The Dartmouth 2/15/18

VOL. CLXXIV NO.182

CLOUDY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Domino’s to open Hanover franchise

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

HIGH 47 LOW 37

By MIKA JEHOON LEE The Dartmouth Staff

Students frequent King Arthur Flour to enjoy coffee and pastries.

ARTS

GLEE CLUB WILL PERFORM ‘JEPHTE’ ON FRIDAY PAGE 8

OPINION

SAKLAD: EMPOWERMENT AND LINGERIE PAGE 7

SHI: FEMALE COMPOSERS, FORGOTTEN PAGE 7

ELLIS: THE NEW THEORY OF RELATIVITY PAGE 6

CHIN: INTIMACY AND LEARNING PAGE 6

FOLLOW US ON

TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2018 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Alex Azar ’88 confirmed as U.S. health secretary

By EILEEN BRADY

The Dartmouth Staff

On Jan. 24, the Senate confirmed Alex Azar ’88 as the United States secretary of health and human services in a vote of 55 to 43.

President Donald Trump nominated Azar to the position in November 2017 to succeed Tom Price, who resigned from the position

amid controversy over his use of private and government planes.

“Being appointed secretary of health and human services is one of the greatest privileges of my life,” Azar wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth.

Azar said he is honored to take on this role and cited Dartmouth faculty as

a guiding force on his path to public service.

“I remain indebted to the faculty mentors who so guided my thinking about the role of government and public life, [government professor] Anne Sa’adah and [late government professor] Vincent Starzinger,” Azar wrote. “I encourage all SEE AZAR PAGE 5

Study finds similar neural responses among friends

By MARIA HARRAST

The Dartmouth Staff

Best friends often share similar tastes in everything from music to clothes, but what if they also have similar brain activity?

In a study published on Jan. 30 in the scientific journal Nature Communications, researcher s deter mined that similarities in neural responses from fMRI scans can be used to predict friendships.

The study was led by Carolyn

A new Domino’s Pizza restaurant will open in Hanover on 73 South Main Street, behind the Irving Gas station.

The site will undergo a renovation once the town of Hanover issues a building permit, according to Keith Bell, who owns Domino’s franchises in Claremont, West Lebanon, Montpelier, Vermont and St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Bell said he started considering opening a new Domino’s in Hanover shortly after he opened the franchise in West Lebanon in August 2016.

After its opening, the West Lebanon location b e c a m e ove r w h e l m e d with sales coming from Hanover, because Bell had underestimated the high volume of pizza orders from Dartmouth students. Pizza orders

from Dartmouth students have comprised nearly 30 percent of all sales and the vast majority of late-night sales, Bell said.

However, Bell said he had decided to wait an year before opening the franchise in Hanover.

“We knew it would be smart to go through all of the seasons, including the summer term and the winter break when only some students are here,” Bell said. “We wanted to make sure that [Domino’s in West Lebanon] could survive without Dartmouth students.”

A c c o rd i n g t o B e l l , the franchise in West Lebanon did well enough financially in the absence of Dartmouth students to convince him to open a new store in Hanover.

Hanover director of planning, zoning and codes Robert Houseman said for Domino’s to open SEE DOMINO’S PAGE 2

FEBRUARY FACELIFT

Parkinson, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles; Adam Kleinbaum, a business administration professor at the Tuck School of Business; and Dartmouth psychological and brain sciences professor Thalia Wheatley.

The researchers’ findings suggest that individuals who are friends perceive and respond to the world in similar neurological ways.

“One of the most well-established SEE NETWORK PAGE 3

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The second floor of Baker-Berry Library has recently undergone repainting.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 2

DAily debriefing On Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida, close to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s dismissal time, 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire inside the school with an AR-15 rifle, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters that 12 people were killed inside the school, three more died outside and two others died in a hospital while receiving treatment. Wounded were also still undergoing surgery at time of publication.

The suspect had multiple magazines and it was unclear if he had a second weapon. The alleged gunman was taken into custody off campus with non-serious injuries. The suspect had been expelled from the school due to unspecified disciplinary reasons.

South African President Jacob Zuma resigned after a nearly nine year presidency, announcing he was stepping down in an address to the nation on Feb. 14. Zuma’s announcement came following orders to resign from the governing African National Congress Party, harsh political opposition and a looming threat of a no-confidence vote in Parliament, according to The New York Times. While Zuma began his presidency as an anti-apartheid advocate and former ANC intelligence chief, he left the position amid accusations of misconduct and corruption. The nation’s acting president will be deputy president and ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa. Since Ramaphosa’s election as ANC leader in December, party leaders have pushed for an early termination of Zuma’s presidential term, culminating in arrests of Zuma’s political allies and threats of removal through parliamentary action.

-COMPILED BY ALEXA GREEN

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

Hanover Domino’s location to open FROM DOMINO’S PAGE 1

in Hanover, it needs to obtain two permits from the town of Hanover: a zoning permit and a building permit.

A zoning permit ensures that the planned development is consistent with the town’s zoning ordinance, which specifies how properties and land can be used in certain zoning districts, Houseman said.

S i n c e D o m i n o ’s w a s n o t proposing any alterations to the structural footprint of the site it plans to renovate, its zoning review was “straightforward,” he said. The town approved a zoning permit for Domino’s on Jan. 18, declaring that the building in 73 South Main Street was suitable for use as a Domino’s franchise.

A building permit is approved based on the planned development’s compliance with two codes: the life-safety code and the building code, Houseman said. He added that both codes address means of egress, the need for a restroom and the adequacy of the kitchen, including exhaust vents and other devices. Since Domino’s will have pizza oven facilities, there will need to be a hood exhaust that is discharged out of the roof, he said.

According to Houseman, Bell’s agent has applied for the building permit, but the town has not approved it yet.

“We are speaking with the agent, who is a licensed architect,” Houseman said. “[Bell and the agent] were requested to provide updated information related to

roof-mounted improvements.”

According to Bell, construction typically takes six to eight weeks after the building permit is issued.

Neither Bell nor Houseman gave a date as to when the building permit will most likely be approved.

Bell said the franchise in Hanover will be a little under 1,100 square feet, less than half the size of the 2,300 square foot West Lebanon store.

The Hanover store will be smaller for two main reasons, according to Bell. “[Hanover] real estate prices are pretty expensive — we honestly wouldn’t be able to afford a 2,300 square foot unit,” he said. “And students usually order deliveries — we certainly have a pick-up counter, but there will be no space for dine-ins.”

Lisa Seo ’18, who order s deliveries from Domino’s at least three times a term, said she is looking forward to the new Domino’s restaurant in Hanover because the increased proximity of Domino’s to the school campus could significantly reduce delivery time.

“If you order late at night, it usually takes a minimum of an hour for the food to come,” Seo said.

“When I ordered at 2 a.m., my food sometimes arrived at 3:30 a.m.”

Bell said the Domino’s franchise in West Lebanon has delivered in under 30 minutes in 80 percent of its deliveries. When Domino’s opens in Hanover, Bell said his goal is to deliver pizzas in under 20 minutes 80 to 90 percent of the time and in under 30 minutes 95 percent of

the time. “ [ A t D o m i n o ’s i n We s t Lebanon], a driver will leave with three deliveries at a time, and because each round trip takes around 30 minutes, a driver will make about four to six deliveries per hour,” Bell said. “[In Hanover], the round trip will only take 10 to 15 minutes, so drivers should make eight to 10 deliveries per hour — the productivity of the drivers will go up.”

Deborah Rheem ’19 said with the arrival of Domino’s in Hanover, she now anticipates more competition between local pizza restaurants.

“More people will order from Domino’s, so I think this will create more competition with local pizzerias like Ramunto’s [Brick and Brew] and C&A [Pizza],” she said.

Tim Cullen, the owner of Ramunto’s, said that he wishes good luck to the new Domino’s P i z z a , n o t i n g t h at t h e t wo restaurants make different styles of pizza.

Bell said he is aware of the notion that Domino’s in West Lebanon is like a “big, evil corporate giant,” but believes this impression is untrue because the Domino’s franchises he owns are locally-owned operators.

“All of our construction guys are local guys we hire, all of our team members are local people and I am semi-local myself, living 40 minutes away,” Bell said. “We are Domino’s, but we are still local people that are in town.”

CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

A Domino’s Pizza franchise will soon be opening in Hanover behind the Irving Gas station on Main Street.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 3

Researchers find similarities in brain scans among friends activity in response to video clips.

D u r i n g t h e f M R I s t u d y, findings that we’ve known about the researchers showed each for decades is that people who participant the same collection of are similar are more likely to be video clips, ranging across genres friends,” said Kleinbaum, adding such as comedy, documentaries that a shared race, ethnicity, gender and debates, Wheatley said. The or nationality is a contributing videos were chosen to be engaging factor towards and divergent, friendship.

Kleinbaum “We wondered “We wondered said, meaning whether people whether people that they who are similar who are similar on were meant on a neurological to capture a neurological level level are more participants’ l i k e l y t o b e are more likely to be attention as friends,” he said. friends.” well as inspire T h e different inspiration for the reactions. He study came from -ADAM KLEINBAUM, said video clips previous research were used in BUSINESS that sug gested part because t h a t c e r t a i n ADMINISTRATION they allowed the d e m o g r a p h i c PROFESSOR AT THE TUCK researchers to factors can be compare neural p r e d i c t o r s o f SCHOOL OF BUSINESS responses friendship, at specific Kleinbaum said. instances in the The first step videos. of the study “ W e included mapping the social were interested in naturalistic network of a cohort of 279 stimulus — the kinds of things that first-year graduate students at a people would experience in the real private university in the United world,” Kleinbaum said. “Showing States. An online survey asked a series of video clips was the with whom the students were closest thing we could get to realfriends; the researchers used world naturalistic stimulus that the results to construct a social we could expose people to while network mapping reciprocal recording their brain activity.” friendships, which estimated social The most surprising part of the distances between individuals. study was the large scale of similar Of the students in the cohort, 42 responses across friends’ brains, individuals then participated in an Wheatley said. fMRI study to measure their brain “We were surprised by how FROM NETWORK PAGE 1

COURTESY OF ADAM KLEINBAUM

In the study, the social network of a group of 279 students was mapped based on mutually reported social connections.

big of an effect there was and how widespread it was across the brain,” she said, adding that the researchers were not sure whether they would see an effect at all. “But we saw this pattern where friends were remarkably similar compared to friends of friends compared to friends of friends of friends.”

The researchers concluded that people whose neural responses to the experiment’s videos were more similar were also more likely to be closer to one another in the social network. Even when accounting for variables like age, gender, nationality and ethnicity, the correlation between neural response and distance in the social network was statistically significant.

“Most people know that there’s this ‘birds of a feather flock together’ idea,” said Nicholas Christakis, director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, who studies biology and social networks. “What this paper shows is that this type of homophily extends to a different level of biology than our superficial traits.”

He added that natural selection has shaped the friendship preferences in humans such as the number or kind of friends.

“The work in the Wheatley lab provides another brick in the wall proving this,” Christakis said.

While there are benefits to phenomenon would lead to echo befriending people of similar chambers and polarizations.” neural behavior, Kleinbaum said According to Kleinbaum and it remains important to seek out Wheatley, their future research related to this study will attempt people who think in other ways.

“People who are different from to differentiate whether friends us challenge have similar neural activity u s t o t h i n k “I think there’s going because people about things tend to seek out differently, to to be a lot of work like-minded t h i n k m o r e in the coming years individuals or if d e e p l y, t o trying to understand spending time understand together causes i s s u e s f ro m the biology of neural activity d i f f e r e n t friendship.” to become perspectives,” m o r e s i m i l a r.

Kleinbaum Kleinbaum said said. “I think -NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS, their current what this research could study shows DIRECTOR OF YALE not separate is that it’s easy UNIVERSITY’S HUMAN between selection t o f a l l i n t o NATURE LAB effects — people relationships choosing to be with people friends with who see things the same way that we do, and if like-minded individuals — and we want the benefits of diversity, it convergence effects, which is requires a more deliberate effort.” people becoming more similar Kleinbaum said he believes after becoming friends. that people can still overcome Human beings are a unique differences in neural responses species in that they form “longterm, by purposely interacting with non-reproductive unions” with people who might view the world other members otherwise known as “friends,” Christakis said. differently.

“I hope it’s not just that we are “I think there’s going to be a a certain way, and we simply find lot of work in the coming years people who are exactly the same trying to understand the biology as we are,” Wheatley said. “That of friendship,” he said.

PAGE 4

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

MY L.L. BEAN JACKET CANNOT FLY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

JESSICA LINK ’17 TH’18

TODAY

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Gallery Talk: “Psychoanalysis, Ethnography and (Post-)colonial Violence in the Work of Kader Attia,” with art history professor Chad Elias, Hood Downtown, 53 Main Street

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Lecture: “A Consolidated Framework of the Color Variability in Blazars: Long-Term Optical/Near-Infrared Observations of 3C 279,” with Vanderbilt University postdoctoral fellow Jedidah Isler, Wilder 202

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Panel: “State Attorneys General and President Trump: Report from the Courts,” Room 003, Rockefeller Center

TOMORROW

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Lecture: “Bear Predation on Salmon: Ecology, Behavior and Evolution,” with University of Washington professor Thomas Quinn, hosted by graduate student Madilyn Gamble, Room 201, Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center

6:00 p.m. - 7:45 p.m.

Film: “The Disaster Artist,” directed by James Franco, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center

6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Performance: “Jephte,” a classical Baroque oratorio, performed by the Dartmouth College Glee Club, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts

8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Performance: “1984,” directed by Peter Hackett, based on the novel

by George Orwell, Moore Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts

ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement.

Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents.

The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 0199-9931

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 5

Alex Azar ’88 succeeds Price as HHS secretary

policy that Medicare and private health insurance have to pay Dartmouth students to use the whatever it is that the drug opportunities presented to them companies charge,” Skinner said. to give back to their communities “It’s not surprising that the prices they charge are very high.” and their country.”

Prior to his appointment as HHS Skinner added that he believes secretary, Azar served in HHS for Azar to have a firm understanding six years during former President of drug pricing from his experience George W. Bush’s administration, in the private sector and said that first as HHS general counsel it will be interesting to see whether and then as deputy secretary. He the secretary is able to bring a “stronger set of then went on tools” to cut back to join Eli Lilly “[Azar] has very on prices based on and Company, unique perspective, his time at Eli Lilly. a global Ellen Meara, pharmaceutical information and economics and company based contacts, but you TDI professor, in Indianapolis, emphasized that where h e also might be A z a r ’s ro l e a s b e c a m e worried about secretary would president of the conflicts.” be focused on the company’s U.S. implementation branch before of policy rather leaving in 2017. -ELLEN MEARA, than its creation.

According t o t h e H H S ECONOMICS PROFESSOR “ T h e H H S s e c re t a r y d o e s w e b s i t e, t h e AND PROFESSOR AT THE d e p a r t m e n t ’s DARTMOUTH INSTITUTE not make laws,” Meara said. mission is to “The legislature “enhance and FOR HEALTH POLICY makes the laws, p r o t e c t t h e AND CLINICAL PRACTICE so [Azar’s] role health and is really one of well-being of all implementing Americans … things.” by providing for She added that effective health the effectiveness and human services and fostering advances in of laws will be influenced by how medicine, public health and social well HHS is run and how the department chooses to implement services.”

As secretary, Azar will be features of certain laws. responsible for carrying out this Meara also expressed concern mission in addition to overseeing about Azar’s past at Eli Lilly, the Food and Drug Administration, explaining that while he has said that he wants to reduce drug Medicare and prices, his experience M e d i c a i d “Whenever a in the pharmaceutical programs and industry puts him in an various other Dartmouth alum “interesting place.” agencies and is appointed to a

“[Azar] has very programs. position like this, unique perspective, A z a r s a i d d u r i n g it’s exciting for the i n f o r m a t i o n , a n d contacts, but you also h i s S e n a t e school.” might be worried about confir mation conflicts,” Meara said. h e a r i n g t h at

President of the lowering drug -LOUISA GUTHRIE Association of Alumni prices is one of ’79, PRESIDENT OF of Dartmouth Louisa his priorities as Guthrie ’79 said that HHS secretary. THE DARTMOUTH despite the political A c c o r d i n g ASSOCIATION OF nature of the position, to economics Azar’s appointment professor and ALUMNI is exciting for the professor at Dartmouth community.

The Dartmouth

“Whenever a Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice Dartmouth alum is appointed to a Jonathan Skinner, lowering the position like this, it’s exciting for the school,” Guthrie said. “It should prices of drugs is necessary.

“It’s certainly true that when you show well on Dartmouth. Obviously, give drug companies a monopoly we live in a very politically-charged through the patent system on environment right now, but, in particular drugs that they’ve general, it should show well on developed and there’s a general Dartmouth.”

FROM AZAR PAGE 1

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

PAGE 6

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST SIMON ELLIS ’20

STAFF COLUMNIST CLARA CHIN ’19

The New Theory of Relativity

Intimacy and Learning

People should reconsider how privilege factors into everyday interactions.

Dartmouth’s outlets for self-development are worth appreciating.

I am privileged. This statement — rather, like the branches of a tree. It is important to the implications of acknowledging its validity — start realizing that while one person may be have escaped the lips of countless individuals for more privileged than another in one aspect of whom the statement rings true. While some of us their life, that does not mean they are more or at Dartmouth may consider ourselves privileged, less privileged than overall. few rarely grapple with what that word means But how should these conclusions, maybe or its ramifications in our interactions with other revelations, factor in to your every day students. interactions? In a recent column published in As if to take a five-foot leap over a seven-foot The New York Times, Charles Blow discussed hole, uttering a simple confirmation of privilege his experience acknowledging his male privilege is not, and should not, be enough. It is time to while dealing with the oppression of being realize that everyone possesses some degree of a black man in America. He acknowledged privilege. Moreover, this idea of a rigid and all- that while it is clearly not possible to fight all encompassing privilege is not only archaic, it fails oppression, “It is not sufficient to simply not to include a significant caveat of what modern be a sexist yourself if you are a man. You must conceptions of privilege include. Privilege is also recognize that you benefit from the system undeniably relative and takes constant work of sexism in ways to which you may not even and reassessment. be aware.” He continues to note that it takes I have been raised in a safe environment “hard work” to fight systems of oppression by my whole life. My parents have always been expanding “empathy and awareness.” able to provide me with life essentials. I have It is critical to note that positions of privilege had access to amazing opportunities, and my can change, just as class, health and other aspects gender and race have had a more positive of life change. While certain demographic effect on my interactions aspects such as race or sex and the opportunities may not change, attitudes presented to me than those “Many like to pretend about them may shift. We of many others. These are that [privilege is] must acknowledge the past all privileges that I have privileges and advantages come to understand, but for totalizing; with a given to people. But we anyone to fully internalize simple phrase, people must also consider the positions of privilege and present and future statuses can place individuals use them in an effective of those individuals and way, one must acknowledge in a neat and tidy the constant evolution that privilege is relative. category.” of privilege. That is one While I consider myself reason why this “hard relatively privileged, other work” must be done people, inside and outside constantly — to question Dartmouth, enjoy a more positions of privilege and privileged life than mine in one way or another. the advantages that individuals have and may Maybe they had better access to educational have in the future due to their identities. opportunity.

None of this is easy, and I certainly am no That’s the thing about privilege. It’s tricky. expert on overcoming privilege. If that is even Many like to pretend that it’s totalizing; with a possible, I do not pretend to have succeeded. simple phrase, people can place individuals in a However, I recognize that the best that one can neat and tidy category. Either they are more or do is to constantly self-evaluate positions of less privileged than another, and thus they take privilege and do the work required to understand a spot in the grand privilege queue. But it is not how different privileges may impact that person’s that simple — it is much more than that. The life. It seems like a simple start, but current order has different destinations and different campus rhetoric has shown us that privilege is starting points. It is less like a queue and more alive and well, even if not always vocal.

Finding myself nostalgic for mundanities overwhelming dining system and for the like London’s crowded public transport, atmosphere in Dartmouth’s dining spaces.

I still keep my Oyster card in the back The geographic proximity of Dartmouth’s compartment of my phone, so that I see it residential, academic and dining venues also every time I pull out my Dartmouth student eliminates a distinction between residency ID to pay for a meal. Most people, including and school. Students often take advantage myself, who take a study abroad term in a of the central nature of our campus, leaving city like London often come back to Hanover their belongings for hour-long lunch or yearning for city life. I miss my go-to coffee dinner breaks to secure their seats for when shop where the disaffected barista flashed me they return. In a city setting or at a university, a nod of recognition with every visit, taking students might feel less safe leaving their the bus to Chinatown late at night for a bite items unattended. While these aspects of to eat alone and the ease of meeting people campus life seem relatively mundane, they my age outside the university at which I contribute to an ideal learning environment. studied.

In London, I found it difficult to carry out While I still have an unreasonable amount the research projects I initiated at Dartmouth of nostalgia for a term that ended two months even though I had access to multiple library ago, my study abroad experience also gave catalogues online. I feel that my intellectual me a newfound appreciation for Dartmouth work is located here in Hanover. and a renewed excitement to return to my A complaint I frequently hear relating ongoing research projects. While we don’t to the Dartmouth bubble is that we are out exactly live in a so-called cosmopolitan of touch with the community at large, that center, going to school abroad made me we are unengaged with activist initiatives or realize how easy it is to take advantage of political movements and that Dartmouth is our academic freedom very institutional. This is and privilege. Many true to some extent, but juniors and seniors get “ ... much of the academic freedom I tired of the smallness at what I love about have experienced in and Dartmouth. They look out of class here has given Dartmouth is the forward to finding jobs me the opportunity to or attending graduate intimacy fostered on pursue unique research schools in a big city, but this campus, which ideas and experiment it is especially important with both for m and to appreciate the unique cultivates intellectual content. The small opportunity we have at and personal student population and this time in our lives to selectivity of Dartmouth’s development. At experiment intellectually a p p l i c a t i o n p ro c e s s and create meaningful worst, Dartmouth means that professors work through research College is quaint. But grant significant trust before the constraints of to their students. Even our careers loom over us. at best, it is a tight-knit when ideas are not fully Part of this academic community.” fleshed out, I have found freedom comes from that the College’s student an availability and research organizations concentration of resources for a relatively and programs emphasize the skills students small student population — characteristics need to carry out research while allowing for that similar small liberal arts colleges share. flexibility and changes in students’ visions.

Larger universities might have a wider In 2017, Dartmouth increased the size variety of funding sources for research, of its incoming class to record numbers and but most of Dartmouth’s research funds announced the creation of a task force to are dispersed by the Dartmouth Office evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of Undergraduate Research. Applying of future change. This suggests that the for grants is therefore a streamlined and College might be envisioning increased accessible process for most students. In my enrollments going forward. But much of experience, various members of UGAR are what I love about Dartmouth is the intimacy more than willing to consult with students fostered on this campus, which cultivates and guide them through the application intellectual and personal development. At process. worst, Dartmouth College is quaint. But at Additionally, Dartmouth’s location — best, it is a tight-knit community. I can sit which pessimists might construe as isolated in the 1902 Room from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

— may be reconstructed as a space of and develop an unspoken kinship with the hominess. As a student at King’s College students who share that space with me. in London, I felt somewhat disoriented More importantly, I can come forward that I had to travel for 40 minutes to get with unconventional and preliminary ideas to the central part of campus; even then, for research. With the right resources and the high student population meant that I attention from professors, I can turn those was never guaranteed a study spot. While ideas into meaningful projects. At this I no longer have access to the vast range point in my Dartmouth journey, it is easy of food venues suited to different budgets to become a “Senior Washed Up Girl,” but or tastes and available in every corner my experience abroad has rejuvenated my of London, I am grateful for our far less appreciation for my time on campus.

6175 ROBINSON HALL, HANOVER N.H. 03755 • (603) 646-2600

RAY LU, Editor-in-Chief KOURTNEY KAWANO, Executive Editor ZACHARY BENJAMIN, Managing Editor SONIA QIN, Managing Editor PRODUCTION EDITORS PARKER RICHARDS, IOANA SOLOMON

& ZIQIN YUAN, Opinion Editors

MARIE-CAPUCINE PINEAU-VALENCIENNE & CAROLYN ZHOU, Mirror Editors

NATHAN ALBRINCK, SAMANTHA HUSSEY, EVAN MORGAN & CHRIS SHIM, Sports Editors HALEY GORDON & MADELINE KILLEN, Arts Editors MELANIE KOS & YADIRA TORRES, Dartbeat Editor SAMANTHA BURACK & JEE SEOB JUNG, Design Editors ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN, Survey Editor

PHILIP RASANSKY, Publisher ERIN LEE, Executive Editor ALEXA GREEN, Managing Editor AMANDA ZHOU, Managing Editor BUSINESS DIRECTORS ALFREDO GURMENDI, Finance & Strategy Director ROSHNI CHANDWANI, Finance & Strategy Director SHINAR JAIN, Advertising Director KELLY CHEN, Product Development Director ELYSE KUO, Product Development Director EMMA MARSANO, Marketing & Communications Director MATTHEW GOBIN, Technology Director PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR TIFFANY ZHAI MULTIMEDIA EDITOR JESSICA CAMPANILE

ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Elise Higgins, Divya Kopalle, Joyce Lee, Michael Lin, Tyler Malbreaux

SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

PAGE 7

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST AVERY SAKLAD ’21

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST KATIE SHI ’21

Empowerment and Lingerie

Female Composers, Forgotten

Thanks to today’s media messages, gather on this night to celebrate the diverse people learn to feel ashamed of their bodies identities, sexualities and bodies that call before they learn basic arithmetic. Disney Dartmouth home by wearing lingerie films, magazine advertisements and sitcom and unabashedly putting themselves on television instill a false conception that display. Lingerie is an incredible event self-worth is determined by appearance, that celebrates what real bodies and particularly in females. Being lovable by real people look like — images that are mass media’s standards often buried under the means flaunting a flat heaps of pop culture “People come with stomach, flawless skin we c o n s u m e d a i l y. and a million and one marks: Birthmarks, Perfor mers revealed other supposedly ideal freckles, scars. their beautiful bodies, physical attributes. their kinks, their most A d v e r t i s e m e n t s People come with intimate appearance to circulated on a daily basis stubby fingers and a full audience. They seem to claim that people overcame media’s toxic big ears and crooked can look as impossibly images, refused selfb e a u t i f u l a s t h e i r noses. People come conscious inhibition airbrushed icons if only imperfect.” and encouraged all they invest in a couple of spectators to do the products, but real people same. do not just come in a standard model that Sitting on Tabard’s floor watching deviates solely based on purchasing choices, performers groove and strip like nobody I’d diet or exercise routines. Real people seen before, I felt the spirit of their body come in any combination of sizes and positivity reverberating through the room. shapes and colors. Some of their physical As the show progressed, some audience appearance is determined by their lifestyles members discarded layers until the space but so much more of it is completely in was spotted with lace and naked skin, the hands of genetics. People come with professing solidarity with the performers’ marks: Birthmarks, freckles, scars. People courageous displays. come with stubby fingers and big ears and Celebrating real bodies among peers crooked noses. People come imperfect. The was a breath of fresh air after a lifetime “perfect” bodies that of inhaling pop culture taunt from front covers “Celebrating real toxicity. I realized that a re c o n t r i ve d u s i n g complaints about conventionally pretty bodies among peers perfectly healthy people, makeup, staged was a breath of fresh weights or completely lighting and Photoshop. natural stretch marks air after a lifetime of Most people know had become so normal the difference between inhaling pop culture to me that I forgot how airbrushing and a real toxicity.” illogical it is to compare body, but here’s the issue: ourselves to airbrushed They still want to look models. Watching two like their media icons. nearly naked men Girls like me can ride up on our feminist slathered in peanut butter and jelly “bro high horses for miles, but at the end of hug” each other was exactly the reminder the day we’ll still cringe when our thighs I needed that the negative thoughts about jiggle in spandex. It’s because we’ve seen body image floating through my mind are what “perfect” bodies ought to look like, ultimately pointless. and hard as we may try to discard them We are stuck in the bodies we’re as media magic, these images are as good given, and beyond taking drastic surgical as burned into the backs of our eyelids. measures, there’s not a whole lot we can How can we accept our do to change the way imperfect bodies when we look. Tr ying to every flaw is constantly, “We are stuck in remedy unfixable flaws crudely made obvious the bodies we’re so that we can emulate to us? Maybe the key is unrealistic images in not to ignore the pieces given, and beyond the media can only of us that we do not like taking drastic surgical cause unhappiness and and cannot change but to It measures, there’s not self-consciousness. acknowledge them. By takes bravery to bare taking ownership of our a whole lot we can do your body on stage, but imperfections, we can to change the way we it’s the people with the work to normalize — and courage to do so that even love — the image look.” are helping others to of real human bodies accept that our bodies through the eyes of a culture hypnotized are perfect exactly as they are. Feeling by media. beautiful doesn’t have to mean looking It’s this kind of body positivity that fuels like a magazine centerfold. Instead, it can Tabard coeducational fraternity’s termly mean seeing your real body and loving it open-campus event, Lingerie. Students just the way it is.

Classical music is generally thought of as a She was also one of the few composers of pretentious genre written by European men, for her era to gain recognition from Europe’s music European men. Classically trained musicians scene while having never received European typically spend their formative years of study training. Beach defied all stereotypes with her learning works by canonical European male compositions while conforming to Victorian composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, social norms by downplaying the brilliance of Frédéric Chopin and Wolfgang Amadeus her work and musical achievements. Even so, Mozart; only after do they get the chance to she was recognized as one of the most talented study more contemporary music. composers of her generation.

Like many of my peers, I grew up learning Why, then, is Beach not a part of our presentthe piano and violin. Johann Sebastian Bach, day repertoire?

Franz Liszt, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Unlike many other female composers Antonio Vivaldi were among the composers who have fallen into obscurity, Beach has not whose works we normally been forgotten by musical studied. When I was “Beach’s absence history, in part because 11 years old, however, from the canon of of the success she gained I heard “Romance, while she was alive. Yet few Op. 23” for violin and notable 19th-century people in modern times piano. This wonderfully composers contributes have even heard of her passionate piece was my name — a startling contrast first exposure to Amy to the perception that to her contemporary Beach. It was also my first women didn’t write re p u t at i o n . B e a ch ’s exposure to a composer from the canon music before the 20th absence who was neither male nor of notable 19th-century century, which simply composers contributes to European.

Beach was born on isn’t true.” the perception that women Sept. 5, 1867 in Henniker, didn’t write music before New Hampshire. By the the 20th century, which time she was a year old, she could accurately simply isn’t true. hum 40 tunes in the key that she first heard them; Beach herself was aware of this danger. before she turned 2, she knew how to improvise In a rebuttal to Czech composer Antonín counter-melodies to anything her mother, a Dvořák’s claim that women didn’t have the talented pianist and singer, performed. compositional talent to contribute to American Despite Beach’s prodigious musicality, music, Beach noted that “from the year 1675 however, her parents delayed her career as a to the year 1885, women have composed 153 concert pianist for several reasons. Her mother, works.” Beach herself disproved his claim. In who had a deeply religious background, addition to orchestral pieces, she wrote dozens wanted her daughter to grow up with a sense of works for choral groups, voice and keyboard, of humility, which meant that her enormous chamber ensembles and solo piano. talent was downplayed so that Beach wouldn’t Beach pushed for the recognition of female become a prideful child. Additionally, women musicians and composers, and she mentored were expected to stay at home and care for their numerous young women at The MacDowell children — music and other artistic pursuits Colony, an artist’s retreat in Peterborough, New weren’t meant to be anything more than forms Hampshire. She used her status as a respected, of social recreation. Careers for women outside successful composer to further the careers of the home weren’t socially acceptable during of young musicians — she joined the Music the post-Civil War period, and there was a Teachers National Association and the Music stigma attached to women who performed Educators National Conference and she was onstage that the Beach’s middle-class family a founding member and first president of the sought for her to avoid.

Society of American Women Composers.

Yet Beach still managed to achieve People should stop thinking about classical major success in her lifetime. With minimal music as the work of white European men from compositional instruction, she built her centuries ago. Beach worked tirelessly to make extensive musical knowledge by deconstructing, classical music more accessible to the public, copying and memorizing entire scores and she was instrumental in defining American of symphonies. In an interview, she once classical music as a movement in its own right. compared this memorization to the rigorous Current-day ignorance of her music is more dissections of a medical student. Her memory than just disrespectful — it erases the work of was an encyclopedia of music theory and an entire generation of female composers. It is notation, to the point where she could write vital that people recognize Beach’s importance music in her head without playing it out on and acknowledge the dozens of other women, instruments first. including such luminaries as Florence Price and Beach was the first female composer in the Nadia Boulanger, who wrote classical music United States to gain recognition for writing during the 19th and 20th centuries; people large-scale classical pieces. Her “Gaelic can begin by learning more about them in Symphony” was the first symphony written the music classroom and having more major and published by an American woman. The orchestras perform their work in the concert symphony was premiered by the Boston hall. To ignore the contributions of women Symphony Orchestra to critical acclaim, and composers is to accept the erroneous idea that Beach gained a reputation as one of Boston’s classical music is and will always be a static art most prominent composers. form created by European men for the elite.

Lingerie provides a welcoming and uplifting space for students.

What we can learn from Amy Beach.

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

PAGE 8

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018

Glee club to perform mixed-media staging of Carissimi’s ‘Jephte’

By ELIZABETH GARRISON The Dartmouth

After performing German composer Felix Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” at its fall concert, the Dartmouth College Glee Club will continue the biblical hero theme in its winter concert Friday with Giacomo Carissimi’s oratorio “Jephte.”

“Jephte” tells the story of Jephthah, an Old Testament judge who promises God that he will sacrifice the first person who comes out to greet him after battle in exchange for victory over a rival tribe.

When that person turns out to be his only daughter, Jephthah has to suffer the consequences. While “Jephte” is traditionally presented with limited staging and visual elements, director Louis Burkot decided to incorporate mixed media into the concert by adding projections designed by graduate student Camilla Tassi.

During the fall, Tassi staged a multimedia project on Carissimi in the Hopkins Center for the Arts Garage.

Following this project, Burkot invited her to design projections for the glee club’s winter concert in order to enhance the audience’s experience.

“Anything to me that makes the audience able to ... take away as much as they can to me is a great resource,” Burkot said. “What I like so much about what [Tassi] did is that since she is a trained musician, everything that she does visually is really meant to enhance what’s already there in the music.”

Tassi, a soprano in the glee club and a member of Dartmouth’s masters program in digital musics, has a bachelor’s of science in computer science, a bachelor’s of arts in music and an Italian studies minor from the University of Notre Dame. Tassi said that her mission is to help the audience to understand the world of the composer.

“We hear the name ‘Carissimi,’ and most of the time, people are like, ‘Okay, who’s that?’” Tassi said. “And probably 90 percent of people will be like, ‘So what?’ ... So my approach to this project is ‘Let me try to bring the audience into the world of the composer.’”

To accomplish this goal for the concert, Tassi assigned visual cues to changes in the music, using different colors to capture the variation of “texture” within “Jephte.” As an

oratorio, which includes a choir, soloists and arias, “Jephte” switches back and forth between single and multiple voices.

She also included paintings by Baroque composers that fit the oratorio’s narrative, English translations of the music and images from the church where the piece was first performed.

“We sort of lose a layer when we take a piece today and perform it in a concert hall,” Tassi said. “When you think about it, back then, this was not an onstage piece. They just stood and sang it, and you have a very different experience as an audience member if you’re sitting in a church that has frescos and vaults ... as you’re experiencing the music.”

Tassi’s goal, then, is to bring some of those historical elements into Friday night’s performances.

“We don’t live in the 1600s Italy, and we don’t speak Latin so this is my attempt to create a layer of accessibility,” Tassi said.

In addition to incorporating visuals in the concert, Burkot extended the stage so the audiences can sit onstage with the performers to create a more intimate experience.

“Most of the oratorio is very direct and declamatory, and I thought it would be best to have people close at hand, one-on-one,” Burkot said. “It also gave me a chance to have the singers have the experience of communicating to the people in a very personal way.

So, a lot of the work is staged so that certain singers are singing directly to the audience.”

Soomin Kim ’20 is a soprano in the glee club and has been a member of the club since her freshman fall. Kim said that the staging of the concert allows the soloists to shine.

“I think the audience will really enjoy the visuals — not just the projections but also of the choir,” Kim said. “We have different formations, and we really set it up so that the soloists shine in their parts. We’ll move out or to the side for them. We have about 10 soloists, so there is a lot of variety.”

Kim said that she was initially apprehensive about the onstage seating, since she is so used to the separation between the performer and the audience but is now looking forward to the new staging.

“Usually it’s the stage and the

audience,” Kim said. “There is no in between, so this concert is going to be very different.”

During rehearsals, Burkot has been challenging the singers to focus on building an emotional connection with the piece rather than just the technical aspect of the music.

“I’m trying to get them to express in a way that’s declamatory — in other words, not singing the piece but just declaiming the words and letting that carry the energy and the emotion,” Burkot said. “You learn to sing it, and then you put that aside and just deliver the words.”

Burkot also is looking forward to the final movement in “Jephte” in which the daughter grieves over never having the opportunity to bear children before her death.

“The piece ends with this absolutely stunning lament about her demise,” Burkot said. “It ends in an almost redemptive way that’s beautiful and powerful.”

The glee club will perform its winter concert this Friday, Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium.

SELF/PORTRAIT photo exhibition showcases student portraits

By KASEY RHEE The Dartmouth

Wander into the high-ceilinged quiet of Black Family Visual Arts Center this month and one will encounter SELF/PORTRAIT, an exhibition of photographs by students of Studio Art 29, “Photography I,” and other photography classes over the span of the past two years. Student Gallery Room 102 is washed grayscale, each of its walls displaying groups of three or four black and white film photographs. The common thread between the photos is portraiture — not every work has its artist as subject, but all concern a meditation on self. Curated by studio art professor Virginia Beahan and teaching assistant Josh Renaud ’17, the photographs come together as a cohesive response to the documentary “Faces Places,” a film screened at the Hopkins Center for the Arts on Jan. 12 and Jan. 19. “Faces Places” follows 89-year-old Agnès Varda, a creative force who spearheaded the French New Wave, and 33-year-old French photographer and muralist JR on their journey through the villages of France. JR and Varda interviewed

and created portraits of locals; their resulting documentary is built on the humanity of these encounters and the friendship they build in their time with each other.

The first photo in the gallery is a piece by Ian Marx ’19. It is one in a series of a daring venture into naked self-portraiture by Marx. A large, curling shadow looms behind his frame, and the photo is punctuated by his own face, his expression drawn into a serious outward gaze. The interplay between shadow and flesh catches the eye, but Marx noted that this interplay was a happy coincidence and the result of much experimentation.

“At risk of making it seem less cool, that shadow was not planned,” he said. “That was the first time I’d ever done studio photography. Usually I do landscapes or street photography, and I’d never shot portraits of anyone, including myself. I’d never used studio lighting, so that photo was really a result of my own experimentation.”

He explained that the photo was initially brought on by class discussions; a classmate whose portfolio concentrated on seeing “women as women,” independent of a male-centered view,

spoke about the concept of the “male gaze.” This triggered Marx’s own selfreflection and this photo, which he said is a result of “looking inward.”

Turning to the right in the gallery and following the natural progression of one print to the next is a photo of a young black woman looking out onto a river by Margaret Jones ’19. The river is Mink Brook — a secondary aim of Jones’ was to use photography as a medium to communicate “her Dartmouth.” She explored the skiway, Mink Brook and Occom Pond as part of the rolls of film she shot that would eventually become her portfolio. The photograph shows the young woman’s back and nothing else. Her shoulders are square, steady. This is exactly what Jones was aiming to capture: confidence.

“It’s my friend Adoley Swaniker [’19],” Jones said. “She’s one of my favorite people — she carries herself very confidently, and I think that that comes through in some of the photos she’s in.”

Jones’ portfolio focused not only on women in nature but also on women being confident and comfortable in their own skins. She said her own life

has directly influenced her work in that she is the oldest of her siblings, and throughout her childhood, her camp counselors each summer served as “strong female role models that [she] really clung to.”

“I wanted to show how these women can be strong, wherever they are,” Jones said.

Jones said that this message is aided by “the power in [Swaniker’s] pose. She just looks so stable, really resolute.”

Upon moving to the room’s exit, one will find oneself square in front of two consecutive pieces from Sia Peng ’20. The first is a shot covered almost completely by mirrors, with only a camera and a partial view of Peng’s face coming through. The second is a heavily blurred self-portrait, Peng’s hair falling across her face. Peng explained that her portfolio was based on a quote from Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” that she had chosen to correspond to her work: “Hide-and-Seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found.”

The second photograph in particular speaks to her work’s relationship with confusion. She was led to play with

the effects of shutter speed and experimented with a lower shutter speed to create the blur in the final product.

“It’s supposed to convey confusion about yourself, sort of,” she said. “I was confused in freshman year when I took these photos. I’m still confused now.”

There’s a spontaneity evident in Peng’s process that is perhaps a result of film photography itself, since the photographer cannot review its photographs instantly. Because of this, “Photography I” includes instruction in developing photos, giving the artist control over post-production with a personal darkroom.

“When you’re taking [the photos], a lot of it is intuitive, and you discover the significance and get to make certain choices while looking back,” Peng said.

“The darkroom is your Photoshop, and personally, the darkroom makes me feel much more intimate with a photo instead of capturing it the digital way.”

SELF/PORTRAIT is open in Gallery Room 102 of the Black Family Visual Arts Center until Feb. 27.

Jones is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.