The Brandeis Hoot

Volume 9 Number 27

www.thebrandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

Stoker ’13 wins Marshall scholarship

By Victoria Aronson Editor

As only the fourth Brandeis student awarded the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, Elizabeth Stoker ’13 prepares to continue her commitment to community service abroad, pursuing graduate studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Recognizing the distinct opportunities that will emerge during her studies abroad, Stoker anticipates “surveying the different programs of social welfare” while exploring what she deems “Christian ethics—a critical branch of theology.”

The Marshall Scholarship, named in honor of George Marshall and reminiscent of the ideals evoked by the Marshall Plan, is designed to enable exceptional students from the United States to pursue a graduate degree within the United Kingdom.

Although not limited to a confined scope of study, the award involves a rigorous application and selection process, which Stoker revealed as having lasted approximately a year.

Having secured four letters of recommendation and produced twelve

revisions to her application essay, Stoker recalled receiving the call from the British consulate to schedule an interview, and finally, receiving the congratulatory call.

Diligently striving to attain a double major in English and Sociology in tandem with a minor in Near Eastern Judaic Studies, Stoker has nevertheless managed to immerse herself in community service ventures within the Waltham area.

As founder of the Brandeis: Be Our Guest program, which permits students to donate unused guest meals and dining points to the less fortunate, Stoker describes the unique level of personal interactions that the volunteers experience.

“I wouldn’t donate a meal to someone that I wouldn’t be willing to eat myself,” she said, asserting that rather than simply handing out rations at local shelters, volunteers prepare and eat alongside the hungry, which promotes a true sense of fellowship.

Reflecting upon her initial impetus to create the program, Stoker recalls noticing the amount of wasted food within dining halls. As she See MARSHALL, page 4

Team roars to 4-1 start

Editor

Bob Dylan has been cut from the set list for next semester’s proposed festival. While the event is still likely to occur, it will no longer be called the 50th Anniversary Bob Dylan Folk Festival, as student organizers had planned.

While there are still talks going on to bring Dylan to campus next fall, the 2013 Spring semester would

feature only a now-indoor festival in Gosman, as well as Springfest the following day.

Organizers would work to retain the festival atmosphere, even with the indoor venue. The festival would have vendors and multiple acts, occurring the day before Springfest.

The decision to cut Dylan from the act was largely due to cost.

Dylan’s booking price, nearly $300,000, would hamper the net finances of the university. After mul-

Editor

we haven’t done anything big in 10 years, we haven’t done anything like this outdoors ever,” Manning said.

Moving indoors without Dylan, says Manning, would not only significantly decrease costs and make the university more comfortable with the endeavor, but make the entire event profitable for the university.

“It would overtake the cost and

Ranked just behind Yale, Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society, is now second in the American Parliamentary Debate Society (APDA). The debate class, acronymed BADASS, outranks Harvard, Johns Hopkins and American University. The APDA is a national conference in which 50 other highly-ranked university teams debate using a structure loosely based on the British Parliament.

The debaters’ individual and small group rankings, which contribute to the overall ranking of the team, are also on the rise. Russell Leibowitz ’14 and Keith Barry ’14, co-presidents of BADASS, are now the fourth highest-ranked team in APDA. BADASS members David Altman ’15 and Sarah Margulies ’15 are currently ranked 11th in the Team of the Year category.

While they may not unseat Yale for the top ranking this year, according to Altman, they could conceivably win next year if each speaker earns enough points.

Leibowitz attributes the team’s success to its friendly atmosphere and relaxed set of rules. BADASS has grown this year, with the addition of several first-years. Unlike Harvard and Yale’s debate teams, BADASS accepts anyone who is interested without tryouts and does not cut anyone from the team.

Although attendance at every competition is also not required, most members compete frequently because they enjoy the activity and the camaraderie of debate, Leibowitz said.

“Since we’re all such good friends, debate has become more than just a competitive activity for me, it’s something I really enjoy doing even outside

See DYLAN, page 2

See DEBATE, page 3

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot drive Gabe Moton ’14 fights through traffic for a layup against Clark University

on Tuesday inside Red Auerbach Arena.

tiple drafts of the business plan with larger concessions for safety, costs began to outstrip the revenue from the event, if it had included Dylan’s booking price.

“It might not be Bob Dylan, but whoever it is, and we have specific ideas in mind, would be a big deal,” Manning said. The complete talent for the current incarnation of the festival would cost two thirds of Dylan alone.

“The university’s problem was,

U.S. ambassador to Israel hosts reception for Lawrence

By Debby Brodsky Editor

University President Frederick Lawrence and his wife Kathy attended a Brandeis alumni reception in Israel last Wednesday. The reception coincided with the Israeli ceasefire with Hamas that many celebrated after eight long days of violence.

The reception, meant to celebrate the unique bond shared between the university and Israel, was also attended by the United States Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro ’91, his wife Julie Fisher ’90, as well as hundreds of friends of Brandeis, alumni and parents living in Israel. Speakers at the event included Forsan Hussein

Inside this issue:

’00, CEO of the Jerusalem YMCA, as well as Galia Golan-Gild ’60, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and academic director of the government program at the institution’s Raphael Recanati International School, according to a university press release.

“Julie and I are both proud graduates of Brandeis University so we were thrilled to host Brandeis University President Fred Lawrence and his wife Kathy, together with Israel’s Brandeis Alumni Association, for a celebration of the many close ties between Brandeis and Israel,” Shapiro wrote in a Facebook post.

Shapiro, who hosted the party, arSee LAWRENCE, page 3

News: Beloved theater professor remembered Features: German club encourages culture Opinion: Compliments should be made openly Arts, Etc.: ‘Non-Reality’ showcases talent Sports: Men’s soccer season ends at NCAAs

Page 2 Page 5 Page 11 Page 14 Page 15

Debate team ranked No. 2 in country

By Rachel Hirschhaut

Dylan concert proposal scrapped for spring festival

By Connor Novy

November 30, 2012

Mela: Cultural celebrations

dance Performers showcase their style in the Bhangra dance at Mela in Levin Ballroom on Nov. 17.

‘Kahaani: Our Story’

Men win Big Four

News: Page 4

Features: Page 8

Mela highlights South Asian culture with synchronicity and skill.

In the Big Four Tournament, the Judges defeated Tufts, Salem State, and Clark.

photo by shota adamia/the hoot

news

2 The Brandeis Hoot

November 30, 2012

Dylan nixed, possibility of festival still on the table DYLAN, from page 1

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

make a good deal of money,” Manning said. “It would be a self-sustaining thing that didn’t use any student funds, other than maybe an initial down payment, but that would be made back.”

In the beginning, student organizers were told that the Bob Dylan event didn’t have to make money, “The more we scaled back our last plan, the less money it made,” Manning said.

“Originally, it would have made money, but as we scaled it back, we had to change things in the budget and costs started outweighing actual income. It doesn’t mean it would have outweighed benefit. Benefit would have still outweighed cost,” he added.

According to another of the organizers, Alex Pilger ’13, “We scaled it down and it was basically nixed,

at which point we came up with another proposal. So, I don’t think it was even in their mind, it wasn’t as if it was continuously scaled down.”

By cutting Dylan, the festival is far less expensive, and moving it inside Gosman gym, where concerts are regularly held, makes the plan far more tenable for the administration. “This was suggested by them at an earlier point,” Manning said.

“Outdoors they’re uncomfortable with,” said Manning. “Indoors they’ve done before … They’re interested in doing something, it’s just something that they’re comfortable with.”

Manning and Pilger plan to continue pushing for a 50th anniversary festival of Dylan’s 1963 concert for the fall semester. “It would still be 50 years,” said Manning. Currently, however, it is unlikely. “The chances that Bob Dylan would play Brandeis in the fall,” says Manning, “are very, very slim. I would say 10 percent.”

“It’s not dead, but I’m content with this,” Manning said. “I knew it was an option all along. If this happened, it would be a huge deal anyway. And then, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Bob Dylan thing is dead.”

bob dylan

photo from internet source

Kazanoff, beloved theater arts professor, remembered

By Dana Trismen Editor

Beloved theater professor Ted Kazanoff died Oct. 20, at the age of 90.

His death was recently commemorated at Brandeis. Kazanoff was an actor, director and teacher who inspired many students.

Susan Dibble, the current Chair of Theater Arts described his talent for communication through theater.

“As a teacher, he was gifted in his direct, blunt, forceful insistence about telling the truth about what is in the words, the text of the play and what the actor was going through, how the actor could be more ‘in the moment’ and believable.”

Kazanoff was born Aug. 30, 1922 in New York City. Raised in the Bronx, Kazanoff went on to serve in the military in World War II and later graduated from City College of New York.

He gained his graduate degree from Smith College and taught at many universities, including Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, Boston University and Brandeis.

His acting experience was mainly

in television, as a recurring character on “Law and Order,” “Brooklyn Bridge” and “American Playhouse.”

His teaching career was extensive, allowing him to mentor students who went on to become successful, such as Tony Goldwyn ’82 who now acts in the TV series “Scandal.” Kazanoff died weeks after the death of his wife of 66 years, and leaves behind a son and grandchildren.

Mark Ellmore who graduated with his MFA in 1992 recalls that Kazanoff did not really talk about his acting life with students.

“I know that Ted acted for years in the Boston area and had a regular appearance as a judge on the original “Law and Order” series … but other than that, I’m not sure,” he said.

Dibble added that he also acted at the Charles Playhouse in the Boston theater district while teaching at Boston University. She describes other acting experience, such as when he acted in “All My Sons” playing Jim Bayliss, the doctor next door and a colleague remembers him in his “tall, Lincolnesque figure.” She also explains a bit about Kazanoff ’s voyages

into directing.

“He directed an electric and scary production of “Dutchmen” by Leroi Jones, featuring the young Jill Clayburgh,” Dibble said.

Kazanoff is most known for his teaching and his status as mentor to many students. “His main way to motivate students was giving them his full attention,” Dibble said. Ellmore remembers that Kazanoff ’s style of teaching was very blunt, for “he was always tough and uncompromising on us … but in a very good way.”

He describes how Kazanoff had “an incredible gift for cutting through all the ‘crap’ and getting right to the heart of why a scene wasn’t working.”

Ellmore explains that often, young actors rely on shortcuts to make a scene seem real, but Kazanoff would constantly encourage honesty and integrity in his students’ acting. “He always stressed personalization and particularization,” which according to Ellmore means the attempt to make a character and his situation relevant for the actor. Dibble likened Kazanoff ’s teaching to a sort of tough love.

Kazanoff ’s teaching remains rel-

evant and memorable for many students, even those who graduated years ago. Ellmore explained that the most valuable advice Kazanoff gave him was to “let the object lead you.”

He explains, “it is constantly in my head when I rehearse a play. This is akin to listening as intensely as possible to the other actor … but with all of your senses. I believe it was the best advice he ever gave me.” Ellmore also believes Kazanoff influenced his career. “I can honestly say that whenever I work on a role, I still hear his voice in my head when I try to do a shortcut that wouldn’t fly with him,” he said. He still uses the tools and advice Kazanoff gave him. He continued to say that, “without fail, I still make discoveries onstage and find myself saying, “That’s what Ted meant.”

While Kazanoff may have been a tough teacher, he was a warm person. “[He was] as kind hearted and gentle away from the classroom as he was gruff and blunt in it,” Ellmore said.

Dibble echoed this idea, saying, “He loved people. He was a true person … someone who doubts himself or is always trying to grow, even when

he was quite old. He was a man who loved the theater and his life.”

Ellmore again mentioned Kazanoff ’s regard for students. “Outside the confines of class, he had a magnificent sense of humor and truly loved his students. He worked so hard because he wanted everyone to succeed.”

Dibble also mentioned that as a colleague, Kazanoff was interesting and enjoyable to work with. “I liked being in meetings with him,” she said. “He spoke the truth in a way that was respectable, with great insight and sensitivity to the student’s path of learning.” She also mentioned that Kazanoff was quite willing to collaborate, saying, “As a director, he completely trusted my skill as a choreographer.”

Given Kazanoff ’s great influence and successful teaching style, it is no wonder that masses turned out for his memorial service held on the Brandeis campus. He launched many careers and truly made a difference in peoples lives and his legacy lives on through his students and those who loved him.

Thanksgiving break sends reminders of hurricane destruction

By Rachel Hirschhaut Editor

Thanksgiving break, usually a week when college students enjoy time with family and friends, was different this year for many Brandeis students from the Northeast. Many students from New York and New Jersey went home and found themselves dealing with the lasting damage of Hurricane Sandy.

Some students only noticed minimal damage in their hometowns. Scott Kluger ’15 said his family did get their power back, but there were still many large fallen trees around his hometown of Basking Ridge, N.J.

Nicole Cardona ’15 saw her hometown of Staten Island, N.Y., in worse condition.

In Staten Island, there’s still widespread damage. “My family’s home is okay, but other homes on our same street still have yellow tags on them, meaning it’s too dangerous to go inside them without supervision,” Cardona said.

“The place where I used to work has been destroyed and is now being used as a goods distribution center for the affected, instead. Another one of my favorite restaurants, two streets away from my house, is also destroyed. There’s one particular street close to me where there’s still debris and all the homes

have red or yellow tags on them, which means it’s too dangerous to enter because of electrical problems or structural weaknesses. One house actually caught fire and blew up, so all you see of it now is blackened foundation,” she added.

Nearly 30 percent of Brandeis’ student body comes from either New York or New Jersey: the states hit hardest by the hurricane.

CNN reported that the storm caused over 7.5 million power outages throughout the hurricane’s two days of landfall. An estimated 40,000 people across the two states were left homeless. rebuild Volunteers help distribute clothing to residents of Staten Island affected by Hurricane Sandy.

photos from internet source

November 30, 2012

NEWS 3

The Brandeis Hoot

Bellin comments on judicial tension with Morsi in Egypt

By Connor Novy Editor

Nearly two years after the fall of dictator Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian people once again flood Tahrir Square, this time in protest of their new president, Mohamed Morsi. On Nov. 22, Morsi announced that his decisions were above judicial review by the nation’s constitutional court.

The decree followed highly successful political tactics where he helped negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which garnered Western support.

The constitutional assembly is poised to vote on their newly written draft for the post-Mubarak nation.

The assembly has lost most of the minority parties, who have walked out.

With the majority party in control, many fear that the constitution will fail to protect Egyptians’ civil liberties. Morsi’s recent decree has fueled the concern and caused an uproar from the populace. Thousands protested last Tuesday, and Friday and Saturday will see even larger protests as the constitutional assembly votes on the newly-written draft.

The supreme courts have already once used what Professor Eva Bellin (POL) called, “technicalities to declare the entire election illegitimate,” over the constitutional convention.

“The Supreme Court ruled that the parliament had been elected on illegal grounds, so the entire parliament was dissolved. Some people suspect that the Supreme Court did that because the elections had turned out such support for the Islamist parties,” Bellin said.

Morsi issued the edict, he claimed, after becoming aware that the Supreme Constitutional Court was poised on Sunday to again disband the current assembly and disrupt

Egypt’s already chaotic attempt at drafting a constitution. He says that the judges, all of whom were appointed under Mubarak, are still in the pocket of the old regime.

“The argument that the Muslim Brotherhood is making is that because Mubarak appointed [the judges], they are against the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Karim Elkady (GRAD), Crown Center Ph.D. candidate and Egyptian citizen. “I don’t think this is an accurate claim. If this was the case, they could have done a lot of things more to stand against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Bellin believes that just because they were elected under Mubarak does not mean they have strong ties.

She says there are a number of liberals on the court who could hold up a constitution that they felt was too conservative. Morsi’s edict, Bellin says, is an attempt to bypass the courts in the event that the judges try to stop a document drafted by Morsi’s party, which now controls a majority of the seats in the assembly.

“He wants to see a new constitution written that cannot be rejected by the high court,” says Bellin. “The high court has among its members a number of quite outspoken individuals who are committed to liberal ideals.”

There is broad concern that the new constitution will include too much Islamic law. Morsi’s party, the Muslin Brotherhood, is a moderate conservative movement, but many feel the possibility of Sharia law will overtake the civil rights that fueled the original revolution.

After decades of civil repression under Mubarak, Egyptians fear that their civil liberties will not be protected under the new constitution.

“It’s not just Sharia law,” said Bellin, “it’s protection of minority rights and civil liberties.”

photo from internet source

Morsi’s sweeping movements had served him well in the past. When he was elected President, “He played that game very well. In a bold stroke, he removed the military leadership and took control,” said Bellin, “And in a bold move, he handled the whole Gaza-Israel issue.”

It was support from the international community, says Bellin, that made Morsi feel he had the backing to make another bold edict.

On Thursday, Morsi stressed the temporary nature of the degree, calling it necessary to achieve the “needs and objectives” of the transition to a new constitutional republic.

“The draft constitution is almost complete; we will have a draft charter that the presidency will put before a popular referendum,” he told Egyptian TV on Thursday. “If the people say yes, my constitutional declaration will no longer apply.”

What Morsi and his government did not anticipate was the popular reaction to the edict. Thousands once more swarmed Tahrir Square, the site of the revolution that ousted Mubarak almost two years ago. The Egyptian people fear that Morsi’s edict will lead to another authoritarian government, like that of former leader Mubarak.

Egyptians have come out in huge

numbers to protest Morsi’s decree for fear of another authoritarian government, as well as a popular concern that Morsi’s agenda is to push through an Islamist constitution.

“Egyptians are saying he wants to make himself the new pharaoh. Even if this is temporary, there was no need for it,” Elkady said. “We were not in the middle of the big crisis. What I want is an accountable president; I want someone who I can make accountable to the law and to the constitution. We do not want president and leaders who are above the constitution and the law and think they know better.”

Lawrence meets with alumni at Brandeis reception in Israel LAWRENCE, from page 1

rived late, yet brought the joyous news of the cease-fire with his arrival.

“We were determined to hold the Brandeis event as scheduled and even had a backup plan that I would deliver Dan’s speech if he was at the prime minister’s office,” Fisher told BrandeisNOW. “Happily, the timing worked out in our favor. Several people commented that they will remember the announcement and where they were at this particular point in history.”

During the reception, Lawrence spoke to the guests about the strengthening relationship between Brandeis and Israel, both of which were founded in 1948 and continue to hold similar values. Lawrence also spoke of the growing bond between Brandeis and Israeli colleges, univer-

sities and even high schools.

“Our students and faculty will be strengthened by our profoundly broad and sustained engagement,” Lawrence told BrandeisNOW. “It’s a natural partnership given Brandeis’ identity as a nonsectarian, diverse university with deep roots in the Jewish community.”

Lawrence has visited Israel three times since becoming president of Brandeis last January. During each visit, Lawrence spent time at each of Israel’s major research universities in order to form and strengthen existing research ties between universities.

Lawrence even visited Israeli high schools to speak with prospective Brandeis students. There is a growing alumni community in Israel, which currently boasts more than 400 members.

Inclusiveness a key factor in debate team success DEBATE, from page 1

of meetings. That’s what gives me the drive to put in the practice I need to get better,” he said.

He also credits their team spirit to the occasional light-hearted debate

topic, such as whether or not the pink Power Ranger should be a male or female character.

APDA also recognized BADASS’ team spirit with its annual “Club Of The Year” award, which is an award given to honor the teams that other debaters wish they could join.

photo courtesy facebook

4 The Brandeis Hoot

FEATURES

November 30, 2012

Marshall scholarship recipient to pursue studies at Oxford MARSHALL, from page 1

jokingly commented on her avoidance of BranVan services during her initial years at Brandeis, Stoker recognized the potential for developing a system that would lessen the waste of students while aiding the sizable homeless shelters she witnessed during her pedestrian travels throughout Waltham.

When she first proposed the concept to dining services, Stoker was initially faced with rejection, but through her perseverance and support from Lucas Malo, director of community services, she was able to implement the program.

The Brandeis: Be Our Guest Program directly provides meals donated by students to the Community Day Center in Waltham, a shelter that Stoker distinguishes from the majority, which are typically open only during the evening. By servicing a shelter open during daytime hours instead, Stoker reveals the program’s ability to provide meals that normally would be unavailable to those in need. Stoker demonstrates her leadership capacity by serving as a member on the board of directors at the Community Day Center as well.

Beyond her innovative approach to reducing campus waste, Stoker is an active member of the Waltham Group and is a coordinator for Hunger and Homelessness. She recalls being attracted to the committed attitudes of Brandeis students who manage to balance the demands of rigorous coursework, part-time employment and activities while still displaying passionate commitments to community service.

Describing her own deep sense of commitment to volunteer work, she explains that “there is no better way to enrich life.”

Not only do the programs serve to benefit the less fortunate, but Stoker contends that they “are great for selfesteem and confidence and learning how to serve efficiently.”

Stoker anticipates her experience in the United Kingdom, as she has never traveled abroad before. She deems the opportunity to study at Oxford as a process of exploration, explaining that neither of her grandparents possess a college degree and that the

photo by ally eller/the hoot

elizabeth stoker Elizabeth Stoker ’13 received a Marshall scholarship.

pursuit of graduate programs has entailed a true learning experience both for herself and her family.

Seeking to explore disability studies through the scope of Christianity, Stoker said she prefers a university that does not possess a declared Christian association. She regards confessional institutions as leaving a person “less free to explore and criticize religion.”

Her decision to attend a non-confessional university draws upon the

oxford university Stoker will be pursuing graduate studies at Oxford University.

distinction between degrees in theology, which she defines as “insiders looking in,” and religious studies, which she describes as less restrictive.

She remarked, however, upon the environment at Brandeis as “incredibly tolerant and totally pluralistic, placing a great emphasis on questioning and learning.”

When asked to elaborate upon the connection between disability studies and Christianity, Stoker explained her own struggles with epilepsy. She

explained the diverse variety of needs required by individuals with various impairments, invoking her involvement in sociology as an extension of her desire to cope with disabilities.

Regarding ties to religion, Stoker described the first testament of the Bible in which Jesus is presented as curing ailments and afflictions suffered by countless individuals.

Despite her acknowledgment that “the commentary within the Bible is not always the most progressive,” she

photo courtesy jonathan epstein

remarks upon the desire for a fully inclusive interpretation, stating, “we rarely get to hear from the people who are actually disabled.”

Suffering from epilepsy herself, Stoker thus comprises a unique perspective, grasping the needs and struggles associated with handling a disability and the effort involved in seeking to aid those affected by such conditions.

Never having traveled abroad before, Stoker explained her attraction to the United Kingdom, referring to its “ancient programs, excellent funding and theology,” as well its possession of excellent leaders in the field.

Jonathan Epstein, a junior currently studying at Hertford College at Oxford University, said, “What’s unique about Oxford’s learning system is not only its intensity, but also the tutorial system of learning one-on-one with an expert in the field.”

Elaborating upon this system, Epstein stated, “Having this exclusive relationship with your tutor allows you not only to explore a subject of interest in immense detail, but also changes learning from a one-way system of a professor lecturing to you, into a dialogue on the subject and student’s paper.”

As Stoker herself prepares to engage upon her graduate studies in the United Kingdom, she jokingly comments upon her love for Diet Coke, fearing for the need to convert to tea or some other beverage for the 22 months in which she will be studying at Oxford University.

Reflecting upon the structure of this prestigious institution, which is comprised of 38 independent colleges, Epstein comments, “In many ways, Oxford clings to a hierarchical structure, although it has provided a chiaroscuro with which to examine and appreciate how egalitarian Brandeis is.”

November 30, 2012

FEATURES 5

The Brandeis Hoot

German club encourages students to explore culture

By Emily Beker Staff

Launched a year ago, the Brandeis German Club has been increasing its presence on campus, promoting German music, movies, food, shows and traditional customs to the student body.

“The aim of the German Club is to provide the opportunity to those who are interested in German language and culture to get together,” co-President Shota Adamia ’15 said. “We have arranged various social events, which [are] open to anyone.”

Anqi Ma ’14, also co-president, explained that the club is designed for students to enjoy and get a sense of German culture.

According to Adamia, current club leaders “have been working on arranging a coherent E-board … and I am sure that next semester is going to be more successful and full of even more exciting and populous events.”

The club’s biggest event this semester was Oktoberfest, which leaders say was attended by approximately 300 to 400 students.

The group of students who join the club are diverse, and as Adamia made clear to The Hoot, “knowledge of German is not required in order to become a member.” Ma elaborated a bit more about the diversity of the students, saying that the two expected a diverse group of students who are interested in German culture to join.

Ma describes, “As for me, I am from China, and I really want to learn more about German culture. So we founded German Club in order to let more students from various backgrounds have the chance to know German culture.”

Adamia added that “students who are studying German language, who already speak German, or those who are simply interested in German language, culture and prominence in the modern globalized world” are the kind of students German club is hoping to gain as members next semester.

Ma explained more of German club’s many events, saying, “We had Pretzel Night, in which students could make their own pretzels by using dough and bake the pretzels.

Based on the recipe, students could enjoy making pretzels themselves and have a taste of homemade pretzel.”

photo by firstname lastname/the hoot

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

german club activities Students gather for free food during Oktoberfest.

She also added details about Oktoberfest, which she characterized as a wild success on campus. “It is one of the biggest festivals in Germany, [where] the most famous food is bratwurst and beer, of course.” The club served a lot of different types of German food, including sauerkraut, German berliners, pretzels, bread and brew beer.

Ma detailed German Club’s plan for further holidays as autumn passes. Their upcoming event, Nikolaus Tag, is described as being “an event focusing on cookies.” Students can decorate the cookies and celebrate the

coming Christmas season with each other, Ma said.

Adamia said the club will be expanding even further in the coming semesters.

“One of the future plans is to organize a small festival next fall, which would include different events: for example, cultural talks, outdoor film screenings, etc.”

Ma told The Hoot, “Originally, when we founded the German Club, we did not really think that far. [But] we wanted to have a community that celebrates German culture and let more people become interested in

this club.”

The German Club gets funding for these events from both the Student Union and the Center for German and European Studies. “Since we start small in the first semester, we had a big event, Oktoberfest, this semester to promote German culture,” Ma said.

In order to receive more awareness, the club wants its events to be successful and gain more positive feedback. In the future, Ma and Adamia wish to incorporate more meetings into their schedule.

Ma believes German Club has personally affected her. “I really appreci-

ate the experience at German Club, which provides me with a wonderful environment … Especially our E-board team is ‘wunderbar,’ because everyone is very nice and creative.”

As an international student, Ma said she greatly appreciates the welcoming atmosphere.

“I love that German Club gives me the place as a new home. I am also grateful to know Shota, a responsible and great leader who will help German Club go further next semester.

Even though I am not here next semester, I am looking forward to the future events.”

Local martial arts studio donates turkeys to needy families

By Jon Ostrowsky Editor

With instructors and parents pitching in to help them, black belt candidates scurried around matted floors inside Reggie Perry’s Martial Arts Academy late Tuesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, eagerly assembling packages with turkeys, stuffing mix, canned corn and sweet potato pies for 50 families in Waltham.

Now in its sixth year, the academy’s Turkey Brigade is a requirement for black belt candidates. Students must fundraise, package and help deliver between 50 and 70 dinners every year before Thanksgiving.

Students, instructors and volunteers filled boxes, including one of Perry’s 38 homemade pies, and quickly packaged them for delivery.

Lorraine Sanik, program director of Thom Charles River Early Intervention, the organization that manages the distribution of meals to families, surveyed the students of all ages running back and forth to complete their assigned task.

“Thanksgiving, it’s an American holiday and it’s something to celebrate, we all take [it] for granted,” Sanik said. “We run out, get our turkey, get all our stuff and these families aren’t able to do that and we’re really able to contribute something that they wouldn’t have and really need.”

With his son standing nearby and wearing a shirt with the words, “Gear up or shut up,” Perry told the candidates to take turns placing the peas, corn, stuffing, turkeys, pies, peaches and other goods into boxes. The food sat on a large rectangular table in a room surrounded by an American Flag as well as medals and trophies from martial arts competitions.

Perry said he hopes to inspire his son, through service, to recognize the blessings in his life.

“I wanted him to understand the importance of being thankful for what he has because there are other children in the world that don’t have two parents, that don’t have a home, that don’t have food on the table for Thanksgiving,” said Perry, pausing between sending his students in dif-

ferent directions to fill and tape the boxes before delivery. “That’s what it’s all about.”

For Michael Kokovidis, a 13-yearold, who entered the academy 10 years ago with his parents and 16-year-old brother Chris, it’s a family tradition of martial arts and service before the holiday.

“It makes me feel great that other people, that we were able to help them have a happy holiday season and that they were able to enjoy their day,” he said.

His mother, Alex, praised the service component of their training.

“This is every year a special event.

Everybody feels very good to be able to help,” she said. “It’s been nothing but a growing experience for both of them.”

Sanik’s organization is a certified early intervention program, providing services to infants and toddlers from birth to three years, along with their families in Waltham, Watertown, Belmont and nearby towns.

“In this day and age, with the amount of poverty and the fact that

so many people go hungry, and they do this every year, it’s so generous,” Sanik said.

Partially funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Thom Charles River provides a range of services including: developmental screening; assessments and eligibility evaluation; parent support, education and training; home visits and playgroups. Six hundred children receive full service each year and 57 percent of them live below the poverty level, Sanik said.

“We’re seeing more families where people have lost their jobs, families where people have lost their homes, a lot of families who are new immigrants and are certainly having trouble finding jobs and staying employed and truly are so grateful,” Sanik said.

The Hannaford Supermarket supports the collaborative brigade by discounting the turkeys for Perry’s academy and Sanik relies on her staff to distribute them to families on Tuesday evening last week.

Perry has also engaged in other service projects through his academy.

Earlier this month, he hosted the Hope for a Heart kick-athon, raising more than $8,000 for the Cardiology Department at Children’s Hospital Boston. Doctors saved his 4-year-old son, who contracted the heart condition myocarditis at just 11 months old.

“I wanted my academy to be about giving back. So whether it’s kickboxing or the character education that’s taught through the Taekwondo, or it’s actually giving back to those that don’t have it, that’s what I wanted my academy to be about,” Perry said.

Before he launched the Turkey Brigade, Perry said he took his students to volunteer at either the Pine Street Inn in Boston or at a farm near Concord before the holiday.

As the late fall afternoon turned to evening last week, the room cleared out, volunteers loading the fully packaged meals, filled with side dishes, vegetables and desserts, to accompany the turkey into cars for delivery.

“When the families open them up it’s like one thing after another, and it’s like Christmas probably,” Sanik said.

editorials

6 The Brandeis Hoot

When planning becomes excessive

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editor-in-Chief Jon Ostrowsky Managing Editors Leah Finkelman Emily Stott Senior Editors Nathan Koskella Brian Tabakin Connor Novy News Editor Debby Brodsky News Editor Victoria Aronson Features Editor Dana Trismen Features Editor Juliette Martin Arts, Etc. Editor Zoe Kronovet Impressions Editor Morgan Dashko Copy Editor Nate Rosenbloom Photography Editor Gordy Stillman Business Editor Jun Zhao Graphics Editor Rachel Hirschhaut Deputy News Editor Zach Reid Deputy Arts, Etc. Editor

Volume 9 • Issue 27 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

November 30, 2012

T

here comes a point when planning becomes excessive and we believe that the officials organizing the Brandeis strategic plan have reached it. When explanation for how you are going to write the draft of a plan, which in itself is a rough framework of principles, takes an entire semester, the process becomes so complicated and confusing that it loses sight of its original purpose.

We applaud administrators for their sincere efforts to include feedback from all members of the university, including students, faculty, trustees, alumni and staff. Faculty voiced their disappointment over the October framework’s generalities and vague language at a meeting earlier this fall. They demanded

that President Fred Lawrence release task force reports. Yet their appropriate request for specifics will likely be disappointed when the actual rough draft of the plan is released in the coming weeks.

The reason is that strategic plans are not governing constitutions. They establish guidelines, priorities and reaffirm principles. Yet, what the new administration need remember is that a plan does not need to significantly change guidelines in place for the last 20 years.

Soliciting feedback is beneficial to any university, company or organization, but the process of developing a draft of the plan should not take more than a year.

In an email to the community on Monday, Provost Steve Goldstein wrote, “The process will continue to be a col-

laborative one. The writing groups for the draft plan, consisting of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee faculty and deans, are now reaching out to members of the community for advice and input. There will be opportunities for review of the draft plan by formal governance bodies. Following that, the draft plan will be released to the entire community for review and comment.”

In short, we are ready to see the long awaited draft and we urge officials to consider expediting the process. A senior university official present, or briefed, on the many meetings this semester could take ownership and write the draft.

staff

Shota Adamia, Emily Beker, Emily Belowich, Dani Chasin, Dori Cohen, Ally Eller, Lassor Feasley, Ben Fine, Evan Goldstein, Maya Himelfarb, Rachel Hirschhaut, Paula Hoekstra, Brittany Joyce, Ari Kalfus, Rebecca Leaf, Nathan Murphy Needle, Aliya Nealy, Jake Newfield, Max Randhahn, Brendan Reardon, Zoe Richman, Zoe Richman, Charlie Romanow, Alex Self, Diane Somlo, Sindhura Sonnathi, Jennifer Spencer, Sarah Sue Landau, Matthew Tagan, Alison Thvedt, Yi Wang, Shreyas Warrier, Pete Wein, Lila Westreich, Steven Wong, Linjie Xu 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.

connect phone • (781) 330-0051 e-mail • editor@thebrandeishoot.com online • thebrandeishoot.com twitter • twitter.com/thebrandeishoot facebook • facebook.com/thebrandeishoot

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Advertising in The Brandeis Hoot helps spread your message to our readers across the Brandeis campus, in the Waltham community and beyond through our website.

All campus organizations receive a 25 percent discount off our regular prices. We also design basic ads for campus organizations free of charge.

To reserve your space in the paper, contact us by phone at (781) 330-0051 or by e-mail at ads@thebrandeishoot.com.

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To learn more, send us an e-mail at join@thebrandeishoot.com, or visit our website http://thebrandeishoot.com/join.

CORRECTION

An opinion article titled “No matter your side, there are real people on the other” misstated the sequence of events preceding the assassination of a Hamas military official. Israel launched the attack after rocket fire from Hamas, which occurred throughout the past year.

Letter to the Editor

Get facts straight in reporting on Israel-Hamas conflict

W

e were recently troubled by two articles that appeared in The Hoot. One article was “Burnat tells tale of Palestinian struggles,” and the other was an opinion piece called “No matter your side, there are real people on the other.”

In the first article, the author writes “SJP president Noam Lekach opened the event with a moment of silence for the recent events in the MIddle East, following the Israeli bombings of Gaza that ended in the death of a Hamas chief during the day on Wednesday.”

This is a gross distortion of the facts regarding how the situation began. The first events to occur were rockets fired from Gaza indiscriminately at Israeli

civilians. Only then did Israel begin to strike back at Hamas’ command and control centers, or in other words, her military facilities. After Jabari was killed, Hamas began to fire rockets, hundreds of more rockets, and Israel has once again retaliated at military installations in Gaza. To say that the Israeli bombings began first is a misrepresentation of the facts and we hope to see this corrected.

Additionally, in the opinion column, the author writes “This week, the latest facet of the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian people reared its head in the form of the assassination of a military official of Hamas, the terrorist group currently in power in the Gaza strip. In retaliation, an intense barrage

of rockets have been launched into the southern portion of Israel and in an especially unusual and alarming case, have landed in Tel Aviv for the first time in decades.” Once again, this is the same distortion of facts. Although this is an op-ed piece, when someone is reporting the facts, the reader should expect them to be correct. The assassination of the military official occurred only after a barrage of rockets were fired at Israeli civilians.

We hope that these false portrayals of reality can be corrected as soon as possible.

-Alex Thomson and Ryan Yuffe BIPAC Presidents

OPINION

November 30, 2012

Call Me, Tweet Me

The Brandeis Hoot 7

Lessons learned from Finkeldad: Chutzpah and humor are simply the best

By Leah Finkelman Editor

If I was confronted by hate speech from a Neo-Nazi group, the Westboro Baptist Church or any other hate–filled organization, I’m not entirely sure what I would do. I support everyone’s First Amendment rights too much to stop them, and I’m too jaded or sensible to think that arguing with them will be anything but a waste of time.

I know for a fact that I don’t have the same kind of ingenuity and chutzpah that you’d find if you walked into the Latin American Coalición of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Not a place you would typically describe as having chutzpah, right?

(According to every Hebrew School teacher I’ve ever had, “chutzpah” is Yiddish for “insolence” or “audacity”—circumstantially good or bad.)

Let me tell you, this is one of the best examples of using chutzpah for good with a big pay-off.

A few weeks ago, the people at the Coalición heard that the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the National Socialist Movement (NSM), a neo-Nazi group, were planning to host an antiimmigration rally. Knowing that the KKK and NSM were within their constitutional rights to free speech,

family ties Leah Finkelman ’13 got much of her sense of humor from her father, “Finkeldad.”

the Coalición organized a counterprotest.

This counter-protest was unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. Instead of a group of people with signs displaying pro-immigration reform messages and peppered with a few joke and wordplay signs, the Coalición took the use of humor as a defense mechanism to a whole new level.

I don’t want to hype this up too much, but it was incredible.

The counter-protesters were

photo courtesy leah finkelman

clowns.

Coalición youth coordinator Lacey Williams spoke with NBC Charlotte about the protest: “The message from us is, you look silly … We’re dressed like clowns and you’re the ones that look funny … I think it’s really important to have a sense of humor.

What they want is for us to fight them. They want us to hit them with hate. We can’t become them.”

Williams and her fellow counterprotesters dressed as clowns, many

decked out in red noses and wigs, complete with toys and whistles.

One man dressed as a banana and carried a sign that said, “Racism isn’t a-PEEL-ing.”

A woman in oversized glasses carried a sign asking, “Who’s the real clown?”

Each time protesters said anything about white power, the clowns sprinkled white flour in the air and held up pictures of the Pillsbury Doughboy.

“Humor is just another defense against the universe,” Mel Brooks said.

There’s always going to be a time when you’re consoling a friend and you make a less-than-tasteful or poorly-timed joke. Jokes aren’t always appropriate or appreciated, but overall I find humor to be the best coping mechanism.

Finkeldad is the king of humor. He cracks jokes 90 percent of the time and I don’t want to brag, but I think I got a little bit of my sense of humor from him. If you ask my sister or Finkelmom, they’ll gladly confirm that I share more with him than with either of them.

He’s been through a lot in his life and while there are certain things he won’t joke about, he’s gotten pretty good at using humor as a coping mechanism—both to see the bright side and to distract himself and oth-

ers from painful situations.

When faced with challenges, we shouldn’t laugh at them so much that we are left unable to deal with them, but there is no harm in using jokes and laughter to lift our spirits. We can turn ridicule into ridiculous, as the members of the Latin American Coalición did, and we can pull ourselves back onto our feet with the understanding that in 10 years we will remember laughing with our friends (maybe not the specific jokes), knowing that those exam grades won’t affect us in the long run.

From what I understand of the science behind laughter (which isn’t much, but that’s why I’m an American studies major), laughing releases endorphins, those feel-good things that make people like to exercise and eat spicy food. I’m not a fan of either of those things, so my endorphin indicator could be broken, but I do know that when I laugh, I feel good, and when I make other people laugh, I feel even better.

I haven’t yet encountered a problem I couldn’t get out of with a little sass, a joke or two and some Finkelfam chutzpah.

As nineteenth century American writer Elbert Hubbard pointed out, we shouldn’t take life too seriously.

None of us are going to get out of it alive.

Being smart about our phones

By Lila Westreich Staff

Back in September, The New York Times released a story in which researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that artificial light from devices like iPhones, iPads and computer screens can negatively affect the brain chemicals that promote sleep. The light can lower levels of melatonin, a hormone that naturally induces our sleep cycles and regulates our internal clocks, by a significant amount.

The researchers had volunteers play games, watch movies or read on their iPad and computer screens for various amounts of time and tested their levels of melatonin. They found that two hours of exposure to a bright screen at night reduced melatonin levels by 22 percent. In another recent study published in the journal Nature, researchers analyzed two groups of mice with different cycles of light and darkness.

They found that the mice exposed to the harshest light cycle developed more symptoms of depression. This study found that exposure to bright lights in the evening hours can boost risk of depression and affect learning abilities. Overuse of these screens before going to sleep led to longterm negative effects.

Two weeks before Nature released this study, I got my first iPhone. I had been holding out on getting a smartphone and trying to prolong the life of my Motorola Razr, circa 2007. My parents, in an attempt to pull me into the present day and age, replaced my old Razr with a smartphone. At first, I was reluctant to jump into the world of smartphone technology. I had seen how reliant

graphic by sindhura sonnathi/the hoot

my friends were on their phones and how much heavier their pockets became, metaphorically and physically.

As my dad put it, there was more technology in my iPhone 4 than there was in the space ship that took astronauts to the moon in 1969. I didn’t want to become the type of person that couldn’t live without their phone and had to rely on having a signal or a Wi-Fi network.

Unfortunately, my parents were right. The world we live in today is constantly moving forward and

implementing new technology. Even the train I took to New York City for Thanksgiving offered free Wi-Fi and most people showed the conductor their ticket on their smartphone.

Most museums now use QR codes, or “quick response” two-dimensional matrices resembling a barcode that can be read with a smartphone, to display information about paintings and exhibits. As useful as smartphones can be in a fast-paced futuristic world, there can be downsides to a technology that allows me to take a

picture of a cute animal, cover it with a filter and send it out to everyone I know in a matter of seconds.

During my first few weeks with my new iPhone, I started to notice how much time I spent staring at this miniature screen. I no longer had to pull out my hefty computer every time I wanted to check my email, poke my Facebook friends, or Google the correct spelling of ‘guarantee.’ But I also felt compelled to constantly check my phone. It was the first thing I did when I woke up and the last thing I did before I fell asleep and after a few days, I started to hate that reliance.

Similar to the results of the study in the Times article, I was having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep.

As much as I loved Instagram, I was not happy with how much it was controlling my life.

According to Cary Cooper, a Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University in Lancashire, England, smartphone screens can numb your mind in a destructive way. “It’s the exercise equivalent of treading water and can be both addictive and destructive in the way it occupies your mind without actually stimulating it,” says Cooper.

In Sweden, experts say that smartphones can contribute to prolonged stress, sleep disturbance and depression. Cooper compares the constant checking of email and Facebook to gambling. “It’s like slot machines … we’re seeking that pleasurable hit,” Cooper warns. He also suggests turning off your phone for a few minutes to a few hours each day to unwind, and to spend time talking face-toface with friends and family instead of participating in disconnected social networking.

Not only did I feel like I was winning the lottery every time my phone

vibrated, but I felt like I was losing every minute it stayed silent. I am still not 100 percent sure how to handle having a smartphone. But there are a few guidelines I’ve set for myself to try to limit my dependence and they may be of interest to students anticipating studying and avoiding distractions for finals. First, I only pull out my phone during class or while I’m studying if I need to take a picture, send a message to someone important like Mom or Dad, or make a necessary phone call.

I recommend turning off notifications on your lock screen so that your phone isn’t constantly lighting up with messages or Facebook comments. At night, I charge my phone on my desk, far away from my bed.

Having to leave my warm bed to walk across the cold floor and check my Instagram feed keeps me away from the bright screen and it also forces me to make the trek every morning to turn off my alarm. Finally, when I’m with my friends, I keep my phone in my pocket or I place it on the table and ignore it. Even in my days presmartphone I considered it a common courtesy to give my full attention to the person with whom I’m talking, and I shouldn’t change now just because I have the urge to crush my new score in Fruit Ninja.

Smartphones are a wonderful thing. They’re a connection to the world around us and at times a lifesaver when we’re lost, confused or just plain forgetful. But it would do all of us some good to put them down once in a while and try to focus on the world around us. Sometimes it’s okay to not know the capital of Albania or the newest tweet from Beyoncé and it feels good to break away from that connection and give our minds a break.

8 The Brandeis Hoot

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS

November 30, 2012

photo by maya himelfarb/the hoot

dunk Alex Stoyle slams the rock home against Clark on Monday.

photos by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

Multicultural dance performance Mela amazes student body

photos by shota adamia/the hoot

November 30, 2012

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS 9

The Brandeis Hoot

Northwestern professor speaks on sexual health with Sociology students

Headline about photo photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

non-reality Jess Plante ’15 and Steven Kline ’14 star in Non-Reality, written by Brandeis

photo by edwin gonzalze/the hoot

student Emma Lieberman ’14.

Caption goes here about photo auction Jeremy Goodman ’14 looks at merchandise at Waltham Group’s silent auction.

photos by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

10 OPINION

The Brandeis Hoot

November 30, 2012

Lighten up on Lance: A different perspective on the Armstrong scandal

By Jake Newfield

Special to the Hoot

Lance Armstrong is a member of the few, elite people in the world who can be classified as “living legends.” In every way one can be, Armstrong is an accomplished, successful individual. He is perhaps the greatest athlete to ever live and is also a world-renowned philanthropist, CEO, author, father and husband. And let’s not forget, he did all this after undergoing years of therapy and surgery to defeat lifethreatening testicular cancer, lung cancer and brain cancer. In perhaps the most drug-tainted sport in the world, Armstrong has recently been prosecuted for a crime of which the majority of competitors in his field are guilty.

With the support of international doping and cycling agencies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) accused Armstrong of participating in “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,” accusing him of using erythropoietin (EPO), blood transfusions (blood doping), testosterone, human growth hormone (HGH), corticosteroids (eg. cortisone) and saline and plasma infusions to enhance his performance.

CNN’s Michael Pearson has projected many people’s feelings, stating, “Armstrong was a disgraceful fraud of epic proportions.” Yet in saying this, one neglects the entirety of the situation: these doping procedures are relatively common practices for elite cyclists and especially for riders in the Tour de France.

But don’t get me wrong—performance-enhancing drug use is wrong.

In an ideal world, no cyclist would use drugs. In reality, however, a multitude of elite cyclists have been accused of doping and many more presumably slip under the radar. Society must accept the reality of the situation and then understand that the crime Armstrong was convicted of is the norm for most of his other competitors. Scott Mercier, a professional cyclist and former member of U.S. Postal’s cycling team (Armstrong’s former team), testified that the coach of U.S. Postal distributed steroids to the team members with specific directions to use them during intensive workouts; it was a common procedure. In prosecuting Armstrong (and stripping his seven Tour de France medals, cutting many of his prominent sponsors such as Nike and forcing him to step down from his chairmanship at Livestrong) the USADA has represented itself as a regular playground bully. The USADA even went as far as banning him for life from the sport of cycling.

graphic by janet jun zhao/the hoot

But if everyone does it, then why did Armstrong get caught and not the other athletes? The answer is simple—Armstrong is the most tested, scrutinized human being on the planet; a lab rat even among other professional athletes. Armstrong has given the USADA and other drug agencies more of his bodily fluids for drug testing than any other person in the world. And he has never, not once, tested positive (admittedly because he was able to outsmart the drug testers). The prosecution came about from the testimonies of over

two dozen witnesses. Upon being informed of this, Nike discontinued its sponsorship with Armstrong because of “seemingly insurmountable evidence.” The evidence, although composed entirely of non-analytical data, was compelling enough to serve as proof for Armstrong’s drug scandal.

In a sport in which many of the competitors use drugs, Armstrong, using these same means, won it seven years in a row. Armstrong’s accomplishment was the equivalent to winning an Olympic gold medal

seven years in a row: he was the best cyclist in the world for seven consecutive years. Not even Michael Phelps, the proclaimed greatest Olympian of all time, has come close to accomplishing such a feat.

Perhaps Armstrong would not have been as successful without the use of drugs, but had the playing field been completely equal—had there been no cyclist who used drugs—I believe that Armstrong still would have won all seven titles.

It required years of probing, testing, and investigating to verify that Armstrong did in fact use drugs. If the USADA had the time and money to do that level of testing on the other elite cyclists, they would have found similar results. With great achievement, however, comes overwhelming scrutiny and suspicion: Armstrong became a lightning rod for drug accusations and investigations and each of his Tour de France titles only intensified the target on his head.

Will Armstrong’s defamation lead to a decrease in drug use in professional cycling? Probably not. Keep in mind, Armstrong never tested positive in any drug test; the evidence provided was purely secondary. Until the USADA and other drug agencies can formulate more effective methods for testing drug use, the Armstrong scandal will have few consequences for other cyclists.

The Weekly Kos

Apathy toward the law is disregard for society at large

By Nathan Koskella Editor

The following has been posted in countless Facebook status updates in the past few weeks: In response to the new Facebook guidelines I, [name], hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berne Convention).

For commercial use of the above, my written consent is needed at all times.

Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws by the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/ or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook’s direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.

Facebook, often called the most important medium of our generation, is most-used by and is likely most useful to college students.

The high value we give to the site foments the type of antics aroused this week, when hundreds of thousands of users re-posted a status update purporting to protect them from the possible downsides of consigning so much of a life to one supersite. The uproar says a lot about the privacy concerns many students care about, or at least like to think that they care about; but it may say even more about just how ignorant many of us are when it comes to the law.

The chain letter is a block of jargon that asserts some rights, reclaims some others and invokes the power of “the Berner Convention” and “U.S. law, custom and practice.”

It has absolutely no legal force whatsoever. Exactly no power is invested in it by any state, nation or international convention: just the naïveté of a million hopeful subscribers.

And how could it possibly be otherwise? Facebook, as everyone knows, constantly updates its privacy policy, sends all of us emails about changes to site governance and until recently, even held votes on every major update before it could be approved.

Companies don’t do this for nothing. (Facebook recently cancelled the democratic votes because of voter apathy: almost none of us, from a billion users, voted. Now there will be a comment period instead.)

Other than the common law contract rights, no U.S. law gives

Facebook users ownership rights over their public content—the kind embodied exactly in the Facebook Terms of Use. We have all checked the box, “We agree to the data use policy.” We all set our own privacy settings and Facebook allows for a wide latitude for customization so that we can set restrictions on who can see our posts. The law does require that Facebook provide a way to optout of releasing your material and intellectual property rights. To do this users simply need to restrict what Facebook calls the “audience” of posts.

In the United States “custom and practice” are real legal terms that posters of this thread nonetheless seem to have pulled at random from an episode of Law and Order. And in any case the general legal principle of customary law is to follow what is called the general practice only in the absence of a law specifically saying otherwise.

The frantic users have failed on all counts.

For good measure, the letter and the overzealous oddballs who reposted it attempt to refer to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Berne, the capital of Switzerland, is where a large group of nations met 130 years ago and decided to provide equal treatment in their domestic copyright laws to nationals of the other countries.

The nation of many of those who erroneously attempted to use this treaty, the nation of Facebook’s headquartering, the nation of yours truly, the United States of America, was not in Switzerland for this meeting and did not bring

the treaty into its own law until 1988. When it did so, Congress specifically exempted itself from any binding automatic protections for individuals who did not register their would-be property under existing American data use laws.

Those laws, of course, are exactly what empower the Facebook Terms of Use. Saying that you control all text that you post does not make it true. Saying that you control all images of you, however embarrassing, does not make it true.

The idea that it would is not just misinformed, but troubles those of us who would have liked to remain hopeful about the future of American democracy.

Indeed, it is very interesting to consider the bizarre, Kafka-esque courtroom where some of our peers seem to think American law is dispensed. Using the logic this post, catnip for the callously ignorant, its silly re-posters could wind up in court themselves! By my humble estimation, they have exhibited written proof via status update of attempted conversion, the crime for taking away another’s use of his, in this case Facebook’s, own property. I also count libel, reckless breach of the peace and unlawful rendering of legal advice by one not a member of the bar, to add to the posters’ fake rap sheets.

I did not pick up any of the material used in this analysis with the help of Brandeis’ esteemed Legal Studies curriculum. The fact that this post was shared so many times and caused such misguided indignation and worse, grandstanding, demonstrates that most

of us just don’t care to find out the exact customs and practices of the world around us.

The law does not spring from somewhere mysterious, on high, unable to be discerned by any but the most brilliant minds. Nearly all of us could figure out the basics of common personal law if we only cared to give a brief moment of our lives to do so. Basics such as the notion that a promise honestly made cannot later be undone on one party’s whim? It doesn’t take a scholar of jurisprudence to discern that.

The idea that doing something (posting on Facebook) that you are only able to do because of one party (Facebook’s) allowing you to can be used to hurt that party?

Ridiculous. And we wouldn’t want the law to allow us to be damaged in the same fashion either. And so it doesn’t allow it.

People can draw the same logical conclusions the law draws, about common sense issues like ownership, fair use of one’s own property and the power of everyday speech in deal-making. And people do: that’s why the law is how it is, because people like us decided to write it that way.

But I cannot complain too much.

Such ignorance of one of the most powerful expressions of our society, the law of the land, may make me cynical, but I want to be an attorney someday. The level of apathy so many of us possess toward the law, which is actually a heartless refusal to learn about each other and even ourselves, probably has something to do with the very-high price people are willing to pay a lawyer to do it for them.

November 30, 2012

OPINION 11

The Brandeis Hoot

Compliments should be made in the open, not just online

By Zoë Kronovet Editor

graphic by diane somlo/the hoot

There has been much discussion on campus recently about Brandeis Compliments. Brandeis Compliments is a Facebook page run anonymously that publishes compliments submitted by members of the Brandeis community about their peers. These compliments are not about so-and-so having great hair or a nice car; instead, they talk about the wonderful internal characteristics that these people possess. The person in charge of the Brandeis Compliments page seems to be cultivating an online community that seeks to compliment people about their personalities not their physical appearance, which is admirable.

Everyone loves to be complemented. Self described as “a social project that aims to spread joy to the Brandeis community,” Brandeis Compliments does, indeed, seem to make people’s days better. This happiness is evident in the ecstatic thank you responses that many people post. In this day and age when the Internet’s opportunities for anonymity are often used in cruel ways, it is nice to see Brandeis students using social media for good in an effort to positively impact the lives of their peers. This idea is a noble one, but it falls flat.

I don’t take issue with the desire to brighten the Brandeis campus and community through compliments,

but it is the anonymity and context through which these compliments are posted that I struggle with.

There is something insincere and lacking in these anonymous messages posted on this Facebook page. Sure, Brandeis Compliments could fall under the category of “random acts of kindness.” Yet compliments shouldn’t be random.

They should be deserved and stated proudly, not under the guise of anonymity. Too often today, people subvert their feelings of generosity and gratitude. A compliment is incredibly simple, yet heartfelt, if said sincerely. People deserve to be complemented by their friends because it can strengthen or deepen their relationship.

An admirable defense of this Facebook page is that Brandeis is a campus filled with shy people who maybe aren’t comfortable putting themselves into the spotlight to compliment a friend in a way that Brandeis Compliments allows through the Internet. I have personally witnessed people who are silent in real life, find refuge on the Internet. Facebook (as well as texting and email) provides us with the rare and incredible ability to handcraft and tailor our message so that it perfectly expresses what we want to articulate.

There is nothing wrong with using this ability that the Internet gives us to compliment friends.

But the anonymous way in which these compliments are posted isn’t a refuge for the shy, it’s a cowardly

way out of telling those closest to you, how much they mean to you.

Compliments are things that everyone wishes to hear, but so rarely do we summon up the courage to deliver.

But we need to be courageous.

It is easy to write a lovely message about a close friend and post it for the world to see, but doesn’t your friend deserve to be told how special they are in person? If you truly feel that your friend is underappreciated, aren’t you better served to look directly into your friend’s eyes and tell them how important they are to you?

Being characterized as effusive, gushy and mushy is considered unattractive or undesirable today. But this is the epitome of what a compliment is. The compliments being posted on Brandeis Compliments are not trivial. They are seemingly true to the strengths and goodness of the people they are flattering.

Our community would be more positively affected if instead of looking into their computer screen as they complemented a friend, the complementors looked directly at the person they claim is so wonderful.

Brandeis prides itself on promoting a campus full of openness and communality. If we take the idea of Brandeis Compliments, to openly compliment our friends on the things we admire most about them, and bring it to real life the spirit in which Brandeis was founded would benefit greatly.

ARTS, ETC.

12 The Brandeis Hoot

November 30, 2012

Mela highlights South Asian culture with synchronicity and skill

By Emily Stott Editor

Mela, hosted by the South Asian Students’ Association, introduced students to “Kahaani: Our Story” through music, dance and spoken word performances on Nov. 17. Set in front of a detailed and beautifully colored backdrop, this year’s show demonstrated the close-knit community that South Asian students bring to Brandeis as a whole. The performances tied together students’ stories in creative and meaningful ways. In the Brandeis tradition of a commitment to social justice, proceeds and donations from the performance went to Apne Aap, an NGO based in India that provides support services and opportunities to girls and women in the pursuit of combating sex trafficking.

Each of the performances of the evening was astounding on its own, but the show as a whole showcased how music, dance and art can bring together students of different backgrounds to describe their individual stories in their own ways. The theme of the show, “Kahaani: Our Story,” was woven throughout the performances, highlighting the different ways people express their personal stories. Each performance gave the audience a different glimpse of that group’s “story,” whether it was a group of guys trying to win over a girl, a dance for a successful harvest, or a Bollywood love story.

Even though many of the groups were culturally diverse, there was a sense of community among both the audience and the performers.

“The majority of the people in Junior Dance were not South Asian, but they were friendly, supportive and encouraging and helped each other out,” said Evelyn Wiyanto ’14, a performer. When a group began its performance, or a photo was featured in one of the beautiful and funny slideshows, at least one person from the audience cheered for the individual in the photo or for the choreographer who worked unbelievable hours on the dance. Matching a name to the face and artwork gave the audience an understanding of the people who put so much effort into making Mela one of the best-attended cultural events of the year. It showed how sup-

portive the cast was of each other and the sense of community that filled the packed Levin Ballroom.

“What makes Mela my favorite event on campus every year is the fact that we are able to see all of this diversity revealed in one place. At the same time, we get to see the audience realize how extraordinary the Brandeis community is,” Deepti Kanneganti ’14, co-president of SASA, said.

The performances were also outstanding on an individual basis.

There were four dances, one for each class year, and they only improved in technique and energy from firstyear to senior dances. Enthusiasm and smiles were clearly evident and the choreography was unique and in sync. Dancers of all levels practiced for many hours to learn something perhaps previously unfamiliar, but in the end each dancer confidently displayed his or her talent.

Chak De ’Deis, choreographed by Sindhura Sonnathi ’14 and Niv Baskaran ’15, was an incredible display of talent and enthusiasm. The dancers were always in time with each other and moved precisely. They genuinely looked happy and excited to be performing and this allowed their dance to become a believable representation of a Bollywood love story. The Bengali Dance, choreographed by Zara Wasi Islam ’15, Arifa Sayyidah Ahsan ’15 and Nusrath Yusuf ’13, combined both traditional Bengali tribal dance and broader Indian dance traditions.

Dancers were constantly moving around the stage into different formations, using props and arranging themselves in a way that made them form a symbol, enhancing the performers and dance itself as more than the sum of their parts.

The loudest cheering was heard for Bhangra, choreographed by Prasant Lokinendi MA and Gauri Thaker ’14. Bhangra, a folk dance with intense energy, left the audience in awe, baffled that dancers could possibly sustain their powerful movements for the entire song.

The solo performances were clearly a result of thoughtful planning and detailed practice. Pooja Gupta ’16 choreographed and performed a Bharatanatyam, a polished dance that showcased her talent. She made a complicated dance look effortless and natural. Usman Hameedi ’12 used

mela Students preform in the Chak De and Bengali dances, among others.

spoken word to tell the heartfelt and sincere message of his story. He mentioned specific students from whom he drew strength and this gesture was met with a supportive response from the audience. One person’s story, merged with another’s, carried the theme of “Kahaani” throughout the show.

The emcees, Nabila Kabir ’13, Jay Dev ’13 and Nikhil Pallikonda ’16, each brought something different to the show in between sets. Although some of the stories they told were humorous, the primary intent of their messages was to explain their stories, all in their own way. As if reading from a letter, each emcee spoke about struggles to belong, identify with their culture and social aspects of life.

The thoughtful nature of these stories kept the show together as a whole, knitting each performance into the next without a break in the continuity of the theme or tempo.

photos by shota adamia/the hoot

November 30, 2012

ARTS, ETC. 13

The Brandeis Hoot

Disney stands strong, even without Pixar, in ‘Wreck-it Ralph’

By Gordy Stillman Editor

Thanks to a great voice cast, amazing animation and numerous cameos and references for older audiences to enjoy, Wreck-it Ralph is an entertaining reminder that Disney does not need Pixar to make a great movie.

What really makes it a worthwhile movie, however, is the complexity of the story.

The story opens with Ralph, the villain of an old arcade game called “Fix-it Felix Jr.” One night, after going to a support group called “BadAnon,” inspired by substance support groups, Ralph learns that he wasn’t invited to the 30th anniversary party that the rest of his game cohorts are hosting. After a scuffle with the residents of the game, Ralph, who only wants to be accepted, goes off to try and prove himself as a hero. Ralph travels through various games, including a first-person shooter and a candy-themed kart-racer game, among others, setting the stage for adventure.

The strength of the characters comes not only from their development during the course of the film, but also from their voice actors.

Ralph’s character is voiced by John C. Reilly. Reilly excels in conveying Ralph’s array of emotions during the course of the film. The ease of seeing Ralph, a lifelong “bad guy” as a sympathetic character is largely due to the personality that Reilly brings

to the character.

Fix-it Felix, voiced by Jack McBrayer, is appropriately befuddled when he ventures outside of his game in search of Ralph. McBrayer provides a convincing portrayal of Felix as the naïve, well-meaning character that he his. Sarah Silverman voices Vanellope Von Schweetz, the goodhearted, often-bullied and apparently glitch-character from “Sugar Rush,”a kart-racing game. Somewhat surprisingly, Silverman’s character was not as annoying as she had appeared in the trailers. Other voices include that of Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk who both stand out for their portrayals.

Lynch gives a surprising intensity to her character, Sergeant Calhoun, the lead in a first-person shooter. Tudyk’s character, King Candy, is one of the more complex in the film, and his portrayal is spot on. King Candy serves as the generally benevolent ruler of Sugar Rush.

Visually vibrant does not describe the film’s aesthetics well enough. Each game bears its own distinct style. For example, Ralph’s world, from the outside, appears to be a classic 8-bit game, and from the inside, becomes more detailed without losing it’s oldtime feel. Additionally, settings such as the space inside a power cord and powerstrip are seen as subway tunnels and subway station.

What uplifts the movie and makes it hilarious, even for college students and the many adults that will inevitably sit through the movie while ac-

wreck-it ralph Disney’s latest release, which stars John C. Reilly as Ralph, is a delight for children and

adults alike.

companying children, are the many references that older viewers will understand and enjoy. Anyone that grew up with even a minimal exposure to video games should recognize Bowser from the Super Mario series as well as Sonic and Doctor Robotnik, aka Dr. Eggman from the Sonic the

Hedgehog series. Less obvious characters include Q*bert from Pac-Man with the four ghosts and Ryu from Street Fighter.

Last but not least, Disney included an amazing short film before the main presentation. It’s an incredibly entertaining black and white short

photo from internet source

film, with only music and sound effects. Given its short length, not much can be said without giving the whole plot away, but it alone makes Wreck-it Ralph worthwhile even for someone who generally isn’t interested in video games or seeing a family-friendly movie.

‘Looper’ exemplifies sci-fi, in both weaknesses and strengths

joe Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis star as the young and old versions of the protagonist in ‘Looper,’ a time-travel epic.

By Juliette Martin Editor

Released last month, “Looper” is a grand display of both the strength that a time-travel, science fiction story can exhibit, and its most common pitfalls. “Looper” tells the story of Joe, played in his youth by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and as an older man

by Bruce Willis, who works for a future mob capable of time-travel. It’s a job he has possessed since his early days as a street child, killing the targets that the mob eliminates by sending them back in time.

Joe takes his role at face-value, spending his days killing thoughtlessly and his nights taking drugs and visiting brothels, with little regard for the future. Joe’s heedless existence becomes complicated, however, when a shocking target is sent to kneel before his gun: his future self. Shocked, Joe

allows his future self (Bruce Willis) to escape, thus turning the mob against him as the future Joe tracks down the child-version of the man he blames for ruining his life: a future leader of the mob known as the Rainmaker.

The overall set-up for “Looper” is a clever and original premise, something that has become rather rare in modern science fiction. The story follows a graceful and creative arc, rife with fascinating conflict and themes far deeper than expected. Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t always make sense: the internal laws of this universe’s time travel are poorly defined, causing a significant amount of confusion for the viewer. It isn’t overly challenging for a viewer to come up with their own explanations, but negating this problem by using clearer writing could have greatly improved the film’s overall quality.

Despite these flaws in universal laws, the writing of the basic plot and

characters are remarkably strong. The driving force of the film is young Joe’s growth as a person as he deals with his older, more jaded self. Joe learns how to look toward the future, how to think about people other than himself and about choosing morality and honesty over short-term gain as he works to protect the child, Cid (Pierce Gagnon), who will allegedly grow up to become the Rainmaker.

Joe’s growth is truly one of the greatest strengths of the movie. The writing of the plot and concept is another asset, as “Looper” tells a remarkably original tale. It features a beautiful twist-ending, showcasing Joe’s growth and tying together the movie’s themes with great clarity.

Although the writing of the plot comes through by the end of the film, there are certain times in the middle when it seems to become sidetracked.

For example, while young Joe attempts to protect the child Cid, he has

photo from internet source

sex with the boy’s mother, Sara (Emily Blunt). The scene seems very forced, as Sara transitions very rapidly from wanting nothing to do with Joe to having sex with him.

A slower development of their relationship would be much more interesting and the idea of having them sexually or romantically entangled has absolutely no impact on the story.

In short, it feels like the the sex scene was inserted simply to sell tickets and it really distracted from the broader concepts around which the story revolved.

Luckily, “Looper” features a very strong cast. Bruce Willis, of course, never fails to serve as a fabulous action star. It was, however, pleasant to see a relatively new face in the world of action stars alongside him. Between his roles in this film and in “The Dark Knight Rises,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt clearly has a bright future ahead of him as one of action’s elite. In this re-

spect, having Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing the same character felt like a passing of the torch.

The real standout performance of the film, however, comes from the child playing Cid. Pierce Gagnon, who was only six years old at the time of production, easily holds his own against his adult co-stars, delivering powerful and emotional lines and truly chilling stares. The movie hinges on his performance and the young star delivers. Gagnon has an incredibly bright future in acting, should he choose to continue it.

Despite foibles in its design of time traveling and certain scenes, “Looper” is a great example of how science fiction can use speculative fiction to delve into serious questions about humanity as a whole. “Looper” explores morality, sacrifice and justice in subtle and impressive ways and features great character development, combined with superb performances.

14 ARTS, ETC.

The Brandeis Hoot

November 30, 2012

‘Non-Reality’ showcases a myriad of Brandeis talent

By Max Randhahn Staff

What is so great about the real world? This is the question posed by “Non-Reality,” a new play written by Brandeis student Emma Lieberman ’14 that was performed the weekend of Nov. 17. The answer, it turns out, does not come easily. The production starts out innocent enough, but eventually arrives at an ambiguous and unsettling ending, although the journey from beginning to end is wellconstructed and innovative. Director Amanda Stern ’15 and producer Julian Seltzer ’15 did an excellent job of bringing Lieberman’s vision to life.

The plot centers around Becca (Jess Plante ’16) a stereotypical high school fangirl and the implications of her obsession with fictional characters and escapism. She has a poor relationship with her mother and her best friend Julie (Allie Alexander ’14) is no different than a more level-headed version of herself. Her small world, however, changes when she meets Jon (Steven Kline ’14) a seemingly typical jock with a passion for “The Lord of the Rings.” This small, nerdy facet of an otherwise ‘normal’ athlete causes Becca to reevaluate her worldview, forming a crush on Jon and agreeing to go to the school dance with him.

A subplot revolving around Julie’s romantic interests with Jon’s friend Andrea (Jennifer Largaespada ’16) serves as a foil to Becca’s romance, as Julie is more grounded in reality.

The dance scene in particular capitalizes on an interesting technique that the play employs: as scenes progress, a projector displays what is going on in a character’s head. For instance, while Becca reads “The Lord of the Rings” in class, a Balrog threatens the Fellowship from the story onscreen.

Relevant clips from TV and film are played between set changes to reflect Becca’s current state of mind. It is possible to follow the play entirely through these clips, ranging from traditional nerd fare such as “Doctor Who” and “Star Trek” to romantic comedies, including “She’s The Man” and “The Breakfast Club:” whatever is consistent with Becca’s ever-shifting interests. This duality of scenes drives home the point that Becca cannot and will not break free of her fictions, no matter the changes in her life. The dance scene is the best example of this: Act One ends and Act Two begins as the same scene told from first Becca’s and then Jon’s perspective.

This reveals without a doubt that Bec-

By Lassor Feasley

non-reality Written, directed and acted by Brandeis students, ‘Non-reality’ attests to the enourmous

photo by edwin gonzalez/the hoot

creativity of the university.

ca is living in a fantasy. The rest of the play deals with the fallout of the dance and ultimately asks if it is better to be realistic or happy.

The excellent ambiguity of the play could not have been conveyed properly without the acting skills of Jess Plante ’16 as Becca. Plante brought a familiar brand of awkwardness to the character, as well as a childlike spark of innocence, lending Becca depth and validity as a person. Similarly, Steven Kline ’14 played Jon very well, adopting a familiar jock persona with aplomb. The rest of the actors did lovely jobs with their characters as well, particularly Alexandra Patch ’14 as Becca’s mother Jane. The standout performances, however, were played by the leads.

In addition to high-quality portrayals, the characters of “Non-Reality” are well-written and complex. Lieberman has crafted an interesting story relevant to the modern age with its amount of media content and disconnect between expectations and reality.

Especially in today’s society, staying connected and informed is important, but occasionally hard, due to despair or a myriad of other reasons.

The theme of the play was clearly farther reaching than the high school plot would suggest. In addition, the dialogue felt very natural, echoing well what actual high school students would say to each other. The plot is structured in such a way that the viewer becomes completely embroiled in the high school drama, distracted from the deeper themes until they reared their ugly heads in the final act.

The team utilized the Schwartz auditorium well, staggering the set so each area was distinct and wellspaced. Most of the furniture was arranged in front of the stage; the stage itself was used for Becca’s bed and the projector screen. A trophy case in the back and desks on the floor were used to signify a transformation to the high school setting, with the bed remaining on the stage. Many small details contributed to the characterization of Becca and her peers, be it the “Star Wars” paraphernalia in Becca’s room or her mother’s DVD collection.

Each of the settings were simply arranged, meaning that the strength of the actors and the writing could come through easily.

“Non-Reality” was an intriguing play that had an interesting premise and production technique. Well written and directed, it was very much worth seeing and it showcased the unique talents of the students participating in Brandeis theater.

‘Killing Kasztner’ explores a murky legacy

Staff

Of the legacies of Holocaust survivors, few are more controversial than that of Rezso Kasztner. He orchestrated the purchase of several hundred Jews from Nazi-occupied Hungary in a series of blood-for-goods transactions. On the way, he made special arrangements for family and friends to find safe passage to Switzerland.

When he was unable to fund the $1,000-per-head demand made by Nazi liaison Adolf Eichmann, Kasztner auctioned the balance of the escape train’s capacity to wealthy Jews in order to finance as many survivors as possible. It was these negotiations with the Nazi regime which would ultimately lead to Kasztner’s arrest and conviction on charges of Nazi collaboration. After his conviction, he became a recluse and was soon assassinated by conservative extremist, Zeev Eckstein.

In her film “Killing Kasztner,” screened on Wednesday evening in Wasserman Cinematique, Gaylen Ross brings together an unlikely cast

of Kasztner’s bitter rivals, family and supporters to try and find answers behind his murky legacy. Should he be condemned as a facilitator of Nazi actions based on his prolonged negotiations with the axis of evil as his posthumous iconoclasts claim? Or was he a pragmatist who should be credited with the salvation of thousands of Jewish lives? Ross traveled the world, collecting in-depth interviews from everyone involved in the controversy, finally piecing together a clear image of this man.

The film was shocking in its audacity. It included extensive interviews with Kasztner’s (now elderly) assassin, who was freed seven years after his murder. Ross escorted him to the scene of the crime, and, more shocking still, orchestrated a reunion between him and the closest living relatives of Kasztner. Ross also traveled to museums and universities, interviewing curators, students and even people off the streets of Tel Aviv in order to track the pulse of Kasztner’s legacy.

In it’s own way, the film touched on what it means to be Israeli. Many Kasztner sympathizers think that his lead should be emulated as a matter

of policy; that negotiations and talks with Israel’s rivals should be endorsed.

This explains how Kasztner’s legacy came to be so hotly contested. It is more than a story of how one man used potentially unsavory tactics to rescue Jews, it is a narrative on the use of negotiated resolutions with enemies of Israel.

While some believe Kasztner was justified in his actions, others condemn him for his willingness to entertain talks with Nazis, regardless of the lives saved; collaboration is collaboration, and should not be celebrated.

Ross explained that Kasztner’s critics “understood nothing about Kasztner and they understood nothing about the political and historical moment of how the Jews (in Hungary) really had no place to go and no way to resist and nowhere to flee.”

After the film, Gaylen Ross shared her thoughts on how Kasztner’s legacy came to be shaped in the way that it was. “What happened to Kasztner is when he went to Israel, they really had no concept about how the Nazis in Hungary had entrapped the Jews,” she explained. “So they knew that Jews had died but they also didn’t under-

stand why every Jew wasn’t part of the Warsaw Ghetto, why they didn’t rebel like that.” Rumors began to take hold.

“What happened was that the accusations were made to Kasztner,” continued Ross. “How did you save your family? Why didn’t you save my family? What secret deal did you make with the Nazis? Did you take money?”

Ross concluded her film with a reunion of Hungarian Jews saved by

Kasztner’s efforts. To them, a life saved is a life saved; they were all grateful for Kasztner’s negotiation. They united in a conference at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, where a small victory was celebrated; documents concerning the blood-forgoods transaction were placed in the Memorial’s archives where they will forever serve as a remembrance of Kasztner’s efforts.

kasztner ‘Killing Kasztner’ screened Wednesday at the Wasser-

man Cinematique.

photo from internet source

November 30, 2012

SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot 15

Judges face early season challenges with pair of losses

By Dani Chasin Staff

After finishing last season with a record of 9-16, the women’s basketball team started off the new year strong, winning the Judges Classic for the first time in a few seasons, but they have yet to find their groove as they have fallen short in the past couple of games. Now holding a record of 2-3, the Judges look to bounce back from their recent losses against Tufts University and Emmanuel College by regrouping and working to improve their game consistency.

Sophomore guard Hannah Cain ’15 has high hopes for her team this season and believes that they have improved in key areas from last year.

“I think the chemistry of the team this year is great and that the players and coaches are all on the same page,” Cain said. “We are hungry for wins and dedicated, which I think are two of the most important ingredients in a successful season.”

The starter, who played in all 25 games her rookie year, has become one of the leading scorers and passers for the Judges. She was even ranked UAA 7th in scoring and 13th in rebounding during her first year.

When asked how she felt about not being a rookie anymore she said, “Now that I am not a freshman I feel that my role has changed in some aspects like my coach and teammates expecting me to be more vocal and in control.”

Although the 5’7” sophomore from Gloucester, Mass., was able to score five points against Tufts and seven against Emmanuel, the Judges had a

difficult time in both games. The Tufts Jumbos, the number-one ranked team in the NESCAC conference, hold a current record of 5-0 and managed a 70-32 win against the Judges.

The more evenly matched team, the Emmanuel Saints, hold a number two rank in the GNAC conference and beat the Judges by a score of 62-46.

Sunday night’s away game against the Jumbos proved to be the ultimate test of the Judge’s hard work in preseason and preparation for the tougher competition. Cain was able to score the first basket of the game but the Judges lacked consistency in their scoring abilities.

After senior Courtney Ness ’13 sunk a free throw in the 17th minute to bring the score to 3-6, a player from Tufts made a 3-point jump shot that sent the Jumbos into a shooting spree for the rest of the half. The Judges, unable to get control of the ball, ended the first half with a score of 12-34.

In the second half, the Judges were able to slightly improve their scoring and ball movement after regrouping during halftime. Rookie guard Samantha Mancinelli ’16 made a pass in the 18th minute to Cain who nailed a 3-pointer to bring the score to 15-38.

Off the bench, senior center Angela Miller ’13, the leading scorer for the Judges in the game, recorded a careerhigh seven points, scoring three in the first half and four in the second.

Senior forward Samantha Anderson ’13 contributed six rebounds for the game, the highest total for both teams on the court.

The Judges, scoring 20 points in the second half compared to 12 in the first, improved by eight points while the Jumbos, scoring 32 in the first

eyeing the defender Hannah Cain ’15 sizes up her defender before passing the ball.

and 36 in the second, only managed a two-point improvement.

At the home game against the 17thranked Emmanuel Saints, the Judges saw a more evenly-matched game, but they were still unable to outscore the opponent. Cain scored the first basket of the game for a second time, finishing with a total of seven points.

Despite missed layups and jump shots from both teams, the Saints outscored the Judges in the first half with an ending score of 33-14.

The second half saw a huge scoring improvement from the Judges who recorded more than two times the

amount of points they managed in the first half. The Saints, on the other hand, saw a decrease in their scoring for the second half, adding only 29 points compared to the Judges’ 32.

Off the bench, sophomore guard Mikaela Garvin ’15 recorded a teamhigh 10 points, while both junior guard Kasey Dean ’14 and senior forward Erika Higginbottom ’13 tallied nine each. Miller added seven more points off the bench and Dean, Higginbottom and junior guard Julia Scanlon ’13 shared a team-high two steals each.

The two matches against Tufts

photo by maya himelfarb/the hoot

and Emmanuel did not finish in the Judges’ favor, but the Brandeis team is already looking forward to improving their performance in the upcoming games. Cain says that the coaches are already touching up their game by having them work on game-like situations in their practices. “Coach Simon and Coach Foulis have been pushing us both mentally and physically in practice. Our goal in each practice is to practice at a game-like speed, which can be tough when we are tired but our coaches continually stress the importance of an up-tempo pace,” she said.

Men’s soccer return to prominence cut short with heartbreaking loss

By Brian Tabakin Editor

Two weeks ago, the Judges’ most successful season in over two decades came to a heartbreaking close at Amherst where they faced Williams College. After coming together four years ago, the team has completely rejuvenated the program and returned Brandeis to the national stage. Soccer is, however, a fickle game. Sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way.

This appeared to be the case in their loss to Williams as the Judges finished the season with a record of 18-3-1.

The Judges nearly scored just three minutes into the game when Sam Ocel ’13 played a strong cross into the box that deflected off a Williams’ defender, landing dangerously close to the goal. Unfortunately for the Judges, Finan was there for Williams to make a diving stop to keep the Judges off the board.

Blake Minchoff ’13 made a key save for the Judges just a few minutes later on Patrick Ebobisse when he found space at the top of the box and rocketed a shot toward goal, but Minchoff lunged to his right, punching the ball away.

In a back-and-forth effort, Brandeis was the next to get a quality scoring chance. The Judges nearly got a penalty kick after Williams committed a foul, but it occurred inches outside the box. Ocel took the set piece that followed but his shot was wide of the left post.

The Judges once again had a stellar opportunity in the 24th minute when Tyler Savonen ’15 sent a perfect through ball to Ocel on the right side.

Ocel beat his defenders but his clean look went just high of the net. It was

an unfortunate turn of events for the Judges as the Williams’ keeper was out of position and would have been hard-pressed to stop the shot.

Early in the second half, both teams played tight defense, denying each other any sustained offensive pressure; however, in the 63rd minute, this changed. Mohammed Rashid gathered a loose ball in the left corner of their offensive end. He then used nifty footwork to maneuver past his defender and enter the box. Rashid then sent a low cross to Ebobisse who overpowered his defender and put a toe on the ball, depositing it into the left corner of the net to put the Ephs ahead 1-0.

Coach Coven lamented the goal.

“We created the situation by trying to dribble out of the back and we lost possession of the ball in the middle of the field.” Still, Coven acknowledged the Judges had plenty of opportunities to win the game.

Lee Russo ‘13 concurred with Coven. “The kid made a nice run and I thought Joe [Eisenbies ‘13] got in position but the kid got the ball off and they had a nice finish. Its unfortunate but they were a team that was pretty good at effectively counterattacking.”

Brandeis had the next quality scoring opportunity in the 81st minute of play when a bouncing ball in the box nearly gave Russo a point-blank opportunity on goal; however, Finan arrived just in time to secure the ball, denying Russo the scoring chance.

For the final minutes of the game, the Judges maintained substantial offensive pressure on the Ephs’ defense.

Williams’ Matt Ratajczak and Dan Lima, however, anchored the team’s defense as they prevented the Judges from converting their pressure into the tying goal.

taking a shot Lee Russo ’13 gets ready to launch his free kick on goal.

In a frantic last 40 seconds of play, the Judges had two more scoring opportunities, but Finan was there each time to make the save for Williams.

Despite controlling the game with a 15-10 advantage in shots and an 8-4 edge in corner kicks, the Judges could not take advantage of their scoring opportunities. During a game, a team will only get a certain number of scoring chances and has to capitalize on them, but the Judges failed to do so.

Following the game, Coach Mike Coven walked over to the fan section, Coven’s Corner, where students had

assembled in their effort to support the team. In an outpouring of emotion, Coven thanked the students and fans for their season-long support and credited them for helping rejuvenate the program.

“The group that hung around Coven’s Corner was part of the team.

They inspired us to play harder, faster and smarter. They showed us that the entire school cared about us and athletics. In all my years here we’ve never had school support like this.”

A large part of Coven’s emotion about the fan group was that they

photo courtesy brandeis athletics

named it after him. “The whole season was very emotional and a large part of that emotion went beyond the team and to how we were supported.”

Going into next year, the Judges will be without Russo, Minchoff and defensive back Joe Eisenbies. The trio end their careers with 51 wins, two ECAC tournament titles and the program’s first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1985. Ocel, who missed See MEN’S SOCCER page 16

16 SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot

November 30, 2012

Men’s basketball wins at Big Four tournament

By Brian Tabakin Editor

After a disappointing opening loss against Rhode Island College in the first game of the season, the men’s basketball team has rebounded nicely, winning their last four games to improve their record to 4-1 in the early stages of the season. In the Big Four Tournament, the Judges defeated Tufts 84-69 and then won against Salem State 78-61 to win their third Big Four Challenge in just four years.

Then a few days later, they beat Clark 67-58 as the Judges completed their first homestand of the season with an undefeated record.

In the opening match of the Big Four Tournament, the Judges faced the Tufts University Jumbos. Point guard Gabriel Moton ’14, a recent transfer from Boston College, led the Judges to victory with a doubledouble of 28 points and 10 rebounds along with four assists. While the game was hard-fought in the first half, including six ties and nine lead changes, the Judges pulled away in the second half as Moton caught fire, making his first six shots of the half as

he fueled the Judges’ offensive charge.

Along with Moton, Alex Stoyle ’14 and Youri Dascy ’14 also finished with double-digit points with Stoyle scoring a career-high 14 points along with eight rebounds. Dascy chipped in 11 points as well.

The Judges put forth a much better and thorough effort against Tufts than they did against Rhode Island College. Due to a lack of playing time together, Moton also attributed to the team’s lackluster performance against Rhode Island College.

“It was our first time playing together in a game that counts. The chemistry wasn’t as good as it is now and it’s just going to continue to get better,” he said. “I feel like if we played them again then it would be a different outcome.”

The Judges’ defense really stepped up in the second half after allowing the Jumbos to shoot 54 percent (1528) in the first half. They held the Jumbos to just 39 percent shooting (12-31) in the second half.

The next day, the Judges faced Salem State in the finals of the tournament. Moton once again starred for the Judges as he led the Judges to a 4135 halftime lead with 11 points, five

rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Judges had led by as many as nine points in the first half but were never able to fully pull away.

In the second half, Salem State made a last effort, attempting to get back into the game as they opened on a 6-2 run, cutting their deficit to just two points, 43-41. Brandeis responded, however, with two stellar plays as Derek Retos ’14 answered with a three-pointer and Moton knocked down a jumper to stretch the Judges’ lead out to seven, 48-41. While Salem State would furiously try to cut their deficit, they were never able to cut the score to less-than two possessions as Brandeis began to run away with the game and eventually win by a dominating 17 points.

Moton stuffed the stat-sheet for the Judges, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals while Ben Bartoldus ’14 also scored 13 points to go along with seven rebounds. Dascy once again put in a strong game with 10 points and three rebounds while Stoyle had nine points and nine rebounds.

The Judges completely controlled the boards as they finished the game with a 52-37 rebounding advan-

tage. The Judges also limited their 11 turnovers, allowing just seven points while turning 15 Salem State turnovers into 17 points.

A few days later, the Judges returned to the court to face Clark University.

Brandeis enjoyed balanced scoring as four different players reached double-digits. Dascy recorded his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Moton continued his stellar play with his second double-double of the season: 13 points and 10 rebounds. Stoyle tied his career-high with 14 points while Bartoldus finished with 12 points.

Both Moton and Stoyle tied for the team lead with four assists each.

The Judges once again put together a sensational defensive effort, holding Clark to 33.3 percent shooting (20-60) including just 24.2 percent shooting in the second half (8-33).

The Judges also held Clark to a paltry 1-15 from beyond the arc.

In the first half, the lead changed three times and there were two ties.

The Judges’ largest lead was eight points capped by two free throws from Bartoldus; however, Clark chipped away at the lead, going on a 14-5 run to take a 22-21 lead just five

minutes later. The two teams traded baskets throughout the first half as the Judges took a six-point lead into the break.

The Judges opened up the second half scoring three straight buckets to stretch their lead to 12 points, 40-28 just two minutes in. The lead ballooned to 14 points a few minutes later after Stoyle hammered-home a dunk off a nice pass from Moton.

Clark would not give up, however, as they made another run to cut their deficit to single digits. Aided by their full-court press, Clark prevented the Judges from pulling away, but they were never able to get closer than two possessions.

As the season continues, Moton believes the team needs to focus on the little things. “We’re trying to tweak the little things that will make us better. Small things such as playing hard and hustling that make everyone better.”

After a successful home-stand, the Judges will go on the road to face Becker College on Saturday at 3 p.m. and then Lasell College on Tuesday at 8 p.m. before returning home on Wednesday to face Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Most successful season in women’s soccer history ends

By Brian Tabakin Editor

crossing halfcourt Gabe Moton ’14 brings the ball up the court before initiating the offense.

photo by nate rosenbloom/the hoot

The clock struck midnight two games early for the Brandeis women’s soccer team. After a season of ups and downs and a foundation built upon their staunch defense, the Judges’ season came to a close against the Misericordia Cougars in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. The Judges tied their school record for most wins, finishing the season 16-5-2.

All season long, the Judges’ trademark had been scoring early and then relying on their defense to hold their opponent’s offense in check. In this game, however, the tables turned.

The Cougars scored just three minutes into the game when sophomore Megan Lannigan charged toward the left post after taking a cross from Erin McGreal and then shot the ball past

Fan support and spirit recognized by the team MEN’S SOCCER, from page 15

the entirety of his sophomore season due to injury, will return to the team next season as a graduate student.

While the Judges were unable to accomplish their ultimate goal of winning the national title, the team and seniors completely revitalized a program and awakened a long-dormant school spirit on the Brandeis campus.

Coven fondly recalled a day the previous summer that instilled in him the work ethic and effort of the outgoing senior class. “I remember driving by the field in the middle of the summer and seeing the guys practicing and working out on the field even though its 90 degrees outside. This wasn’t a three month commitment to these guys, it was a year round effort.

Hopefully, they’ve planted that seed in our younger guys that this effort needs to be made to keep where we’re at.”

This particular team and senior class may not have a trophy to show for their accomplishments this year, but they leave a legacy that will last forever. Russo, looked back on the season with fondness. “It’s been a great turnaround for the program and I’m just really proud and excited to have been a part of it.”

coven’s corner Fans traveled to Amherst to support the team in their matchup against Williams.

photo courtesy brandeis athletics

Brandeis keeper Francine Kofinas ’13.

After the initial goal, the Judges’ defense picked up their intensity and bottled up the Cougar’s offense for the vast majority of the rest of the first half, allowing the Judges’ offense to mount their counterattack.

The Judges had two opportunities toward the end of the half to tie the game. In the 28th minute of play, Sapir Edalati ’15 had a scoring chance but it was high and to the right of the goal. The Judges’ best chance at a 1-1 tie came in the 40th minute of play.

Dara Spital ’15 weaved through three Cougar defenders and then let loose a shot that dinged off the right post and was then immediately cleared by the Misericordia defense as the Cougars entered halftime with a 1-0 lead. Although Misericordia enjoyed a 9-6 lead in shots at the break, the Judges had a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal.

As has been the pattern during this season, Michelle Savuto ’15 replaced Kofinas for the second period and she was immediately tested. Just minutes into the second half, Sam Helmstetter put a shot on goal that Savuto deflected over the crossbar.

The Judges’ defense, however, could not hold the Cougars’ offense at bay in the second period as they applied consistent pressure on the Brandeis defense. Laura Roney had consecutive quality scoring chances for the Cougars in the 53rd and 55th minute, firing the initial shot high and forcing Savuto to make a spectacular diving save on the second shot.

In the 62nd minute, the Cougars’ offensive onslaught finally resulted in an insurance goal. Erin Roberts drew a foul just outside the top center of the box, resulting in a direct kick.

Roney then tucked a shot inside the right post to give Misericordia a 2-0 lead.

Brandeis earned several free kicks in the closing minutes of the game but the Judges were only able to convert one into a shot on goal as Misericordia completed their shutout. The shutout was the Cougars’ 15th of the season.

While the loss is disappointing for the Judges, they will return all but two players next year as they try to improve upon their record-setting season. Kofinas and Zoe Siegel ’13 both end their Brandeis careers with 47 wins and two NCAA tournament appearances in 2010 and 2012.