VOL. CLXXIII NO.126
SUNNY HIGH 66 LOW 37
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
GLC formalizes rush financial policy By SUNPREET SINGH The Dartmouth
ARTS
LILIAN MEHREL ’09 IN FILM PAGE 8
ARTS
‘CAPTAIN FANTASTIC’ REVIEW PAGE 7
ARTS
‘HOOD ON THE ROAD’ ACROSS AMERICA PAGE 7
OPINION
On Sept. 30, the Greek Leadership Council formalized a policy banning any Greek house from considering financial need when extending bids to students. The announcement came during recruitment in a campus-wide email from the GLC and is part of a broader initiative to better meet the financial needs of Dartmouth students in Greek life. Previously, Greek organizations were informally not allowed to consider students’ financial situations when extending bids. Fraternities and sororities determined financial aid independently, based on their
respective costs and policies as well as the students’ needs. In past few years, the College’s Greek system has faced criticism for being elitist, with prevalent speculation over Greek organizations considering financial information in making their recruitment decisions. In 2015, Business Insider reported on the initiatives by College President Phil Hanlon and the Interfraternity Council to promote inclusivity within Dartmouth’s Greek system, which has been criticized for being a “haven for the rich that imposes high costs for membership to keep out poor SEE GLC PAGE 5
DoseOptics receives third NIH grant By FRANCES COHEN The Dartmouth
On Sept. 29, Dartmouthaffiliated start-up DoseOptics received $2 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health. DoseOptics has now received three grants from the NIH, totalling $3.4 million. The company, which has developed imaging technology to reduce errors during radiation therapy, can now proceed to clinical tri-
als. Professor Brian Pogue and his lab originally developed the technology at the Thayer School of Engineering. About a year and a half ago, they founded DoseOptics to commercialize the technology. Up until now, there was no effective method for determining how well a radiation treatment works post-proceSEE OPTICS PAGE 5
LI: A SOCIAL REVOLUTION
College 16th in new WSJ/ THE rankings system
MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
By ALEXANDRA STEINBERG The Dartmouth
For many prospective students and their families, traditional college rankings play a large role in the research and decision of where to apply and attend college. In a new ranking system that factors in student survey data and leaves out standardized test scores, Dartmouth ranked 16th. The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education collaborated to release the new rankings, in which schools received an overall score out of 100 based on four categories. Student outcomes make up 40 percent of the overall score; school resources, 30 percent; engagement of the students, 20 percent; learning environment, 10
percent. The ranking system breaks these categories down further into more detailed factors, which include student to faculty ratio, academic spending per student, cost, salary 10 years after entrance and debt repayment three years after start of repayment. The rankings also include a student survey which asked current students to rate, out of 10, how strongly they feel their college was still the right choice, worth the cost and prepared them for their careers. Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University received the highest overall scores of the 1,061 colleges surveyed. Princeton University and Harvard University, which have historically placed first or second in the U.S. News
and World Report’s annual college rankings, ranked sixth and eighth in the WSJ/THE list, respectively. Dartmouth received an overall score of 88.1 points, falling 3.9 points behind Stanford. Scores varied between many schools by as little as one-tenth of a point. The WSJ/THE rankings evaluates student outcomes through graduation rates and a “value-formoney approach,” which includes salary 10 years after starting college and the ability to repay student debt. According to the Times Higher Education website, the data team determined the salary figures by projecting expected salaries and loan repayment SEE RANK PAGE 3
LGBTQIA+ History Month starts
PAGE 4
By PETER CHARALAMBOUS
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Students and faculty discuss LGBTQ issues.
The Office of Pluralism and Leadership is hosting events throughout the month of October to celebrate LGBTQIA+ History Month. This programming serves to commemorate the legacy of instrumental
figures in the fight for queer civil rights as well as to support members of the LGBTQIA+ community who continue to fight for equality. The month kicked off with an afternoon tea session on Oct. 7. The LGBT Employee Resource Network, which supports LGBT students at
the College, cohosted a dinner discussion with Joaquin Carcaño at the Triangle House yesterday. Carcoño, an HIV project coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is currently leading the lawsuit against the
SEE LGBTQ PAGE 3
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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DAILY DEBRIEFING A professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville was arrested on Saturday after shouting obscenities at the school’s football coach Bret Bielema after the football team lost to the University of Alabama, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Lawton Nalley, an associate professor of agricultural economics, was released from prison later on Saturday evening and faces charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Adjunct engineering lecturer at the University of Virginia Douglas Muir is on a leave of absence after he compared the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ku Klux Klan on social media, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. In a Facebook post last week, Muir called Black Lives Matter “the biggest rasist organisation since the clan.” In a statement on Friday, the university cited free speech and discussion as important principles and called Muir’s comment inappropriate. Harvard University professor Oliver Hart and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Bengt Holmstrom were awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics yesterday, Inside Higher Ed reported. The professors shared the prize for their work on contacts in modern economies. Including Hart and Holmstrom, six professors at United States universities have won Nobel Prizes this year.
-COMPILED BY PRIYA RAMAIAH
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
Rankings factor in student surveys FROM RANK PAGE 1
timelines. The team then evaluated whether actual salary and debt repayment data aligned with these expectations. The outcomes metric also considers the academic reputation of the school, which is based on the Times Higher Education’s yearly Academic Reputation survey of “leading scholars.” For outcomes, Dartmouth’s score is 38.6 out of 40. The resources category examines the amount of money each institution spends on teaching per student, the ratio of students-to-faculty members — which the rankings claim is an effective way of determining whether the college has enough faculty to teach and whether the student will receive individualized attention — and the number of research papers published per faculty member. In this category, Dartmouth scored 26.7 out of 30 points. The engagement category, which draws on student survey results, attempts to evaluate teaching quality through Malcolm Gladwell’s definition of student engagement: “the extent to which students immerse themselves in the intellectual and social life of their college — and a major component of engagement is the quality of a student’s contacts with faculty.” Students answered 12 questions broken down into four
categories: engagement with learning, interacting with others, whether the student would recommend the school to family members or friends and the number of subjects taught. Dartmouth received a 16.8 out of 20 on this engagement scale. The final category, environment, examines the student body make-up and determines whether the environment is “diverse, supportive and inclusive.” This metric analyzes the percentage of international students, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of students and diversity of faculty. Dartmouth’s environment received a six out of 10. Economics professor Bruce Sacerdote said the WSJ/THE data does not reveal the most important aspects of a college. “The only honest thing [WSJ] can do is just put the data out there and let people come to their own conclusions, because a lot of the data in The Wall Street Journal, in particular, are squishy and from representative surveys that they conducted and they don’t have nearly enough survey data points to hold,” he said. Dartmouth Alumni Council president Russell Wolff ’89 Tu ’94said that rankings have never accurately reflected the way alumni feel about the College, and that current levels of alumni engagement are robust. In the WSJ article “The Top U.S.
Colleges,” Melissa Korn and Douglas Belkin wrote that their WSJ/THE system is distinct from other rankings because it incorporates survey results from 100,000 college students. In their press releases, the Journal also emphasized the lack of selectivity and SAT/ACT scores in their methodology, which are factors used in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. WSJ editor-in-chief Gerard Baker wrote in his article “Why the WSJ/ THE College Rankings Are Different – and Valuable,” that while selectivity matters a lot to some students, it does not determine measures of student engagement, teaching quality or future financial security. However, much like the WSJ/THE rankings, U.S. News also incorporates school resources and outcomes into their rankings, in which Dartmouth ranked 11th. The WSJ/THE ranking data comes from the U.S. government through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, College Scorecard and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Times Higher Education U.S. Student Survey, the Times Higher Education Academic Survey and the Elsevier bibliometric dataset. The rankings only included U.S. schools that are Title IV eligible, give graduates four-year bachelor’s degrees and have more than 1,000 students.
HOT WHEELS
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
SHAE WOLFE/THE DARTMOUTH
High-end cars were available for public viewing on Oct. 10.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 3
History month features speakers, discussion events and screening
OPAL encourages all students to wear purple on Oct. 20 in a state of North Carolina regarding campus-wide act of solidarity to the HB2 law, commonly known as condemn LGBTQIA+ bullying. the “bathroom bill.” The dinner Furthermore, on Oct. 25, students event merged LatinX Heritage are encouraged to meet on the Month, which runs from Sept. Green at noon to remember those 15 to Oct. 15, with LGBTQIA+ whose lives have been taken away History Month. Participants spoke or are currently affected by transwith Carcaño about the struggle for phobia. queer equality. From Oct. 24 to Oct. 30, an To celebrate National Com- electronic campaign will work to ing Out Day, Sexuality, Women spread the news about Transgender and Gender Advising is hosting a Awareness Week. Furthermore, National Coming Out Day Party on Oct. 25, a PRIDE Informaat 6:30 p.m. today. tion session will take place at the On Oct. 13 Center for Genand 14, Indigder and Student enous Peoples OPAL encourages Engagement to Heritage Week all students to wear encourage a and LGBTQ- purple on Oct. 20 in dialogue about IA+ History queer leaderM o n t h w i l l a campuswide act of ship. join forces to solidarity to condemn Over host discussions the course of w i t h G e o r g e LGBTQIA+ bullying. the month, the Neptune ’10 , Collis Atrium who is a Nawill feature tive American activist and skilled various displays, including the basket maker. On Oct. 14, this Latinidad and Queerness Display discussion will be followed by a (Oct. 9 to 15), the LGBTQIA+ dinner event for black and queer Community Flag Display (Oct. students at the Triangle House with 16 to 22), and the Transgender Ashley Afranie-Sakyi ’13 who has Awareness Week Display (Oct. 23 to researched black-queer issues. 29). Various groups on campus are Another event, an HIV screen- organizing these displays to show ing session at Collis Common- their support for the LGBTQIA+ ground, focuses on the wellness community. of the LGBTQIA+ community. As a whole, the events and disDartmouth College Health Service plays on campus for LGBTQIA+ and the Student Wellness Center History Month aim to encourage all are sponsoring the screening. It students to become involved in the will take place on Oct. 19 from 12 fight for LGBTQIA+ acceptance p.m. to 4 p.m. and equality. FROM LGBTQ PAGE 1
PETER CHARALAMBOUS/THE DARTMOUTH
A display of posteres for LGBTQIA+ History Month is up in the Collis Center.
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 4
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
STAFF COLUMNIST JINSUNG BACH ’17
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST LUCY LI ’19
The True Meaning of Diversity
A Social Revolution
Diversity is not determined by race or gender alone.
Differences in women’s and men’s rush reflect a flawed social structure.
We are often told that diversity is a virtue I bring up such painful moments from our to treasure. We must be welcoming of all history because American higher education is, cultures, we are told, and we must accept in many ways, already repeating past faults. them with love and tolerance. And indeed, For instance, an irrational fear of political this is a most desirable outcome. Diversity conservatism is evident even in the highest is vital to a thriving society. But, I ask, do echelons of academia. I need not remind the these oh-so fierce proponents of diversity reader that our own school’s leaders have understand exactly what it is? Do they, for dismissed the conservative world as “not very all their buzzwords and Tumblr savvy, truly nice,” or of the open hostility conservative grasp what it means to be a “diverse” society? students have faced at other learning instituIn most contexts, the term is equated with tions. racial or gender diversity, to the exclusion of The growing taboo against political conalmost everything else. A “diverse” society servatism is but one example among many. It typically is considered to be one comprised is not possible to claim we are truly a diverse of people who reflect all the colors of the society if we expect everyone to have the exact human rainbow, equally partitioned between same beliefs. To this end, academia has, for the genders. However, this image ignores the most part, failed its students. Scores of less visible forms of diversity by assuming cancelled campus speakers and disgruntled that these people hold the same principles students are testament to the paradox, that and agree accordingly. It even as we strive to beassociates diversity with come more diverse in race “We must not lose race and gender alone and gender, our intellec,overlooking the myriad sight of where tual diversity suffers and other attributes that con- diversity truly threatens to vanish altotribute to what we should manifests: in the gether. In this mad race to regard as true diversity. satisfy the misconception brain and the heart, Our identities as inof race and gender as the dividuals and thinking more so than in the sole qualifiers of diversity, human beings lie largely skin alone.” we have sacrificed exactly in how we perceive the what diversity was meant world, in our experiences to help us achieve. and in our culture. Race plays an enormous No amount of pandering language or part in shaping these identities, but it is self-segregated safe spaces will bring us this hardly the only factor. It would be to our intellectual diversity. I thus call upon our detriment to ignore the roles that religion, administrators and my fellow students to see family, national identity and politics play in with true eyes the value of true diversity and shaping our personalities. Even this paltry list to work towards reinforcing it on our camis hardly exhaustive. Surely, if we look upon pus. We must create an environment where the attributes that shape the we really are, vast differences can be breached rather than race and gender are but drops in the bucket. deepened. We must welcome the opportunity It is therefore a tremendous mistake to to let these differences clash with one another believe that race and gender alone determine and create newer, more wholesome perspecwho we are as people. It is ignorant to discount tives in their wake. the beautiful complexity of human identity. I do not mean to say that race and gender But more gravely, it is bigoted to assume are irrelevant. Quite the opposite, for as I that identities can be generalized over entire have established both of these traits are an swathes of people based upon an arbitrary indelible part of identity. Nonetheless, we difference. From there it is but a hop, skip cannot and should not limit our concept of and jump to the sort of elitist intolerance diversity to just these factors. We must not that defined slavery and Jim Crow. This is lose sight of where diversity truly manifests: a mistake our nation cannot afford to make in the brain and the heart, more so than in again. the skin alone.
I have never before spoken as much as I did sororities is just hearsay based on stereotypes. during rush. Not even during Trips, Orientation As much as I hope for equity, women’s rush or the first few weeks of freshman fall, when I couldn’t effectively be anything like men’s rush was bombarded by a whirlpool of new stimuli because the structure of our Greek system and hundreds of eager fellow freshmen, did I simply doesn’t allow for it. In an ideal world, speak that much. By the end of each day of the processes should be identical. rush, my mouth was dry, my throat hurt and my The fact that men’s rush and women’s rush brain felt fried. Yet, I never would have thought are so jarringly different reflects an outdated it could actually be fun, especially considering patriarchy at Dartmouth. We need a social my introverted tendencies and legitimate fear revolution — and amazingly, we seem to be of small talk. Dartmouth is filled to the brim in the works of doing just that. With Kappa with outstanding, intelligent and bold women Delta Epsilon, Chi Delta, Sigma Delta and who each carry her own unique set of passions Epsilon Kappa Theta — half of the sororities and interests. It was an incredible experience on campus — now being local, it seems that the to finally meet them — after, unfortunately, an general attitude on campus supports Dartmouth entire year at Dartmouth. women in our mission for equity. By fighting off As a NARP (Non Athlete Regular Person) the oppressive hold of strict and nebulous naand not really much of a joiner, I didn’t meet tionals, sorority members gain more autonomy many upperclassmen my freshman year. This within their sisterhoods and ownership over is the case for a lot of their spaces. This does not women like myself, who necessarily mean that every aren’t athletically gifted “Decades from now, sorority has to go local to be enough to play a sport part of this revolution, as when a system in which acertain and hadn’t committed sororities are lucky to themselves to any group ‘sratting’ is no longer a have very supportive nationor club because they novel concept and wom- als. The bottom line is that still had to figure out rules that apply to women but how to survive their en have as much aunot to men should not exist. I workload or feed them- tonomy as men replaces have high hopes that one day selves properly at Collis. “sratting” will be a term just I spent most of my time the current patriarchal as commonly used as the term as a freshman trying to Greek system, the deci“fratting.” convince myself that I Along with the localization was so happy and okay sion to shake out will be of sororities, Sigma Delt and — only to realize I was the move to make.” EKT have participated in the genuinely delusional social revolution by opting and that not being okay, out of traditional women’s in fact, was okay. Being a freshman is painful, rush and deciding to move to a “shake out” which most upperclassmen can attest to. I now system in which all prospective members are look back on my first year with a combination of free to attend open houses and express interest cringe-worthy bitterness and an understanding by “shaking out” with current members. This that the freshman struggle is a rite of passage is a step towards leveling the playing field with to becoming a full-fledged member of the fraternities. As much as I applaud the intentions Dartmouth community. That’s why, freshmen, of this move, however, I don’t believe it’s an efwe can only love you from a distance. fective one — yet. The current Greek system Part of the freshman struggle is the few doesn’t allow for shake out to be implemented opportunities to meet upperclassman women well; rather, it complicates the already complex who could share their wisdom. As a freshman women’s rush process. Because it’s not yet a part woman, every weekend I moved from frat of the social culture to spend time in sororities in to frat, confined to male-dominated social the same way we go to fraternities on a Friday spaces. Men run the social scene, and because night, the decision to shake out is not one that of that, most freshmen men get an entire year a lot of women are informed enough to make. to actually make friends with upperclassmen. The few parties sororities throw throughout the Most underclasswomen don’t meet very many year is not enough. Decades from now, when a upperclasswomen until rush, during which most system in which “sratting” is no longer a novel conversations are too fleeting to actually foster concept and women have as much autonomy deep connections. as men replaces the current patriarchal Greek My point is not to complain about women’s system, the decision to shake out will be the move rush; given Dartmouth’s present social structure, to make. Still, we have to start somewhere, and the current process might just be the most ef- Sigma Delt and EKT have planted the seeds fective approach. Also, in some ways, it is truly of change. an amazing process — if you disregard the Despite the overall patriarchal nature of the emotional turmoil and existential crisis that Greek system and the emotional turmoil that it invokes, as well as the rules that put you in was rush, I am grateful for the opportunity to claustrophobic corners when making decisions, meet so many Dartmouth women. You are all of course. Any chance for phenomenal women not just beautiful but also phenomenal, diverse to connect is a chance worth taking. However, and inspiring. I may not remember the names unlike guys who have three terms to get a feel of the dozens of the women I talked to, but for all the frats, meet brothers they vibe with and I remember what I learned. Thank you for find the social space they feel most connected reinforcing my faith in female solidarity, and I to, most of the information women get about look forward to “sratting” with you.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
IFC policy becomes official this term
posed to the student joining the Greek system. students.” The IFC recommended Dartmouth has become more measures such as “overturning the ban socioeconomically diverse over time, on hard alcohol” and requiring each with 14.4 percent of the Class of 2020 fraternity to “devote a minimum of 15 qualifying for Pell grants and 45 percent percent of its total social and program- receiving scholarships from the College. ming budget to financial aid.” The concern of whether or not students Greek dues can pose a financial can afford Greek dues still persists, given burden for some students as they can that individual Greek organizations desometimes exceed $500 per term. termine financial aid on a case-by-case Chair of the GLC Austin Welch ’17 basis. said that the goal is Welch said that to ensure that no “Our system is already this move is part one is financially comprehensive but we of a larger effort limited from joinby the GLC to ing Greek organi- are moving to meet have a full and zations. comprehensive 100 percent of need.” “Our system financial aid and is already comscholarship proprehensive but -AUSTIN WELCH ’17, GLC gram for all Greek we are moving organizations in CHAIR to meet 100 perplace by the start cent of need and of next term. guarantee that money through alumni “The Greek Leadership Council has funding and other sources,” he said. established a committee of alumni and Welch added that “the policy helps Greek advisers, administrators, presiin squashing rumors regarding Dart- dents, and faculty to create a framework mouth’s Greek life being only for the for financial assistance and financial wealthy, as bids are extended based on inclusivity in addition to formalizing personal character and not financial funding for individual houses,” he said. situation.” He noted that other factors Welch added that the new initiative can complicate the matter, such as the is a good start to eliminating financial unwillingness of parents to pay for their barriers for students wishing to join student’s Greek dues if they are op- Greek organizations. FROM GLC PAGE 1
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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DoseOptics pioneers imaging FROM OPTICS PAGE 1
dure. The technology developed by DoseOptics is based on a phenomenon called “Cherenkov emission,” which Pogue recognized as a potential method for evaluating what happens during radiation therapy. It works by using a camera to capture the light signal given off when high-energy radiation goes through water or tissue. After developing the technology for several years, Pogue began working at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where the first patient was visualized using this technology. “We’re trying to develop a camera system, so we can actually watch what happens in the treatment room when it happens,” said William Ware Th ’94 , co-founder and CEO of DoseOptics.“And this will give the clinicians the ability to verify that the treatment happened where it was supposed to happen and at the degree to which it was intended.” With help from DEN, which aims to cultivate entrepreneurship within the Dartmouth community, DoseOptics was able to structure an agreement with the Dartmouth Technology and Licensing Office and obtain office space at the Dartmouth Regional Technology
Center in Lebanon. As the company moves forward Director of the DEN Innovation with clinical trials, Pogue describes Center Jamie Coughlin notes the a “multi-pronged approach at difimportance of the grant in giving ferent key academic medical sites.” DoseOptics an opportunity to “re- In December, a second camera will ally explore the commercial and be added to the early prototype at market viability of their product.” DHMC. “There’s an interest in the fedThey plan to move forward with eral government to support what a formal clinical trial in January they’re doing because hopefully and install camera systems at the the technology gets to see the light company’s partner sites, University of day in the of Pennsylvania hands of users and Washington a n d i m p a c t There is no technology University in St. people. The out there today that Louis, where adstory here of ditional trials will can do what we can DEN is one of be conducted. moving ideas do in terms of imaging Pogue to sell into impact,” radiation therapy research-based he added. camera systems A grant wh i le wo rk i n g of this mag- -WILLIAM WARE TH ’94, towards an FDA nitude is unDOSEOPTICS CO-FOUNDER approval in the common, and next one or two Ware said the years. Approval money procan only be obvides DoseOptics with an op- tained after the first clinical trial. portunity to move the company Ware said that DoseOptics’ forward. He noted that there is a technology offers a valuable tool “big gap between when something for clinicians, and they look to is done for the first time in a lab as “leverage [the technology] and a research experiment and actu- try to make a viable company out ally getting a product that you can of it.” deliver and use in a commercial “There is no technology out market.” there today that can do what we “What these funds will do is can do in terms of imaging radiahelp us span that gap,” he said. tion therapy,” he said.
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
PAGE 6
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
“Time-Dependent Global Modeling of the Inner Heliosphere,” professor Slava Merkin, Johns Hopkins, Wilder 111
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
“Making USB Great Again: New Defenses for Hosts and Devices,” professor Kevin Butler, University of Florida, Steele 006
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
“Why Study Abroad?” Information session on how to integrate Study Abroad into your D-Plan, Fahey First Floor Lounge
TOMORROW
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
St. Paul Chamber Piano Master Class with Jeremy Denk, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Dawn Anahid MacKeen, author of “The Hundred Year Walk,” Haldeman 41
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
“Stray Dog” (1949), directed by Akira Kurosawa, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 __ and flows 5 Stepped heavily 9 __ Rica 14 Pitcher’s goof 15 Inflatable mattress prefix with Bed 16 Colorado ski mecca 17 Muslim denomination 18 Not fatty, as meat 19 Lease again 20 *Artsy Lower Manhattan neighborhood 23 Car owner’s premium pmt. 24 American of Japanese descent 25 Dieter’s catchword 27 Sweat unit 30 Originates (from) 33 Like morning grass 36 Title for Doubtfire or Dash 38 Site of Arizona’s Red Rock State Park 39 Rocks in bars 40 Set in a den, slangily ... or, initially, what can be found in each answer to a starred clue 42 Gratuity 43 Dessert with a cherry 45 Refreshing retreat 46 Wines that usually go well with beef 47 __ seat: advantageous spot 49 In couch-potato mode 51 France dance 52 Up to one’s ears (in) 56 Architect I.M. __ 58 *Drug bust calculation 62 Throat ailment 64 Modest skirt 65 Writer Jaffe 66 Video game pioneer 67 Region 68 Sullen 69 Makeover place
70 Camera attachment 71 Bay Area cop gp. DOWN 1 “Barnaby Jones” actor Buddy 2 Persian faith 3 Utter joy 4 Glide past on the ice 5 Anklebones 6 Movie spool 7 Verbal 8 Name on a Trump card? 9 Untroubled 10 Suffix with fruct11 *Panel decision that’s not unanimous 12 “The Hunger Games” extra 13 Picnic invaders 21 “C’est la __!” 22 Turns sour 26 Help 28 UMass town 29 Hip-hop Dr. 31 Oklahoma’s “Wheat Capital” 32 Drains of strength 33 Phonograph record 34 Quito’s country: Abbr.
35 *Became a YouTube sensation 37 N.Y. and Calif. 40 Dramatic downturn 41 Wire service letters 44 Corporate alias abbr. 46 Bounty hunters’ goals 48 Of the skin 50 Where a Brit may powder her nose
53 Unlikely to get excited 54 Dawn 55 Listened to 56 “This is your brain on drugs” ads, briefly 57 Singer James 59 Irish name for Ireland 60 Xanadu 61 Spanish aunts 63 Suffix with ranch
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10/11/16
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
PAGE 7
‘Captain Fantastic:’ thought-provoking or pretentious mess? By SEBASTIAN WURZRAINER The Dartmouth
Is “Captain Fantastic” the most intelligent film I’ve seen so far this year, or is it the most painfully pretentious? Honestly, it’s probably both. Sometimes I’m just at a loss for words. Exactly one week ago I strolled into Spaulding Auditorium to watch “Captain Fantastic.” Two hours later I walked out and thought to myself, “Well, that was...interesting.” And for the past seven days that’s about the only meaningful thing I’ve had to say about the film: It was “interesting.” Not because I didn’t “get it,” but because I genuinely could not decide how I felt about it. Well, it’s been a week, I’m still not fully decided, but here it goes. Every aspect of this film that does and does not work stems straight from its story. Ben Cash (Viggo Mortenson) and his wife Leslie are more or less new age hippies who have become disillusioned with modern American life.
So they decide to build a little utopia for themselves and their six children in the middle of the forest, essentially cutting off all ties to the outside world. The couple teach their children basic survival skills while also reading everything from Nabokov’s “Lolita” to books on quantum mechanics. And instead of celebrating Christmas they celebrate Noam Chomsky day. I appreciated that detail. Sadly, Leslie has bipolar disorder and eventually has to be hospitalized, only to commit suicide shortly thereafter. Leslie’s resentful parents warn Ben not to come to the funeral, but he packs the family into their bus and departs to save his wife, a Buddhist, from the humiliation of a Christian funeral. The fascinating premise is for the most part executed well, up until the ending. The film fully utilizes Ben’s philosophy on modern life and childrearing to raise a lot of interesting and, frankly, important questions. For example: Why do we lie to our children? Why do we allow them to consume things that
we know aren’t good for them? Why shouldn’t we hold children to a higher standard of intelligence? Why should we have a holiday to celebrate a magical elf rather than a real life humanitarian? A sequence in which Ben and his children spend the night with his sister Harper’s family illustrates Ben’s child rearing philosophy particularly well. Ben questions Harper’s teenage sons about the Bill of Rights before revealing that his 8-yearold daughter, Zaja (Shree Crooks), can recite it by heart. Director Matt Ross takes an evenhanded approach to these philosophical topics, never shying away from revealing the dark side of Ben’s lifestyle. This is not one of those offbeat comedies that revels in a “fight the man” attitude; it willingly demonstrates that sometimes fighting the man just for the sake of a fight can result in injury or death. Halfway through, Leslie’s father, Jack (Frank Langella), who starts out as the story’s antagonist, accuses Ben of child abuse, and we can’t help but see that
he has a point. Ben regularly risks the lives of his children just to validate his anti-establishment philosophy. We see just how limiting that philosophy can be when the eldest son Bodevan (George MacKay) bemoans the fact that he knows nothing beyond what he has learned from books. He’s not wrong. In the first two-thirds of “Captain Fantastic,” while the story occasionally meandered, the strong acting, especially by Mortenson and MacKay, the humor and the thought-provoking nature of the film kept me invested. And then the last act rolled around. The movie didn’t really fall apart so much as it started to show a series of cracks that undermined the entire experience. I felt initially that the film would wrap up in a way that balanced its themes, acknowledging both the validity and the danger inherent in Ben’s worldview. And then, suddenly, the movie chickened out. It was as if Ross was too scared of ending the film in such a morally ambiguous manner so he hastily contrived an ending which
would allow everyone to leave the theater on a confident high note. The final shot undermined this “happy ending.” Sadly, that shot made me think of the film that could have been rather than the film that I actually watched. “Captain Fantastic” is not a bad film but it had the potential to be something really special. Instead it settles for “interesting,” a film I mostly enjoyed while watching but probably wouldn’t choose to see again any time soon. That being said, if the premise sounds interesting, I would encourage you to watch this film. While the film’s ending does not deliver, “Captain Fantastic” is thoughtprovoking in a way few films this year have been. It manages to translate some very esoteric ideas into a clever and relatable story, no small feat as far as I’m concerned. “Captain Fantastic” is playing in select theaters nationwide. Rating: 7/10
‘Hood on the Road:’ showcasing artwork from east to west By BETTY KIM The Dartmouth
Behind the covered, underconstruction scenes of the Hood Museum of Art’s renovation, nearly 50 pieces from the museum’s permanent collection are currently on loan to over a dozen museums from coast to coast. “Hood on the Road,” one of many initiatives put into place to keep art at the Hood active during the closure period, has been engaging the public with Dartmouth’s 247-year-old collection. Museum staff started planning well in advance for the Hood’s closure. The museum moved most of the artwork to off-site storage in three different states, as curators negotiated loans based on ongoing conversations with administrators of other institutions, exhibitions coordinator Nicole Williams said. Williams noted that the process of lending and borrowing is a team effort. “When [the curators] are working on exhibitions and are interested in collections from other museums, there’s certainly communication, conversation and people working together,” Williams said. Through the Hood Museum’s many connections with institutions across the country, Hood curators used a combination of their knowledge of the Hood’s collection as well as the collections of other museums to place each work in an ideal space, Williams said. Some curators reached out to museums whose collections they believed would fit well with one or
more of the Hood’s pieces. Eight Chocorua in the White Mountains. major works from the Hood’s The Hood agreed to lend it to the collection are currently displayed Whitney for a touring exhibition, at the Currier Museum of Art, Williams said. a museum of American and Eu- Smith College had also reached ropean art in Manchester, New out and expressed interest in borHampshire. rowing some of the Hood’s African Hood staff also reached out to art pieces, which are currently on Brian Kennedy, current CEO, di- loan along with a few other pieces rector and president of the Toledo of European and American art, Museum of Art and Hood director Stomberg said. Colleges includuntil 2010, to offer a loan of the ing Williams, Colby and Bowdoin Hood’s collection. Currently, the and universities including Yale, Toledo is borrowing three pieces, Princeton and Harvard are also including Mark Rothko’s “Lilac borrowing pieces from the Hood. and Orange Over Ivory.” “We always think it’s wonderful To further determine where to work with our other college muspecific works would go, staff also seums in the area. We often request turned to lending requests from loans from other college museums other museums that had been and they request from us, so it’s saved up over a nice way to time. If the connect with request could “Even though the them,” Wilbe granted in museum is closed for liams said. terms of time, renovation, getting these b e r g Stomthe Hood conloaned pieces works out on the road is firmed the with the con- a great opportunity for Hood’s role as dition that both a teachthe museum a lot of other people to ing museum wo u l d k e e p enjoy our pieces across and municipal them for the museum. the United States.” entire closure “The period. This Hood kind of ensured both -NICOLE WILLIAMS, HOOD straddles the convenience dividing line and safekeep- EXHIBITIONS COORDINATOR because we’re ing by minidefinitely a mizing storteaching muage space and travel, Hood director seum; we have classrooms and John Stomberg said. dedicated teaching curators, but T he Whitney Museum of at the same time we’re Hanover Art had requested Frank Stella’s and northern New Hampshire’s “Chocorua IV,” a large-scale geo- municipal museum, so we play metrical painting depicting Mount both roles,” Stomberg said.
Lending pieces also strategically put pieces in cities with strong alumni populations. The Hood has been hosting alumni events in various locations. A recent Los Angeles event had a turnout of approximately 85 people, Stomberg said. As another part of the “Hood on the Road” project, Stomberg is giving talks at various museums. He spoke at the LA County Museum of Art last Wednesday and will be giving another talk this week at the Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont. He identified the goal of these events as exposing people to the Hood’s collection and to have conversations about art in general.
“Even though the museum is closed for renovation, getting these works out on the road is a great opportunity for a lot of other people to enjoy our pieces across the United States,” Williams said. When the Hood reopens in late 2018 or early 2019, the museum will have undergone several dramatic changes. The front door of the Hood will be visible from the Green and five new galleries will be added to allow for more exhibition space. The currently unused courtyard is being transformed into an atrium space to be used by students and staff. There will also be three new classrooms, an office and the new Center for ObjectBased Inquiry.
KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The Hood Museum is undergoing renovations for the next several years.
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2016
Alumna Q&A: Writer and director Lilian Mehrel ’09 up getting a freshman seminar in comparative literature, and I just fell in love with literature without really realizing it. Little by little, I was starting to take pre-med classes, but storytelling classes would always filter in. I took a class in the Hebrew department because I started taking language in Hebrew, and I just loved it so much that I kept taking classes in the department. I took a class called “Film, Fiction and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” and I started getting very interested in basically conflict resolution. I worked over one fall at the State Department, and then I worked one summer at Seeds of Peace, and I started sort of going in that direction, but meanwhile all my classes were getting closer and closer to storytelling. I took theater classes and more literature, and I ended up in my senior year doing a Senior Fellowship, and this was a way to tell the story of my family which is a hybrid family. My mom is Kurdish from Iran, and my dad is from Hungary — Holocaust survivors — and I wanted to tell the stories of their mothers because they’re these two women with untold stories that are so epic and universal but also so different and specific. There are all these human themes in there, like love and loss. I had actually been really inspired by Maira Kalman, who’s this writer-
illustrator who does hand-written to do creative projects. While I was pieces where she also illustrates them there, I realized that every time I The Dartmouth in the page, so it doesn’t look quite like would encourage them to tell a story, a graphic novel, and it’s not so much that’s really what I wanted to do. From working with Google Tilt like comic, but it’s more like a landI’ve started to realize that my Brush to creating videos for Vogue scape of art and films tend to to working with the U.S. State Dewords. Using her “I’ve started to realize be about unexpartment, Lilian Mehrel ’09 has as inspiration for pected connecmade huge strides in the arts since that my films tend to my Senior Feltions between she graduated from Dartmouth. lowship, I got be about unexpected people, usually Mehrel’s films have premiered at to write and il- connections between with some elethe Tribeca Film Festival, winning lustrate a book ment of absurawards from ABC/Disney, the Pufthat was half one people, usually with dity and humor. fin Foundation, the Marcie Bloom/ grandmother’s some element of I think that my Sony Pictures Classics Fellowship story and half will always and countless other organizations. absurdity and humor.” fibelms the other grandin some sense Mehrel is now an MFA candidate mother’s story, a comedy. Even at New York University’s Tisch and then the last -LILIAN MEHREL ‘09 when some peoGraduate Film Program with a Paul chapter is how ple might cry and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New my parents met. at certain moAmericans. She is currently writing ments, they’ll have an ultimate sense comedy television scripts, creating Can you tell us about your that it was in some way funny. Maybe artwork, making digital shorts and films? What inspires them? it’s my way of trying to make it okay working with virtual reality. that there’s sadness because you can LM: Even though I didn’t actually also laugh. How did your time at Darttake a film class at Dartmouth, when mouth influence your future I was a teenager, I used to make Can you tell us about your work career? kind of funny, silly movies with my with virtual reality? How is brother and my friends, and it was this different from creating a LM: At Dartmouth I actually came always in the back of my mind that typical film? in during the year where during the I loved movies and stories in general. summer reading they had us read After Dartmouth, I created this youth LM: I got really interested in virtual “Mountains Beyond Mountains” leadership program for girls from reality last year. The more I learned, about Paul Farmer and partners in different backgrounds in Tel Aviv the more the question of presence health in Haiti, and I think a large and Yafo in Israel, where there are kept coming up and the question percentage of my incoming class Arab backgrounds and Jewish back- of are you really there because it’s came in wanting to become doctors, grounds, and I bring the girls together virtual. When you’re in virtual reality, and I was one of them. But I ended if you look down, you don’t have a body, which they call the ghost effect, which I thought was kind of funny. And I was talking to a friend about how we don’t always feel present in our everyday lives and how we can feel more like we’re really here and not in the past or the future, and suddenly it clicked that I wanted to tell a story inspired by the art and for the art. I didn’t want to just make a traditional film that could’ve been a 2D film. It had to feel right for the medium. So the story is about a ghost who, when she was alive, never felt present. Now, as a ghost, she’s just haunting the places she used to be, dwelling in her memories and wishing she was there. I shot it very bare bones; I borrowed equipment from school over a weekend, and I acted in it out of necessity and just grabbed one friend and banged it out to make the deadline for the Tribeca Film Festival. And it got in, and it was this wonderful experience to share with COURTESY OF LILIAN MEHREL so many people something that may Lilian Mehrel ’09 is currently writing comedy television scripts, creating art and working with virtual reality.
By KYLEE SIBILIA
have been the first time they would watch a virtual reality film, and it was this film. What is it like to work with Google Tilt Brush? LM: Oh, I love Google Tilt Brush. It kind of inspires this child-like wonder because when you’re in Google Tilt Brush, if you draw a stroke, like let’s say you draw a line, it’s just hovering in the air, and you can walk around it as if you just placed a stick in the air, and it’s floating. It sort of defies the laws of physics, and it generates for me this child-like excitement of magic. I can put some stars in the sky, and they’ll glitter. I can basically whip up a gigantic sculpture with flowing, graceful moments of my arms. It’s so easy in a sense, even though it takes a moment to adjust your sense of gravity and physics once you’re in there in space and how to draw in three dimensions because it really is kind of like sculpting with wire. I’m thinking about what is the equivalent of an illustrated book in Tilt Brush and how to share that. What kind of artwork are you working on now? LM: My greatest love is comedy television. Right now, being interested in so many different things, I feel like I can try and infuse them into whatever I’m doing. With comedy TV, I do improv at the UCB Theater in New York, and I use some of the energy from improv and the kind of collaborative spirit from that when I write television. I also use my sense of how in [virtual reality], I have to be extremely audience aware and constantly be thinking about what kind of experience the audience will be having. You’re not directing them the same way when you direct them in a regular film where you’re choosing what they can see at every moment. In [virtual reality] they can choose to look wherever they want, and so I’m constantly thinking about what an audience is going to look at and what’s going to get their attention and why, and it’s affecting my writing. I’d like to think that they all kind of come together, but right at this moment I’m doing a little of all of them, and focusing on television right this second. This article has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.