The Brandeis Hoot - March 30, 2012

Volume 9 Number 10

www.thebrandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

Knesset forum disrupted, again

’Deis admits fewer students in incoming class

By Rachel Hirschhaut Staff

escorted out Security and administration officials escort protesters out of Temple Emauel in Newton on Monday.

Brandeis SJP interrupt Ruderman event

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

Five Israeli Knesset members participated in a town-hall Comment page 13 style meeting at Temple Emanuel in Newton on Monday evening. For the second year

in a row, members of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) interrupted the Ruderman fellow event in protest, this time shouting, “Israel is an apartheid state and the Knesset is an apartheid parliament.”

On a campus where members of the American Jewish community and university alumni and supporters care deeply about student politics related to the Middle East conflict, the protest, though brief in its disruption, produced negative media coverage in leading Israeli and American Jewish

Bial will address graduates

photo from internet source

newspapers. This was the third such pro-Palestinian protest at a Brandeis University-affiliated event with leading international political officials in the past three years.

“It’s not like they wanted to engage in discussion. They wanted to use the event to make a statement,” Ruderman Family Foundation President Jay Ruderman ’88, who organized and sponsored the program, said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I really See KNESSET, page 2

March 30, 2012

Even before prospective students check their mailboxes for acceptances and visit potential schools in an attempt to weigh their decision, admissions officers must decide which— and how many—students get the coveted acceptance letters.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the class of 2015 is an unusually large class, with more than 900 students. This puts strain on the housing system, as shown by the number of rising sophomores placed in first-year dorms for next year.

“The administration here at Brandeis has been evaluating the size of the incoming freshmen class,” Dean of Admissions Mark Spencer said. “We have heard the concerns of community members around class size and housing. As such, we are looking for a slightly smaller freshman class this year, and did admit less students than we did last year,” Spencer said.

Admissions decisions for the class of 2016 were released a week ago. Including those accepted through early decision, Brandeis accepted about one-third of its nearly 8,400 applicants, according to Spencer.

The admitted students for 2016 are an increasingly diverse group.

Approximately 2,800 prospective students hail from 48 states and 56

countries, and 12 percent of them are international students. Twenty-eight percent are students of color, and 10 percent are in the first generation of their family to go to college, Spencer said.

Ninety-seven percent of admitted students were in the top quartile of their class and on the 2400 scale, the SAT range for most of the admitted students was 2000 to 2210.

For students placed on the waitlist, however, a more complicated admissions process is just beginning.

Spencer would not say how many applicants were placed on the waitlist this year but said that Brandeis has consistently placed a number of applicants on the waitlist for the past five years.

Spencer explained how the waitlist works and the difference between being deferred at early decision and being waitlisted. Deferred students are “qualified early decision students” who have demonstrated that Brandeis is their first choice and deserve “a second look.” Waitlisted students, however, are “qualified students that we just do not have room for in the firstyear class,” Spencer said.

“We may or may not give them a second look depending on how much of the first-year class we admitted through the regular process, and how many matriculate. In the past few years we have always turned to the waitlist.”

Baring it all at Liquid Latex

By Gilda Di Carli Staff

Deborah Bial ’87, founder and president of the Posse Foundation, will deliver the 2012 commencement address, President Fred Lawrence announced at the university’s board of trustees meeting on Wednesday.

Along with two Nobel Prize winners, a musical educator, and former philanthropist and Brandeis trustee Myra Kraft who passed away last year, Bial will receive an honorary degree at the May 20 ceremony, according to a university press release.

“Debbie is a visionary leader in education and richly deserves this honor. The only request I made of her was that she mention, somewhere in her remarks to our graduates, that she once sat right where they are sitting that day,” Lawrence said in the press release. “That’s very powerful because there is simply no better example of social justice in action than Debbie Bial.”

After having worked in the New York City public schools, Bial designed and founded the Posse Foundation, motivated by a returning student’s claim that he wouldn’t have dropped out of college if his “posse” had been with him. She received a $1.9 million grant for the collegeadmissions tool, which targets and

deborah bial ‘87

photo from internet source

recruits public high school students who are would otherwise be overlooked by the admissions process, and sends them in teams—or posses—to specific schools. In 2007, Bial was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

Myra Hiatt Kraft ’64, who passed away last summer, will be among the five individuals receiving honorary degrees. As president of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation and through her work with the Robert and Myra Kraft Family Foundation, Kraft has gained worldwide recognition for her philanthropic work. In 1986, she became a Brandeis trustee and served on the board for See BIAL, page 2

photos by haley fine/the hoot

The annual Liquid Latex show took place in Levin Ballroom last Tuesday. The performances ranged from runway-type pieces showcasing different classic novels on the models like “Runway: From Books to Bodies,” to “Masked Desires,” a piece that portrayed an innocent girl falling into a world controlled by Guy Fawkes. For The Hoot’s review, turn to page 5.

liquid latex

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

Knesset members interrupted at Newton synagogue

protesters escorted out of temple emanuel in newton on monday.

KNESSET, from page 1

don’t think it reflects on Brandeis.”

Uniformed police officers and private security guards escorted the students and other activists out of the sanctuary at Temple Emanuel. One student was arrested, according to a press release sent on Tuesday with video of the protest from Brandeis SJP.

Elisha Baskin, a member of Brandeis SJP explained the reasoning behind the protest in a statement.

“Legislation sponsored by Mr. Akunis, Ms. Kirshebaum and Ms. Shemtov suppresses legitimate activities of human rights organizations operating in Israel and Palestine,” Baskin said.

“They and their political parties are responsible for numerous apartheid policies carried out by the state of Israel and I feel students should hold

photo from internet source

them accountable when they speak at a university event.”

Ruderman founded the program last year, bringing Israeli politicians to the United States for a week of meetings with local, education, government and advocacy leaders to educate them about the views and concerns of the American Jewish community.

The Knesset members and 2012 Ruderman fellows—Ofir Akunis, Likud; Ilan Gilon, Meretz; Fania Kirsh-

enbaum, Yisrael Beitenu; Raleb Majadele, Labor; and Lia Shemtov, Yisrael Beitenu—joined President Fred Lawrence, Ruderman and Israeli ConsulGeneral to New England Shai Bazak at an opening lunch on Sunday.

The town hall was held at Temple Emanuel this year to accommodate a larger audience, Ruderman said.

Senior Vice President for Communications Andrew Gully said the student protest reflects the view of only a small group of students, noting that the remainder of the event produced respectful discussion.

“It is regrettable that the Brandeis student protesters, as well as adults with no connection to the university, caused some MKs and other members of the audience discomfort,” Gully said in a statement. “Ten or 12 voices on any subject do not represent ‘Brandeis,’ as some media accounts would lead people to believe.”

At the Ruderman town hall meeting in Levin Ballroom last year, when Knesset Member Avi Dichter stood up to speak behind a podium, about a dozen Brandeis students, including many from the organization Brandeis SJP, began to protest, shouting that Dichter was guilty of war crimes and should be arrested for violations of international law.

The students passed out fliers to the

audience, shouted in Hebrew: “Don’t worry Avi Dicther, we’ll meet you in the Hague,” and then exited the ballroom.

In November 2009, when Richard Goldstone, head of the U.N. Fact Finding Mission for the Gaza Conflict, and former Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold participated in a campus forum to discuss Goldstone’s report on the 22-day 2008-2009 Gaza War, students silently stood up with signs taped to their backs to protest the report.

This week, Seth Grande, a member of Brandeis SJP referred to Israeli policies as an occupation in a press release.

“Israel needs to end its project of colonial occupation in Palestine and stop discriminating against its Palestinian citizens,” Grande said in a statement. “As long as Israel maintains its discriminatory policies, I, as a Jewish American, will not stay silent.”

Gully said that the protest this year did not retract from the successful discussion among the Knesset members.

“Over the next 88 minutes, more than 600 people—including many Brandeis students—sat respectfully and with great interest and heard the members of the Knesset discuss myriad topics with insight, candor, collegiality and humor,” he said.

Commencement to honor Myra Kraft, Nobel Prize winners BIAL, from page 1

10 years. Her husband, Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots football team, also was a generous supporter of the university. He will receive the award on her behalf.

Other individuals receiving honorary degrees include two Nobel Prize winners, Sydney Brenner and Amartya Sen, and president of the Julliard School, Joseph Polisi. Brenner’s work in molecular biology and genetics and as founder of nonprofit research

organization, Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, Calif., has led to new breakthroughs in evolution, aging and genetic code understanding.

Sen, an economist and philosopher, is recognized for his work in addressing issues related to famine and for developing the theory of social choice in social justice and welfare economics.

In May, the university will celebrate its 61st commencement ceremonies.

Last year’s speaker was New York Times columnist David Brooks. commencement awards From left: Sydney Brenner, Myra Kraft, Joseph Polisi and Amartya Sen.

A/C stays off in heat

By Connor Novy Editor

After a brief spell of 80-degree weather, the temperature plunged back into the 30s and 40s, necessitating the return of the heating system on campus. It takes two weeks for the university to prepare the air conditioning equipment, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities Peter Shields.

“The biggest effort is preparing the cooling towers that are used to eject the heat from the buildings,” Shields wrote in an e-mail to The Hoot. The university briefly considered turning on the air conditioning but, given the short notice of the heat wave and the anticipated return to normal temperatures, administrators decided not to switch from heating to cooling.

A number of individuals reported medical complications due to the heat and portable fans were brought to “help provide some comfort,” Shields wrote. Most students reveled in the sun, scattering on the lawns for the brief sunny days.

After the temperatures dropped at the beginning of the weekend, heat was restored, a relatively simple process if the AC has not begun to change over. “Most of the campus is controlled by the Siemens Building Management System,” Shields wrote,

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

great lawn sprinkler party

and if the cooling towers have not begun to be prepared to eject heat from the buildings, turning the heat back on takes little time. With temperatures predicted at no more than 60 degrees in the near future, the air conditioning will remain off for now.

photos from brandeisnow

March 30, 2012

NEWS 3

The Brandeis Hoot

Professor from Hebrew University on religious parallels

By Victoria Aronson Editor

Presenting the lecture “On the Organization of Sacred Time Among Jews and Christians,” Professor Israel Yuval of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem spoke to the Brandeis community regarding his recent revelations on the intricate connections between Judaism and Christianity.

Yuval initiated the discussion by denouncing his own former conviction that Judaism and Christianity signified “sister religions.” He is concerned with reversing the traditional mother-daughter associations.

Although Judaism is normally regarded as the “mother religion” to Christianity, Yuval argues that this role is actually the opposite. He stated that the “emergence of Christianity as the second monotheistic religion modified the cards,” spurring followers of the Jewish faith to “need an additional sign of distinction.”

For instance, given the similarities between the written Torah and the Old Testament of the Bible, Yuval cited the significance of the oral Torah,

asserting that “it alone defined Jewish uniqueness from Christianity.” Drawing parallels between the sometimes conflicting religions, Yuval also traced their emergence to the worshipping of pagan idols, portraying the need to develop a separate identity.

In particular, Yuval traced the inherent similarities between holidays celebrated by both faiths, expanding upon the obvious coincidence of Christmas and Hanukkah.

Within paganism, two essential Roman holidays fell on Dec. 17 and Jan. 1, with Dec. 25 marking the solstice.

Intriguingly, the eight initial days of this season of festivities is marked by light getting weaker, while the subsequent period of eight days is marked by the increase of light.

Yuval traced the significance of light to Judaism, referring to the menorah, and Christianity, regarding the light of the star present at the birth of Christ.

This direct correlation encompasses not only Judaism and Christianity but also has roots in paganism. According to Yuval, these religions are striving for “a distinction between the

sacred and the profane.”

He expanded upon the tensions developing between the two religions, claiming, “the oral torah is depicted as a mystery between God and Israel, with whom the Christians had no share.”

In acknowledgment of the controversial and tension-ridden relationship between the two faiths, Yuval spoke about the refusal of a group of Christians to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 in Palestine.

Instead, they celebrated the Festival of David and Jacob, rejecting tradition.

In this way, both religions focused together on the figure of David. This shared importance of David demonstrates parallels between the two competing religions despite inherent tensions.

Yuval further exposes parallels between Judaism and Christianity in his book “Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages,” analyzing the intricate and tensionfilled emergence of the two interlinked faiths.

photo by haley fine/the hoot

professor israel yuval Professor Yuval discusses parallels

between Christianity and Judaism

Lecture denounces media coverage of activism

By Marisa Boudlong Staff

Sarah Sobieraj, professor of Sociology at Tufts University and recent author of “Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism,” led a lecture titled “Covered: Activists, Journalists, and News in a Shifting Media Landscape” on Thursday afternoon in the Mandel Reading Room. She discussed the forms of rhetoric used by popular media and the “unsettling” relationship developed between journalism and activism.

Sobieraj analyzed the rhetoric of

what she called “mainstream media.”

She named well-known establishments such as The New York Times, with which she illustrated how “mainstream” the perceived problem has become. She mentioned how one New York Times piece blatantly described protesters as “ridiculous” and as “buffoons.”

Sobieraj believes that the media consciously selects the majority of what is shown to the public, illustrating her point with when non-violent demonstrations rarely appear in the media; demonstrators will only be publicized when they resort to some form of violence toward the police.

Sobieraj displayed a provocative pho-

tograph of protesters with black bags on their heads sending a clear message to the press: We are protesters, we are not terrorists.

She also criticized the organizations and activists trying to gain coverage by the mainstream media. Here, she describes how the media’s portrayal of activists in the worst light becomes a serious issue.

Activists become so involved with their image, Sobieraj said, that often they are only allowed to regurgitate dogma instead of explaining each individual’s true opinion.

This can be hurtful to the cause itself because many who would otherwise join are uninspired to do so.

Sobieraj mentioned how she has actually seen activists direct questions to the organization’s website. Other activists are even trained so that they will not embarrass the organization, and are told to just “shut up.”

Sobieraj also had contention with the Occupy Movement. In the early stages of Occupy, she explained that there was barely any coverage. The media gave excuses as to why there was such a lack of attention on Occupy by labeling the movement as unimportant.

Shown on a chart, she presents how with the increase of hostilities toward police at Occupy camps there was a boom in coverage. She demonstrated

the serious misuse of journalism and the inappropriate priorities of the news coverage.

Sobieraj compared the number of articles on the early Occupy Movement to that of the number of articles on Michael Jackson’s doctor—Jackson’s doctor has more.

Sobieraj ended after multiple questions on the effects of journalist on activists. “This is about journalism, not so much the journalist.” She explained how journalists perceive they are just doing their job, yet she believes “journalism should be serving a different function,” one with fewer motives or conscious aims.

World Bank nomination concerns some in Dartmouth community

By Connor Novy Editor

President Obama nominated Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim last Friday to lead the World Bank. Although applauded nationally for his background in economic development, Dartmouth students have voiced concerns over student life issues during Kim’s presidency.

After only a three-year term as Dartmouth College’s president, the second shortest in the history of the college, some feel that Kim used the university as a “stepping stone” to a higher position. Others feel that as he moves on, he leaves his work at the school unfinished, especially after recent charges of hazing arose in Dartmouth’s Greek system. Hazing is a criminal offense in New Hampshire.

Twenty-seven members of Dartmouth fraternities were charged with the hazing, though according to a former head of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Dartmouth, all but three of the original 27 charges have been dropped after the fraternities gave “physical evidence” disputing the allegations originally made by the former fraternity member Andrew Lohse, according to The Washington Post.

If Kim’s nomination is accepted, he will head one of the world’s largest economic institutions. He has not previously run a financial institution.

He is a global health expert, anthro-

pologist, physician and former director of the HIV/AIDS department at the World Health Organization. The White House selected Kim after considering Senator John Kerry, Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers and U.N. ambassador Susan E. Rice, according to The New York Times.

The largest concern from Dartmouth students includes the potential abandonment of anti-binge drinking initiatives that Kim had started.

Whether they will be continued with the same vehemence by his successor is uncertain.

Kim equated the binge drinking on the Dartmouth campus to an “epidemic” and began work to decrease the effects, such as sexual assault and injury earlier in his tenure.

Despite the prevalence of alcohol abuse in the Greek system, the extremes of which were immortalized by the film “Animal House,” which depicts a fictionalized version of Dartmouth’s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, Kim said in a January interview with The Statesman, that Greeks instead lead to “the development of wonderfully close relationships.”

Two months later, an expose by a Dartmouth fraternity member caused upheaval on campus as well as in the national press. Kim was accused of ignoring or overlooking the hazing of fraternity pledges, which included swimming through a kiddy pool of fecund bodily fluids and consuming

omelets made of vomit, which damaged the university’s image as well as its president. The school charged students individually, including the student who initially admitted the crimes in an opinion piece in a Dartmouth student newspaper.

According to a student interviewed

by The Dartmouth, a campus paper, Kim’s nomination was “convenient” for the college, washing away much of the bad press incurred by the recent tumults. Students did not believe he would stay long, reported The Dartmouth, and some felt he was not a good fit for the university.

The majority of national press has been positive, but reservations have

been raised not only over the hazing scandal that rocked Dartmouth and the Ivy Greek world earlier this year, but his lack of experience in economics and finance as well. He has run non-profits and is an expert in global health, but has not controlled any financial institutions.

From Dartmouth itself, opinions are mixed. Many in the Dartmouth community feel that Kim’s choice to pursue the position at the World Bank is an abandonment of the university. For the first two years of his term, the college was entrenched in financial difficulties that made progress nearly impossible and, in the last year, the college suffered the hazing

scandal.

Still, the majority of students support Kim as a good leader of the World Bank. Only 16.2 percent thought he was not, while 12.3 percent chose a non-response option in a poll by The Dartmouth. Whether they were satisfied with Kim as a president of their university, however, showed slightly more split results. First-year students ranked the lowest satisfaction, with 4.26 out of 10, and seniors the highest with 6.85. Some students feel that Kim has abandoned his initiatives, and hoped that he would do more to reduce the binge drinking and sexual assault that is prevalent on the Dartmouth College campus.

Attention Seniors: Get ready for commencement with an ad in The Hoot’s special issue.

Learn more: http://thebrandeishoot.com/

4 The Brandeis Hoot

The Week in Pictures

March 30, 2012

photos by paula hoekstra, nathan rosenbloom, and ingrid schulte/the hoot

Clockwise from top-left Bronstein Week comes to Brandeis: Elena Korn ’13 plays a giant game of Jenga at Student Events’ “Next stop: Florida mini golf.” Jackie Zais ’13 sets up snacks. Catherine Smith-Vaughan ’12 has fun grilling burgers at the Judges men’s baseball game. John Fonte ’12 enjoys the challenge of Ka-Plop. Love is Here: Students participate in the Student Union sponsored event mean to remind people to listen to themselves and those they care about.

March 30, 2012

ARTS, ETC. 5

The Brandeis Hoot

Loving Liquid Latex: unique show turns flesh into canvas

photos by haley fine/the hoot liquid latex The annual Liquid Latex performance in which student models wear latex took place last Tuesday night in Levin Ballroom. From top left, clockwise: “Masked Desires” with Kristie Look ’15 and Alex Hulse ’12; Greg Ryan

’12 thrusts in “L’efant Purdu”; Pasha Belenky ’14 and Kimberly Stamegna ’14 as other circus-folk in “L’efant Purdu”; and Jae Jung ’15 as Pineapple and Todd Kirkland ’13 as Citrus in “Fruit Ninja.”

By Candice Bautista Editor

Last Tuesday night, the annual Liquid Latex performance reminded us of why we should be proud to be Brandeisians. It was personally my first time watching Liquid Latex (my first-year self decided that it would be much better to watch the BrandeisWellesley Orchestra last year than to see almost-nude dancers), but now I understand why this is a thing.

Because the dancers aren’t allowed to sit in fear of their latex ripping either before their set or before the finale, Levin Ballroom was filled with constantly standing latex-adorned individuals. Whether it was before the show with the models were milling about in the crowd or during the performance itself, everywhere you looked there was someone covered in latex, usually making awkward movements with their bodies to test out their new skin. It was a bizarre experience even before the show to see faces I knew around campus … along with other parts of their body.

Although I am no longer my firstyear self, it was difficult not to blush,

giggle and avert my eyes at every other glance. This was made even stranger when one of the latex creatures would approach me; the amount of latex kept me from recognizing some of my friends who were performing.

Throughout the night, however, I realized it really didn’t matter. The people who performed were not there to be themselves—they were there for other reasons. Some were there to put on a show, some were there to be a small part in their larger goal as a group and some were there just to make the audience laugh.

The first performance, “If You See Something, Say Something” was a great start to the show. The performance began with Joseph Babeu ’15 and Jordana Yahr ’14 who played the part of a quarreling couple on a New York City subway. As they continued fighting, a man in a trench coat flashed them, and somehow threw them into a bizarre world filled with zombies dancing to “Thriller.” One of the best parts of Liquid Latex was the way the painters portrayed the characters. Babeu and Yahr were painted to be wearing skin-tight normal clothing (Babeu’s painted-on denims even had cuffs), while the rest of the group was painted like monsters. This

bizarre paint-job combined with extreme lighting made the audience feel like they were attending a rave while on MDMA. The second act, “Symphony of Brotherhood,” followed this up amazingly, and was probably one of the highlights of the show. Their music portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King and the music of Miri Ben Ari, and was one of the performances that was truly art. The five dancers, Sam Cortez ’13, Elena Horn ’13, Asher Krell ’13, Melanie Shapiro ’12 and Ben Stein ’12, each danced to the beautiful music but working together as one holistic unit.

Their designs were very interesting in that they painted half their bodies in one way and half in the other way, and had half their hair made drastically different. As their description says: “The designs and choreography attempt to demonstrate in an abstract way how even the most different of people can join together to create something beautiful.” This was definitely accomplished, and by the end of the show, when they joined hands with the lights off, each clutching a flashlight pointed into the crowd, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the audience with goose bumps.

Other memorable acts include “A

Tale of Love and Three Monsters,” a Bollywood-esque performance in which the hero has to complete three tasks to win the girl; “Go the Distance,” a tribute to our favorite Disney songs; and “British Invasion,” a performance featuring British musicians such as Mika, Adele and the Ting Tings. Another memorable performance was “Masked Desires,” in which Liquid Latex coordinator Alex Hulse ’12 adorns a Guy Fawkes mask and controls the world that one girl falls into.

Two other favorites included “L’efant Perdu” and “Fruit Ninja.”

“L’efant Perdu” portrayed a boy getting lost in a circus-world, hilariously set by Greg Ryan ’12 riding a tiny tricycle and Kimberly Stamegna ’14 as the bearded woman along with others as various frightening creatures. This was another one that set the scene fantastically with loud lighting and terrifying models as they danced to “Vogue” by Madonna, which had a surreal effect on the piece. They ended with the song “I Fink U Freeky” by Die Antwoord, which essentially summarized the act overall.

I was a bit apprehensive when I found out a group called “Fruit Ninja” was performing, but their concept went amazingly. The group was based

off the iPhone game with the same title, in which a ninja has to slice fruit.

In this group’s adaptation of the game, the ninja was played by Carly Greenberg ’12, who was dressed in regular clothing while “slicing” the men of the group, painted perfectly to look like fruit. Greenberg’s designs were accomplished well, with stylish designs that could bring “watermelon” to mind when looking at Gregory Drozdow ’12 without thinking “round and obtuse.”

The last two were more literaturebased. “Star-Crossed” told the “Romeo and Juliet” story and used props to convey a balcony as “Romeo” stood on audience level and gazed at “Juliet.”

“Runway: From Books to Bodies” featured books as artwork on the models’ bodies. This piece was done in runway format, portraying either the famous books’ covers or themes from classics such as “Catch-22” and “The Scarlet Letter.” Though this wasn’t as fastpaced or as visually engaging as the other performances, it really allowed the audience to appreciate how much work was put into the artwork.

Liquid Latex is one of the few things on campus that is truly unique to Brandeis, and is definitely worth the hour and a half spent blushing.

ImpressiOns

6 The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

The Katzwer’s Out of the Bag

Don’t freak out; get the facts about ‘pink slime’

By Yael Katzwer Editor

“Pink slime.” Yuck. Try saying it: “pink slime.” The syllables feel gross in your mouth. Now picture it: a light pink—the same color as raw ground beef—gel oozing across your plate.

“Pink slime” is the newest cause of parents everywhere since ABC had a report this month decrying its use in our fast food and school systems.

What the media has dubbed “pink slime” is actually called “lean, finely textured beef” (LFTB) by the companies that produce it. Making LFTB is the final process of slaughtering an animal for manufacture in which the final trimmings, composed of meat, fat and connective tissue, are stripped from the bone. These trimmings are then heated and placed in a centrifuge to remove approximately 90 percent of the fat. The leaner trimmings are then squeezed through a tube approximately the diameter of a pencil; while in this tube, the trimmings are treated to a negligible amount ammonia gas for less than a second that kills bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.

That sounds disgusting. I can understand why parents are demanding that schools refrain from serving “pink slime” and I can understand why certain fast food companies have cut back on their use of the product. Yet LFTB is not as dangerous as people are saying.

Yes, the idea of ammonia in our food makes one’s guts clench in discomfort, but this process has been around since the 1980s and has not harmed anyone. In fact, LFTB is a boon. Our country is plagued with obesity; serving people leaner beef is a good thing. The ammonia is needed because the trimming process raises the likelihood of the meat containing bacteria like E. coli and salmonella.

E. coli and salmonella hurt many more people each year than ammonia does.

E. coli causes 73,000 illnesses and 61 deaths a year, according to the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, as cited in The Washington Post.

LFTB does not make up an entire hamburger patty; for many companies, LFTB only comprises 25 percent of the patty while the rest is unknown.

Many news sources are more interested in causing a stir than reporting these facts. Firstly, by using the term “pink slime”—which was coined in 2002—reporters are taking a side in the debate. The term is LFTB and, if you do not want to use the biased industry term, then come up with another one. How about ATT, ammonia-treated trimmings? Or MALEC, more ammonia, less E. coli?

In December 2009, The New York Times published an article and an editorial calling out the use of ATT— it will catch on—in which some key facts were incorrect. For instance, it reported that there were times when the ammonia treatment was ineffective and that Beef Products, Inc. (BPI), the company that created ATT, had to recall “two 27,000-pounds batches of processed beef.” Several days later the Times had to print a retraction, stating there was only one failed ammonia treatment and that the contaminated meat was discovered before it was shipped out, meaning that there was no recall. BPI has policies in place to make certain that no contaminated meat leaves their factories.

Also, the news story on ABC this month was hardly the first time ABC took a swing at ATT. The ABC show “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” sends Brit Jamie Oliver around to attempt to reform school cafeterias in the United States and to combat obe-

photo from internet source

sity. On an April 2011 episode, Oliver attacked ATT. To show his point, he doused beef trimmings with liquid ammonia. This is nothing but inflammatory. For me it invokes that terribly powerful scene in John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” in which, since no one has money to buy oranges, the orange company is burning them by the cartload while people are starving just nearby. ATT is nothing like this. First of all, the ammonia is in gas form, not liquid, so the image is all wrong. Second of all, the ammonia is not destroying the meat, it is decontaminating it. Third of all, shouldn’t Jamie Oliver like something that is combating childhood obesity in the United States?

Some of the beef industry’s keenest critics have backed up BPI’s ATT;

these critics include Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Food Safety Institute for the Consumer Federation of America, and Nancy Donley, the president of Safe Tables Our Priority, a group that represents victims of food-borne illness, according to The Washington Post.

The newspapers and news shows need to stop painting BPI as an enemy when all they are doing is protecting people from serious food-borne bacteria. BPI has struggled to fight the negative press by taking out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal to defend ATT, launching a new website and trying to dispel the myths that surround ATT. “We feel like when people can start to understand the truth and reality, then our business will come back,”

Craig Letch, director of food quality and assurance for BPI, told The Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s 100 percent beef.”

Until people realize there is nothing wrong with ATT, however, BPI will continue to suffer. The financial hit BPI has taken because of the negative press has forced the company to suspend operations at three of its plants.

Before demanding that schools and other food providers stop serving it, people need to get educate themselves about ATT. Not only is the amount of ammonia used in ATT so negligible that it does not hurt people, but the ammonia actually protects people. Safety should come first, but knowledge should always come before action.

Engrossing

Remixing our thoughts on copyright laws and creativity

By Morgan Gross Editor

graphic from internet source

A class I am taking this semester called Internet and Society has introduced me to a critical perspective on the way that Internet technologies have altered our society.In pursuit of this understanding, the class’ examination has focused on a bounded perspective—the past few decades— during which we have seen that the advent of new technologies has ushered in an era of convergent culture and rendered our society almost unimaginably different than it was preInternet.

The early stages of our class sustained this confined frame for our examination and focused to understand our society’s move toward participation.

Now, as the semester draws to an end—and particularly with our reading of “Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the New Economy”—we are beginning to break this mold. This new perspective is an important element of the necessary and critical understanding that the trends we have noted in our study are not happening within a vacuum.

Our society’s shift from what the book’s author, Lawrence Lessig, calls Read Only culture (or RO culture,

in which the roles of producer and consumer of culture are clearly defined and crystallized) to Read/Write culture (or R/W culture, in which the roles of producer and consumer of culture are flexible and open to contribution and participation) is part of a greater historical curve. The changes we experience today are not a grand shift from Read-Only to Read/ Write, but a settling back into Read/ Write culture after a relatively brief hiatus in history.

A narrative of John Phillips Sousa and his warnings on the negative effects of professionalizing the role of musician or creator of music in culture helped me to understand this.

While Sousa’s defense of participatory culture was ultimately motivated by a desire to maintain a strong and devoted consumer base for his music, his insight that inviting collective involvement in the creation of culture leads to a greater investment in it was unbelievably accurate.

Culture, as it is so defined by copyright laws has allowed the professionalization of creativity to become the norm and show that this bounding of the roles of producer and consumer of culture is something that defies norms of the history of the creative process.

In a Read Only culture, culture is produced by designated profession-

als for consumption by the masses.

In this model, roles are crystallized and non-negotiable. Consumers don’t participate in the creation of culture and, according to Sousa, never develop it because that can only come as the result of being involved in the creative process.

In Read/Write cultures, participation is the norm. This results in the creation of a welcoming environment for individuals to speak their minds.

Lessig mentions in an early chapter of the book how a John Lennon tribute performance challenged by copyright legislation helps us to see the fundamental and natural freedom of creativity and culture. In his discussion of the event, Lessig says, “You could see that this music and its creator were among the most important things in these people’s lives. Who knows why? Who knows what their particular associations were? But it was clear that this album was just about the most important creative work these fans knew. Their performance was a celebration of this part of their lives.”

Remixing is not—as champions of copyright law might suggest—born out of a desire to gain fame and fortune without any of the work and genius of the original artists. Instead, it is about creativity and expression, just as the creation of art has always been.

March 30, 2012

IMPRESSIONS 7

The Brandeis Hoot

‘The Hunger Games’: Rue and racial slurs

By Zoe Kronovet Editor

Unless you have recently been living under a rock, you may have realized that the movie “The Hunger Games” was released this past weekend. Besides filling up the pockets of Hollywood producers—the movie grossed around $155 million its opening weekend and is expected to make another $60 million this weekend—it also served as the latest launching pad for catapulting American racism into the news.

“The Hunger Games,” the first book in a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins, tells the enthralling story of a post-apocalyptic world in which a country, Panem, located in what was once North America, hosts an annual televised battle to the death for the amusement of its sadistic leaders.

While the film received mixed reviews, there was a portion of fans who were so distraught and angered by the casting director’s choices regarding a few side characters that they turned to their Twitters to display their outrage. “The Hunger Games,” since its release in novel form in 2008, has inspired a cult-like following that, despite claiming to love the book, missed key descriptive portions of the text regarding the attributes of the characters. These fans instead decided to assume that all the charac-

ters were white. You can only imagine their shock when they walked into the theater and saw that some of their most beloved characters—instead of being cast as the blond-haired, blueeyed white kids they were expecting—were instead greeted with nonwhite actors filling up the screen.

One of the characters garnering the most negative attention regarding their race is Rue. Originally described in the book as having “dark brown skin and eyes,” the role of the girl who befriends the lead girl, Katniss, was filled by a young, black actress named Amandla Stenberg. The tweets of some passionately racist fans following their discovery of Stenberg’s role were downright alarming and hint that although some may claim that we live in a “post-racial” America, that label is far from accurate.

I would like to say not all the tweets discovered about Rue’s race weren’t scary, but they were. Some expressed disappointment that a black girl was chosen as Rue while others claimed that Rue’s death was less sad because she was black. At least that tweeter at the time hashtagged “i hate myself ” although that doesn’t excuse his racist remark. More tweets along these lines were floating out there in cyberspace until the tweeters belatedly realized the offensiveness of their remarks and deleted them, but not before screenshots could be taken for posterity.

These tweets in conjunction with the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17 year old, highlight the undertones of racism present in America. Regardless of the fact that charges have not yet been brought against George Zimmerman, the volunteer neighborhood watchman who shot Trayvon in the chest, the incident is undoubtedly racially charged. And, although these disgruntled fans’ racism is taking the form of words and not violent action, in no way does it make them less potent and unsettling.

These despicable tweets are not representative of all of the “Hunger Games” fans, but they do point out a serious problem existing in our society.

It is hard to be positive about the state of racial equality in America after the last few weeks. While it is amazing that children who were born today live in a world where not only a white man has been president; a black man in the oval office isn’t the end of the conversation and evaluation of the state of race in America today. Both Trayvon and the racist remarks about the casting of Rue are simply reminders that we can’t be content and idle with our society perceives and deals with race. If people can become so enraged over something as arbitrary as a casting choice in a movie, we have a long way to go before the words “racial equality in America” can ever be uttered truthfully. photo from internet source

Altered Consciousness

Toulouse killings recall echoes of anti-Semitism

By Rick Alterbaum Columnist

I am still shocked by the murder of three children and a teacher at the Ozar Hatorah Jewish day school in Toulouse, France, last Monday.

The image of a seven-year-old girl fleeing for her life being shot pointblank in the head is haunting. Since then, a French Jewish teenager was beaten in Paris by anti-Semitic thugs and Jewish graves were desecrated in Nice.

Less than 70 years after the Holocaust, Jews are once again under attack for their religious identity. Certainly Europe has progressed since those dark days; and indeed, the Toulouse murders were more the work of a lone radical, Mohammed Merah, than of an established organization or network.

Still, Jews in France and other Eu-

ropean countries live in a state of insecurity and fear. Synagogues, Jewish day schools, community centers, businesses and other organizations are under constant surveillance. People simply cannot lead normal lives with this kind of siege mentality.

What message will Jewish children receive when they have to pass through security cameras and a concrete, barbed wire fence to get into school? Why do Jews need to transverse what seems like a war zone just to enter their temple and worship freely?

The answer is that there are some troubled individuals who, for whatever reason, hate Jewish people.

Last summer on a trip to Germany, I visited the New Synagogue, a gorgeous structure located in the heart of Berlin. Armed guards patrolled the building’s premises and to enter one had to pass through a metal detector.

The fact that the synagogue was at the

graphic by linjie xu/the hoot

heart of the city where the Nazis came to power fueled my disgust.

The fundamental lesson from the Toulouse massacre and similar atrocities is that anti-Semitism in whatever form it takes is utterly unacceptable.

It doesn’t matter from where such hatred derives, nor does it matter who the purveyors of such sentiments are.

In today’s civilized, enlightened and supposedly tolerant world, there is no moral justification whatsoever for this attitude.

France and other European countries can take additional steps to combat anti-Semitism. Yet there is a limit to how much governments are able to help their Jewish populations.

A fundamental psychological shift away from the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish sentiments all too commonplace on the continent is necessary.

If nothing else, the Toulouse killings also underscore the need for the Jewish state. Contrary to the rhetoric of some, Israel is not the cause of antiSemitism. Rather, it is a cure for it. Israel has always served as a safe haven for Jews to escape persecution, discrimination and oppression in their own countries.

In Israel, Jews no longer have to rely on others for their protection and self-preservation. In Israel, they have the ability to shape their own destinies as sovereign and independent agents.

Israel faces a myriad of challenges: the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and potential threats emanating from Egypt, Syria and Turkey.

Yet Israel does not need permission to act in self-defense. While affected by its relations with other actors and countries on the world stage, it is the ultimate arbiter of its own fate.

Fortunately, in America Jews are not threatened to the same degree as their counterparts in other, more intolerant nations, yet the lessons derived from recent events are universal in nature and should not be ignored.

Re-examining poverty in America

By David Duhalde-Wine Special to the Hoot

The Holy Cross-sponsored “The Other America Then and Now” poverty conference in Worcester brought together more than 100 participants, including nearly two dozen Brandeis students and staff last weekend. The conference demonstrated how much has been achieved and remains unfinished in efforts to eradicate unfair income inequality in America.

“The Other America,” published in 1962, was written by Holy Cross alumnus Michael Harrington. The book chronicled American poverty at a time of unprecedented prosperity for Americans of all social classes.

Many citizens were shocked to learn from the relatively short work how economic growth was not helping millions of their fellow citizens.

Key figures in the Kennedy administration read “The Other America,” pushing the president and his successor Lyndon Johnson to launch the War on Poverty.

The event, supported by the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice through the support of Jules Bernstein ’57, focused on a question raised by Dr. Alan Wolfe of Boston College: if a book today could have the same impact as “The Other America.” Wolfe noted the proliferation of books and blogs flooding the average reader.

During Harrington’s time, magazines and publishing were more exclusive and prestigious. Voters and political figures highly regarded such publications and were used them more in policy implementation.

Today the book tour is dead and we witness the demise of daily newspapers. While Americans remain politically engaged, more often they read online and watch biased documentaries.

There was also discussion of action in addition to education. A conference topic was how Harrington might

view today’s Occupy movement.

Harrington, an early supporter of civil rights for African Americans as a young man, likely would be very supportive of Occupy activists’ goals of addressing income inequality. Like the sit-ins of the ’60s, Occupy uses direct action to tackle larger political and structural barriers to social justice.

The clear message at the event was what is left to be done. In “The Other America,” Harrington addressed the idea of an “invisible poor.” The existence of mass poverty went unnoticed by well-to-do Americans.

This book brought images of the struggling Appalachians to upper middle class suburbanites. The popular support for the expansion of social programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, generated by the book have greatly alleviated suffering and have lowered poverty rates.

A continually large segment of the unseen poor are the hard-working migrant farmers. Hundreds of thousands of these working poor are children. The vast majority of them have parents with undocumented legal status, so fear of deportation increases the exploitation of the young in agriculture. Norma Flores Lopez, of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity and a former child farmhand, spoke against current legislation aimed at reducing labor-law protections for children in the fields.

The new “invisible poor” are also the millions trapped in the penal system. Harvard Professor Bruce Western said that America has incarceration rates nearly five times as high as our counterparts in Europe. We lock people up to keep them away from “better society.”

Our justice system has created a new “culture of poverty”: a vicious cycle that makes it difficult for exSee POVERTY, page 14

8 IMPRESSIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

Breaking the silence: justice for Trayvon

By J. V. Souffrant

Special to the Hoot

Before I begin, let me say: justice for Trayvon Martin. For those of you sitting unaware in Einsteins, sipping your large iced coffee, Trayvon was a 17-year-old boy gunned down outside his father’s home in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26. While taking a break from watching the NBA All-Star game, Trayvon left the gated community and went to the corner store for candy and iced tea. While he was walking home, a self-proclaimed Neighborhood Watchman named George Zimmerman decided that this black teenager in a hoodie with his hands tucked in his pockets looked “suspicious.” It was raining heavily. Trayvon was trying to keep his cell phone, Skittles and iced tea from getting wet.

Zimmerman called 911 and began following “the suspect” around the community even after the police dispatcher told him to stop and wait for police to arrive to handle the situation. Instead, armed with a loaded handgun, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, who was armed with a bag of Skittles. Neighbors heard shouting, desperate cries for help, a single gunshot and then silence. Zimmerman said he shot Trayvon in the chest in self-defense. He has not been arrested.

When my friend at home in Florida first called about Trayvon Martin, my first question was, “Why would an innocent, unarmed teen be shot while walking home from a convenience store with a bag of Skittles and iced tea?” Was it because he was wearing a hoodie in a gated community? Was it because he had his hands in his pockets? Was it because he was black? My second question: “Why isn’t this story on the front page of every newspaper?”

Trayvon Martin’s murder finally made the front page of The New York Times on March 21, nearly a month after the shooting. The news that Zimmerman faced no charges, however delayed, prompted widespread protests and intervention by the Justice Department. This is a start. But

this is an issue that has been pressing at the doorstep of American society for generations. From Emmett Till to Michael Griffith, Yusef Hawkins to Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell to Troy Davis and now to Trayvon Martin, the streets run red with the blood of too many innocent, young black men.

I could have been Trayvon Martin.

I grew up in Ocoee, Fla., a town much like Sanford, which is 35 minutes away, a town of rural farms and small gated communities where a trip to the corner store for candy could end badly for a young black man. “J, that could have been us, bro,” my friend said when he called to tell me about the killing. “We could have been Trayvon when we were 17. What is stopping them from pulling the trigger?”

For all the talk of a “post-racial” America, I would not feel safe if confronted by a self-proclaimed Neighborhood Watchman in Wellesley or Weston, where the mere presence of a young black man would raise “suspicion.” Can any of my white classmates relate to that fear?

This situation is not only about racial profiling. It is about justice. In Florida, a state where it is easier to purchase a gun than register to vote, there are underlying, unresolved issues. When the White House initially refers to Trayvon’s death as a “local law-enforcement matter,” we have a problem. A former community organizer, President Obama knows first hand what young black men and women face growing up in America, how this incident with Trayvon is not just something out of the blue. Every person of color in America is Trayvon Martin. He could have been us. Our dreams could have been taken just like they were from this young man.

At Brandeis, we pride ourselves in our belief in social justice. We are quick to champion causes like Invisible Children in Africa and we shout “Stop Kony.” In this moment of truth at home, however, we must also fight for Trayvon Martin and shout “Stop Zimmerman.” Evidence of Trayvon’s murder is not in YouTube videos, Facebook pages, Twitter posts or Tumblr blogs. It is in the Twin Lakes subdivision where the police, so far, have chosen not to look.

graphic by diane somlo/the hoot

Is Brandeis ‘ducking’ out on its commitment to environmental responsibility?

Prioritize the fight against poverty POVERTY, from page 13

By Leah Stein

Special to the Hoot

Almost every morning I wake up to the sweet quacking noise of the local ducks in Massell Pond. Usually paddling around or hunting for worms, two feathered friends have decided to set up camp in the pond outside my dorm. Students report that the pair returns back to Massell every year. The birds appear to return early from their winter retreat in the south and spend their time flying between Massell and Chapels ponds. Massell residents have taken interest in the pair, often feeding them leftovers from Sherman.

I myself have visited them a few times, but must admit I am clueless as to what they eat, so I just crumble up bread and throw it to them. One duck is actually quite skilled at catching food in her

mouth. The other is slower, preferring to pick up the pieces from the ground. Students say he will eat straight out of your hand if he decides you aren’t formidable.

On a recent visit to the pond, I noticed something rather disconcerting. Right where these adorable animals innocently glide through the pond, there are piles of trash filled with beer boxes and coke bottles. This trash has been in the pond for weeks, while these poor ducks swim through and even drink the water. Occasionally, one of the ducks will try to eat a piece of floating plastic, only to spit it out, realizing that is isn’t food. But if the ducks were to swallow it, they would suffer severe medical problems. Plastic is toxic to ducks and other animals. When swallowed, it can cause choking and suffocation. Even when the ducks don’t swallow it, plastic can

lead to strangulation.

Brandeis acts as if it is an environmentally conscious school, but how can that be so if trash in the pond has gone untouched for so long? It is deeply troubling that these ducks are subject to sickness, and possibly even death because careless Brandeis students trash the pond and often don’t clean it up.

Around campus I see fliers for events about recycling challenges and special boxes for certain kinds of waste, but we aren’t effectively approaching the issues staring us in the face. It is no secret that there is trash in the pond. Everyone can see it through Massell Quad, yet they all choose to ignore it. It is time to reassess our environmental awareness and activism, in hopes of preserving the lives of animals and the natural environment right outside our doors.

prisoners to re-integrate into the labor market and mainstream society.

As Medicaid addressed a basic disadvantage for the working poor, we need new programs and visionary thinking to build a social safety net for those who have paid their debt to society.

The conference concluded with keynote speaker William Julius Wilson, one of America’s most prominent sociologists, arguing that analyzing both social structure and cultural behavior is necessary to understand poverty.

Therefore, inner-city poverty is shaped by changes in the economy, like loss of unionized manufacturing jobs, and cultural issues of both racism and collective experiences of ghetto living. Wilson felt social critic Barbara Ehrenreich was mistaken in her recent criticism

that Harrington’s work facilitated right-wing arguments focused solely on cultural explanations of poverty existence. Harrington cited unfair structural barriers as causes of inequality, while conservatives do not. Harrington pushed the audience to embrace anti-poverty programs such as Harlem Children Zone alongside traditional methods such as universal social assistance.

Wilson’s remarks exemplified that while poverty remains an unnecessary ill in the world’s richest nation, American creativity and commitment to its citizens can still reduce poverty in our lifetime.

This conference made me realize that there is still so much work to be done, but because of Harrington we were really able to get started on the issues of poverty much sooner than if he had not written “The Other America.”

March 30, 2012

IMPRESSIONS 9

The Brandeis Hoot

Don’t be afraid, give documentaries a go

graphic by yi wang/the hoot

By Lila Westreich Special to the Hoot

I waste multiple hours in my dorm room every night watching television online. It began with Hulu and now includes Netflix. I started with Hulu in order to continue my newly ac-

Still Writing

By Gordy Stillman Staff

Without a doubt, “Mass Effect 3” was the biggest video game release of March. Like the rest of the series, it was met with critical acclaim. Unlike the rest of the series, it has become entangled in a controversy caused by some fans’ disappointment with the ending of the story.

Online, there is a petition demanding a new ending. On Bioware’s (the developers’) own forums, there is a poll with more than 60,000 votes demanding a new ending. Additionally, a few fans have set up a “chip-in” fund for Penny Arcade’s charity, Child’s Play, encouraging donations to make a statement. Fans raised thousands of dollars and the charity had to ask people to stop donating through the fund because they were getting calls asking how the donations would help get a new ending made. The donations were to symbolize the disappointment of gamers. The charity eventually decided to ask people to stop donating through that fund. Apparently there was confusion as some donors thought that donating to a charity, a third party of sorts, would cause Bioware to rewrite their story.

Aside from the fact that donating to a charity because you are upset about a video game is a terrible reason to donate—it shouldn’t make a difference. Bioware should not change the endings in any way.

Games are art. Demanding that

quired interest in “Grey’s Anatomy,” but I only managed to watch the first two seasons before I broke down and stopped. Most shows get to a point where you either have to stop watching or tear your hair out after unbelievably repetitive storylines. I reached a point where I could tell you exactly how many times Meredith

Grey was going to cry in each episode. I decided that was enough.

Before I started my new love of “Mad Men,” I made a resolution to watch more documentaries. When I think of documentaries, I think of PBS, the movies teachers show you in class when they feel lazy and the parts of award shows that no one re-

ally cares about. Watching documentaries makes me feel as if I’m learning without actually doing any work. So I worked my way over to the Netflix list of documentaries and was immediately surprised by the sheer number of movies available for online streaming. There were more movies on the documentaries genre list than on the comedy and drama lists combined. It was actually a task to choose which movie to watch.

I started with a fantastic documentary called “180 Degrees South” about a man named Jeff Johnson who retraces the steps of two men, Yvon Chuinard and Doug Tompkins, who climbed mountains in Patagonia and whom he idolized as a young adult. Jeff begins his adventure traveling through remote islands by ship, meeting beautiful women and surfing enormous waves. He eventually makes it down to Patagonia and meets a few friends, and then they set out to climb the peak that his heroes climbed in 1968. The documentary provided an insight into the mind of this climber and views of the Patagonia wilderness I will never forget.

I then moved on to a new environment. My next documentary was called “Buck.” It explored the life of Buck Brannaman, who was the basis for the film “The Horse Whisperer” with Robert Redford. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my own idols and fantasy husbands, Robert Redford, was featured as commentary in the documentary. Buck and Redford became close friends while Brannaman was teaching Redford how to deal with horses on the set of the movie.

Brannaman recovered from years of child abuse to become a wellknown expert in training horses without using any form of cruelty.

The documentary followed Buck as he traveled with his horses from one

state to the next up the west coast, hosting training sessions along the way. The scenery was beautiful on the open ranches and in the mountains, yet the best part of the film was watching Buck describe his relationship with the horses. He treated them like human beings. In doing so he created a trust and friendship that allowed him to ride any newborn cold within a matter of an hour or two.

My last documentary was not viewed in the privacy of my dorm room. The Environmental Studies department had a showing with a few professors and students of the controversial documentary “Cool It!” It is based on the book by the same name written by Danish author Bjørn Lomborg. The film takes an edgy side to the climate change argument. Lomborg has long been a famous opponent of the current tactics to fight global climate change, including Agenda 21 and the Kyoto Protocol. Lomborg makes an interesting argument and proposes solutions for alternative choices of energy for the next century.

Though the film answers a lot of questions about the current arguments and standstills in the climate-change discussion, it also raises a lot of questions as to the credibility of Lomborg and the radical ideas on which he focuses. Anyone who is a fan or critic of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” and anyone interested in the current climate-change argument and proposed solutions should take the time to view it.

My week of documentaries has opened my eyes. Not only to the wilderness of Patagonia, the soft, human nature of horses or the current arguments on climate change, but also to a new world of informational and educational learning. It is a type of learning that does not require the same kind of intensity as a classroom discussion or late-night studying.

Controversial ending? Let it be!

Bioware remake the ending to satisfy fans would be like Michelangelo resculpting David, or J.K. Rowling killing Arthur Weasley in the fifth Harry Potter book as she originally intended. It is fundamentally out of place for the gamer, art critic or reader to demand the creator change something because he or she simply doesn’t approve. “Mass Effect 3” was developed in accordance with the same artistic vision as the rest of the series.

Fans have a right to be upset. They have a right to complain and petition, but Bioware has no obligation to listen. Bioware developed a game that tells the story that they wanted to tell.

It finishes the saga that they set out to create. That is all any fan of the series can ask for.

Just because the trilogy is over does not mean that the “Mass Effect” Universe is finished. Back in 2007 Bungie finished the “Halo” trilogy. The trilogy told a story that was resolved by the end of the third game, but that didn’t mean the series was dead. Bungie later released a prequel to the trilogy, and Microsoft’s 343 Industries is making a sequel, starting a new story.

Bioware has the chance to continue in the universe and answer some of the questions that fans have.

As a video game developer Bioware poured hours of time and effort into building a game of which employees could be proud. We are all entitled to our opinions. Some people, myself included, write out their opinions for others to read. Criticism and complaints are acceptable for any game or

photo by linjie xu/the hoot

work of art. The role of a critic is to analyze what worked—what enabled him or her to connect with the art— and where either the piece or game

fell short in understanding or presentation.

But it is not appropriate to bombard the creator like a whining child,

biting the hand that feeds. Bioware says it is looking into a way to address the concerns of fans. They need not sacrifice their artistic vision to do it.

FEatures

10 The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

Uncovering women’s history in the university archives

By Dana Trismen Editor

This past Wednesday, the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections hosted a “Show and Tell Event” to celebrate women’s history and their contributions to Brandeis.

Created by graduate students Allison Lange and Zach Albert, this visual display highlighted photos of famous women, documents and events that occurred throughout Brandeis’ history. Combining Lange’s focus on women’s suffrage and Albert’s interest with museum displays, the event signified a joint effort. Lange mentioned that she was interested in planning a women’s history event partly because it is Women’s History Month and, unlike in past years, Brandeis does not seem to have many relevant events this March.

Archives and Special Collections possesses so many primary sources on famous women and feminism that Lange and Albert were not even able to display them all. While some of the photographs may be curling at the edges, they still serve to showcase the lives of momentous women. From Gertrude Stein to Georgia O’Keeffe, these photographs are intense in their ability to capture the raw essence of these women.

Also on display were documents such as a letter signed by Jackie Kennedy and propaganda posters from World War I encouraging women to participate in the war effort. One depicts a woman with a smile playing on her lips and her hair tossed back, hands shoved nonchalantly in her pockets as she urges others to join the Navy. These posters, while basic government ads, transport the viewer back to a time and place in which women’s aid in the war was necessary.

The event also showcased the impact women have had on Brandeis.

Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady and U.N. ambassador, bore a distinct mark on Brandeis. She was, at the time, the sole woman to serve on the board of trustees. She also actively engaged with students in the community by holding speeches and func-

photos by Nate Rosenbloom/the hoot

a display on eleanor roosevelt

tions and she even presented the university’s first commencement address.

Her time at Brandeis is very well documented: photographs abound, hinting at the impact this sole woman had on our community.

Famous Brandeis alumnae were also mentioned, such as Debra Messing ’90, who held a starring role on “Will and Grace.” There was material on the start of the Brandeis Women’s and Gender Studies Program, which coincided with a sort of “second wave feminism,” a central issue throughout the entire United States during the late 1970s.

The event also brought to light events that Brandeis hosted throughout history that are not as well known

feminism in war A propagandic poster located on campus in Archives. photo from archives and special collections

today. For example, porn star Linda Marchiano (Linda Lovelace) visited Brandeis in 1982; she was brought to campus to discuss “pornography’s real story,” since there had been screenings on campus and an overall widespread acceptance of porn. In her controversial lecture, Marchiano discussed how pornography was a harmful industry to women, and she was basically forced to be a sex slave.

This “Show and Tell” event’s greatest strength lay in its ability to unfold Brandeis’ rich and varied history, something that is often lost as students focus on their next exam and upcoming water polo game. By bringing women’s history to the forefront, the exhibit allowed easy access to these women’s lives and events that otherwise may not be remembered.

The success of this event is also connected to the importance of Archives and Special Collections; located in Goldfarb Library, level 2, Archives offers a range of services to the average Brandeis student. From housing past Brandeis yearbooks to possessing old senior honors theses for guidance, it also preserves and provides access to countless primary sources.

Director Sarah Shoemaker stresses the importance of this resource, saying, “We teach nearly 30 instruction sessions and answer more than 2,000 reference questions a year.”

She described how it is not only Brandeis students who utilize this; it is instead “students, faculty and staff, as well as scholars and researchers around the world.” The instruction sessions taught at the Archives serve as a sort of “outreach” so that students “can learn about the wonderful resources available to them.”

The fact that Archives and Special Collections can be such a valuable resource is another gem to emerge from this women’s history “Show and Tell” presentation. Despite its somewhat hidden location in the lower floors of the library, the primary sources owned by the university should be in the forefront of Brandeis students’ minds. Students possess what is essentially a miniature museum in our library, and should utilize it to its full potential.

materials on women’s history A poster advertising Linda Lovelace’s visit to campus.

Transatlantic story

By Anastasia Austin Special to the Hoot

In a one-hour roundtable lecture and question session titled “Arguing About World War I: A Transatlantic Story” co-sponsored by the German and European Studies and History departments, visiting Duke University Professor Philipp Stelzel offered insight into the Fritz Fischer controversy and the differing views on the causes of World War I. The focus of the lecture was not World War I itself, but the German and American historians who chose to study it afterward. The

lecture specifically addressed the German historian Fritz Fischer. It concerned the role of ethnicity, political beliefs, personal history and the personality of the historian in the writing of history.Fischer became an important figure in the study of World War I after publishing a book expressing his opinion that Germany had been responsible for the start of the war.

The lecture commented on how Fischer’s ethnicity had an effect on the reception of his views. His German origin made his work controversial in Germany but at the same time also more important to the historian community than it would have been otherwise.

discussing historians’ role in world war one

photo by Ingrid Schulte/the hoot

March 30, 2012

FEATURES 11

The Brandeis Hoot

Dr. Strangedance, or how I sold my soul to the theater

By Beth Green

speical to the hoot

I never meant to be one of those “theater kids.” You know the ones I’m talking about; they sing musicals as they walk around campus, wear brightly colored hoodies advertising their shows and send you three dozen Facebook invitations to come see them perform. I never intended to do theater at Brandeis.

As I walked around the activities fair my first year, I intended to spend my non-academic time dancing with Adagio Dance Company and hopefully singing with one of the numerous a cappella groups. My a cappella dreams never came to fruition, so I threw myself into Brandeis’ dance world.

By the end of my first semester I found myself in an original dance show called “Philosophical Love.” As an ensemble dancer in a show about homosexual men in China, I had no clue that I was dipping my toe into the pool of theater.

Not long after the project was done, my director asked me to join the coming production of “Company” as an assistant choreographer, and I joined my first production staff, the team of students who do all the behind-the-scenes work and make the show happen. After “Company” I was asked to choreograph for Hillel Theater Group’s production of “Children of Eden,” and since then I’ve been hooked.

Junior year I choreographed “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way

cast of ‘footloose’

to the Forum” and this year I co-choreographed “Footloose.” I costume designed the play “The Last Night of Ballyhoo”; acted in BET’s “Quickies” and “The Vagina Monologues”; and created my own original dancetheater production called “Pandora’s Box,” which will be performed in May. I’ve learned my way around carpentry and power tools in order to build sets, and I’m not stopping.

Basically, I’ve sold my soul to the theater. I’ve given myself up to it. For theater I will eat 10 bagels and seven Caesar salads in one week. For theater I will skip dinner. For theater I will skip class. For theater I will stay

photo contributed by beth green

up past three a.m. for a week straight.

For theater I will endure. For theater I will live.

Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised.

It’s a little known fact, but I used to be terribly shy. The thought of speaking to strangers made me want to curl up into a little ball and cry. But everything changed when my parents enrolled me in an after-school theater program. I could talk to people, strange people I’d never met before because I wasn’t myself. I was acting! It wasn’t long before I could talk to people as me. I still didn’t talk to random people in the supermarket or want to sit on the mall Santa’s lap (be-

cause that is just creepy), but I didn’t want to run either.

Theater taught me to interact with the world, so I guess it’s not so weird that I’ve made it my world here at Brandeis. In my opinion, college is about learning to be yourself. As we grow up, we change, but when we’re in the same place for too long, we can get stuck in people’s preconceived notions. We pretend to be who we once were.

When I came to Brandeis, I got to leave a lot behind, but it was when I got involved in theater that I really got to be myself. I get to be serious as a peer leader but I also get to be crazy

once I hit my witching hour. I can choreograph a delicate moment and I can take a sledgehammer to a set piece. I can laugh and cry and scream and smile but, whatever I do and whoever I am, I am safe. I am loved.

I am me.

So I suppose I didn’t really sell my soul to the theater. I went willingly, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I graduate from Brandeis this spring, I will miss a lot of things, but mostly I will miss my family in the theater. It has been a wild ride, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Or the return of my soul.

A unique experience abroad in Israel

By Debby Brodsky editor

As a Jewish girl who goes to Brandeis and hails from New Jersey, I hesitated before applying to study abroad in Israel. I worried the trip would not be unique. Throughout my experience, however, I discovered my study abroad experience is in fact one of a kind.

I am studying at the University of Haifa; here I find myself in the most interesting living situation of my life.

The location lends itself perfectly to my interest in Arab culture. While in class and walking down the street I am one of many Jews, but in my apartment I am the only one.

I live with four caring Muslim Arab girls, and every day they make me feel welcome in a country that is far from home. Reem is boisterous and gutsy. Every morning she hugs and kisses me without fail, asking if I’ve eaten yet. She is studying to become an English teacher, so I help her with her English assignments, and she giggles when I try to speak Arabic. Yasmin is a soft-spoken beauty and an eternal optimist who speaks English gracefully, carefully thinking about each word before saying it. Hanaa is a girl who shows her affection quietly. After cautiously asking for more kitchen cabinet space, I opened the cabinet door the next day to find Hanaa had cleared her food from my new shelf quickly and without a word. As I turned surprised to thank her, she gave me a smile and looked pleased at my reaction.

My favorite roommate—the one most different from me—is Razan.

She is studying to be an occupational therapist and is already engaged. Razan is my age and also a junior in college. Her fiance was chosen for her through an intricate network of family and friends, and I am fascinated by the casual nature in which she speaks of her husband-to-be. Razan struggles while speaking English and I have a difficult time speaking Arabic, so we meet halfway and chat in simple Hebrew. I have never experienced such a unique friendship.

photo contributed by debby brodsky

a stall in the shuk (market) in tel-aviv yafo

It is important to me to be as social as possible with Reem, Yasmin, Hanaa and Razan. It would be easy to retreat to my room. Yet, by sitting in our sparse common room each night, I meet more of their friends, am encouraged to improve my Arabic and am fed a variety of homecooked meals.Initially, the girls were surprised to learn I was Jewish. My dark coloring gives me the advantage of blending in among many different people in Israel. It sometimes even lends me some credibility when I try to bargain in the market. I usually avoid topics of religion and politics.

Since I am a native English speaker, Reem and Yasmin ask me for help on their English homework. Razan asks me questions about American culture and is shocked to learn that American couples live together before marriage.

Hanaa listens quietly.

Sometimes I walk out of my room

to see the girls dancing to Arabic music, clapping, whooping and twirling around the room. I like knowing that they are comfortable with me as their roommate, enough to invite me to eat with them each night and to laugh and dance while I’m around.

During my time in Israel, I’ve learned that my family is extraordinarily small compared to most Arab families. While I have one sister, each of my roommates has between six and nine siblings.

I’ve learned to think of my meals differently, too. When I think of salad, I think of big chunks of green lettuce, tomato, carrot, pepper and other vegetables covered in Caesar dressing. My suitemates have taught me to shred my lettuce finely, mince tomatoes and cucumbers, and to dress the mix with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a dash of salt.

When I think of mealtime at school,

I think of a quick bite in Usdan with friends or a to-go box that I fill up and bring home to eat over homework.

My suitemates have taught me always to make mealtime a social time. Even if I don’t speak Arabic well, I appreciate the effort they make to include me in their meals each night.

Outside my apartment, I am greeted by an entirely different environment. I admire the proud Israeli flag fluttering above my dorm and feel as if I could play Jewish geography with anybody.

When I first arrived in Israel I found myself smiling at the snippets of Yiddish I heard on the street, the matzah available in every store in preparation for Passover and the challah sold en masse in every bakery. I have quickly recalled my Hebrew language skills and enjoy living in a country where I am the religious majority.

Some days I feel the vast distance between Israel and New Jersey more

strongly than other days. I’ve happily discovered some reminders of home that ease the occasional homesickness. I like to plug in my headphones and recharge with a little classic rock.

The music makes me think of my father singing softly and a little off-key as he thumps the steering wheel to the beat on a long car ride. If I’m not in a Tom Petty mood, I’ll write in my journal, and I feel refreshed afterward. It also feels good to read a book in my room, to take some time for myself.

I feel lucky that my study abroad experience has introduced me to four wonderful roommates as well as to Israeli culture. As spring break approaches, I am eager to travel to Italy and then to different Israeli cities. I know that when I open my apartment door in a few weeks, tired and maybe a little tanned, I’ll be welcomed by Reem, Yasmin, Hanaa and Razan, and I will think: “I’m home.”

12 FEATURES

The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

Anthropology lecture discusses ancient Central Mexico

By Emily Beker Staff

Boston University architecture professor David Carballo delivered a lecture titled “Ritual Offerings/Sacred Architecture in Ancient Central Mexico” on Wednesday afternoon as part of the Anthropology Colloquia Series. The anthropology department brings in guest speakers to present lectures related to different issues and topics in anthropology to the students on campus.

Carballo began with a history of Central New Mexico, a region that has been one of the most urbanized parts of the world for the past 2,000 years. There are more than 150,000 people living there as well as five different languages spoken. Mexico City is currently located near Teotihuacan, a powerful ancient city. The trajectory of its urbanization continues to this day.

Carballo focuses on the religious aspect of the urbanization and has examined the offerings and sacred spaces, some of which predate Teotihuacan. His goal is not only to provide a narrative, but also to examine them in order to explore the similarities and differences in archaeological findings. He chose to examine how ritual practitioners played into archeology. Carballo first gave a definition of how urbanization could be understood—as a population threshold and a development of social roles. The

population became much more integrated and differentiated at the same time.

Carballo explained that religion could be transformative and could allow for a sedentary lifestyle. He then began to discuss the idea of the integration and differentiation of society.

In his research of La Laguna, which is currently a cattle ranch, he found that it was based around a center with three different settlements on hills.

There have been two major domestic excavations done to La Laguna in which the researchers discovered insights about the religious life.

The findings of the Old God of Fire, as Carballo explained, were used as incense burners in the homes. This discovery gave a formalization of the important deity present in La Laguna. There was also evidence of food consumption and storage. Carballo explained that this implies religious acts took place. The public rituals that relate to the Storm God are associated with pyramid offerings and food storage. Carballo made these findings clear for the audience, which mostly consisted of teaching assistants, professors and some students. He used a chart to compare and contrast the public god, the domestic god and cremation.

“Structures are viewed as having souls, needing to be fed and then destroyed,” Carballo said.

In further examination of the architecture, his lecture explored the

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

professor david carballo Guest speaker of the Anthropology Colloquia Series shares insights about Central Mexico..

similarities and differences from the Aztec culture. For example, there were similarities in the assembling of plans for buildings in both Aztec and Teotihuacan culture. There were also

differences in the rituals involving water basins. Symbols of felines and centipedes were found when excavating these ancient buildings, which suggests they held a similar mean-

ing. Caballo concluded his lecture by talking about the destruction that occurred to La Laguna in 150 C.E. that seemed to be as purposeful and ritualistic as its construction.

‘Not My Life’ screening shows horrors of child slavery

By Aly Schuman Staff

The Gender and International Development Initiatives (GaIDI) at the Women’s Studies Research Center screened the documentary “Not My Life,” directed and produced by Oscar nominee Robert Bilheimer and narrated by Glenn Close, this past Monday about the international child trafficking and slave trade.

Dr. Mei-Mei Ellerman started the

event by passing out tissues. Ellerman is the board director of the Polaris Project, a leading anti-human trafficking NGO in the United States and Japan. Her son, Derek, co-founded the organization 10 years ago as a senior at Brown University and is now working on developing a plan for the next 10 years. The project provides a national trafficking hotline that reports potential cases to law enforcement, works with survivors and combats future incidences by advocating

stronger laws.

“The movie you’re about to see has some very striking images and sad stories,” the event coordinator warned before she introduced the film. She was right.

The film featured many personal stories about child slavery, varying from the abominable health conditions of the fishing trade in Ghana, to the forced begging of children in Senegal as directed by corrupt Quranic teachers, to the kidnapping of young Albanian gypsies to be sold in the sex trade. But perhaps what struck some audience members the most were the stories of unpaid domestic servitude and child prostitution in Washington D.C. when the United States is considered so protected and separate from third world countries.

“I was shocked at how prominent it is in the United States,” said Brett Aronson, a graduate student, “especially when it showed girls getting abducted on K Street in Washington D.C.; I was literally just there on that exact street.”

One girl was beaten in Times

Square shortly after 9/11, and nobody stopped to help her. “I was shocked to see the girl suffering in a country that is supposed to be the safest place,” said Grace Akallo, a woman who was forced to be a child soldier when she was 15, referencing the girls forced to be domestic servants and prostitutes in the United States.

“If we can treat a human being like that and not say anything, where are we heading?”

Grace Akallo’s story was especially moving; when she was 15 years old she was captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda and forced to be a child soldier. Akallo endured the captivity for seven months, and was trained to use a gun, abduct and kill others. But Akallo managed to escape, and returned to her school to graduate and attend university.

Ellerman surprised the audience by introducing Akallo, who had arrived to speak about her time in captivity.

She also spoke about the film; it was only her second time viewing it.

Akallo’s sobering statements great-

ly affected members of the audience.

Ava Blustein ’15 described Akallo as “articulate and well-spoken,” referencing how Akallo told the audience that what kept her going through her capture was the thought of her mother. She described how her father did not want her to go to school, but her mother insisted and provided support.

“That part almost moved me to tears,” Blustein said. “Everyone has a mom, and that was what got her through.”

The movie ended with the happy endings of some of the children featured. “Just as the movie ends on a hopeful note, we are headed in the right direction,” said Ellerman. She also reminded the gathering, however, that there is still a long way to go and that there are still too many children enslaved in the world today.

Akallo’s statements probably best summarized the night: “[The movie] is painful to watch, but it is good to educate … This is evil that cannot be justified.”

photos from internet source

‘not my life’ Poster (left) and image (above) from “Not My Life,” a documentary screened Monday at the Women’s Studies Research Center.

EDITORIALS

March 30, 2012

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editor-in-Chief Jon Ostrowsky Managing Editor Yael Katzwer Alex Schneider Editor Emeritus Connor Novy News Editor Morgan Gross Impressions Editor Candice Bautista Arts, Etc. Editor Brian Tabakin Sports Editor Ingrid Schulte Photography Editor Nate Rosenbloom Photography Editor Emily Stott Layout Editor Steven Wong Graphics Editor Leah Finkelman Production Editor Suzanna Yu Copy Editor Gordy Stillman Business Editor Deputy Section Editors

Victoria Aronson Morgan Dashko Zoe Kronovet Juliette Martin Dana Trismen

Senior Editors Destiny D. Aquino Sean Fabery Savannah Pearlman

Volume 9 • Issue 10 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

I

The Brandeis Hoot 13

With publicity stunts, Brandeis loses

f their goal was to embarrass Brandeis University in the Jewish community, they succeeded.

Whether you agree or disagree with Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, the two-state solution or Obama’s foreign policy, it is all immaterial.

When a dozen Brandeis students interrupted Knesset speakers at a community event hosted at Temple Emanuel, they were wrong and unwelcome, and their actions reflected poorly on Brandeis.

As a reminder, Brandeis is a university and has a reputation for taking an intelligent approach to studying the current Middle East conflict. We have the opportunity to invite dynamic speakers to campus because of that

reputation. Debate and discussion informed by facts not rhetoric should be and has been the goal.

But the outside world doesn’t care.

When Brandeis students disrupt speakers and media outlets pick up the story, they don’t discuss Brandeis course offerings, academic excellence or faculty achievements. They focus on the sensational story. And our school’s reputation suffers.

This editorial board has time and again decried protest because it is antithetical to the central mission of the university, to investigate issues “unto their innermost parts.”

Speakers from all sides of the debate visit campus and the community, and we should treat all guests with the

respect they deserve. We may not agree with everyone, but there are other forums for disagreement during question and answer sessions, through academic writing and through campus events.

Had the protesters listened to the politicians speak, they could have voiced the same opposition to their politics.

But they could have done so respectfully. Rather than produce a video for a press release, they could have benefited from answers to their questions.

Disagreement is fine. Interruptions are not welcome. Protest is fine.

Publicity stunts are not. Their negative message isn’t what Brandeis is about.

It’s about time for the protesters who continually interrupt these events to graduate.

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

Mission As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information.

Produced entirely by students, The Hoot serves a readership of 6,000 with in-depth news, relevant commentary, sports and coverage of cultural events. Recognizing that better journalism leads to better policy, The Brandeis Hoot is dedicated to the principles of investigative reporting and news analysis. Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Brandeis 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.

STAFF Senior Staff Nafiz “Fizz” Ahmed Alana Blum Debby Brodsky Sam Allen, Rick Alterbaum, Emily Beker, Alex Bernstein, Emily Breitbart, Marissa Budlong, Justin Burack, Adam Cohen, Haley Fine, Jeremy Goodman, Rachel Hirschhaut, Paula Hoekstra, Adam Hughes, Gabby Katz, Josh Kelly, Samuel Kim, Zoe Kronovet, Arielle Levine, Ariel Madway, Estie Martin, Adam Marx, Anita Palmer, Alex Patch, Lien Phung, Zachary Reid, Betty Revah, Zach Romano, Ricky Rosen, Aaron Sadowsky, Jessica Sashihara, Sarah Schneider, Alex Self, Naomi Shine, Diane Somlo, Sindhura Sonnathi, Ryan Tierney, Alan Tran, Yi Wang, Sarah Weber, Rachel Weissman and Linjie Xu

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Corrections

To submit your opinion, send us an e-mail:

An article last week about the Student Union incorrectly attributed some quotations to Herbie Rosen ’12 that were from Ricky Rosen ’14. Please refer to the online article for the correct attributions. We regret the error.

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14 The Brandeis Hoot

SPORTS

March 30, 2012

Softball endures harsh week to even record at .500

By Brian Tabakin Editor

This past week the Brandeis University softball team went through a gauntlet of games playing four double-headers. They went 5-3 in this stretch once again to reach .500 with a record of 8-8 (3-5 UAA).

In the first double-header, the team split a pair of games with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

In the opening game, the Judges scored twice in the first frame and pitcher Caroline Miller ’12 pitched a strong game to make the runs hold up. Right fielder Amanda Genovese ’15 opened up the game with a single to center field while shortstop Brittany Grimm ’12 immediately brought her home with an RBI triple to deep right field. First baseman Marianne Specker ’12 then plated Grimm with an RBI groundout that ended up being the winning run.

Miller’s stellar performance did not require the Judges to garner any more runs. Miller only allowed five hits, one earned run and three batters to reach base the entire day. Furthermore, she struck out 10 batters, matching a career high, and only walked two. This was Miller’s third complete game of the season and the 14th of her career.

In the second part of the doubleheader, the bats came alive for both teams. WPI immediately jumped on Nikki Cote ’15 in the first inning as they tagged her for eight runs. It initially looked like Cote would have an easy one, two, three inning; however, after retiring the first two batters, the next nine safely reached base on a combination of five singles, three walks and a hit batter.

After the disastrous opening frame, Brandeis was forced to play catch-up for the rest of the game.

In the bottom of the first frame, the Judges were able to get three runs back to cut the WPI lead to 8-3. Then, after a scoreless top of the second, the Judges plated another run in the bottom of the second to cut the deficit to four.

WPI tried to ice the game, however, scoring two runs in the third and two runs in the fifth to extend their lead to eight runs at 12-4.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Judges once again trimmed the lead, scoring two runs to cut the deficit to six.

After WPI tacked on another run in the top of the seventh, the Judges made their charge in the bottom of the frame. In the frame, 10 different batters came to the plate. The Judges loaded the bases on one-out singles from Miller and second baseman

photo from brandeisnow

Leah McWilliams ’14 and a walk to Genovese. Grimm drove home the first run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to center that also advanced the other two runners. Specker immediately followed with an RBI single off of the right field fence that drove in another two runs. Center fielder Lauren Porcaro ’12 then launched an RBI double down the left field line to cut the deficit to two. Brandeis would tack on one more run in the inning off of an unforced error from WPI. Unfortunately, the Judges’ comeback came short, as they were unable to score any more runs and lost 13-12.

The following day, the Judges returned to action with a double-header against Salem State.

In the first game of the twin cap, Miller again pitched a complete game as the Judges won 11-6 in extra innings.

Salem State scored first, plating a run in the bottom of the first, but Brandeis answered immediately with a run in the top of the second.

After Salem State took the lead again in the bottom of the second, Brandeis took their first lead of the game in the top of the third as the Judges took advantage of a Salem error and single from Genovese to plate two runs; however, Salem would once again tie the game in the bottom of the frame.

Salem once again took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning and then Brandeis tied the game again in the top of the sixth inning with an RBI triple from Miller.

Brandeis finally got some separation from Salem in the 11th inning in which they tagged starter Katelynn

Fanning for five runs and an 11-6 lead.

After a run scored from a single and a wild pitch, Nicole Wilson replaced Fanning, but Wilson did not fare much better. With the bases loaded, Wilson walked in another run and then gave up a two-run single to Grimm. Specker tacked on one more run in the inning.

For the game, Miller allowed six runs—four earned—and seven hits, and had three strikeouts.

In the nightcap, Salem earned a 5-4 win with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh.

The Judges scored a run in the top of the first to take the early lead. After Grimm doubled to lead off the frame, third baseman Anya Kamber ’15 plated Grimm with an RBI single; however, Salem immediately responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame.

Salem tacked on another run in the bottom of the third to push their lead to two runs.

In the top of the fourth, the Judges cut the lead to one after left fielder Megan DeNubila ’13 hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Porcaro from third.

Unfortunately, Salem again stretched their lead to two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Brandeis answered the call in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs to tie the game at 4-4. After three consecutive singles loaded the bases, Specker drove home two runs with a single. In the bottom of the seventh, however, Michelle Grifoni launched a single up through the gap to drive home the winning run.

A few days later, the Judges once

again played a double-header.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Judges faced Emerson College. Against Emerson, the Judges quickly found themselves in an early deficit as they tagged Miller for five runs in the first two innings.

Brandeis attempted to make a comeback; however, they ultimately fell short. The Judges plated a run in the bottom of the second, but Emerson quickly got the run back in the top of the fourth.

Down 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Emerson made an error that gave the Judges some hope. Genovese blooped a single into left field with a runner on third base and both Emerson’s left fielder and centerfielder misplayed the ball, turning a routine single into an inside-the-park homerun. The Judges added another run in the bottom of the sixth, but they got no closer, dropping the contest 6-4.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Judges found themselves in an offensive tug-of-war with Lesley University.

Lesley and Brandeis traded runs during the first seven frames of the game and were forced to go to extra innings to settle the contest.

In the first frame of the extra innings, pitcher Casey Ducinski ’13 could not overcome the handicap of a Lesley base runner on second. Although she pitched efficiently and effectively during the inning, the runner at second crossed the plate to put Lesley up 9-8 entering the bottom of the eighth.

The Judges began the bottom of the frame with Genovese at second and quickly found themselves in position

to tie the game when Specker singled up the middle to put Genovese 60 feet from home. Kamber immediately followed Specker with an RBI groundout to tie the game at 9-9 and move Specker over to second.

Porcaro then singled to put runners on the corners and hitter Ali Theodore ’12 hit an infield single to load the bases. During the next bat, Lesley hit Melissa Nolan ’14 to force in the game’s winning run.

In the final double-header of the week, the Judges swept Wellesley with 6-2 and 6-1 victories.

During the twin cap, Miller and Ducinski combined to allow hits in just four innings out of a possible of 14 innings.

In the first game, Miller pitched her sixth complete game of the season, allowing just four hits and one earned run. Miller also struck out six and walked just one. Miller didn’t allow a Wellesley hit until the fifth inning, in which three consecutive singles produced Wellesley’s only run of the game.

In the second game, Ducinski allowed two runs on three hits. She struck out six batters—a seasonhigh—while only walking one. During the first six innings of play, Ducinski only allowed one hit; however, Wellesley tagged her for two runs in the top of the seventh.

Behind the strong pitching of Miller and Ducinski, Brandeis easily dispatched Wellesley to even their record at 8-8 on the season.

The Judges will look to build on this week’s strong play when they face Lasell this upcoming Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

As baseball’s losing streak continues, season getting out of hand

By Brian Tabakin Editor

The baseball team failed to break out of their slump this past week as they dropped all three of their games to fall to 5-16 (1-7 UAA) on the season. The team has now lost 13 of their past 14 games by an average of 5.5 runs.

This past Sunday, the Judges faced Framingham State.

Once again, as has become a pattern all season, the Judges found themselves in an early hole as Framingham scored three runs in the top of the second on five hits with three Brandeis throwing errors allowing runners to advance.

Following the second inning, the game evolved into a pitching duel between Pat Nicholson M.A. ’12 and

Ryan Stoller. While Nicholson allowed base runners in every frame outside of the second inning, he avoided trouble by making use of double plays in the fourth and seventh. Nicholson pitched nine innings and finished with two strikeouts and two walks while allowing three runs on 12 hits.

Brandeis broke through against Stoller in the bottom of the eighth.

With one out, pinch hitter Brian Ing ’14 worked a five-pitch walk. He moved to second on a groundout and then scored from second when centerfielder Zach Malis ’12 knocked a grounder toward second and then beat the play at first. Pat Seaward ’15 then singled to put runners on the corners, and Framingham immediately pulled Stoller from the game, replacing him with Patrick Murray.

Murray quickly got out of the inning,

inducing a groundout from the next batter to end the inning.

After Nicholson pitched a scoreless ninth, the Judges scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the frame to force extra innings. Catcher Kenny Destremps ’12 lined a one-out double to right field that forced Framingham to replace Murray with Brendan Busa. Busa quickly got the second out with a grounder to third base but, during the next at-bat, shortstop Brian Allen ’15 hit a grounder to second base, which was thrown away, allowing Destremps to score and put the tying run in scoring position. Ing followed, lining a 1-1 pitch to left field to tie the game at 3-3.

In the 10th inning, Framingham scored two runs in the top of the frame to go ahead 5-3, and Brandeis was unable to capitalize when they had runners on the corners during

the bottom of the frame.

The next day, the Judges traveled to Salem State to attempt to rebound from their tough extra inning loss.

Despite a career-best four RBIs from first baseman Dan Gad ’14, the team could not overcome Salem starter Matt Kerr who pitched seven innings of two-hit ball.

Kerr allowed only one run—unearned—and struck out seven while Brandeis starter Colin Markel ’14 went six innings, giving up three earned runs on eight hits to go along with one strikeout and three walks.

The Vikings scored a run in the first and second innings to open up an early 2-0 lead. Brandeis would get on the board in the third inning after a Salem error allowed Malis to reach base. Malis then stole second and scored on an RBI single by Gad. Salem started to pull away in the

fifth and sixth innings, scoring two runs in the fifth and another run in the sixth. Then Salem put the game on ice tacking on another three runs in the seventh inning to go ahead 8-1.

Brandeis tried to mount a comeback in the closing frames of the game. In the ninth inning, Allen led off with a triple. An RBI groundout drove Allen home to cut the Judges’ deficit to six. Brandeis then loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk and a single. Gad launched a double to right field to clear the bases and pull Brandeis within three; however, the Judges were unable to get any closer as Salem immediately got the final out of the game during the next at bat.

A few days later, the team returned

See BASEBALL, page 15

March 30, 2012

SPORTS 15

The Brandeis Hoot

After championships, Julian Cardillo reflects on season

By Brian Tabakin Editor

This past weekend foilist Julian Cardillo ’14 finished 19th out of 24 foil fencers at the NCAA Collegiate Fencing championships at Ohio State University.

Cardillo is currently majoring in politics with a minor in journalism.

Aside from fencing, he is also involved with WBRS and BCLU. Cardillo, who placed 17th in the championships last year, won seven of his 23 bouts, two fewer than last year. His best win came in the first round of action in which he beat Reggie Bentley of Notre Dame University, 5-2. Bentley finished the tournament in fifth place. Cardillo also defeated Shiv Kachru of Yale University, 5-3, who ended up finishing in seventh place.

“I think I fenced better this year I did last year,” Cardillo said. “I was more consistent this year. Last year I had a good first day but a bad last day.

This tournament is always going to be close. I lost six matches by one point.

I don’t really judge my performance by place. I feel like I could have done better. I need to learn how to close out matches that should be victories.

Cardillo competes in the foil, which is the weapon that fencings start out using. “I tried saber and epee, but foil just fits my personality best,” he said.

“It’s not a slow tempo like epee or fast like saber. With foil, you can make your own pace and movements. I’ve grown up with the foil and I’ve been able to take it and add my own style.”

Fencing was a large part of the reason that Cardillo chose to attend Brandeis. “I started fencing when I was six because my older brother, who is nine years older, also did it,” Cardillo said. “I naturally followed in his footsteps. I knew Brandeis had a really good reputation as a school with a fencing program. My brother also went here, which was a contributing factor. [Additionally], I knew Brandeis had … Eileen McNamara as a professor; as an aspiring journalist I thought I could take advantage of

photo from brandeisnow

that.”

As a competitor, Cardillo is always looking to improve. “Tactically, I’m always improving. I’m constantly looking at new techniques. There has been some natural progression from year to year.” In terms of next year, Cardillo mentioned, “It really just comes down to discipline, I just need to keep refining skills and take it to the next level.”

Coach William Shipman has also affected Cardillo’s development as a fencer.

“Coach Shipman is definitely very experienced. I respect him a lot. He’s been at Brandeis for a long time so I think that’s a testament to how good of a coach he is,” Cardillo said. “But at the same time, I’ve been with a different coach at my club team, Alex Ripa, since I was nine, so it’s hard to go back and forth between two coaches. I try

to use [Shipman’s] tactical advice to improve my game. It’s been a pleasure the past two years to work with him.”

Cardillo continued, saying that the logical end of his time in fencing would be to make the Olympic team.

“To make the Olympic team you have to be ranked high enough in the country to compete in the world cups and your performance there gets you into qualifiers. I’ve never been able to focus all of my time on fencing, but if I could I feel like I could make it there.”

Cardillo reflected though, “If I don’t make it, it’s fine, I’ve had the time of my life, traveling domestically and internationally to represent Brandeis. I just feel like going to the Olympics is a great next step.”

Cardillo was the only fencer at the championships this year; therefore, Brandeis only obtained seven points,

which earned Brandeis a 23rd place finish out of 25 competing schools.

Cardillo said, “It was interesting being the sole representative of the team. I went with Alex Powell [’12] last year, and it was a terrific experience. The two us did an excellent job together. This year I was looking to go back there with someone. Mike Zook [’13] and Zoe Messinger [’13] came close and Powell missed the qualifiers due to illness.”

Cardillo continued saying, “It’s important to qualify as many people as possible for morale and, just from a numbers standpoint, the more people you have the better the school can do.

If there were more representatives there, the finish for Brandeis could have been different.”

Throughout this year, the team improved steadily becoming more competitive with Division I schools

Baseball still looking for consistency BASEBALL, from page 14

home to face Western New England.

Unfortunately, the Judges quickly fell in an early hole, yet again.

The Golden Bears quickly jumped all over Brandeis start Kyle Brenner ’15, scoring two runs in the second, third and fourth innings. Western New England tacked on another run in the top of the sixth and took a commanding 7-0 lead entering the bottom of the frame.

Nicholson opened up the bottom of the sixth with a triple down the right field line that bounced under the glove of the right fielder and rolled all the way to the outfield wall.

Destremps quickly drove Nicholson home, jumping on the first pitch he saw for an RBI single, but the Judges could not muster any more offense in the frame.

In the top of the eighth inning, the Golden Bears added on two more runs to go ahead 9-1.

The Judges plated another run in the bottom of the eighth when Nicholson doubled with one out and the bases empty. Two batters later, third baseman Tom McCarthy ’15 hit a laser to shortstop that took a friendly bounce and hopped off the shortstop’s glove and into left field allowing Nicholson to score again; however, Brandeis did not score again for the rest of the game, and ultimately fell

Softball

Baseball

Team

Team

UAA

All

Emory

7–1

17 – 7

Washington

5–3

17 – 6

Case Western

4–4

14 – 8

Rochester

3–5

3 – 10

Brandeis

1–7

5 – 16

Chicago

0–0

8–5

Box Scores

10-2 after the Golden Bears added yet another run in the top of the ninth.

Brandeis will attempt to snap their long losing skid when they play a

double-header against Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) this Saturday with the first game starting at noon.

UAA

All

Emory

6–2

25 – 3

Washington

4–4

13 – 6

Rochester

4–4

6–7

Case Western

3–5

15 – 8

Brandeis

3–5

8–8

Chicago

0–0

10 – 4

Box Scores WPI

Win

2–1

WPI

Loss

13 – 12

Framingham St.

Loss

5–2

@Salem St.

Win

11 – 6

@Salem St.

Loss

8–5

@Salem St.

Loss

5–4

Western New England

Loss

10 – 72

Emerson

Loss

6–4

Lesley

Win

10 – 9

Wellesley

Win

6–1

Wellesley

Win

6–2

Men’s tennis

photo by paula hoekstra/the hoot

as the season continued. Cardillo agreed saying, “This year was a huge transition year. We graduated a lot of seniors last year, but I think that was good because we needed to develop a new identity. You’ve basically taken six freshmen and you’re starting them. It takes a little while to develop a team’s mentality.

“That’s why this semester we came out better and improved. Everyone wants it. Everyone knows we can be a top-10 team in the country and I wouldn’t be shocked if in the next 10 years we are a top-10 team in the country.”

“We have a lot of good recruits coming in [next year]. Just learning how to win and close out matches will go a long way.

“We’re a young team, but I like that.

Everyone is improving and growing.

[There’s] nowhere to go but up.”

Team

UAA

All

Emory

0–0

12 – 0

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

7– 4

Case Western

0–0

10 – 6

Washington

0–0

6–5

NYU

0–0

1–2

Brandeis

0–0

2–5

Chicago

0–0

1–3

Rochester

0–0

0–5

Women’s tennis Team

UAA

All

Case Western

0–0

13 – 2

Carnegie Mellon

0–0

11 – 3

Brandeis

0–0

8–1

Emory

0–0

7–2

Washington

0–0

7–3

Chicago

0–0

4–1

Rochester

0–0

2–2

NYU

0–0

0–2

Arts, Etc.

16 The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

K-Nite wows campus with Korean culture

By Emily Stott Editor

The Brandeis Korean Student Association (BKSA) invited the campus to “Explore Korea” at K-Nite 2012 last Friday night in Levin Ballroom, which was decorated with hanging banners and colorful streamers. Bright booklets on the tables displayed the food and landscape of Korea with chocolate gold coins imprinted with “BKSA” at every seat. A large portion of the club’s budget for the night was spent on decorations and advertising.

While many of the decorations were unnecessary, the added ambiance to the evening made it a more enjoyable performance.

Abraham Jung ’14, a member of the E-board, spoke about what he thought was the best part of the evening. “I thought K-Nite was an absolutely stunning night because there were so many non-Korean individuals, which gave the show a wonderful opportunity to present Korean culture to a non-Korean audience. KSA is about sharing Korea and I feel that K-Nite really fulfilled just that.”

The night began with an instrumental piece featuring modern as well as with traditional Korean instruments such as the flute, cello, violin, alto saxophone, drums, bass, janggu and gayageum.

Samulnori, a group that showcased just the drummers of KSA, followed the instrumental performance. As the simple drum patterns repeated, they became more complex and added an element of interest each time the tempo or the beat changed. The performers themselves became more

comfortable on stage as the show went on, moving to the beat and drawing in the audience.

BKSA brought in an all-male a cappella group from Boston University called KSoul. Unfortunately, problems with the microphones made it difficult to hear the lead singer against the background vocals. When they could be heard, however, their voices blended together melodiously and their harmonies were perfectly in tune. Before the last song, one of the singers disappeared behind the curtain and came back with a red rose for each member of the group. When one of them pricked his finger, a collective “aww” came from the audience. At the end of the song “Pretty Woman,” the boys came down from the stage and each gave a rose to a girl in the audience, earning them more giggles.

Rather than feeling forced, the show felt genuine.

A folktale skit performed by Brandeis students started off slightly awkwardly: It was difficult to tell if it was supposed to be funny or serious.

When Adrienne Thompson ’13, who played the swallow, came on stage flapping her arms around in imitation of a wounded bird, the audience burst out laughing and the laughter continued for the rest of the performance.

Complete with “Angry Birds” costumes at the end, the skit was ridiculous and silly, but it was funny enough to make for an entertaining watch.

After an intermission, the skit was followed by the KSA Band, a sevenperson group with piano, guitars, trumpet and drums, lead by singer Jinwoo Lee ‘15. They received an energetic response from the audience

during their set as they played well together. One song, “Red Sunset,” I recognized almost immediately because they had performed it at APAHM just the week before. Although it was nice to know one of the songs even though I couldn’t understand the words, I would have preferred to see something different rather than the same performance twice. The vocals verged on shouting at times, but the performance drew a great response from the crowd and was a nice contrast after the more traditional performances.

In between sets, “tour guides” emceed and short video clips were played to introduce the new acts. The tour guides were bubbling with enthusiasm, but they sometimes struggled with their lines, slowing down when saying the names of the acts and speeding up during the colloquial parts.

The modern dance was one of the other highlights of the show with each song showcasing the incredible dancers of Brandeis. The performers moved fluidly, making it look effortless. Sometimes they moved so quickly that it was hard to catch all of the small movements they had made but they nevertheless made the choreography both complex and amazing. The last song had a more relaxed feel to it.

As the performers were laughing and having fun themselves, those watching felt as if they were a part of the motion on stage as well.

Bulletproof Funk was probably the best performance of the night. It’s unfortunate that they were dancers from See K-NITE, page 19

photos by lien phung/the hoot

‘The Hunger Games’ packs an emotional punch

By Juliette Martin Editor

“The Hunger Games,” an adaptation of the popular book trilogy by Suzanne Collins, premiered March 23 to the incredible success of $155 million. This record-breaking opening is a remark on the series’ considerable fan base, who showed up in droves at midnight premiers across the country, often dressed up as one of the many beloved characters the series has to offer. Riding on the high expectations of thousands of fans, it is quite the relief that “The Hunger Games” was as high-quality a movie as was due its source material.

“The Hunger Games” is set in a future north America, a nation divided into 12 districts, many of which are deeply impoverished; they are ruled in what appears to be a dictatorship or otherwise unrepresentative regime from the shallow and extravagant capitol. As a reminder and reparation for a revolution 74 years before the outset of the story, spearheaded by the now bombed-out-of-existence 13th district, each of the 12 districts must now send two randomly selected children—a boy and a girl—to the capitol to participate in the Hunger Games. Only one child can survive this brutal game of murder and survival, which is watched and celebrated by the capitol’s citizens. It is in this world that our heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), has been raised, hardened by hunger and loss.

When her younger sister is selected to participate in the games, Katniss volunteers to go in her place, along with her male counterpart Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Thus, the two

katniss aims her bow Katniss Everdeen ( Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers for her sister to fight in the Hunger Games.

become the District 12 tributes for the 74th annual hunger games.

Though the film cut some of the smaller subplots and characters, overall it was highly faithful to the source material, to the great relief of fans. More importantly, “The Hunger Games” carried the same emotional impact of the book, even enhancing it at moments; for example, after the particularly tragic death of one young tribute, there is a poignant shot of the crowd watching in the main square of her home district on massive screens.

The camera focuses on a man who is immediately assumed to be the dead tribute’s father, a detail that was never in the book, but whose obvious agony and outcry truly drives home the poignant horror of the games.

The incredible talents of the movie’s main actors only add to the powerful impact and overall quality of the movie. Lawrence portrays Katniss with incredible power and a deep understanding of the character, while Hutcherson’s Peeta is effortlessly sweet. Similarly impressive was Woody Harrelson’s rather comedic portrayal of Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss and Peeta’s drunken mentor, who begins the film content to ignore the two, but eventually comes to care for them just as the audience comes to care for Haymitch. Some of the most comedic lines of the film were delivered to great effect by Elizabeth Banks as the ineffably cheery Effie Trinket.

Truly, each and every actor came through for this film, including those

photo from internet source

not listed here.

“The Hunger Games” was also visually striking; the citizens of the capitol are shown in lurid colors with ridiculous apparel, true to form of their exhibitionist mindset. A major theme of the story is to point the finger at excess and the voyeurism present in our own society; while this message did not come through quite as strongly as it did in the novels, leading to some rather off-point point political debate, the theme was still present and apparent.

Despite the film’s overall quality and emotive impact, it was not without its flaws. For those unfamiliar with the book, the political situation in which the story takes place seems strange and difficult to understand. Several

characters who, though they play only a small role in “The Hunger Games,” go on to have important emotive power were cut or shown without names.

Additionally, there was an unrealistic lack of blood or gore during the games themselves, and some parts of the film felt slightly lost, with the subtleties of various characters’ relationships becoming lost in the shuffle.

Though “The Hunger Games” has its flaws, particularly in comparison to the book (as every movie adaptation inevitably will), with all things considered it is a wonderful movie. It is most notable for its extreme emotional impact, bringing in just the right sort of detail to make the story truly tragic.

Of course, any story about the wholesale yearly slaughter of 23 children, treated as a reality show is tragic, but “The Hunger Games” is particularly poignant as it contrasts the shallow and overly extravagant capitol, who watch the killings with pleasure, betting on their favorites, with the pain of the districts who must watch their children die meaninglessly. This impresses the true horror of the situation on the watcher, and makes the movie extremely powerful.

“The Hunger Games” is an extremely good movie, with the emotional impact to leave theatergoers in tears, though it is not without its comedic moments: namely shots of Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), who watches the romance between Katniss and Peeta develop with extreme jealousy and angst, along with the banter of Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy. Despite the few missteps, the emotional power of the film makes it an undeniable must-see for both fans of the books and otherwise.

March 30, 2012

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC. 17

Tymp’s ‘Good Man’ an enjoyable f ind

By Sean Fabery Editor

“Why is it that I always have supper in the red dish and my drinking water in the yellow dish?” a wise beagle asks himself in the musical “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,” which Tympanium Euphorium is staging this weekend.

“One of these days, I’m going to have my supper in the yellow dish and my drink water in the red dish. Life’s just too short not to live it up a little.”

This beagle might just be the most famous canine in existence—he’s Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog from the legendary comic strip “Peanuts.”

In “Good Man,” Snoopy asks a lot of big questions. And he’s not alone: Existential malaise plagues all of Charles Schulz’s famous creations.

When you think of “Peanuts” today, it’s easy to think of all the chipper merchandise that now bears its characters—think pencils, stamps, lunchboxes. At heart, however, these characters are profoundly uncertain about themselves and often unhappy, even though most of them are only five years old. In the world of “Good Man,” philosophical crises go handin-hand with lunchtime PB&J. “I’m so depressed,” Charlie Brown (Charlie Madison ’15) tells his nemesis Lucy (Rebecca Miller ’13). He’s not kidding.

This is not to say “Good Man” is depressing. Quite the opposite: It’s a delightful musical that reveals all the good things we forget about when we get bogged down by minutiae. Sure, Charlie finds himself forever alone and in possession of an unfortunate “failure face,” as Lucy puts it. But hey, he’s a pretty great guy with some nice friends.

“Good Man” is a slight musical, but this isn’t an entirely bad thing. There’s little plot here; instead, the musical is

comprised of several vignettes that are thematically linked. In choosing this structure, the show mimics Schulz’s comic strips, which never featured any grand arcs or unexpected plot twists.

“Peanuts” was essentially a character piece, and the same is true of “Good Man.” When we witness Charlie mope about Valentine’s Day and his best friend Linus (Danny Steinberg ’15) consider life sans safety blanket, we’re not interested in what happens next— no, we’re interested in how these familiar characters will act and the entertaining songs they’ll sing.

Because the appeal of “Good Man” rests so heavily on its characters, a strong cast is required, and in this regard Tymp’s production—directed

by Jeremy Weinberg ’12—definitely doesn’t disappoint. The show features seven actors, each of whom brings a palpable energy that never wavers.

As the titular Charlie Brown, Madison captures the sad-sack demeanor that colors everything Charlie does.

Charlie is usually pretty subdued, but that doesn’t mean he has to disappear. Madison ensures that Charlie is never overshadowed by his more colorful cohorts, though he sometimes struggles to project his voice.

This problem also dogged Karan Malik ’15 as Shroeder on opening night, though Malik otherwise brings an appropriately reserved passion to his junior composer.

Kate Davis ’14 imbues Charlie’s sister Sally with a real childlike energy.

She’s more than capable of presenting all of Sally’s mood swings, going from chipper one moment to vexed in another. “I was jumping rope ... everything was fine, then it all seemed so futile,” she tells us.

As crabby Lucy, Miller carries herself with an authoritarian swagger.

After all, this is a girl who dreams of being a queen and certainly has the

sense of entitlement you expect to encounter in an absolute monarch. If anything, Miller might not have made her Lucy as annoying as she could have.

Steinberg makes for a fine Linus, ably capturing the character’s sincerity and somber inquisitiveness. His best moment comes when he serenades his blanket, spinning it around in the air.

Before seeing the show, it was most difficult to imagine Snoopy being brought to the stage. After all, he never speaks in the classic cartoon specials. With Levi Squier ’14 in the role, you quickly get over this, as he embodies the kind of spastic daydreamer Snoopy is. There’s also Herbie Rosen ’12 as Snoopy’s avian friend Woodstock, a silent character not included in the original musical. To get the appropriate look, he wears a yellow onesie and a cap with yellow feathers. His yellow face-paint, though, is a bit too much (and also a tad scary).

Every cast member is an able singer, and they get ample support from the show’s stellar orchestra, led by Mindy Cimini ’12.

The sets, designed by Jessica Rassp ’13, capture the spirit of the original comic strips. A yellow fence brings a row of crayons to mind, while Snoopy’s iconic red doghouse figures prominently. In a clever nod to the musical’s origins, Schulz’s signature appears in one of the set’s corners, while newspapers border the set’s top.

Once the show ends, there’s a chance many of the vignettes from “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” won’t stick with you, but here that’s not important. Happiness, we’re told, “is anything that is loved by you.”

Based on the audience’s reaction on opening night, there’s a good chance this show’s iconic characters, catchy tunes and fun performances will place it firmly in the “love” category.

photos by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

peanuts Clockwise from top, Charlie (Charlie Madison) consults with Lucy (Rebecca

Miller) at her psychiatric booth; Charlie feels left-out; Sally (Kate Davis) laments a poor grade as Schroeder (Karan Malik) looks on; and Charlie gets drawn on by Sally and Lucy.

18 ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012

Boston Village Gamelan comes to Brandeis, part II

By Adam Hughes Staff

Part I of this article appeared in last week’s Hoot.

One of the lovely things the Boston Village Gamelan told us about playing gamelan music is that it’s not as important to play the right note as it is to play at the right time. This is not because the individual notes are not important. The system of functional tonality, however, is much looser in gamelan than in the Western music tradition, so it’s harder for a note to sound “wrong.”

King Crimson’s “Discipline” album may have been my first exposure to gamelan-influenced music, but it was not the first example of gamelan in Western music, coming almost one century later. The 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, highlighted by the grand opening of the Eiffel Tower, featured groups from around the world sharing their cultural traditions in interactive displays. The Javanese exhibit featured a gamelan ensemble, which happened to catch the ear of the young composer Claude Debussy.

He would subsequently spend hours contemplating and transcribing its music, and he was inspired to compliment the Javanese musicians as “wonderful peoples who learn music as easily as one learns to breathe.”

Many papers have been written about the lessons Debussy took from the gamelan, and I’m particularly indebted to Professor Brent Hugh’s “Claude Debussy and the Javanese Gamelan” for much of the material in this section. The true extent of its impact may never be known, but practically all of Debussy’s radical innovations are paralleled in the gamelan tradition. He dispensed with the notion of functional harmony. His static forms are like the gamelan’s cyclical progressions. His use of pentatonic scales call to mind the slendro scale.

These inventions have roots in Debussy’s classical predecessors are well, but there are undeniable moments in some of his best-loved pieces that clearly betray the textures and motives of the gamelan.

Countless composers followed in Debussy’s footsteps and delved much further into the sonic palette of the gamelan. From contemporaries like Erik Satie, to mid-20th-century radicals like Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez, to active minimalists like Philip Glass and Steve Reich, the gamelan has become a building block for much of the subsequent classical sound.

No one traveled as far as Lou Harrison, who studied with famous Javanese performer K.P.H. Notoprojo.

With his partner William Kolvig, Harrison built entire gamelan-styled

ensembles and used Javanese scales and instrumentation in almost all of his later compositions. Some of his music is surprisingly accessible and beautiful; my favorite (though not the most representative of this sound) is 1977’s Harp Suite. Many of his works can be found online, and I encourage the reader to check them out to hear what a true world-wide, artisticallyinformed music philosophy sounds like.

Hearing this music over the course of several years brought me closer to the essence of the gamelan sound, but I still had never heard actual gamelan music as I prepared for the Boston Village Gamelan’s concert on March 21 at The Rose Art Museum.

The crowd was small, certainly less than double the 20 musicians seated on the floor in front of their instru-

photo from internet source

ments. In the middle sat a man with a thin string instrument (a rebab), and he began alone to play a quiet, wispy melody. From the back, a drum joined with a sparse rhythm.

Then, the ensemble began, immediately resolving to a series of circling cross-rhythms impossible for me to decipher. Neither Debussy nor King Crimson had prepared me for the layered complexity or the measured precision of the musicians. The back row of saron players moved together with robotic accuracy, beating a note with one hand while silencing the last note with the other. The rebab danced around the melody, while a wooden flute added fragmentary flourishes.

The exactness was almost unsettlingly alien; set against the fractured, geometric paintings, however, it seemed to keep the very pulse of the museum.

Gamelan rhythm is kept in reference to massive cyclical structures, and each instrument is responsible for a separate subdivision. Written out, the music looks almost comically mathematical. The score has rows of four-by-four boxes, each containing only numbers or dots. Yet the effect is undoubtedly artistic, and by focusing on each instrument in turn, I got a hint of its role in overall composition.

There was too much to piece together, however, and the transition from the page to the performance might as well be magic to me.

The gamelan has been central to Javanese culture for millennia, possibly longer than the area’s recorded history. It has prospered through Indonesian independence, Dutch colonization, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Images of musicians dot the walls of Indonesia’s oldest temples, and mythology holds that the music was the invention of an early godking to communicate with the heavens. It has fractured into a multitude of styles, spread through almost every South Asian culture, and can be heard today in the most sacred rituals or over the radio.

Until the formation of Indonesia in 1945, however, the great composers of the gamelan wrote in obscurity. Most composition came from royal patronage, and such pieces were always credited to the ruler. Though some musicians have developed strong reputations since then, the importance of traditional music in modern Indonesian society is gradually waning.

The Boston Village Gamelan played three massive compositions on March 21; though I didn’t think to check the time, I’m certain that each was more than 20 minutes in length. They are structured as suites of several interlocking pieces, and they share a similar flow “from relatively serene and stately to more animated and light melodies,” to quote the program.

See GAMELAN, page 19

Jake Coco improves pop music one cover at a time

By Emily Beker Staff

Many amateur covers of songs on YouTube are performed by no-name 12 year olds and are often of very poor quality. Jake Coco, however, is an exception. Covering many different popular songs, as well as writing his own, he has become my go-to person for new music. He consistently releases new covers of songs that promptly follow the original. The songs are always popular choices and his added changes make the songs personal and unique.

Jake Coco can make even Adele’s music sound new and improved. His covers are mainly done acoustically.

This enhances the songs that are done in the more rock tone, such as his cover of “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”

by Katy Perry. His covers are easily accessible because they are released on iTunes and YouTube. Coco has released six albums on iTunes as well as numerous singles from artists. Coco’s most recent cover of “Not Over You” by Gavin Degraw is true to form. It is melodic, easy to listen to and similar enough to the original while also adding a new twist. Coco adds enough variations in notes to make the song his own. The harmonies Coco includes add dimensions to his songs.

His ability to sing in many different keys and to hit a wide range of

photo from internet source

jake coco plays guitar YouTube musician Jake Coco turns top-50 songs into acoustic, melodic ballads.

notes makes his cover songs realistic in a way that plays upon the artist’s original work. Coco has the ability to make songs that are less melodic, like “We Are Young” by Fun, sound more so with his use of acoustic instruments. The use of different voices makes it sound similar enough that it can be truly called a cover.

Coco is a YouTube gem because he differentiates himself from the others with the mass amount of high qual-

ity covers he uploads. He also releases original songs. His album “Re-defining Love” contains all original songs, including his song, “Live For The Moment,” which has powerful lyrics and music like most of his covers. Coco is not a gimmicky cover artist. The videos allow the listener to listen to the songs without getting distracted by the video. His songs can be separated from the video; whereas, most songs on YouTube place too much weight

on the visuals. Coco allows his music to speak for itself without relying on a video to attract attention.

Most cover artists on YouTube must rely on their appearance to further the video but Coco doesn’t need it to gain views or purchases. The differences in opinion of how to approach viewers is refreshing. Coco also makes effective use of his Facebook page on which he publicizes when he will release new videos, which consistently come

out within a week of each other. He makes effective use of social media, which is prevalent in the lives of the teens who frequent YouTube. Coco is a gem for listeners who enjoy the top-40 hits as well as more unknown songs. His cover of “The Cave” by Mumford and Sons is particularly well done. His covers also function as a way to discover new songs to which one may not choose to listen.

Some of his best covers are songs by Katy Perry and Ke$ha. They may not have much depth to them as originals, but Coco adds dimensions that make them more enjoyable and addicting to listen to. His cover of “We R Who We R” is upbeat, but his acoustic element makes it slower and less “pop” than Ke$ha’s. Coco even attempts Lady Gaga covers that make the original sound worse than his, which is quite a feat for song covers. Gaga has such a focus that for Coco to improve it shows how much talent he has. Jake Coco’s talent is still narrow and unknown, but he deserves to have more notoriety on both YouTube and in conversation. His songs are similar to what is out there and yet they sound different at the same time, making them a joy to listen to.

Jake Coco is unique, creating intriguing covers and tackling the more challenging of songs. He covers songs that are not the most popular but is still able to make them enjoyable. He creates hits out of what were flops by iTunes standards.

March 30, 2012

ARTS, ETC. 19

The Brandeis Hoot

‘Salmon Fishing’ reels in mixed reviews

photo from internet source

on fishing Amr Waked and Ewan McGregor star in “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” as Sheik Muhammad and

Dr. Alfred Jones.

By Betty Revah Staff

There has never been a movie with a more self-explanatory title than “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.” The movie, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, promises to be about salmon, fishing and the Middle East, and it clearly fulfills that promise. Thankfully at some points, it also deals with the issues of love, unskillful prime ministers and outrageous projects, as well as war and separation. Clearly, not much seriousness can be expected from a movie with such a title. As predicted, not much is delivered. Since the movie is intended to be funny, the lack of seriousness is forgivable; however, its comedic attempt fails and it ends up being neither funny nor serious.

Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) is Britain’s leading fisheries expert. His character is very much like Sheldon Cooper’s in “The Big Bang Theory” in that he is smart, predictable and humorously boring.

When he is approached, however, by consultant Harriet (Emily Blunt) with a very unrealistic and even slightly hopeless fishing project, he is forced to face an unpredictable world and do the unexpected: bring in 10,000 British fish to the Middle East so that a bored and rich entrepreneur can learn a new hobby. Since the project is sponsored by billionaire Sheik Muhammad (Amr Waked), Jones is not excited about it in the slightest. He raises the project’s expected cost from hundreds to thousands and then from dollars to pounds in a heartbeat.

The crazy fish project, however, turns out to be the British prime minister’s way of distracting people from the war in the Middle East.

Although we don’t see much of him, his IM conversations with his spokesperson, Patricia Maxwell (Kristen Scott) are the only somewhat funny moments of the movie, which, while they were clearly meant to be comedic, they were not overly so. Patricia’s uncharacteristically good use and knowledge of insults, sassiness and determination are exposed, so it’s hard not to laugh. Although being the British prime minister’s spokesperson can be difficult and even intimidating, it apparently comes naturally to

her. She is a great example of the saying, “Behind every great man, there is a great woman.”

Eventually, Patricia is forced to bring the very useless prime minister with her to Yemen where she realizes that he can’t even fish but, thankfully, he has Patricia.

Although surprising for its boring title, the movie is actually more about love than it is about fishing. First, there is Jones’ relationship with his untraditional wife who leaves him for months at a time in order to do business in foreign countries. There is also his love affair with his fish, which he constantly talks to and feeds.

Finally, there is his crush on Harriet, who has another love affair of her own. Captain Robert Mayers (Tom Mison) asks Harriet to wait for him while he fights in the war, but when she receives a devastating phone call informing her that her boyfriend is missing and possibly dead, she has no one to turn to but Alfred Jones. Much of the movie is about Harriet’s healing process, Jones’ crush and the question of whether or not the two are ever going to be together.

The other question the movie raises is whether or not the fish will swim upward, jump and have a smooth transition into their new waters, or if the project will be a complete waste.

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy creates an interesting movie out of an uninteresting plot. While the main concern of the movie is the fish project, it almost feels like a non-existent issue at some points. When the characters go to Yemen in order to start the project, it is difficult to remember what they’re doing there, or why they went in the first place.

This movie is no all-time classic, but there is something about the utterly simplistic plot that makes it funny and a surprisingly enjoyable watch. The actors are all talented and they interact well with each other. Kristen Scott and Emily Blunt make the movie worth seeing.

Without them, the funny parts would be gone and the movie would be a plain and boring story about fishing. In the end, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is not what you would expect from a romantic comedy. Yet here its bland originality is surprising. It makes the unpromising plot interesting.

Gamelan music part II GAMELAN, from page 18

They all seem to climax in the middle, and the dynamic range between these furious rumbles and the quieter sections that surround them suggests that a lot of thought goes into the dramatic contours of the pieces. Two shorter pieces bookended the suites, and their themes of welcome and farewell speak to the social function of gamelan music.

Watching Chris Miller play the gender is hypnotic. His hand fly up and down the metal keys in seeming disconnect, as if they were controlled by two separate musicians. The mallets strike clusters of notes with effortless grace; one feels as if he could start giving a lecture or reading a book without losing a step in his performance.

After the show, I ask him how much of his performance is improvised; seeing his scanty sheet music, I feel the formal structure of the piece can’t be more than a vague guideline. He tells me, however, that very little is left to the performer’s discretion. Gamelan is rife with unwritten rules about what notes must be played at what times, so even when he’s not following the written music, he has very little latitude. The rhythmic pattern is never broken. Once a per-

former can play it according to the rules, he has achieved the limits of gamelan virtuosity, and his standing as a musician is determined more by how much music he’s learned than by how much technical skill he possesses.

It’s an attitude equally foreign to electric guitar god and the violin maestro, and it’s another part of a world that still leaves me uncomfortable. I won’t lie and say I enjoyed every minute of the Boston Village Gamelan’s performance; my Westernized ears just can’t appreciate 90 minutes of music from such a vastly different background. I fall short as I try to define or describe it, and though I can compare elements to music I’ve heard in the past, the gamelan really sounds nothing like King Crimson or Claude Debussy. When I’ve failed to appreciate it fully as a musician, I’ve found it deeply interesting as an explorer.

The Boston Village Gamelan holds public rehearsals and actively recruits new members, and I’d like to participate some time; playing with the ensemble was the highlight of their visit for me. The members were all talented musicians, but perhaps more importantly, they were excellent ambassadors and stewards of a timeless cultural tradition.

Arts Recommends film

‘Children of Men’

photo from internet source

“Children of Men” (2006) is a quiet portrayal of a slow apocalypse. The British-made film stars the talented Clive Owen as Theo, an inhabitant of a perpetually gray world in which, 18 years ago, women mysteriously stopped giving birth. w march toward the end of humanity. “Children of Men” portrays the end of society but also provides a hope for the future, maintaining a dark and slow tone without becoming dull or giving in to the absolute horrors that it continually portrays. This quiet, artistic portrayal of desperation and hope is gripping and heart-wrenching.

juliette martin, editor

film

Korea showcased at K-Nite

‘Harvey’

photo by lien phung/the hoot

K-NITE, from page 16

Boston University rather than from Brandeis, but they were absolutely incredible to watch.

Breakdancing, spinning on their heads, moving exceptionally quickly in ways that looked nearly impossible, they were impressively talented.

The evening concluded on a more traditional

note with the Fan Dance. When the bright pink fans moved in synchrony, it looked as if they were all connected to one gently shaking disk rather than to the performers moving their fans in a circle. The authentic costumes matched the fans in color and design.

K-Nite gave students a chance to explore Korean culture and see their friends shine on stage.

photo from internet source

Although it came out in 1950, “Harvey,” directed by Henry Koster, is timeless. Don’t be scared away by this film just because it is in black and white; the jokes hold up. This comedy follows Elwood P. Dowd, played by the sensational James Stewart, a somewhat-crazy drunk who lives with his sister and niece; Dowd’s constant companion is a huge invisible rabbit—or pooka— named Harvey whom no one else can see. “Harvey” pushes every character to the brink of their sanity in hilarious ways and the acting is just so spot-on and endearing that every line becomes gold. This incredibly odd film will give you entirely new reasons to love James Stewart and the ’50s.

yael katzwer, editor

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The Brandeis Hoot

March 30, 2012