The Brandeis Hoot - April 9, 2010

VOL 7, NO. 8

APRIL 9, 2010

B R A N D E I S U N I V E R S I T Y ' S C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R

WA LT H A M , M A

Half of JBS programs cut

Flooding cleaned after second rain

BY DESTINY D. AQUINO Editor

BY LEAH FINKELMAN

and made-to-order entrees.

The expanded salad bar will have premade Caesar salad each day with breadsticks, according to a press release and e-mail from Newmark.

The deli grill and pick-yourown style pasta adds to the worker-prepared food system at the dining location, which

Four of the eight available summer 2010 Justice Brandeis Semester (JBS) programs have been canceled due to a lack of participants. The number of students who applied to each canceled program was not released.

Beacon Hill Summer, Collaborative Theater and Theatrical Essay, Ethnographic Fieldwork and Pathologies of Criminal Law: Restoring Justice did not receive the eight applicants they would need to run. Earlier this fall the JBS committee, which includes professors, administrators, representatives from financial services and Hiatt career center as well as students, decided that each program would need a minimum of eight students to take place.

JBS was a proposed by the Curriculum Academic Restructuring Steering Committee last spring in order to reduce overcrowding on campus by having students take

See SHERMAN, p. 3

See JBS, p. 5

Staff

After last month’s torrential downpours, some Brandeis students looking forward to coming back to a much drier campus after spring break found their rooms flooded once more upon return.

In nearly every quad, residence rooms and suites were damp or had water damage from rain nearly 10 days ago. The recent rain has led Facilities Services to evaluate several buildings to see what needs to be changed structurally.

Flooding was caused by a combination of two storms, one before and one during the break.

Many have referred to the first storm as a “50-year storm,” the kind that happens only once in several decades. Custodial Supervisor Glenn Myers described it as much more widespread and windblown, saying the second was much calmer in comparison.

Vice President for Campus Operations Mark Collins said that the first storm revealed structural problems in some buildings, particularly the roof of 567 South Street. He said the university is working to schedule a replacement after the roof sustained rain and wind damage. “[The storms have] been really illustrative of some of the work that has to get done,” Collins said.

“This rain brought to the floor some of the stuff that we probably haven’t even seen, such as in the foundation walls.”

More than 200 students filed work orders after the first storm three weeks ago, which left Waltham with close to 10 inches of rain. The number of work orders so far has been drastically smaller after the second storm, which Collins said was partly due to preemptive measures taken by the Facilities staff, who checked several rooms that had been previously reported as flooding.

In a few cases, they were able to stop flooding before students returned.

Because of the length and magnitude of the first storm, Massell Pond overflowed and other areas of campus were completely flooded. “The ground is saturated and the water just continues to See FLOODING, p. 3

THIS WEEK:

PHOTO BY Nafiz R. “Fizz” Ahmed /The Hoot

More options at Sherman after complaints

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor

In response to many student’s complaints, Sherman Dining Hall’s non-kosher section reopened after spring break with an updated food delivery design, altered setup and a variety of menu options.

Among the changes added to the menu is the creation of a

cooked-to-order pasta station, similar to the one in Usdan Student Center, and an upgraded deli with different daily specials and a sandwich grilling station.

Lunch Thursday featured a carving station with a large roast turkey. The plan, according to Director of Dining Services Mike Newmark, is to include much more carved foods

Reinharz debriefs February trip to India, experiences

BY ARIEL WITTENBERG Editor

University President Jehuda Reinharz told students, faculty and staff about his “mind-blowing” trip to India Thursday at a panel discussion with Vice President of Global Affairs Daniel Terris and Prof.

Harleen Singh (GRALL), both of whom accompanied him on his February trip.

The talk, held in the multipurpose room of the Shapiro Campus Center two months after Reinharz left for India, concerned the panel’s efforts to advance Brandeis in India and Reinharz’s personal experiences in the country.

Reinharz said a large portion of the almost two-week long trip was dedicated to increasing the connection between the university and India. Reinharz said he hoped his trip would create connections that would help students who want to study abroad or intern in India.

“Not that many of our students study abroad in India and I don’t know why,” he said. “It’s a great country and everybody speaks English there.”

This year only four students studied abroad in India, something Ter-

ris attributed to expensive housing prices.

“But now that we have connections in India, we can work on that,” Terris said.

Reinharz also said that in his time spent with parents of current Indian students, many offered their homes to students wishing to work or intern in the country.

Reinharz said the university is interested in starting a “brick and click” partnership program with an Indian university in order to create a stronger connection between the university and the country. While Reinharz said he has not found an appropriate partner for such a program, he hopes to do so.

“This is a country where people are hungry for education,” Reinharz said. “They are much more interested with liberal arts than I assumed we would find, so that is encouraging.”

Beyond the academic interests Reinharz had in his trip, the longest international trip he has taken as president, Reinharz had many moving personal experiences which included visiting the slums of Mumbai and the Chabad House See INDIA, p. 4

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

IN INDIA: University President Jehuda Reinharz discusses his trip to India in a panel discussion Thursday in the multipurpose room of the Shapiro Campus Center.

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Impressions, page 17

Arts, Etc., page 10

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NEWS

2 The Brandeis Hoot

April 9, 2010

Priest discusses Catholic response to Nazi policies in WWII

BY BECCA CARDEN Staff

The Brandeis Catholic Chaplaincy welcomed Dr. Kevin Spicer, C.S.C., a professor at Stonehill College, to Brandeis Thursday to mark Holocaust Remembrance Week. He discussed Judeo-Christian relations in Germany before WWII, and drew on information from his most recent book, “Hitler’s Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism,” and from historical German archives.

Spicer discussed the prejudices and difficulties that marked the relationship between these two religions, especially in the 1920s.

“Those Catholics susceptible and prone to anti-Semitism had only to institutionalize that anti-Semitism,” he said, to spread their own prejudices to the German people.

Spicer explained that antiSemitism was present in two unique ways throughout this time period. On the one hand, the Church condemned overt prejudices, which were spreading through Germany. However, there was common ac-

ceptance of the desire to convert Jews to Christianity and of the belief that Judaism posed a risk to the Church.

There was the “unacceptable form [of anti-Semitism] that is ‘unchristian,’” said Spicer, and the “acceptable form that is a ‘healthy acceptance of the threat the Jews present.’”

Spicer focused on individual religious figures from the ’20s to illustrate the tense Judeo-Christian relationship that existed. Josef Roth, for example, not only worked for the church but was also involved with German socialist politics in the pre-WWII era. He preached that anti-Semitism was the duty of all religious Christians.

“Christian demand to love one’s neighbor excluded Jews, because from the beginning Jews presented a danger,” Spicer quoted from Roth’s works.

Spicer explained that Roth advocated that German Christians move beyond the swastika. He wanted Germans to attack the Jewish people with violence, and revoke their German citizenship.

See CATHOLOCISM, p. 5

PHOTO BY Nafiz R. “Fizz” Ahmed/The Hoot

AT WAR: Dr. Levom Spicer, C.S.C., a professor at Stonehill College spoke Thursday evening about the Catholic responce to Nazi policies leading up to and during World War II. Spicer began his speech discussing how Catholics were initially susceptable to anti-semitic ideas in the 1920s and how that vulnerability supported Nazi power.

Jewish film festival explores untold stories of the Holocaust

BY LEAH FINKELMAN Staff

Jewishfilm.2010 this week marked the thirteenth annual Jewish film festival sponsored by the National Center for Jewish Film (NCJF).

The festival began with an on-campus screening and New England premiere of “Berlin ’36,” a film inspired by the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, and a talk with special guest Susan Bachrach, curator of “Nazi Olympics, Berlin 1936” at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. “Berlin ’36” is a 2009 German film loosely based on the story of Gretel Bergmann, a German Jewish high jumper brought back from exile for the Games and forced to train by the Third Reich.

Gretel becomes one of Germany’s many pawns in Nazi attempts to stop looming international boycotts due to unfair treatment of Jewish athletes and to prove their tolerance to the International Olympic Committee.

Officials, trainers and athletes collaborate throughout

the movie to keep her away from the games.

Throughout it all, Gretel has only one true friend in an unknown athlete, Marie, who is struggling with her own problems.

The film touches on evocative themes in anti-Semitism, personal identity and the prioritization of community over self.

An Israeli review described “Berlin ’36” as proof that art can be used to correct historical inaccuracies and tell stories that have been covered up.

Susan Bachrach introduced the film and conducted a question and answer session afterwards.

She noted that most Americans remember the 1936 Olympics for Jesse Owens’ four gold medals and the damage that he did to concepts of racial superiority.

However, for Nazi Germany, the Games were the perfect outlet for their racial, cultural and ethnic propaganda, as exemplified by Gretel’s story.

NCJF Executive Director Sharon Pucker Rivo introduced the event and gave

background about her organization, which after 32 years has become the largest collection of Jewish films outside Israel. Goethe-Institut Boston, Brandeis’ Center for German and European Studies and the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry sponsored the screening of “Berlin ’36.”

Detlef Gericke-Schoehagen introduced Bachrach. He is the director of the Geothe-Institut Boston, a local branch of a German organization that aims to foster international cultural cooperation and a sponsor of the event.

Jewishfilm.2010 will continue until April 18, with 11 more films and screenings at Brandeis’ Wasserman Cinematheque, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The annual film festival is hosted by the National Center for Jewish Film and 14 Brandeis departments and programs, including the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life and the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department.

Union elections to occur Tuesday, one round will decide the winners

BY NATHAN KOSKELLA Editor

The first round of Student Union elections, including those for president, executive board members and representatives to the board of trustees, will take place Tuesday, April 13 beginning at midnight. The second round will take place later this month, with Senate elections Thursday, April 22.

The election timeline is abbreviated compared to usual cycles after Union President Andy Hogan ’11 requested the new schedule from the Student Judiciary.

In an e-mail exchange between Hogan and Chief Justice Judah Marans ’11 provided to The Hoot, Hogan listed as his reasoning the fact “that we would like to allow the new senate to have at least 2 weeks in office before the summer. In discussions, we have found that it is necessary for the senate to have 2 weeks to allow them to approve the budget and set the stage for next year [sic].”

Presidential candidate Matt Kriegsman ’11 said the short campaign forces the aspiring leaders to be on top of the election.

“It means I’ve got to move— you have to start moving,” he said.

“But it’s exciting—it puts us, all candidates, on their game.”

Another candidate, Sahar Massachi ’11 said that “one might be tempted to think of it as helping one candidate or another [because of name recognition], but students … will have less time to get to know the candidate and make up their mind.”

Other presidential candidates include current Union Treasurer Daniel Acheampong ’11, Abraham Wachter ’12 and current Racial Minority Senator J.V. Souffrant.

The larger change, however, is a result of this semester’s Constitutional Review Committee proposals’ vote changing the system of counting the votes. Instead of a two-round election with a primary, students can now rank their choice of candidates on the online ballot in a process known as instant runoff voting. As soon as a candidate is mathematically excluded from being able to be elected (determined by the number of “1” votes) his or her ballots will go to the person they have marked “2” or “3” and so on. The process was put forth in a proposal by the Constitutional Review Committee to shorten the election season and increase the fairness by ranking the candidates.

April 9, 2010

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NEWS

CAs distribute U.S. census to dorms

BY BECCA CARDEN Staff

The 2010 Census was distributed in residence halls yesterday as part of a national effort to collect a population count of residents in the United States.

Officials in charge of organizing census distribution at Brandeis worked on-campus on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

“The census folks are preparing packets for each student,” said Jeremy Leiferman, the Senior Director of Community Living.

Community Advisors (CAs) are in charge of ensuring that each student fills out a census.

Some will distribute the packets, while others will invite residents to pick the packets up from their rooms. “The approach will be different depending on the CA,” said Leiferman. “We anticipate having all the forms from the census folks by [Friday]. Our hope is to get them distributed by the weekend and to get them by early next week.”

The university hopes to have all forms completed as quickly

as possible.“This phase is a week or ten days,” said Rick Sawyer, the Vice President and Dean of Student Life. “Some CA’s will have an easier time getting the forms to the residents and back, depending on which quad it is,” he explained.

The US government sends out an extensive census once every ten years. The 2010 Census is one of the shortest in history.

It is comprised of ten questions on topics including type of residence building, ethnicity, age, and gender.

Jamele Adams, the Associate Dean of Student Life, described the census as “the national accounting process. They try to use it for all kinds of things. It’s an effort to try to get a headcount on who’s here, demographically.”

Specifically, the data will be used to update government information about demographics in America. It will help policy makers, on the local and national scale decide how to spend over $4 trillion in the next ten years. Information from the ADVER TISEMENT

census, will tell them how much money to allot to hospitals, schools, job training, public works, emergency services, and other government services.

In addition, “the ten year census is important because it can drive adjustments for representation in Congress,” Sawyer explained.

It is critical for college students to fill out the census independently from their families because, as Leiferman explained, “the goal of the census is to count the number of people living in a certain area.” It is important for the government to know if students live away from home for most of the year.

While the government ensures that all of the information they get from the census is completely confidential, there is still some concern about invasive questions.

“There are people who think that the census information is up for sale, and companies buy it,” said Adams.

Leiferman, however, assures students that, “The census data

is kept extremely private.”

“Brandeis won’t see the data because it’s sealed in an envelope,” he explained, “If folks have concerns about that, I urge them to go to the census website.”

However, Adams says, students may have other worries about the census.

“There are a number of reasons why some people don’t fill out the census and they have to do with identity,” said Adams.

“There are a number of folks that believe that the current categories, cultural categories, on the census do a disservice to America.” He explained that certain questions about race or origin may seem controversial to people who consider themselves American.

“A particular issue for this year’s census is the reappearance of the word ‘negro,’” Adams added. “Some folks have mentioned a little concern about the return of that word to the census. Not really being bitter, but not being sure if it will carry out its purpose.”

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Aramark responds, adds Sherman options SHERMAN (from p. 1)

already included burger grill and the stir-fry “Wok station.”

At both stations, a Dining worker makes specifically what students order. The stir-fry has more toppings to choose from as part of the upgrade as well.

Since the locations of the food option have been moved around, the former deli area is now the site of a larger desert and sweet waffle topping section.

The changes are expected to bring Sherman more students at both lunch and dinner hours. In doing so, the updated buffet dining hall would help with the university administration’s overall goal of overcrowding, namely in Usdan Boulevard and Café.

“The response has been extremely positive,” Newmark said.

Finalists for Sillerman Center philanthropy prize explain proposals

BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff

Two finalists for the Sillerman Center’s Prize for Innovation in Philanthropy presented their proposals for increasing and spreading philanthropy on college campuses Thursday at the Heller School.

The two groups, student organizations “Phront” and “Give!,” presented their ideas to a panel of judges who will award a prize of up to $8,000 to the student-led team or teams that offer effective ways of increasing philanthropy on college campuses, according to the Sillerman Center’s Web site.

“Our mission is to advance socially just philanthropy through education, research and development.” Claudia Jacobs, a Sillerman Center worker, said.

Presenting the proposal for Phront, Charlie Francis, a second-year Master’s in Public Policy student and Julian Olidort ’11, explained that a major component of their proposal is to organize a national leadership conference for college students.

The goals of the conference would be to promote leadership, spreading the work across college campuses and networking.

“We feel that students who are doing this work are the best students to network with other students,” Francis said.

The proposal of the Give! Group, was presented by MBA students Elisabeth Wohers and Andrea Shea, first-year Heller Master’s student Masoud Jyia, and Vice President of the Brandeis National Committee Beth Wolfson ’75.

Wohers emphasized the need to “teach philanthropic values to students beginning with their freshman orientation and continuing throughout their education.”

Give!’s philosophy centers around the encouragement of freshman students to become involved with philanthropic work during the orientation. Once they are introduced to the concept as a freshman in their dorms, they will use the social relationships they from in their dorms as a way to work together on fundraising for various projects.

Both groups also mentioned the need to involve various student clubs, organizations and sports teams. After explaining their proposals in front of PowerPoint presentations, group members answered questions from the judges.

In a series of short skits to explain how their ideas would play out during freshman year of college, members of Give! acted as community advisers, students and orientation speakers.

Wolfson, acting as a leader of the orientation program said, “Together with your classmates you will learn that any donation can create change, no matter the size.”

Although Phront’s proposal has national level goals, it will start locally, by connecting with Boston area schools in the first year, aiming to get two schools to participate in the conference. In the second year, the group’s goal is add an additional three more schools to the leadership conference.

“We have a tested model that we’ve analyzed,” Olidort said.

Their proposal also included two Phront fellows who would be rising juniors who would help continue the work of the group in the future. Each fellow would receive a $3,500 stipend for his work.

The Phront proposal also addresses the need to involve high school students, as part of a cycle to influence people to give early on in their lives.

“As part of our trajectory of giving, we want to develop these values earlier in life,” Francis said.

Olidort also stressed the importance of the future, saying, “We plan to build this lifelong giving habit.”

Andrew Hahn, director of the Sillerman Center, said that though they differed, he was impressed by the proposals from both groups.

“We think college students can do a lot more with philanthropy and the need to be educated,” he said.

Francis said the he thinks students will be excited about philanthropy. “It gets at people’s passions,” he said in an interview with The Hoot. “No donation is too small.”

4 NEWS

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Apri 9, 2010

Reinharz moved by experiences in India Federal legislation reduces loan repayment, increases Pell Grants

BY DESTINY D. AQUINO Editor

PHOTO BY Max Shay/The Hoot

INDIA (from p. 1)

in Mumbai, which was a target of the 2009 terrorist attack on the city.

“I will never think of a slum the same way again,” Reinharz said of his visit to Dharavi, the largest slum in India. “I expected to see people drinking and smoking whatever they smoke and lying around. Instead they were working hard, recycling everything you could think of and they were extremely clean despite that there were no bathrooms ... the women there look like they come out of modeling school.”

In Dharavi, Reinharz had the

chance to check in on Brandeis alumna Devika Mahadevan ‘00 at her non-profit Mobile Creches, which educates children who live in the slums.

“Our alumni in India are all doing such interesting things,” Reinharz said. “That made me prouder than anything else I have ever seen in a long time.”

Aside from the slums, Reinharz said he was also “boggled” by the amount of traffic in India, saying “to cross the street it takes 10 minutes.”

“More than that though, the people could almost crash into you 10

times but I never saw anyone angry,” said Reinharz who explored Delhi on a rickshaw ride with Singh. “It was amazing to see all the calm.”

Another goal of the trip was to advertise for the university and encourage Indian students to apply.

Reinharz said he was heartened by the number of Indians he met who had heard good reviews of Brandeis from current students.

“Lots of people know about Brandeis because of a relative or a friend,” he said. “That just proves that the best advertisement for Brandeis is you.”

A DV E R T I S E M E N T

President Obama’s new changes to federal student aid will not change the way students receive their federal Stafford loans but it will affect how much they pay and how long they will repay these loans.

Changes will also allow more students to be eligible to receive federal Pell grants, educational funds given to students that fall below a certain income.

Students will find out if they now qualify for the Pell grant in the student aid report that is received once the student has filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Effective July 1 students will only have to repay 10 percent of their discretionary income to their loans, down from the pervious 15 percent.

Discretionary income is the amount of the borrower’s an-

nual gross income that exceeds 150 percent of the poverty line for the borrower’s family size.

Another change is loan forgiveness which will also occur after 20 years instead of 25.

Forgiveness will still continue to occur after ten years if students pursue several careers in public service.

Also effective July 1all schools will have to use the federal direct loan program.

Previously about one-third of colleges and universities participated in the direct loan program, which reduces the costs of processing the loan and interest rates.

Schools that did not participate required their students to access federal loans through an intermediary, like a bank.

In 1996 Brandeis decided that using the direct loan system, which this new legislation forces all schools to implement, was more convenient for both the university and students.

April 9, 2010

Minimum capacity not filled for canceled JBS programs

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NEWS

5

Priest explores Catholicism, Nazis in WWII CATHOLOCISM (from p. 2)

JBS (from p. 1)

a semester off during the typical school year after completion of a JBS, as well as entice prospective students with experiential learning.

The original intention of JBS was to make it a requirement for the classes of 2015 and onward if the pilot JBS programs were successful. It is unclear whether this will continue to be a consideration. However, the JBS program, as a whole, is not in danger of cancellation Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe said.

Info sessions specific to each program were held last semester and the original application deadline was extended by a week to give students ample time to apply.

JBS manager Alyssa Grinberg declined to comment on this matter.

Professer Eileen McNamara (JOUR), who would have taught the Beacon Hill Summer, felt that interest in the program was not the problem but simply the logistics of actually participating. “We’re in difficult economic times, and most students did not seem to want to take a semester off to do JBS and, if not, ask their parents to assume a large financial burden to do it,” she said. “ More than eight students talked to me and Professor Farrelly; content wasn’t the problem.”

Jaffe said the reasons for the low number of applicants are unclear and will need to be evaluated. “[A]s to the future, we will review the experience from this year, talk with students about why they did or didn’t sign up and renew our marketing efforts in the fall,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Hoot.

“I am, of course, disappointed that more students did not sign up, but that is why you run a pilot program, to find out what works and what doesn’t.”

McNamara is optimistic about the future of JBS, “We’re committed to trying to do it again, maybe during the academic year by incorporating it into the academic curriculum. We’re not giving up,” she said.

Professors for the other three programs were not available for comment by press time.

“Roth was not the only [member of the] Catholic clergy who urgently and forthrightly expressed their anti-Semitism,” added Spicer. Through rhetoric and writing, Father Dr. Philipp Haeuser used religion as a basis for spreading prejudices against the Jewish religion.

“Haeuser joined with his fellow anti-Semites and blamed the existence of everything he detested on Jews,” said Spicer.

The German Cardinal Michael Faulhaber, of the other view, seemed to reject anti-Semitism in the Church. He askd one Franciscan, Constantin Bahmann, for an apology after Bahmann remarked on how both Jewish people and Prussians should be extinct. He also privately condemned Roth’s prejudiced ideas.

Unfortunately, “Depsite [his] overtures, Faulhaber in his own writing had evidence of lingering anti-Semitism,” said Spicer.

In fact, as anti-Semitism progressed in a movement all over Germany, Spicer said, Faulhaber “made it clear that he would not defend Germany’s Jews. Ultimately, all of Germany’s hierarchy would follow suit.”

After the lecture, Spicer, with the Catholic chaplain Reverend Walther Cuenin and the Jewish chaplain Rabbi Elyse Winick, discussed the anti-Semitism present in the world today. “I think it would be helpful for seminarians to have some education with a rabbi, or a person educated in the Jewish faith,” Spicer suggested. “Sometimes nobody will say anything on the surface, but I think that [antiSemitism] is really below, at times,” he said.

Modern anti-Semitism, he said, “is just ignorance, or a lack of desire of knowing, or knowing, but still saying those remarks in a mean-spirited, antiSemitic way.”

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FEATURES

April 9, 2010

Top eight classes to take at Wondering what classes to take next semester? Want classes with engaging professors and interesting topics? Here’s a list of the top ten classes to take before you graduate, all of which are being offered for fall 2010. By Morgana Russino *************

Introduction to Economics with H. Michael Coiner (ECON 2a) Why? Prof. Coiner has a reputation for being a great teacher. Students who didn’t particularly excel in math in high school have taken Introduction to Economics and been very successful. This course is great to take if you’re looking to get your Quantitative Reasoning requirement out of the way. Coiner’s students often continue taking his classes throughout their college years because he simplifies material, making it easy to understand. Not convinced yet? Another quirky and entertaining fact about Coiner is he frequently runs around his lectures without shoes on.

American Health Care with Stuart Altman (HS 104b) Why? Named the 46th most influential man in American health care by Modern Healthcare, the nation’s leading health care business publication in 2004, Professor Altman helped draft the Massachusetts health care system and has worked as an adviser to President Barack Obama.

Women and Gender in Culture and Society (WGS 5a) Why? Besides covering heavy theory in the field of women and gender studies, addressing various feminist movements and theorists, and examining the role of gender in the world, this class serves as a good education for life. Rather than being a laundry list of useless information you’ll memorize and soon forget, the material you learn in this class will challenge the way you view gender and will extend well beyond the classroom.

Don’t be afraid, guys, although this class is called “Women and Gender in Culture and Society,” it’s well worth your time too.

April 9, 2010

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FEATURES

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Brandeis being offered Fall 2010 The American Revolution with David Hackett Fischer (HIST 151b) Why? If you are even remotely interested in American History, you absolutely must take a class with Prof. David Hackett Fischer (HIST) before you graduate. Luckily, The American Revolution, considered by many American history scholars to be his best course, is being offered in fall 2010. Fischer’s academic works are vastly popular and well-known, he is the Pulitzer-prize winning author of “Washington’s Crossing,” and the publication of his latest book, “Champlain’s Dream,” landed him on the New York Times’ best seller list. Students are always blown away by the sheer amount of knowledge Fischer displays in lecture, and though his classes often fill quickly and can boast one hundred students or more, he is very accommodating with office hours.

History of Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations with Ibrahim Sundiata (HIST 115a) Why? Taught by Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS) this class does for race what Women and Gender in Culture and Society does for gender. Exploring race as a social construct, this class takes an in-depth look at what race means and how racism has manifested itself in cultures around the globe. This class offers a great mix of instructor lectures and class discussion, much of which is based in personal experience. Once you take this class, you will never think the same way about race again.

Ethics in Journalism with Eileen McNamara (JOUR 110b) Why? It’s not every day you are taught about journalism by a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, unless, that is, you take a class with Prof. Eileen McNamara (JOUR). Mcnamarra brings her 30 years of experience as a news reporter and then columnist at The Boston Globe into the classroom in engaging discussions of the do’s and don’ts of journalism. Even if you aren’t a journalism minor, McNamara’s classes always have a way of helping students to better understand the world as a whole by exploring how and why we get our news. This class is no exception.

Introduction to Italian with Paola Servino (ITL 10a) Why? If you have never taken Italian at Brandeis, you should definitely consider it! You will never hear anything less than amazing about Prof.

Paola Servino, perhaps because past students say she takes such pride in her students and believes in each of them. However, don’t expect to be able to sit in your chair in silence because she will most certainly call on you! Servino is passionate about teaching the Italian language by having her students frequently express their opinions, share their beliefs and practice the language out loud every class session. The workload is not so light, but then again, not that hard either. Expect to laugh a lot and learn an incredible amount at the same time!

8 FEATURES

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Apri 9, 2010

Fun in the sun Editors’ picks for how to take advantage of the beautiful weather while it lasts. Try these five easily accesible activities at and around Brandeis. Get some exercise, go somewhere new or just relax!

BIKE ABOUT Even the least environmentally friendly person must admit that spring does make for great bike riding weather. And with the ’Deis Bikes rental program, anyone can go for a bike at any time, provided they have a WhoCard. Whether it’s to go into Waltham on errands or simply to explore the surrounding area, hopping on a bike is an awesome way to get exercise and have fun.

LOUNGE ON THE GREAT LAWN Nothing says college like a bunch of students sitting on a grassy knoll. Thankfully, Brandeis has such a patch of grass for your college-experiencing pleasure. Stop what you’re doing and let your inner hippie run free on the Great Lawn. Go tan, do work or just hang out to the soundtrack of college life and the musical interludes of some of your peers.

FLING A FRISBEE Join a group of your friends for an intense game of ultimate, or just casually toss a disk around the quad. You don’t have to be a TRON-star to enjoy this game, and though a frisbee may be more difficult to catch or throw without training than a baseball, it certainly won’t hurt as much if it hits you. And let’s face it, at Brandeis, that’s a distinct possibility.

PICNIC AT THE PEACE CIRCLE There’s something about sunshine that makes even the worst Aramark food taste better. Grab and go from Usdan and take your lunch or dinner to the peace circle.

Surrounded by blossoming trees, the peace circle is, well, a peaceful place to enjoy your meal.

WANDER AT WALDEN So maybe you don’t want to go into the woods to live deliberately like Henry David Thoreau did in his “Walden,” but you don’t have to do so to visit the pond where he wrote his most famous work. A 30 minute drive from Brandeis, Walden Pond is not only beautiful, but also offers a great escape from the Brandeis-bubble. Parking is only five dollars, and visitors can walk or run on paths around the pond and swim in the pond too. Be forewarned, the water is cold this time of year.

GRAPHICS BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

EDITORIALS

April 9, 2010

Established 2005 "To acquire wisdom, one must observe."

Ariel Wittenberg Editor in Chief Alex Schneider Managing Editor Destiny D. Aquino News Editor Nathan Koskella Deputy News Editor Bret Matthew Impressions Editor Chrissy Callahan Features Editor Hannah Vickers Sports Editor Jodi Elkin Layout Editor Max Shay Photography Editor Leon Markovitz Advertising Editor Vanessa Kerr Business Editor Savannah Pearlman Copy Editor Leah Lefkowitz Layout Editor Sean Fabery Arts, Etc. Editor Kayla Dos Santos Arts, Etc. Editor Senior Editors Sri Kuehnlenz, Kathleen Fischmann Alison Channon, Danielle Gewurz

FOUNDED BY

Leslie Pazan, Igor Pedan and Daniel Silverman

SUBMISSION POLICIES The Hoot welcomes letters to the editor on subjects that are of interest to the general community. Preference is given to current or former community members. The Hoot reserves the right to edit any submissions for libel, grammar, punctuation, spelling and clarity. The Hoot is under no obligation to print any of the pieces submitted.

Letters in print will also appear on-line at www.thehoot.net.

The deadline for submitting letters is Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. All letters must be submitted electronically at www. thehoot.net. All letters must be from a valid e-mail address and include contact information for the author. Letters of length greater than 500 words may not be accepted.

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

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

Our mission is to give every community member a voice.

Think our editorials are wrong?

Write a letter to the editor at eic@thebrandeishoot.com

B

Be counted, fill out your census

eginning this week, Community Advisers will be distributing forms for the United States census to students across campus. Federal guidelines say that since Brandeis students live in Massachusetts the majority of the year, they will fill out the national count here.

We cannot stress how important it is for students to fill out the census form completely and on time. For Bay Staters, the all-important numbers will be used for allocating electoral votes and congressional representatives, one of which Massachusetts is in danger of losing. If you live in this state, he or she should encourage everyone they know to fill out the survey to ensure the weight on national level and number of envoys to

T

The Brandeis Hoot 9

Congress.

But even if you live elsewhere, filling out the census is important. You are not able to fill out the census in your home state, which means this is your chance to be counted.

Massachusetts uses population figures to determine funding for its counties, the creation of new programs for the poor and many other grants and services for students and others. If Massachusetts is fairly represented, Brandeis will be better able to thrive.

This includes all of the questions on the form, including racial designations, age and if you choose, religion or faith. Ethnicity and age are used for vital programs for underrepresented populations or minorities that help keep our fellow citizens from the brink. Funding for children struggling

in school, the counties whose schools receive extra federal attention and which cities get supplies for emergencies all fall under the census’ demographic information.

Like voting, participating in the census is your civic duty and will be a benefit to us all in the name of a fair democracy. The system of government based on equal voices needs fair numbers.

Plus, filling out the census form could not be more “Brandeis.” Why come to learn and become a scholar, trying to make a difference, if we lose our national frame of reference? The census is chiefly used to forever back up studies, experiments and works of scholarship. Brandeisians should get their forms in to the school and themselves counted and heard.

JBS cancellations not surprising

he news that the administration cancelled half of the planned Justice Brandeis Semester (JBS) programs did not come as a surprise to this editorial board.

JBS coordinators extended the deadline and worked hard to sell their program, but in the end, the few students who actually knew the JBS programs existed could not justify the cost of the program in money and time as compared with a real semester at Brandeis.

JBS was supposed to be a way to fulfill academic requirements while working one-on-one with professors and gaining real-world experience.

For the students enrolled in the JBS programs that were not canceled, this will cer-

tainly be the case.

The negatives outweighed these benefits, though.

Many of the JBS programs guaranteed 12 credits as opposed to 16, meaning if JBS ever gets beyond a pilot program students would have to make up the remaining credits at some point in their Brandeis career in order to graduate.

Also, many students chose Brandeis not only for its academics but for the interaction with a diverse group of students oncampus.

JBS takes place during the summer, removing students from college life and keeping them from friends.

Although taking a semester off has its benefits, this editoral board recommends

–and most students still prefer–study abroad, which is a more attractive way to leave Brandeis for a semester.

Plus, while study abroad takes place during a typical semester, JBS occurs during the summer when students faced with financial constraints prefer to work for pay.

Were the JBS programs offered as an alternative course load during a typical semester, they would have been more reasonable.

In such a case, students would be able to live on-campus with their friends while also making close connections with professors.

And they would still have the summer to find a paid job to help pay for their education.

Letter to the Editor Letters to the Editor may be submitted to eic@thebrandeishoot.com

IndieLouies a student festival through and through In preparation of the coming festival, and in light of the recent controversy, the IndieLouies committee would like to explain our purpose more clearly to Brandeis community. We are not withdrawing the statement on our Web site. We believe in what we said. It was important for us to state it, not because we wanted to hurt the image of SunDeis, but because we wanted to explain the origin of our festival. IndieLouies was created because a group of students didn’t believe that a student film festival should be department-run.

We are not claiming that the SunDeis committee doesn’t assume any responsibility in planning the festival. We are perfectly aware that the majority of tasks fall on their shoulders. What we’re claiming is that the majority of decision-making doesn’t. Yes, they built a Web site, but did they have the final say as to what went on it? Of course they are the ones who are contacting alumni. Alumni will always respond better to students calling. If an administrator calls they’ll already be checking to see if their wallet is in place. However, in spite of supplying the work force, the talent and some of the funding that operates the festival they don’t have a vote equal to that of Prof.

Alice Kelikian.

At the same time, we would like to make it clear that in spite of the fact that we wish

that the SunDeis members didn’t enable SunDeis to be taken by the administration, we are not trying to boycott the festival, or sabotage it in any way. We are planning to attend ourselves and submit our own films.

We appreciate their efforts to promote film on campus, even though we don’t agree with their politics.

We would like to finish by answering a couple of questions we’re frequently asked.

How is the now department-run festival different than the previously Student Activities facilitated festival?

Student Activities exists to facilitate student initiative on campus. That’s their purpose. A department has its own interests.

Why is it important to have an entirely student run film festival?

It is very important to have a student run film festival for many reasons. A student organization has much more freedom than any administrator/faculty member. We do not work for the university, and we do not get our funding from it. Therefore, we can avoid a lot of pressure from the administration. A few years ago, the university decided to pull down Palestinian students’ art project “Voices from Palestine.” It was clearly done due to fear of alienating donors. Something like this would never happen in IndieLouies. As a student organization, we don’t have to compromise.

10 The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, etc.

April 9, 2010

Cornwell and Brooks present ‘The Front’

BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS Editor

The Film, Television and Interactive Media program’s sneak preview of “The Front,” a Lifetime original movie, made for an entertaining evening, especially when coupled with the question-and-answer session which followed. The film, based on a novel by crime writer Patricia Cornwell, had a satisfyingly twisty plot, featured stellar acting and, apart from a few discordant garish touches, was an enjoyable experience. After the screening, the film’s executive producer, Brandeis alum Stanley M. Brooks ’79, led the Q&A session with Cornwell, who gave witty and smart replies. This was to be expected, given that the film based on her work was extremely well-researched and featured a sly, dry humor.

My only experience with Lifetime movies have been the ones that are like junk food: fun and fluffy, but ultimately not very good for you. I should have had higher expectations given the fact that Brooks—with 58 movies under his belt, some of which have been Emmy-nominated—is clearly a master of the ‘made-for-TV’ genre. The film’s source material, the novel “The Front,” is also by someone who is plainly in the top tier of her field.

The film follows detective Win Garano (Daniel Sunjata) as he attempts to solve a cold case that might be connected to the Boston Strangler killings. As he delves deeper into the mystery, a killer obsessed with the detective begins a spree that endangers Garano and the people closest to him.

One of the highlights of the film is its Massachusetts setting. Harvard, the State House, the Boston skyline and even Watertown all make an appearance in vibrant

ability to bring her characters to life.

“Macdowell was so believable by the time I left the set I was irritated with her,” Cornwell said.

“The Front” was tightly plotted and, though the twists were occasionally predictable, most of the time director Tim McLoughlin succeeded in keeping the audience in suspense.

Ne ver theless, there were a few moments in the film that seemed over-the-top, almost cartoonish.

While this style worked for the incredibly wellcrafted opening credits, it seemed out of place at other times. For PHOTO BY Nafiz R. “Fizz” Ahmed/The Hoot example, all of the flashbacks were CHATTING WITH CORNWELL: Author Patricia Cornwell (right) answered questions about the TV movie adaptation of “The Front” with the film’s executive producer, Stanley M. Brooks ‘79 (left). extremely stylized: the characters were colors. torney, entirely believable. She spreads ru- in black-and-white while set against a heavHowever, the characters that populate mors, sleeps with nearly all the men with ily saturated background with garish reds the film’s world are just as vibrant. Sunjata whom she interacts and manipulates with and greens. One of the characters meets a plays Garano with an easy charm that never a grin on her face. Despite all of this, Mac- ghoulishly gory end with a paperweight comes across as sleazy, despite the fact that dowell prevents Lamont from becoming a that appeared too over-the-top as well. he flirts with all his female coworkers. The caricature.

Despite that minor quibble, the film’s di best performance, though, was given by In the question-and-answer session that Andie Macdowell, who makes her charac- followed, Cornwell commented on how she See CORNWELL, p. 12 ter Monique Lamont, a witchy district at- was impressed by the film’s actors and their

Creative discourse: Discussing the genesis of the Players’ ‘M. Butterfly’

BY KAYLA DOS SANTOS Editor

Taking time inbetween the many tasks that needed to be completed in preparation for yesterday’s premiere of the Brandeis Players’ production of “M. Butterfly,” director Aaron Arbiter ’10 and producer Asya Bashina ’12 spoke to The Hoot about the experience of working on the play.

Playwright David Henry Hwang wrote the script of “M. Butterfly,” which is based on the true story of a decades-long love affair between a French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer, both male. The play is preoccupied with the themes of sexuality and of the clash between Eastern and Western cultures.

Arbiter and Bashina previously worked together on the Free Play Cooperative’s production of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.” They answered questions on “M. Butterfly” separately in person and via email.

Arts, etc.: What other productions have you directed/produced? And how have those experiences impacted how you are directing this current production?

Aaron Arbiter: I directed “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” for Free Play back in February. It’s a wonderful two-person script. We had the audience on the Shapiro stage and we closed the curtain to create a little black box theater. D. Chavez’s lights were fabulous, so I’m happy to work with him again.

I spent a year studying at the National The-

atre Institute and directed a few shows at a theater in CT, including Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile.

Asya Bashina: My first theater production was “Danny in the Deep Blue Sea.” It was a Free Play Theater production, and it was more low-key with a smaller cast. This experience [“M. Butterfly”] has taught me a lot more, and I enjoyed it more. I was more in charge, while “Danny” was more collaborative, and I worked more closely with other people in the production.

Arts, etc.: What interested you about David Hwang’s script? Why put on a Brandeis Players’ Production of it?

A.A.: I’ve always been drawn to texts that are both dark/dramatic, while maintaining their sense of humor. That’s what I love about Hwang’s writing and his characters, they don’t ever seem to lose their sense of humor. So for all of the dramatic components, it’s actually a fairly funny, albeit dark, show.

I’ve been wanting to direct this show for a couple years now—and it was a tough call when I actually made the decision. I knew there was a good chance we would be doing this show without any Asian actors and the issue of yellow-face isn’t one to be taken lightly. Ultimately I felt that the story was good enough to stand on its own regardless of the ethnicity of our cast. I think we have done a good job of being culturally aware without objectifying or stereotyping (beyond what is called for in the script).

A.B.: Aaron was the director of “Danny,” and he asked me if I wanted to get involved. I read the script and everything about it was amazing: the mystery behind the Asian woman, the dialogue, the subtle humor and the fact that it was a much larger production.

Arts, etc.: What are the challenges you have faced so far in putting on “M. Butterfly”?

A.A.: The show makes incredible demands of the performers—they have their hands full moving the show around the stage. Any script written with many short scenes forces you to think carefully about how the show flows from moment to moment and scene to scene.

A.B.: Understanding the whole production process at first PHOTO FROM Internet Source was challenging, but I caught on CREATING ‘M. BUTTERFLY’: David Henry Hwang wrote “M. quickly. I spoke to mentors who Butterfly,” which first premiered to great critical acclaim in 1988. walked me through the process, The Brandeis production is being directed by Aaron Arbiter ‘10. and the production staff was easy to work with. It was also difficult getA.B.: The poster design and seeing the ting outside funding, funding apart from designers’ interpretation of the whole play. the F-board, most [businesses] aren’t look- Also seeing the actors performing the play. ing to advertise.

It’s very different than reading the play, the actors interpret text differently. You feel the Arts, etc.: What was your favorite part of agony of the characters, their raw emotions the production process in working on M. See BUTTERFLY, p. 13 Butterfly?

April 9, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

11

Being ‘Intrepid’

By Ariel Wittenberg, Editor

My family bought The Intrepid for my Dad’s 50th birthday so he could live out his seafaring fantasies. A Sunfish, the 13-footer is not meant for ocean waves. It is the type of boat used on camp lakes and ponds to teach children to sail. We christened it “The Intrepid” after some large schooner in a Patrick O’Brian book Dad was reading at the time, but the reality was we weren’t sure it could make it far past the shore.

As it turned out, the name was fitting, and not just for the boat. I have a phobia of sharks and refuse to swim in the ocean because of it. While I had sailed on lakes before, I had never dared try on the ocean, lest we capsize and I be left for bait. Sailing a Sunfish on the high seas was even more petrify-

ing, and the thought left me with images of great whites creeping up and swallowing the dinghy, sail, rudder and all.

But Dad promised we would be okay, so I decided to go. I boarded The Intrepid while it was still on the sand, leaving Dad to push us into the water.

This quickly became our routine. I would climb on early so Dad could push us out and point us in the right direction and I would hold the rudder while he climbed on. I would pull the sail hard to gain speed, and we were off.

My fear of sharks was gone with the wind, if only temporarily. I still refused to swim in the ocean, but to glide on top of it with Dad, that was another thing entirely.

Every time we sailed we hoped the

wind would be a little stronger than the last day. Dad, an even-keeled person in the real world, is a regular master and commander on the ocean, never afraid to take on the wind for the sheer joy of feeling the boat tilt, thrusting us up into the howling gusts and above the rushing sea.

We were a good crew. I sailed, and he steered. I pointed to the wind, and he set our tack. I tied knots, and he untied them. I was the First Mate, and he was the Captain, but most importantly we were each other’s sailing buddies.

Riding The Intrepid, Dad and I were explorers of the infinite abyss that lay before us. In between waves, we became reacquainted with each other as adults. We talked about my hopes and dreams not

as fleeting fantasies but as a future that could actually be fulfilled.

This summer I will be realizing one of those dreams, living and working away from home for the first time with a different abyss to explore.

When Dad and I go sailing on a particularly windy day, my mom uses her camera with a telephoto lens to keep watch as we bob up and down, a miniscule triangle nearing the horizon.

There’s one picture of us heading out to sea where I am waving back at her, as though I’m saying, “look Mom, no hands.” If you look closely, you can see Dad holding the rope I released in my excitement, keeping us steady on our voyage.

But this summer, Dad will go sailing by himself, and I will have to be Intrepid on my own.

12 ARTS, ETC.

BY SEAN FABERY Editor

Based on the title “Hot Tub Time Machine” alone, you can instantly recognize you’re about to witness a movie that doesn’t exactly take itself seriously and is more than willing to immerse itself in all the kitsch its premise entails. Thankfully, this intentional silliness does not end with the film’s opening credits. Instead of simply resting on the laurels of its admittedly hilarious name, “Hot Tub Time Machine” actually provides genuine entertainment.

Adam (John Cusack) is in the midst of a fierce divorce when his one-time friend Lou (Rob Corddry) almost kills himself in a drunken stupor. After consulting with their old mutual friend Nick (Craig Robinson), whose life is also in disarray, Adam decides to take them to the ski resort where they used to hang out as teenagers; Adam’s slacker nephew Jacob (Clarke Duke) also accompanies them rather unwillingly. Upon arriving at the resort, however, they find the place virtually abandoned and decide to drink away their sorrows in the resort’s hot tub. To their chagrin, this is no ordinary hot tub—when it comes into contact with the contents of an illegal Russian energy drink, it transports them back to 1986.

They initially endeavor to change nothing in an effort to preserve their present, but they quickly

The Brandeis Hoot

‘Hot Tub’ feels just right

April 9, 2010

become more and more tempted to alter their depressing present by changing the past.

There is nothing about “Hot Tub Time Machine” that is exactly new. The sex jokes and the bromantic antics at its center have been milked repeatedly by other comedies during the last few years. Yet it’s hard to argue that the film doesn’t bring its own comic sensibilities to the table.

Yes, some of this is old territory, but it does, at least, throw in a time traveling hot tub for good measure.

The panache and verve with which the film tells its story makes it extremely fun to watch, and isn’t that, after all, the highest comPHOTO FROM Internet Source pliment you can pay to this kind of movie?

‘HOT TUB’ TRIPPIN’: Nick (Craig Robinson), Lou (Rob Corddry) and Adam (John Cusack) are transported back to the 1980s along with In a way, “Hot Tub Time Adam’s nephew, Jacob (Clarke Duke), as a result of the most unlikely of time machines—a hot tub at a ski resort.

Machine” does more than simply lampoon ’80s teen-sex the archaic cell phones, the jheri outrageous of the bunch. His rounding the character—most comedies—it essentially becomes curls. While this focus on how character is extremely abrasive of which revolve around his apone. It melds the traditional wacky and tacky ’80s culture was and seemingly suffers both from parent inability to give them a tropes of the old-fashioned sex is emphasized repeatedly after the an inflated ego and low self-es- straight answer—become tirecomedy with the newer stylings of group first time travels, the film teem. Though he frequently risks some quickly. If you’re looking the Apatow brand of humor that doesn’t overly stress it. becoming too over-the-top, he for something enlightening, then has become pervasive in recent The film would easily flounder never becomes overly annoying. look elsewhere. However, if you’re years. The raunchy humor that’s without a strong cast, as charis- The film also features a cameo looking for a few easy laughs, persistent throughout the film is matic actors with a good group by Chevy Chase and somehow then “Hot Tub Time Machine” certainly the most obvious exam- dynamic are certainly necessary manages to completely waste his is definitely a movie to consider, ple of this. to sell many of the jokes. Luckily, talents. He plays a mysterious hot though it may be better to rent the Because of the time travel- this cast has chemistry in spades. tub repairman who helps the four film than to see it in theaters. ing aspect, of course, the film is Cusack, Corddry, Robinson and men, appearing and disappearing very self-conscious about ’80s Duke all bounce off of each other at random. The character serves Grade: B/Bculture—the parachute pants, well. Corddry is easily the most little purpose, and the jokes sur-

Cornwell talks up ‘The Front’

Arts Recommends Not everyone has the time to pick up the latest books or see the latest films. Our Arts editors make some recommendations that you can pick up at your nearest library.

“Serena” by Ron Rash is an absorbing, sparsely written novel that will take your mind off your homework and instead put it on the murder, backstabbings and shady dealings of a lumber company in 1930s North Carolina. In a style akin to poetry, no word is wasted, which makes the book a refreshing and speedy read.

You will be fascinated and horrified by the character of Serena, a fiercely independent woman who will stop at nothing to achieve her ambitions. The novel explores the devastation the lumber company renders onto the once lush forest and the fierce opposition of the emerging green movement.—KDS

Celebrated director Woody Allen crafts what is perhaps his best romantic comedy in 1979’s “Manhattan,” his ode to both innocent love and New York City itself. TV writer Issac Davis (Allen) experiences a romantic crisis when he finds himself attracted to intelligent book editor Mary Wilkie (Diane Keaton), his best friend’s mistress; this puts his romance with high school student Tracy (Mariel Hemingway) on the line. Many inferior romantic comedies have since tried to copy the film’s style and story, but none have been able to replicate Woody’s trademark witty dialogue and stellar cast. And, to top it all off, the combination of Gordon Willis’ black-and-white cinematography and George Gershwin’s music create a visual and aural beauty that has yet to be matched.—SF

PHOTOS FROM Internet Source

PHOTO FROM Internet Source

‘THE FRONT’: Andie MacDowell and Daniel Sunjata star in “The Front.”

CORNWELL (from p. 10)

rection seemed to complement the film’s moods. One prevalent theme is sight; every character at some point spies on someone or is unknowingly watched. This is captured in the camera technique that makes it appear that the viewer is the voyeur, making the audience feel uncomfortable.

After the screening, Brooks posed questions to Cornwell, revealing amusing anecdotes on the filming and writing process.

Brooks asked Cornwell why it took so long for her novels to be adapted into films. She explained that there have been many attempts, but all of them have failed. “I have made more movies that were never shown than anyone else … I feel like the curse has been lifted.”

Cornwell described the challenges that come in adapting a novel for the screen. “One thing that I learned from my failed attempts is how hard [adaptation] is. A lot of things that work on paper just don’t work when they to put it in this medium.” She compared screenwriting to writing a computer program, “writing something that makes things happen.”

When it comes to Cornwell’s own writing process, rather than resort to outlining or plotting out her novels, she begins writing without any idea of where the story will end.

At times she advised aspiring writers in the audience.

“Go out and experience things, that’s when creativity lands on your shoulder and tells you something,” she said.

April 9, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

ARTS, ETC.

13

Polanski’s ‘Ghost’ a haunting thriller

BY SEAN FABERY Editor

In recent months, much more attention has been placed on director Roman Polanski’s legal troubles, stemming from his rape conviction of a minor in 1977, than on his work as a filmmaker. With the release of “The Ghost Writer”—the film Polanski was working on at the time of his arrest—the director presents another great movie that, while not reaching the heights of his previous accomplishments like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown,” nevertheless packs quite a cinematic punch.

Following the death of a ghost writer assigned to write the autobiography of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), another ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is given the task of completing the highly-anticipated book in time for its looming deadline. The writer (he is given no name) arrives at Lang’s American compound off the coast of Massachusetts just as Lang is formally accused of war crimes in his handling of British involvement in the Iraq War. Needless to say, this is not exactly an ideal time for the ghost to be writing his book, as Lang constantly shuttles off to meet with lawyers and his allies at the White

PHOTO FROM Internet Source

DISAPPEARING ACT: Ewan McGregor (right) stars as the titular ghost writer in Roman Polanski’s newest film, which also stars Kim Cattrall as an aide to a former British prime minister shrouded in controversy over his shady support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

House. This leaves the ghost writer to interact with Lang’s mercurial wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) and his fiercely loyal aid Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall). It is in this seclusion that the ghost writer becomes embroiled in uncovering the facts surrounding his predecessor’s death and the secrets that enshroud Lang’s ascent to power.

The film is based on Robert

Harris’ “The Ghost,” a novel that serves as a thinly-veiled criticism of British prime minister Tony Blair’s involvement in aiding the United States-led invasion of Iraq.

Harris’ novel was incredibly controversial upon its release in 2007, and Polanski has largely left its plotline intact. However, the film as a whole is less concerned with the politics of the situation than with maintaining its own narrative logic and drive.

The political implications often run second to the personal dynamics of the characters. “ T h e

Ghost Writer” is a political thriller of the highest magnitude, something which is pretty incredible to come across in the cinematic dead zone that is the spring. Instead of going for cheap thrills and shocks like many other contemporary thrillers, Polanski has crafted a deliberately paced work that slowly ratchets up the tension and, though the ending may not be realistic in terms of explaining Blair’s actions in office, it certainly does bring together the pieces of its own puzzle quite nicely.

The film’s cast is almost uniformly brilliant, succeeding in making every character feel lived-in even as they hide their motivations throughout the film.

McGregor excels as the nameless ghost writer at the film’s center, serving as the audience’s gateway into the intrigues of the Lang compound. Despite the character’s natural role as an observer,

McGregor ensures that his character remains both dynamic and simultaneously relatable. Brosnan also does an admirable job imbuing his character with the charisma one imagines such a political figure would possess. Cattrall, best known for her work on TV’s “Sex and the City,” does fine with a character who essentially acts as a red herring in the film’s action.

My one quibble with her performance was her English accent which seems to appear and disappear throughout the movie.

The film’s standout, however, is easily Williams as Lang’s wife.

Williams grants the character a kind of steely seductiveness, constantly switching between the character’s emotional volatility and pitiable vulnerability. Even when she isn’t the focus of a scene, one can’t help but be drawn to her; without uttering a single word, we can see how she quickly and coolly analyzes all the particulars of the situations that confront her.

Unsurprisingly, Polanski’s direction and screenplay are both top notch. Not a single scene feels superfluous or superficial. In a way, this sparse style is reflected in the film’s unsaturated look.

The Langs’ American compound, for instance, looks like a kind of sterile, tomblike IKEA display, while rain always threatens the film’s action, casting everything in shades of steel blue. It’s all very atmospheric and adds to the tensions at the film’s core. The movie also benefits from its great score, composed by the always brilliant Alexandre Desplat, that is alternately thrilling and unnerving.

“The Ghost Writer” is easily the best film I’ve seen so far in what is an admittedly young cinematic year. Such a subtle and satisfying political thriller is not to be missed, especially from a master like Polanski.

Grade: A-

‘M. Butterfly’ director and producer discuss adaptation BUTTERFLY (from p. 10)

… I liked how the different departments of [“M. Butterfly”] interpreted the play and seeing it coming to life.

Arts, etc.: What did you learn about Eastern culture through working on “M. Butterfly”?

A.B.: What was in the play I mostly knew. I worked with someone who moved to America because of the Cultural Revolution. What I did learn about Eastern culture is the very small differences in romantic relationships and relationships in general, the different approaches they have to them.

It was interesting to see the differing comparison between the women in both cultures, what’s acceptable.

Arts, etc.: “M. Butterfly” takes place during China’s Cultural Revolution, did you do separate research on the time period?

A.A.: In thinking about staging a

show we tried to establish the “world” of the show. In M. Butterfly much of what happens is in flashback, so what the audience sees is a product of one man’s imagination- so we tried to reflect that particularly in the set. We spent a lot of time looking at opera sets because we felt that the “world” had to be a very grand and theatrical space to match the scale of this man’s delusions. I think Brian Melcher ‘10 has done something incredible with the set Arts, etc.: What do you want your audience to take away from “M. Butterfly”?

A.B.: My ultimate goal is for audience members to come out and have a reaction, whether they empathize with the characters or disagree with them. It’s a shocking storyline— thought-provoking. I hope they will think about it. Also enjoy the visuals of the show, the acting and the directing is absolutely fantastic.

14 The Brandeis Hoot

IMPRESSIONS

Sexcapades

April 9, 2010

Altered Consciousness

Putting up with porn: Just deal with it

BY SOPHIE RIESE Columnist

Recently the subject of porn has come up in many of my discussions without provocation.

Whether talking with friends at school, family friends at the Seder or new acquaintances at dinner parties, porn seems to be on everybody’s mind.

As women, we both expect to find and dread finding porn on our boyfriends’ Internet browser histories, DVR lists and DVD collections.

Some of that fear comes from wondering just what our men are watching–do they like bondage, Asian women, lesbians, large boobs, or group sex?

What if we not only don’t fulfill their fantasies, but never could? As a white woman with a small chest, how could I fit someone’s desire for a large -breasted Asian woman?

What if the scenarios we come across disgust us?

I should not generalize, but because women are often less visual than men, much of the concept of porn is lost on us.

A good sex scene in a book or movie can definitely get us in the mood, and may even get some women off, but the truth is a lot of what our men are watching is not sexually enticing to most women.

A friend recently pointed out to me though, that while sex is supposed to be “sexy” for men, the point of porn is simply excitement and ejaculation.

So while a man could watch something that conceptually turns him on, and allows him to reach orgasm, it may not be something he would every want to experience in his own sexual life.

Women on the other hand are looking for “sexy” in porn as well, because getting off is difficult if you’re simultaneously being turned off.

There is porn geared towards women. I’ve never seen any of it, but I’ve heard it contains stronger plots lines, and attractive men and women (which guy porn certainly does not guarantee).

It allows women to feel as though they’re watching a movie, just one with a lot more explicit sex.

Of course, the double standard about masturbation, that makes it normal for men and abnormal for women, may add to the discomfort many women feel about porn.

Because the purpose of porn is simply about sexual release, and it is more acceptable now,

but still not openly, for women to masturbate, porn is simply not purpose-built for women.

Until female masturbation is universally acceptable in our society, it will never be acceptable for women to enjoy, or admit to watching pornography.

For men however, in most groups in our society, masturbation is considered normal, or even expected.

Among each other, men may admit to masturbating multiple times a day, simply to get by, whether or not they are in relationships.

There is also porn for couples. Intended to create a sexy, sexual atmosphere in the bedroom, it can be used to introduce a new move, or maybe the entire sexual situation (back) into a relationship.

Sex therapists suggest that couples who are comfortable with each other, but whose sex lives may have diminished over time, should introduce porn as a tool in the bedroom, much like handcuffs, lube, or a vibrator might be introduced, to change things up a little.

But how can we reconcile the differences between what men and women want from porn?

The next time I catch my boyfriend watching porn, how can I be more interested, rather than turned off, by what he’s been watching?

Or is there no way to change the automatic reaction we, as women, feel in response to our men’s choices for erotic entertainment?

It seems obvious to me that there will always be a discrepancy between what we think is sexy, and what men do.

That’s why there is “girl hot” and “guy hot” even among the people we know.

Just because women think another woman is beautiful, it does not mean that men will agree.

These inherent differences are the very ones that affect our views of pornography.

As women, we may simply have to accept that pornography is a part of many men’s sexual lives. It may have nothing to do with their desire for how we should look or behave in the bedroom. We have two choices, accept, and furthermore embrace their porn habits, or reject it and pretend it’s not happening.

But the truth is that porn is here to stay, and is a prevalent part of our society. It can only be in our best interest to accept it.

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

The problem with partisan patriotism

BY RICK ALTERBAUM Columnist

Conservatives and liberals seem to disagree on a huge variety of issues, to put it mildly. Indeed, partisan battles wage on endlessly in Washington, D.C. and state governments across the country. At the heart of many of the differences between these political factions are two competing conceptions of the idea of patriotism.

The vast majority of Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, love their country and only want it to succeed. However, this devotion manifests itself in very different philosophical forms as one spans the right-left spectrum.

Patriotism for liberals means to actively seek change that will help America become a more perfect union. These individuals are proud of their nation and what it has accomplished. However, they also feel that there are real obstacles that prevent it from living up to its maximum potential. Consequently, they believe America needs to be improved in order for it to truly fulfill the core ideals it strives for, including freedom, equality and opportunity for all.

These values, in addition to prag-

matism and utilitarianism, serve as the guiding forces to enacting any kind of liberal reform. In this sense, patriotism is a dynamic and fluid virtue that calls for energy and vigor from the citizenry and its leaders.

Conversely, conservatives believe that in order to love one’s country, one must also have a healthy and endearing respect for its institutions, values and customs. These people highly value the stability and constancy that is derived from the preexisting order. As a result, they are highly suspicious of anything that would in any way disrupt this dynamic.

If conditions are so horrendous that change needs to come, then it should not transform our country and radically alter its social fabric.

Rather, it should incrementally build upon what is already functioning and what seems natural, even at the expense of practicality.

In this sense, patriotism, while not completely devoid of vitality, values consistency over any sort of transformation.

Keeping these two definitions in mind makes it easier to understand why our politics is so fragmented and divided. Quite

simply, we have two parties who not only virulently disagree with each other on policy, but also on philosophical issues, such as on what it means to love our country and how we should act based upon this loyalty. Of course, there are a myriad of more tangible and political factors at play as well, but this analysis can perhaps elucidate a more theoretical basis for the traditional right-left dichotomy.

To illustrate this schism, let us use health care reform as an example. Before any legislation passed, liberals were infuriated by the gross inequities and social injustices that plagued our health care system. The patriotic thing for them to do was to use whatever means necessary to fix them, prioritizing this over the value of continuity and stability resulting from the current framework. For instance, many Democrats favor a single-payer, or Medicare-for-all model, which would undermine the health insurance market but would lead to universal coverage.

Conservatives were generally less incensed by these problems, and less inclined to ameliorate the situation. Although they acknowledged

April 9, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

IMPRESSIONS

15

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

On Tea Parties, governments and week-long floods

BY BRET MATTHEW Editor

Perhaps this will sound a bit vindictive, but a part of me—a rather large part, actually—hopes that at least one Tea Partier was caught in the recent New England flooding.

That’s right, I’m talking about you, Tea Partier. You with the American flags draped from your windows and the “Drill Baby, Drill” bumper stickers. You with the multiple copies of Sarah Palin’s book displayed prominently on your living room coffee table. You wearing that colonial three-cornered hat and marching to the center of your town with all your friends, denouncing the evils of “Big Government” and throwing used tea bags at local officials like you’re firing the first shots of a new American Revolution.

I hope you spent half of March kneedeep in water and cursing the never-ending rain. Because, Tea Partier, if there’s anyone in this country who needed to go through that experience, it was you.

Let me tell you a story. When I arrived in my hometown of Clinton, Massachusetts for spring break, I quickly discovered that the place was a complete mess. Only two

weeks previously, continuous rainfall had overflowed the nearby Nashua River and Coachlace Pond, resulting in an outflow of debris that blocked access to an underground culvert and subsequently caused the flooding of a portion of Main Street.

The damage was significant and, even worse, unexpected. Main Street became impassable by car, and the water level slowly snuck up on the apartments and businesses that lined the road.

One local grill, which was located right next to the blocked culvert, lost its kitchen to the flood. Farther down the road, the surging Nashua submerged everything that was too close to its banks—including a storage center whose garages held the personal belongings of hundreds.

Water also found its way into houses close to the culvert. On Nelson Street, the water flowed off Main Street and into back alleys, destroying parked cars.

Basements that belonged to people who had been told long ago that they did not live in a flood zone suddenly accumulated four feet of water that destroyed walls and appliances and rendered sump pumps— the only available defense in most cases— all but useless. One resident surveying the gaps where his basement walls had once

been remarked that he didn’t think it possible to ever rebuild fully.

Luckily for affected residents, they had plenty of help from the local, state and federal government. Police and firefighters worked tirelessly to pump areas dry and evacuate residents if necessary. When it became clear that the rain had no intention of stopping, the National Guard was called in to place 10,000 sandbags along the Nashua and at the corners of several downtown streets.

Some big name politicians also came to town for a visit, like Senator John Kerry and Governor Deval Patrick, who took some time to declare a state of emergency.

Even President Obama made a trip up to Massachusetts, and though he didn’t stop in Clinton, he did issue a Major Federal Disaster Declaration that allowed residents to apply for FEMA assistance, and as a result a FEMA center was just opened in Lancaster, Massachusetts.

The rain, of course, has since stopped.

The past few days of good weather have caused rivers and lakes to recede and the floodwaters to dry up. Though many New England towns, like Clinton, are still pothole-ridden, repairs to roads and buildings are well on the way.

No, Tea Partier, I do not wish you harm— bodily or otherwise—in hoping that you had to suffer the flooding. I wish the opposite, in fact. I hope the timely actions of rescue workers allowed you and your family to get to safety. I hope they were able to stop the water from further damaging your property. I hope you were able to receive FEMA aid and successfully apply for one of their disaster loans.

In short, I hope you will look into the giant eyes of the government you despise and realize that they are not looking to enslave you, but rather to help you and protect you from the random, unpredictable, and often times unavoidable hardships of life.

It’s wishful thinking, I admit. I recently read that a group of Tea Partiers is planning a march in Boston on April 15, the deadline for filing tax returns. I imagine, Tea Partier, that you will be unable to resist the urge to attend.

And that’s okay. Free speech is sacred, regardless of whether I or anyone else agrees with its content. But maybe, as you wave your bright yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flag in front of the state house and scream into your bullhorn, you will at least remember to be thankful that you live in a country that still tries to protect its citizens.

16 IMPRESSIONS

The Brandeis Hoot

April 9, 2010

Borde-nough

The same two parties

BY CHRIS BORDELON Columnist

GRAPHIC BY Ariel Wittenberg/The Hoot

Fighting climate change with your fork

BY MAX FISHLOWITZ-ROBERTS Special to The Hoot

As we approach the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, know this: If you care about saving the planet, you’re better off driving a Hummer than eating a cheeseburger.

That’s the conclusion of “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” a 2006 report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (U.N.).

The FAO estimated that animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all forms of transportation combined. The Worldwatch Institute’s recent report, “Livestock and Climate Change,” released late last year, suggests the figure is closer to 50 percent, dwarfing the U.N.’s more conservative estimate. Whatever the specific percentage, the science is clear: Our appetite for hamburgers, milkshakes and omelettes is a major contributor to global climate change. The simplest way to combat climate change is to stop eating meat–or, at minimum, to replace some of the meat, dairy and eggs in our diets with plant-based foods.

The environmental devastation caused by animal agriculture isn’t going away anytime soon. On March 1, the front page of The Washington Post detailed the primary environmental impact of livestock pro-

Big Agribusiness, of course, has no interest in doing anything of substance to make their trade less environmentally destructive. duction: enormous amounts of toxic manure, which pollutes the air with methane, all enabled by a dearth of regulation.

Early last month, a group of Missouri family farmers won an $11 million court case. The reason? They all live near a giant pig factory farm, and the cesspits and maggots create a stench so disgusting the farmers can barely leave their homes.

Big Agribusiness, of course, has no interest in doing anything of substance to make their trade less environmentally destructive.

There’s one reason factory farming is institutionally cruel to animals, workers, and the environment: the bottom line.

Consumers are not without fault; we’ve all gotten used to our cheap burgers and BLTs. But meat wasn’t always cheap, because it wasn’t always considered a staple of the American diet. Eating meat at every meal is a relatively recent phenomenon, one propagated and encouraged by Big Agribusiness.

Our animal addiction has

caused companies to scour their ledgers for more and more ways to breed animals larger and faster, cram them closer together, and sell them more cheaply. This emphasis on more and more has given our environment less and less time to catch up, leading us where we are today–on the brink of irreversible climate change, thanks, in large part, to an insatiable appetite for animal flesh.

All is not lost, however. Despite the meat, dairy and egg industries’ best efforts to tell their side of the story through trade journals and misleading advertising campaigns, more and more Americans are starting to see through their propagandizing.

We now know the science: The choices we make about what we feed ourselves matter infinitely more than what kind of light bulbs we use, whether we recycle, or even what cars we drive.

And, thankfully, as consumers we have the power to stand up for the environment every time we sit down to eat.

American politicians denounce partisanship almost as readily as they jump in front of cameras and kiss babies. They seem certain that partisanship is very sharp and is a bad thing. The fact that they agree on this point, however, does not make them right about it.

Untold amounts of hot air have been vented against partisanship. For instance, in the March 30 edition of NBC's Today Show, President Barack Obama spoke of being “frustrated” with partisan behavior during his recent efforts to pass health care legislation. While he was willing to sign legislation that had the backing of only his own Democratic Party, and only part of that, he suggested that the disputes amounted to the continuation of a troubling long-term “pattern of polarization” between Republicans and Democrats.

Republican Senator Judd Gregg has lamented (while attacking the Democratic version of a bill in the Senate Banking Committee) the existence of “a political climate where fierce partisanship has become the standard.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell claimed to see in Democrats' health care moves a “quest by a partisan majority to force its will on the public over bipartisan opposition.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid complained of an “increasingly partisan environment in Washington,” even as he pressed for health care legislation with only Democratic support.

On the other hand, as McConnell's comment hints, every politician seems to want his idea to be labeled “bipartisan.” Reid made his comment in the context of heaping praise on Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, who has been known to vote across party lines in the past. Reid hoped to recruit Snowe to vote for the Democrats' health care bill; he could then say that it enjoyed bipartisan support.

McConnell thought that it was important to keep people like Snowe on side. He told the New York Times that “if the proponents of the bill were able to say it was bipartisan, it tended to

convey to the public that this is OK.” The Democratic National Committee chose to highlight McConnell's statement in a televised advertisement in order to show that McConnell had long been “plotting his obstruction” and that “Senate Republicans stood with him” in “playing politics.” Political leaders appear to argue that, as Obama put it, solving the country's problems means “trying to narrow differences” between the parties.

Political leaders seem to agree that partisanship is strong and that, therefore, certain things that need to be done cannot be done in Washington. When that sort of orthodoxy emerges from the corridors of power, the public should be on guard.

For one thing, the conclusion that partisanship is an unmovable obstacle to legislation sounds disingenuous coming from legislators who work in a bipartisan fashion on a regular basis. And partisanship is a mild charge to level against an opponent. What is more, the “spirit” or “environment” of partisanship can be cited in itself a an obstacle to legislation.

Since partisanship has no spokespersons and never lashes back at its opponents, there could be no easier target for blame.

Moreover, to conclude that sharp partisanship blocks progress in Washington is to simply accept the premise that partisanship itself is strong enough to do this.

That may be a mistake.

For instance, both parties favored reducing the quality and quantity of health care available to many Americans by channeling less money into the system. The difference was a matter of method. Republicans, according to the “Roadmap for America's Future” presented in January, would have done it by replacing medical entitlements with vouchers that would not grow with the rate of medical inflation. Democrats ultimately included subsidies that don't grow with the rate of medical inflation in their law. They also failed to create sufficient disincentives for See TWO PARTIES, p. 17

April 9, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

IMPRESSIONS

17

The Self Shelf

Pulling the rug out from under the students of Central Falls High:

A response to 'School critique falls short'

BY ALEX SELF Columnist

Recently, I wrote an article titled “Giving Failing Schools an F.” I was very excited to receive my first response ever as a columnist from one Ned Crowley, titled “School Critique Falls Short.” I would like to thank Crowley for caring enough about this issue to actually write back. We columnists can get the impression that we’re talking to ourselves after a while.

Nonetheless, I have a few problems with his critique, which force me to further clarify my position.

I would start with his solution to the problem of failing schools in Central Falls, which is to “extend federal and state funding grants to struggling schools with pedagogical and administrative decisions staying in the hands of the City and school community.”

In my article, I called for fully funded schools that would provide better teachers and better facilities in addition to subsidizing students for academic excellence. Perhaps my solution was normatively optimistic but I believe that Crowley and I are referring to the same basic idea. I did not, as Crowley purports, state that Central Falls must pay for all of this. I stated that many other districts already employed the tactic of giving money to students for good grades. To be clear, I am perfectly comfortable with federal aid being given to Central Falls in order to achieve positive change.

The thrust of my solution was to treat the roots of the problem which is a lack of funding due to the carrot and stick nature of the No Child Left Behind Act. Right now, Central Falls is getting all stick and little carrot. I would argue that the school system is failing because it cannot meet the national benchmarks for significant government funding, but it cannot meet the national benchmarks for aid because it is failing. Thus, what we have here is a vicious cycle which will only get worse.

Next Crowley attacks my assertion that education is not usually the students’ main prerogative at Central Falls High School, citing that “Central Falls High produces some of the best students I have worked with” and asks “what experience, then, has informed this gross generalization?” I have no doubt that some of the students at Central Falls High are achieving their maximum potential.

Yet more than half of the students at the school are failing every subject and only 7 percent of the students are proficient in math (CNN). These are the statistics upon which I based my “gross generalization.” In fact, this is the

reason that Central Falls finds itself in its predicament in the first place. Thus I stand by my statement.

As to what experience, however, I base these claims upon, I call not upon myself but upon my father.

He has worked in the New Bedford school system for five years now, a city in which similar circumstances of poverty abound. I have heard countless tales of children who have had to take care of their siblings and work secondary jobs in order to help their families make ends meet.

As a result, their grades suffer. I believe that something similar is most likely taking place in Central Falls High and the statistics back my assertion. While I agree with Crowley that some students are indeed defying the odds, there are far too many who are crushed beneath the weight of poverty.

Crowley writes that he “can attest that these kids have the potential and motivation to exceed these circumstantial and structural obstacles more often than not” but clearly, the statistics show that that is not the case. Perhaps if the students were given an extra incentive, like federal money for better grades, these obstacles could be mitigated or removed.

Yet I did not blame the situation entirely on the students. Crowley refutes my notion that the teaching at Central Falls is most likely sub-par simply by stating, “I know professional educators in Rhode Island who praise the teaching quality at Central Falls High.”

I was not, however, declaring that all teaching in Central Falls High is faulty. My main point was that many experienced teachers most likely would not want to teach at Central Falls due to its reputation.

The main charge in Crowley’s letter, however, is that I declared faultily that the educators at Central Falls were being fired for incompetence. I will admit that I did oversimplify the process (I am usually limited in terms of word count) but I believe that the actions of Superintendent Frances Gallo are tantamount to firing the teachers for incompetence.

Crowley argues that this technique “is a union-busting tactic on the part of the Superintendent” in order to meet government standards and that half of the teachers will most likely be rehired next year.

This may be true but, as of now, as the headlines report, all of the teachers at Central Falls High have received their pink slips. Finally, none of them can be absolutely sure of having a job next year–I consider that being fired.

They have received these pink slips because the school cannot qualify for government funding due to the bevy of failing

students. Thus, the teachers are being terminated because of underperforming students; I would call this incompetence although I concede that I did oversimplify the situation.

The superintendent had two options with which she could qualify for necessary government funding. The first was the transformational model which required the teachers “work a longer school day of seven hours and tutor students weekly for one hour outside school time … have lunch with students often, meet for 90 minutes every week to discuss education and set aside two weeks during summer break for paid professional development” (CNN).

The teachers agreed to these concessions but the two sides could not come to an agreement on pay rates for the hours of extra work. Only after this did the superintendent exercise the second possible option which includes the liquidation of the entire teaching staff at the high school, over 90 staff members in total. I believe that the harms of the second option outweighed the possible costs of the first.

Meanwhile, I still believe that this solution hampers any kind of consistency that Central Falls High could enjoy. Even if half of the teachers are rehired, that’s still 45 teachers who won’t be back on opening day and 45 new teachers who will have to adapt themselves to Central Falls High. Additionally, even if you don’t believe that Central Falls High carries a stigma for experienced teachers, it most certainly does now. Mass firings of this scale do not generally entice better-qualified teachers to work at schools.

Thus, I would posit that the teachers who take over for those fired will most likely not be any better qualified than those who were let go and will probably be worse due to their lack of familiarity with the environment.

How is this possibly going to help foster change for the better in Central Falls? Isn’t the loss of any sort of stability and cohesiveness from year to year worth an extra round of negotiations?

My disagreement with Crowley is thus not one of petty misunderstanding but of ideological difference. We are both looking at the same situation but have come to different conclusions. I am happy to concur with his idea of using federal grants to help these struggling schools and hope this can occur in the future.

Yet I wouldn’t chip away the foundations of Central Falls High.

Busting a union is one thing but pulling the rug out from under already failing students simply isn’t worth it.

One-party system TWO PARTIES (from p. 16)

businesses to drop employees' coverage, while reducing the value of insurance itself by encouraging employers to bargain for policies that cover as little as 60% of medical costs. Both parties, in other words, wanted less care for Americans.

A similar analysis could be extended to many other policy areas.

The basic policy of both parties over the years has been to throw money into war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both parties want large American deployments to remain in both places.

Republicans and Democrats excoriate China for keeping the value of its currency artificially low. Neither is keen to address the more serious problems underlying America's enormous trade deficits. Democrats and Republicans talk of “reining in deficits,” a convenient phrase that glosses over the inability of either party to pretend that they wish to balance the budget or pay down the debt.

In terms of their leaders' goals, the two parties aren't all that different. What separates the parties takes center stage because what brings them together looks ugly and gets put in the chorus.

14 The Brandeis Hoot

SPORTS

April 9, 2010

Epee Fencer Will Bedor ’10 places 24th at NCAA’s

BY JON OSTROWSKY Staff

PHOTO BY Andrew Reuner/The Hoot

Will Bedor ’10 finished off his collegiate fencing career by posting a 24th place finish at the NCAA Championships on March 27 to 28 at Harvard University.

Bedor fenced four years for the Judges and was used to competing against the best Division I fencers in the country. At the NCAA Championships last month, most of the competitors were from Division I schools.

“It’s the hardest competition in fencing,” Bedor said. “To say that I’m 24th in the country is a great accomplishment.”

He added that he was thankful for the support of Coach Bill Shipman and three of his teammates who traveled with him to the tournament. The three fencers who accompanied him, in addition to Coach Shipman, were Alex Clos ’10, Alex Powell ’12 and Jeff Cornejo ’10.

“He’s a great coach [and] he understands how to talk to his players,” Bedor said about Shipman.

In 23 matches during two days, Bedor, an epee fencer, won six of them. Five of his wins came on the first day, with the last win on the second day, according to a press release on the Brandeis Athletics Web site.

“Getting into the field is really the big accomplishment” Shipman said in a phone interview with The Hoot.

Shipman said that Bedor performed well on the first day, but thought that a loss in confidence led to a weaker performance the second day.

Among the fencers that Bedor defeated were Peter French of Air Force, who later finished second place in the tournament, and Dwight Smith of Columbia who lost in the semifinals.

Bedor’s six victories put the Judges, as a team, in 25th place, and in fourth place out of the five Division III teams entered in the tournament.

Bedor, who is from Rego Park, NY and a graduate of Francis Lewis High School, said the he began fencing as a freshman in high school. As a freshman, Bedor was planning to play varsity basketball, but decided he would rather try fencing because it is so different from other sports.

“I was going to play varsity basketball, and I didn’t really like the team chemistry, so I decided that I wanted to pursue fencing–something that was completely different that you can’t really compare yourself and compare it to anything else.”

Bedor, a member of the New York Athletic Club, also excelled in his junior career before Brandeis. He placed in the top 16 at the Junior Olympics and Nationals for fencing.

His collegiate career got off to a strong start, when as a first-year, he teamed with Andrew Sofer ’07 and Kai Keller ’07 to win the Intercollegiate Fencing Association’s (IFA) 150 year old trophy.

“His [Bedor’s] talent was obvious from the beginning,” Shipman said.

In June, Bedor will begin working for a financial consulting company in New York City called AXA, but he will still continue to fence competitively.

Bedor explained that fencing has given him an intense drive to succeed in other areas of his life.

“The competitive nature of any sport is what drives you to succeed or excel in anything you do,” Bedor said Commenting on the future of the team next year, Bedor said that “Hopefully we can have a strong team next year and send some more people to NCAA’s.”

FENCING NCAA’S: Bedor, in his last collegiate fecing contest, competes in Nationals at Harvard University

Baseball goes 4-4 during break, loses on Thursday

BY KARA KARTER Staff

Playing baseball is an everyday commitment, and spring break is no exception. With eight games scheduled over the course of the nine day interlude, classes proved the only thing missing from the Brandeis baseball team’s calendar.

Brandeis broke even, going 4-4, and doubled its total number of wins on the season.

More impressive, however, was the Judges’ ability to win on the road. With a doubleheader against Framingham State marking the Judges’ only home appearance in a two week period, Brandeis played its best baseball of the season.

It began March 27 with a pair of games against Springfield College (9-12). The arm of pitcher Drew Brzozowski ’10 lifted the Judges to a 2-1 victory in the opener.

The senior starter was nearly untouchable, allowing only three hits en route to his first win of the season and the fourth complete game of his career. One of the hits occurred in the third inning, a two out homer by Pride right fielder Peter Calandra ’11.

However, this would prove to be Brzozowski’s only real mis-

take. Brandeis scored its runs on singles from Chris Ferro ’13 and John O’Brion ’10.

Deviating from the earlier pitcher’s duel, the nightcap became a high scoring, sloppy affair. Behind starter Steve Forbes ’11, the Springfield defense committed six errors, allowing six unearned runs to cross the plate.

Two of the errors and three of the runs came in the first inning, as the Judges jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. The Judges never looked back and went ahead to claim a 10-8 victory. Designated Hitter Jon Chu ’12 was the star, not only of the game, but of the doubleheader, going 4-for-6 on the day with a double, sacrifice fly and three RBIs. The success at Springfield gave the Judges three consecutive victories, dating back to their March 25 win at Salve Regina. The winning streak would turn into four games the following day against Framingham State (99). In the first game of another day of doubleheaders, the Judges won 6-1. Again, another strong young arm would get them there. Mike Swerdloff ’13 refused to relinquish the pitching rubber, fanning six in a complete game four-hitter. He allowed only two runners to make it past second base.

In the second game, the winning streak came to an end, as the Judges dropped a 7-5 decision.

After quickly erasing an early 4-0 deficit with clutch hitting from Chu, Drake Livada ’10, and Tony Deshler ’11, Brandeis just as quickly gave up three more. The culprit was not the big bomb but another pair of errors. Despite having base runners in each of the last two innings, the Judges never really threatened Framingham pitcher Matthew Magazine.

The junior pitched 3.2 scoreless innings of relief and earned his second victory of the season.

Five days later, the Judges would drop a heartbreaker at MIT (7-8), allowing three runs in the bottom of the ninth as the Engineers walked off to a 6-5 win. Called on with one out in the inning, Kyle Ritchie ’10 gave up a basesclearing double to MIT’s Stewart Park ’10. The Judges had earlier climbed out of a hole of their own, coming back from 3-0 to take a 5-3 lead in the eighth inning.

Despite the loss, the Judges’ bats were alive. Ferro and James Likis ’10 each tallied three hits. Deshler and O’Brion picked up a pair a piece.

With another doubleheader in line for the next afternoon, the

Judges could quickly put their MIT misfortune behind them. In the first game, Brandeis smacked 14 hits and scored 11 runs. And they poured it on early, scoring five runs in the first inning against Clark starter James Wilson ’12.

Leadoff man Deshler batted .800 for the day, going an impressive 4-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored. Offense notwithstanding, the stopper, again, was Brzozowski, who pitched his second-straight complete game. He allowed only six hits while striking out five as Brandeis would defeat Clark 11-3.

The second game proved a bit tighter. After struggling to get anything going against Brendan Solecki ’10 for most of the afternoon, the Judges evened the score at 2-2 in their last at bat. Deshler reached base on an error by third baseman Peter Lewis ’11, who was playing the position for just the second time this season.

He would come home on a single from Chu, who was thrown out trying to advance to second. After both teams pitched scoreless frames, Clark tacked on the win in the bottom of the eighth with a single from Kevin Kopec ’11.

Brandeis would drop the final game of the spring break session

as well, falling to Tufts University’s Jumbos 3-1 this past Tuesday. The Jumbos (12-3) got off to a great start, scoring three in the first inning against Brandeis’ Dylan Britton ’13. It would be all they needed, as nine Tufts pitchers, tossing no more than an inning a piece, combined to limit the Judges to one run (scored on a wild pitch) on four hits. The win marked Tufts’ seventh in eight games.

With class back in session, the Judges may have been distracted on Thursday afternoon, losing 5-1 to Rhode Island College’s Anchormen. If the Anchormen were seeking revenge for their basketball team’s loss to Brandeis in this year’s Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division III tournament, they would have it. Pitcher Gary Levesque ’11 would go seven for RIC, allowing only one run on four hits. The East Providence native would also prove the anchor for their offensive outburst, cranking a bases-clearing double in RIC’s four-run fifth inning and scoring on a wild pitch by Judges Rookie Andrew Weissenberg.

Ferro accounted for the Judges’ offense, pounding a ball over the leftfield fence for his team leading third home run of the season.

April 9, 2010

The Brandeis Hoot

Tennis teams head into last portion of season

Staff

PHOTO BY Napoleon Leherrison/The Hoot

BY ADAM HUGES Staff

The men’s and women’s tennis teams have been busy playing a packed schedule the past two weeks.

March 27, the men’s team traveled to Babson Park, Massachusetts for a match against the 12th-ranked Amherst College. Nick White ’11 played No. 1 for the Judges, and his match against Amherst’s Austin Chafetz was looking grim as he dropped the first set 0-6. However, White came back with 7-5 and 6-4 victories to take the win. Unfortunately, his teammates weren’t as successful, and only No. 6 Steven Milo ’13 and the No. 1 doubles team of White and Simon Miller ’11 claimed additional victories as Brandeis fell 6-3.

The men returned to Babson Park April 1, and this time the opponent and the result were decidedly different. The Judges made April Fools out of Babson College, sweeping the competition 9-0. The six Judges who played singles didn’t drop a single set, and they defeated Babson by a margin of 74 total games won to 18. The highlights came from White, Miller and Seth Rogers ’10, who only lost one game each.

Two days later, they traveled to Tufts and pulled out a 5-4 nail-biter.

Tufts won the doubles competition 2-1, with Brandeis’ sole victory coming from a strong 8-1 performance by Milo and Dave Yovanoff ’13. However, Brandeis was saved by the top and the bottom of its singles lineup, as Nos. 1 and 2 White and Miller and Nos. 5 and 6 Milo and Fred Rozenshteyn ‘13 all won.

“We’re happy with all our guys fighting really hard to get us some victories,” Milo said. “We’re looking forward to the UAA tournament.”

Against Bryant on Thursday, April 8, the score and winner were the same, but the process of getting there was different. This time, only two Brandeis singles players could win, No. 3 Milo (4-6, 7-5, 6-3) and No. 5 Rozenshteyn (6-4, 6-3). The Judges won the match on the strength of the

doubles; three straight victories left Brandeis leading 5-4.

“I think doubles is going to be really big…going into the next three matches,” White said.

The women’s team was just as busy, starting their break schedule April 1 at Babson. Coming in ranked 28th in Division III, the women’s team was almost as dominant as the men, winning 8-1. Again, the singles team didn’t lost a single set, and the sole defeat came when Faith Broderick ’13 and Rachel Rosman ’11 dropped the No. 1 doubles match by a close 9-7 margin.

Wellesley, however, proved to be far too much for the Judges to handle; playing the day after the Babson match, Brandeis fell 7-2. Rosman and Mackenzie Gallegos ’11 won singles matches from the Nos. 2 and 4 positions, but the Judges lost the rest of their matches.

Playing their third match in three days, the Brandeis women struggled again against Amherst on April 3. Rosman got her third consecutive singles victory, but the best that any other player could do was a 6-4 set loss amidst a whitewashing that featured five separate 6-0 sets. The three doubles teams lost by a combined 24-3 margin in total games, and Brandeis headed home with a 8-1 loss.

The team didn’t get much rest, however; on April 6, the Judges traveled to Cambridge for what would become a thrilling 5-4 victory against MIT. Ariana Sanai ’10 and Nina Levine ’12 combined for Brandeis’ only doubles victory by winning 8-5, and Levine followed it up by winning her singles match 6-3, 6-1 from the No. 5 position. Gallegos contributed a strong 6-1, 6-1 victory, and Broderick and Sarah Richman ’12 also won to send Brandeis home on top.

The women now have an even 7-7 record, and they finish their regular schedule by traveling to Connecticut College on April 11 and Tufts on April 13. The men are 8-6, and they’re hosting Trinity on April 11.

19

Softball finishes first month of season at 15-4-1

BY ADAM HUGES

MEN’S TENNIS: Simon Miller ‘11 serves during a match against Bryant on Thursday

SPORTS

The Brandeis softball team had to wait a week and a half to get back into action after its doubleheader March 27, but its results were the same on both sides of the break. The Judges swept Salem State in March and then took two games against WPI April 7, completing their first month of competition with a 15-4-1 record.

In the first game at Salem, the Judges required only seven hits to score seven runs against the Vikings. The first three innings promised a pitcher’s duel, as the two teams combined for only one hit while remaining scoreless.

Brandeis broke the game open in the fourth, however, when Erin Ross’ single scored Stacy Berg ’13. By the time the inning was over, three more runs were on the board, with the key play coming on a two-RBI single from Chelsea Korp ’10.

The remaining runs came in the sixth inning. Two scored off the bat of Marianne Specker ’12, while one came from a balk from Salem State.

Meanwhile, Emily Vaillette ’10 hurled an absolute gem of a ballgame, shutting out the Vikings on only two hits to earn the win.

Kristen Lojko suffered the loss, allowing four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. Korp’s two hits in four at bats paced the Brandeis offense.

The late game started completely differently.

After the

Judges went down 1-2-3 in the first frame, the Salem State slugfest was underway. By the time Brandeis recorded their second out, they were already facing a 5-0 deficit and starting pitcher Allie Mussen ’10 had been chased out of the game. Caroline Miller ’12 came to the rescue; she pitched the next 5 2/3 innings without allowing another run, and Vaillette finished the game with a scoreless seventh inning.

Brandeis began chipping away at the deficit immediately.

Specker led the charge with a two-RBI double as part of a fourrun second inning. They would wait until the fifth inning to tie the game, when Brittany Grimm ’12 tripled and scored on an error. They wouldn’t take the lead until the seventh; however, they would make it worth the wait, plating five to wrap up a 10-5 victory. Miller got the win, Katleynn Fanning of Salem State got the loss, and Brittany Grimm ’12 and Korp each legged out three hits.

On Wednesday, the Judges showed that they weren’t going to lose momentum. Berg pounded a two-run homer in the first inning, and Brandeis never looked back.

The Judges added another two runs in the second, three in the fourth, and three in the sixth and final innings to win 10-1 against the WPI Engineers.

Berg had four RBIs, and three other Judges smacked at least two hits. Emily Vaillette was just

as spectacular; in five innings of work, she struck out seven and gave up only two hits and one run to get the win. Erin Flaherty pitched the entire game for WPI and got the loss.

It took even less time for Brandeis to get the win in the later game. Only five innings of play were required before the game ended with a score of 124. Brandeis was only held off the board in the third inning.

Again, Berg was the star, stuffing her stat line with three hits, three runs and three RBI’s in four at bats; Courtney Kelley ’11 also picked up three RBI’s. Miller pitched the entire game, earning the win after surrendering three hits and three earned runs. Christa Coscia was the only pitcher for WPI, and her decidedly different result was due in part to her disappointing defense; only two of her twelve runs allowed were earned.

On the season, Berg has hit .403, and her 29 RBI’s and six home runs lead the team. Grimm is the team’s batting average leader, hitting .515, in addition to her 61 total bases and a .897 slugging percentage. Vaillette is now 8-3 with a 1.56 ERA and 45 strikeouts.

Brandeis has a 5-3 conference record, and their season continues on Saturday with a home doubleheader against Clark. Then they move onto Bowdoin for a doubleheader Sunday before returning home for a doubleheader against Wheaton Wednesday.

strain). The Phillies optioned pitcher Andrew Carpenter to their Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley to make room for Figueroa on the 25-man roster. Once Lidge, Romero and Blanton rejoin the team, Figueroa will need to clear waivers to remain with the Phillies organization.

On Thursday, Figueroa was in uniform, tossing two innings in relief of Blanton’s rotation replacement, Kyle Kendrick. He allowed one run on three hits and a walk and was charged with the loss in a 6-5 defeat to the Nationals.

In addition to the Mets and the Phillies, Figueroa has also

pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates. He was drafted in the 30th round, 833rd overall, of the 1995 MLB entry draft, and represented Puerto Rico in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Figueroa is currently the only Brandeis graduate to have ever played in the major leagues.

The American Studies major and former WBRS Disc Jockey returned to Waltham this past October. After the university’s annual alumni game, his No. 2 jersey was formally retired by the team.

Figueroa will wear jersey No. 44 in Philadelphia.

Brandeis alum Nelson Figueroa ’98 waived by Mets, joins Phillies

BY KARA KARTER Staff

Brandeis alum Nelson Figueroa ’98 is on the move again. After being designated for assignment by the New York Mets on Monday, the 35-year-old right-hander was claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Figueroa had previously pitched for the Phillies in the 2001 season.

In Philadelphia, Figueroa will be expected to help patch up a shorthanded bullpen. Both Brad Lidge (elbow and knee surgeries) and J.C. Romero (elbow surgery) are currently on the disabled list, as is starter Joe Blanton (oblique

HOOT SCOOPS

20 The Brandeis Hoot

April 9, 2010

Inaugurating the Indie Louies

BY SEAN FABERY Editor

Brandeis will experience not one but two independent film festivals this month, with the first of the two, the Indie Louies, kicking off its inaugural festival this weekend.

According to the festival’s organizers, the festival’s mission is pretty straightforward.

“We’re people who like watching movies and making movies,” said Indie Louies committee member Oren Nimni ’11. “We have fun doing that.”

“The mission [of the festival] is to bring filmmakers closer together,” fellow committee member Illona Yuhaev ’11 said.

“Some filmmakers are actually going to crash on our coach. It allows filmmakers to get to know one another. When you’re a filmmaker you need to find people … and meet potential colleagues.”

Yuhaev and Nimni, along with four other core committee members, organized the

Indie Louies in the climate of uncertainty that surrounded the SunDeis film festival, whose future was up in the air after it lost money last year. Though it was eventually settled that BTV would organize SunDeis in conjunction with the film department, the six members of the present Indie Louies committee decided to form a new film festival anyway.

Yuhaev believes that having a completely student-run festival will allow for greater freedom.

“A department is associated with a university—they have to worry about donors and alumni. They don’t want to be controversial. But we’re a student organization,” said Yuhaev.

For its first slate of films, the committee has organized a program consisting of 21 shorts, 19 of which are live-action and two of which are animated.

Approximately two-thirds of the submissions received by the festival came from Brandeis students. The remaining submis-

And the nominees for Best Film are...

“Aiden Own,” a short film written and directed by Ben Harel ’12, chronicles a few potentially life-altering days in the life of Aiden (Arun Narayanan ’10), a disaffected young man past what he dubs his “point of return.” When he runs into his old third grade crush, Eve (Emily Griffin ’10), he faces the prospect of something outside of his love of music and drug addiction—but he must also confront his own demons. Featuring great production values, skilled performers and an engaging plot, Harel has crafted an intriguing glimpse into one character’s life.

“Aiden Own”

“Everyone Has Their Miracles” This fascinating documentary explores the way sexual orientation has been approached within Bolivia, both in the gay community and among the population as a whole. Gay Bolivians speak at length about their feeling that society forces them to wear a mask and hide their own presence. Other members of society, meanwhile, appear split—some view homosexuality as transgressive, while others believe that “discrimination doesn’t exist.”

The film creates an informative and emotional dialogue that is juxtaposed with the emergence of an openly gay culture in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, where gay pride parades have begun to appear.

PHOTOS COURTESY Indie Louies

“Everyone Has Their Miracles” explores the intersection of commerce and religion in the markets of Buenos Aires, where trade in religious trinkets is plentiful. For some, the trade is strictly impersonal—“it’s all for profit,” as one seller bluntly puts it. For others, it is part of what they perceive to be a personal mission to spread the word of God. The short documentary also delves into the tension that exists between Catholicism and pagan religious practices, with a sharp divide existing between independent shops and church-run shops. As someone with no familiarity with the subject, it makes fascinating viewing, illuminating the relationship between economics and spirituality that we often fail to consider.

“En La Linea Del Fuego”

sions primarily came from film students at other universities. The only restriction placed on filmmakers was that all shorts had to be less than 30 minutes in length.

The submissions vary widely in terms of content. Many of the Brandeis entries have a distinctly Brandeisian flavor. One, for instance, revolves around the kidnapping of the statue of Louis D. Brandeis, while another functions as a PSA about Sherman shopping. Yet there were also shorts of a decidedly more serious nature—for instance, one submission served as a criticism of the ostensibly rigged Zimbabwean election of 2008.

The Indie Louies also sponsored a 48hour film contest, the submissions for which had to be written, cast, filmed and edited in a 48-hour span. Four stipulations were made: the films had to be of the disaster genre, feature a character named Boris Hoolihan, utilize a shovel as a prop and use the line “If they move, kill ’em” as part of their dialogue. Two submissions were received, both dealing with apocalyptic themes. One submission, “The End,” details the events that occur when one student wakes up only to find the entire campus nearly abandoned and under lockdown.

The central character at the core of the other submission, entitled “Still Alive,” wakes up in a world in which everyone but him is frozen in place; with a new sense of power, he takes advantage of this situation only to possibly receive his comeuppance in the end. It’s remarkable to realize that these shots were shot in such a short span of time—they’re as well-constructed as many of the other shorts submitted.

The festival has partnered with the Punk Rock and Roll Club’s presentation of their South by Southwest Brandeis concert series in order to provide a weekend filled with indie entertainment. Friday night, Phantogram and DJ Rupture will be playing at Chums, while

Freelance Whales and Best Coast will be performing on Saturday night.

The duo BriTANick, best known for their hilarious send-up of the typical Oscarbaiting film in their viral short “Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer,” will also be present on Saturday afternoon at Chums, where they will be performing sketch comedy and presenting a short film of their own titled “Eagles are Turning People into Horses.”

Yuhaev sees the two as a perfect example of the collaborative atmosphere she hopes to establish with the infant festival.

“These are two guys who met each other in film camp in high school and went to NYU together. That’s what you need—filmmakers you can click with,” she said.

The films, which total more than four hours in length, will be presented in twohour blocks on Friday and Saturday in the Schwartz Auditorium. Following Saturday’s screenings, an award show—hosted by Brandeis alum Anthony Scibelli ’09—will commence, at which awards will be given in thirteen categories.

These categories range from the traditional—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and the like—to the less traditional, like the “ROTFLMFAO” award for humorous submissions and the “Artsy,” awarded to the best movie that does not feature a linear narrative.

The judges for the awards consist of a panel of film professors, one filmmaker from New Orleans and Brandeis staff members who have experience with video and cinematography.

Though this is the first festival organized under the Indie Louies banner, its organizers hope that it will have a long life.

“We’ve already applied for the funding [for next year],” committee member Tom Charging Hawk ’10 said.

“It will be an annual event,” Yuhaev said without a hint of hesitation.

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