The Brandeis Hoot 02/01/2019

Volume 16 Issue 3

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe” www.brandeishoot.com

February 1, 2019

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper · Waltham, Mass.

Candidates elected to fill empty winter election seats

By Sabrina Chow and Celia Young editors

PHOTO BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

MEET THE CANDIDATES

Student Union candidates gather to meet voters in the SCC Atrium.

The winter elections of the Student Union saw 12 out of 13 possible positions filled, spanning the Executive Board, Allocations Board (A-Board) and the Senate.

In the Executive Board, Simran Tatuskar ’21 ran unopposed for the secretary position, winning almost 75 percent of all votes.

Tatuskar spoke about her victory to The Brandeis Hoot, saying, “Now that I’ve won, I look forward to learning more about the inner workings of the Union and [to] be able to actively take steps to help the student body and keep it informed on the ongoings of the Student Union.”

“Thank you and I will try to do my best,” Tatuskar told The Hoot in an interview. “Thanks for trusting me to be your voice, and I’m

sorry in advance for all the emails.”

A-Board had three different openings and four seats: Three-semester representative, two two-semester representatives and two-semester racial minority representative. Ruizhang Zhi ’21 ran unopposed in the election, receiving 397 votes and 78 percent of the overall vote. Alan Huang ’21 and Aria Pradhan ’21 ran unopposed for the two open seats. Huang garnered 336 votes and 45.22 percent of the votes, while Pradhan trailed with 41.59 percent of the votes.

Sonali Anderson ’22 beat out fellow first year Shivam Nainwal ’22 in the race for two-semester racial minority representative.

Anderson received 141 votes, over 60 percent of the total votes, while Nainwal only received 49 votes. Anderson told The Hoot in an interview that she is ready to get to work for the short time that See ELECTION, page 5

Judiciary case to decide if Student Union is a club

By Celia Young editor

The Judiciary will hear representatives from the Allocations Board (A-Board) and the Executive Board (E-Board) on Sunday,

Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. in a case that will decide whether the Student Union is a club and, as a result, whether or not the Allocations Board has jurisdiction over Student Union funding. The hearing is open to the public, though the deliberation process will be closed.

The hearing was originally set for Sunday, Jan. 27, but had to be rescheduled after Chief Justice Gabriella (Gaby) Gonzalez Anavisca ’19 resigned for personal reasons. The Judiciary elected Morris Nadjar ’19 as the new Chief Justice on Jan. 28. Nadjar will preside over the proceedings next Sunday.

“We just hope that everyone respects the final decision regardless of if it agrees with them, either side,” said Nadjar.

During the proceedings, the petitioners, Student Union President Hannah Brown ’19, Chief of Staff Emma Russell ’19 and Vice President Aaron Finkel ’20 will present

their side of the argument. The three filed the case on the evening of Jan. 15, according to Nadjar.

The Judiciary has reached out to representatives from the A-Board, including Allocations Board Chair Aseem KuSee JUDICIARY, page 5

International student senator will not accept recall results

By Sabrina Chow and Celia Young editors

For the first time in Student Union history, a Union senator has been recalled in an election.

International Senator Linfei Yang ’20 was recalled from the Student Union, after a recall vote was called during the winter elections that took place Tuesday through Wednesday.

Since the announcement of the recall, Yang told The Brandeis Hoot that he will not be accepting the recall and will stay in the Senate. A recall petition circulated

around the international constituency at the end of last semester, citing reasons such as carelessness and disrespect for reasons why Yang should be removed from office.

In the winter elections, a total of 66 members of the international population voted, out of the total 725 international students at Brandeis. Out of the 66 voters, 42 voted in favor of recall while seven did not. Yang contests the vote, saying two-thirds of the entire 725 international students, or 484 votes, would be needed to recall him.

Inside This Issue:

See RECALL, page 6

News: Former activist speaks on democracy Ops: Validation in education Features: Students, developers assist community Sports: Men’s basketball wins at Rochester EDITORIAL: Global warming still exists

PHOTO BY CELIA YOUNG/THE HOOT

STUDENTS GATHERED IN THE SCC TO JOIN CLUBS

Fencing

Page 6 Page 11 Fencers receives UAA honors.

Page 7 Page 15 SPORTS: PAGE 16 Page 9

Punisher S2 Netflix disappoints again.

ARTS: PAGE 18

NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

Brandeis commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day with presentation

By Max Mix Everson special to the hoot

Holocaust Remembrance Day, an international holiday that commemorates the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, was commemorated Monday when a variety of artists and academics spoke about the forms that Holocaust remembrance might take in our current political climate. Nine women presented “Holocaust Memory in a Time of Nationalism” at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center.

The nine presenters held a panel on a variety of different projects and messages. Each of them gave a seven minute presentation about either a personal story connecting them to the events of the Holocaust or a broader topic they felt was important in today’s discussion of those events.

The relatively small lecture hall was packed full of 42 people, composed almost entirely of middle-aged and elderly attendees.

There was one undergraduate student in the audience, who came 15 minutes after the event began.

Karen Frostig, a self-described “public memory artist,” began the presentation by showing some of her work. It included 18 memory panels that she created in Vienna to celebrate her grandparents’ memories of their struggle during the Holocaust.

Karen Rosenthal continued by showing photographs. She began with pictures of possessions that her grandparents had taken with them as they fled Germany for America. She transitioned into darker photographs of a roll call that was held for Jewish men shortly after Kristallnacht, showing hundreds of men who had been made to shave their heads.

She spoke about “echoes of Nazi Germany in Trump’s America” and showed a recent picture of a U.S. border patrol agent gleefully dumping out water jugs that had been left for immigrants.

Jutta Lindert described her experiences as a German citizen.

She spoke about resurgences of anti-Semitism and a new German committee designed in May of 2018 to investigate hate crimes against Jewish people. She continued by talking about her studies on cultural memories of the Holocaust in descendants of Jewish people that lived through it. She hopes to find funding for a study on these same kinds of “embodied memories” in descendants of the perpetrators of the Holocaust.

Sarah Swartz followed Lindert by talking about her parents’ experiences during the period of overwhelming nationalism in Germany leading up to the war.

She showed photographs of the Fraenkelufer synagogue, which was almost entirely destroyed during the Holocaust. The synagogue was eventually restored and redecorated by her father and is now becoming a safe place for communication between religions and cultures.

Roberta Salper spoke about female perpetrators of the Holocaust. Though men were given all the governmental power in Germany during World War II, Salper’s research showed that women enacted the treachery of the German machine through jobs as secretaries, nurses, teachers, wardens and as wives of officers. In her seven minutes, she flew through horrendous details of atrocities committed by women. She ended by saying, “I’m going to stop here.

I’ve got lots more, but I’m overtime, and it’s an exhausting topic.”

Debra Kaufman presented about shifts in the cultural narrative of the Holocaust over time.

She spoke of the Holocaust as a “foundational wound” that still roots itself in young Jewish adults.

She also said the tone of the conversation includes a larger emphasis on survivors, rather than victims, than it used to.

Laura Leff is a journalist who delved into the history of the “America First” movement that occurred during the beginning of World War II. America was reluctant to help the Jewish cause for a long time. Americans denied visas to many refugees, falsely claiming that German Jewish immigrants posed a national security risk. Drawing frequent parallel to American culture under Trump and his attitude towards immigrants, she spoke about the cultural campaign that portrayed the Jewish population in Germany as being too different from Americans to sacrifice resources for.

Ornit Barkai showed a short clip from a documentary film she had created. The documentary showed a Jewish family talking about the older generation’s memory of anti-Semitism in Germany in the period leading up to World War II. The last presentation was Rachel Munn, a writer who shared two poems that depicted the experience of Jewish men who were forced to work in factories.

At the end of their presentations, the women sat in a row and answered questions from the audience. Each question had to do with one of the women’s work, but the others chimed in as they saw fit. One woman commented that the presentation was compact, and said that she would love to see each speaker give a longer speech about their topic. Kaufman said that the group was thinking about trying to give a larger, more thorough presentation in Berlin.

February 1, 2019

IN THE SENATE: Jan 27, 2018 •

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The Senate voted to publish a public comment in regards to the changes in the revised Title IX regulations announced by the US Department of Education. It will also encourage individuals to send letter to the Department of Education.

The Senate also passed a change to the Bylaws proposed

by Kent Dinlenc ’19 and Leigh Salamon ’19, which means that if someone is removed from a position on the Student Union, they cannot run for any Student Union position for one academic year.

The Senate also voted on Dinlenc’s proposal to rename the Bylaws Committee, “Rules Committee” and the COW-G Committee to “Campus Operations Committee.” After a long deliberation, the vote passed. “Bylaws isn’t sexy, rules is sexy” concluded Dinlenc.

Adrian Ashley ’20, the Student Union Treasurer attended the meeting to update the Senators on the finance situation of the Union. Anytime a Senate Money Resolution is passed, Senators are to go to Ashley to find the best way to make the purchases.

Student Union Vice President Aaron Finkel ’20 reminded the Senate that the Student Union retreat will take place on Sunday, Feb. 3. Finkel also introduced the idea of Union Awards, the “Ollies,” where at every meeting a student or a group that stood out as doing good work in the Brandeis community would be acknowledged. He also reminded the chairs of Senate committees about the meeting they will, where they are to provide a plan for the semesters as well as a list of members.

The Sustainability Committee reported that it is continuing its work on making sure that there are recycling bins in all residence halls, a project that will cost “less than pianos,” according to Committee Chair Dinlenc. The Health and Safety Committee discussed an idea of having bystander training for students, but with psychological health.

The Campus Operations Committee is working on an appreciation day for Brandeis workers. The Club Support Committee reported that it is working on updating the Brandeis Club Guide. Massell Quad Senator Kendal Chapman reported that there was no water in the Shapiro residence hall for a week.

- Sasha Skarboviychuk

Liebowitz names framework task force members

By Ryan Spencer editor

Members of three task forces were named in an email from President Ron Liebowitz on Monday which urged members of the Brandeis community to “participate in charting our future” and addressed calls for improving accessibility on campus.

The three task forces—the Task Force on the Student Living/ Learning Experience, the Task Force on Supporting Research, Creativity and Collaborative Innovation and the Task Force on Honoring Our Founding Values— are part of Liebowitz’s “Framework for Our Future,” a plan for revitalizing Brandeis University with input from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Liebowitz first announced the framework in a speech on Oct. 29, 2018.

Community members can submit thoughts and ideas to the task forces on the Framework section of the Brandeis website, according

to Liebowitz’s email. They may also provide feedback through open meetings, which will be hosted by task forces in coming months.

A fourth task force that will consider issues having to do with campus infrastructure will be created later this spring, Liebowitz stated in his email.

Preceding the creation of this fourth task force, each of the other three task forces will “consider questions of accessibility” in their respective topics, according to Liebowitz’s email.

In considering the issue of accessibility, task forces will be informed by last week’s Accessibility Forum, Liebowitz stated in his email. The forum “highlighted important steps Brandeis must take to make our campus a supportive and inclusive place for all community members,” the email said. Future forums aiming to develop specific recommendations on topics of accessibility will be planned in upcoming months, according to Liebowitz.

Liebowitz will chair the Task Force on Honoring Our Founding Values along with vice-chairs Jon Levisohn, a professor of Jewish Educational Thought, and Chad Williams, a professor of African and African American Studies and History.

Two working groups—one on Jewish Scholarship, Leadership and Service and one on Equal Opportunity, Social Impact and Community Engagement—will fall under the task force chaired by Liebowitz. Administrators such as Dean of Students Jamele Adams and Chief Diversity Officer Mark Brimhall-Vargas will sit on these task forces along with professors from multiple fields, according to a full list of task force members on the Brandeis website.

The Task Force on Student Living/Learning Experience at Brandeis will be chaired by Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Kim Godsoe and Professor Sara Shostak (SOC, HSSP). This task force, comprised of five working groups, is the only task force

PHOTO BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

named by Liebowitz which will contain students.

The working groups on Residential Life, Undergraduate Academic Advising and Community Engagement each contain two undergraduate students as well as a selection of faculty and administrators.

Alongside faculty and administrators, the working groups on Graduate Academic Advising and Graduate Student Life contain one and two graduate students, respectively.

The task force on student living and learning has begun “exploring the advantages and disadvantages of a residential house system and how this system might be complemented by a decentralized

advising model,” according to Liebowitz’s email.

The third task force, Task Force on Supporting Research, Creativity and Collaborative Innovation, is chaired by Constance Horgan, Professor and Director of Institute for Behavioral Health, and Sacha Nelson, a professor of Life Science. According to Liebowitz’s email, this task force is meeting with groups involved in research across the university.

The Brandeis website contains pages dedicated to each of the task forces and to the Framework as a whole. These pages contain samples of questions to be considered by each task force as well as a list of members assigned to each task force and working group.

February 1, 2019

NEWS 3

The Brandeis Hoot

Dining Services introduces compostable tableware

By Sasha Skarboviychuk staff

Brandeis Dining Services introduced a new initiative that included providing compost bins as well as compostable tableware instead of plastic tableware at events, in a series of information sessions called Let’s Talk Trash. Manager of Brandeis Sustainability Programs Mary Fischer gave the presentations along with Gretchen Carey, the Recycling and Organics Coordinator at Republic Services.

Fischer began the information session by discussing some myths about recycling that she had often encountered. A particular issue was students seeing the custodian put trash and recycling in the same bag. This does in-

deed happen, however it is only temporarily while they are transported out of the building. This is done to make facilities more efficient. The only time recycling is thrown in the trash is if it is too contaminated to be recycled.

Fischer then emphasized how crucial it is for people to make more of an effort to recycle. “The state of Massachusetts fills up trucks full of trash and sends it to other states, because of how full the local landfills are,” said Fisher. The local incinerators are also at capacity and no new ones are being built. The issue with the incinerators is that they create toxic ash and airborne pollutants, and if the ash ends up in landfills, it can impact groundwater.

Fischer also said that “it is always better to avoid trash in the first place,” as recycling does not

cancel out the effect of making something in the first place.

Another issue discussed was keeping recycling clean: There should be no food, liquids, cords or plastic bags. If a student wants to recycle their plastic bags, they should bring them to a local supermarket that collects them.

“There are no recycling fairies that sort out your recycling,” said Fischer. She also warned about the dangers of wishcycling—putting non-recyclable items in the recycling bin with the hope they will be recycled.

The audience was then given a virtual tour of the recycling and compost facilities and learned about the changes that were happening in the compost facilities.

Fischer also announced the addition of catering to the compost program: All events will now

have compostable tableware.

Fischer informed the various department heads about how they can get compostable bins in their offices and gave more information about the Green Office Certification. The Green Office Certification consists of Brandeis Sustainability giving a presentation to a department and then calculating their green score, which will potentially result in them recieving a medal (Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum).

Brandeis Sustainability then helps the departments with obtaining bins for recycling and compost, switching to less wasteful office coffee, holding green events and more. The only department that currently has a Green Office Medal is the English Department, with a Gold medal.

Carey gave a presentation on

Republic Services, the company that recycles for Brandeis.

Carey explained the difference between things that are reusable, things that are recyclable and things that are compostable.

Reusables are things that can be used again in the same form as they are now. Recyclable things are those that can be turned into a new item, while compostables are foodstuffs.

She hoped that this information would help the Brandeis community improve their recycling.

“We want your pizza box, not your pizza,” Carey concluded.

Two more sessions will occur on Monday, Feb. 11 and Thursday, Feb. 14, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Shapiro Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room. The events are sponsored by Sustainable Brandeis.

Panelists discuss careers in the Middle East

By Madeline Herrup special to the hoot

Panelists gave their personal experiences in the U.S. State Department, Iraq Oil Report and time spent in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in an event sponsored by the Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Department and associated Crown Center for Middle East Studies.

Profs. Gary Samore (POL), Pascal Menoret (ANTH) and Emma Salomon, researcher and analyst for the Iraq Oil Report, discussed jobs in the Middle East and related fields.

Each gave their personal and professional experiences and then applied it to the student’s future career goals. The panel took place in Schwartz Hall on Jan. 30.

During the event, students got a glimpse into the future with a degree in IMES. Each panelist emphasized the same three key ideas when considering a career in the Middle East: learning and applying knowledge of one or more regional languages (such as Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew), living in the region of personal interest and acquiring writing skills. With this came per-

PHOTO BY MADELINE HERRUP/THE HOOT

sonal advice from each panelist, such as Samore emphasizing pursuing an “exciting and fun” career, with passion and feeling limited

by others’ opinions.

The benefits of language and living in the region of interest are the ability to not only advance ca-

PHOTO COURTESY CROWN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES

reer-wise, but additionally to pursue a career independent of other’s thoughts, said the panelists.

And while this is essential, Salomon references herself to show how the field of Middle Eastern Studies can often require bouncing from job to job. While many jobs are available in this area, like with many professions, higher positions take time.

Menoret gives himself as an accurate personal example for how living abroad and learning the languages of the Middle Eastern region can be largely beneficial for a career. Born in France and having worked for the French government, then moving to Saudi Arabia and various other Middle Eastern countries, Menoret has plenty of international and language experience.

The last section of the panel involved a series of questions from inquiring students, while each panelist had the opportunity to answer. One question asked was whether going abroad to certain politically complex countries, such as Saudi Arabia in the context of the United States, is advantageous or dangerous for one’s career. Ultimately, all three panelists agreed that such decisions are worth the risk if able to advance

one’s career. Political or social weariness should never hinder what a student wishes to pursue, they said.

In concluding the panel, Samore, Salomon and Menoret all agreed that the three aforementioned ideas are critical in both developing a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the Middle East and being more desirable in the job market. With language acquisition, time spent abroad and writing skills, a degree in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies can yield many opportunities for prospective students.

Samore works at the Crown Center and is a professor at Brandeis. He worked on nuclear policy in Asia and the Middle East at the U.S. State Department, later going to serve under Presidents Clinton (1995-2001) and Obama (2009-2013). Salomon works at the Iraq Oil Report, in addition to working to improve economic development and emergency relief projects in Beirut, Lebanon.

Menoret is also a Brandeis professor, with experience in teaching philosophy, French, history and anthropology in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

4 NEWS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

Students gather at activities fair, learn more about Brandeis clubs and sports

PHOTOS BY CELIA YOUNG AND SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

February 1, 2019

NEWS 5

The Brandeis Hoot

Student Union winter elections fill twelve out of thirteen seats ELECTION, from page 1

she has. “Thank you for bestowing the trust on me for being their chess player in the works of it.

Trust me and I have your best interests,” Anderson told The Hoot.

Madeline Scherff ’22 won the midyear senate seat with 68.63 percent of the vote, or 35 votes. In an email interview with The Hoot, Scherff wrote that she was incredibly grateful to have won. “My priority now that I’ve been elected is to bridge the gap between midyears and the rest of the student body through student government,” Scherff wrote. “I also plan on actively involving myself in committees such as the committee for sustainability to have a say in the evolution of an even better Brandeis,” she continued.

Taylor Fu ’21, who ran unopposed for East Quad Senator, won with 44 votes of the total 61. In an

earlier email interview with The Hoot, Fu wrote, “I would like to build a more collaborative community at East among the students and CAs.” Fu continued, “I plan on working with DCL to organize and clean the facilities in East. I would also try and work with the C.A.s to ensure that they are more accessible to students in case of lockouts and other emergencies.”

Matthew Reeves ’19 ran unopposed in the race for Foster Mods Senator. Reeves received almost 80 percent of the votes, or 23 votes of the 29 total votes.

Other written-in senators included Mod Cat. Reeves told The Hoot in an interview that “the Student Union seems like a shit show, to say the least. So I want to improve it, but I don’t know.”

Upon winning, he told The Hoot in an email interview, “While my campaign found great success thanks to the brilliant work done by my campaign

manager, minority outreach coordinator, friend Nathan Greess, I find my victory to be bittersweet.”

“Marred by the fact that a percentage of the votes went to the fictional character ‘Mod Cat.’ I am deeply bothered by this fact,” he said. “Let alone the fact that candidates must compete with fictional characters, where would we be if this so called Mod Cat won? Is this the standard that we are setting for ourselves? Is our college experience so banal and mundane that we must resort to childish measures in order to find some sense of amusement from a serious election?”

He continued, “I believe Brandeis can be better and do better than this, and that’s where I’ll start. Together, we’re going to improve our community and leave a lasting impression that all may be proud of!”

Jacob Diaz ’20 won the off-campus senator position, after the

election was delayed due to technical problems with the ballot question not showing up. Diaz won with 60 percent of the vote, or 41 votes. Diaz told The Hoot he hopes to “work as a dedicated senator and try to be a voice in politics for all students and not just use it as a name only,” he said.

After his victory, Diaz wrote to The Hoot in an email interview saying, “I’m over the moon right now not only because I won but because the off-campus student body is willing to put its trust in me to represent them. I am ready to get to work and make Brandeis a better place for all students!”

Thomas Alger ’20 and Trevor Filseth ’20 will now represent the class of 2020 in the Union. Alger won the overall race with 49 of the overall 109 votes, just under 45 percent of the total votes.

Filseth received almost 34 percent of the total with 37 votes.

Alger told The Hoot, “I’d like to

say that I am a very approachable person. If you have any desires or anything else you want changed, come talk to me, especially being one of the few senators who would be linking the athletic department with the greater student body as I know has been a very disjointed two groups within the history of Brandeis.”

“I’m honored that I was elected and I’m going to do my best to represent you guys and not let you down,” Filseth told The Hoot in an interview.

Finally, the last question on the ballot was to recall International Student Senator Linfei Yang ’20. The recall passed, with 63 percent of the vote in favor, 42 out of the 66 total voters. Yang has been recalled.

Denezia Fahie ’22 won the Racial Minority seat by 6 votes, with 45.71 percent of the vote. Fahie could not be reached for comment.

Artist talks about the process of creating interdisciplinary art

By Rachel Saal editor

Art is a medium for expressing interdisciplinary ideas in a creative and cohesive way, according to artist David Kim, who spoke in Goldman Schwartz Art Auditorium on Wednesday afternoon.

Kim, who previously worked as a cancer and genetics research scientist, uses his background in research to intertwine biological science, new media and fine art disciplines through living and digital media, ac-

cording to his website. His art is used as a medium of expressing his interest in social justice.

“The idea of work that is not only inspired by science or biological processes, but in fact using science and biological processes as the medium, that’s what became one of the central parts of my practice,” said Kim. Kim said that when working with nature, he allows some randomness to dictate how his work progresses, and that the most interesting art is the art that exceeds preconceived notions and expectations.

“You input meaning and the output meaning might be different,” said Kim. “When you collaborate with living things and living systems, they have a mind of their own and you can’t 100 percent control them. You have to be prepared for the unexpected and be okay with things not going the way you thought.”

After working as a researcher, Kim returned to school to study interdisciplinary computing in the arts and digital media. As an educator, he’s worked at a number of universities and at the high school level, and has

been teaching for over a decade.

Kim has worked as a curator for interdisciplinary and social justice art-aligned expositions.

“If I had to do it again, maybe I wouldn’t have gone back to school and maybe I would just engage directly with the groups I collaborate with,” said Kim. “I still have a private practice, but I’ve grown so much stronger by collaborating with people who have different perspectives.”

Kim identifies as a gay, Korean-American man, and he said that he uses his personal narrative to influence his art and explore

social and emotional dynamics.

His work has become increasingly centered around his personal experience with marginalization, as well as global issues of marginalization, according to Kim. “The art in my private practice is more squarely personal, and the art I work with collaboratively is much more focused on global and social justice issues. But to me, they have a very clear resonance.

The reason I’m engaged with these larger social issues is because of my own social narrative.”

Judiciary case to be heard next Sunday JUDICIARY, from page 1

mar ’20, who will represent the A-Board side of the issue after the petitioners have presented.

The Judiciary, which will deliberate in the Student Union conference room, is given “final authority on the interpretation of the Student Union Constitution,” according to Article IV of the Union constitution. Nadjar, as the Chief Justice, has the final vote for the four-person Judiciary.

After both sides have presented, the justices will deliberate privately and then make a ruling “then and there,” said Nadjar. “Everybody is prepped and we’re all bringing 100 percent to the table,” he continued. “It may be unheard of before but we definitely want to make a one-time appearance and not have this drag on,” said Nadjar.

Though the hearing will be public, Nadjar emphasized that individuals disturbing the proceedings would be removed.

The Judiciary will decide on four claims of the case. The first claim was that the Student Union is not a club as defined by the Constitution, but rather is a governing body for clubs and organi-

zations. In an earlier Hoot article, Finkel spoke about the first claim, saying, “We are arguing that the Student Union is not a club. It is the government. A-Board is just a mechanism to distribute funds.”

The second claim states that “the Student Union is not under the jurisdiction of the Allocations Board,” and the third claim is that the Student Union is guaranteed the entirety of its benchmark funding amount by the constitution. The fourth and final claim defines the word benchmark as, “the minimum amount guaranteed to a Secured Club,” and goes on to state that the A-Board can fund more than the benchmark, but not less.

When the case was first filed, the Judiciary met over Skype to discuss it. The core issue of the case, Morris said, is the Student Union’s designation as a club, or as something else, like a governing body.

In an interview with The Hoot, Morris talked about the central issue, saying “Is E-Board a club, whether it be recognized chartered or secured?”

He continued, “Of course checks and balances is an issue here.

E-Board is arguing who’s checking A-Board when they give out

their benchmarks. And A-Board is asking who’s checks and balancing E-Board if A-Board can’t tell them what to do with their funds.”

If the Student Union is a secured club, the A-Board would be able to decide how much to fund the Union, as it has done in the past. If not, then the Judiciary would dictate the new mechanism with which the E-Board would be funded, said Morris.

“The Judiciary can issue whatever it is that we feel necessary for it to be modified,” Morris said.

Morris clarified that “we don’t like to create new mechanisms,” but could if they thought it was necessary.

The Judiciary case stems from early controversy within the Union, which began when the A-Board decided not to fund the Union an additional $12,000 that the Union requested. The A-Board decision was vetoed by Brown, but the A-Board unanimously overturned the presidential veto.

The Union was allocated $38,000 for the fiscal year of 2019, and the additional $12,000 would have allowed the Union to achieve their benchmark funding goal of $50,000. The A-Board allocation was based on the ex-

penditure of the Union last fiscal year, and that the A-Board felt that the Union did not provide substantial reasoning for the request for the additional funds.

If the Judiciary rules that the term “benchmark” refers to a minimum funding goal, the Union would be guaranteed the $50,000 by the A-Board, and so would other secured clubs. To change that benchmark number, a constitutional amendment would have to pass with a twothirds vote from the members of the student body who voted.

Clubs often receive much more or less than their constitutionally defined benchmark. Clubs such as Brandeis Television (BTV), for example, have a benchmark of $15,000, but was allocated just under $3,000 for the fiscal year of 2019. The Waltham Group and the Campus Activities Board both receive over $30,000 more than their respective benchmarks.

But the A-Board argues that a benchmark is a goal, not a minimum value, and that defining the benchmark as a minimum would mean other clubs would get less funding, according to an earlier Hoot article.

The Constitution as it stands

refers to the word “benchmark” in Section 2 Article 1-1 when describing the Union government fund, saying, “[The] Union Government Fund … shall fund the affairs and operations of the Union and shall be distributed to the Union Government. A benchmark for this fund shall be $50,000.”

The A-Board is defined by the Student Union Constitution Article 5 Section 1 as, “The Allocations Board shall establish the budgets from the Student Activities Fund for Chartered and Secured Clubs in accordance with this Constitution and its Bylaws, and shall publish their allocations each funding period, henceforth referred to as a marathon, to the Student Union and to the student body.”

The Judiciary is provided with information about the case including the E-Board claims and relevant sections of the constitution by Clerk of the Judiciary Abdul Rehman ’19. The Judiciary decides all cases by a majority vote of the justices present and voting, according to the constitution. All hearings are public, though the Judiciary can vote to make them private.

6 NEWS

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February 1, 2019

Harvard professor gives talk on democracy at Heller School

By Thalia Plata staff

A Harvard professor recounted his personal journey advocating for fair elections and unionizing farm workers at the talk, “The Democratic Promise: People, Power, and Change.”

Professor Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, visited The Heller School on Wednesday to talk about how to fulfill the democratic promise.

According to Ganz, fulfilling the democratic promise of equity, accountability and inclusion requires the participation of an “organized” citizenry that can articulate and assert its shared interests effectively.

Ganz is a prominent educator, organizer and movement builder with decades of experience in or-

ganizing communities to mobilize and build power to create positive social change. He discussed leadership, people, power and change, as well as his experience with organizing.

Ganz grew up in Bakersfield, California, where his father was a rabbi and his mother a teacher.

He entered Harvard College in the fall of 1960. He left a year before graduating to volunteer with the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, saying “I didn’t see the point of studying history, when I was busy making it.” The Mississippi Summer Project was a volunteer effort to try to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi.

He discussed how the night before the volunteers were supposed to go to Mississippi, three members of the group disappeared, and were presumed dead. They had been murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. He spoke about how

this experience tested his courage, however, coming from a family of Holocaust survivors, he was motivated to continue his activism.

For three years after World War II, his family lived in occupied Germany, where his father served as a U.S. Army chaplain working with displaced persons. Having encountered survivors of the Holocaust, his parents taught Marshall about the dangers of racism and anti-Semitism.

“Racism kills. As a rabbi’s kid I loved the Passover seder. They were like the story of the Exodus, but with food. They point at children and say, ‘You were slaves in Egypt.’ Not you literally — but you have to figure out who you are in this story. You need to figure out if you’re holding people back or helping people through.”

He found a “calling” as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and, in the fall of 1965, joined Cesar

Chavez in his effort to unionize California farm workers. During his 16 years with the United Farm Workers he gained experience in union, political and community organizing, and became Director of Organizing.

Ganz’s experience with the farm workers led him to formulate his concept of “strategic capacity.” He says this explains how Chavez’s farmworker organizing succeeded. Ganz defines strategy as “how we turn what we have, into what we need, to get what we want.”

Ganz states that the key is to remember that leadership is distributed. No one person or group of people holds all the power; responsibility is shared in a sustainable way, and structure aims to create mutual accountability.

In 1991 he returned to Harvard College and, after a 28-year “leave of absence,” completed his undergraduate degree. He was awarded an MPA by the Kennedy School

in 1993 and completed his PhD in sociology in 2000, and was asked to develop a course. As senior lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, he teaches, researches and writes on leadership, organization and strategy in social movements, civic associations and politics.

He has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, American Political Science Review, American Prospect, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in divinity by the Episcopal Divinity School in 2010.

The event was put on by the Relational Coordination Research Collaborative (RCRC) jointly with the Graduate Student Association and Brandeis European Graduate Students Association.

International student senator will not accept recall election results RECALL, from page 1

President Hannah Brown ’19 and Vice President Aaron Finkel ’20 said Yang does not have a choice on whether or not to accept the vote. “If he has a problem with the vote, he needs to take it to the Judiciary,” Brown said. “If he has an administrative problem, he can talk to me.”

Finkel added that Yang can no longer attend the Senate meetings. The bylaws of the Student Union allow for a public comment, open forum section in Article V, Section 6, Subsection J. The Constitution does not explicitly prohibit non-senator students from attending Senate meetings.

The recall vote began with a petition, created by Leigh Salomon ’19 and Kent Dinlenc ’19, which was sent to Yang’s constituency, the international student population, with the help of former Secretary Lian Chen ’19.

Zosia Buse ’20 and other students also assisted Salomon and Dinlenc in writing and sharing the petition. Wilson Chen ’20, a member of Yang’s constituency, was also part of the initial email that was sent to Yang.

Article X in the Student Union Constitution is the procedural followings for Removal of Office.

Each of the three different sections in the Article provide three different methods of removal from office. Salomon and Dinlenc utilized the first section, Recall, in an attempt to remove Yang from office.

In order for a recall vote to be called, “A petition signed by fifteen percent of an elected official’s total constituency shall mandate a recall vote,” according to the Student Union Constitution. The petition would then be submitted, in person, to the Secretary of the Student Union, who is charged with certifying the petition. Since Student Union Secretary Qingtian Mei ’21 is a member of Yang’s constituency, the responsibility of verification was shifted to Student Union President Hannah Brown

’19.

Salomon told The Hoot in an interview that their petition received 128 signatures. With an international student population of 725, according to the Brandeis Factbook, the petition received support from 17.7 percent of Yang’s constituency.

Brown took all the names on the petition to the University Registrar to certify all the names on the petition, she told The Hoot in an interview. All the names and emails that were given on the petition were university-verified as international students to guarantee the 15 percent student support on the petition. Out of the 128 signatures, 110 signatures were verified, and with a 15.2 percent support rate, the recall vote was set into motion.

“Anything that motivates 15 percent of an entire constituency to sign a petition of recall should be given weighty consideration,” Brown told The Hoot when asked about the significance of the recall vote.

Dinlenc and Salomon reassured the international constituents that supported the petition that their names would be kept confidential. According to Salomon, the only people who had access to the names were him, Dinlenc, Chen, Brown and the Office of the Registrar.

In a packet of information that was sent to The Hoot, Yang had noted that “Furthermore, there has been at least one example where an international student’s email—that of the Student Union Secretary, Qingtian Mei’s—was put as a signee without their permission.” Yang told The Hoot that Mei had told Yang this, given that he does not have access to the list of students who signed the petition.

Mei told The Hoot that even though he physically did not sign the petition, he was with a friend who signed the petition for him with him present and with his consent.

The Constitution further states

that “once a recall petition is certified, a vote for recall shall then be held for that official whose name appears on the petition. This vote shall take place within ten academic days of certification of the petition. The official shall be recalled if at least two-thirds of the official’s constituents vote in favor of recall.”

“Two-thirds of the official’s constituents” caused issue with all of the parties involved, including Dinlenc, Salomon, Yang and Brown. The Hoot reached out to the Judiciary to clarify the wording of the Constitution to define what constitutes two-thirds of the official’s constituents.

The Judiciary’s first interpretation of the wording of the Constitution certified that two-thirds referred to the senator’s overall constituents. “We feel that in reality the voting body that day for a recall, may not represent the entire constituency, as some constituents may choose not to vote or may be unable for whatever reasons,” said the Judiciary in an email to The Hoot.

In response to this decree, Brown disagreed with the interpretation set by the Judiciary, saying in an email, “I find this explanation extremely concerning given that ALL elections depend on whatever constituents vote that day. Holding this vote to a different standard based on this explanation is not in alignment with any other voting procedures in place.”

Dinlenc also challenged the Judiciary’s interpretation. “Nowhere in any election, both in the Student Union and in real politics, does a ballot require a minimum number of votes by a constituency. The foundations of democracy were built upon the consensus of the majority of a voting body,” Dinlenc said in an email.

“According to parliamentary procedures, any constituent who decides not to vote is deemed the abstention, which does not count towards the final tally of votes. A minimum percentage of the body

represented in the petition makes sense … But to assume that more than ever 50 percent of a constituency will vote on an issue is ludicrous.”

Following the emails sent by both Brown and Dinlenc, the Judiciary issued a final decree saying that, “Constituency as it stands now is represented through voting bodies as seen at Brandeis.

Members of the constituency may have graduated and/or went abroad from their voting election and the process must be done efficiently and inclusive of new members of our Student Body as well.”

Last semester’s recall petition cited multiple reasons why Yang should be removed from office.

According to the petition, Yang was said to have “exhibited a carelessness and lack of respect for the rules of conduct and decorum of the Student Union, the Brandeis administration and the university community as whole.”

Last semester, Yang had been the sole administrator of the MyDeis Facebook pages for the Class of 2019 and 2020. Since the release of this article, Yang is no longer the administrator of either page. In an interview with The Hoot, Yang said he made himself administrator of the page because he saw that there were no other administrators of the page and felt the responsibility to maintain order in the groups.

When Dinlenc asked Yang for administrator rights, Yang refused, saying, “We can’t get all the positions we want sometimes, however qualified we may be.”

Yang told The Hoot that he did not want to give anyone that power, even though Dinlenc had been voted on as the class of 2019 senator in the previous election cycle.

The final part of the petition calls upon Yang’s misconduct throughout his two years in the Student Union. “He [Yang] has been warned multiple times regarding his disrespectful demeanor for his colleagues and chairs during Senate meetings and committee meetings,” read the peti-

tion.

Following the verification of the signatures, Dinlenc and Salomon had reached out to Yang to ask him to resign, rather than going through the procedure of the recall vote. “Out of respect for these ideals, upheld by both yourself and the Student Union, we kindly ask that you resign from your position as International Student Senator to provide the place for new members of our international undergraduate student community to join the Senate and fight for what they believe in,” the resignation email to Yang said, which was obtained by The Hoot.

Yang politely declined the resignation request.

Yang also noted in the packet, “I think that the real reason that this petition exists is the result of a personal vendetta against me by Kent, with Leigh acting as his accomplice … After not responding out of concern, I was repeatedly harassed by him on Facebook messenger.”

“Linfei is demonstrating reckless behavior, and I fear he is spiraling out of control from his decision, and based on everything he has said and done, it may be necessary to appeal to a higher level of authority if Linfei refuses to follow the Constitution that we have,” Salomon told The Hoot in reaction to news that Yang would not be accepting the recall.

“He’s basically exhibiting the lack of respect that his constituents recalled him for,” said Dinlenc. “There is no respect for decorum, no respect for the system, no respect for democracy. And that’s troubling to say the least. I am confident that he will be removed from any Senate meetings if he is being rowdy or unpleasant, even as a regular student.”

Even though Yang told The Hoot that this recall vote is invalid, Brown emphasized that if Yang takes issue with the vote, he should take his concerns to the Judiciary.

FEATURES

February 1, 2019

The Brandeis Hoot 7

Skunkworks assists students with software projects

By Polina Potochevska editor

For innovative students at Brandeis, ideas run freely and have great potential. The problem? Sometimes, the technical details are too difficult for students to figure out on their own, especially if their major lies outside of the computer science realm.

Luckily, Skunkworks is a group at Brandeis that can help students with their projects.

A Skunkworks project, a term which originated in World War II, is defined as a project developed by a small group of people who do research and development primarily for the goal of radical innovation.

At Brandeis, the group is described by Department Administrator Michael Golitsyn MA ’17 as a “student-run experimental organization that provides technical solutions to problems within the Brandeis community.” The group has existed for the past three years on campus but has recently grown in size.

It began as a project that one or two students undertook through an independent study with Professor Tim Hickey (COSI) and Golitsyn “to learn about and experience product, project and

software development life cycles and, in the process, use technology to innovate and solve problems around campus,” wrote Golitsyn to The Brandeis Hoot.

This year, Charlie Kim ’19, a major in Computer Science and Global Studies and group leader of Skunkworks, used his experience from Brandeis classes and also experience from the business and military sectors to expand the group and increase the number of projects worked on every semester. Currently, the Skunkworks team is composed of 24 students, faculty and staff working on five concurrent projects.

As Golitsyn explained in an email to The Hoot, “The primary mission of the group is to give students more opportunities to expand their knowledge, gain practical experience, collaborate and improve experiences of the Brandeis community.” Students are able to apply their coursework to real-world problems and assist those who need help with important software issues but do not necessarily have the funding to hire professionals.

As Skunkworks operated in the 1940s, so does the modern Brandeis interpretation, as it combines both students, faculty and staff together on projects. Some projects are funded as on-campus

jobs through departments, others operate as independent studies and some are completely on a volunteer basis.

“This semester, the group collaborates with a number of Computer Science faculty and staff, the Maker Lab, the Rose Art Museum, and [the] Anthropology department,” wrote Golitsyn.

The students involved in Skunkworks could earn project and product development experience for their resumes, independent study credits, a possible part-time wage, teamwork experience and the satisfaction of solving a problem in the Brandeis community.

Faculty and staff involved gain joy of working with students on creative projects and also can receive help with projects that would not be cost effective for them to build otherwise.

This semester, Skunkworks is working on five projects. Nicole Huang ’19 is working to build an augmented reality exhibit for the Rose Arts Museum. Charlie Kim ’19 is working with the Virtual Reality Club and Hazal Uzunkaya of the Maker Lab to develop a virtual campus tour. Allison Tien ’20 is also working with the Maker Lab and the Anthropology department to explore the benefits of digitizing historical artifacts for accessibility and pro-

PHOTO BY ABIGAIL GARDENER/THE HOOT

Project leaders of Skunkworks work to bring dreams to life. Left to right: Shannon Livingstone ‘21, Allison Tien ‘20, Charlie Kim ‘19, Fernando Estrella ‘20, and Michael Golitsyn.

SKUNKWORKS MAKES SCENTS

tection of the items. Shannon Livingstone ’21 is helping The Hoot with website improvements, and Fernando Estrella (GRAD) ’20 is leading a team to build a tool to help department administrators schedule courses within Brandeis’ block schedule.

A long term goal of Skunkworks is to turn mentor Professor Pito Salas’ (COSI) idea into a reality: To create a clearing house where anyone with ideas for projects and the need for interdisciplinary help can find those interested in “bringing dreams to life.”

Another goal is to explore funding more student projects and to

integrate with the International Business School to make projects even more efficient and interdisciplinary.

As Golitsyn explains to students “fail fast and fail often.”

When faced with an obstacle in a project, to shift focus and pivot to a new idea instead of always facing the issue from the same side.

Golitsyn hopes that Skunkworks will be able to form a network of students that can share advice and other connections.

Students interested in Skunkworks or who have ideas to share can email them at skunkworks@ brandeis.edu.

Branchan creator adds rules to the site

By Celia Young editor

After Alex Chang ’22 created the site “Branchan” at the Fall 2018 Codestallation, he forgot about it.

“It was only a few hours that I was working on it that I just put it together and then I presented it. And then I didn’t really win anything, and then I just sort of forgot about it for a while,” Chang said, in an interview with The Brandeis Hoot.

But Branchan, which is modeled after the popular anonymous image board site 4chan, began to gain traction over winter break, said Chang.

“I feel like what happened was Brandeis Confessions was closed for a while over break and I think a lot of people posted stuff on [Branchan] during that time and then people came back and people started having conversations and stuff on it.”

The site became more popular.

It averaged at 28 visits per day for December 2018 which moved up to 54 visits per day for the month of January 2019, Chang told The Hoot in an interview.

Chang modeled the site after 4chan because it was easier from a development perspective. “I modeled it after 4chan because the scripts that I used to develop the website were also modelled in that sense, where it’s a very, very type of bare-bones style message board.”

The site 4chan is known most for the boards /pol/, politically incorrect and /b/, random, which block less offensive content than most internet forums. The board /pol/ can “frequently dissolve into racial or misogynistic slurs,” according to an article by The Washington Post. But 4chan is also home to popular jokes in-

cluding “rickrolling,” or the practice of sending someone a link that actually directs them to Rick Astley’s song, “Never Gonna Give You Up” and funny images of cats with text superimposed over the image.

Branchan has experienced similar inappropriate content. Chang has had to delete a few posts, which he called “inappropriate” and “demeaning,” though he did not expand on their content.

Chang spoke about the banned content, saying, “That’s something that I’m still trying to figure out: to what degree is it going to be moderated, to what degree is it going to be unmoderated?”

The site has two moderators along with Chang that examine the content after it is posted. The moderators get email notifications when a new post is uploaded to the site. And the rules of the site are still developing.

One anonymous writer posted, “I wanna burn room 301 in village cause yeet” next to an image of YouTuber Jake Paul photoshopped next to individuals in the Klu Klux Klan, wearing white robes and hats. The anonymous writer posted the image and text on Jan. 26, but Chang took the image down on Jan. 28.

The post, like all Branchan posts, was completely anonymous. The Hoot spoke to Sam Stern ’20, an assistant Systems Administrator, who spoke about how difficult it would be to find out who commented on the site.

“I do just want to emphasize again how hard it would be to trace back somebody’s identity,” Stern said, explaining that it would require a lot of information to become available and to be accurate for someone’s identity to be established.

Chang spoke about his goals for the site, describing it as a “social experiment.” He continued, “I fig-

ured it would be really interesting to see what this would look like if that kind of filter wasn’t in place and if people could just say whatever they wanted.”

Chang took the image of the KKK members down, but not the text, after he added new rules to the site. Chang added a set of rules to the site after an interview with The Hoot, and his expectation is that use of his site will increase.

“What I foresaw was that our userbase would increase, and because it would then increase it would be a good idea to get down a good list of solid rules just so that when people start posting more the moderation team has a set very well defined, set of guidelines for how to moderate the website,” he said.

The rules were modeled after several different internet forums including 4chan, Facebook and Reddit, and uploaded to the site on Jan. 28. The rules, which are “to prevent this site from becoming the dumpster fire which is 4chan,” according to the Official BranChan Rules page, ban certain types of content. Chang also changed the Branchan logo from the Brandeis University seal to the text, “Branchan.”

To use the official Brandeis seal, Chang would need the approval of the Office of Communications, which specifies on its website, “Use of the seal generally is reserved for use by the Office of the President.”

The new rules ban five categories of content, including: highly offensive or hateful content, content that violates local or United States law, spam, direct personal threats or attempts at intimidation and “adult content of any sort.”

Chang spoke about the rules, saying, “I didn’t want to make them so strict that you had to carefully word something you

PHOTO FROM BRANCHAN.ORG

ANONYMOUS POST ON BRANCHAN

Anonymous user posts image of KKK on Jan. 26.

wanted to say.” He continued, “I just wanted to make it so that the platform doesn’t start becoming a place that attracts the people who only have bad intentions.”

The fourth rule bans direct personal threats and intimidation, saying, “We encourage you to be kind and respectful of others, and to be tolerant of different perspectives than your own.” When asked about the post containing the image of the KKK and the text threatening to burn a room in the Village, Chang responded, “I would say that constitutes breaking the rules.” He continued, “The image is definitely down. I think the text might still be up and if it is I’m going to delete it.”

Chang spoke about the possibility of posters using the site to express hateful thoughts, saying, “In the 21st century people who have those feelings will always find a way to put it out there, be it on Branchan or 4chan or Reddit or somewhere.”

The text of the post was on the site as of Wednesday Jan. 30, after rules were uploaded to the site on Jan. 28.

Highly offensive or hateful content is defined on the site as “posts which are created with the sole

intention of disrupting discussion with the usage of racism, sexism, etc.” Chang spoke about this regulation, saying if people just post racial slurs of seriously offensive content with the only goal of creating “a spiral of negative content,” then those posts would be removed.

The second rule bans posts that violate US or local law. This refers to Massachusetts law, Chang clarified. The third rule, banning spam, includes content that is repeated on the site unnecessarily, and content with the sole purpose of advertising a product. Finally, the fifth rule, banning adult content, bans pornography.

Chang hopes more people will use the forum. “I feel like it has the potential to be a really good platform, in the sense that it would allow people to have conversations anonymously that wouldn’t be easy to facilitate in a face to face manner.”

Chang also hoped that the site would provide more transparency, unlike the “black box” of Brandeis Confessions, where some posts are not uploaded, he said. The site has ten pages of posts as of Jan. 31.

8 FEATURES

The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

’Deis Hacks looks to improve non-profit organizations

By Sabrina Chow editor

When people think of hacking, their first thought is always along the lines of hacking the National Security Agency (NSA) or Facebook. But ’Deis Hacks, “a hackathon for social good” focuses on the good that can come out of hacking. Hosted by the Brandeis MakerLab with Brandeis’ International Business School, the hackathon combines Printathon and Codestellation to incorporate the community.

Printathon Design Challenge is a hack-event that allows teams from different schools to compete and design a 3D-printed creation, according to their website.

Codestellation is a 24-hour software and hardware hackathon.

According to ’Deis Hacks’ website, “We are sourcing our hack-challenges from the 30 or so not-for-profit and social enterprise organizations local to Waltham.

Instead of having a single hackathon challenge, this event’s theme will fuse design thinking, digital fabrication and social impact to work on real world solutions for non-profit companies.”

At the event, groups were formed and were partnered with a

non-profit organization that they would design for.

Over a two-day period, they learned about all the non-profit organizations and hacked through the night.

The panel of judges, which was comprised of community activists, technology specialists and educators, judged the groups’ five-minute pitches for how well they satisfied the needs of their non-profit organization and “complexity, creativity, originality, adherence to the challenge and a popular vote,” according to their website.

Ian Roy, the Director for Research Technology and Innovation and the Head of the Brandeis MakerLab, and Professor Gene Miller (IBS) collaborated to create this unique opportunity for students and non-profit organizations in the area.

According to an email sent to The Brandeis Hoot by Miller, ’Deis Hacks was a joint effort between the MakerLab and IBS with the Brandeis Board Fellows program that students in Miller’s BUS 297 class participate in.

The class, titled “Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations,” is open to all undergraduate and graduate students.

“In my class Field Experience in Social Innovation Leadership … students are placed on the

boards of local not-for-profits as non-voting board fellows,” Miller told The Hoot. “They are in the classroom with me for a full year where they function as a cohort as they individually learn to lead and serve.”

Miller also explained that the ’Deis Hack teams were tied to the 11 different organizations that the board fellows serve on.

According to an article published by Patch Waltham, the hackathon gives Miller’s students the ability to practice “their leadership skills through teamwork and the pitches: They’ll be the ones pitching the needs of the Waltham nonprofits to the students as participants decide which nonprofit to team up with and help.”

“The dream is to get a scientist with an artist with a business student all on the same team with varied expertise and work together to see the problem from different angles and collaborate,” Roy told Patch Waltham. “One of the most unique things is that Brandeis has no engineering program … They want to see change in the world. Our community is made up of true believers who want to make an impact, and we want to connect them with tool sets that enable them to take their imaginations or ambitions and apply it in reality.”

The winning group, led by Gloria Zheng ’18 MBA ’19, was assigned to work with Leland Home as a non-voting board fellow. Leland Home is “a safe and affordable residence for persons age 62 and over who desire or need assistance in their daily living,” according to their website. Zheng’s win also came with a $1000 prize.

Zheng told The Hoot in an email that she had performed a strength-weakness-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis and marketing plan for Leland Home prior to ’Deis Hacks.

She also took her team to Leland Home to talk to the director of the home. According to the email, Leland Home currently has eight empty rooms. Prabu Gugagantha ’22, Alex Chang ’22 and Fernando Estrella ’20 were all part of Zheng’s winning team.

“For having a clear image of marketing competition, we also went to other real estates in Waltham to find out the strengths of Leland Home compared to others,” Zheng told The Hoot.

“So after the field trip, we all decided to focus on the problem of the marketing side to increase social awareness in our community.

So we decided to rebuild our website with pretty promotional video and an online live chat.”

Zheng and her team came up with three different proposals

combining marketing and operation at Leland Home. The first proposal is to promote Leland Home through the internet. The team created a promotion website, “in which the family of potential residents can use online chat to get more information of Leland Home,” explained Zheng.

“We also create the posters to increase social awareness about Leland Home and the community.”

The second project looked specifically at operation. While visiting Leland Home, Zheng and her team realized that there was a strong lack of communication between not only the residents and employees but also between employees themselves. The team created a Google form that would allow employees to sign in each day and report on what they did and and concerns during their shift.

The final proposal was to make a Raspberry Pi calendar, a lowcost digital calendar that could be put in the dining room of the home. “The residents can check the calendar through the screen during their dining service and employees can change them just through Google calendar,” said Zheng.

They also created a new activity, “Furry Friend,” that would allow the residents to pet the pets nearby Leland Home.

Featured Events Calendar Women’s and Men’s Basketball vs. Emory Fri., Feb. 1, Women’s game at 6 p.m., Men’s game at 8 p.m.

Women’s and Men’s Basketball play their first February game and the first of four straight home games.

2019 SPARKTank: 5th Annual Student and Faculty Startup Pitch Competition Sun., Feb. 3, 8:30 a.m., Sachar International Center Watch startup teams from around Brandeis compete for up to $50,000 in prizes in our 5th annual SPARKTank competition! Teams will present their ideas for innovations in high tech, social enterprise, business-to-business, and consumer products to a group of judges, and the winners will receive funding, mentorship and support as they strive to make a difference in the world through entrepreneurship.

Inclusion Doesn’t Happen By Accident Sun., Feb. 3, 3 p.m., Hassenfeld Conference Center Rabbi Dov Linzer has been an outspoken advocate for people with disabilities. He will speak about spiritual values, disability and inclusion.

Campus Activities Board Super Bowl Party Sun., Feb. 3, 5 p.m., Sherman Function Hall Wanna watch the Super Bowl on the biggest screen on campus? Join Campus Activities Board, Department of Community Living, Residence Hall Association and Student Union in Sherman Function Hall this Sunday for a night of football, free food, games and prizes! You don’t want to be anywhere else.

Graduate Student Program: How Businesses Can Provide Social Justice w/Javaid Sofi Mon., Feb. 4, 12:30 p.m., Shapiro Campus Center We need to change the way we think about business.

The goal of the business should be to make profit and provide social justice. These two things are not mutually exclusive. Take Aravind Hospital in India: for less than $5, the health system was able to deliver high-quality eye surgery for those who have been systematically marginalized and denied health services.

While it is an imperative to fight systematic impediments that halt progress to achieve social justice—we do a disservice by not taking advantage of market forces that can elevate marginalized groups.

Justice for All: The Ongoing Fight for Reform of the Justice System and Prisoner Rights Mon., Feb. 4, 7 p.m., Usdan In this panel discussion, hear from a corporate trial lawyer who uses his talents to serve as president of the Innocence Project in Pennsylvania (Howard Scher ’67), and from a former director of the ACLU’s National Prisoner Project who has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that helped to change national policy (Elizabeth Alexander ’67). They will be joined by two public defenders who apply social justice activism to their daily work (Aaron Bray ’13 and Lindsay Markel ’08).

10 Years of Brandeis in The Hague: Alumni Panel Exploring Social Justice from an International Legal Perspective Tues., Feb. 5, 2 p.m., Usdan The Hague alumni panel will explore social justice from an international legal perspective and how oppressed people can or cannot rely on the system of the international criminal courts. Alumni will convey what they learned on the Brandeis in The Hague program and how they’ve applied it to their graduate work, research and professional career endeavors.

From Protest to Politics: The Ferguson Uprising as Challenge Longstanding Injustices Tues., Feb. 5, 8 p.m., Shapiro Campus Center Pastor Cori Bush tells her story about her journey in the struggle to end police violence and resource deprivation in St. Louis/Ferguson area. The movement in Ferguson not only changed St. Louis, but it became the lens through which most people came to see Black struggle in the current era. Bush came to the protest to support the physical and mental well being of activists and never left, seeing that the men in power did not have concern for people’s interest. Bush also saw few black women speaking out and even less being listened to. For her, the protests were and remain important, but the work evolved into more venues to make change.

My Spiritual Journey: Lisa Lynch Wed., Feb. 6, 5:30 p.m., Rapaporte Treasure Hall Brandeis Provost Lisa Lynch will share about her spiritual journey - specifically with regard to the people, values and communities that contributed to vision, vocation and commitment to social justice.

Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective: A Talk with Joy Ladin Thurs., Feb. 7, 5 p.m., Usdan Joy Ladin, the first openly transgender professor in an Orthodox institution, will read from her new book, “The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah From a Transgender Perspective” (Brandeis University Press/HBI Series on Jewish Women). Ladin will discuss the need for this trans perspective, as well as her process and journey. She is a professor of English at Stern College/Yeshiva University.

- Compiled by Shruthi Manjunath

EDITORIALS

February 1, 2019

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Editors-in-Chief Abigail Gardener Sarah Terrazano Managing Editor Emily Botto Senior Editor Ryan Spencer Copy Editor Natalie Fritzson Deputy Copy Editor Jennifer Cook News Editor Celia Young Deputy News Editor Rachel Saal Arts Editors Ben Beriss Noah Harper Opinions Editor Sabrina Chow Features Editor Polina Potochevska Deputy Features Editor Shruthi Manjunath Sports Editors Zach Cihlar Shea Decker-Jacoby Layout Editor Candace Ng Social Media Editor Emma Lichtenstein Cartoonist Helen Wong

Volume 16 • Issue 3 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

STAFF

Lucy Braverman, Emma Belkin, Camila Casanueva, Kevin Costa, Katie Decker-Jacoby, Chris DeMena, Olivia Ellson, Daniel Freedman, Jonah Koslofsky, Jackie Kostenko, Alex Kougasian, Jenna Lifschitz, Josh Lannon, Gillian O'Malley, Thalia Plata, Sasha Skarboviychuk, Zachary Sosland, Sophie Trachtenberg, Rachel Wang, Hannah Wilson

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.

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The Brandeis Hoot 9

We can’t afford complacency when it comes to climate change

B

randeis Dining Services has recently increased their efforts to promote sustainability on campus by providing compostable utensils and compost bins at events. Sustainability Programs also, admirably, hosted an information session to inform students and faculty about recycling myths and ways they can recycle more efficiently. However, the fact is that regardless of what the administration does to try to encourage students and faculty to care about the environment, action starts with the individual. Having the resources available is important, but unless people are aware of both the measures that have been taken and why they are important to take advantage of, nothing will actually change within the university.

Education of individuals about the importance of sustainability is the only way to get them to take action. If they are not aware of the reality of the danger, then they have no reason to make the efforts necessary to be more sustainable in their daily lives. We at The Hoot, for instance, did not realize that if

even one item of trash makes it into a recycling bin, the entire bag of recyclables becomes invalidated and heads to a landfill, and knowing this we are going to be much more mindful of what we put in the recycling bin.

But in general, a lack of education is bolstered by the misinformation touted by politicians, namely President Donald Trump. Trump and many other climate change deniers have used the recent extreme cold front that spread from the Midwest through the East Coast to discredit global warming.

As Trump so eloquently put in a tweet on Jan. 28, referencing the below-freezing temperatures, “People can’t last outside for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!” However, like many expert environmental scientists have said over the multiple decades in which climate change has been common knowledge, short-lived cold fronts in concentrated areas do not erase the history of slowly rising temperatures around the globe.

In addition, the misnomer “global

warming” is not as accurate as the more widely encompassing “climate change,” in which the environmental issues that we are facing are not isolated to warming temperatures, but instead general changes in the weather, including natural disasters and freezing temperatures.

Regardless of the inaccuracy of conservative politicians’ claims, people will continue to hear them and believe them. The only way to counteract this spread of misinformation is to educate people with the scientific facts that have been built up over the past decades and ensure that this information is even more ubiquitous than the words of Trump or his followers.

As people learn more about how climate change works, they will be more open to taking part in efforts to prevent it. Initiatives to improve sustainability such as those made

by Brandeis in recent years will not only be introduced by the administration, but followed by students and faculty.

Misinformation is rampant, but we cannot allow the lies that are spread to damage our future.

10 The Brandeis Hoot

ON A MISSION

WEEK IN PHOTOS

PHOTO BY JENNA LIFSHITZ/THE HOOT

Regardless of the bone-chilling cold, students make their way to the Usdan Dining Hall for lunch.

PHOTO COURTESY PROPER BANTAH!

PHOTO BY CANDACE NG/THE HOOT

SILVER LINING Amidst

this polar vortex New England weather rewards hard-working students with another breathtaking sunset.

DEIS DEIS BABY

Or ice ice baby?

February 1, 2019

PRE-PREMIERE PARTY

Hoot editors Celia Young, Sabrina Chow, Sarah Terrazano and Noah Harper attended a pre-premiere party celebrating the launch of talk show “Proper Bantah!”

PHOTO BY JENNA LIFSHITZ/THE HOOT

BATH TIME

We blew it!

PHOTO BY EMMA LICHTENSTEIN/THE HOOT

OPINIONS

Feburary 1, 2019

The Brandeis Hoot 11

Animal spottings on campus: coyote edition

By Ryan Spencer editor

Seen any coyotes on campus lately?

If you answered no, you’re kidding yourself.

From Grad to the Rabb Steps, coyotes abound. You see them in dining halls, in classrooms, in the library and in the dorms.

The fact of the matter is, at this time of year, coyotes are everywhere and if you’re not seeing them then you probably just don’t know where to look.

So, how do you identify a coyote?

Though these creatures are perhaps best known for howling at the moon, you’re more likely to be awakened late at night by the howls of party-goers than the yips and yaps of the Canis Iatrans. This is because, to make their way onto college campuses, these wily creatures have forsaken their famous howl and given new meaning to the phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Instead of listening, you must peel your eyes; they’re hiding in plain sight.

Like their close relative, the domesticated dog, coyotes on campus are almost always accompanied by a human companion.

But don’t worry, if you see a leashed beast on campus it’s probably still okay to pet it (check with the owner first)—people don’t generally keep coyotes as pets.

When searching for coyotes on campus, instead of looking for a leash-bearing human we’re looking for a much subtler marking: a small red patch on the coyote-owner’s left shoulder.

CARTOON BY HELEN WONG/THE HOOT

Stitched with red maple leaves and an outline of the arctic circle, this insignia is a pretty sure sign that you’ve spotted a coyote.

“But where?” you might still ask.

Look up, just slightly.

There, lying limp on the shoulders of a student, is a dog—a coyote.

Yep, that’s right, every one of your peers who walks through campus dressed like an arctic explorer with a Canada Goose coat bears the pelt of

a coyote on their shoulders.

And while the Canada Goose brand is not alone in using coyote furs in their clothing, on cold-climate college campuses the brand is surprisingly prevalent.

From October to April, whenever there is a slight chill in the air, the Canada Goose coyotes prowl campus. They lurk under the guise of “function”—the brand’s website claiming, “we are a function-first company”—but with a

thousand-dollar price tag, the red shoulder patch and canine-lined hood are little more than fashion.

Now, don’t get me wrong, coyotes are very warm creatures and from my experience playing with their cute, domesticated cousins, I can only imagine that these arctic dogs’ fur provides something magical against the frigid conditions it has evolved to protect them from.

However, the brand’s claims

of function do not live up to the high price tag or the ethical wishy-washiness of wearing a dog on your hood.

In an age of science and manufacturing, alternatives to coyote fur are both equally as insulating and considerably less expensive.

Waltham’s winter winds be damned— I do not need to appropriate a coyote and empty my bank account to face them. Nobody does.

Validation in education

By Alex Kougasian staff

Since I was five years old, I took violin lessons. Like most children, I was never excited to play or practice. But every Tuesday when my parents drove me to my violin lesson, I found myself almost magically inclined to follow the directions of my teacher.

My teacher was a very soft-spoken young man. He grew up in Japan and his English was limited in many ways, but somehow that did not affect my education at all. My teacher needed very few words to demonstrate the technique he wanted me to learn or the feeling he wanted me to convey. The most severe attitude he would ever take was one of dissatisfaction, and that was always enough to drive me. He would make it abundantly clear to me when I had impressed him and it was those moments that I sought to achieve through my playing.

My violin teacher was a large reason for my fairly strict understanding of what a teacher should and should not be. My view was that a teacher should demonstrate their skill for the subject, while also being humble. A teacher should act with authority through their abilities and knowledge in the field and then motivate the student by treating them as if they are an equal. The student then

finds the motivation within themselves by striving to live up to the image of them that the teacher has painted.

Given that I have been a student for the majority of my life, I have met and appreciated many teachers who show value in validating the student in the way I described.

But as a result, I would always express disdain for any stricter style of teaching. It felt as if teachers who maintained a superiority complex over students and who would often invasively criticize them demonstrated that they did not respect their students, and therefore did not earn any respect back from them.

Since coming to college, I have experienced many more styles of teaching, spanning many subjects. My perception of school was shaken to its core and I found myself with some desperately needed control over my education. But as a result of branching out and trying new things, I found that different teaching styles have their own benefits and that my understanding of what a teacher should be does not necessarily represent the ideal style.

First of all, not all students respond to the soft-spoken style.

Sometimes, it seems, reaching every student requires a more aggressive approach and personality, especially in larger classes. Some students might exploit soft-spokenness in order to do less work and others mistake it for

a lack of knowledge. Pushing students to do their best can be just as rewarding as, and oftentimes more effective than, inspiring students in a more passive way.

Ultimately, there are ways of showing respect for students that do not require a teacher to teach with humility.

Even though there are countless viable teaching styles, I would argue that the common element that is shared by almost all great ways of teaching is some form of readily achievable validation. This form of validation is more personal than giving a good grade.

A teacher must always have ways of helping students go above and beyond and rewarding them with unique praise for doing so.

Often, I have seen this happen in my classes and it is wonderful even just to see it from the outside. Someone that makes a particularly potent point or answers a particularly difficult question might find that they are met with applause prompted by the professor, or might be commended for their contribution and have their idea analyzed throughout the lecture.

Classes with less frequently distributed validation have always felt more competitive as a result.

When students are not given validation directly from the teacher, we find it by outdoing our peers.

This is not innately a bad thing; omnipresent competition is unavoidable in education and when

it is engaged in in a friendly manner it can even be quite healthy.

But there are too many cases of competition causing a toxic atmosphere that surrounds a line of study. Directly validating students reduces the need to out-achieve others.

Any teaching style that is tailored to the needs of the students it teaches is justifiable. Despite this, I will always see teachers that humbly bolster students’ own ideas of what they can achieve as awe-inspiring. Being a student is an innately humbling experience, and being told you are valuable for more than the way you learn, but also for the way you create and think is nothing short of enchanting.

PHOTO FROM TES.COM

12 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

‘Fridays for a Future:’ The power of the next generation

By Sabrina Chow editor

After the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School last year, student activists took to the streets and social media to voice the issues of gun violence in the United States. These students were met with such great support, from not only members of their community, but nationally and internationally, especially by famous celebrities.

The “March for Our Lives” movement is one of the most impactful, if not the most impactful, movements in the United States of our generation, demonstrating how the determination of a group of individuals is able to make such a profound change on their society.

At their national march in March of 2018 in Washington D.C., alongside marches across the United States, over one million people showed their support in ending the tragedies that come from gun violence. Gun violence is not an issue that should be taken lightly in any sense, and I commend these students for starting this movement and continuing to advocate it.

Their hashtag, #NeverAgain, drew the attention of millions of youths across the country, arguing and fighting for increased restrictions on guns laws. A mass murder happens almost every day in the United States, which is often not talked about anymore because it seems so commonplace.

But we shouldn’t think about gun violence as something that is commonplace because it very

clearly isn’t.

David Hogg, arguably the largest founder of the movement, is almost a year younger than I am.

And is already more famous than I’ll ever probably be. And even though I am a part of his generation, he has already left his mark on this world. Which I totally support. I like to tell myself that I just haven’t found myself yet, and when I do, I can make a profound impact on the world.

But is gun violence the only issue that should be talked about to this high of a caliber? Hell no.

The climate movement is a major issue affecting not just the United States but the whole world. It is not being talked about enough, especially in the United States.

The natural progression of this article asks, well, is anyone doing anything about the climate movement as strongly as the gun control movement?

Simple answer, yes, but not necessarily by someone you might expect.

It seems like the age of the largest activists continues to decrease, which is great, but worrying for my 19-year-old self. Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old student from Sweden is skipping school in order to fight the climate change movement that is being ignored.

The Guardian described this girl as a “diminutive girl with pigtails and a fleeting smile,” which is honestly more intimidating.

Sitting quietly outside the parliament in central Stockholm, all Thunberg does is hand out leaflets to pedestrians that declare “I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future,” according to the article by The Guardian.

Her actions and words have

made the largest impact in Thunberg’s story. While her parents and teachers have been split about what Thunberg is attempting to do, people are following her, even her teachers.

According to the article, one of her teachers lost out on three weeks of pay and possibly even his job to support Thunberg in her quest.

“The best thing about my protest has been to see how more and more people have been coming and getting involved,” Thunberg said, according to The Guardian.

“I don’t care if I get into trouble at school. I believe that one person can make a difference.”

And Thunberg is living proof that one person can make a difference. Her story has been picked up by numerous media outlets and has expanded all across the world, with a large support in Australia, which is one of the countries facing the worst effects of climate change.

She has gone all the way up to talking to the secretary of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, about the dilemma that she is faced with. But she knows that it should not be a dilemma that she should even be having.

Thunberg was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, OCD and selective mutism, meaning that she only speaks when she feels it is necessary.

While some would see this as a disability, Thunberg has decided to use this disability as a method of empowerment to speak towards a better future.

In a Ted talk with TEDxStockholm, she says that people who are on the spectrum think primarily in black and white. She contin-

ues to use this analogy to explain the climate crisis in her eyes. “I don’t understand that, because if the emissions have to stop, then we must stop the emissions. To me that is black or white. There are no gray areas when it comes to survival. Either we go on as a civilization or we don’t. We have to change.”

And she is 100 percent right.

This is an issue that cannot be taken lightly anymore. Climate change is a serious issue that needs to be a top priority. I have been a part of this movement for almost two years now, and while I have personally done my part in reducing my carbon footprint, that is not enough.

One person doing something is not enough to change the world.

Unfortunately, 100 million people doing something is also probably not enough to change the world.

But starting to have the conversation is what needs to be done to make change occur.

All of these movements started with people talking. It does not necessarily take extreme action to make a difference. The “March for Our Lives” movement was successful because a group of students saw an issue that they wanted to fix, so they did something about it, amassing such a huge following in support.

Thunberg started an international conversation about climate change from simply sitting with a sign that said “Skolstrejk for Kilmatet,” which translates to “School strike for climate” and gained an international following and encouraged strikes by students all across the world in support of her message.

In a climate change class that

I’m taking this semester, which *pssst* fulfills a P.E. requirement in the new curriculum, called “Your Brain on Carbon,” taught

by Professor Sabine von Mering (GRALL/WGS/ENVS) and Sustainability Manager, Mary Fischer, we have been practicing our elevator speeches on what climate change is.

Brain break. How do YOU define climate change? If you had 30 seconds or less to explain it, what would you say? It is really easy to get caught up in the facts, but the facts are not what stands out most. Because people can keep talking about climate change, but it is intangible, which already proves a level of disconnect.

Think about those who have invested time in learning about climate change and are able to dispel it in a manner that is understandable in a quick manner to someone in an elevator. They are able to manipulate like the best manipulators, climate change deniers. That’s right. You think climate change deniers can be suave, talk to any young generation climate change fighter. We got the moves.

But life-changing events happen every day to people. You never know when one is going to hit you. That’s the beauty of life. But the biggest impact is what you can do about the situations that cause those big impacts on the world.

And that’s what these students did.

Everyone has the power to change the world. And even though these impacts are coming from the younger generations, they’re the ones who are learning the ropes to lead us to a safe, happy and clean environment.

The joke isn’t funny anymore

By Dane Leoniak special to the hoot

On Nov. 11, 2018, a certain class senator, best known for his dual obsession with “transparency” and midi keyboards, presented to the polite and uncomfortable applause of fellow coders at Codestellation his newest pet project: Branchan.org. Marketed to MyDeis Facebook pages by accounts sporting My Little Pony profile pictures as an uncensored, free speech oriented alternative to the toxic Facebook page, Brandeis Confessions, Branchan is a Brandeis-themed reskinning of the notorious image sharing site, 4chan.

In the early 2000s, 4chan was known as the edgiest ironic internet forum where all the knee-slapping-est memes, which would shockingly (who would’ve thought the ‘free speech haven’ that birthed ‘pedobear’ could ever) evolve into a bastion for the alt-right. And since about 2014, it has remained a place for hate speech, sexism, racism, homophobia and all sorts of bigotry to run rampant.

Many argue that such action is only relegated to specific boards or sections of 4chan, but regardless of how untrue that is, 4chan has the reputation of offensive, prejudiced and (redundantly) libertarian, and attracts users who fit

CARTOON BY HELEN WONG/THE HOOT

those bills.

Everyone knows 4chan is a bad place you should stay away from, unless you want to be called any number of slurs or be exposed to unwanted hentai.

But the more in-tune with technology and internet culture one is, the better understanding they have of what 4chan actually is, and what content exists in its pages.

So when a picture of the Klu Klux Klan appears on Branchan with a caption describing the wish to burn down a dorm room, it is in no way unexpected if you remember 4chan as more than the hacker CBS news was so afraid of a few years ago. That post is not a

fluke either; Branchan already exhibits the typical hatred for the left and minorities and trans people and women and etc. that its older brother is known for. Not only are these posts unacceptable, but the entire site’s existence is.

Yes, Branchan has moderators, and yes, they are trying their darndest to keep unbridled hate of their users to a minimum, but the question is raised: who are these moderators, and what were they thinking? Surely, they would have considered 4chan’s reputation and the type of people a college themed spin-off would attract, even in the ‘liberal bastion’ of Brandeis University.

There’s plenty of websites to

emulate out there, why make a Brandeis 4chan? Why not Reddit?

Facebook? Instagram? The case can be made that 4chan was chosen for its mission of anonymity.

Then why not the username based anonymous reddit?

Or if 4chan is truly the only best model, then why make your retooling perfectly resemble the website it’s based on if that website is so well known for being a terrible place?

The creators of Branchan had to have known what they were doing. Either they purposely made a home for the nazis and bigots of Brandeis campus, or they meant to be edgy without considering the consequences of their actions.

By the creation and publicizing of Branchan, the alt-right has been built an on-campus hide away.

We must, as a community, delve deeper into the issue raised by Branchan and its user base. An issue that many are aware of but few, especially within our administration, seem to acknowledge: Brandeis’ underground alt-right has taken up residence in the safe anonymity of this new website.

They exist, now as publicly as ever; though they existed long before Branchan brought them to the forefront. They’ve been around in the rogue racist Brandeis Confessions posts, in the occasional email Liebowitz frantically sends out about a swastika scribbled onto a bathroom stall.

Whether they are ‘ironic’ edgelords or actual fascists doesn’t matter; the former group’s complicity gives the latter power. But here they are, in our ‘social justice oriented’ institution, making their voices heard with increasing audacity. As if the administration’s sketchy track record wasn’t giving the school enough of an identity crisis.

Maybe the creator of Branchan really did believe such scum wouldn’t flock to their site. Maybe they were just as ignorant as many people here seem to be about the underbelly of bigotry that exists even here. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s there.

February 1, 2019

I don’t pay $70,000 a year to write LATTE posts

By Noah Harper editor

One of the things that Brandeis has going for it is academics— generally speaking, the professors are qualified and adept at making classes both bearable and edifying, but one aspect of our education here has threatened to drag down the whole experience. I’m talking, of course, about LATTE posts.

They’re a horrible waste of time, only good for padding out a syllabus and dolorous tedia that encourage the most cursory, superficial engagement with course material. They’re a recurring gnat that can’t be swatted away. They squander an outrageously expensive education.

In the three and a half years I have been at Brandeis, I have never once looked at someone else’s LATTE posts. I have never been disposed to scan entries to see what my classmates think.

The LATTE forum has never prompted me to think, “Wow, what a great point. That completely changes how I think about this subject.” In the admittedly skewed sample of friends I polled, they all admitted to the same.

LATTE posts are perfunctory, they do not engender deep thought—they exclude it because we’re all doing them at 11:55 p.m. the night before class.

The intentionality, I think, was benign, a byproduct of that early 2000s techno-utopian way of thinking about innovations in online technology, kind of like the way we used to think about Facebook, Google and Amazon before we realized they were destabilizing democracy.

I can only imagine the thought of the first engineers and professors who, inspired by breakthroughs in online forum capabilities, imagined that their students, from anywhere (imagine!) could participate in intellectual discussion on the World Wide Web. This will make our lives better, they thought. Oh, how they were wrong.

Perhaps, in a perfect world, LATTE could work as a platform for edifying academic discussion. But because we live in a hellworld, this is not the case.

People are not flocking to the platform—unprovoked—to create discussion threads, to hash out important ideas and find alternate viewpoints. The internet is not a good mode for this kind of thing. The internet is for memes and email and

OPINIONS 13

The Brandeis Hoot

wasting time. Nothing more.

A quick story: I remember one class, in which we were required to post two (two!) separate 200word posts to LATTE every week.

Besides being a terrible chore, it soon became a source of discord—people were sloppy with their language and were viciously attacked on social media for it.

When we talk face to face, we can amend the things we say. We can read facial cues, or tones of voice, to better understand the context of what people are trying to say. The internet takes all of that away. Across a screen, people are faceless facsimiles, easy to turn into caricatures and see only as enemies. Their humanity is lost. In such a place, it’s difficult to say anything meaningful about anything.

So we have this platform, a worthless vestigial tool from back when we thought the internet was a good thing, born from some misguided optimism that students would want to talk to each other about school online, that, one would generously venture, is only still being assigned in classes out of no more than perfunctory habit. What to do now?

Call me old-fashioned, but I like to learn things in person.

To me, face-to-face conversation about course material in the classroom is the best way to learn.

Eye contact, provided with the opportunity to ask follow-up questions and elaborate on your point, make changing of your position and learning easy, and conducive. Verbal discussion allows for experimentation with ideas; online, there’s no room to fail. It seems a terrible waste to relegate engagement with course material to a forum no one reads, to work that’s done at the last minute.

Outsourcing in-person discussion to an online forum?

It would have seemed revolutionary in 1994, but now it’s some kind of cruel joke.

An alternative proposal to LATTE forum posts: Require students to bring written discussion points to class. Hold them accountable. Call on them. Repeat.

I dream of an education environment free of this unnecessary, ancillary platform in which I have to fritter away my time writing worthless mini-essays that no one but the instructor reads. Somehow people in higher education survived without making LATTE posts hundreds of years ago, but, then again, they were all smarter than we are.

CARTOON BY HELEN WONG/THE HOOT

Student Sexuality Information Services: advice column

By SSIS special to the hoot

Welcome back to the SSIS column, where we answer any and all of Brandeis students’ questions about sex, sexuality, identity and relationships. If you have

How do you foster a welcoming, comfortable environment for students who might be nervous to come into SSIS? This is such a great question!

The nature of SSIS and the space itself can be somewhat intimidating for students, but all SSIS members are trained to help the Brandeis community to feel more comfortable in whatever way we can. It is our deepest desire to foster an environment in which every student who wishes to buy our products or seek out our peer support or referrals, etc. feels comfortable and safe to do so.

There are a few specific ways in which we do this, and we’re of course always open to feedback and suggestions for improvement.

One of the most important ways we hope to make the Brandeis community comfortable and safe in our space is our belief and practice in confidentiality. What this means is that each of our counselors is mandated to never reveal details or identity of someone using our services to anyone—other

a question you’d like answered in our next column, email ssis@ brandeis.edu or leave a question in the Google Form link on our Facebook page (Student Sexuality Information Service).

Any and all questions are welcome: there are no bad, stupid or weird questions!

(Note: These answers are good-faith attempts by SSIS to be helpful to the Brandeis community, and are by no means exhaustive or to be taken as universal. If these answers don’t resonate with you, either pay them no mind, or reach out to us with suggestions for improvement!)

SSIS-ers, their friends, administration, anyone. For instance, if Person A comes into the office with a question, no one will be aware of the specifics of this visit besides the two SSIS-ers who are in the office at the time and the visitor themselves (barring a situation in which they are at risk of causing harm to themself or to others). Another way confidentiality manifests is that, if you see an SSIS-er in your day-to-day life, they will never acknowledge that they recognize you from your SSIS visit unless you do so yourself first. Keeping a safe and confidential space in which to talk, learn and listen is one of the most important things we offer the Brandeis community.

There are also a myriad of ways people can access SSIS services if they’re less comfortable with going to our office hours. By texting (586) ASK-SSIS, or (586) 2757747, you can coordinate a time with an SSIS member to meet outside our regular office hours. This may be a good option if interacting one-on-one with an SSIS-er sounds more preferable to you.

Our texting line is also good for any questions you may have concerning sexuality and relationships; any question you send will

be answered within 24 hours. We also offer ‘dorm raps,’ or visiting workshops, to any student organizations or dorm halls. If you’d like information presented in a small group setting, this is a great option! In all these services, our first priority is to serve Brandeis students’ sexual health and pleasure needs and concerns. We hope, then, students never fear judgment or feel discomfort, since it is our purpose and our mission to help all students, regardless of background or situation.

That said, we are also very much willing to change certain ways we run in order to make students more comfortable accessing our services.

Last semester, for instance, an issue was raised by students expressing discomfort with having three SSIS members in the office.

This felt intimidating/overwhelming to them, and that makes total sense! We now try to keep only two SSIS members in the office at any given time. If you have any ideas on what we can do to improve further, please email us at ssis@brandeis.edu. We exist to serve the Brandeis community’s sexual health and pleasure needs, so if there’s a way we can do that better, we would love to know!

PHOTO COURTESY SSIS

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The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

Send the flyers flying

By Sasha Skarboviychuk staff

Inspired by last week’s piece on plastic utensils and bags on campus and my recent trip back home, I also wanted to share an idea on how to make the Brandeis campus more green. The Brandeis community obviously cares about climate change. However, the focus seems to be on larger projects, such as divestment from fossil fuels, but with that, the smaller things that could be done seem to be overlooked.

Almost all beverages sold on campus are sold in plastic bottles: water, sodas, coffee, etc. The entire back wall of the C-Store is full of them! Yes, there are recycle bins on campus; however, there are not many of them, particularly outside. As a result, a lot of them end up in the trash because students do not want to carry empty bottles around with them.

Furthermore, right now, the only incentive for students to recycle the plastic bottles they have is their own desire to make the planet greener. As much as I want to say that everyone on campus does the environmentally conscious thing and recycles the plastic bottles they have, that is just wishful thinking on my part.

And also, little known fact, if one piece of garbage ends up in a recycling bag that should not be there, the entire bag goes directly to waste.

To encourage all members of the community to recycle their plastic bottles, there needs to be more of an incentive for them to do so. The idea of how to do that comes from what is done is most large European supermarkets.

PHOTO FROM NYTIMES.COM

They introduced an additional fee on every plastic (and glass) bottle that is purchased.

Customers can then get the fee back if they recycle the bottles in a machine placed near the entrances in supermarkets. The fee is given back in the form of a coupon to that supermarket.

This is something that could be done at Brandeis: Not only would this assure that much more plastic bottles are recycled, it would encourage people to go back to the C-Store to purchase more things there. The machines could also be placed in other areas on campus, so people do not have to collect them and carry them to the C-Store.

Although this does require students to put in the extra effort of carrying those bottles around and disposing of them in the

right place, the even insignificant monetary incentive would be an effective way of getting people to recycle. Taking into account the environmental benefits this would bring, the money spent on buying them would not be a huge burden to the university.

Brandeis already has an incentive policy that is not known to most students but ordering beverages from anywhere on campus is cheaper if you use a reusable mug.

Yes, you pay less for the same amount of coffee!

So you could buy two cups for the price of one!

Another thing that I always found ironic is the amount of flyers and posters there are around campus. I was in the mail room the other day checking my mailbox, and there I found a flyer advertising an event on campus.

Since this was not something of interest to me (and even if it was, I’d lose the paper in ten minutes anyway) I went to recycle it. What I saw in the recycle bin would’ve been funny, if it weren’t so sad.

The recycling bin was full of those flyers: Talk about wasting paper!

I wish I could say that this was the only time this had happened.

Whenever flyers are put near the doors in the residence halls, most of them still end up in (hopefully) the recycle bin.

Why are all these clubs still printing flyers? Is sending an email to all students, or posting on social media, not an option anymore? Sure, maybe the physical flyers will attract more attention since people have to remove them from their mailboxes or from under their doors, but are those extra people really worth

the amount of paper that is wasted?

A similar thing goes for all the posters that are hung up around campus; those things are everywhere. And after they’ve been there for a few months, they just get thrown out. Most of the information that is on those posters could be emailed out to students.

Sure, more people will probably look at the posters than open the email, but, once again, are those extra people really worth the amount of paper that is wasted?

The Brandeis community is one that is very concerned about the environment; however, while the focus is on the larger issues, the smaller ones get ignored. This is especially frustrating because the steps to change this really are not that complicated. It’s time for Brandeis to become more green!

SPORTS

Feburary 1, 2019

The Brandeis Hoot 15

Men’s basketball brings home the split for the weekend and a first program win at Rochester since 2010

By Camila Casanueva staff

It was quite the weekend on the road for Brandeis University Judges men’s basketball team.

The Judges were on the road for matchups against Emory University on Friday night and Rochester University Sunday afternoon.

Friday night was a battle of the top scoring offense and defenses in the University Athletic Association as the Judges visited the Emory Eagles in Atlanta. It was offense that beat out the defense in this contest, as the 17th ranked Eagles defeated the Judges, 92-59.

It was a tight game in the first 10 minutes of action, featuring four ties and 10 lead changes.

Coming off the bench, guard Eric D’Aguanno ’20 hit back to back threes to give Brandeis a 19-17 lead with 12:24 left in the first.

However, the Judges were not able

to sustain nor keep up with the Eagles hot offense as they went on to score 19 of the game’s next 20 points over the next five minutes to claim a 45-28 lead.

Emory went on to shoot 61.8 percent from the field for the first half as they took a 55-37 lead into the locker room, while Brandeis hit just 43.8 percent. On a good note, Brandeis’s defense improved dramatically in the second half, holding Emory to 37 points and 36.7 percent shooting, but it wasn’t enough as the Judges couldn’t find an offensive rhythm of their own, shooting 24 percent from the field after the break.

D’Aguanno ’20 finished with 17 points, hitting 5-8 from deep. It was his second game of the season with at least five 3 pointers and the 10th of his career. Forward Chandler Jones ’21 added nine points, a team high six rebounds, and four assists.

In the second contest of the weekend, the Judges faced the University of Rochester Yellow-

PHOTOS FROM BRANDEISJUDGES.COM

jackets looking for a bounce back win. Juniors Collin Sawyer ’20 and Eric D’Aguanno ’20 combined for 44 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Judges as they defeated the Yellowjackets, 75-69.

Rochester got off to a quick start, opening the game on a 15-3 run. Brandeis responded with a 21-9 run, eventually tying the game at 26 all on a lay up by graduate student Latye Workman.

The hosts ended the period with seven of the last nine points to take a 39-36 lead into the locker room. It was a back and forth affair in the second half, until around the five minute mark when graduate student Workman and Sawyer ’20 scored the game’s next five points to give the Judges their biggest lead of the game, 6457, and Brandeis was able to keep the Yellowjackets in check the rest of the way.

Sawyer ’20 led all scorers with a career high 23 points, hitting 6-12 overall, 3-7 from downtown, and 8-8 from the line. He also grabbed

a pair of rebounds and had two blocked shots.

D’Aguanno ’20 netted 21 points in 24 minutes off the bench. He was 7-11 overall, 6-9 from deep and his only free throw. He also grabbed a game high six rebounds.

Corey Sherman ’19 added 10 points, while Lawrence Sabir ’21 had nine and a season high eight assists, one shy of his career best.

Brandeis outscored Rochester, 39-18 from 3-point range, establishing a season high with 13 trifectas. The Judges were also extremely effective in converting their turnovers into points. Despite losing the turnover battle, 13-11, Brandeis outscored Rochester, 20-5, in points off turnovers.

Coupled with the Brandeis women’s 56-52 win in the second game of the doubleheader, the Judges were part of just the program’s third ever sweep in Rochester. The previous two times were in 2009 and 2010. Brandeis improves to 11-7 overall and 4-3

in the UAA. Also in the news for men’s basketball this week, Eric D’Aguanno ’20 earns UAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the first time in his career. He was a big part of the Judges 1-1 week by averaging 19 points and four rebounds per game while shooting 60 percent from the field and 64.7 percent from 3-point range.

In the road loss to Emory on Friday he had 17 points and two rebounds, then followed it up with 21 points and six rebounds as the Judges won 75-69 at the University of Rochester.

The Judges overcame a 12 point first half deficit to win at Rochester for the first time since 2010.

For the season, D’Aguanno ’20 is third on the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game. He is second in the UAA in 3-point percentage at 43.3 percent and third in total 3-pointers with 52. D’Aguanno ’20 ranks 50th in Division III in 3-point percentage and 99th in 3-pointers.

Women’s basketball split on the road

By Sabrina Chow editor

After going 1-1 on the weekend, the women’s basketball team improves their record to 7-10 and 3-4 in UAA play. The Judges struggled in their first match of the weekend against the Emory Eagles, losing 70-57. With this game, Brandeis fell to 6-10 and 2-4 in UAA play, while Emory improved to 12-5 and 3-3 in UAA. Brandeis came out with a close win against the University of Rochester, 56-52. The Judges improve to 7-10 and 3-4 in UAA play while the University of Rochester falls to 8-19 and 2-5 in UAA. The Judges lead the game in during the first half, leading 3528 before losing creating a large deficit in the third quarter, leading to their loss. Lead by starter Kat Puda ’21 with 16 points, this was Puda’s third double-digit scoring game of the season and one point shy of her career-best, 17 points. Camila Casanueva ’21 contributed 14 points overall to the game, seven of which came in the final quarter of the game.

Puda and Casanueva each had seven rebounds during the game, but rebounds were led by Hannah Nicholson ’20, who scored nine.

Other starters including Sarah

Jaromin ’19, Nicholson and Samira Abdelrehim ’21 contributed to scoring, adding on six, four and two points, respectively.

Lauren Rubinstein ’20, Kerry Tanke ’22 and Maya Burris ’22 from the reserves also contributed points to The Judges’ score during the game. Rubinstein contributed six points, one rebound and one assist; Tanke added five points and Burris scored four points. All three also had one steal during their time in the game.

Brandeis’ defense faired well in the first quarter, holding the Eagles to three of 15 from the field, helping The Judges to a 14-8 lead after the first quarter. Brandeis connected 50% of their shots in the second quarter, while Emory hit almost 60%. The Judges were still able to hold their lead going into halftime.

In the end, it was the Eagles that outshot Brandeis. They shot 42 percent to Brandeis’ 35 percent. Emory also had 21 assists throughout the game on their 25 baskets, while The Judges only had five assists on 21 baskets.

A tighter second match showed the depth of The Judges as they won out against the Yellowjackets.

Puda again was the high scorer for The Judges, landing 14 points throughout the game. Jaromin was the second high scorer for

The Judges, scoring 10 points and one rebound. Casanueva contributed three rebounds, one assist and two steals for a total of nine points while Nicholson scored two points along with 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Burris was a high scorer for the reserves, scoring nine points and one steal for The Judges.

Brandeis had a comfortable lead after the first quarter, scoring 18 points compared to University of Rochester’s 13. 12 of the 18 points came from Puda and Casanueva.

The Judges shot 50 percent from the field compared to University of Rochester’s 24 percent.

The Judges lost their footing in the second quarter, holding only 13 percent from the the floor, while the Yellowjackets held 28 percent.

The second half of the game started off slow for both teams, neither having a strong lead in the competition. However, free throws from both teams swapped lay-ups before The Judges hit enough free throws to maintain the lead and score the win.

A key strength in Brandeis’ performance was their efficiency of turnovers, converting nine of University of Rochester’s miscues into 15 points, while the Yellowjackets were only able to convert four point from either turnovers.

With the win by the men’s team against University of Rochester that same day, the basketball teams received their first sweep of Rochester since 2010 and only the third-ever, with the previous one in 2009.

The Judges will face Emory and University of Rochester once again this weekend at home. The game against Emory will be on Friday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. and against University of Rochester on Superbowl Sunday, Feb. 3 at 2 p.m.

PHOTO FROM BRANDEISJUDGES.COM

16 SPORTS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

Track and field finishes with a successful weekend

By Gillian O’Malley staff

This past weekend was an eventful one for the Brandeis University indoor track and field teams, who competed in two meets; the Terrier Classic at Boston University and the Branwen Smith-King Invitational at Tufts University.

The women performed well on Friday night, as many of the Judges placed high in their individual events. In the first event of the night, Sonali Anderson ’22 placed 5th in the second heat, with a time of 9.54 seconds which would place her as second among D3 runners.

Next, Senior Doyin Ogundiran ‘19 finished her 800 meter run in 2:12.99, which became her personal best while placing her 5th nationally. The Judges shined in the mile run competition as three runners placed in the top 20 of D3. Senior Emily Bryson ran the fastest time in D3 this season thus far by finishing her mile in a time of 4:49.68, which placed her 3rd in the first heat overall.

Joining her success in this event was teammate and sister, Julia Bryson ’19, who placed 4th in her heat with a time of 5:00.38.

Freshmen Jac Guerra performed very well, running the mile in a time of 5:03.85 to win the heat and place 25th overall.

Just last week, Guerra was select-

DANIELLE BERTAUX ‘20

PHOTO FROM BRANDEISJUDGES.COM

Bertaux earned her personal best in the 3000 meter

ed as UAA Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the week for his mile run time at the Bowdoin Invitational. Lastly, Brandeis’ relay team of Maya Bliss ‘19, Lisbeth Valdez ‘21, Ogundiran ‘19, and Devin Hiltunen ‘22 won their heat in the 4x400M relay, ranking them nationally as well.

At Tufts, Senior Kanya Brown’s time of 8.38 seconds placed her-

self 7th overall in the 60M dash.

Another 7th place finish came from Freshman Anna Touitou who finished the 200M in 27.63.

On the men’s side, two Judges competed at BU on Saturday. In the 200M dash, Junior Lorenzo Maddox ‘20 finished second in the heat with a time of 23.30, just missing his personal best time by 0.03 seconds. Later, in the throw-

ing events, Senior Scott Grote ‘19 placed in both the Shot Put and Weight Throw events.

In the Branwen Smith-King Invitational at Tufts, the men finished with 2 fourth place finishes.

One came from Sophomore Breylen Ammen ‘21, who earned his career-best in the the pole vault with a height of 4.55 meters.

Over in the 60 meter hurdles

event, Freshman Dion Morris-Evans earned a time of 8.70 in the finals to place him fourth as well.

Next week, the Judges will return to action at Tufts University again to compete in the Cupid Challenge.

They will compete in 3 more meets before the UAA Indoor Track and Field Championship at the end of the month.

Men’s and women’s fencers receive UAA athlete of the week honors

By Sophie Trachtenberg staff

After a weekend at the second Northeast Fencing Conference meet of the season, the Brandeis Judges finished on a high note with both teams finishing with 4-2 records . The wins received at this meet place Brandeis University in second place on the men’s side, just behind Boston College, and third place on the women’s side, behind both Boston College and Brown University. Each team concluded with an 8-2 and a 9-3 record respectfully, giving them a combined third place standing with a 17-5 record overall.

In the opening round of the tournament, the Judges competed against the Brown University Bears, falling to their opponents by slim margins, with a score the men’s score being 14-13 overall and the women’s 15-12. Men’s sabre found a 9-0 win, but foil and epee lost 6-3 and 8-1 respectively.

Women’s foil had a strong show-

ing with an 8-1 win, but both epee and sabre fell to the Bears in a 7-2 fashion.

The Judges faced their toughest competition against first-placed BC, who have been quite successful under new head coach Brendan Doris-Pierce, a Brandeis alum from the class of 2006.

The Eagles soared to a combined 18-9 win over Brandeis, with a 9-0 sweep over both epee squads, allowing them to be crowned champions of the meet.

Against Tufts University, both Judges teams earned their wins. In epee, the women swept the Tufts Jumbos while the men won 7-2 against their club team. In sabre and foil, the women fell 5-4 while the men won 7-2 and 9-0 respectively. Lastly, the Judges met Vassar College in the final round against a varsity squad. The men found easier wins in the sabre and foil categories, seeing scores of 8-1 and 6-3, while having a closer 5-4 match with the epee weapon.

For the women, a 7-2 win for the foil allowed them to see a 15-12 win overall. They also won in the sabre category with a score of 5-4,

LEON ROTENSTEIN ‘19

Rotenstein went 11-1 in one day with four matches.

while losing 6-3 in epee.

The Judges also saw clashed against club competitors from the University of Rhode Island and

Dartmouth College. Both squads won by large margins, with the men winning 18-9 against both opponents, and the women winning 19-8 against both opponents as well.

On the men’s side, sabre had a perfect record of 6-0, improving their overall record on the season to 46-8.

Senior Leon Rotenstein lead this squad with a record of 11-1 across his four matches. It was this performance that lead him to receiving University Athletic Association men’s fencing athlete of the week. This is his second time to receive this award this season, making it three times for his career.

For the women, the foil weapon found the most success with a 5-1 record on the weekend, improving their overall record to 42-12.

PHOTOS BY SABRINA CHOW/THE HOOT

Two Judges were undefeated in this category, with senior Joanne Carminucci going 12-0 and junior Jessica Gets going 10-0. Carminucci also received the UAA women’s fencing athlete of the week honors, receiving this for the tenth time in her career and her third time this season.

On Tuesday, the women also saw action against Wellesley College in a single opponent meet.

The Judges fell to the Blue by scores of 9-0 in sabre and 8-1 in epee, but found a win in the foil category with a 7-2 win spearheaded by Gets and Carminucci.

Both squads will compete this upcoming weekend on February 3rd at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Eric Sollee Invitational. Here they will face their UAA rivals from New York University.

ARTS

February 1, 2019

The Brandeis Hoot 17

‘Valentine’s Day’ debut catchy but needs refinement

By Noah Harper editor

“Jesus Christ could you please fuck off!” Dane Leoniak ’20 sings in the first track of “Good, Clean, Christian Fun,” a new album released by Valentine’s Day, a band made up of Brandeis students.

The song’s opening is an abrasive polka party fever dream, before judiciously becoming a rock song.

“No one will ever know me, because I’m really very lonely,” lead vocalist Leoniak sings. It’s a theme present on the album: The absurdity of sanitized beliefs, matched with an ever-present, guardedly ironic voice, filtered through a punk rock and 60s psychedelia-inspired sonic palette.

Mainly the brainchild of Leoniak, the band also features Max Monheit ’20 on the piano and keyboards, Evan Sayer ’20 on guitars, Sam Stern ’20 and Alex Behr ’21 trading off on drums, and Nate Rowe ’21 on bass. The music is raw and self-referential and melancholy. “In the new millenium, you can have friends you never met,” Leoniak sings, in the chorus to “Internet Friends / Internet Love.”

The lyrics reflect a self-conscious sadness, the singer feeling isolated and frustrated with himself. “I feel bad being near you, I feel like I’m ruining your aspirations and your expectations,” Leoniak sings in “I Feel Bad.” As for the band’s influences, Leoniak listed “The Kinks, The

Monkees, early Weezer and Car Seat Headrest.” You can definitely hear the sixties psychedelia inspiration, for example, in the opening of “My Vexing Valentine,” draws The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” vibes. The rest of the band cited Sorority Noise, The Cowsills, Nilsson and Jeff Rosenstock.

The Insane Clown Posse was also referenced.

“I had released a song under the name in 2017,” Leoniak said, “After that I got everyone together except Sam last year to record

and perform a bunch of songs I had written. Evan and Max were living with me at the time, and I knew Nate through choir … and we recorded the album over last semester.”

“A lot of times I’ll come up with a vague idea, or I’ll sit down and decide I’m going to write a song,” Leoniak said. “A lot of times they don’t come together till far down the line.”

The songs can be unwieldy and unrefined—sometimes a little crude, in all senses of the word.

However, there are sparks of good ideas. The guitar riff on “Nothing” gets stuck in your head, as well as the chorus to “Internet Friends / Internet Love.” On the bridge of “Klittenband,” the heavy guitar and high-octave piano come together nicely.

But my favorite song is “I Need You (Can’t Keep Wasting Time).”

It’s an album standout, well-crafted that starts out slow and builds over time. A dirge-like drumbeat complements an acoustic guitar, before being joined by electric

PHOTO FROM BANDCAMP.COM

instruments. The opening reminds me of 90s-era Radiohead.

It begins grungy and morose, and then explodes with energy—reminiscent of something by Car Seat Headrest. “‘I Need You’ was written after a huge bout of writer’s block during the summer,” Leoniak said. “It kind of started by laying on the ground with my guitar, which usually leads to playing around with simple repetitive melodies, and the song just kind of came about through that experience.”

The song came partly from the writer’s block and was “partly about being too sad to get off the floor,” in addition to a deep hatred of his home state of Maryland.

I think the band could stand to define their sound a bit more.

Sometimes we’re in an R.E.M. 90s rock register, and then the next moment things shift back to the more psychedelic sounds of the 60s. They’re able to play both, but in order to form something more cohesive and lasting, they’d benefit by fleshing out exactly what they want to sound like. That said, it’s rock music I would definitely mosh to, particularly the fast and catchy “Heart Eyes,” the last song on the album. “I Need You (Can’t Keep Wasting Time)” is my favorite by far—definitely worth giving a listen.

Valentine’s Day’s debut album, “Good, Clean, Christian Fun” is available on Spotify and Bandcamp now, with the band slated to play a show at Chum’s next Friday.

James Blake’s ‘Assume Form:’ lullabies and lapses of distrust

By Chris DeMena staff

“Are you in love?” Someone is.

UK producer, singer, songwriter, tall guy, potential alien life form, James Blake. His fourth album immerses you in his head as he tries to process his relationship.

Blake made a name for himself with his eponymous debut album, and sophomore effort “Overgrown” had a cutting edge sound and sharp, abstract songwriting to compliment. His third album, “The Colour in Anything,” is decent but felt like a step backwards for Blake. Since May 2016, most of his work has been featuring and producing songs for other artists such as Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Vince Staples, Jay Z and Travis Scott. By no means has the artist been quiet, but on his first solo project in nearly three years, Blake sounds a bit different.

While this album has the potential to leave Blake’s fans missing some of his music’s identifying features, it offers a clearer and more vulnerable look into his psyche.

Mostly gone on this project are Blake’s abstract style of songwriting and beats that would slowly build into cacophonous yet euphoric peaks like “The Wilhelm Scream” and “Every Day I Ran.” Instead the songs on “Assume Form” are much more stripped back.

Quieter songs carried by Blake’s falsetto have always been one of his strengths and on this project

he leans into that much more heavily. An additional curve ball on this project is the production from Metro Boomin towards the front of the record. These collaborations have mixed results with the first of the two “Mile High” leaving some to be desired, especially from Travis Scott on his feature, but “Tell Them” is a nocturnal ballad with a great beat and Moses Sumney feature.

Blake has never been more direct than he is on this album either. Here we are given stunningly beautiful love songs like “Barefoot in the Park” and “I’ll Come Too” where Blake is more open about his feelings than he has ever been.

The former, assisted by Rosalía’s gorgeous vocals, is a lovely duet where Blake and his beloved are so consumed in their admiration that they want to absorb each other “like the river goes to the sea”.

Blake is endearingly vulnerable in “I’ll Come Too” where he offers to follow his lover no matter where they are going, be it New York, LA or “the brink” and alludes to Yung Lean’s feature on Blonde’s “Self Control.” On “Lullaby for My Insomniac,” Blake pledges to stay awake until his lover is able to fall asleep over a lonely, slow pulsating bass.

Not everything is roses though.

“Where’s the Catch?” featuring Andre 3000 is a knee jerk reaction of self-doubt and distrust. On the track Blake and Andre Benjamin show a side of themselves that thinks they are undeserving and perhaps being set up. “Don’t Miss It” is a retrospective where Blake looks back at his struggles with

depression and his partner’s role in bringing him out of it. The song is quiet and dark (once again relying mostly on Blake’ vocals) but strikes an optimistic note towards the end of the track.

On “Mile High,” Blake says that “less is always more” and unintentionally summarizes everything that works about this album. The listener is placed right in the middle of a world where there is only Blake and his lover. There is only I, You and We; others only seem to exist as some shapeless being.

Sonically, he does more with less, keeping things quiet and the fo-

cus on him and what he has to say.

What Blake has to say is a more forward and more raw expression of his emotions. This album is personal in a way that Blake’s other records aren’t and I think that is something to be excited about now and going forward.

One last thing: Pitchfork’s review of this album accuses it of being too “solipsistic” and counts out the number of times Blake says “I” on the record. Now … accusing an artist of portraying a relationship, past or present, in a self-absorbed fashion is fair. But that’s not really what’s going on

here. Most of this accusation is that Blake says “I” over 200 times.

But we shouldn’t ask artists to make their art impersonal. Creating art is a personal experience and writing is a personal transaction. Say “I” as much as you want.

Go visit your old English teacher and give them the finger.

“Assume Form” is a nice return to the quality of Blake’s first two albums, after the lull from “The Colour in Everything.” It’ll make you feel warmer on a winter’s day and convince you that beauty can exist anywhere, even in Waltham in February.

PHOTO FROM CURRENTS.ORG

18 ARTS

The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

‘Capernaum:’ Oscar-nominated foreign film depicts depressing reality

By Noah Harper editor

“Capernaum,” winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes and nominated for a Best Foreign Film Academy Award, is about chaos.

Set in and around the Lebanese city of Beirut, it follows a young boy fending for himself—and others—in a cold, anarchic world.

The movie depicts an unsolvable mess, a miserable, self-perpetuating quagmire of poverty—sometimes heart-rending, sometimes overdone—but doesn’t traffic in solutions, or hope.

There’s no call to action or insight. Instead, “Capernaum” wallows in its despair, totally eschewing uplift or catharsis. It’s not a good time.

Still, it’s a powerful, gut-wrench-

ing work of social realism. We follow Zain, who lives in a Beirut slum with his parents and many siblings. Zain has seemingly been tasked with taking care of the whole lot: In the morning he works a job at Assaad’s convenience store, then sells juice on the street until nightfall. He doesn’t go to school; no one in his family does.

A twelve year-old caretaker, Zain is devastated when his sister Sahar—one year younger than him—is given away to Assaad for marriage. Zain’s love for Sahar is palpable, so when their father carries her off to be married, he’s lost.

Zain runs away, getting on a bus and never looking back.

The narrative keeps flashing forward and backward, to a courtroom scene in which Zain, his parents and Rahil, an Ethiopian woman who takes Zain in,

testify. The boy’s been sentenced to five years in prison, and now he’s suing his parents. “I stabbed a sonofabitch,” Zain tells the judge.

Back in time, Zain befriends Rahil, who works in a theme park on an expiring work visa. Rahil, played by Yordanos Shiferaw, is determined to survive. A single mother living in a shantytown, she can’t afford childcare so has to bring her son Yonas to work with her, hiding him under a blanket in a cart and letting him sleep in a bathroom stall she tells people is out of order.

Rahil takes pity on Zain, letting him come to her home, and, out of desperation, lets him watch her son while she’s at work. Until, a few days later, Rahil doesn’t come home.

What follows is my favorite part of the film: There’s a joyously transcendent image of Yonas

sitting in a pot on top of a skateboard pulled by Zain as they navigate through a crowded market.

It doesn’t hurt that Yonas, played by newcomer Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, is one of the cutest babies to ever be put on film.

Once again, Zain is relegated to the role of caretaker. It’s reminiscent of the Japanese film “Grave of the Fireflies,” in which an adolescent boy must care for his young sister in WWII Japan, barely subsisting on whatever scraps of food they can muster.

There’s similar tragedy here of naivete and ignorance: How can Zain take care of a baby when he’s only twelve?

He does his best. In a dry, darkly comedic scene, the boy pretends to be a Syrian refugee at an aide commissary. He plops Yonas on the table in front of the humanitarian worker, telling her how

they “crawled, like Rambo” from their home in Aleppo after their neighbor sold them out. Again, the film seems to be casting blame: The seemingly cynical division of resources when all sorts of people are starving to death. Thankfully, the worker gives Zain some diapers and a can of evaporated milk.

The situation recalls “The Florida Project”—also about a child, far too young, being forced to deal with the harsh realities related to class inequality. But in the impoverished sections of Beirut, far from the supersaturated Floridian dreamland, it’s hard to imagine any sort of escape for Zain or Rahil or Yonas, or anyone else we see eking out a wretched existence.

Told in a close-up, handheld documentary style, “Capernaum” See ‘CAPERNAUM,’ page 18

‘My Ex-Life:’ Prof. McCauley’s smart, witty new novel

By Sarah Terrazano editor

Stephen McCauley, co-director of the Creative Writing Program, is not only a professor of short fiction workshops, but a successful novelist. McCauley held a variety of jobs before focusing on writing full-time (his website lists travel agent and yoga instructor, among others). His latest book, “My ExLife,” is a witty and poignant look at how the past creeps up on you when you least expect it––and maybe when you need it most.

Without major spoilers, here’s the premise: David Hedges’ life has unexpectedly reached a standstill. His boyfriend just broke up with him, the house he rents is being sold into San Francisco’s cutthroat real estate market and he spends his days helping rich high school kids bolster their college applications and apply to their parents’ alma maters. Out of this chaos comes a surprise phone call: his ex-wife Julie, who he married decades ago before coming out. Julie lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts with her teenage daughter, Mandy, and claims she’s reconnecting with David because she needs his help with Mandy’s college applications. But her life has also been slowly unraveling;

she’s getting divorced (for the second time) and struggling to raise the money to buy out her husband from their massive Victorian home in Beauport, the perfectly-unoriginally-named coastal town where the novel takes place.

It seems that David and Julie are reconnecting at a time in their lives when they most need an old friend and, luckily, the years have not dampened their affection and ease with each other. David heads to the East Coast to help Julie, moving into a small room in the Victorian that she’s been listing on Airbnb for extra cash, and in helping her and Mandy, he tries to find a renewed direction in his own life.

The novel also offers a vivid, if cliche, look at being a teenager who’s growing up in the digital age. Julie’s daughter Mandy winds up being humiliated on social media by popular girls in her grade, a familiar storyline that’s freshly told with Mandy’s anxieties. She has a job at a laughable tourist shop named Beachy Keen but, after being fired, starts working with a sketchy older man named Craig, whose computer business is a front for online porn. Her desire to be more mature and feel validated by the men she talks to online is heartrendingly countered by her earnest desire to

make her mother proud, and her storyline is especially compelling alongside the crumbling lives of the adults around her.

As with any good novel, the reader is transported into the world of the characters, from David’s OCD to Julie’s hard-to-kick pot habit. What it perhaps lacks in relatability, it makes up for in believable characters. These characters are flawed and, because of this, they seem real and like you could run into and gossip about them. David and Julie are joined by a memorable cast: Renata, the high-powered realtor with a thing for Italian flight attendants; Kenneth, posh store owner; and

Carol, the fitness-obsessed woman Julie’s husband is leaving her for and “who could stand to eat a cupcake once or twice a year.”

One of the most enjoyable things about the novel is McCauley’s tone. He is able to infuse a mix of humor and earnestness in the narrative, with sharp observations laced with comedic effect. It’s full of quips from current politics to climate change, with scathingingly accurate descriptions of things that we all judge, even if we wouldn’t admit to it. For instance, “crafting” is described as “an awkward word that meant you took a lot of ugly scraps and used a glue gun to transform them into some-

PHOTO FROM STEPHENMCAULEY.COM

thing equally ugly but wearable.”

Wry asides are often given that due to rising sea levels, Beauport will soon sink underwater.

“My Ex-Life” is a story about how a resurfacing of the past is not as bad as it may seem, especially when you start to feel stranded by the people around you. The Airbnb plotline emphasizes this; Julie and Mandy are literally surrounded by strangers in their home. It is touching that David, a vestige of a past life—an ex-life—becomes the glue holding Julie and Mandy together. It’s a hopeful take on exes, but more so on growth and rebuilding after loss.

I love that the relationship I’m rooting for most is not a romantic one—it’s the friendship between David and Julie. I care less about their various romantic interests and flings throughout the novel and more about their friendship being firmly rekindled; I don’t want David to move back to his lackluster life in San Francisco, but for him and Julie to become the Airbnb Superhosts of the North Shore.

“My Ex-Life” has met widely positive reviews and was even featured on an episode of NPR’s “Fresh Air.” It’s a light but compelling read and, luckily, you can check out a copy from the Brandeis library.

‘The Punisher:’ Let’s pretend there’s only one season

By Medjine Barionnette special to the hoot

The second season of The Punisher is another show that has fallen into the dark pit that is a TV show’s worst nightmare: the sophomore slump. As a fan of “The Punisher,” who has watched the first season three times (at least), the second was incredibly disappointing. One of the last remaining Marvel shows on Netflix, “The Punisher’s” protagonist is a dark excessively violent anti-hero, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal).

In a nutshell, the second season

is packed with cliches, missed opportunities, repetitive storytelling and stagnant writing.

After avenging the death of his wife and kids, uncovering a government conspiracy and saving New York from corruption, Frank Castle is given a clean slate with a shiny new identity. All Castle has to do is stay out of trouble, however, if he did, we wouldn’t have a new season to criticize. Of course, he is pulled into the shady life of this season’s damsel in distress, Amy Bendix (Giorgia Whigham).

He decides to save her from a new, rather interesting antagonist found in Josh Stewart’s character, John Pilgrim, who is hunting the

teenager in a dive bar in Michigan, of all places. While “saving” her in the way only The Punisher can, Billy Russo, his former best friend, the man responsible for the death of his family, escapes from the hospital. Homeland Security Agent Dinah Midani calls on Castle to find him, bringing Castle back to New York. Conveniently enough, New York also happens to be where Pilgrim’s original conflict with Amy began. One can enjoy this season if they’re not looking for or expecting much from it. The spark, the excitement, the intrigue that came with the first season is missing.

The most disheartening prob-

lem is the lack of character development that cripples the progression of the show. This season had too many villains: Billy Russo and John Pilgrim. Having too many villains takes away from the development of both characters.

This isn’t a new mistake for Marvel—The Amazing Spiderman 2, for example—it has caused maddening missed opportunities. Too much of the season is focused on Billy Russo and his shenanigans, making the conflict with Pilgrim feel secondary despite the fact that Billy Russo’s story wasn’t that compelling. The relationship that he develops during the season is one of the most hated television

tropes and cliches of all time. It also does nothing for his character. During the season Russo engages in a romantic relationship with his therapist, a woman that was meant to help him deal with his trauma and hold him accountable for his actions in the previous season. At the very least, her role would have better served as his moral compass. Instead she was relegated to eye-candy, to a woman who speaks of healing broken people while being too broken to actually heal anyone. This kind of storytelling is just a lazy and conSee ‘PUNISHER,’ page 19

February 1, 2019

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The Brandeis Hoot

The state of ‘Hearthstone’ in 2019

By Stewart Huang special to the hoot

“Hearthstone” has always been a polarizing experience. On one hand, the game feels perfect with excellent U.I. design, crisp animations and memorable voice work, which all make the experience pleasantly addicting. But on the other hand, when played beyond the very casual level, the game feels poorly designed and lazily balanced with an unhealthy emphasis on swingy random effects, and its strange obsession with over-nerfing cards instead of buffing them.

Not to mention the fact that the game is quite unfriendly to new and free-to-play players due to poor implementations of reward systems. These flaws were what stopped me from playing the game back in 2017 when “Mean Streets of Gadgetzan” was the latest expansion. Now, as a returning player, I shall investigate whether these problems still plague the game and determine if it is at all worth recommending.

Randomness, loved by some and hated by many, is one of the most essential mechanics of “Hearthstone’s” gameplay and probably the most controversial.

Many of the most powerful cards were ones with random effects and, therefore, most frustrating to lose against.

Yogg-Saron’s card text reads, “Battlecry: Cast a random spell for each spell you’ve cast this game (targets chosen randomly)” and is a famous example of that, often ending games the instant it was played, sometimes killing the player who summoned it, other times giving the player an undeserved win over his opponent. Fortunately, I can report that, even though some of these cards still have a sizeable impact

on games, they are not as prominent as in previously metas. The top decks currently dominating the standard competitive ladder (which I should clarify now is the main mode I will be basing my review on) like Spell Hunter, OTK Priest and OTK Paladin use far less cards with random effects than meta decks in the past have.

While you certainly still can lose horribly to random effects in games, it will happen far less. As

competitive, you know something is wrong with the state of game.

This is a step backwards from two years ago, when every class had at least one meta-viable deck. This can be attributed to the fact that the developers seem to exclusively nerf cards instead of buffing them. Funnily enough, just as I was writing this paragraph, they announced a new balance change, which will go live on Feb. 5, nerfing five more cards without any

the ladder experience, while less frustrating than before, feels stale and boring as you play against the same classes and the same decks the entire time.

But it is difficult to see these problems when new players face a difficult journey towards becoming competitive. Say you are new and do not want to commit yourself to spending real money.

You decide to just finish the daily quests, which award you anywhere

PHOTO FROM YOUTUBE.COM

a result, playing on ladder should be less frustrating overall.

That doesn’t mean the gameplay is without its problems. Class and card balance are still glaring issues. Certain classes are just not as good as other classes. For example, Hunter, Priest and Paladin are clearly the best classes at the moment, boasting so many good decks like the ones mentioned above, while decks for other classes struggle to keep up the power-plays that the three classes have available to them.

And when only three out of a total of nine classes are considered

buffs.

Whether or not these are good changes does not matter. The point is that by only nerfing cards, the developers run the risk of making certain classes unplayable and making certain classes even better than they already are due to lack of competition, which is what happened a month ago when Druid and Rogue received several nerfs to their key cards, basically nerfing their best decks (Taunt Druid and Kingsbane Rogue) out of the game and left Hunter stomping everyone virtually uncontested. Consequently,

from 50 to 100 gold (the in-game currency) and get the additional 100 gold per day by grinding and winning 30 games. You will make, at the very best case, 200 gold per day. A pack costs 100 gold, so that is only two packs per day, totaling to ten cards, again, at the bestcase scenario.

You also have to take into account the fact that not all the cards you pull will be the ones you need, especially so if you are aiming to get a legendary card, which is of the highest rarity. The other alternative would be for you to perform well in Arena Mode,

in which players play with decks drafted from a random pool of cards and see how far they go until they lose three games. The rewards get better as players win more games, but the catch is the mode requires an entry fee of 150 gold. Therefore, to get your money back and earn value, you need to win at least four games in a run. You can also “disenchant” cards you do not need to craft cards you want, but the ratio is a dreadful four to one, meaning to craft a card of a certain rarity, you would need the amount of dust (currency you get for disenchanting cards) that is equivalent to four cards of that rarity to do so. You can look forward to a onepack reward for the Tavern Brawl mode every week, and monthly seasonal chests, but are both too infrequent and insignificant to help. You simply cannot collect cards at a reasonable pace if you do not spend money on packs.

The shoddy progression system seems even worse when you compare it to similar games, such as “Magic: The Gathering Arena” which allows you to redeem cards of every rarity for free when you start out.

So, after all this, do I recommend this game? It depends. If you are just looking for an easy to learn, casual card game to kill time, “HS” will be perfect for you.

But if you are a “hardcore gamer” like me and are looking into a card game to really sink your teeth into, spending money or not, I would recommend looking elsewhere. Of course, every game has its issues. But the ones holding “HS” back right now, the questionable balancing and the stingy reward system, become difficult to ignore once you seriously get into the game. You’ll find a more consistently fun experience in other games like YuGiOh, Gwent and MTGA, which I highly recommend.

New ‘Punisher’ only punishes audience ‘PUNISHER,’ from page 18

voluted way to try and squeeze out as much sympathy for Russo as possible when there really shouldn’t be any.

Whenever therapist-client relationships develop, viewers groan because those relationships do a disservice to the characters that engage in them.

This stole from the possible brilliance that could have been found in Pilgrim. Pilgrim is a character that was complex and simple at

the same time, a character that could have been taken in multiple different directions, a character that wasn’t explored enough. John Pilgrim was a White Supremacist, turned religious devotee, turned family-oriented hitman. The possibilities for him are endless. His back story is rushed—no flashbacks—and details are given way too late in the season to care. We never truly learn who he is or how he justifies his actions. When an interesting character is created but treated as filler it feels like a waste: it feels like chewing gum

that loses flavor way too quickly.

Pilgrim is the kind of antagonist you can focus an entire season on; he would have been enough.

Not only is this a missed opportunity for compelling storytelling, there is no meaningful character development. Not for Russo, not for Pilgrim and definitely not for Frank Castle. He is still the same person he was in the beginning of the show, but now he’s sadder and lonelier. The only change that occurs in our protagonist is his acceptance of a life without light, a life where he isn’t willing to suf-

PHOTO FROM VOX.COM

PHOTO FROM IMDB.COM

fer the pain of trying to find and keep it. This is the kind of character “development” that gives Netflix the opportunity to give us another season of subpar television.

The show had the opportunity to take Castle’s character into either a darker or lighter direction, instead it decided to take him nowhere. For all intents and purposes, if it walks like a cop-out and talks like a cop-out, it’s probably a cop-out. Maybe the point or the message is that Castle isn’t meant to be happy, he is meant to be stuck in this terrifyingly painful emotional limbo that allows him to kill people almost to a sociopathic degree. This is a complete-

ly valid premise. The Punisher is a killer with a code who doles out his own justice. He is a tragic character that is content with his own emptiness.

But if this is the case, there is nowhere to go from here. If this is the point then every season from here on out will consist of Frank Castle killing “bad guys” and somehow uncovering government conspiracies and maybe saving some folks. If no development is to be made in his character then it’s time to call it quits. Let ‘The Punisher’ join ‘Daredevil’, ‘Luke Cage’ and ‘The Iron Fist’. I’d rather watch ‘Jessica Jones’ anyway.

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The Brandeis Hoot

February 1, 2019

‘Capernaum’ is bleak meditation on harsh realities ‘CAPERNAUM,’ from page 18

feels real. The filmmakers also endeavor to tell us that no, this isn’t just one story, but a representation of an endemic problem in Lebanon, if not the world. Several times throughout the film, a drone shot zooms out, emphasizing the massive scale. Again, real, and depressing.

Back in the courtroom, Zain’s parents renege on any of the blame—they’re horrible but, the movie suggests, aren’t entirely

responsible for what’s happened.

His father tells him that he’s a cockroach, that he’d better recognize that and move on. The state apparatus: The prisons, the courts, the police, figure heavily.

Always cold, removed, meting out punishment. It’s a true, though worn, criticism, that often the poor only interact with the government through the police interference—the cockroaches only matter when one of them needs to be locked up.

“Capernaum” sympathizes with its characters misery but doesn’t

do anything with it. It runs up against a problem that affects documentaries too: Reality is inherently despair-inducing, so how do you create something that people will actually want to watch? Despite deeply empathizing with Zain and his situation, I don’t think I’d recommend for others to do the same, unless they want to be emotionally devastated. “Capernaum” isn’t quite misery porn but lacks any sort of uplift or call to action. Society is condemned, and no solutions are given. It’s real—real depressing.

PHOTO FROM VARIETY.COM

Hoot Crossword: Brandeis Edition Across 3) Fast food after Stein closes.

6) Piano man.

7) Take me to Hannaford.

10) Overpriced garbage produce.

11) Because Usdan was closed.

12) The independent student newspaper.

14) When you’re vomiting at 3 a.m., call _____ 15) Gravity, but funny 17) Ants, exposed brick, and peeping toms.

18) Chicken tenders.

19) Best sandwich on campus

Arts Calendar Friday, 2/1: “Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen” Campus Celebration: A new career retrospective at the Rose Art Museum opens Friday, Feb. 1 with a celebration from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. featuring guided tours, book signings by the artist and a live D.J. https://www.brandeis.edu/ rose/

Saturday, 2/2: What Remains to Be Seen: A Conversation with Howardena Pindell: Curators from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will speak with artist Howardena Pindell on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. in the Wasserman Cinemathèque.

RSVP required.

Gordon and Hodgkinson Duo: Pieces by Beetho-

ven, Fauré and Ives will be performed by cellist Joshua Gordon and pianist Randall Hodgkinson, with special guest Andrea Segar on violin.

Slosberg Recital Hall, Saturday Feb. 2, 8 p.m. Tickets are

$5 for students. http://www.brandeis.edu/ arts/concerts/schedule/index. html

Monday, 2/4: “The Modern Jungle” screening and conversation: “The Modern

Jungle,” an ethnographic documentary about two indigenous elders in Chiapas, Mexico struggling with encroaching global forces will screen on Monday, Feb. 4 at 5 p.m. in Mandel G03. Filmmaker Charles Fairbanks will be in attendance.

Tuesday, 2/5: Artist Talk: Karin Rosenthal: Artist and photographer Karin Rosenthal will lecture on her work, currently on display at the Kniznick Gallery in the Women’s Studies Research Center. Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m.

Wednesday, 2/6: Close Looking: Howardena Pindell’s “Untitled #18:” Professors Carina Ray

(AAAS) and John Wardle (PHYS) will spend time examining and discussing one of the new Pindell works at the Rose. Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 3:30 p.m. in the Rose Art Museum.

Thursday, 2/7: Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life Featuring Su’ad Abdul Khabeer: Vi-

gnettes performed by anthropologist and performance artist Su’ad Abdul Khabeer reflect the experience of modern Muslim life in America. Part of ’deis Impact Festival of Social Justice.

Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in the SCC Theater.

Constructing Identities: A Zine Making Workshop: Sponsored

by the Asian American Task Force, learn about how zines are used as “artistic vehicles for social justice,” and get the chance to make your own.

Thursday, Feb. 7 at 12 p.m. in the Intercultural Center Lounge.

Down 1) Alex’s superfund site.

2) Popular student band 4) Share your deepest, darkest secrets.

5) Science center, first-year dorm, etc.

8) Museum you should go to.

9) Former dean, rhymes with bagel 13) Dirty W. 14) We declare a prank war.

16) Does anyone listen to them?

18) Getz?