The Brandeis Hoot 10/17/2014

Volume 11 Number 20

www.thebrandeishoot.com

Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper • Waltham, Mass.

Catholic chapel honors LGBT community

By Andrew Elmers Editor

A large gay pride flag has been on display outside of Bethlehem Chapel, the home for Catholics on campus, since the beginning of the month.

This honoring of LGBT History Month has been joined by the addition of a pink cloth over the altar, inside the chapel, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It was the idea of a few students on campus to show reverence to these two impor-

photo by andrew elmers/the hoot

gay pride The Brandeis Catholic Chapel will hang a gay pride flag for the month of October,

to celebrate LGBT History Month.

tant causes. Father Walter Cuenin was happy to put up the displays, so that Brandeis students can see the connection between faith and the university’s mission of social justice.

LGBT History Month has been celebrated in the U.S. during October since 1994, when Missouri history teacher Rodney Wilson organized it. It coincides with National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 of each year. Breast Cancer Awareness Month was founded in 1985 by the American Cancer Society, and has been celebrated in October ever since.

In an interview with The Hoot, Father Cuenin explained that the decision to hang these decorations went behind acknowledging both of the widely celebrated months. He stated that it is indeed something not many priests would agree to (honoring LGBT History and Breast Cancer Awareness Month). His main goal in this venture is for students to see the connection between living a faithful life and the overall vision of promoting social justice.

He equates this to the vision of Jesus Christ for the world.

For his parishioners and other Catholic students, Father Cuenin hopes that they will leave the chaSee PRIDE, page 3

October 17, 2014

Brandeis student activists find solidarity behind bars

By Victoria Aronson Editor

At the annual People’s Climate March in New York on Sept. 21, over 400,000 protesters joined together to advocate against climate change and corporate greed. On Sept. 22, thousands rushed to join a movement called Flood Wall Street, bringing the normal business day to a halt, as part of the campaign against corporate exploitation. Over 100 protesters were taken into custody, and several Brandeis students and alumni were among those arrested.

Naveh Halperin ’12, one of those arrested at Flood Wall Street, stated, “I decided to stay and get arrested because so many people that I loved were putting their bodies on the line for this action, I couldn’t leave. My heart was beating fast, but it felt right.”

Despite spending over nine hours in police custody, Kristina Jacobs ’15 expressed similar sentiments. She stated, “I was arrested along with some great friends and kind strangers so I felt a strong sense of solidarity and inspiration.”

Jacobs was arrested on the basis of “obstructing vehicular traffic” and “re-

fusing to obey a lawful order to disperse.”

Flood Wall Street focused on the connection between the perpetuation of climate change and corporate greed. Over 3,000 protesters rallied at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan before marching to the steps of the New York Stock Exchange. According to the official website, participants wore blue to “represent the sea that surrounds us,” and wove in and out of traffic to constitute a collective act of nonviolent civil disobedience.

“The essential goal of this action was to shut down the exploitative corporations and institutions that are destroying our planet and injuring our communities in the name of profit accumulation,” Jacobs stated.

Abbie Goldberg ’16, who is currently taking a year off from Brandeis, was also among those arrested. She stated that Flood Wall Street was organized partially to address the limitations of the Climate March Movement. She explains, “The march had essentially no demands and suffered from being non-direct.”

See ARRESTS, page 2

Brandeis among the first to receive grant from BRAIN initiative

By Hannah Stewart Staff

In April 2013, President Barack Obama announced the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, a project offering over $300 million in grants to public and private institutions. The goal of BRAIN is to create a revolutionary new map of the brain that shows individual cells and complex neural circuits and how they interact. Through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Brandeis was one of the first institutions to receive some of this grant money, allocating $3.4 million to Drs. Sacha Nelson and John Lisman (BIOL) in order to conduct research on the differentiation of nerve cells in the brain.

“The complexity of our brains arises in part from the fact that there are many more different types of nerve cells than of cells in all other organs put together,” Nelson said. “We are interested in the genetic mechanisms that establish and maintain these differences.”

Working alongside postdoctoral fellows Erin Clark and Yasuyukii Shima, as well as groups headed by Carlos Lois of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Partha Mitra of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Gill Bejerano of Stanford

Inside this issue:

University, the research team will be studying and comparing the cerebral neurons of mice and rats.

Nelson said that mice are genetically tractable organisms and that he and his colleagues have been studying them for some time.

“Recent technical developments have made it possible to copy the genetic manipulations made in mice to target specific neuronal populations [in] other species. Rats are among the closest species to mice which are readily studied in the laboratory,” said Nelson. “Their genomes and brains are of comparable similarity to each other as are ours to chimpanzees. By studying two very similar mammalian species we hope to be able to pinpoint differences in the genome that give rise to differences in the properties of neurons in the two species.”

Despite the differences between humans and rodents, this research can be helpful in understanding the human mind.

“All of the cell types identified in the brains of mice and rats [have] close homologs in the brains of humans and non-human primates,” elaborated Nelson.

The process of applying for the BRAIN initiative grant took nearly a See BRAIN, page 2

News: Students help the hungry on Halloween Arts, Etc.: New “Dracula” film disappoints Opinion: Alumni should have larger presence Sports: “Be Bold, Be Bald” a success Editorial: Chapel flag supports students

photo courtesy charlotte aaron

residential government The student leaders of Deroy Hall’s residential government pose for a group photo.

Deroy Hall implements first ever residential government

By Charlotte Aaron Staff

Over the past month, Community Advisors (CA) and first-year students of Deroy Hall have worked to implement Brandeis University’s first-ever residential government.

Lisette Anzoategui (GRAD), an instructor and CA of Deroy’s Leader Scholar Community, presented the idea for a residential government to the other Deroy CAs. “I was interested to start this year by

Boris’ Kitchen

Sketch comedy troupe showcases student comic talent in front of raucous crowd.

Page 2 Page 5 Page 12 Page 10 Arts, Etc.: Page 16 Page 9

opening up spaces for Deroy residents to build leadership skills and a sense of community,” Anzoategui explained.

With aspirations of fostering a dorm where students could learn to be leaders and agents for change, Anzoategui collaborated with the other Deroy CAs to propose a plan for a Deroy Hall Government. After the Department of Community Living staff approved the idea, the CAs organized a student election, publicized through email.

“From the very beginning, we have been very behind the idea of it be-

ing run by the residents,” Deroy CA Shannon Morrissey ’15 said. As an email sent to the building residents explained, the government would be composed of six committees, each with a committee chair: Facilities Chair, Community Service Chair, Budget Chair, Events Chair, Publicity Chair and Sustainability Chair.

Elections have already been held, and there have been three meetings with the elected chairs and the CAs See DEROY, page 3

The Shapiro Family

History behind the family that lends its name to numerous buildings and causes on campus.

Features: Page 7

NEWS

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October 17, 2014

Brandeis students jailed for combating climate change From ARRESTS, page 1

Although both Jacobs and Halperin stated that the Climate March had a very positive atmosphere, Jacobs appeared to agree with Goldberg’s statement. “Although the march was very large and inspiring, it was very constricted because we had a designated path and [were] separated in by police barricades,” she said.

Goldberg explains that the march targeted the U.N. for its failure to produce binding legislation to combat what she called as catastrophic climate change.

Flood Wall Street, however, un-

dertook a more direct approach, and aimed at linking climate change to capitalism.

Speakers at the event included Naomi Klein, social activist and author of the New York Times bestseller “This Changes Everything: Capitalism v. Climate” and Chris Hedges, renowned journalist, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, and bestselling author.

Rebecca Solnit, author and activist, was also present at the event.

Summing up the main message of the protest, Jacobs said, “We are tired of an economic and political system [that] favors corporate power and profit gain over human lives and climate justice.”

Halperin recalled the worry expressed on his behalf by his parents.

“My mom was extremely worried and in hysterics because I wasn’t answering my phone,” he said.

His father advised him not to risk arrest. According to Halperin, merely moments after ending his phone conversation with his father, he was taken into police custody.

According to Halperin, the protesters linked arms and sat in concentric circles on Wall Street and Broadway.

“Knowing that we were partaking in such a powerful experience felt extremely empowering and extremely loving. We were singing amazing songs as the police confronted us and

Halloween for the Hungry prepares for annual event

By Rachel Bossuk Staff

Each year, Halloween holds a different meaning for the students in Hunger and Homelessness, a subgroup of Waltham Group. The group members are currently coordinating their annual event called “Halloween for the Hungry,” which enables Brandeis students to participate in an opportunity to give back to the community through direct service work.

Rather than trick-or-treat for candy, these volunteers go door-to-door in Waltham and ask for donations of nonperishable food. Once collected, the food is donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

“Some students opt to dress up, some go with roommates, while others join their fellow club members, but they all make an impact and enjoy some candy on the side,” said Lucas Malo, the director of community service at Brandeis.

Malo believes the Waltham community sincerely appreciates the volunteers and is grateful for their efforts. He says the event is also a great platform to raise awareness for poverty in the city and inspires others to support the cause.

Last year, Halloween for the Hungry was able to collect over 3,500 canned goods and nonperishable items, and the group hopes to collect 4,500 cans by the end of this Halloween, which is predicted to be enough for 3,375 meals. This year, the program is partnering with the Department of Community Living, Student Activities, Student Events and several other on-campus groups for the event.

Lauryn Garner ’15, one of the student coordinators from Hunger & Homelessness, spoke about how the event is exciting for both the volunteers and those whom they help.

“This event is super fun and easy.

Not only do volunteers get to dress up and collect candy, but they also get to do something good for those in need,” said Garner.

Garner and her fellow coordinators have been planning this event since the middle of September.

They formed a team of volunteers to help them with the planning process and claim they have received great support from all coordinators of Waltham Group, many of whom will help during the event by driving BranVans.

Not only is Garner excited about

the event itself, but she also is looking forward to the day after when the Greater Boston Food Bank comes by with their truck to pick up the collected food.

“This is the moment that I always remember for this event, since it’s clear we are making a huge impact in the lives of those who are food insecure,” she said. After the pickup, the food bank counts how many pounds of food the group collected and equates that to how many meals the food can provide. Garner says knowing that they are able to provide thousands of meals to those in need is truly a special experience.

By Halloween for the Hungry’s 30th anniversary in 2016, both Garner and Malo would like to see an even bigger event take place.

“Some ideas include partnering with Waltham High School to cover more ground and have a shared experience,” said Malo. “Perhaps involving Brandeis faculty and their families and kids to join in on the celebration.”

However, it is the volunteers who make the event a success each year.

Interested students can sign up in groups or individually online, and Garner and her team are also available by email.

Brandeis scientists join White House initiative From BRAIN, page 1

year and required a formal application, peer reviews by a “specially constituted panel,” and finally an administrative review.

When asked about how he had first heard about the initiative, he replied, “[Through] multiple methods; Professor Eve Marder was on the panel that drafted the first guidelines for the program, [the] program officers who administer my other grants at NIH informed me about it and I read announcements from NIH.” “We [had] been doing related work for some time and the call for proposals was specifically aimed at the kind of genetic characterization of cell types we wish to undertake as the next step,” said Nelson when asked about why he chose to apply to the BRAIN initiative.

The inner workings of the human brain remain one of the most complicated and least understood mysteries of biology. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, neurological and psychiatric disorders affect tens of millions of people each year, and yet less is known about it than the surface of the moon.

The hope is that this information will contribute to the discovery of

treatments, cures and perhaps even ways to prevent brain disorders.

The official statement published by the White House addresses what the BRAIN initiative represents.

“The BRAIN Initiative has the potential to do for neuroscience what the Human Genome Project did for genomics by supporting the develop-

ment and application of innovative technologies that can create a dynamic understanding of brain function.

It aims to help researchers uncover the mysteries of brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI),” the statement reads.

cheered people’s names as they took them away one by one,” he stated.

Once the protesters reached Wall Street, a brief scuffle erupted with police, who pepper sprayed several people, according to Goldberg.

Despite his parents’ concern, Halperin is not dismayed by the night he spent in prison. Other than a few sexist comments, he explained that he rarely felt oppression from the NYPD officers.

He even recalls conversations with the officers about controversial topics such as the legality of marijuana, stating “They had drastically different views than we did, but were willing to engage with us nonetheless!”

Taken into custody at 8 p.m., Halperin was released, along with other protesters, around 5 a.m. the next day. Students and activists greeted them upon release with bagels and hot chocolate in Chinatown.

The students who were arrested will be returning to New York for a court appointment on Oct. 27, according to Goldberg.

Halperin does not regret his arrest.

In fact, he said, “I would like to get arrested more often. I have a privilege as a white male of good class standing that I can get arrested and face small consequences. I should get arrested as much as possible if it helps the movement.”

Hiatt fair exhibits post-grad options

By Jess Linde editor

Representatives from a multitude of post-graduate programs set up tables and showed what they had to offer students at Brandeis University this Monday. The event was designed to entice students interested in pursuing advanced degrees in both the legal and professional world. Many of the representatives were enrolled in the programs they were advertising.

They pitched schools included Harvard, Princeton and Boston University, as well as Brandeis’ own Heller and International Business schools.

Students had the opportunity to speak with representatives at their tables, as well as attend smaller discussion sessions that gave specific advice based on the degree in question. The event was sponsored and organized by the Brandeis Department of Pre-Law and Graduate School and the Hiatt Career Center. The Brandeis Pre-Law Association, a student club, was also in attendance.

“This is the first year that we have expanded the reception to include degrees other than a [Juris Doctor],” said Pre-Law department head Lauren Dropkin in an interview. “Specifically this is the first year that we have hosted professional schools for Brandeis students interested in fields such as social policy.” Many of the programs featured were the first step towards a master’s degree in business (M.B.A.), an increasingly popular field, said Dropkin.

According to Dropkin and others, the greatest obstacle in setting up the event was the fear of low attendance.

“Once the word got out about the event, many schools and programs asked to attend,” said Hiatt Center Director, Andrea Dine. “The thing is, Brandeis students have so many interests there is no surefire way to make sure people come. A student may be wary of coming to a fair because they do not want to limit themselves, and then miss an important opportunities,” Dine said. She stated that if students demonstrated interest, Hiatt would do similar events in

the future. Dine was not sure if these events would include departments other than Pre-Law. Dine and Dropkin estimated around 60 students attended the fair.

“This is my second fall here at Brandeis,” said Dropkin, who received her undergraduate degree from Brandeis in 1995 before receiving her law degree from the University of Illinois. “So I’ve been sure to utilize resources like UDRs and student clubs, and of course Facebook.”

The smaller discussion circles were also a new addition to the fair, which had occurred in the past as a law-specific event.

“The group discussions are designed to allow students to learn indepth about each degree they may want to pursue in the future,” Dropkin said. After splitting into groups, the students’ discussions with program representatives lasted about 15 minutes, after which they could switch rooms and hear about a different degree.

Cary Weir-Lytle, an associate director at Hiatt, advised students to develop a relationship with on-campus advisors, whether they had attended the fair or not. “[Hiatt] likes to encourage students to attend these kind of events because it can allow them to explore their interests,” Weir-Lytle. “But if anyone ever feels overwhelmed or just wants an introduction to the process, we are always here.”

Among its many services, Hiatt offers workshops on resume-building, interviews and direct contact with programs or possible students. In addition to specific one-time meetings with counselors, Hiatt is also able to set up students with specific counselors who will work with them over a long period of time.

For students interested in pre-law and the other offered fields at the fair but could not attend, Dropkin advised them to talk to their graduate counselor or look at the websites of either Hiatt or the graduate school department. The event concluded with further mingling and refreshments.

photo from internet source photo from internet source

obama Brandeis scientists are among the first to recieve money from Obama’s BRAIN initia-

tive.

hiatt Brandeis’ Career Center sponsored the event about post-grad options.

October 17, 2014

The Brandeis Hoot

NEWS

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Deroy Hall students and CAs join forces From DEROY, page 1

present. “What I love is that Brandeis students bring so much energy and passion around building community—for example, the second meeting had half of my floor in attendance,” Anzoategui said.

While the CAs plan on attending future government meetings as well, Anzoategui expressed the hope that the students will take the lead, with the CAs providing support when needed. As Morrissey reiterated, “We will probably be a bridge between the DCL and your ideas, but that’s pretty much it. We are letting you guys go.” Though the program is in its early stages, the students are already planning exciting events for the future. They are looking to improve residential life as much as possible and are thrilled to be a part of the government.“The dorm government will create a platform for discussion in which people can share their ideas freely. When everyone feels heard, an environment is much happier,” said Jade Eckels ’18, community service chair. Eckels plans to have dorm residents participate in at least one community service event per semester and encourage community engagement among her peers.

Sophie Warren ’18, sustainability

chair, hopes that over the course of the year, new systems can be implemented to reduce the residents’ carbon footprint. One idea includes a hall compost. Tamara Garcia ’18, cofacilities chair with Sooyoung Jeong ’18, hopes to “address concerns regarding the facilities, and figure out the ways we could improve them.”

Both Garcia and Jeong are looking to establish greater communication between the residents and representatives so that any possible problems can be handled with ease.

Budget Chair Kevin Healey ’18 stated that he wants “to create a system to keep track of all expenditures for the program, so it will be easy to expand the program next year.” While there has not been a specific government budget set aside, Morrissey noted that the DCL is funding projects on a needed basis. “If we come up with a good idea, they will really try to find a way to work that out,” she said.

As of now, Deroy is the only dorm on campus to have received approval for a building government, but there are hopes to spread the program across campus. Anzoategui said that Deroy “is serving as a pilot for other residence halls. Of course, I hope for wild success so that hall governments can be implemented across all Brandeis University.”

photo from internet source

deroy Inspired first-year students have banded together to create an original form of government at Brandeis University.

Lecture discourages victim blaming in cycles of violence

By Emily Smith staff

On Tuesday Oct. 14, the Women’s Studies Research Center held a discussion titled “Ending Cycles of Violence.” The discussion was led by Jessica Hollander, director of prevention programs at REACH, a non-profit organization in Boston that provides support to the survivors of domestic abuse and violence. The talk focused on trauma and how it impacts the mind and body. Hollander also talked about preventing cycles of violence and how trauma impacts the communities in which it occurs.

Hollander explained that the process of recovering and healing from any trauma is one that often happens in four steps. Among these steps is one she referred to as “feel our feelings.” Hollander explained that this

process is not easy, especially in cultures where showing emotion is not encouraged.

“We do a lot to try not to feel our feelings … For a lot of young men that I work with, feeling sad is not something they feel they have access to,” Hollander said.

Allowing oneself to feel sad or any other emotion that might be present after a traumatic experience, according to Hollander, is essential to the healing process. She discussed the importance of letting survivors know that they are supported. She noted that often survivors are met with blame and disbelief.

“People should have a supportive other, someone who they could tell that experience to and get a believing and supportive response,” she said.

REACH, which stands for Refuge, Education, Advocacy and Change, provides shelters for the survivors

photo from internet source

of abuse, as well as a variety of other support services. This includes legal advocacy and assistance finding longterm housing.

In addition to their support services, REACH uses educational programs to prevent domestic abuse and advocate for the survivors of domestic abuse.

“Prevention isn’t necessarily saying ‘women look out’”, said Hollander.

The non-profit runs programs like Peers Against Violence (PAVE), which teaches youth about healthy relationships and dating violence prevention, as well as programs like their Survivor Speakers’ Bureau, which trains survivors of domestic abuse to share their experiences with the community.

Hollander discussed her work as a counselor at a rape crisis center in San Francisco.

She talked about the importance of letting survivors of rape and domestic abuse know that they are not at fault, while also allowing them to feel whatever they are feeling. She discussed how oftentimes, the family and friends of survivors of rape or domestic abuse will blame the victims, instead of providing the support that they need.

“I wanted to plant a seed that someone out there did not blame them for this,” Hollander explained.

Hollander, who is from Newton, has been working with REACH for a little over a year. While attending American University as an undergraduate, she founded the school’s first Take Back the Night, which has since grown to be the largest Take Back the Night event in Washington, D.C. Before working at REACH, Hollander was the education and outreach coordinator at Casa Myrna, a non-profit that works to end domestic violence. She also worked as the prevention education coordinator and sexual assault counselor at a rape crisis center in San Francisco.

The discussion ended with questions and comments from the audience.

Chapel displays gay pride flag, breast cancer awareness cloth From PRIDE, page 1

pel inspired to bring God’s love to the world. “No point to come here and pray if you aren’t actually going to do something in the world,” he said.

He hopes that with these displays, students will be reminded to do just that. “We have to bring our life to the world,” he added.

Father Cuenin does acknowledge the controversy within the church about accepting LGBT believers. He referred to Isaiah 1:17, which calls to take care of widows and orphans, to explain his and the Catholic chapel’s open arms. In fact, Father Cuenin has always displayed a rainbow peace flag inside the chapel, as a statement that the chapel is friendly to people of all sexualities. That will continue to be the case when the pride flag outside is taken down at the end of the month.

Cuenin also commented that he takes his role as a confidential resource on campus very seriously, and hopes that more students will feel welcome to talk with him as a result of these displays.

There has not been any outcry or backlash presented to Father Cuenin over these displays, he mentioned. In fact, he has actually received a lot of positive support from both his parishioners and the larger Brandeis community for honoring these two population groups. Cuenin does recognize, however, that most of his parishioners that are not students and come from off-campus to attend mass are already looking for a more contemporary service. Thus, they wouldn’t necessarily mind these displays to begin with, and have turned out to be very accepting of it.

With the new regime of Pope Francis in the Vatican, Cuenin mentioned that there has been a whole new spirit and opinion brought to the Catholic Church. In response to a question about homosexuals and the

church, Pope Francis said, “Who am I to judge?” Father Cuenin then stated that the new pope is helping the entire church become more aware and progressive, and he wants to help with that.

Father Cuenin strives to expand connections to all kinds of students on campus, whether they be Catholic, pagan or homosexual. He views this as a better way to show God’s love than simply heading to mass to pray. The specific symbols of the gay pride flag and the pink cloth help students know the spirit of social justice is important at the Catholic chapel as well.

photo by andrew elmers/the hoot

breast cancer This pink cloth supports

Breast Cancer Awareness month.

ARTS

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October 17, 2014

Poets visit, display innovation and creativity

By Dana Trismen Editor

Students, faculty and staff packed into Pearlman Lounge for a poetry reading that celebrated peace and connected people from diverse backgrounds on Monday, Oct. 13. Two poets read their work.

The first, Marilyn Hacker, is a Jewish, award-winning poet with a career that has spanned over 40 years.

To create a book of poetry titled “Diaspo/Renga,” Hacker joined with Palestinian-American poet Deema K. Shehabi, who is also an editor of the anthology “Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here.” Hacker and Shehabi overcame drastically different backgrounds in order to work together as partners. They created an entire book full of rengas, a Japanese style of poetry that is collaborative.

Professor Mary Baine Campbell (COML/ENG), who was extremely influential in bringing the two poets to campus, gave introductory remarks. She stated that the renga form “encourages a very special type of stream of consciousness” and also allows for multiple people’s voices to join as one. Campbell currently teaches “Introduction to Creative Writing” where her students are attempting to create their own renga masterpieces. All members of Campbell’s class were present in the audience.

Campbell introduced “Diaspo/ Renga” as “poetry of the very first order” and stated that the authors wrote the text as if they were “one mind, with two sets of memories.”

The text was a project that began in 2009, prompted by the Israeli siege of Gaza. It was only just recently published in June of this year. Over the course of five years, the authors responded to each other’s poetry lines via email. Often, a theme or word brought to life in one section of the poem by Shehabi was picked up, manipulated and changed by Hacker.

In this way, the authors explored an incredible range of themes throughout the work—including love, unrest, exile and beauty.

Shehabi and Campbell both read “Diaspo/Renga” out loud, though the reading was interspersed by sections where each author read their own individual work. The poems in “Diaspo/Renga” had lines that bled into other lines written by the other author (in the true style of the renga), and thus Hacker and Shehabi switched off speaking. Both authors managed to bring the text to life, carefully pronouncing each verb and every adjective. Shehabi used many hand gestures, while Hacker appeared to be a very practiced reader.

Both used strong voices that were impossible to ignore, and drew the audience in—almost as if they were listening to a spoken-word performance. Hacker and Shehabi just met in the flesh about a month ago, an incredible fact, given the great chemistry they had while reading out loud.

“Diaspo/Renga” brought to life images of families torn apart by war, forced into exile and sisters who cried out in their sleep. Because of the style and the beautifully chosen words, each line flowed into the next.

While Shehabi and Hacker were

equals on this project and got along very well, they still advocated for their own identity within the poems on the page. Each author strived to stay true to their people, their past, their homeland and their identity.

“Sister, don’t forget, Iraq and Palestine are one wound,” said Shehabi, in one of the lines she read out loud.

Shehabi, who is the author of a book of poems titled “Thirteen Departures from the Moon,” read her own poetry, which centered on fam-

ily life. Her well-crafted lines also discussed memory and how multiple generations can share in the memories of both the living and the dead.

“Memory always fractures,” she said.

Hacker, who has produced over ten books of poetry, also read her own work. Hacker has received an incredible number of awards, from the National Book Award to the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. This praise is entirely deserved, as Hacker proved throughout the reading that

poets Marilyn Hacker and Deema K Shehabi read from joint

she is an excellent poet. The poem she read centered on Judaism, and it seemed entirely personal and close to her heart.

After the reading ended, Hacker and Shehabi looked at each other, laughed and then embraced. The floor opened for a question and answer session, and many students raised their hands. The event was very well attended and well received—primarily because of Hacker and Shehabi’s incredible talent.

photos from internet source

book Diaspo/Renga last Monday

Childish Gambino wakes up in ‘Kauai’

By Michelle Kim Editor

Childish Gambino’s (Danny Glover) newest release, “STN MTN/Kauai,” has fans and music critics talking. Conceptually, “STN MTN” is a free mixtape that revolves around a dreamland. According to Gambino, the mixtape is a dream that ends when he wakes up on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, one of Gambino’s favorite places. “Kauai” is an EP, and proceeds from album sales go to keeping Kauai clean as well as getting audio devices for police officers.

It also features some very interesting people, such as Jaden Smith, who neither sings nor raps in the album.

Instead, he speaks in a colloquial manner as if reading out spoken word poetry (or his tweets.) Gambino’s younger brother, Steven G. Lover, is a featured rapper in the family.

“Kauai” begins with “Sober,” a mellow antithesis to every dark and sad breakup song ever made. It’s still full of emotion, though. Gambino sings that he will never be sober now that his relationship is over. At the end of the song, the bass drops, and the key rises, as if he were hitting the high he alludes to in the song. A personal favorite, “Sober” is equally relaxed and emotional.

Gambino follows up with “Pop Thieves (Make It Feel Good),” which refers to the album’s island namesake by opening with the sound of chirping birds. He sings of relationship bliss and the high he gets when he is with the subject of the song. Unlike “Sober,” “Pop Thieves” is about a time when Gambino relies on a relationship to make him happy. The song then stops and continues to waves, bongos and Jaden Smith telling listeners about a romantic walk on the

photo from internet source

KEEPING THINGS CLEAN New EP transports listeners to a dreamland.

beach. This last part feels strange because Smith’s part seems unprecendented.

In “Retro [ROUGH],” we hear Gambino recreate his 2008 track “Love is Crazy” with a more popinfluenced hook. In this song, Gambino’s progress as an artist is evident.

Up tempo and fun, Gambino sings of the potential two people can have together as a couple if they both tried to enter a relationship. He raps “This is World War Three/I’m the new JayZ,” referring to his dreams of being a commercially successful artist.

Reminiscent of Michael Jackson,

“The Palisades” opens with a repetitious guitar chord. Gambino sings falsetto as he states his desire to be in a happy relationship. Other than being similar to Michael Jackson, this song is rather nondescript.

“Poke” refers to summer days, which “will never fade away.” Gambino then introduces us to his younger brother, who raps about looking past the stress of being in a relationship and how relaxing in Kauai makes everything better.

“Last Night in Kauai” continues the sound of bongos and Jaden Smith, who talks about being with the previ-

ously mentioned girl. His voice is immediately followed by Gambino’s, a transition that is so smooth that it is almost unnoticeable. Gambino raps about being in control of his own fate. Rapper Fam’s line at the end of the song asks if one likes something because one actually enjoys it or because everyone else does.

We are then subjected to a rather strange remix of Gambino’s most commercially successful song, “3005,” now titled “V. 3005 Beach Picnic Version.” The original rap verses are noticeably absent and musical components of the original

version, such as the crooning highpitched voices, are mixed into this new island version.

Overall, “Kauai” is an interesting and original EP. While most of the seven songs are catchy, the new version of “3005” will never have the critical praise the original received.

“Sober,” “Pop Thieves (Make It Feel Good)” and “Retro [ROUGH]” will be fan favorites. Childish Gambino is only getting better, and his progress is rather exciting. No longer an underdog of the underground music world, Gambino is emerging as a commercial artist.

October 17, 2014

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS

5

Art meets social justice in panel discussion

By Sabrina Pond

Special to the Hoot

As can be expected from a university that prides itself in social justice and the awareness of inequality, Brandeis’ fall musical “Spring Awakening” presented an open-panel discussion called “Where the Arts Meet Social Justice” on Oct. 16 in the Mandel Center for the Humanities. The conversation was held between the panel members—Professors Jennifer Cleary (THA), Adrianne Krstansky (THA), Dean of Students Jamele Adams and Joy Von Steiger, the psychological counseling center senior associate and clinical director—and the audience, some of whom were part of the “Spring Awakening” cast. The event was led by Rachel Liff ’16, who is also the director of the musical.

The main topics under discussion at the event were sexual and physical assault, abortion and suicide. The majority of the conversation centered on how art is used as a vessel to represent how these issues are prevalent in American society. In the opinion of the panelists, art utilizes personal narrative and presents widespread problems in such a way that the audience members may be more inclined to listen. As stated by Krstansky, “Art concerns itself with the metaphor, to the essence of something. We don’t have to be told how to think, how to feel or what to say.”

When art addresses a serious topic in an abstract way, it is interesting how the audience can understand the message and be moved, while statistics may not be received the same way because of the distance between the numbers and the audience.

Though they are concrete facts, they can feel impersonal and detached. It is art that can tell a story and make those numbers a living, breathing reality.

This dialogue was related to the upcoming performance of “Spring Awakening” because of its risque nature and in-your-face attitude. The original play was written in the late 1800s, yet its age has not changed the fact that the rather controversial topics at force in this play are still scandalous today. The play will feature a racy sex scene on stage, as well as portrayals of suicide and masturbation. Some of the characters are even sexually abused, and one character is forced to get an abortion. To say the least, the performance will be chock full of scenes that bring to light certain topics that people would otherwise be difficult to discuss.

To start off the event, Liff asked questions regarding an example of theater or art that addressed social issues and had a profound impact on the panelist. Different plays were then discussed, such as “The Laramie Project,” a stinging play about a reallife hate crime committed against Matthew Shepard, a gay student in

Wyoming. The play slowly revealed the events leading up to Matthew Shepard’s death through interviews.

Another play titled “Through the Leaves” focused on the very unhealthy relationship between two characters, Martha and Otto. Domestic violence is explored through the play as both characters mistreat each other in ways that may be difficult to watch. This discussion helped to portray how art and theater have been used in the past to point out the faults in our society. The idea is that change cannot occur if there is no dialogue about the problem. It is only after openly stating the issue that action can occur.

One point of discussion focused on how these topics, considered to be very controversial over a century ago, are still being contentiously debated even today. As put forth by Cleary, “Why haven’t we solved all the issues of humanity?” Though a rather daunting question, the argument was settled when it was pointed out that as individuals, we are all trying to figure out how we fit in the world and to discover our identity. Art and theater, at the very least, can be used to represent these issues in such a way that small measures of progress can be made.

The event closed with a hopeful gaze into the future. The panelists explained how they hope theater and film, in the not-so-distant-future, will evolve to become more encom-

photos from internet source

the b*tch of living Panel discusses tough topics in Spring Awakening.

passing and diverse. There was talk of representing different bodied people, healthy relationships, those with disabilities and to allow women more diverse roles in theater and film. Considering how American society has developed these past few decades, it seems likely that progress is inevitable. Adams summed it up very nicely, stating, “We wouldn’t have had this conversation 50 years

ago—three women and a black dude.”

Though it may be dismaying to look at the progress that should be made, it is reassuring that we have at least come this far.

Tympanium Euphorium’s “Spring Awakening” will open on Thursday, Nov. 13 and will show through the weekend. Tickets are available in the SCC box office or online at the Brandeis Tickets page.

‘Dracula Untold’ lacks bite

By Jess Linde Editor

I find the existence of “Dracula Untold” genuinely perplexing. Did anybody ask for this movie? According to Universal Studios, “Dracula Untold” is the first in what will be a series of modern monster movies that will eventually connect, a la the Avengers franchise. Why? By the time all these movies are released it will be well after the second Avengers, as well as several new Star Wars movies. Even the Hunger Games will be over by then.

That’s hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars over almost 10 years, all just to cash in on a specific trend. This is the second time this has been attempted, after the disastrous “Van Helsing” from 2004, which made no money and nobody liked.

Well, maybe the shared “Monsterverse” is just a pipe dream, because “Dracula Untold” seems to be using the same quality of filmmaking as “Van Helsing.” At least the same bad special effects.

Anyway, this movie introduces Luke Evans as a mostly-retired Vlad the Impaler, now trying to live in peace with his pretty wife and child who can’t keep his mouth closed. One afternoon, Vlad takes a break from staring mournfully into the distance with his shirt off in order to defend his home of Transylvania from the Turks, who demand a tribute of 1,000 young boys to use as soldiers. Understanding that he needs an extra boost of power since the entirety of Transylvania fits in a single castle, he goes to a scary cave to meet an ancient vampire. Vlad gets the power he needs, as well as a deep thirst for human blood, which threatens to turn him into a monster.

So the basic idea of “Dracula Untold” is to give Dracula, arguably the most famous movie monster in history, some background in order to make him a compelling protagonist for the 21st century. It makes some sense, as the character is based on one of the

most famously cruel warlords in history, and giving him vampire powers could be fun with gore and action like that of “300.” Alas, the Dracula of this film is Dracula in name only, and spends most of the movie looking sad, looking angry or as a cloud of computer-generated bats.

Beyond that, the audience is left with a hero who does not amount to much more than a walking set of muscles with sharp teeth. The always charismatic and charming Luke Evans does his best with a screenplay that is essentially a consecutive series of shaky-cam action scenes, but the lackluster direction and story cannot

no love at first bite Dracula disappoints.

be broken through.

Vlad’s entire backstory and motivation is told to the audience in a near five-minute monologue at the beginning, leaving the character basically nowhere to go. And the rest of the characters barely have names, much less interesting traits or stories. Also, even if the audience hasn’t read the novels or seen the old movies, they know that once he gets his powers, Dracula is unstoppable. So when the hilariously hammy Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister for you, “Game of Thrones” fans) gives Luke Evans his blood to drink 20 minutes into the movie, it lowers the, dare I say it,

stakes down to nothing. Not even Dominic Cooper, an actor I also really like, provides any sense of fun or danger as the main villain, Sultan Mehmed II, a character who wears all-gold armor and has a giant sword.

Not even the action sequences help. As I said, most of them involve Vlad/Dracula flying around as a cloud of bats, I guess biting people, while we know the character also has super-strength and speed, as well as scary dragon armor and a sword. The rare time someone shows up to help, they either immediately get killed by a villain or see Dracula get hit by the sun so his skin flies off looking like

dandruff. Then, just as the story gets mildly interesting, the movie has a huge, boring action scene, and ends.

Then I dashed out of the theater.

Overall “Dracula Untold” is an interesting idea that breaks both legs right out of the gate before falling on its face and down a mountain. But really now, for the launching point of a new massive and expensive franchise, it does not feel like much work went into this movie. The style has been done before and better and probably will be again. But if this is the standard for the next some-odd years of monster movies, I’d rather have the idea stay in its coffin.

photo from internet source

October 17, 2014

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS

6

British prof. lectures on music of Modest Mussorgsky

By Lisa Petrie Staff

Professor Stephen Walsh of Cardiff University in the United Kingdom gave a short lecture on the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky at a musicology colloquium in Slosberg Music Center on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

With a speciality concentration in Russian composers, Walsh has written many books and essays about subjects in his field, predominantly Stravinsky. His most recent book is called “Mussorgsky and His Circle: A Russian Musical Adventure,” which made up the bulk of his talk on Wednesday.

Walsh started his lecture with a brief history of Russia, because, as he said, “You can’t understand anything … without knowledge of the history.”

He quickly educated the audience about the reign of Czar Peter the First of Russia in the 1700s, whose main mission was to bring Russia out of its stagnancy and modernize the country in the style of the West. One of his main contributions to Russia was to create St. Petersburg, which has a much better location in the country to be an international city than Moscow.

He later spoke about how the two main philosophical positions of the 1800s had a huge impact on Russian music. These two ideas were to west-

ernize Russia or to restore Russia to its original character from before Peter the Great’s time. Members of this second group were called “Slavophiles.”

One of the main goals for both parties in reforming Russia was to abolish serfdom. This was an especially poignant issue because more than 90 percent of the population were serfs.

During that time, Vladimir Stasov became a huge figure in the development of new Russian music. He was originally an art historian, but he was also an fervent Slavophile and had influence in all areas of Russian culture.

Another factor that affected Russian musical compositions is that this time was after the defeat of the French in 1812, and there were strong nationalistic feelings in Russia. Stasov and his followers believed that new Russian music should have Russian subject matter. It should explore the “oriental side” of Russia and go against German conservatoire teaching. These influences carried into other cultural areas such as art. Walsh gave an example of the Russian artists the Wanderers, a group that had not been accepted into traditional Russian art schools because of their progressive ideas of art. They mainly depicted the Russian poor, who were not considered an appropriate artistic subject at the time.

Walsh explained that the Russian composers of the time spent a lot of time composing and editing their works together at salon meetings.

They had to be careful about this because all texts were subject to censorship by the Russian government, and subjects about current political leaders were banned. Russian composers could not get much music published because of this censorship, so they were forced to take other jobs to make ends meet. For this reason they did not have much time to compose.

He explained that this is why this group “was not very good at finishing works.” Many of the composers of the era have lots of unfinished compositions and operas because they either did not have time to finish them or, as Professor Walsh suggested, their fellow composers might have told them “to throw it in the bin because they thought it was a load of tosh.”

The main focus of Walsh’s presentation after his brief historical review was the music of Mussorgsky. He saidthat Mussorgsky experimented with direct text-to-music composition, where he tried to match music and lyrics to the Russian style of speech at the time. Therefore, the rhythm of the music was dictated by the text and mimics the speech patterns of Russian peasants. This is especially prevalent in his first opera, in which he exactly mimics Russian speech patterns by setting the text of Gogol’s “The Marriage” to music. This was one of four operas that he did not finish.

Mussorgsky finished one opera,

Fine Arts prof. receives grant to publish new book on Asian art

By Michelle Kim Editor

This year, Dr. Aida Wong, an associate professor of Fine Arts at Brandeis, was awarded with the Theodore and Jane Norman Fund for Faculty Research and Creative Projects. This fund supports faculty at Brandeis who wish to pursue research and creative projects or to help develop their courses. According to the Brandeis website, up to $3,000 is awarded to be used for direct, project-related expenses, such as usage of collections, acquisition of data, services and publication charges. The process for receiving the Norman Fund involves submitting a written application to Dean Susan Birren that outlines the goal and progress of the project as well as those items that would benefit from funding support.

Wong has taught a variety of courses related to Asian art, from general classes to more specialized topics like Buddhist art and arts of the Ming Dynasty. Wong earned her B.A. at the University of Western Ontario and later earned her M.A., Ph.M. and Ph.D. at Columbia University.

“My main area of research is crosscultural modernism in the contexts of revolution, imperialism and colonialism. Until 15 years ago, few art historians dealt with transnational aesthetics in Asia, and my work has been devoted to demonstrating complex interchange and multilateral influences. Such questions are also introduced in my classes,” she said.

Wong has been honored many times; she was previously granted the American Council of Learned Societies (and NEH) American Research in the Humanities in China Fellowship and the University of Chicago Postdoctoral Fellowship in addition to numerous other honorary positions, grants and fellowships. She has

art award Dr. Wong accepts grant for new book

also been awarded the Norman Fund in 2009. She has written on transcultural modernism. Some of her publications include “Parting the Mists: Discovering Japan and the Rise of National-Style Painting in Modern China,” published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2006 and the edited volume “Visualizing Beauty: Gender and Ideology in Modern East Asia,” published by the Hong Kong University Press in 2012.

The Norman Fund supports her book project on Kang Youwei, a calligrapher and art theorist who was the chief leader of the Hundred Days Reform on the night the Qing Dynasty collapsed. Kang attempted to make the Chinese Emperor adopt the Meiji Japanese model of constitutional monarchy. However, the plan faded, and Kang focused on reforming Chinese art with profound, yet little studied, impact on key calligraphers and painters. The fund goes toward the preparation of the manuscript

photo from internet source

for publication, such as professional proofreading and acquisition of image copyrights from international museums and private art collections (with part-time help from a research assistant who happens to be a multilingual Brandeis graduate.)

“Art history books with color reproductions are expensive to produce. Part of the fund will also be used as subvention to the publisher,” explained Wong. “Besides the inherent significance of the topic, I am using this opportunity to challenge boundaries between political history and art history, calligraphy and painting, and theory and practice.

This book also represents the culmination of five years of research and writing.”

Wong’s book is currently under contract with the international publishing company Brill, which is based in Leiden, Boston and Tokyo and is starting a new series on Modern Chinese Art.

“Boris Godunov,” based on a work by Pushkin. “Boris Godunov” tells the story of Czar Boris, a man who murdered the rightful heir to the throne to become the czar. According to Walsh, “Boris” aptly portrays Boris’ torment because of his guilt and gives a very accurate portrait of the Russian people. This was Mussorgsky’s main goal, to capture the idea of being Russian in his music.

Walsh explained that Mussorgsky was also skilled at vignette and dramatic work, where he turned real-life visions of artistic scenes into songs.

He presented one example of this in a song he wrote called “The Nursery.”

He portrays a young child teasing his nurse by asking her to tell him a scary story. He quite accurately represents the tone and rhythm of the child’s voice in the composition of the music.

Overall, Walsh was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the topic he presented, and gave very helpful background information to guide his audience in following his argument. The examples he gave aptly supported his thesis, and the audience left a more educated group.

modest man Walsh gives lecture on Mussorgsky

photo from internet source

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7 FEATURES.

The Brandeis Hoot

FEATURES

October 17, 2014

The lasting influence of the Shapiro family

By Nathan Benjamin editor

Any student who attends or has attended Brandeis University is fairly familiar with the Shapiro family name. The high level of recognition is easy to understand, after a quick glance at a campus map. From the Shapiro Campus Center to the Shapiro Admissions Center to the Shapiro Science Center and more, it is very clear that the Shapiro family has truly been an influential force at this university.

The family consists of Carl J. Shapiro, his wife Ruth, as well as his daughters Ellen and Rhonda. Born in 1913, Shapiro began to amass his wealth and fortune after founding Kay Windsor, Inc. in 1939, a women’s apparel company. With Shapiro acting as the company’s former president and chairman of the board, Kay Windsor was acquired by Vanity Fair Corporation in 1971. His involvement in these organizations, coupled with alternative entrepreneurship experiences, prompted his net worth to rise to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Carl Shapiro’s involvement with Brandeis is said to have begun in 1950, the year the Shapiros became benefactors to the school. Their activism at Brandeis continued for many more years, as Carl Shapiro acted as a Brandeis Fellow from 1977-79 and a Brandeis Trustee from 1979-1988. He eventually became a Trustee emeritus, a position he still holds today. However, the family’s accelerated involvement with the university began with his daughter, Rhonda Zinner. Acting as

the president of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, she was the lead coordinator and organizer of the family’s philanthropic missions. This position, coupled with the fact that Zinner was an active member of the Brandeis Board of Trustees, was what has led to the family’s heightened activism over the past decade at Brandeis.

In fact, it was Zinner who directed and organized the creation of one of the most recognizable and wellknown buildings on campus, the Shapiro Campus Center. Thanks to a generous contribution from Carl and Ruth Shapiro, in support of the mission of the university, the campus center was able to open its doors in 2002. According to the university website, “The Shapiro Campus Center is a space to promote and enhance campus life and unity. The Shapiro Campus Center, a student-directed and administratively supported space, is a reflection of the passion, devotion, strength and enthusiasm found throughout the Brandeis community.” Alternative and lesser-known contributions from the Shapiro family to Brandeis include the admissions center and the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Center for Library Technology and Journals, located within the Farber Library.

The decrease in involvement with Brandeis by the Shapiro family over the past few years can primarily be attributed to Bernard Madoff ’s Ponzi scheme, which was brought to light in 2008. The relationship between Madoff and Carl Shapiro is said to go back to the 1960s. It was within these early years that Shapiro began investing with Madoff, and he had continued to do so until the scheme

photo from internet source

SHAPIRO CAMPUS CENTER The Shapiro family contributed $25 million in 2002 to enable the creation of Brandeis’ campus center.

was eventually exposed. The relationship between the two went back even further, as Carl Shapiro was considered one of Madoff ’s oldest friends and one of his biggest financial backers.

Carl Shapiro denied any knowledge of Madoff ’s scheme. Federal prosecutors have also not found fault against him and his family. The family did not come out entirely unscathed. Directly following the scheme’s exposure, in 2009, the family foundation had modified its taxes to reflect over $100 million in losses. Further, in 2010, the family had agreed to forfeit $625 million, an amount in excess of the family’s net worth, to resolve any potential civil claims by the government.

This situation cannot negate the good the Shapiros have spread through philanthropy. Separate from the Shapiros’ contributions to Brandeis University, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, according to its website, has supported community-based nonprofits. The foundation aims to improve the lives of the disabled, disadvantaged and disenfranchised.

photo from internet source

SHAPIRO FAMILY Carl and Ruth Shapiro have been involved with Brandeis since 1950.

NEWS

8 The Brandeis Hoot

October 17, 2014

Reflecting 100 years after World War I

By Joon Park Staff

Award-winning journalist and author Adam Hochschild presented a lecture about his research on World War I on Monday, Oct. 13. in Rapaporte Treasure Hall. The event was hosted by the History Department in remembrance of the centennial of the war. Dr. Karen Hansen, the sociology undergraduate advising head and organizer of the event, gave an informal introduction to the speaker, followed by a formal introduction by Dr. Michael Willrich (HIST/LGLS).

Willrich introduced Hochschild, a New York City-born, Harvard-educated American author, journalist and, currently, lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His importance as a writer, he said, “came of age as an activist and journalism in the ’60s.” Hochschild’s writing took place during Apartheid in South Africa, the Jim Crow era in America and the Vietnam War. “His articles appeared in the great magazines in the America.

His achievement as a historian was recognized in the 2012 American Historical Association’s Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Award, a prize awarded to non-academics who have made a significant contribution to the discipline of history,” Willrich said.

Before coming down from the podium, Willrich shared Hochschild’s commentary on writing history.

“If there is a new special technique of writing history, I certainly have not discovered it. All the lessons I try to follow are the ancient ones. Read widely. Try like hell to be accurate.

Write in a way that will make your reader want to read,” said Hochschild.

Hochschild first visited the Brandeis campus in 1962, when he met with the student peace group at the time.

hochschild presents lecture on world war i

“Unfortunately the issue of war and peace is still with us,” he said.

Hochschild stated he had an obsession with war in his childhood, because he knew veterans, including his uncle.

Scorch destruction was relatively new to mainland Europe, and WWI swept away the empire. People had three major reasons to join the war effort. The first was a proposed quick and easy victory.

The second was the belief that the enemy would not attack back. He explained this by looking at the military uniforms of European countries.

The third was a blind faith in the cavalry and its role in industrialized warfare.

“Countries had a weapon they believed would be the key to winning

the war. The cavalry was certainly the magic weapon and the elite force,” Hochschild said.

This illusion was quickly destroyed as people faced a difficult reality. He explained, “The barbed wire ended the glorious days of the cavalry forever, not to mention the machine gun.”

Elite people fought in WWI, while previous wars were fought by the lower class. People from the colonies worked as porters, laborers and soldiers. They did this because so many men were killed in their home country. By the end, Britain was drafting 17-year-olds.

Hochschild also discussed war resistance and stated there were people vocally against the war in each country.

“More than 500 Americans re-

photos by sharon cai/the hoot

fused to fight and they were sent to special camp for resistors,” he said.

“Jean Jaurès was a strong opponent of the war … [it was a] crime of patriotic passion.“ It was the first propaganda war, and in the U.K., people were sent to prison. Many of them had refused conscientious objection. Hochschild gave an example of a famous British leading investigative journalist, E.D. Morel. He was imprisoned and served hard labor for six months. ”His time in prison was so hard that he died of heart attack at 51,” Hochschild stated.

Hochschild also described the war’s impact on families. “One of the country’s most prominent peace campaigners was Charlotte Despard, a strong radical on every issue of the day, gone to prison four times for

women’s suffrage. She favored independence of colonies,” he explained.

Interestingly, her younger brother was commander-of-chief on the Western Front. In 1918, when the British Government faced an Irish revolt, the siblings stopped talking.

Hochschild gave light to another figure who deserves the attention of historians.

“In 1916, Emily Hobhouse crossed borders from England to France to Switzerland to Berlin, Germany. She discussed peace terms, but failed to convert the British government,” he said.

After the lecture, Hochschild opened the floor to a question and answer session.

Answering a question about who was to blame for the war, Hochschild said it was provoked by Germany and Russia, who were eager to join the war. In addition, Russia had a wretched reputation it wanted to redeem after a loss to the Japanese. He said, however, “It did take two to tango,” and did not exempt the French and Allies, admitting they were also at fault too.

hochschild, acclaimed journalist

Documentary deconstructs racist infatuation

By Joon Park Staff

The Brandeis Asian American Students Association (BAASA) screened a documentary titled “Seeking Asian Female,” a documentary about the fetishization of Asian women, on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in the Intercultural Center.

Before playing the documentary, BAASA Vice President Calvin Wang ’16 and President Esther Lee ’15 introduced a short clip about how white men objectify Asian women.

“Seeking Asian Female” was first screened during the South By Southwest (SXSW) film festival in 2012.

It was directed by Debbie Lum, a fourth generation Chinese American born in a majority-white neighborhood in Saint Louis.

“Yellow fever is something that has bothered me throughout my life, on and on,” Lum said in the film. “I am used to men giving looks and comments on how attractive I am because of my race.”

According to Lum, she wanted to depict the problems through closely monitoring subjects of Asian fetishism.

Lum conducted research for the subject of the documentary, a five year-long project, by contacting white males looking for Asian women, mainly through the web-

seeking asian female BAASA screens documentary exploring fetishization of Asian women.

site Craigslist. However, success was hard to find. “I had to fight the urge to turn around and leave,” Lum said.

Then she met Steven, “typical

white male with yellow fever.” Steven turned out to be a perfect subject.

Steven, an aging, twice-divorced, white man, had a history of obsession

photo from internet source

with Asian women since his second divorce.

According to Steven, his interest began through Sunshine Girls

Magazine, which includes a list of Asian women looking for romantic relationships. “The magazine had an endless supply of women,” he exclaimed.

Steven is searching for a submissive woman who will help him find his way in life.

He has an illusion that women from China would be loyal and put his needs before their own.

The film then introduces Sandy, a Chinese woman who begins talking to Steven online. But it turns out Sandy is not that type.

The couple has the first major fight when Sandy discovers Steven has not deleted photos of his ex-girlfriend.

Having difficulties communicating, Lum translates for them to resolve the struggle.

The remaining documentary portrays their tumultuous lives, a complicated relationship from many different angles.

The lesson of the documentary is clear. Sandy comes to realize that both Steven and life in America are not as ideal as she had expected. But as she confronts many of Steven’s bad habits, he begins to change.

He recognizes that in order to keep Sandy, he must learn how to be a caring, respectful and culturally sensitive husband.

Above all he must confront the reality of marriage, not to the sweet innocent girl he imagined, but to a demanding, strong-willed Asian woman.

EDITORIALS

9 The Brandeis Hoot

“To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

Hanging of pride flag a display of necessary support

Editor-in-Chief Dana Trismen Senior Managing Editor Victoria Aronson Managing Editors Theresa Gaffney Andrew Elmers News Editors Emily Belowich Jess Linde Senior Copy Editors Mia Edelstein Julie Landy Deputy Features Editor Nathan Benjamin Deputy Arts Editor Michelle Kim Deputy Sports Editor Sarah Jousset Senior Layout Editor Sasha Ruiz Graphics Editor Linjie Xu

Volume 11 • Issue 20 the brandeis hoot • brandeis university 415 south street • waltham, ma

Founded By Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

STAFF

Charlotte Aaron, Clayre Benzadon, Ethan Berceli, Rachel Bossuk, Robin Briendel, Sharon Cai, Karen Caldwell, Shikha Chandarana, Rachel Dobkin, Curtis Zunyu He, Kevin Healey, Shayna Korol, Carter Kunkle, Joe Lanoie, Nabi Menai, Monique J Menezes, Joon Park, Lisa Petrie, Allison Plotnik, Emily Scharf, Zach Schwartz, Marian Siljeholm, Emily Smith, Naomi Soman, Hannah Stewart, Vardges Tserunyan, Joe Vigil, Michael Wang, Sophia Warren, Shreyas Warrier, Liya Wizevich, Ludi Yang MISSION As the weekly community student newspaper of Brandeis University, The Brandeis Hoot aims to provide our readers with a reliable, accurate and unbiased source of news and information.

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

October 17, 2014

T

his month marks the annual observance of LGBT History Month. In addition to numerous events around campus marking the event, such as the Trisk coffeehouse, the Catholic Chaplaincy on campus has also supported the cause.

Father Walter Cuenin and the Catholic community have placed a gay pride flag on display outside the chapel.

We at The Brandeis Hoot support and thank Father Cuenin and the Chaplaincy for their endorsement of LGBT History Month. Cuenin has long been a supporter of equality, stating in a 2012 article from The Hoot that “although the church does not support gay marriage, it does welcome gay people.” He also has demonstrated his support throughout the years, by hanging a rainbow peace flag inside the chapel. This flag can be seen year-round, while the gay pride flag outside the chapel is a new develop-

ment. Father Cuenin is also a official LGBT ally on campus, through his work with Trisk. He also continuously makes himself available and accessible to struggling students in his role as a confidential resource.

As a university that is home to both sexual and religious diversity, it is appropriate that religious leaders on campus become involved in this issue of respect and human rights. This is a concern that matters immensely to many students. And on a campus where student activism is so prevalent, showing such public support for such an important issue is essential.

Unfortunately, despite recent declarations by Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders supporting LGBT inclusion in religious circles, organized religion is still seen as being averse to members of that community. The Catholic Church has been particularly strict on these issues throughout histo-

ry, and this has resulted in a reputation that is not so easy to change. Father Cuenin’s choice to fly a flag celebrating and welcoming members of the LGBT community obviously cannot change the entirety of Catholicism’s opinion on the issue. But nevertheless, it sends a message that he and the Brandeis Catholic community welcome people of all backgrounds. As Cuenin said in a past interview with The Hoot, it is important to support all people, despite any differences between them.

Faith is an important institution in the lives of many people, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender or identity. This flag on the campus chapel is a visual representation of how religious faith can help bring strength to the movement for equality. More than anything, this flag shows that members from all corners of the Brandeis community are working toward a safe and inclusive campus for everyone.

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Brandeis Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the community. Preference is given to current or former community members and The Hoot reserves the right to edit or reject submissions. The deadline for submitting letters is Wednesday at noon. Please submit letters to letters@thebrandeishoot.com along with your contact information. Letters should not exceed 500 words. The opinions, columns, cartoons and advertisements printed in The Hoot do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board.

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SPORTS

October 17, 2014

SPORTS 10

Athletes promote cancer awareness

By Sarah Jousset editor

Posters have been plastered across campus for the Be Bold, Be Bald! campaign. This programming is thanks to the dedicated work of James Machado ’16, Max Berner ’16, Noah Litwer ’15 and Allison Hackel ’16.

The project began this summer.

The aforementioned students began planning the fundraiser while enrolled in the Marketing Justice Brandeis Semester program, taught

by Grace Zimmerman. The first half of the semester involved taking a marketing class, and the second half revolved around a group internship.

This internship took place at one of three marketing groups that partnered with Brandeis for the program.

Machado, Berner, Litwer and Hackel were assigned to an internship at Small Army for a Cause.

Small Army, an ad-agency in Boston, assigned the group to their Be Bold, Be Bald! cancer awareness fundraiser. The event, which is scheduled for the third Friday in October every year, involves participants raising money and then wearing a bald cap for one day in support of cancer patients who have lost their hair from treatment. The group’s task for this agency was to design a marketing project that would raise brand awareness and make this company’s event more successful. The group soon realized that they wanted to bring the event to Brandeis.

Machado said that his inspiration

photo from internet source

photo courtesy james machado

cancer fundraiser Students plan to wear bald caps at Friday’s Men’s and Women’s soccer

games in support of cancer awareness.

for bringing the event to Brandeis was to honor his “grandfather, Ed Machado, who passed away from leukemia in 2007 … I’ve also had two scares with what turned out to be benign tumors, once at the age of 3 and another at 15.”

The Be Bold, Be Bald! fundraiser allows participants to direct the money raised to any cancer organization

of their choosing. One hundred percent of the money raised from this event goes toward the selected organization. Machado has chosen to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through this fundraiser, in memory of his grandfather.

Brandeis community members can get involved in this event by attending the men’s and women’s soccer games

on Friday, Oct. 17 at 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., where fans can buy bald caps. The goal is to have the entire stadium wear bald caps in support of this event. Many Brandeis groups and teams have gotten involved in this event, including the women’s softball team. The softball team plans to attend the game sporting bald caps in support of their Team Impact partner,

Christina Lacouture, who is currently fighting neuroblastoma. Team Impact is an organization that matches children with life-threatening, chronic illness with a college athletics team, providing the child with support and camaraderie, and the athletics with lessons on courage and resiliency.

The goal of this event for Machado, Berner, Hackel and Litwer is not only to raise as much money as possible, but also to spread awareness for all different types of cancer. Through wearing bald caps, Machado hopes the Be Bold, Be Bald! campaign’s message will influence the Brandeis community to get involved. “I really hope this fundraiser turns into a great community building event that brings the entire school together in support of a great cause that is also fun for students to participate in,” said Machado.

For more information on this event or to donate, visit www.BeBoldBeBald.org. To donate, set up an account or search for one of the many Brandeis organizations and teams participating.

Streaks broken for men’s and women’s soccer

By Curtis Zunyu He staff

For the ongoing UAA conference season, 11 is the most dramatic number for the men’s and women’s soccer teams. The Judges suffered tough losses, ending a precious 11-game winning streak. The streaks were snapped on the same day by the Rochester Yellowjackets at Sahlen Stadium. The surprising sting from the Yellowjackets, with a 6-3-2 record for the men’s team and 5-4-3 record for the women’s team, wounded the Judges badly, resulting in a 2-1 loss for men’s soccer and a 2-0 loss for women’s soccer.

Physicality clearly became the main factor for Rochester and allowed them to successfully restrain the Judges’ offense. Only one goal was scored, by Foti Andreo ’15 for the men’s team, and nothing was achieved for the scoreboard on the women’s side.

Six yellow cards were issued in total for the game between the Judges and the Yellowjackets, which exceeded the number of penalty cards in any other game for the Judges this season. Although the team seemed to have survived the brutal contest with pretty even shots on goals and corner kicks, two early yellow cards were issued to the core player of the midfield, Josh Ocel ’17, and to the tall pivotal defender, Conor Lanahan ’16, in the first half. The Yellowjackets capitalized on the Judges’ misfortune, scoring both of their goals in the second half by Ben Swanger ’16 and Andrew Fafinski ’17 and effectively held off the Judges’ offense for 86 minutes.

“The active attacks from the mid-

loss breaks streak In this photo Brandeis men’s soccer fights for another win. Saturday’s games proved

photo by marian siljeholm/the hoot

to be heartbreakers for both the Men’s and Women’s soccer teams.

field is very important for our game play because if the midfielders do not get up it creates a giant gap in the field…” Ocel said, describing what was lost for the Judges in Saturday’s game. None of the midfielders were able to execute a shot on goal in the game. Without the 100 percent aggressiveness from the midfielders, it was too difficult for the Judges to escape from Rochester with their streak surviving.

However, this “giant gap” in the midfield during the game mentioned

by Ocel can possibly be filled by the return of Michael Soboff ’15, who is the top scorer for the Judges. Soboff has been suffering from a foot injury since the victory against MIT and will hopefully come back to Gordon field this weekend. “We are missing Soboff ’s physical presence. He brings so much energy to the team and can change a game on his own.

His attacking mentality is like no one else’s on the team,” said Mike Lynch ’17. The Judges hope that Soboff ’s return will help energize the midfield in

the games against strong opponents like Carnegie Mellon University and Emory University this weekend, if he recovers in time.

For women, the physicality of the match was demonstrated by the large number of fouls committed by the Rochester Yellowjackets women’s team. They had 19 fouls, compared to only eight on the Judges side. The midfield brain of the team, Holly Szafran ’16 was certainly a bit astonished by the physicality and drive presented in the opponent. She said,

“Before UAAs began, we never were really tested against a physical team, and Rochester was very very physical.” However, Szafran maintains a positive attitude towards the loss and is still satisfied with the team’s performance. “We were the smarter team on the field during the game and kept our composure; they just had more drive to win that game, and that is why we are learning from our mistakes and moving on. I think we dealt with the physicality of Rochester really well, we just have to be as hungry as them to score and we will be a very successful team,” said Szafran.

Although the Judges’ offense switch seemed to be in full gear, outshooting Rochester 11-7, with more earned corner kicks, the momentum wasn’t successfully converted to scores. “We need to capitalize on the few chances we may have in tough games and need to take advantage of free kicks and corner kicks, as we can be very dangerous on set plays but unfortunately didn’t capitalize them against Rochester,” stated Szafran. The fouls committed upon the Judges players can, in the future, be turned into free kick opportunities, which are fairly precious during close games. So, hopefully, improved set plays from these free kicks can become a new weapon for both the men’s and women’s soccer teams.

After the reality check by Rochester, the Judges women’s and men’s teams will host Carnegie Mellon University and Emory University this weekend. “Anyone on any given day can beat each other,” said Lynch. Szafran stated, “We are now ready to play in a tough UAA weekend.”

NEWS

11 The Brandeis Hoot

October 17, 2014

Local community center celebrates opening

By Hannah Schuster Staff

On Wednesday, Oct. 16, onlookers gathered to view the ceremonial ribbon cutting in celebration of the grand opening of the Prospect Hill Community Center in Waltham. The community center will serve residents of Prospect Hill Terrace, the largest low-income housing development in Waltham. The community center is the result of dedicated partnerships between Brandeis University, Bentley University, administrators and local agencies in Waltham. The center serves as the site of an afterschool program organized and led by students from Brandeis and Bentley as of this September.

Upon arrival at the after-school program, children enjoy a snack and then promptly begin their homework. Brandeis students and Bentley students staff tables, organized by grade, to assist and tutor the children. There is an hour allotted for homework time, after which children participate in various enrichment activities, such as educational computer games and multiplication flashcards.

Wednesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony was, in fact, a celebration of the reopening of this community center, which operated for a number of years until the effects of the 2008 recession began to beat down on it.

Financially unable to maintain staff and programing costs, the center was forced to close its doors and the building quickly fell to the wayside.

Many parents who had been working full time were forced to scale back to part time once the center closed.

In response, Brandeis and Bentley

administrators came together avowing to reopen the center. Representatives began the meticulous process of grant writing and raised a sum of over half a million dollars for the renovation and the center. They encountered several articles, such as mold and asbestos.

Last year, students at Brandeis and Bentley became involved in the organization of a comprehensive afterschool program for children in first through eighth grade.

Several coordinators were hired to work exclusively on the Prospect Hill project at Brandeis. Lauren Nadeau ’17 is one of these coordinators.

Nadeau applied to become a Prospect Hill coordinator last fall, in her first semester on campus. She had met Lucas Malo, the director of community service at Brandeis, during orientation at Volunteerfest. Malo believed that Nadeau would bring a great deal of passion to Prospect Hill project.

Nadeau states, “Our mission with the center is to provide the safest place for kids to go to after school as possible and really enrich that community feel. We want the kids to be able to network with each other in the center, to know each other and just really be inspired by having a college mentor.”

At the start of this year Prospect Hill merged with Kids Club, a Waltham Group program in which volunteers would drive to pick up children in the area and bring them to Brandeis for tutoring and activities. Moving this venture to the Community Center eliminates the hassles of transportation to and from campus.

Jenna Kahane ’15, a coordinator for the Prospect Hill Kids Club,

prospect hill community center Community celebrates grand opening. photo from internet source

states “For Kids Club we used to buy all the snacks, buy all the activities, plan all the field trips, but here all the games have been bought for us and the center is immaculate.” Kehane became involved with Waltham Kids Club her first semester at Brandeis.

Kahane has loved her work with Kids Club and believes the merger with Prospect Hill will enhance the scope of program. The community center is available to around 40 children, whereas Kids Club would typically serve 10 to 12 kids per day.

“Although we were all hesitant to see the way our program used to be leave us, it’s best for the kids to have something like this right outside their door,“ said Kahane.

Nadeau comments on the collaboration with Bentley students, stating “there’s no school affiliation. We’re just the Prospect Hill team.”

Partnerships with the Waltham Police Department, the Waltham Housing Authority and Mayor Jeanette McCarthy’s office were likewise

essential to the process of reestablishing the center. The Housing Authority oversees all the low income housing developments in Waltham.

The Housing Authority serves as the liaison between the community and the universities, helping to facilitate the reconstruction of the abandoned building. Furthermore, the Authority oversees maintenance of the center.

Walter McGuire, the executive director of the Waltham Housing Authority spoke at Wednesday’s celebration, proclaiming, “What we have here is a great local project that is the coming together of every facet of our local society.” McGuire believes the center helps to, “improve everyone’s life and help them to be what they can be.”

Officer June Conway is the Police Department’s low-income housing liaison. Before Conway’s time, crime rate in these developments was sky high and the police would receive countless calls each night. But since

Conway has begun working with community members, the calls have subsided significantly.

Officer Conway provided valuable training for the coordinators from Brandeis and Bentley. She has counseled them on how to report situations that may arise, such as unauthorized individuals appearing at the center.

McGuire described Conway as “the most driven person you will ever meet when it comes to taking care of our families and our developments.”

The center will also maintain a full-time center director, Linda Pennul. Nadeau explains that Pennul is an instrumental authority figure in the center, stating, “If we have discipline problems with the kids or if something is over our heads in terms of what we can emotionally or physically handle, she is that kind of safety net for us.”

Mayor McCarthy spoke at the ceremony as well, stating, “Today is about families, children, mentors and partners. First of all [the center] is a place for families to have a safe and secure environment for their children to learn, play, eat, you name it, they’ll do it in there.” She then turned around and called to all the children, “You’ve been inside right? What do you think about it?” to which they responded with a resounding chorus of “Awesome!”

The center may be used for a multitude of purposes for the community. For example, the tenants association will likely hold meetings there, and ideally ESL classes and job workshops will be held there. “These programs are still in the planning and vision process, “ said Nadeau, “but that’s where we hope to see the center eventually.”

New minor brings social purpose to the arts

By Theresa Gaffney Editor

Brandeis students have always been known for being extremely involved and dedicated to academics. This semester, a new minor has sprung up for students to explore.

Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) is a new interdisciplinary minor, with requirements within departments ranging from English to theater, African and Afro-American studies, economics, music and more.

CAST is designed to teach students how to fuse their talents with purposes of social justice and change through various modes of creative presentation. Through theory and practice, students will engage in creative and expressive learning practices through various departments.

Currently, the minor requirements

include one core course, four electives, and a capstone experience. This capstone could be anything from an internship to an event, or even a portfolio.

For many, the fact that this is an interdisciplinary minor is a big advantage. “This is not just a minor for people in the arts,” said Dennis Hermida ’16, who recently declared the minor.

To Hermida, the most beneficial and important aspect of the minor is the range of departments that it covers.

“It’s a great marriage between the arts and everyday life,” he said.

The idea for this new minor came from a group of students, after they took a class called The Arts of Building Peace with Professor Cynthia Cohen (PAX).

The idea turned into a proposal that was reviewed by members of the Councils of the Creative Arts and the Divisions of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Many faculty members

and members of the University Curriculum Committee participated in designing the minor.

The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life also influenced the creation of CAST, with their program in Peacebuilding and the Arts.

This program has created anthologies and a documentary film. These products have also been used internationally, in undergraduate and graduate education programs.

“The minor will allow Brandeis students to benefit from the relationships established during this international work, linking them with experienced practitioners who can serve as mentors,” said Cohen.

While the news of the new minor has been slowly spreading around Brandeis, many students have already taken interest in the opportunity. A few students have already declared the minor, and even more

have expressed interest. According to Cohen, whether the minor develops into a major depends on how the program evolves and whether students are interested in pursuing it further.

Hermida was one student eager to declare the minor. “This is the type of art that I believe in,” he said. “It transcends generations, races and ethnicities and just focuses on creating social change and giving disempowered voices the opportunity to be heard.”

Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation has already received support from outside the Brandeis community. “We have recently received support from the Max and Sunny Howard Memorial Foundation, which will allow us to create a community of inquiry among the faculty and students in the minor, offer both faculty and students small grants for creative and scholarly

work for the minor and host several gatherings and events.” said Cohen.

For students who want to learn more about the minor, on Thursday, Oct. 28, there will be a lunch from 12:15-2:00 p.m. in the SCC Multipurpose Room.

Students will be able to ask questions about the minor and will also receive light refreshments. They will get the chance to see a spoken word performance by Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams.Professor Jennifer Cleary (THA) is the undergraduate advising head for the minor. Students looking to declare the minor should meet with Cleary.

“There are many students at Brandeis who have interests in both the arts and in social change,” Cohen said. “The minor will support them to create a coherent sequence of courses to explore the relationship between creativity and social transformation in a focused and nuanced way.”

Soccer teams sponsor special needs sports clinic

By Liya Wizevich Staff

The Brandeis soccer teams are collaborating to host a free soccer clinic for special ability athletes on Saturday, Oct. 25. The event will take place on the varsity fields. Any child over age four with a physical or cognitive disability is invited to participate.

At the clinic, each child will be paired with a Brandeis varsity soccer player who, throughout the day, will act as a mentor and provide oneon-one soccer lessons. The children

will be divided by age group, so three different clinics will occur simultaneously. The kids will work on passing, shooting and footwork before coming together for a scrimmage at the end. A DJ and costumed characters will be on the varsity fields to entertain participants while they play. Following the clinic, Sodexo will sponsor a luncheon.

Ed Connerty, a manager at Sherman Dining Hall, organized the event. Connerty is a retired special education teacher who has organized similar events in the past. He chose

to host this event at Brandeis because of how much volunteer work he has seen across the Brandeis community.

Connerty habitually plans sporting events for children with disabilities who aren’t able to participate in town sports so that they can have a chance to play. “It’s a day for them to experience soccer in a way they may never have experienced before and may not have thought they could experience ever,” Connerty said. In the past, up to 200 people have participated in his programs, a number that increases each time.

When Connerty suggested the clinic to Michael Coven, head coach of the men’s soccer team, Coven was happy to get his players involved.

“My players and I are very fortunate, and other people are not so blessed, so we would like to take time to help those people,” explained Coven. The athletes will be able to continue their community involvement, while playing soccer.

Connerty’s ultimate goal is for the special ability athletes, their parents and the volunteers to simply have fun. He strongly believes in his mis-

sion to bring sports programs to as many children with special needs as possible and hopes that people will come to the varsity soccer fields to volunteer at the event. “I want kids to learn early how to give back. It will feel good for your community, and it will feel good for yourself.” he said.

Eventually, the intention is to expand this program to a regular weekend program in Waltham.

This clinic will take place from 9 to 11 a.m., with the lunch reception to follow. For more information, contact titanteeball@gmail.com.

October 17, 2014

OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot 12

Alumni need to be more involved at Brandeis

By Andrew Elmers Editor

As part of an anthropology on aging class I’m taking this semester, I recently visited a nearby assisted living facility and had lunch with some of the residents. It was certainly interesting to notice the two distinct groups in the population—the elderly one and the staff charged to take care of them. While there is the occasional visitor, either a relative or perhaps a student like myself, arriving to add some sort of outside perspective, this nursing facility is pretty much self-enclosed. And this bears a great comparison with the community at Brandeis.

There are the students, a majority of whom live on campus like the residents of a nursing facility, and then there are the faculty and staff who are paid to be here and eventually head home for the evening. There is a lot of interaction between both parties, and eventually the interactions that you have with the same people you see and cross paths with around campus becomes monotonous. If you maintain a certain schedule, eventually you will notice you see the same people in the same spots each day. And this becomes not just repetitive, but depressing as well and is something that should be addressed.

This community is often referred to as the “Brandeis Bubble.” In order to change the attitude that comes with this stereotype, more effort should be put into promoting the campus and bringing outsiders here and in-

brandeis alumni Brandeis alumni visit campus.

teracting with the community. Be it through visiting the Rose or attending a symposium, there are multiple opportunities for people without any business being on campus to come for a visit.

And this does happen fairly often. Waltham locals regularly attend

concerts and performances. Waltham Group organizations like Afternoon Enrichment or General Tutoring invite area children to Brandeis as part of their outreach. Even beyond that, you can always find someone jogging around Loop Road or walking their dog whom you wouldn’t expect to see

photo from internet source

at a university. Yet these visitors do not exactly know what it means to be from Brandeis, nor are they especially excited to be on campus other than to utilize the facilities and resources here. While we need to welcome anyone who wants to visit, there’s a certain group that should be more

visible around campus, and that’s the alumni.

This weekend happens to be homecoming weekend, so various alumni

See ALUMNI, page 15

Univ. should invest more in insulating residence halls

By Kevin Healey Staff

I don’t want to tell people to be quieter; I really don’t. It’s not like the people in the room next door are having a screaming match at 3 a.m.

or blasting their music at maximum volume or rhythmically pounding on the wall between our rooms. In fact, what disturbs me is when they talk at a normal decibel level or get out of bed or turn over. The amount of insulation between rooms in most

first-year dorms is so low that even these everyday tasks sound perfectly crisp through the walls and are easily heard, a situation that must be rectified.

Beyond the obvious annoyance factor involved of being able to hear

every small facet of my floormates’ lives, there are serious negative consequences to having a total lack of privacy when starting college. The knowledge that someone might hear the entirety of my phone calls, arguments or sexual activity dramatically

photo from internet source

increases the amount of self-awareness and insecurity I feel in these situations. The possibility that someone could be listening, purposefully or not, to everything I do is frightening.

For instance, if I ever need to call the health center or BEMCO for someone else’s health crisis (or my own), I shouldn’t also have to worry about being quiet enough to prevent someone from overhearing. All it does is distract from my ability to actually handle the crisis I’m currently in.

Similarly, the knowledge we unwillingly gain about others on our floor through the walls is also disturbing.

No one needs to know about other people’s sexual prowess or lack thereof, nor should they want to know.

Beyond the fact that this information can weaken new and old relationships alike, it creates unnecessary power dynamics between floormates.

No one should know deep secrets about someone else without their permission, because it gives a higher level of power to one party of the relationship. Since these supposedly private conversations can become accidentally public much too often, sometimes intimate information is unfortunately shared to those that do not deserve it, ultimately creating awkwardness in an otherwise successful relationship. Besides, once personal information becomes public, it far too often spreads like wildfire.

People like to gossip, and especially when someone overhears something particularly juicy, the urge can be unavoidable. We shouldn’t have to rely on people’s abilities to resist gossip, but instead limit their ability to overhear this type of information.

See NOISE, page 15

October 17, 2014

OPINIONS 13

The Brandeis Hoot

Examining the atomic potential of nuclear energy

By Samuel G Scudere-Weiss Special to the Hoot

As members of the global community, we are facing the imminent threat of climate change. Combating this threat will require a combined effort to change and to find various solutions that benefit each locality as best they can. When one mentions green energy, the first things that come to mind are probably solar and wind power, since they’re the most visible. Geothermal and hydroelectric are also considered, but from there, most begin to stop and ponder what else is actually green energy.

Many will then consider biofuels and burning trash as decent sources of power, however there is one major source of power missing from this list, one which has the potential to save us.

Nuclear energy is vastly misunderstood. What many people think of when they first hear the word “nuclear” is the bomb. While this is a prominent (and terrifying) use of nuclear technology, it is not the only one. Not only does it have one of the lowest carbon outputs of any energy source, being just above wind power and somewhat below solar, but also it supplies a steady current of electricity, something that solar panels and wind farms struggle at doing. However, nuclear energy has not had the

best reputation since the dawn of the environmentalist movement in the 1960s. After the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl in 1979 and 1986, respectively, people began

to fear that any reactor had the potential to violently explode and spread radiation over large swaths of land.

In recent years, the modern environmentalist movement has begun to ac-

cept nuclear power. However, passive acceptance will not save the planet; only active support can do that.

The anti-nuclear movement is still very strong. Most recently, protesters

attempted to prematurely shut down the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Not only would this shutdown See NUCLEAR, page 14

photo by Linjie xu/the hoot

Uploading slides before class can help students

By Shayna Korol Staff

Plenty of professors here at Brandeis use PowerPoint slides to go along with their lectures. Usually this is helpful, because it somewhat relieves the stress and uncertainty of note-taking, especially when the professor wants to move onto the next point without waiting for every student to finish their notes. The important information is distilled into bullet points, which can be easily copied down, and I’m fully in favor of PowerPoints that reflect the content of the course.

The problem, however, arises when the slides are posted after the class.

I understand the rationale behind posting them after the class rather than before: Professors want students to attend the lecture. That’s the reason for attendance sheets and participation points, fixtures of high school that haven’t been phased out in college. But it’s also unnecessary.

Students at Brandeis University are at least nominal adults; if we decide not to go to class and learn the material through the slides instead, that’s our prerogative.

Professors don’t want that, though.

Why give a lecture in person if students are going to use the slides to teach themselves? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a classroom setting?

It does, and it’s a good thing that posting the lecture slides before the corresponding class isn’t any more incentive not to attend then posting them after. Or so they think. Most professors make it clear in the syllabus that the required reading should be completed before class, and that they design the lecture as a review of sorts. So why not put up the notes to accompany and help focus the reading, which would allow students to actually know what they are supposed to be gaining from the reading? If anything, students will be more likely to go to class, having put in the time to get familiar with the material.

Having already taken or reviewed

photo from internet source

the notes from the PowerPoint slides promotes a more active engagement with the material. What the professor says in class can be used to annotate and flesh out the information from the slides. When students don’t understand something, they are more likely to ask specific questions more or less knowing what it is that they need to comprehend.

I understand that some professors are teaching a course for the first time and putting the slides together as they go, and I don’t expect them to make the PowerPoints available before class.

For the most part, though, professors

who give lectures that rely heavily on the slides have composed them in advance. The notes are completed, so there’s no reason not to make them available as soon as possible.

I know that I’m more likely to stay caught up when I’ve taken the bulk of the notes before the class. Putting up future slides enables students to get ahead if they have the time, and it is incredibly easy to fall behind due to competing obligations, so having the material available beforehand can be a blessing.

When the slides are put up after the class, it’s tempting to justify pro-

crastination. Having done the reading and gone to the lecture, trying to take notes during class as the lecturer talks too quickly for you to capture the information on the slides, why put in more time? Taking your own notes is an option, but that defeats the purpose of having the slides made available in the first place. The information on the slides are pre-filtered, and that’s supposed to function as a learning aid.

I can’t write the notes down quickly enough to keep up with the slides as they’re presented and the professor speaks, resulting in a piecemeal and

disjointed understanding at best. I then have to fill in the blanks after the class, and going above and beyond in my efforts to stay on top of one class invariably means that I’ll fall behind in another, usually one that doesn’t have PowerPoint slides to accompany the lectures and keep up with.

I can’t say this with certainty, but I believe that this is a common experience. Putting the slides up ahead of time encourages better study habits, wouldn’t drastically affect attendance and reduces anxiety on the whole, and professors should keep that in mind when preparing for lectures.

14 OPINIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

By Eliana Sinoff

October 17, 2014

Eliana’s Advice: Wrestling with delivery food, transportation and religion

Staff

Dear Eliana, There is this girl who I think is really cute. However I haven’t really talked to her much. I’ve only really spoken to her twice. Once, I sort of awkwardly introduced myself, and the second time I just said hi. I would like to be better friends with her, but I don’t really know how to start conversations with her to get the ball rolling.

-Pining for Penny Dear Pining for Penny, It can be scary to just go up to a really cute girl and start talking. Here are some tips: First, find common interests. Try to find something you two can bond over. Maybe you both like similar music or perhaps you can discuss your mutual hatred of some Sodexo policy. That will open the door to a conversation. Second, be outgoing. Don’t be shy. Get out there, and make yourself known! Say hi when you see her, or ask her how she’s doing. You can’t get to know her if she doesn’t know you’re there. Last, be confident. If you believe that you are awesome, she will believe it too (just don’t go overboard). I assume you’ve made other friends before, so just do what you did then, and you’ll be fine.

You’ve got this!

-Eliana Dear Eliana, I’ve been noticing a lot of delivery guys around campus lately. And like everyone else, I’ve started to grow a bit tired of the selections at Usdan and Sherman, so I sort of want to try some of these places out. I’m kind of confused about the process, though. Do the drivers know what I mean when I tell them I live in East? What if they get my order wrong—do I just accept it and move on with food I don’t want?

And is it worth it to spend real money on food when I have a meal plan?

-Anxious in East Dear Anxious in East, It can definitely be nice to change up the food options every once in a while. It’s perfectly reasonable to order out every once in a while if you just aren’t feeling the options on campus. In terms of delivery, a lot of the places that are near campus and are commonly ordered from will know what you’re talking about if you tell them where on campus you live. If not, just give them directions. It’s just like ordering takeout at home. If you have a meal plan, definitely use it, but it’s also fine to take a break and splurge on some delicious takeout every now and then. Enjoy!

-Eliana Dear Eliana,

I live in Grad, so there’s a kitchen I want to utilize. However, I don’t have a car to get to Hannaford’s whenever I need to. Plus I don’t want to always have to bother a friend to drive me if I need milk or something small. Is walking down there the best option for me? People have told me that the BranVan will take me to Hannaford’s if I put in a request, but is it reliable enough for me to trust it will come back to pick me up so I don’t have to carry all my groceries back to my room?

-Nervous Dear Nervous, If you have friends who are willing to drive, that’s awesome. If you want to pay them back somehow, offer to help pay for gas or buy them a treat from the store. However, if you don’t want to constantly ask people to drive you for the small stuff, you could sign up for a Zipcar. Basically, you pay a fee, and you can use one of their cars in the area. (You can go to the website for more information if that sounds appealing to you.) If that seems too expensive for you, then use the BranVan. It is pretty reliable, and if you’re still worried, you can talk to the driver or call to remind them to get you. There is also a Waltham Shuttle that goes between Waltham and campus Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., so that’s always a good backup. Lastly, if you just want to get small stuff, or milk, there is a market close to Grad

by Prime Deli that you can easily walk to. Enjoy your kitchen!

-Eliana Dear Eliana, Despite the constant reminders around campus surrounding Yom Kippur, I forgot to fast. Or maybe I should say that I broke the fast very early by eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast Saturday morning. The worst part is that I lied to my grandmother about fasting, telling her I kept the custom when I really didn’t.

I don’t like lying to her since she’s old and frail and every time I talk to her, I worry it might be the last chance I get. I’ve been dreading telling her the truth and admitting I lied to her, since she would be very disappointed (she can hold a grudge), but I know I have to eventually. How do I bring it up to her? Do you think there is anyway I can numb the pain for her by promising her something else?

-Ravenous Dear Ravenous, It can be very hard to fast, even if everyone around you is doing it. If fasting on Yom Kippur is not something that’s important to you, then you shouldn’t feel bad for not doing it. On the other hand, lying to your grandmother is a problem. If your grandmother cares about you, then she should respect your decisions, and

photo from internet source

you should not be afraid to tell her the truth, even if it’s not what she wants to hear. At this point, it is a little trickier to tell her what happened. Next time you talk to her, you don’t have to promise her anything, but maybe try to give her some other good news.

Then, tell her you’ve been feeling guilty since Yom Kippur, and you can admit to her that you might not have been entirely honest before, and that you decided not to fast this year. Tell her how bad you feel for lying to her.

Maybe she will be disappointed for a bit, but apologize, and move forward.

She is your grandmother, and as you said, you don’t want to miss your chance to be totally honest with her.

You can do this!

-Eliana Dear Eliana, I had a paper due recently that my professor wanted both a hard copy dropped in her mailbox and to be submitted onto LATTE. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a problem getting my computer to work in order to submit the paper online, so I never did.

I still got the paper into her mailbox and then sent an email to her about my problems, but haven’t gotten a response yet. Should I mention it to her at the end of my next class? Also, who

do you think I should see about making sure this problem doesn’t happen again?

-Technologically Impaired Dear Technologically Impaired, Sometimes computers are uncooperative. It happens, and I’m sure your professor will understand. To be safe, I would talk to her at the end of class and make sure she knows what’s going on and doesn’t accidently fail you or something. In terms of fixing the problem, go see the LTS (Library and Technology Services) people in the library. Their desk is in front of the computer area, and their job is to help you with computer issues and such.

-Eliana Dear Readers, If you can’t already tell, this is an advice column, and I’m here to help you with any questions that you might have! If you want more exciting questions, send them in, and I will do my best to answer them. Whether it’s relationships, social problems or just life in general—send them here. I can’t wait to start hearing about everyone’s problems. Send questions to Elianasadvice@gmail.com.

Thanks!

-Eliana

Nuclear energy a solution to climate change NUCLEAR, from page 13

have a significant economic impact on Vermont and its surrounding states, increasing the cost of electricity as the nuclear power is replaced with natural gas. It will also cause a significant increase in the pollution and carbon footprint New England.

People in favor of the closure of the plant had signs which said “Vt. Yankee Fallout Zone” which were painted yellow and black with the traditional radioactive waste symbol on them.

While they may seem clever, they demonstrate a grave misunderstanding of how nuclear reactors work. A

modern nuclear reactor would require extenuating circumstance to explode the way Chernobyl did. Chernobyl did not have a containment building because it was a very old reactor type.

The Brandeis campus is a fairly progressive and thoughtful one. It’s safe to assume that most students here support becoming more environmentally sustainable, both as individuals and as a society. Yet a common trend among environmentalists is to be antinuclear, and this must change. Nuclear energy is not only a vital project for humanity, but it also just might be what saves us from the impending environmental destruction. So ask yourself: What side are you on?

photo from internet source

October 17, 2014

OPINIONS15

The Brandeis Hoot

More than active minds: social justice demanded by the Brandeis community

By Monique J Menezes Staff

Social justice: It’s a concept so very prevalent on our campus. It’s the idea that our university’s namesake lived by. It’s the theory that drives many of Brandeis’ students and faculty. It’s the notion that incoming students even have a special pre-orientation program dedicated to. Social justice is something you see all over our campus, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Brandeis, the place overflowing with social justice, has a noticeable amount of activism.

In the last year, Brandeis has been mentioned in news outlets larger than The Hoot or The Justice. Students have made grumbles loud enough for the world outside the Brandeis bubble to hear. Last semester, it was the protest over a proposed honorary degree recipient, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Throughout this and past semesters, there has been a lot of attention on sexual misconduct and the school’s response to it. We’ve all seen it, the articles calling for more action on sexual misconduct due to Title IX investigations and the responses to the “Take Back the Light” protest.

Incoming parents and students ask about these subjects and may even vocalize second thoughts about Brandeis because of them. Nevertheless, this publicity is only another reason to be on the Brandeis campus. Brandeis isn’t the only school with pending Title IX investigations, and it is definitely not the only school that has protested an honorary degree recipient. The reason

photo by Kathrine Selector /the hoot

you hear about these things happening at Brandeis, though, is that people here are active. They make noise and go out of their way to get the issues seen.

Almost everyone on campus can attest to this fact. Just this semester, the Mandel Quad and Rabb Steps have been settings to a variety of activism. There’s been a large banner over the steps, questioning President Law-

rence’s comments regarding sexual assault. Most recently, black cutouts lined our path from Usdan, up the steps and around the humanities quad to raise awareness about immigration.

Chalk outlines were drawn on the same walkways to bring attention to black victims of violence. The world is far from a perfect place, and here at Brandeis, you are going to be reminded of that.

As college students, many of us may be idealistic and doe-eyed, but there’s nothing wrong with that. How could there be anything wrong with wanting to save the world or be a force that brings about positive changes?

Students may not be saving the world yet, but at least they’re not ignoring the world and all the problems in it.

Brandeis’ special interest in social justice allows members of its community

to speak freely and passionately about those issues. Moreso, they are allowed to exhibit the issues. The chalk outline associated with a murder scene makes you pause. Then, to have a name and age of a real person, it’s not something people can ignore. The same goes for the cutouts. They seemed like shadows from afar, but once people got a closer look, they could see a story.

Our education at Brandeis is something that is not limited to the classroom. That’s what I’m reminded of when I see something like the chalk outlines or cutouts by Rabb. There wouldn’t be anything for me to learn if these activists didn’t say anything.

If Brandeis wasn’t a place that encouraged social justice, people may not feel free to express these issues.

Thankfully, it is. So when people in the outside world associate our school with a protest, it’s not a bad thing, far from it. It means that people are being heard, and that means there’s a little less ignorance.

Sure, I came to college for higher education, and that’s what I’m getting. Even if I don’t have anything to say, I want to hear from those who do.

I applaud all of those who are more than active minds, students and participants in the classroom. I appreciate those who are active in our communities, small and big. For those who happen to be outside the Brandeis bubble, there is still a lot to be learned from Brandeisians. Brandeis is known for its social justice for a reason, and I don’t think I am mistaken when I say there are more than a few people embracing that fact.

Alumni energize campus community ALUMNI, from page 12

will be around—mostly former athletes to see their teams compete.

There’s not much likelihood that more alumni will stop by after this weekend dedicated to them, especially none of the older people who don’t have any friends still attending the school.

With a large portion of Brandeis students originating from the Northeast and moving onto careers in the region as well, it shouldn’t be that difficult to bring together a group of alums to stop by campus each month rather than limiting it to a single homecoming weekend in the fall.

The alumni are an invaluable resource for students and faculty alike to come back and report on what is going on in the world beyond the field of academia. Students have the most to gain, since so many alumni have

had great success in their fields and could certainly help students network, make connections and eventually land a job. An alum could even prove to be a mentor to someone with similar interests and guide them on how best to utilize their education at Brandeis, something the alumni have personal experience with. And for faculty, simply catching up with old students and seeing the positive effects they’ve had on the graduate can be a real morale booster.

It would be nice to just see some past students stop by and be excited to be back and give students some perspective to appreciate what they have already. And it would be nice to see some past students excited to call themselves Brandeisians so that current students know they’ve made the right decision on which college to attend.

Whether it be with a formal lecture from alumni on their career path and how much the school helped them or just inviting alumni to walk around campus and interact with students, there should be no incentive needed in attracting alumni back to Brandeis.

The administration should not see them as simply a population of wallets with the potential to donate, but as a vital aspect of the community that has unfortunately been underrepresented.

While some alumni might not be the most willing to travel back, there are some who would be more than happy to be welcomed back to Brandeis.

This school doesn’t need to feel like a nursing home where only a few sets of people interact. There are plenty of avenues to head down in order to liven up and diversify the community.

Inviting more alumni more frequently is simply the widest one to take.

photo from internet source

Residence hall insulation would benefit students NOISE, from page 12

photo from internet source

So how does the university go about resolving the unfortunate lack of soundproofing in our older quads?

The answer is actually rather easy and inexpensive. Interestingly enough, the current design of most buildings do include a number of soundproofing mechanisms. The floors and ceilings in most rooms were designed to prevent noise transfers, and it is difficult to hear conversations through the brick walls. In truth, the window area is normally the culprit in noise transfer in our residence halls. Because most windows are so large relative to the size of the room, there is much less insulation in the area around the windows and it is possible to hear any noise in an adjoining room through

these uninsulated areas. I’d also venture a guess that having such thin walls around the windows doesn’t benefit energy efficiency in heating either.

The best way to resolve the problem, then, is to design rooms that include more insulation and soundproofing around the windows, or to replace the windows entirely. It will certainly cost the university some money, but because no structural changes are necessary it won’t be as expensive as it could have been to massively remodel the buildings, forcing students to relocate for a long period of time.

In addition, replacing the windows in our oldest residence halls will also give the university a great chance to address energy efficiency in these buildings, to help the university

achieve its carbon reduction goals. By next year, the university is obligated to drop its emissions 15 percent from 2008 levels, and one of the largest energy users on campus is housing.

In turn, one of the largest energy expenditures in our housing system is heating, especially in our older, lessefficient residence halls. Improving the efficiency of these buildings will thus remove a massive energy waste on campus, all while also directly improving students’ quality of life.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to address soundproofing of our residence halls, so let’s work together to get it done. We can save energy, save friendships and possibly even save someone the humiliation of continuous gossip.

Most importantly, however, you could save me from having to hear my floormates’ sexual adventures.

ARTS

16 The Brandeis Hoot

October 17, 2014

Boris’ Kitchen showcases talent in first show of the year

By Clayre Benzadon staff

Last weekend, Boris’ Kitchen hosted its “Old Sh*t Show” in the SCC Multipurpose Room. As everyone crammed into the room, attempting to find space anywhere on the floor, the actors stumbled through the crowd to the stage. People were already giving huge rounds of applause to each member participating in the comedy sketch group.

The first sketch began unexpectedly, with the lights still on in the room.

Director Ayelet Schrek ’17 kept trying to introduce the show, but other members of the group continuously found fault with the name, creating ridiculously overanalyzed views mocking Brandeis’ constant “social justice” mantra. The first comment that came up asserted that the name contained a slant of sexism, since “Boris,” the name of a man, is patriarchal and therefore not representative of the woman population.

They came up with names from Barbara’s Laboratory to Daycare, but the troupe finally agreed on Boris’ Kitchen and the show began. The “Old Sh*t Show” is meant to highlight the new members of the comedy troupe, as it is their first show of the year. This year, Boris’ Kitchen had its work cut out for them, as the

troupe accepted seven new faces.

In one sketch, new member Sarah Duffet ’17 acted out a different version of the role of Southern TV advice spokesperson, “Walter Reeves,” answering questions and sexually expressing the correct ways in which to deal with problems like gardening and other ridiculous stereotypical Southern “issues.” But when she got a call about a “motherf*cking narc,” Duffet answered adequately without changing her tone at all: “Bust a cap in their ass and run!” Duffet’s southern drawl was hilarious and had the entire room laughing.

While the focus of the show was on the new members, many of the veterans still managed to shine with their performances. In another sketch, the whole group sat together in what at first seems like a fancy, posh winetasting event. As a waiter passed around drinks, each upper-class, “fancy” person in the room sampled their taste of music coupled with the wine. The most surprising and hilarious turn was when the members started to become completely engrossed in the rap music that was played.

In their British accents, they began to describe the music using rap slang, explaining the wine tastes and music as “classy as dang weed.” The most ironic part was toward the end of the scene, when one of the members of the group started playing opera music. The group began to freak

the old sh*t show Boris’ Kitchen hosted their first show of the semester last weekend.

out, repulsed by the terrible sounds, screaming out in disgust and getting the waiter, Dennis Hermida ’16, to drag the opera aficionado out of the club. Andrew Agress ’17 drew cheers as he howled over the disgrace of the opera music, while Hermida kept a straight face as his servant, as if these sort of episodes happened all of the time.

Perhaps the funniest sketch that contained the most ridiculous humor made fun of the extreme dramatics of Spanish telenovelas. In the beginning of the show, Yaznil Baez ’16 began talking to her mother, yelling every word out in slow syllables and exaggerated gestures: “Hola … Mama!”

Baez screeched and threw her hair around before unleashing the ulti-

mate cliche: “Estoy … Embarazada! … Y no se quien es el padre!” Baez managed to take it even a step further, yelling into the audience and staring into people’s eyes.

It’s the unexpected, surreal nature of the skits that really brings out the comedic effect. The disorganized placement of everyone in each scene exaggerates the displaced spontaneity of the scenes. Or maybe it’s the chaotic nature of the show that drives the humor and vice versa. Either way, Boris’ Kitchen successfully created a comedic range of wordplay, irony and spoofs.

This aspect, usually overlooked, is what also sets up the scene to develop farce, sarcasm, parody and punchlines. With the characters’ hes-

itation, obvious misunderstandings (whether it be of words or situations or both) and expressive, dramatic gestures and motions, we get a sense of each character’s personalities, their clever, quick wits and the fun, crazy sides of them.

Overall, Boris’ Kitchen’s first show of the semester was hilariously random. The fact that there were so many people supporting the show really made for a warm and energetic atmosphere that livened up the mood, a great transition to begin the weekend on a good note.

With such a huge audience at this show, there will surely be a crowd as large or even larger at Boris’ Kitchen’s next show, which will take place in early December.

photos by sharon cai/the hoot

CALLING ALL ARTISTS! Do you like talking about theater, music, art and etc. ?

WRITE ARTS FOR THE HOOT! email eic@thebrandeishoot.com and start today!