relationships to a new, higher level of explicit collaborations and partnerships.”

In the same Brandeis Now article Terris shared his view on the approaching trip, “Through the work of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis has become a leader internationally in academic study of Israel,” Terris said.

“This trip is an opportunity to expand our connections in other fields, and to focus on making Brandeis a more visible option for those Israeli students who wish to study in the United States.

“We would like to strengthen all of our activities -- research, study abroad, recruitment of students, relationships with alumni and friends,” he said. “This is a model for the kinds of synergies that we expect to nurture through global Brandeis in other parts of the world as well.”

President Lawrence and the university administration are currently planning similar international trips, such as a spring semester trip to India, to continue global development initiatives and partnerships.

News analysis: Lawrence leads with open decision making LAWRENCE, from page 1

and a stronger international reputation.

Communities will always judge their leaders for what they accomplish, but communities will also judge them for how they interact with others—for how stakeholders feel about the people who represent them.

For Lawrence, approachability and openness have proven his greatest assets in building relationships with members of the Brandeis community. Faculty and administrators respect a president who listens to their ideas for academic reform. Students like a president who takes the time to talk with them—and not just student leaders, or star athletes and actors.

Interacting with students informally can be a rarity for college presidents at large universities, but for Lawrence it has become commonplace.

He has regularly attended student social events, including Shabbat dinners, basketball and soccer games, and concerts.

This leadership style was on display Monday afternoon, as Lawrence took time to talk with first-year students and their parents in Sherman dining hall and not because he felt compelled to be there. He takes time to talk with the campus media for sit-down interviews and on their cell phones over the summer.

Following a campus tragedy last semester, Lawrence immediately cut short a development trip in California, returning to Brandeis on a red-eye flight and walking around campus the

next evening simply to ask students how they were feeling.

These are not the characteristics that will define a university president’s greatest successes or failures. But they are the moments and the efforts that students care about the most. Jehuda Reinharz transformed Brandeis from what one senior administrator has called an “identity crisis” in the early 1990s into the global liberal arts research university it is today. For 16 years, Reinharz was the face of reform. But reform and success do not necessarily bring likability.

Parents, for example, want to hear about the “sacred trust” that Lawrence believes they have given to him and his administration as Brandeis cares for students. Those are not just words for parents but they reflect the values of a university.

And what Brandeis has discovered over the past year is that when students believe their school is moving in the right direction, parents are happier and alumni become more involved.

As a new leadership team assembles for the upcoming year, they will be guided by the comfort of knowing that they are each new here.

Administrators and even presidents do not define a school. As Lawrence said during an interview in his office last week, in between meetings to prepare for Hurricane Irene’s impact on campus, “Presidents change but universities have continuity.”

Brandeis is not a different school under Lawrence than it was under Reinharz but few would doubt that it’s moving in a different direction.

frederick lawrence and jehuda reinharz

photo by nafiz “fizz ” ahmed/the hoot

September 2, 2011

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EDITORIALS

6 The Brandeis Hoot

"To acquire wisdom, one must observe."

Editor-in-Chief Alex Schneider Managing Editor Destiny D. Aquino Sean Fabery Yael Katzwer Jon Ostrowsky Senior News Editor Nathan Koskella News Editor Leah Finkelman Features Editor Morgan Gross Impressions Editor Gordy Stillman Sports Editor Alana Blum Hoot Scoops Editor Savannah Pearlman Copy Editor Steven Wong Graphics Editor Leah Finkelman Production Editor Nafiz “Fizz” Ahmed Photography Editor Ingrid Schulte Photography Editor Emily Stott Layout Editor

Volume 8 • Issue 14 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

September 2, 2011

Model community values of Kenwood’s life

A

t Brandeis Beginnings on Monday, university administrators described the Brandeis family and told students and parents about the university’s most successful alumni, including professional athletes, award-winning writers, musicians and doctors.

On Sunday, Michael Kenwood ’94, a volunteer EMT in New Jersey and former director of the Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps (BEMCo) died in an attempted rescue during Hurricane Irene, trying to reach a car submerged under water with his fellow EMT and friend Peter Simon ’94.

If university leaders need to describe Brandeis, they can simply point to the life Michael Kenwood lived and the legacy he leaves behind. And Brandeis students should realize that it is not famous athletes or musicians that define this university. It is people like Kenwood who define Brandeis, people who make serving others not just a hobby but a way of life.

The values of selflessness, service and enthusiasm that embodied Kenwood’s life should serve as a reminder to our entire community that what matters most is not what we accomplish but how we treat one another.

We learn many things during our time in college, including how to prepare for the real world. But as we pursue academic excellence and ambitious careers, we must not forget that it is our character and the values we live each day that will change society for the better.

It does not make sense why someone of such high character and integrity like Michael Kenwood died last weekend.

But we, as a community, can extend his legacy forever by instilling the values of kindness, character and selflessness in all our students, and the world will be better for it.

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF Rick Alterbaum, Candice Bautista, Chris Bordelon, Debby Brodsky, Emily Breitbart, Haley Fine, Emma Chad-Friedman, Jodi Elkin, Jeremy Goodman, Edwin Gonzalez, Paula Hoekstra, Adam Hughes, Gabby Katz, Josh Kelly, Christina Kolokotroni, Anthony Losquadro, Ariel Madway, Estie Martin, Alexandra Patch, Lien Phung, Andrew Rauner, Alexandra Zelle Rettman, Ricky Rosen, Nate Rosenbloom, Imara Roychowdhury, Morgana Russino, Aaron Sadowsky, Jessica Sashihara, Brian Tabakin, Ryan Tierney, Alan Tran and Suzanna Yu

Mission The Hoot is a community student newspaper of Brandeis University. Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community. Preference is given to current or former community members, and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon.

Please submit letters to letters@thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words.

The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

connect On the Web http://thebrandeishoot.com http://twitter.com/thebrandeishoot http://facebook.com/thebrandeishoot General Inquiries Phone: (781) 330.0051 E-mail: editor@thebrandeishoot.com

It’s the 21st century, be in touch!

Update the home page The Office of Communications finally updated the top content on the Brandeis home page last week, a few months too late. The update is a positive one—community members who have not seen the advice video from the Class of 2011 to the Class of 2015 ought to take a look.

But we question the de-facto practice of updating the university’s home page on such an infrequent basis. The more content that gets posted to www. brandeis.edu, the more the community can learn just what Brandeis is all about.

So keep the updates frequent, Brandeis, and, at The Hoot, we promise to do the same.

The phantom secretary Callers to 781-736-2000, the main campus telephone number, are connected to a voice recording. Press one for directions, it instructs, two for

mailing information, three to look up a person or department, four for frequent departments or nine for campus police.

But what about information about an event? Or what if a caller wants to know what to do in case of a hurricane?

Then what?

The automated secretary has its usefulness. But Brandeis should consider a live operator with knowledge of campus events, or at the very least a clearer hierarchy of whom to call with limited inquiries for community members not clear about the role of campus departments.

We do applaud the use of the website in providing up-to-date information, but sometimes people make phone calls and, when they do, the phantom secretary’s voice is not what they want to hear.

Why do students apply to Brandeis?

When reviewing the Brandeis admissions website, the fact that Brandeis

We want you!

Join us at the Activities Fair on Monday and stop by our Hoot recruitment meeting

Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Third floor, Shapiro Campus Center For more information about joining, visit http://thebrandeishoot.com/join

students don’t apply to Brandeis because of its looks becomes self-evident.

Just as the majority of campus architecture is dated, so too is the Brandeis admissions website.

A majority of students profiled on the admissions website graduated more than four years ago, and many events and accomplishments of the school that are listed date back more than five or six years.

The design of the site also leaves much to be desired. Many of the fonts and characteristics of the site resemble the Brandeis website that was discarded for the newer, current format in 2009.

Students apply to Brandeis for all sorts of reasons. But without current and accessible information about the school, Brandeis is selling itself short.

If Brandeis administrators agree that presenting the university in a positive light is crucial to attracting students to the school, a Web upgrade can help tremendously.

IMPRESSIONS

September 2, 2011

From the Editor’s Desk

The Brandeis Hoot 7

Lessons of the Rose debacle

By Alex Schneider Editor

If memory serves, the announcement that Brandeis would sell the collection in the Rose Art Museum was the most significant campus news story of 2009.

Yet three-quarters of current undergraduates won’t remember that announcement – it came when our current first-year class was entering its sophomore year of high school.

Those students who were on campus and received the cryptic e-mail broadcast from then President Jehuda Reinharz no doubt let out a collective sigh of relief this summer upon learning that the lawsuit to keep the art on campus had come to a close. President Frederick Lawrence told Hoot reporters that, in his mind, the settlement of the case was “one of the accomplishments of my first six months of which I am most proud.”

The announcement was really just a formality. The museum has remained open throughout the public relations nightmare that faced the university in 2009, an embarrassment that no doubt factored into the decision of our former President to announce his exit.

But closing the book on the Rose saga would be unfair without a survey of its lasting effects.

Reinharz leaving was only the start. Since 2009, the university’s senior leadership team has entirely changed, starting with the promotion of Frances Drolette to CFO and the hiring of Andrew Gully as Senior Vice President of Communications and External Affairs in 2009, then with the promotion of Mark Collins to Senior Vice President for Administration last year, and this year with the hiring of Susan Birren as Dean of Arts and Sciences, Andrew Flagel as Senior Vice President for Students and E-nrollment, Steve Goldstein as Provost and David Bunis as

Chief of Staff.

One wonders how long John Hose, who has served as associate vice president for university affairs since 1983, can keep up the act.

Having served in my own position as an undergraduate student (and, by the way, Hoot editor) for a full three years, I wouldn’t venture to say that today Brandeis is an entirely different place than in 2008. But the decision however ill conceived to close the Rose has certainly set the university on a clearly defined path, one that required a reshuffling of top administrators.

In 2009, we were warned that Brandeis was in dire straights, that the endowment had fallen considerably and that the viability of the university required tough choices. But until the Rose announcement, decisions were put off to the future, many to be made behind closed doors.

Faculty and students pointed out that was not the Brandeis way. Outrage and embarrassment led to clearer goals, more community input and the eventual sense that things would work out fine. Three years later, those choices are over and many of the changes have been implemented. New programs, such as the Justice Brandeis Semester, were added. Some majors were changed or re-thought, but a study of the course bulletin reveals that the number of courses offered have not changed significantly.

We now offer a business major and we now have a couple hundred more students, but Brandeis as an institution retained its high rankings from US News and World Report and has continued to gain notoriety through awards for various faculty, students and programs.

The university faces many tough choices moving forward, and this newspaper will be paying close attention. To start, Brandeis administrators and the Board of Trustees face the tough decision of diverting resources from academic programs to reinvigorating campus buildings.

The new pool is just a start: many buildings

photo by nafiz “fizz ” ahmed/the hoot

could use, at the very least, a fresh coat of paint.

Dining services deserve continued review, although the addition of the village convenience store, once unthinkable in the recessionary times of 2009, is a positive addition to campus.

Given the university’s positive financial outlook, cuts to financial aid and merit scholarships and plans to reduce the size of the faculty, both at issue in 2009, deserve to be reevaluated.

President Lawrence told The Hoot that “Presidents change but universities have continuity,” and he’s right. The Rose debacle was not Brandesian – it was an overt mistake, and the

resulting strategic planning that has followed reflects a return to core principles.

Today, Brandeis faces new opportunities. A new administration has a chance to chart a new course for the university, and the potential for improvements is certainly promising.

The university also quite clearly learned the importance of communication and transparency, and while mistakes are inevitable, we shouldn’t be hearing of any ill-conceived decisions made without community consultation anytime soon.

The Katzwer’s Out of the Bag

The Manifesto Manifesto

graphic by alex bernstein/the hoot

By Yael Katzwer Editor

Last year one of my professors said something that truly stuck with me.

It was not some of that inspirational drivel that people claim “changed their lives.” It did not change my life; it was just memorable.

“Manifestos are great,” said Professor David Sherman (ENG). “People

today don’t write enough manifestos.”

I agree with this statement of belief wholeheartedly—incidentally, a “statement of belief ” is one definition of a manifesto. For those who do not know what a manifesto is exactly, except in the loosest of terms, such as the one above, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a manifesto as “a written statement

declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.”

Now, I know that when most people think “manifesto,” they think of “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (I bet you didn’t know that Marx had a co-author—poor Engels). Thankfully, this is not the only manifesto in existence.

A manifesto does not need to have manifesto in its title to be a mani-

festo (although mine does). Take for instance Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”

Because of works like “Mein Kampf,” manifestos have been given a bad name. But some manifestos are heralded as triumphs and affirmations of the beauty of human thought—by people other than Nazis, I mean. Ever hear of “The Declaration of Independence?” (That was sarcastic; I am sure you have.)

And manifestos do not have to be serious (read: boring) affairs either.

Take for example Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto.” You may think you know what this is about but you are wrong—it is about feminism.

Haraway used the metaphor of cyborgs to criticize the modern feminist movement. If you did not know going into it that it is about feminism, however, you would just think it was a neat, sci-fi manifesto about cyborgs.

You could argue just about anything in a manifesto and, if it is argued well, you have written a successful manifesto. For example, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the late 1800s before they banned plural marriage, had two manifestos on the subject: the “1890 Manifesto”

by Wilford Woodruff and the creatively-named “Second Manifesto” by Joseph F. Smith. They are pretty convincing—if you believe God spoke to Joseph Smith (the founder of the religion, not the guy who wrote the manifesto). I was almost convinced.

Hell, even Lady Gaga wrote a manifesto. (I didn’t read it but I am sure it sucks.)

The point is: Anyone can write a manifesto on any topic. So what is stopping you?

Well, nothing stopped former Hoot editor Max Price ’11 from printing a four-page manifesto in The Hoot on Sept. 26, 2008. The special section

was compiled by Pissed Off Youth of America (P.O.Y.A.) to decry the sorts of things that angsty, wannabe activists at Brandeis like to decry. (If you go to The Hoot’s website and search for it, it is still there.) The section was created when P.O.Y.A. issued a challenge to students to “create a manifesto about anything that makes you angry and the change you want to see in the country …” (The Hoot, “You say you want a revolution?” Sept. 26, 2008).

Well, I am issuing a similar challenge now (although I will not put your manifestos in The Hoot). We need more manifestos. The art of the manifesto is being lost and it saddens me.

Write about things you are passionate about—not only angry about. A manifesto does not have to be a critique; it can be an argument, a proposition, a belief, a desire, an intention, an idea, a declaration, a litany, and so on. The possibilities are endless.

And do not write a manifesto because I told you to do so or because you hope it will get published somewhere and you can use that to get into graduate school. Write it for yourself.

Get your ideas onto paper and write something that you are proud of.

Write something that means something to you and that will still mean something to you whether you ever show it to someone else or not.

Be part of a great literary tradition.

Join great minds like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Thomas Jefferson; and Lady Gaga (not really the last one; I regretted it the moment I typed it). Be a part of something that has its roots in centuries of argument and belief.

Lastly, help me revive the practice of manifesto-writing so that it will not be lost forever.

8 IMPRESSIONS

Altered Consciousness

The Brandeis Hoot

September 2, 2011

GOP needs to pump it up

By Rick Alterbaum Columnist

photo from internet source

Two students’ hope for a future

By Yuan Yao

Special to the Hoot

Denis Lemos and Vinicius “Vinny” Quirino were working at the Student Immigrant Movement (SIM), a Boston-based immigrant student organization, when the news came in.

The Obama administration officially announced that it will start to review 300,000 deportation cases on an individual basis, suspending deportations for undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to public safety or national security. The entire room erupted into ecstatic screams of relief, and I couldn’t help but be caught up in the monumental moment as well.

Denis and Vinny are both currently embroiled in their own individual deportation proceedings.

SIM has been working with the two to help argue for suspended deportation through petitions and letters to the Department of Homeland Security. Denis and Vinny are both students who were brought to this country by their parents before they were 18.

Both are pursuing engineering degrees at community colleges, working full-time jobs and paying three times the in-state tuition rates due to their undocumented status. Yet all that they have worked for, in spite of their undocumented status, seemed to be in vain when they learned that they were in deportation hearings.

To Denis and Vinny, the recent news is a glimmer of hope for their future as productive individuals in America, the place they’ve come to call home.

Obama and the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, have often pointed out that the administration is focused on deporting only high priority cases such as convicted felons.

On multiple occasions, Napolitano has noted that, with more than 300,000 current deportation cases awaiting review in our country, it does not make sense to waste tax-

payer money on deporting low priority cases such as undocumented students who were brought to this country as minors. To the increasingly disillusioned Latino voters who supported Obama’s initial electoral victory, these statements and the lack of action to back them, are reasons many Latinos are looking to place their vote elsewhere in the upcoming election.

The administration’s recent move, however, may be a step toward not only calming the concerns of the immigrant community, but also toward a more sensible solution to the nation’s millions of undocumented immigrants.

The administration’s recent move will not grant immigrants any kind of amnesty. Rather, it puts into motion a policy of prosecutorial discretion. People like Denis, who would benefit from the long delayed DREAM Act—legislation that would give undocumented students a path to citizenship through college education or military service—are collateral damage in the more than one million deportations that have taken place since Obama took office.

To Denis and Vinny, the new policy is a refreshing change. When all the excitement in the SIM office finally subsided, a feeling of cautious optimism replaced the initial surge of unrestrained relief.

Denis and Vinny know that the news is far from a guarantee that they can continue their lives without fear of deportation, but it is a welcome respite. At this point, the new announcement is but another policy change the Obama administration has promised but failed to deliver.

For Denis and Vinny, they will continue to fight for their chance to stay and trust that their optimism in the new policy is not misplaced.

The writer is a graduate of the class of 2011.

Another year, another presidential campaign. Who are this cycle’s Republican contenders? Which determined politician will stand up to President Obama, whose approval ratings have been dragged down by a high unemployment rate and a fragile economic recovery? Here are my thoughts on the 2012 presidential race thus far.

One relative newcomer who has attracted quite a bit of attention, especially considering that he is topping the polls, is Rick Perry, the governor of Texas. I do believe that Texas’ combination of low taxes, regulation and cost of living has been a major factor in bringing in business, investment and new migrants to the state. More pertinent questions include whether Perry had a major role in shaping this economic model and whether he has the leadership skills and policy savvy to replicate such success on the national stage.

Another concern I have for Perry is not only that he wants to reduce the size of government as a matter of policy but that he simply loathes Washington. Among other things,

he has called our nation’s capital a “seedy place;” deemed, albeit jokingly, Ben Bernanke’s actions as Fed chair “treasonous;” and entertained the notion of secession for Texas. If Perry becomes the most powerful player within the Beltway, this cynical attitude will simply not get him very far.

I view Mitt Romney, Perry’s chief competitor, more favorably. Yes, he has flip-flopped on just about everything from abortion to tax policy and introduced the state-level version of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise referred to as Obamacare in some quarters. Yet, deep down, Romney seems like a moderate, intelligent, business-friendly technocrat who would make a capable chief executive.

The media has already framed the narrative of a Romney-Perry showdown: the Texas Cowboy versus the East Coast Establishmentarian. Yet anything can happen during this campaign, so here is a quick rundown of some of the other candidates.

Firstly, Jon Huntsman is running in the wrong party and should become either a Democrat or an Independent. Frankly, he is not going See GOP, page 9

The Chosen Rosen

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

New year, all clear

By Ricky Rosen Columnist

It feels like just last week that we were saying the long, heartfelt goodbyes to friends, using up all of our remaining points at the CStore (even though there was nothing left to buy) and dumping out all of our old binders—reminders from semesters past. But in reality, three and a half months have passed since then, and we now find ourselves back at Brandeis ready for yet another roller-coaster year.

For some of us, it’s been a tremendously long summer, a summer that couldn’t have gone by any more slowly. For others of us, the summer went by so quickly that it feels like we never left. But the majority of us were crossing out the days left on our calendars until we returned back to Brandeis.

As we walk around campus and encounter all the familiar faces from last year, the most popular exchange is “How was your summer?” “Good! Yours?” “Good!”

And we answer the questions this way, not because our summers really were all that good, but because

it would be far too difficult to go into detail about each and every one of our unique summer experiences within the confines of a casual conversation.

Our summers were just too eventful for that. Whether we campaigned for a local politician or worked at a summer camp, three and a half months is a long time, and to say our summers were uneventful is simply inaccurate.

As a sophomore, this past summer was my first summer as a college student. And I have to say it has been nothing like my high school summer vacations. Maybe it’s because I didn’t spend my vacation splitting my time between Xbox 360 and summer reading at the library. Or maybe it’s because as a college student we have nearly four months of summer vacation, which is much more time than we had in high school.

All this free time presents lots of opportunities; we can choose to spend our time however we like.

And while many of us were slaves to the Internet and social media, a great deal of us chose to pursue more practical endeavors. Some of

us became involved with internship programs that we were sorry to see end. Others of us traveled across the world and encountered a completely different way of life.

Many of us caught up with old friends and made new ones. And of course there are those overachievers who spent the summer taking classes for additional credits, or getting their textbooks two months early to prepare for the semester, or even going so far as to take practice LSATs, even though they’re only going into their sophomore year (that’s Brandeis students for you).

The rest of us were glued to a bean bag chair watching old movies on NetFlix, only getting up to go to the bathroom or work (that was me).

The point is that we have all chosen to spend our time in different ways this summer and we have all been productive in our own ways.

While I did not travel the globe providing medical care for citizens of underdeveloped countries like some of my friends, I still made valuable use of my time over the See BACK, page 9

September 2, 2011

IMPRESSIONS 9

The Brandeis Hoot

First responders shouldn’t finish last

By Ryan Tierney Columnist

Summer may be a break from school, but it is not necessarily a time for complete relaxation. Along with trips to the beach, barbecues and flag cake, summer is also a time for supplementing our work at Brandeis with internships and jobs. These experiences away from Waltham can be as vital to our development as our experiences in it. Out in the real world, we learn about potential career opportunities, meet people from all over who are interested in the same fields as we are, network with those in whose footsteps we hope to follow and (if we’re very, very lucky) make a little money.

Internships are tricky. Three undergraduate summers, and three summer internships, under my belt, I still struggle to believe people can actually maintain their sanity while working from nine-to-five, at least five days every week, every month, every year. Showing up (and staying off Facebook) is only half the battle.

Just as with choosing classes or majors, internships require a great deal of self-reflection, self-knowledge and a deep reserve of fortitude to truly make the best of them. Simply showing up to class doesn’t tell us if we love a subject. That sort of decision requires serious personal engagement. So does assessing our interest in a career.

Assessing our internship experiences requires us to be able to learn crucial lessons from our daily activities and surroundings. The simple, “Do I like this sort of work?” is the most oversimplified taxonomy of questions we need to internally pose if we are going to take away the richest information from our experienc-

BACK, from page 8

es. To do this, we must make accurate and critical observations about our offices and coworkers as well as of ourselves.

As young adults soon to hold Brandeis University diplomas, the world is our oyster. But how do we crack it? How do we tap into the vast resources of enthusiasm we know exist within each of us? After three internships I must admit that I have not completely mastered the art.

Even after a summer spent in the nation’s capital working on the major foreign relations issues of the day, I struggle to decide if the environment or the type of work is the sort I

want to pursue. My inability to make these deductions, I think, stems from my inability to completely know and trust myself. Every year I come closer to actualizing this unreachable goal, but it is incredibly difficult to place myself without an ill-defined level of self-confidence.

A senior this year with May 2012 quickly approaching, my window of summer internships is all but closed.

I will have to make some big choices soon all the same—and I can only make them with the imperfect observations I have. The key for me will be to keep at it. Some day soon the collection of my experiences will lead me

photo from internet source

to embark on the right career confidently.

If I can impart any advice to those of you who have more time before leaving the Brandeisian bubble, I implore you to start this process as early as possible. Do not take this to mean just the development of internship experience to tack onto your resume but the process of self-understanding.

Making the most of your internships by discovering your perfect job and buried passions depends on knowing what makes you happy. Start now if you haven’t already.

Finding the right path starts within

By Adam Cohen

Special to the Hoot

Summer may be a break from school, but it is not necessarily a time for complete relaxation. Along with trips to the beach, barbecues and flag cake, summer is also a time for supplementing our work at Brandeis with internships and jobs. These experiences away from Waltham can be as vital to our development as our experiences in it. Out in the real world, we learn about potential career opportunities, meet people from all over who are interested in the same fields as we are, network with those in whose footsteps we hope to follow and (if we’re very, very lucky) make a little money.

Internships are tricky. Three undergraduate summers, and three summer internships, under my belt, I still struggle to believe people can actually

maintain their sanity while working from nine-to-five, at least five days every week, every month, every year.

Showing up (and staying off Facebook) is only half the battle.

Just as with choosing classes or majors, internships require a great deal of self-reflection, self-knowledge and a deep reserve of fortitude to truly make the best of them. Simply showing up to class doesn’t tell us if we love a subject. That sort of decision requires serious personal engagement. So does assessing our interest in a career.

Assessing our internship experiences requires us to be able to learn crucial lessons from our daily activities and surroundings. The simple, “Do I like this sort of work?” is the most oversimplified taxonomy of questions we need to internally pose if we are going to take away the richest information from our experiences. To do this, we must make ac-

The weak GOP GOP, from page 8

to progress very far by bashing the party, for which he would like to serve as nominee, as anti-science and extreme. If I were applying for a job and directly insulted my interviewer to his face, think I would become his future colleague?

At the same time though, Huntsman may have a point, and Michele

Back to Brandeis

Bachmann is case study number one.

Let’s be blunt: If Bachmann were president right now, the economy would have cratered due to her veto of a debt-ceiling raise. It’s easy to be an ideological gadfly; it’s more difficult actually leading a country.

Bachmann may only be outdone

by Ron Paul, the libertarian hero.

What particularly worries me about Paul are not just his domestic views, as wacky as some of them may be,

curate and critical observations about our offices and coworkers as well as of ourselves.

As young adults soon to hold Brandeis University diplomas, the world is our oyster. But how do we crack it? How do we tap into the vast resources of enthusiasm we know exist within each of us? After three internships I must admit that I have not completely mastered the art.

Even after a summer spent in the nation’s capital working on the major foreign relations issues of the day, I struggle to decide if the environment or the type of work is the sort I want to pursue. My inability to make these deductions, I think, stems from my inability to completely know and trust myself. Every year I come closer to actualizing this unreachable goal, but it is incredibly difficult to place myself without an ill-defined level of selfconfidence.

A senior this year with May 2012

quickly approaching, my window of summer internships is all but closed.

I will have to make some big choices soon all the same—and I can only make them with the imperfect observations I have. The key for me will be to keep at it. Some day soon the collection of my experiences will lead me to embark on the right career confidently.

If I can impart any advice to those of you who have more time before leaving the Brandeisian bubble, I implore you to start this process as early as possible. Do not take this to mean just the development of internship experience to tack onto your resume but the process of self-understanding.

Making the most of your internships by discovering your perfect job and buried passions depends on knowing what makes you happy. Start now if you haven’t already.

but rather his isolationist foreign policy stance. This was reinforced during the last Republican debate, when Paul rationalized and justified an Iranian nuclear program. I’m sure he’s Jerusalem’s favorite candidate.

Otherwise, Herman Cain’s a nonstarter, Newt Gingrich’s campaign is in utter disarray, Sarah Palin is a question mark and sayonara Tim Pawlenty! Nice knowing you.

Overall, the field is subpar. Conservatives long for a great right hope: a Chris Christie, Marco Rubio or Paul Ryan who will combine intelligence, experience and charisma and can excite the Republican base. I see where they are coming from.

At the same time though, I would advise that conservatives should not make perfect the enemy of good.

Who would have known a couple years ago, for instance, that an inexperienced senator with no substantive record and ties to anti-American black liberationist theologians, Chicago socialists and other assorted radicals would have become president?

So the race is just beginning and the stakes are higher than ever. Grab the popcorn and the drinks, folks.

This is going to be a long and bumpy ride.

summer. I taught my sister how to drive (although drive is a very loose term), became smitten with Twitter, tried and failed to mathematically solve the lottery, and encountered my fair share of celebrity look-alikes, among many other things. But regardless of how all of us spent our summers, we are back at Brandeis again and for the next nine months, this will be our home.

But for all the first-year students, their summers have been slightly more stressful. The packing, the preparation, the nerves … it’s a wonder they made it here in one piece! And after all the doubts, uncertainties, and times they wondered what it would be like to be in college, to live on their own and to be an adult—they’re here, fully immersed in their first year of college, experiencing all of Brandeis’ amenities for the first time.

Learning … doing a lot of learning. Learning not only about how to be independent in a college setting but how to fit into the Brandeis community, learning how to navigate the campus without a road map, learning which places to eat at and which places to avoid, learning how to use the Red Line and the Green Line and all the different colored lines to get into Boston, learning where the best study spots are in the library, learning the fastest routes to class, learning how to do laundry (one of my friends still doesn’t know how to do his own laundry!), learning not to sign up for too many clubs at the Activity Fair (otherwise risk flooding your inbox with messages about the Cheese Club)—and for the Californians, learning how to adjust to New England weather.

For most of us, it’s been a rather eventful past few weeks; between the earthquakes, the hurricanes, and Justin Bieber receiving a VMA, East Coast residents have had a lot of traumatizing events to deal with of late.

Nevertheless, summer is over and a new year has begun.

It’s a new year—a clean slate.

Returning students have the opportunity to start fresh and to learn from their past mistakes. And first-year students get to learn everything as they go. It’s all part of the college experience.

But for us returning students, being back at school provokes many mixed emotions. The stress of coursework is back, but so are the exciting weekend nights.

Our academic rivals are back (and believe me there’s a lot of them), but so are our close friends. The last-minute paper writing is back, but so are the creative ways in which we procrastinate (Wikipedia exploring). The taste of Sherman food is back but so is the sweetness of Einstein’s coffee.

So you take the good with the bad. After all, for most of us, there isn’t anywhere else we’d rather be.

10 The Brandeis Hoot

Views of The week

September 2, 2011

Roosevelt Fellow ice cream social

photo by ingrid schulte/the hoot

Orientation leaders scoop ice cream on Tuesday at the Roosevelt Fellow Ice Cream Social while Roosevelt Fellow, Louis Chai ‘12, answers a first-year’s question.

Exploring diversity

The annual author lecture Alison Bechdel, author of this year’s Helen and Phillip Brecher New Student Forum book, Fun Home, speaks about her book at the New Student Forum on Wednesday while President Lawrence, who led a group of students in a discussion of the book himself, joins first-year students, orientation leaders, and faculty members in the audience.

photos by ingrid schulte/the hoot

Students explore Brandeis’ history of social justice and the university’s connection to social justice worldwide(this needs a type of punctuation, I think) during Brandeis and Beyond, the orientation diversity program.

photos by ingrid schulte/the hoot

Views from the past: The plane crash that rocked Brandeis Michael Schaffer ‘66 of Cambridge recalls with what he described as “stunned sadness” a plane crash that took place when he was a student at Brandeis University. This summer, Schaffer sent The Hoot a photo, taken by campus photographer Ralph Norman, of the event.

Schaffer described the event in a letter to The Hoot: “I remember the event vividly as I was studying in the Leonardo da Vinci room on the upper floor of the library directly across the way and heard the sound of a small plane buzzing the campus nearby. As I looked out the window, it was hard to see anything, but a moment later I heard the sound of the engine, then the crack of some branches over the Humanities Quad (Schiffman) then a pause and a muffled crash.

“The plane had crashed into the fenced reservoir which was to be the future home of Usdan. The pilot, an Anthro grad student, and his passenger, a freshman girl he barely knew, were killed. Had the plane crashed 10 minutes later and 20 yards to the right, it well could have killed countless students who walked that campus road between classes.”

Schaffer came across the photo while preparing a slide show for his class’ 45th reunion and told The Hoot he wanted to share the photo with the campus community.

September 2, 2011

features READY FOR ’DEIS?

The Brandeis Hoot 11

This Week in History the hoot takes a look at orientation Brandeis through the eyes of core and an ol

2002 Eight Brandeis

students are sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegal file sharing.

2007 The Rapaporte

Treasure Hall hosts a series of speeches addressing foreign policy issues facing the next president.

Massachusetts

1821 Massachusetts Gen-

eral Hospital admits its first patient, after being chartered by lawmakers in 1811.

1947 John Deferrari do-

nates $1,000,000 to the Boston Public Library to express gratitude for its impact on his life.

United States

1777 The American flag

is flown in battle for the first time, during a Revolutionary War skirmish in Maryland.

1992 Katie Couric makes

her debut as the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast.

World

1972 Arab terrorists take

Israeli athletes and officials hostage during the Munich Olympics, eventually killing 11 athletes.

core goes crazy: From left: Kate Baca ’13, Elana Rueven ’13, Max Goldstein ’13, Rachel Nelson ’13, and Rebecca Bachman ’13 pose for a photo last year (above) and goof off during their summer at Brandeis (below).

By Alana Blum Editor

Orientation Core Committee (Title needed) Alana Blum As the new Brandeis students anxiously checked into their new living spaces, they undoubtedly had many thoughts and concerns.

New-student orientation can indeed be a stressful time for any new college student. As they hurried to establish friends, it is possible that some also noticed how much work went into making sure that orientation went as smoothly as possible. If the new Brandeisians wondered who they should thank, they can start with this year’s Orientation Core Committee.

Although Orientation began Aug. 29, the members of Core began planning in January.

The first step was finding the Core coordinator.

Rachel Nelson ’13, a past Orientation Leader, applied and after a rigorous application process, which involved creating a mock training schedule and several interviews, Nelson was chosen to be this year’s Core coordinator. She then helped pick the rest of the Core Committee.

Preparation for orientation began before the spring semester was even over. Once the Core Committee was picked, they still had to hire the OLs which took up most of the semester. A total of 120 OLs were chosen. Each Core member was then put in charge of different programs, such as International Orientation, Waltham Food Night and different skits.

“Basically, we all fought for the programs we wanted,” Nelson said.

As the summer started, the Core Committee moved into a five-person Charles River

photos courtesy of rachel nelson

apartment and commenced the final preparation process. While living together could have raised tension among the Core members, these five coworkers instead began to feel more like a family.

“I consider all four girls on Core like my sisters. Sometimes tensions are high, but every family has it’s disagreements,” Core Committee member Max Goldstein ’13 said.

On a given day, the Core members would have to answer a number of e-mails and phone calls from concerned parents of new students, plan their individual programs and make preparations for move-in day. Eating candy from the surrounding offices or taking fun pictures on Photo Booth were also part of the daily routine.

While Brandeis becomes quite empty and qui-

et during the summer time, Core members still made sure to have a good time. Besides making daily trips to Einstein Bros. Bagels or conversing on the Great Lawn, Core members also made sure to explore the rest of Massachusetts. They visited neighboring beaches, spent time with local friends and family, and grew accustomed to Massachusetts’ public transportation.

Although it was difficult to ensure that every aspect of orientation would run according to plan, the Core members were not too worried.

“We can ensure that everything runs smoothly by trusting our Orientation Leaders and their abilities,” Core Committee member Elana Rueven ’13 said. “It is also partially knowing that it is impossible for things to work perfectly so you must roll with the punches.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge Core members had to overcome was rescheduling orientation around Hurricane Irene. Orientation was originally planned to begin Sunday, Aug. 28. After Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency, however, orientation was postponed until Monday. While certain activities were also put on hold, others unfortunately had to be canceled.

Overall, Core members viewed their summer as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “[Core is] kind of like skydiving,” Nelson said, “it’s awesome, you love it … but you would never do it again.” But Nelson would certainly recommend the experience to any interested student. While Core was a great way to improve one’s leadership skills, according to Nelson, it also proved rewarding as the pieces of orientation fell into place. “… The best part is seeing all of the Orientation Leaders and eventually the first-years move in and seeing all of the programs we dreamed of months ago actually happening,” Rueven explained.

ols learn to get down, among other skills

1998 1948 anti-genocide

laws are enforced for the first time when the UN convicts a Rwandan mayor of nine counts.

BINGO!: OL Padraig Murphy ’10 hangs out with first-years at an Orientation event.

By Anastasia Austin Special to the Hoot

In the American university system the first days of college are considered especially confusing. At Brandeis, the dedicated students

who assist the first-years are members of an elite squad, known as the Orientation Leaders. These are their stories.

As a first-year I loved orientation: stumbling from one seemingly spontaneous event to the other, not really knowing where I was going, just following the stream of people. In my mind things went sort of like this: The orientation leaders were born knowing what was going on photo by ingrid schulte/the around campus and how to respond to the random, “Hey OLs, let me see you get down;” they casually suggested what we would do next, the same sort of way your friend might suggest getting Chinese for dinner; and we, the first-years, so freshly removed from the authority of our parents would bumble along after them. Little did I know that orientation is so elaborately planned that even the orientation

leaders have an orientation.

Orientation training they call it. A camp for 19 and 20 year olds, like me, who haven’t quite let go of their five-year-old self.

Bright and early every morning, we’d warm up with more than an hour of ice-breaker games, ranging from the classics like “Ultimate Ninja” and “Move Your Butt” to new arrivals like the “Pterodactyl Game” and “Mini Tanks.” Though these usually started out mellow, by minute 45 the ninja-pros would be doing somersaults across the great lawn and the “WA” fanatics could be heard all the way in North Quad.

For the rest of the day, all 120 of us were put into orientation groups of our own, with veteran seniors as team leaders, and we’d spend the day reciting and perfecting the very same events that the first-years would enjoy only a week later. We learned about all the programs and opportunities available at Brandeis and spent hours trying to predict and diffuse every awkward situation, every troublemaker, every blooper. Essentially we got a chance to re-do our orientation, to pick up anything we missed. By Thursday, the night before International Move-In, we were ready for anything. As it turns out, even a hurricane.

12 FEATURES

You Know We’re Right

Worried about making new friends this year?

Dear Leah and Morgan, I’m starting my sophomore year this year, and I’m a little worried about something, and wanted to know if you could help. Last year, I had a really close group of friends on my hall, but I was really focused on my schoolwork and didn’t branch out very much.

This year, all of my old friends are living in Hassenfeld near each other, but I had a crappy housing number and I’m in a single in Massell. I don’t want to lose touch with my old friends, but it seems pretty much inevitable. How can I make new friends now that everyone has already settled into their groups of friends?

Sincerely, Secretly Scared Sophomore Dear Secretly Scared, First of all, it’s not inevitable that you and your old friends will lose touch! If you want to let those friendships dissolve, it will be easy, but don’t forget they’re only a phone call away. Dinner dates and study sessions in the library are great options, because everyone needs to eat and study! All you need to do is give one of them a call, see what they’re up to for dinner and suggest meeting up. Trust us, they’ll appreciate that they don’t have to make their own plans! Going out Saturday night?

Suggest hitting up the same event ... oh, and how convenient would it be if you ate dinner together first?

Turning over a new leaf In terms of making new friends, Brandeis has done a lot of the work for you! The Activities Fair isn’t just for first-years. You can hit it up at the Great Lawn on Monday and learn all about the cool clubs and student groups on campus. Getting more involved is the best way to meet people with similar interests, including a lot of first-years who haven’t settled into groups yet.

Beginning to get involved When you’re deciding what to become involved in, keep an open mind and think about it for a few minutes before you go. Do you want to stick with the kinds of activities you were involved with in high school or do you want to try something completely new?

Do you have a hidden talent that’s never gotten a chance to express itself? Do you wish you were more athletic, artsy or a better dancer? Are you looking to explore your religious or cultural identity? They say there’s a club for everyone at Brandeis and we fully believe that!

Other ways to get involved If you can’t make it to the Activities Fair, you can check out the Brandeis Club Center (my. brandeis.edu/clubs) to see if anything piques your interest. Each club has its own page with contact information and meeting times. You can also browse Facebook and Twitter (and, of course, the pages of The Brandeis Hoot) to look for events and student groups.

Best of luck settling in, keeping your grades up, and seeing old friends and making new ones!

Peace, Love and Great Advice, Leah and Morgan Have questions that you want answered by the lovely ladies of The Hoot? Submit your questions to advice@thebrandeishoot.com or at formspring.me/leahandmorgan! They will be answered by Leah Finkelman ’13, Features Editor, and Morgan Gross ’14, Impressions Editor. We’re so excited to hear your questions!

The Brandeis Hoot

September 2, 2011

Ellie Ann, Brandeis senior, releases new single and music video

By Leah Finkelman Editor

When her mother started making her take piano lessons “too many years ago to count,” Ellie Hutchinson ’12 hated going and later practicing. It wasn’t until high school that playing piano joined singing and theater as something she enjoyed. Now, going by the name Ellie Ann (her full name is Elizabeth Ann Hutchinson), she uses her piano skills to write her own music, which is rapidly bringing her fame on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Sitting down with Hutchinson means being with someone who has always been bursting with potential and is energized with excitement over her success so far, but recognizes that it is up to her to continue her lucky streak.

On Saturday a new song, “When He Lied,” and a music video will join the two singles that have led to more than 10,000 YouTube subscribers, 73,000 upload views, 18,500 Twitter followers and 2,000 likes on Facebook.

“I’ve always wanted to be a singer/songwriter. I was never one of those kids who wanted to be a doctor or a ballerina,” Hutchinson said.

Growing up in Concord, Mass., Hutchinson began writing her own music in second grade and wrote what she calls her first “real song” in ninth grade.

“My gay best friend and I would go to the choir room and we would sing and play piano, and I would always play him the new song I was working on that week,” she said.

Hutchinson’s writing process begins at the piano, where she sits down and starts playing, waiting for something to come out.

“Music is my therapy,” she said, explaining that to create great music she needs to be in some sort of mood.

Once she has a few chords, she begins writing lyrics, and then lets the lyrics determine the final sound of the song. Most of her lyrics come from her relationships with guys or other people she cares about because she believes she needs to “feel passionate about something to be able to write about it.” Her newest song, for example, is about a cheating ex-boyfriend.

“I couldn’t write the song at first, but I went back later and did, and I recorded it a lot later. It was one of those stories I knew I had to tell, and I thought people would be able to connect to it and understand what it’s like,” Hutchinson said.

She describes her music as “sort of pop rock, kind of singer/songwriter, but a little bit mainstream,” and smiles when remembering being compared to artists like The Fray and Alanis Morissette, her “absolute favorite singer ever.”

Before transfering to Brandeis as a junior to take the advantage of the music composition major, she attended Graceland University, a small school in Iowa and her mother’s alma mater, a period she says helped her to develop her own style.

“I didn’t know what I wanted in high

school, so it was hard to know what kind of music I wanted to write,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson’s parents have been a constant source of support but never overbearing, she said. In high school, she convinced them that she wanted to take making music more seriously and they helped her find a producer.

She began recording her first single in January 2010 as a Christmas present from them but has paid for her other recording sessions by working throughout her time at school.

Hutchinson currently works with producer Bryan Sargent when recording and promoting her music. When she has a song ready, he helps her write guitar and drum parts, which he plays, but the music is entirely her own.

In addition to writing her own music, Hutchinson is her own manager and public relations coordinator. “It’s a lot of behind the scenes work, but I really like business,” said Hutchinson, who is considering pursuing an MBA at some point. “I live and breathe music all the time, and it can get pretty hectic. Luckily I’m one of those middle-brained people who can box myself in my room and write a song and then go out the next day and find out how I can get it recorded and financed.”

To help promote herself, Hutchinson has made all of her music available on iTunes and YouTube and constantly updates her Twitter and Facebook under her stage name, Ellie Ann. Her online fan base, ranging from German teens to middle-aged people in Kansas, is another strong support system and one of her favorite parts of her burgeoning musical career. “People in the music business talk a lot about target audiences, but my music is in a genre that has a large range of fans, so I don’t really have one,” she said. “Just by clicking and sharing with others, people all over the world are helping me pursue my dream.”

Clockwise from top left: Ellie Hutchinson ’12 poses for album artwork; Hutchinson plays piano during a video shoot; Hutchinson, dancers and videographer work on the music video.

photos courtesy of ellie hutchinson

SPORTS

September 2, 2011

By Adam Hughes

The Brandeis Hoot 13

Looking for art in United States soccer

Staff

Speaking of British middleweight Herol Graham, trainer Eddie Shaw once quipped, “He has turned defensive boxing into a poetic art. Trouble is, nobody ever knocked anybody out with a poem.” Surely, Muhammad Ali would disagree; the champ made a habit of composing poetry to mock his opponents (“This kid’s got a left, this kid’s got a right / If he hit you once, you’re asleep for the night”), and who can argue with his record of success? Graham himself recorded 28 knockouts en route to a 48-6 lifetime record, so perhaps Eddie Shaw underestimated the punch of a well-constructed couplet.

Shaw was correct, however, in drawing a connection between boxing and art— one which he could have extended to any sporting event. Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball, not just because he dominated, but because he looked good while doing it. He drove to the basket with the creativity of a master and we held our breath as he displayed another new technique to outwit the defender. Like a dancer, he used his body as a canvas, and the control and precision with which he wielded it would make Baryshnikov envious. His mighty slam dunk was an object of beauty; why else was each dunk replayed endlessly on ESPN, captivating the awestruck fan base that swelled as the NBA reached its height of popularity?

Yes, the average sports fan is an aesthete, though he may try to deny it. The Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz drew an 18.7 television rating in the 1998 NBA finals, in which Jordan won his final title; in comparison, the 2003 match-up between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets bottomed out at 5.2. The reason for the decline was easy to see—the dominant teams of the mid-2000s (particularly the Spurs and Detroit Pistons) valued defense and fundamentals, leading to games with slower pacing, less hang time and lower scoring. The NBA accordingly fell into a ratings doldrums, showing signs of life only now that the dominant superstars are Jordan-style slashers (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose) and passers who run quick offenses (Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Deron Williams).

It’s not only basketball that has seen this progression; as advanced statistics and computer models have revealed the hidden science of sport, the strategies they imply for success threaten to siphon the art from the games. The New Jersey Devils dominated the NHL from 1994 to 2004 with the neutral zone trap, which won three Stanley Cups and five division titles but slowed the game so much that the league almost went bankrupt. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees play four-hour games as their OBP-conscious hitters take pitch after pitch, wearing out pitchers’ arms and viewers’ patience.

Perhaps this is the curse of sports in the 21st century. The real competition, for the eyes, hearts and pocketbooks of the public, has moved off the field and into the office.

On one side are the general managers and coaches, who strive to discover the formula for success, turning each game into a variation of the same optimally-successful but predictable and boring chess match. Opposing them are the league administrators, who alter rulebooks to encourage more offense, or merely to introduce a new variable that the ever-quicker computers have yet to account for. We’re already taking steps down this path; both the NHL and the NBA came out of their slumps only after changing some long-standing rules. This vision of the future is bleak for sports fans, and if one thing about it is certain, it is that this new competition allows for no poems. *** There is at least one sport in which artistry and success still exist side-by-side and “skill” and “creativity” are used almost interchangeably. The reigning champions of international and club soccer, Spain and FC Barcelona, share more than a country of origin—they also employ the same basic strategy of quick passing, deliberate attack, and lots of ball and player movement called “tiki-taka.” Tiki-taka emphasizes action, dispensing with cautious, back-and-forth long balls in favor of rapid team play designed to confuse the defense. But it also allows for individual freedom. It expects players to shift position in response to the gradual evolution of an attack and when its greatest executor, Barcelona forward Lionel

Jürgen Klinsmann: The new manager of the U.S. national soccer team

Messi, has an open pitch and a full head of steam, he becomes as dangerous and exciting as Michael Jordan ever was. The name “tiki-taka” comes from the sound of a ball quickly passing from boot to boot; Arsenal manager Arsène Wagner has described it as “football that is like art.”

Unfortunately, fans of tiki-taka would find little to like in the recent play of the U.S. national team—just as little, in fact, that fans of the team would find in its recent results. In the 2010 World Cup, the U.S. needed a last-minute goal against unimposing Algeria to advance out of its weak first-round group. The team was promptly eliminated by Ghana in the round of 16.

Facing only North American competition in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the team dropped an inexcusable match to

photo from internet source

Panama, looked listless as it dragged its way through inferior opponents to the final, and surrendered four consecutive goals to give the trophy to rival Mexico. As a U.S. supporter, I found it infuriating to watch these matches. The team was prone to silly mistakes and its offense was stale and ineffective. Midfielders rarely joined the attack, and forwards would take the path of least resistance by working the ball to the corners of the pitch, then sending high crosses into the box that the more numerous defenders would inevitably clear to safety.

Fans called for the removal of manager Bob Bradley, and I heartily agreed.

To soccer die-hards, practitioners of cautious play, or “anti-football,” deserve a special place in Hell. Because of the uniquely See SOCCER page 15

The 600 home run club: now with eight members

By Brian Tabakin Staff

On Aug. 15 Jim Thome joined the 600 home run club. In consecutive at bats Thome hit home runs 599 and 600 against Rick Porcello and Daniel Schlereth of the Detroit Tigers during an American League Central match up at Comerica Park in Detroit. Thome became just the eighth player in Major League history to accomplish the feat of hitting 600 home runs; fifth if you exclude known steroid users.

Unlike Alex Rodriguez, the last player to accomplish this feat, Thome hardly received any media attention. While Rodriguez had his own section and daily update on ESPN as he approached the milestone, Jim Thome barely even got a mention on his quest for 600 home runs. This summer focused instead on Derek Jeter becoming the 28th player to achieve 3,000 hits. This discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that Rodriguez

played for the New York Yankees in the largest media market in the country, while Thome quietly hit his home runs in Minneapolis, a smaller market.

The discrepancy, however, does a great disservice to the fine game of baseball.

Nearly every baseball fan knows of the steroid use of Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez personally admitted to using steroids from 2001 to 2003 during his time with the Texas Rangers. Furthermore, while they remain just allegations, there are strong indications that Rodriguez continued his steroid use beyond those years. This greatly reduces the significance of his 600 home runs as he hit 156 of his home runs, almost 25 percent of his total, during the time he has admitted he was on steroids.

In contrast, there has never been a single allegation or rumor that Jim Thome took anything other than milk to artificially inflate his performance on the field. Thome has the fifth-lowest

at-bat/home run ratio in major league history at 13.68. This ratio is only eclipsed by Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), Ryan Howard (12.16) and Barry Bonds (12.90), with McGwire and Bonds both known steroid users.

Furthermore, Thome achieved the feat of 600 home runs in the second fewest number of at bats behind only the legendary Babe Ruth.

In his 20-year major league career, Thome has always played the game the right way. Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a former teammate or player that has anything bad to say about the man.

After spending his first 11 professional seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Thome bounced around the league for the next 10 years playing for the Phillies, White Sox, Dodgers and Twins, before returning to Cleveland after the Indians claimed him off of waivers on Aug. 25.

Only eight players have hit 600 home runs in major-league histo-

Number 600: Jim Thome watching his milestone home run

ry—three of them, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez, are tainted by steroids.

Every person is entitled to his or her own opinion but to diminish Thome’s accomplishment with subpar media coverage and attention does a great dishonor to the game. He may not be a flashy

photo from internet source

player, but he is a man with great integrity and honor—the kind of player that baseball sorely lacks and needs. Thome deserved more attention and coverage for his remarkable feat. Hopefully he will one day garner the attention that a first-ballot Hall of Famer deserves.

14 SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot

UAA standings and over-all records

MLB playoff predictions: a month of foresight

By Ricky Rosen Staff

Men’s soccer Team

UAA

All

Case Western

0– 0

1–0

Rochester

0–0

1–0

Washington

0–0

1–0

Brandeis

0–0

0–0

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

0–0

Emory

0–0

0–0

NYU

0–0

0–0

Chicago

0–0

0–1

Women’s soccer Team

UAA

All

Brandeis

0– 0

1–0

Case Western

0–0

1–0

Chicago

0–0

1–0

NYU

0–0

1–0

Washington

0–0

1–0

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

0–0

Emory

0–0

0–0

Rochester

0–0

0–0

Volleyball Team

UAA

All

Washington

0– 0

2–0

Brandeis

0–0

0–0

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

0–0

Case Western

0–0

0–0

Chicago

0–0

0–0

Emory

0–0

0–0

NYU

0–0

0–0

Rochester

0–0

0–0

Gordy’s game guess NFL Opening Game: New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers.

September 2, 2011

It’s been an eventful baseball season so far. Three no-hitters, 3,000 hits for Derek Jeter, 600 homers for Jim Thome and there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played! As we enter the month of September, we embark on the stretch run. Many of the divisions look to be locked up, but there are still a lot of postseason spots still in play!

AL EAST: Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays Arguably the toughest division in baseball, the AL East includes three of the top five teams in the league in the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, only two of which can make the playoffs. In the end, I believe the Red Sox will win the division. Boasting one of the best lineups in baseball, the Sox are stacked from top to bottom with Jacoby Ellsbury having a career year, and Adrian Gonzalez putting up MVP numbers in his first year with the club. Although the Yankees can put up similar offensive numbers to the Red Sox, they do not compare in terms of starting pitching. The Sox have one of the best one, two punches in the AL in Lester and Beckett, as well as serviceable pitchers in Lackey and Aceves, while the Yanks do not have a solid number two behind C.C. Sabathia. Both teams will make the playoffs, but I believe the Red Sox will win the division.

AL CENTRAL: Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Twins, Royals With a six-game lead over the White Sox at the end of August,

the Tigers are the favorites to win the division. Detroit has ace Justin Verlander, who is on pace for 25 wins and is the probable Cy Young award winner. Behind him, Max Scherzer and newlyacquired Doug Fister are putting together solid years. The Tigers offense is highlighted by Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Alex Avila, who’s becoming one of the top catchers in the league.

And Detroit also has Jose Valverde, who has been lights-out this year, closing games. While the White Sox could make a late push, it’s likely that the Tigers will win the division.

AL WEST: Rangers, Angels, A’s, Mariners The AL West is the tightest division in baseball and will come down to the wire in September.

In the end, though, I think the Rangers will once again win the division. The Angels certainly have the better rotation with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana at the top of their rotation. Although Texas does have ace CJ Wilson and rookie Alexi Ogando having great years in their rotation, the Angels edge them out there. The difference between the two teams is the offenses. Texas has an explosive lineup that includes defending MVP Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young. The Angels cannot win on pitching alone and so, at the end of the day, Texas will win the West.

WILD CARD: It’s obvious that the Yankees will win the Wild Card if the Red Sox win the East.

With one of the best lineups in

baseball that features MVP candidate Curtis Granderson, as well as Robinson Cano, Mark Teixara and Alex Rodriguez, there is no way that the Yankees miss the postseason.

NL EAST: Phillies, Braves, Mets, Marlins, Nationals The East is the Phillies division to lose. Having led the division since April, the Phillies are on pace for more than 100 wins.

General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. recently improved his team’s sluggish offense with the acquisition of Hunter Pence to go with Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the middle of the lineup. And with one of the best starting rotations in the past century, the Phillies are a lock to go deep into the playoffs.

NL CENTRAL: Brewers, Cardinals, Reds, Pirates, Astros, Cubs What started out as an open competition at the beginning of the summer has turned into the Brewers’ season of dominance.

The Cardinals—although a respectable eight games over .500— find themselves 10.5 games back at the end of August and not at all within striking distance. The Brewers shored up their bullpen before the trade deadline with the acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) to go with John Axford to close out games. With an offense that includes MVP candidates Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, the Brewers are the favorites to win the Central.

NL WEST: Diamondbacks, Giants, Padres, Rockies, Dodgers Although the Diamondbacks are currently leading the divi-

sion by 5.5 games, I still believe the Giants will be the NL West champs for a second straight year. While the D-Backs do have a powerful lineup highlighted by Justin Upton and Chris Young, they simply do not have the starting pitching to compete with the World Champion Giants. The Giants have two-time Cy Young Award-winner Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and all-star Ryan Vogelsong. Although their offense is weak, expect a big September from newlyacquired Carlos Beltran to push the Giants back into the playoffs.

WILD CARD: While there are a few good teams in the NL that remain in playoff contention (Arizona and St. Louis), the Braves are just too good of a team not to make it. Their pitching is probably the best in baseball, with a rotation that includes Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson and Tim Hudson, and a back-end of the bullpen that features Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters and closer Craig Kimbrel, who recently set the single-season rookie save record.

Their offense improved before the deadline with the addition of Michael Bourn to go with Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, Dan Uggla and Jayson Heyward. With the second-best record in the NL next to the Phillies, it’s clear that Braves will win the Wild Card.

Who will win once the postseason starts? Well you know what they say—anything can happen in the playoffs. Anything except the Mets winning the World Series that is.

Lockout brief: the end of one and the start of another

By Gordy Stillman Editor

When summer started, one of the four major sports leagues was two months into a lockout. Now, at the start of the academic year, one lockout has ended while a new one enters its third month.

As the NFL season that almost didn’t happen starts it’s interesting to look at the effects of the lockout and also at the NBA lockout that will probably cancel the coming season.

The NFL lockout’s only casualty was the annual Hall of Fame game. Two result of the work stoppage were a shortened period of time for teams to acquire Free Agents (players not under contract) and the lost opportunity for newly drafted players to practice in team-organized practices. In some cases, such as with Bryant McKinnie, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings, a lack of team-organized workouts resulted in players being unfit to play.

McKinnie, for example, was cut from his team when he arrived at training camp weighing nearly 400 pounds. It’ll be interesting to see if any of the first-round quarterbacks, especially No. 1 overall pick Cam Newton, are ready to play after only a short opportu-

nity to learn the necessary plays.

While the NFL lockout has come to a close, its become clear that the impasse was nothing compared to the disagreement between the NBA and NBA players; and unlike NFL players, NBA players can find work in leagues around the world. Aside from this extra bargaining chip in the pocket of NBA players, some of which have contracts for European leagues should the NBA season be canceled. Additionally, the divide between players and owners appears to be greater than in the NFL situation.

The NBA is claiming that more than 20 of the 30 teams have been losing money and want to implement a hard salary cap on teams.

Players obviously don’t want to give up the lucrative contracts they have signed. On the other side is the owners, including some relatively new ones who paid high prices for their teams and want to start turning a profit. Seven owners have taken over teams since the start of the last Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Another snag in the NBA lockout is that it can have potential effects on Olympic national teams next year. Previously, the NBA covered most of the insurance on players’ contracts while

2011 a unique year for sports fans.

they played on national teams.

Without this insurance during the lockout, it could cost national teams millions of dollars to en-

sure the presence of NBA players.

While the lockouts are regrettable, they certainly help make

graphic by ingrid schulte/the hoot

September 2, 2011

SPORTS 15

The Brandeis Hoot

New manager brings change to team USA See SOCCER, page 13

vast dimensions of a soccer pitch, defensive-minded teams force their opponents to cover large amounts of territory every time the ball is cleared, making the game dreadfully slow. At the same time, the defensive team lacks the manpower away from their goal to launch even a feeble attack of their own. The result is a boring game, either ending in a scoreless tie or decided by a single mistake—the kind of unsatisfying results that Americans use to caricature the sport. Defensive strategies do have their time and place; I’ll never forget the Davidslays-Goliath tie that Trinidad and Tobago earned against Sweden in the 2006 Cup by dropping all their players to their own end, and North Korea played a surprisingly close Cup match against superpower Brazil in 2010. These were both inferior teams, however, for whom playing defensively was the only conceivable path

News

to victory. In general, accusing a team of playing “anti-football” is just as insulting as accusing it of playing poorly.

Against teams like Algeria and Panama, the United States should aim for more than the coin flip of defensive play. Our national team has incredible physical skill—we can run and jump with any team in the world. What we lack is the creativity and artistry that players from Spain and Brazil possess, the skills that are developed by playing in elite soccer academies from childhood. They are required for success at the highest level of the sport, and we can never hope to succeed at that level without a manager who is committed to developing that dimension of the team. Perhaps we don’t have the skill to institute a full tiki-taka system, but when we completely abandon artistic soccer, we effectively abandon soccer in general.

After the Gold Cup debacle,

the U.S. Soccer Federation had seen enough to agree. Bob Bradley was dismissed from his position on July 28, replaced by former star player and German national manager Jürgen Klinsmann. Klinsmann led Germany to a third-place finish in the 2006 Cup; promisingly, he wants to focus on building the U.S. youth soccer system and closing the talent gap that begins at a young age.

The team’s first test under the new regime came Aug. 10 in an international friendly against Mexico.

Despite the support of 30,000 fans in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, the United States picked up exactly where it left off, playing bland football and allowing Mexico to control the possession and the tempo. Mexican striker Oribe Peralta scored a tremendous goal in the 17th minute, wrapping his leg around a defender to bury a cross from Andrés Guardado. By halftime, I found myself making

excuses for the team (“It’s not our full squad” or “It’s Klinsmann’s first game”) and abandoning my wild dreams of a quick fix to a deep-seeded problem.

Around the 60th minute, however, the tide began to turn.

Spurred on by the energy of young substitutes Brek Shea and Juan Agudelo, the United States began taking the game to the Mexican end, controlling the ball and finding holes in the tired Mexican defense. In the 73rd minute, Shea took the ball off a throw-in, cut to the Mexican endline, then threaded a pass through three defenders that found winger Robbie Rogers with yards of open net. Nobody celebrated the goal more eagerly than Jürgen Klinsmann, who leaped and pumped both fists; clearly, this was no ordinary off-season exhibition. The States continued to attack for the rest of the game, sending several excellent chances just wide of the

net. The final score was 1-1 but it represented a decisive moral victory to me.

The team will continue its slate of friendlies against lesser competition, playing Costa Rica in California on Sept. 2, Belgium in Belgium on Sept. 6 and Ecuador in Connecticut on Oct. 12.

While the results have no significance, I’ll be watching to see how the team plays and hoping for a continuation of the best-played half-hour of U.S. soccer in years.

I’m very excited for the future of the team; Brek Shea looks like our next great star, and Klinsmann has the experience and vision to lead the United States into the top tier of international soccer. Perhaps an exhibition tie against a Mexican team resting several starters doesn’t qualify as “art,” but this beholder sees beauty in these first few tentative brush strokes.

In memoriam: Michael Kenwood ’94 BEMCO, from page 1

from Rosedale Road in Princeton Township at 4:37 a.m. Sunday, after a report of a submerged car in Stony Brook, according to The New York Times.

Unsure if people were in the car, Kenwood and Simon went into the water and called for a signal. When the brake lights flashed, they entered the water with helmets and flotation vests but had to turn back because the current was too strong.

As they turned back, the current swept them into trees and disconnected Kenwood from a rope with Simon, carrying him downstream before he was rescued and found in cardiac arrest. The car had been abandoned and the break lights may have flashed because of a short circuit, according to The Times. After being transported to the Princeton University Medical Center’s intensive care unit, Kenwood died later Sunday.

At least 45 people have died from storm-related incidents and more than 800,000 people were still without power as of Wednesday afternoon.

Irene first struck the United States as a hurricane, hitting the outer banks of North Carolina before moving up the East Coast and weakening into a tropical storm over New England. On campus, the university suffered relatively minor damage with tree branches down and flooding in dormitories and Goldfarb library.

In a letter accepting his nomination to become director of BEMCo, Kenwood wrote of his desire to save others in need, recounting a personal experience with live-saving medical care following a car accident in 1990 when another car struck his and left it smashed between two trees.

“I will never forget the feeling of fear and helplessness that swept over me as I looked from my two friends, one of whom was unconscious, to

the hysterical driver of the other car, to my right wrist, which was deeply lacerated and bleeding heavily,” Kenwood wrote in the letter. “I swore to myself that if I lived, I would learn the skills to care for myself and others should another medical emergency ever confront me again.”

After receiving his EMT certification in 1992, and later serving as BEMCo’s director, Kenwood graduated from Boston University Law School and ran his own company, Kenwood Technical Consulting.

Kenwood’s letter was filled with humor and also expressed his desire to serve the organization in the best capacity, even if that meant someone else was better fit to become director.

“I personally feel that my skills would be best utilized in the position of director, but if you feel that someone else is better qualified or would do a better job than myself, then I sincerely ask you to vote for him or her,” he wrote. “I run for these offices because I believe in BEMCo, and seek whatever is best for the organization.”

BEMCo mourned the loss of their fellow EMT and praised his service to the emergency medical community.

“It was evident to us that Michael was an exemplary EMT, consistently putting the well being of others before his own,” Paul Schneider, director of BEMCo, said in a statement. “Michael embodied the qualities that all BEMCo members strive to uphold, and we are proud to wear the same uniform that he wore during his service on BEMCo.” “He was dedicated and loyal. He loved BEMCo,” director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said in an interview. “It just shows how he wanted to be linked to the community. It says a lot about him as a human being.”

For Kenwood, the values of kindness and helping others defined not just his work as an EMT, but his life, explained Simon, who first met Kenwood in BEMCo and shared a suite

michael kenwood Insert optional text here.

on campus with him junior and senior year at Brandeis, becoming a close friend of Kenwood and his family.

“Michael was thoughtful, insightful, intelligent and a straightforward guy. No pretenses.

No politics. No BS. You could tell when Michael enjoyed something by the smile on his face and the eagerness with which he talked about it,” Simon said. “His laugh was infectious, and spending time with him was an enriching and rewarding experience in and of itself.”

In his BEMCo nomination letter, Kenwood

photo courtesy of princeton first aid and rescue squad

explained that knowledge should be converted into action, and for him that meant serving others with emergency care.

“Since I believe that being capable of doing something isn’t nearly so good as actually doing that something, the choice was easy: BEMCo!” Kenwood wrote.

Kenwood is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Frenkel, and his three-year-old daughter.

Donations in Kenwood’s honor can be sent with a check to the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad, PFARS 237 North Harrison Street, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Goldstein describes academic vision VISION, from page 1

Lawrence said that both, though they are from the sciences, appreciate the liberal arts and will fight for Brandeis on all fronts that they can. They both for instance “know that Oedipus is just as true and relevant today as it was then,” and Lawrence defended against the assumption that the liberal arts could somehow be shortchanged by the two scientists’ appointments.

He summed up his team’s goals by saying that “Brandeis is not going to be a niche school.” This is

what the president says is all he meant by “selective excellence.”

“What the university is doing well stays the same,” Lawrence said, while some things will need to be changed.

Goldstein, in a separate and later interview, said that the selective phrase “makes people nervous,” but that “a central component of our organization is to bring it to excellence.”

Goldstein further said that he did not accept the dichotomy between arts and sciences or between theoretical and applied learning because the difference does not exist. “I don’t believe that there

is such a thing as education for education’s sake,” Goldstein said.

“Education is what emboldens and empowers us to move out into the world as the people we want to be,” he said. Brandeis’ education should have a specific goal: making the world a better place through its social justice mission, he explained.

“The liberal arts and humanists are essential to the definition of the human condition, to preserving it,” and Brandeis will remain committed to them, Goldstein said, adding, “We do that by having our faculty focused on individual success, whatever that may be for each student.”

Goldstein and Birren both said that they appreciated more than anyone the liberal arts focus of the university. Birren acknowledged that she respected her fellow faculty members and Goldstein said that if anything, he could see that his fellow scientists were in most need of reassuring: “The real danger is someone in leadership thinking they know what those faculty are saying precisely because I’m from the same field as they are,” he said.

Lawrence said the reason Brandeis was what it is was because of its “commitment to our program in liberal arts, and we’re going to keep it that way.”

16 The Brandeis Hoot

Arts, Etc.

September 2 , 2011

A visit to the real Yoknapatawpha County

By Sean Fabery Editor

Our culture is obsessed with the origins and beginnings of our icons—think George Washington and the cherry tree, this summer’s “X-Men: First Class” and, of course, “Muppet Babies.” We have an insatiable desire to know what shaped them into the legendary figures we know today and it’s a desire that’s unlikely to be quenched anytime soon.

The same applies to writers.

Each year, numerous biographies of noted writers find their way to bookstores, occasionally having the power to regenerate renewed interest in a writer’s works, as happened with Richard Yates this past decade.

When you discuss a writer in an English class, you inevitably bring up biographical details: Was he an alcoholic? How did he treat his wife?

I’ve known people who’ve made it a habit of visiting the historic homes of America’s great writers. I can’t say that I’m usually in that camp. I spent most of my life living in Columbus, Ga., the hometown of Carson McCullers, yet I’ve never had any compulsion to visit her home despite living in the very city that inspired “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and “The Member of the Wedding.”

After I interned at a magazine located outside Little Rock this summer, I decided that I’d make a detour on the drive home and visit William Faulkner’s home in Oxford, Miss.

Faulkner lived in the home for 32 years; it’s where he wrote many of his masterpieces, including “Absalom, Absalom!” and “Light in August.”

I arrived in Oxford on an unusually overcast afternoon. Storm clouds and intermittent rain had followed

me all the way there from Arkansas, imbuing the usual August humidity with an unusual chill. Oxford has a special place in Faulkner’s canon—it wasn’t simply his hometown. Almost all of Faulkner’s works take place in mythical Yoknapatawpha County.

Yoknapatawpha’s county seat, Jefferson, is modeled closely on Oxford itself. Oxford itself is a booming college town, as it’s the home of Ole Miss. That laureled university now boasts one of the premiere Southern studies departments in the country, understandable when you consider that the premiere chronicler of the South lived just down the road.

Having never seen a picture of Rowan Oak—this English major wanted to be surprised—it was exactly what I expected it to be. Built in the Greek Revival style, it’s refined in a subtle way, neither too ostentatious nor too grand. It was built in 1844 when Oxford was still a small town; when I saw it, I imagined it being like a scaled-down version of the house Thomas Sutpen constructs in “Absalom, Absalom!”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, you’re confronted by Faulknerian ruins the moment you approach the house.

Across from the cedar-lined walkway that leads to its front door, there are vague outlines of an old garden—a maze garden, in fact—which ceased to exist after Reconstruction. When Faulkner moved into the house in 1930, he decided not to clear the few shrubs and bricks that remain, liking their gothic effect.

Faulkner assumed degradation as a stylistic choice—it’s easy to imagine this being the same man who wrote “A Rose for Emily.”

Once you leave the ruins and enter the house proper, it’s striking just how normal everything is. Having entered my fair share of old Southern houses, there was nothing too

photo by sean fabery/the hoot

rowan oak William Faulkner lived in this Oxford, Miss.w, Greek Revival home from 1930 until his death. It’s now open to the public.

atypical. Sure, there are a few antiquated aspects that have been retained. For instance, there are servants’ quarters in the back, which were once inhabited by the house’s caretaker, Mammy Callie. Aside from the appliances, you can see someone inhabiting these rooms today. The bedrooms are sparsely furnished, with only a few items hinting at their inhabitant’s proclivities. An easel adorns the room of Faulkner’s wife, while two cameras are stowed away in Faulkner’s own room.

Only occasionally do you stumble upon evidence that a great writer— perhaps the greatest writer in the American canon—lived here. In his office, Faulkner etched an outline of his 1954 novel “A Fable” on the wall, where it remains today. Over the years, the house’s caretakers have also uncovered liquor bottles on the grounds that belonged to Faulkner, who would go on notorious drinking binges after completing his novels. From the looks of it, he enjoyed his Four Roses Bourbon. Aside from that, it looks like a house that was in-

habited by a close, lively family.

Faulkner would’ve liked it that way. His novels may display a reverence for history and the acrobatics of memory, but he wanted people to remember his work, not necessarily the man behind it.

“It is my ambition to be, as a private individual, abolished and voided from history, leaving it markless, no refuse save the printed books,” he said in 1943. “I wish I had enough sense to see ahead thirty years ago and, like some of the Elizabethans, not signed them.”

‘Fun Home’ author Bechdel shares story with first-years

By Alan Tran Staff

Although first-years and orientation leaders may have been anticipating the first day of classes Wednesday night, they had one more learning experience to go through together. At 8 p.m. they filed into Spingold Theater, where Alison Bechdel spoke to them about her graphic novel: “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” the first-year mandated reading for the summer.

“I’ve always been excited about the mystical way pictures and words combine together,” she said, “and I’m going to try to show that to you.”

Published in 2006, “Fun Home” was, in Bechdel’s own words, “freakishly successful.” It was a finalist for the Book Critics Circle Award in 2006 and won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work in 2007. The graphic memoir describes Bechdel’s experiences growing up, discovering and coming to terms with her own homosexuality, as well as discovering that of her father’s after she comes out to her parents.

True to her craft, she used images and humor to lead her audience into her literary background and personal point of view, beginning with photos of rejection letters from graduate school.

“There’s a saying that comics are the medium for mediocre artists and mediocre writers, and in my case it’s

photo by alan tran/the hoot

getting graphic Author Alison Blechdel spoke to first-year students about her 2006 graphic novel “Fun House,” which was selected as the first-year mandated reading book.

true,” she said. But by triangulating between language and appearances, as she described it, she was able to reach something closer to the truth.

One time, when showing her agent a rough draft of her graphic memoir without illustrations, she recalled how her agent felt concerned that readers would be unable to follow the dual storylines, the past shown through images and

her future self narrating via text.

Nevertheless, Bechdel was confident that she would be able to get her story across when the two were combined and, when her agent saw the two together, she agreed that the result was a coherent and fullyformed story.

Before writing “Fun Home,” Bechdel wrote a comic strip called “Dykes to Watch Out For,” which

she described as a hybrid between a soap opera and an editorial. It allowed her to explore the tension between being an outsider and a citizen: Although she was determined to be very open about being lesbian, “I also yearned on a deep level to be seen as normal, so the comic strip became a way to normalize my difference.”

She also used it as a way to write commentary on politics and culture,

transposing some of her own reactions to political news into the lives of her characters.

As time went on, however, Bechdel became less and less interested in making things up, and more interested in telling true stories. She recalled reading “The Addams Family” comics as a child and relating to the images of houses filled with antiques and secrets, a sense that something was going on that she didn’t fully understand. These childhood experiences helped lay the foundation for the medium in on which she would later draw for her memoir.

But part of the reason she wanted to write her graphic memoir was also to work through her feelings about her father’s death, which occurred soon after she came out to her parents. She wondered, if she hadn’t sent that letter to her parents, maybe he wouldn’t be dead. Describing the logical fallacy, “Post hoc ergo propter hoc,” which says that because one event follows another, it was caused by the first event, she said that, “my brain knows that post hoc ergo propter hoc is a fallacy, but my psyche continues to fall for it.”

In writing her memoir, she stated that she wasn’t interested in reaching out to a particular audience; ultimately, she wrote it for herself, to help her figure out her own thoughts and feelings and tell her story from her perspective. But in doing so, she gave the rest of us something to think about as well.

September 2, 2011

ARTS, ETC. 15

The Brandeis Hoot

Globetrotting: one couch at a time

By Candice Bautista Staff

Sometime in the middle of July I came to a realization: I don’t really know anyone at home anymore. It was my first summer home from college and, after meeting up with friends and revisiting the different parts of New York that I had missed, I found myself home with nothing to do and no one to hang out with. I tried a bunch of different ways of meeting people, ranging from websites like meetup.com (the average age of its users was way too old for my taste) to just hanging out in Union Square. Then I stumbled upon CouchSurfing.org.

Founded in 2004, CouchSurfing. org is a website that is half hospitality exchange, half social networking.

Here’s the idea: When you’re traveling, you can look up potential hosts in the area for accommodations and have someone awaiting your arrival.

Although some may look at it as a way to find free board, there’s more to it than that; after all, hostels are cheap enough. Instead, it’s a way to meet new people in new places— even in places where you’ve been living for your entire life. These native residents can show you around and lead you to the sights that may not be in travel books. CouchSurfing, in essence, immediately gives you a personal connection to a city.

The site’s founder, Casey Fenton, conceived the idea for it after booking an inexpensive trip to Iceland from Boston. Fenton randomly sent e-mails to 1,500 students at the University of Iceland asking if he could stay with them. After he received more than 50 positive responses, the idea for CouchSurfing.org was sparked. Fewer than 10 years later, the website has grown to more than three million members in 246 countries and territories. The average age

graphic by steven wong/the hoot

of its membership is 28, with 20 percent in the United States. Nearly 74 percent of registered CouchSurfers speak English, which is astounding when you consider that there are members from Barcelona to Antarctica.

Searching for a possible “couch”— which can vary from literal couches to furnished guestrooms—is easy once you’ve registered, as the site lets you search by parameters including age, location, gender and number of guests. Once you submit a “CouchRequest” with details about your stay, the host can choose to accept or

deny it. Even if the user doesn’t have a couch available, they can indicate their preference for a “coffee and a drink,” essentially an invitation to just hang out.

This open-endedness is part of the site’s social networking aspect. It encourages you to meet visitors, as well as CouchSurfers living in the same town. Networking also provides a security fail-safe, as it allows users to prove they’re not dangerous or malicious. Making a detailed profile, becoming verified by the site and having references can allay the fears of new users. These profiles

not only tell the world about you but they can also hint at the compatibility between CouchSurfer and host, whether through a shared interest in rock climbing or a shared language.

The profile becomes a sort of first glance at the person that you’ll potentially meet.

I became interested in the website instantly. As a slightly crazed fan of the British show “Skins,” I imagined using the site to spend next summer in England moving from couch to couch, meeting people from all over the world. This soon branched out to the idea of one day becoming

one of those people without a true home—someone who, when asked where they live, would respond simply with “the world.” To live out any fraction of this dream, however, I would have to network on the site and prove myself trustworthy. The idea of networking sickened me, as I’ve deactivated my Facebook after becoming nauseated every time I glimpsed at my mini-feed. CouchSurfing, however, merely employs networking as a means of facilitating face-to-face contact. I accepted this and made my profile, wondering who would look at the profile of someone listed as living in Fresh Meadows and Waltham.

After making my profile, I messaged four people in the New York City area asking if they wanted to hang out. After a “maybe” and two “sorry I’m busy”s, I got a “yes” from a nice-looking guy named Stephen who listed his occupation as “homeostasis.” We exchanged numbers and soon I met the guy with whom I spent the rest of my summer. As a typical awkward Brandeisian, my conversations with him were bumpy at first, but we quickly fell into a good friendship. Stephen told me about studying abroad in Argentina and I told him about my dreams of being English. After walking up and down Manhattan—something that became a tradition for us—and getting soaked in the rain, we made plans to see each other again at a free They Might Be Giants concert at the Williamsburg Waterfront.

Suddenly, I wasn’t bored anymore.

Now I felt the thrill of hanging out with someone new and the adventurousness that comes with feeling lost. Stephen and I have now known each other for a little more than a month, but we so far have already walked more than 1,000 blocks searching for a cookie shop in ManSee COUCHSURFING, page 18

‘Guard’ puts dark Irish twist on buddy-cop comedy

By Sean Fabery Editor

Contemporary filmmakers have long had an affection for the buddy-cop comedy, though most— think “Rush Hour” to “Turner and Hooch”—are middling at best. The genre gets a new twist in director John Michael McDonagh’s “The Guard,” which adds a little off-color Irish charm to an otherwise tired genre.

Irish policeman Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleason) is the epitome of unorthodox. In the film’s opening scene, he groggily observes a speeding, teenager-filled vehicle speed by his parked car; only a loud crash rouses him out of his stupor. When he comes across their scattered bodies, he stoops, rifles through one of their pockets, and uncovers some ecstasy, which he promptly pops in his mouth.

For all that, Boyle isn’t really a crooked cop—he simply doesn’t care much about his job and no one else in his sleepy west Irish town really seems to think he should. Sure he may flagrantly parade around town with two prostitutes (dressed as sexy cops!) in tow but he gets the job done well enough. The film also hints at a softer side: When he’s not at work, Boyle can usually be found visiting his saucy, terminally-ill mother (Finnula Flanagan) at the

local hospice.

Things change when FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) arrives. Everett is searching for a trio of English and Irish drug importers who plan on landing half-a-billion dollars worth of cocaine on the island. Boyle and Everett immediately clash. “I thought only black people were drug dealers,” Boyle tells Everett, pausing only to add “and Mexicans.” When Everett challenges him on this point, Boyle’s only response is that he’s Irish: “Racism is part of my culture.”

Unsurprisingly, Boyle and Everett put aside their differences and form an odd couple. While Boyle may be naive about blacks, he turns out to be a good cop when he sets his mind to it—and, when the rest of the police force is receiving payoffs from drug dealers, that certainly comes in handy.

McDonagh’s film has drawn many comparisons to 2008’s “In Bruges,” which incidentally was directed by his brother, playwright Martin McDonagh. It’s true that there are some similarities—both are crackling black comedies, though this one focuses on lawmen instead of assassins, and both benefit from the presence of Gleason. There are some major thematic differences though. “In Bruges” concerns itself with redemption, while “The Guard” is content to stay in its lighter fish-out-of-water, don’t-trustfirst-impressions bubble. That isn’t necessarily a criticism but it does

differentiate the two.

The cast here is clearly having a blast with the material. Gleason has a knack for turning his hulking form into a character itself—a single sullen look from him manages to explain the character’s entire approach to the world. Cheadle excels as well, in part because his sincere, no-nonsense manner is so different from Gleason’s own style. Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham and David Wilmot have supporting roles as the cheeky drug importers who are being pursued; they are as adept at discussing Bertrand Russell as they are at murdering people, making them a pleasurable addition.

This is McDonagh’s first feature film, surprising considering the quality of the final product. The action is masterfully paced and the great production work brings all the settings to life, particularly Boyle’s garish home. As far as the script is concerned, virtually every character swears like a proverbial sailor, but it works in context—it doesn’t hurt that the dialogue is, in a word, some of the wittiest you’ll come across in a movie theater this year.

This summer boasted a number of high-profile comedies like “Bridesmaids” and “Midnight in Paris” that were actually surprisingly good—it’s truly startling just how few good comedies come out in a given year.

While “The Guard” hasn’t received quite the same level of attention as those films, it’s definitely not one to be missed.

photo from internet source

guarded Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleason star in John Michael McDonagh’s “The Guard.”

18 FEATURES

The Brandeis Hoot

September 2, 2011

‘Ocarina of Time 3D’ a gold standard in Zelda series

By Gordy Stillman Editor

Every summer I spend four days in June closely following the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest annual video game trade show in the United States. When I learned that the critically acclaimed “Legend of Zelda” series was turning 25 years old this year, I decided it might be worth picking up the latest release, an enhanced remake of the classic game “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D” for the new Nintendo 3DS. It turned out to be one of my best purchases of the summer.

While the core of the “Legend of Zelda” games is generally the same—you solve puzzles, navigate dungeons and collect artifacts—the refinements presented by “Ocarina of Times” make it even more of a gold standard than the original release.

What truly make “Zelda” games great are the stories and, despite the somewhat formulaic nature of their stories, each game is engaging. “Ocarina of Time” is no different.

The game begins with a young boy named Link who lives in a village among “fairy-people” called Kokiri. Link is peculiar because, unlike the Kokiri, he lacks a fairy companion. One morning, Link awakens to find that he has been sent a fairy companion, the annoying Navi, and he receives a mission

to meet with the spirit of the forest, the Great Deku Tree.

After learning of an evil man named Ganondorf who plans to take over the kingdom, Link is sent on a mission to stop him. On the mission, Link meets and befriends Princess Zelda, heiress to the throne of Hyrule, who entrusts him with an ocarina, a flute-like instrument her family has protected for years, known as the Ocarina of Time.

Once Link has the ocarina—along with three sacred stones he has to collect—he opens the Temple of Time and claims a sacred weapon known as the Master Sword, the one weapon that can defeat Ganondorf.

With the Master Sword and the Ocarina of Time, Link travels between the present and seven years into the future, switching between his child and young-adult self in order to solve puzzles and find the sages who can assist in binding Ganondorf ’s powers. This results in an epic battle between Link and Ganondorf.

In addition to the great story, the controls are perfect for achieving a console game experience on a handheld console. The game controls are fundamentally easier on the 3DS compared to the original version.

The game’s graphics yield even greater improvements. While I never feel that graphics make or break a game, the visuals proved surprisingly detailed and impressive, even when played without the 3D settings.

photo from internet source

zelda “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D,” one of the first major titles released for Nintendo’s 3DS system, boasts stunning graphics.

The music also proved compelling. While I don’t usually play with the sound on, the soundtrack felt like classic “Zelda” music. While video-game music does not always have the greatest reputation, the music in “The Legend of Zelda” is iconic and will even be serving as the theme of a national concert tour

Adventures in CouchSurfing

was also perfect, as it also got me excited about the next game in the series, “Skyward Sword,” which comes out this holiday season.

Without a doubt, if you ever have an interest in trying out this critically acclaimed series, “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D” is a great starting point.

Arts Recommends Not everyone has the time to see the latest films or read the newest bestseller. We make some recommendations that you can pick up at the nearest library.

COUCHSURFING, from page 17

hattan, going through thrift stores in Brooklyn and finding a certain bubble tea shop in Queens. Although this friendship would not have happened without CouchSurfing, we still wanted a true CouchSurfing experience: being lost in a place we didn’t know and staying there with someone new. We were searching for an adventure, for another step into the unknown.

I quickly found a way to get to Chicago within two days for less than 30 bucks, but I wasn’t quite ready for a more than 20-hour commute. Instead, I suggested to Stephen that we book a similarly dirtcheap trip to Providence. He agreed and, after sending a few CouchRequests, we had Andrew as a willing host. We also had other connections: Stephen’s stepsister attends Brown, while I knew a certain Halee Brown ’13 from Brandeis. Together, we knew two and a half people in Providence—in other words, it was an adventure waiting to happen.

After disembarking in Providence, Stephen and I found ourselves completely elated. We were in a new place! We were going to be CouchSurfing! Although Andrew had to work most of the day, he promised to give us a walking tour of Providence and accompany us to dinner. He also gave us his address so we could drop off our things beforehand.

Soon Stephen and I found Andrew’s house and let ourselves in with the keys he dutifully left in the mailbox, our hearts beating rapidly.

Andrew’s house was amazing and did not seem to belong to a 20-yearold college student. After setting down our bags, we snooped around a little. What we found—or, rather, didn’t find—frightened us: Andrew’s house was almost completely empty. He had six books on a shelf,

this year.

“Ocarina of Time 3D” also has the added benefit of being one of the first major game releases for Nintendo’s 3DS system. Consequently, it serves as both a console seller and as a well-deserved “must buy” game on its own.

The timing of the game’s release

photo from internet source

two pictures and a kitchen stocked only with a lonely box of oatmeal.

Petrified, Stephen and I scurried to Brown to meet his stepsister, Morgan. We spent the day hypothesizing, debating whether Andrew would be the murdering or stealing type.

Andrew turned out to be a sane and very cool dude—he had just been in the process of moving out.

Stephen and I exchanged looks of relief before Andrew led us on a three-hour walking tour of Providence. He guided us in a very charming way that soon became the night’s in-joke: “We’re gonna bang a left here,” “We’re gonna high-tail this all the way to the capitol building,” stopping just short of “Let’s caress this right over here.”

Being a New Yorker, I am almost guaranteed to be unimpressed with everything I see, but Providence was amazing—a quaint city miraculously without tourists. Andrew showed us the Providence River, bringing us to a spot that made us feel like we were sitting right on top of the water. We wandered through scary bus tunnels, jumped over “no trespassing” signs and tried to “break in” to the local arts center. To top

it off, after a delicious and wholly satisfying dinner at a gyro place on Thayer Street, Andrew brought us to the hotel where he works in order to show us the most amazing view I have ever seen—one that I would never have discovered without meeting him.

The next day, Halee graciously brought us to Newport, which had both taffy and wonderful views of the ocean. Soon after, we were on a MegaBus back to New York, our first successful CouchSurfing experience behind us.

If the trip to Providence is indicative of how other CouchSurfing experiences will turn out, then let me say it’s amazing. It forced Stephen and me to be more adventurous, to go new places and to meet new people. We also realized how important people truly are to our experiences. Even though traveling itself is impressive, the people with whom we spend our time meeting and interacting are the components that make trips memorable. Visiting CouchSurfing.org is realizing all the different places that you have yet to travel, all the people you are waiting to meet—and knowing they are all one CouchRequest away.

photo from internet source

Film ‘Gattaca’ The 1997 film “Gattaca” is stylish, intelligent and just beautiful. Many people would discount it the moment they hear it is science fiction—that would be a big mistake. “Gattaca,” like all good science fiction, takes a real problem and examines it with a twist. Director Andrew Niccol tackles racism and bigotry; in his future, however, racism is “down to a science.” Parents are able to make designer babies, perfecting their children; this leaves “God children,” or natural children, as second-class citizens unable to get high-ranking jobs or to lead successful and satisfying lives.

Vincent Freeman, brilliantly portrayed by Ethan Hawke, is a “de-geneerate” who dreams of being an astronaut despite his perceived inadequacies. When he finds Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a perfect specimen, they push themselves to their limits to allow Vincent to take over Jerome’s life.

This stylish film has a stunning script, in which every line hits home, especially when delivered by the wonderful cast of actors, including Uma Thurman and Alan Arkin. —YK

September 2, 2011

NEWS 19

The Brandeis Hoot

A warm welcome to students and bugs

By Gabby Katz

Bug Patrol Task Force and list some easy techniques for preventing contraction of EEE, provided by the Health and Human Services:

Staff

A new semester is upon us and the campus is abuzz with new students, new flowers, new pavement and new bugs. Hopefully everyone had an enjoyable and healthy summer and is gearing up for the school year. I am excited to be your go-to health gal again this year and look forward to providing you with recent health news and tips to make your year a good one. While you were gone, Boston experienced a Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) scare as a result of infected mosquitoes, so I thought I’d give you a little background on the scary virus and some tips on how to avoid infection.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, EEEV is a virus that lives by cycling through mosquito and avian hosts. Luckily, Ollie is not to blame for transmission of the disease, as the virus only mutates to human form in mosquitoes.

Though it’s rare for the virus to be transmitted to humans, there were 37 reported cases in Massachusetts between 1964 and 2010, one of the highest averages among all the states in the country.

Infection is transmitted when a mosquito with EEEV bites a human and transfers the virus via the blood.

Then, within four to 10 days, EEEV can progress to either a systemic or encephalitic infection. The systemic infection can last between one and two weeks, but will result in a full

—Use bug sprays that contain DEET, Permethrin, IR3535 or Picaridin. (If cancer-causing chemicals are not your thing, oil of lemon eucalyptus can also be effective.)

—Plan your cute outfits with items safely by covering your legs and arms while outdoors.

—Limit your outside activity during evening and early morning hours if you don’t want to be some mosquito’s midnight snack.

photo from internet source

recovery. The encephalitic infection can lead to lifelong debilitating mental and physical problems, with a 33 percent mortality rate. Severe cases begin with the sudden onset of headaches, high fever, chills and vomiting, which can progress into disorientation, seizures and even coma.

For both types of illness, there is no specific antidote, and they can only be treated on a per-symptom basis. Reassuringly, only 4 to 5 percent of people infected with EEEV end up with the full EEE illness.

Is it time to arm ourselves with fly swatters and flail around at the sight of any mosquito on campus? Well, not quite. According to news station

WPRI, these past few months have only witnessed cases of EEEV detected in mosquitoes in Fall River, Lakeville and Middleboro, with no human cases seen yet. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reports that, over the past years, more than 60 percent of all human cases were found in Plymouth and Norfolk counties, the latter of which is adjacent to Middlesex County, home of Brandeis.

Clearly there’s not only potential for the virus to be transmitted to humans, but also for it to happen around here.

With peak infection season occurring between July and September, I decided to join the special Brandeis

—Befriend Facilities and fix any holes in your screens, thus ensuring that your windows are sealed well.

—Don’t leave any standing water around in trash cans or recycling bins for more than four days unless you’re planning on opening a mosquito hotel.

While it’s hardly time to curse every little bugger on campus, being aware and smart about these risks will help you stay healthy for classes and for the exciting first weekend back. So, go frolic on the Great Lawn with bug spray in tow and have a great first day of classes! As always, tune in for more health tips and send me an e-mail at gkatz10@ brandeis.edu with any health-related questions you may have.

20 The Brandeis Hoot

hoot scoops

September 2, 2011

Hurricane Irene shuffles orientation schedule as ’Deis dries

By Debby Brodsky Staff

Just in time to welcome the Brandeis class of 2015, Hurricane Irene crashed down on the first day of firstyear orientation, forcing faculty and staff to make quick safety decisions and rearrange the orientation schedule.

As Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts last weekend, Brandeis canceled the first day of move-in and orientation activities. Incoming firstyears and parents scheduled to move onto campus Sunday had to suspend trip plans from 33 states and either move in early or wait until Hurricane

Irene’s flooding slowly abated. By Saturday, 650 students had already moved into the dorms.

As the presence of Hurricane Irene concerned traveling students and parents, Brandeis administrators faced a multitude of difficult decisions. Such decisions included whether or not to allow students already en route to campus to move in, how to move students into residence halls as efficiently as possible, and how to staff dining halls and provide other essential services to students in the midst of Irene’s heavy rains and winds.

Prior to the arrival of Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Irene, Brandeis international students, fall athletes and some returning students

had already moved back to campus.

Brandeis administrators stressed their decision that the safety of students was more important than the schedule of orientation activities.

University administrators assured nervous parents that orientation activities would remain on a flexible schedule and students would be able to adjust, even if they missed the opening festivities.

“You will miss nothing that puts you at a disadvantage regarding academics, social life, etc.,” Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer wrote in an e-mail last week. “It is far better that you and your family get here safely whenever you can.”

Other local colleges and universities such as Boston College, Boston University and Bentley University monitored the progress of Hurricane Irene to determine whether they would be able begin their first-year

orientations on schedule. Like Brandeis, Boston College delayed firstyear orientation by one day, while Boston University and Bentley University only suffered delays of several hours to their move-in schedules.

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said that Brandeis was prepared to initiate emergency preparedness procedures had the storm required them. Those plans included evacuation procedures to move students from dorms into Levin Ballroom and Gosman Athletic Center.

The campus flooded in several buildings because of the heavy rains but had crews on hand to pump out the water. Buildings that flooded included the basement in Goldfarb library, the Castle, Ridgewood, Ren-

field in Massell residence quad and the loading dock outside Usdan, associate vice president for Facilities Services Peter Shields said.

Damage costs were minimal and mostly included carpet cleanings and overtime labor pay, Shields said.

Senior vice president for administration Mark Collins praised the Facilities department for their plans to protect luggage outside Epstein from heavy rain.

“Thanks to the foresight of Mary Sharrigan, luggage was protected from Hurricane Irene,” Collins said.

And by Monday, the campus was mostly cleaned up and sunny skies returned to welcome the incoming first-year students.

photos by ingrid schulte/the hoot