The Dartmouth Mirror 04/27/16

MIR ROR 4.27.2016

FEARLESS FLITZING | CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION | 6 4-5

NEW SUBJECT | 7

MUSIC AND THE MIND | 8 MAYA PODDAR/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

2// MIRROR

Joe Kind: A Guy

Editors’ Note

Happy Wednesday, Mirror readers. Looking out at the falling snow as we pen this editor’s note, it’s hard to believe that we’re approaching the halfway point of the spring term. We can only hope for a snowless May, but at this point jinxing Mother Nature seems dangerous — next thing we know it’ll be snowing during Green Key. Dartmouth students would never get over such a travesty.

As if the icy, wintry weather weren’t enough, week five has also seen an onslaught of midterm exams and papers. Thankfully Caroline didn’t have any major midterms this week and has instead spent her time desperately pleading in her sorority’s GroupMe to borrow someone’s laptop charger (no, she still has not bought one) and blowing money on hazelnut iced coffee at Dirt Cowboy. She insisted that it tastes almost as good as a Nutella milkshake, to which Hayley skeptically asked if Caroline had ever actually had a Nutella milkshake. The midterm gods were, unfortunately, not as kind to the Mirror’s other editor.

Hayley spent the majority of her week in Rauner again, texting Caroline on Tuesday that the snowy weather accurately reflected her mood.

As is often the case with busy exam times, students can tend to become reclusive, isolating themselves in various parts of the library with a large coffee and Novack sandwich as their only company. But it’s also around this time that spending time with friends, even if it’s just a study break — a walk around Occom, a quick trip to Late Night — become so essential for our well-being. So in the spirit of that sentiment, the Mirror editors decided to theme this week’s issue around communication. Their writers delivered, as usual, with thoughtful, fascinating pieces touching on various meanings and facets of communication.

Enjoy the issue!

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04.06.16 VOL. CLXXIII NO. 69 MIRROR EDITORS HAYLEY HOVERTER & CAROLINE BERENS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REBECCA ASOULIN PUBLISHER RACHEL DECHIARA EXECUTIVE EDITORS MAYA PODDAR ANNIE MA

COLUMN

By Joe Kind

A sophomore on the women’s swim team recently revealed to me that she and her parents talk on the phone three times a day.

“I am always on the phone when I am walking,” she explained over a Foco dinner. “It’s nice [for us] to catch up for 10 or 15 minutes. We ask each other how our days are going.” Her logic, strangely, was easy to follow.

I have no idea how I could possibly commit to that kind of frequent communication with my parents, logistically or emotionally. However, the thought of trying to replicate this routine with my own parents is tempting.

I talk to my parents once a week, at least. And I find that I usually get out everything I need to say in our hour or so of talking. We never set up a precise time to call, and sometimes I am the one answering the phone. Over the course of the term I have started speaking to them on my Sunday evening walks around Occom. I am proud of my relationship with my parents. Our weekly check-ins are the least we owe each other, being on opposite coasts.

When my parents were in college, they had to allocate time with their floormates to use the dorm phones.

Having steady contact with me and my sister, now in her first year of college away from home, is something they appreciate in ways that I will never fully understand.

My parents worry. I think most parents do. My parents worry with me about my classes, my swim practices (when they can understand them) and now, my post-graduation plans.

’18 guy: “What’s the difference between u n d e r we a r a n d lingerie?”

Our talks are usually related to these kinds of uncertainties, but sometimes my parents and I wonder about my sister, who has always kept her distance. Or about vague Facebook posts of friends from home, or where kids of family friends are choosing to go to college. These discussions happen after we cover the usual bases of catching up with one another, of course.

We always start with our social lives. We go over our plans, if we have any, and we recap past endeavors. My parents sometimes ask about my friends here, and sometimes I do the same with their friends.

We then delve into my job search. I usually have some new application or interview to discuss. My parents offer their advice before I can ask for it. This used to bother me, but at this point I am used to it. I have to let them worry for me.

Sometimes I worry for my parents, too, though not for any real reason. I blame that on the distance between us.

I like knowing that they keep themselves busy without me or my sister around for distractions. I like seeing the occasional Snapchat selfies from my dad at the driving range or my mom in her office. Sometimes my dad sends me live updates from dinner parties, at which I automatically cringe.

There isn’t a lot that is off-limits between me and my parents. I am thankful that we have that kind of relationship. But parents gossip, and there are things I don’t know about back home.

I, too, have my share of topics that I decide to withhold.

’17: “I had to listen to Prince in class today, so I guess my day’s not going that well, either.”

’16 girl: “I ate 26 mozz sticks this Friday.”

Navigating what to say and what not to say has gotten easier over the years, I think for all of us. I know what kinds of comments will upset them or simply bore them. I am also more comfortable talking about things now than I was when I was first adjusting to Dartmouth.

It helps that my dad went here. It also helps that my parents met while in college. They feel at home when they visit me, and they can relate to the pace of the quarter system. My dad was involved in his fraternity here, and we talk about the Greek system more than I do with most of my own friends. I enjoy relaying the latest and greatest for him and his Dartmouth friends, who I’ve always looked up to over the years.

My mom wrote a letter to my grandma when she first met my dad.

She visited my grandma earlier in the year, and she found the letter while rummaging through old belongings.

My grandma is a bit of a hoarder — it’s cute.

Over winter break, when we were all back together as a family, sitting at the kitchen table, my mom brought out the letter. The paper was as red as a Valentine’s Day heart, coincidentally. I could tell right away it was her handwriting, though a bit more polished than what I am used to seeing. I am not sure why my mom let me and my sister read the letter about my dad, but she did.

“Man, I cannot believe I said all of that to my mother!” she said.

My sister and I looked at each other and laughed.

O ve r h e a rd ’ 1 7 : “Contemplating taking a freshman to semi, so basically I’m at rock bottom.”

’17 on FFB: “Did you know that baby carrots are just big carrots but chiseled down?”

Sam’s Little Larks

COLUMN

By Sam Van Wetter

FULFILL SAM and SAM STILL are bent over their senior spring bucket list.

FULFILL SAM: Maybe we should hike Franconia this weekend.

SAM STILL: It’s the opening weekend for that farm in Woodstock.

FULFILL: Thursday?

STILL: I have a 2A. FULFILL: Do you have to go?

STILL: I mean, probably.

FULFILL: Just skip this one.

Tell them you have an interview.

STILL: No. That’s totally doable but why would I? I’m having fun in my classes for once.

I’m not really trying to fritter away my last days in a Dartmouth classroom.

FULFILL: But the bucket list!

STILL: We can find another time. I could do Friday?

FULFILL: Farm Fresh, though.

STILL: That was last week.

FULFILL: I could do Friday.

STILL: When are we gonna go to SkyZone?

FULFILL: Is that the indoor skiing place?

STILL: That’s SkiZone.

FULFILL: Oh yeah, didn’t Apple manufacture SkiZone?

STILL: That would be skyPhone.

FULFILL: Oh, I know — it’s the company that lends you alcohol.

STILL: No, that’s Whi-skyLoan.

SkyZone is the trampoline place.

FULFILL: Oh, right.

STILL: What, you aren’t stoked

MIRROR //3

on the idea?

FULFILL: No! It could be cool.

STILL: Could be? It will be. It is already.

FULFILL: Probably.

STILL: What’s the issue?

FULFILL: It just seems like our bucket lists should be more about New Hampshire, you know? Being in the place. Not going into some weird warehouse full of tramps.

STILL: Tramps are people too.

FULFILL: I know. I’ll go if we find time.

STILL: I wish we could be here for summer.

FULFILL: I know.

STILL: Spring at Dartmouth is such a tease. It’s beautiful — but you have work. You get to wear shorts — to the library. You run this town — because you’re about to abandon it.

FULFILL: You know what could really ruin a summer? A 6A. STILL: A sexay what? Cuz a sexay dude could really help — FULFILL: A 6A, horndog.

STILL: I’m afraid to ask. — a.m. or p.m.?

FULFILL: Oh, p.m. P.m., of course. But that’s even worse, maybe. Six a.m. is an aggro but responsible time to start your class day. Six p.m.— no, 7 p.m. is an aggro but absurd time to end it.

STILL: So let’s stay and not

take classes.

FULFILL: And do what? Get a job? Frat haunt like the irrelevant ghosts we will be?

STILL: We could...work on the farm.

FULFILL: Are you scared to leave?

STILL: I don’t know.

FULFILL: Seriously.

STILL: Probably! A little!

FULFILL: Or a lot.

STILL: I mainly think I’ll be lonely. I already have trouble waking up if I don’t have breakfast plans. What will happen if I don’t have any plans?

FULFILL: You’ll make them.

STILL: Won’t be planning Franconia hikes.

FULFILL: No, probably not.

STILL: Can we talk about something else?

FULFILL: Please.

STILL: When does the farmer’s market start?

FULFILL: It’s gotta be soon.

STILL: Can we go to Whippi Dip? FULFILL: I’m not sure if it’s open yet.

STILL: It’s gotta be soon.

FULFILL: Skinny Pancake will be nice.

STILL: When is that opening?

FULFILL: I heard there’s gonna be a soft opening.

STILL: Is Ledyard open yet?

FULFILL: There were kayaks and canoes out this weekend but I think it was kind of a free-forall.

STILL: Soft opening. But it’s gotta be soon.

FULFILL: How about Moosilauke?

STILL: I think it’s probably still crazy icy.

FULFILL: But the Lodge? It’s gotta be — STILL: Soon?

FULFILL: The present is a fickle thing, isn’t she?

STILL: Fickle at best.

They are quiet for a long time, thinking about time that has passed and that has still to come and the moments they live in each zooming by, unstoppable. They wonder if it’s enough to seek stillness or if they will ever find it. They think of the statue of Robert Frost on his perch above the BEMA and all the sunrises he’s seen break through trees and all the sunsets he’s turned his back on. They wonder if he’s found stillness or just stagnancy.

They wonder if there’s a difference.

They think of the river that has cradled them for the last four years. They think of the paths they’ve walked, the seats they’ve occupied, the sun they’ve felt, the words they’ve written. They want a job and a boyfriend and a dog and a future. They want Whippi Dip to open. They want it to stay warm.

They want it to stay. But it won’t.

After a long pause: FULFILL: We’ll hike next week?

STILL: I’d love to.

TRENDING @ Dartmouth

SNOW

It’s basically May, yet we find outselves digging our long-lost Bean Boots out of our closets.

SN AP CH AT STORIES OF THE SNOW Common captions include: “Wtf, Hanover,” “Wait, what,” “No, thanks,” and “Grim.”

N O VA C K HECKLERS

Strategy for passing through Novack these days: avoid all eye contact, pretend to be late for something and look as unapproachable as possible.

PANICKING ’16s

Withlessthan50days left until graduation, fill up on Foco cookies while you can, ’16s.

M AT Z A H BALLS

Happy Passover, Dartmouth!

4// MIRROR

Fearless Flitizing: Dartmouth’s Strange Communic STORY

By Leina McDermott

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about the mating ritual of seahorses for a biology class about animal communication. The paper describes how a male seahorse will show interest in a female via a prolonged courtship dance, hoping to secure her as a lifelong mate.

In the field of ecology, communication is defined as the signaling of information from a sender to a receiver.

Animals send signals to one another to communicate anything from an approaching predator to sexual interest.

Individuals of the same species have unique signals that allow them to communicate with one another in ways that other species may not understand.

Of course, this applies to humans too. We are all constantly signaling to one another, expressing happiness, anger, confusion, interest and fright in various ways every day. And as young people we take full advantage of the

many methods at our disposal that allow us to interact with one another.

In a way, Dartmouth students are their own species of college student. Perhaps this happened as a result of our isolation, like Darwin’s Galapagos finches. On this remote campus, it is easy for us to forget our uniqueness. But when faced with an influx of young strangers, it becomes incredibly apparent that we exchange many signals that outsiders do not understand.

The looks of bemusement on prospies’ faces in response to words like “Foco,” “facetimey,” “flair” and even “prospie” betray our speciation.

But it’s no secret that we have our own lingo; in fact, the ’20s will be relieved to find glossaries of Dartmouth slang online.

The real mysteries of student communication are far subtler.

Take the blitz, for example. When I first came to Dartmouth, the concept of blitz confused me for weeks. It seemed to lie in some blurry haze between texting

and email that took some time to get the hang of. Francesca Governali ’18 finds that often the transition from blitz to text can get awkward, especially with someone you do not know very well.

Blitz, text and GroupMe seem to be the most useful signal modalities for spreading information to campus, meeting with friends or communicating in a group project. But what of the most distinct, meaningful act of communication: romance?

“Flitz, of course,” Ariel Klein ’17 said of the Dartmouth flirting scene. “It speaks to the larger culture of the school that people are willing to meet new people that they don’t know and take a leap and a risk. But also, it’s sometimes weird if you’re talking to someone you don’t know.”

Flitzing, or flirty blitzing, is certainly a hallmark of the Dartmouth romantic scene. It’s something that everyone talks about, but seemingly few people have in

fact had positive experiences from.

Juliana Levy ’19 received her first flitz last term.

“I think flitzes can be so uncomfortable,” she said. “[The flitz] was really elaborate. It was like a rhyming songpoem.”

Levy did not respond to the flitz, but she also added that success really does depend on the person behind the message.

The indirect aspect of flitzing seems to be representative of the way Dartmouth students express interest in one another in general. For animals, decoding signals is often quite straightforward.

Bright coloring is designed to attract mates, alarm calls warn that a predator is nearby, a scent-trail marks the path to a food source. Take the seahorses, for example. A courtship dance clearly communicates to the female that the male is interested and ready to mate. Biologists can observe and interpret these signals.

MIRROR //5

ation

But understanding the meaning behind things that people do isn’t always so easy. Perhaps especially so at Dartmouth.

“I think a lot of it is covered with these innuendos and stuff, like, you know, ‘Do you want to play pong with me?’”

Klein said.

It is difficult to find a straight answer to the question of the true nature of pong-partner relationships. But it isn’t hard to see why the slightly-intoxicatedin-a-dimly-lit-basement-working-as-ateam dynamic might take an amorous turn.

“It’s a bizarre thing that’s definitely Dartmouth-specific, but asking someone to play pong is definitely an indication that someone likes you,” Klein said.

Grace Callahan ’19 felt differently.

She said that while pong certainly can involve romantic undertones, it’s perfectly normal to play with a friend without any implication of the sort. After Callahan said this, Lydia Blanchet ’19 jumped in:

“There’s definitely sexual tension no matter what.”

Even if pong is taken to be romantic, its exact implications are still murky.

While it could suggest genuine interest and a desire to spend time with someone, it also seems to have the stigma of being a precursor to hooking up.

Ambiguity can be seen in meal invitations as well. Of course most people have had the experience of seeing an old tripee or floormate and exchanging offers to grab lunch sometime. How does one distinguish a casual invitation to catch-up from something more meaningful? Many people seem to use the venue of the meal as an indicator.

“In terms of on-campus places, I don’t think it matters. If it was off-campus it would definitely make a difference,” Governali said.

While this is a common view, some people find subtle differences between on-campus locations as well. KAF dates,

for example, certainly imply something more than just stopping at Foco after class. In fact, Governali mentioned two friends who had a first date at KAF and are now dating.

Isaac Green ’17 felt strongly about the distinctions between on-campus dining locations.

“If you hook up with someone and then they ask you to have a meal, upstairs Foco is the way to go,” he said. “First of all, it’s kind of discrete, so if you don’t want people to, like, see you, it’s great.

Secondly, it facilitates the opportunity to hit it off if you do, but there’s no pressure if you don’t because it’s Foco.”

Then again, perhaps it’s not so much the place as the person asking.

“It’s not significant on its own. But if I like someone, asking them to a meal is something I would do,” Blanchet said.

It seems that the only clear thing about romantic communication at Dartmouth is that it is incredibly unclear. It’s

no wonder that evidence of confusion over mixed signals can easily be found on Yik Yak. We have all seen the latenight yaks expressing bewilderment and frustration over being unable to interpret certain signals and behaviors.

Why, then, must everything be so shrouded in uncertainty? Perhaps, Klein suggests, people use ambiguous signals as a defense mechanism to avoid hurt.

“The fear of rejection, especially at Dartmouth where people are used to succeeding, is just so big,” she said.

“When people finally work up that courage they’re so proud of themselves, they don’t want all of that to be for naught.”

When animals communicate, their signals must be direct in order for survival. Perhaps it is a shame that Dartmouth students don’t have the same evolutionary requirements as wild animals.

“A lot of direct communication is often not what happens here, and it should,” Klein added.

LAYA INDUKURI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

6// MIRROR

Cross Cultural Communication

By Tianhang Dong STORY

When we first meet someone Ji Yun Sung ’18 , originally American culture. new, especially at the beginning from Seoul, Korea, expressed a Students noted that internaof college, the question we often similar sentiment about wanttional student orientation did ask after learning his or her name ing to diversify her own life highlight this. Sung explained that is “Where are you from?” This is and connections by coming to the orientation included a speech likely because discussions about Dartmouth. She said that she has in which people asked each other hometowns, shared cultures, mutual especially enjoyed having friends “wrong questions,” followed by connections or friends, can be wonof diverse nationalities and backexplanations of why they may be derful icebreakers when trying to get grounds here. inappropriate. to know someone.

People like Bautista and Sung, Nevertheless, students said d there This is who hope to utiis still a lot the administration exactly lize college time Dartmouth could do much more “Sometimes I will say what as a once-in-ato ameliorate the cultural commuwe did lifetime chance nication between the College and something I just used during to explore the international students and aspects to say in Australia. my first multiplicity of of the United States. tennis this world, are Shivang Sethi ’17 , originally And I just realize that P.E. class no minority on from New Delhi, India, said that this term, I cannot say it here campus. In the although the student body is very we went class of 2019, 9 accepting of and curious about inbecause it will offend around percent of the ternational students’ backgrounds, in a circle someone.” student body is there’s more the administration can saying comprised of do to help. our international For example, during his fresh- GEMMA BAUTISTA ’19 names students. In other man summer Sethi went on a study and words, there is abroad program in Scotland. He homeone internaexplained that applying to a visa towns. My instructor, a senior, said tional students among every 11 can be difficult for international he remembers every single city and students. students as it requires travel and town he has been to in his life. He Many said they fit in without most freshmen don’t have access can always think of some of his actoo much difficulty, including to a car. quaintances living in those towns, or Bautista. She feels Dartmouth’s “Occasionally you have to go a specific memory of an experience inclusive environment for down to Manchester to apply for a he had there. international students helps them visa,” Sethi said. “But who’s going Typically, the majority of to assimilate into its culture, but to drive you there? We are all kind students will say that they’re from part of the burden does fall on of stuck at Dartmouth.” somewhere in the United States — students’ shoulders.

Sethi also noted there’s a lot of Boston, New York, Los Angeles.

“But you have to make the room for improvement with interOccasionally people will say effort,” Bautista said. She noted national student orientation. somewhere a bit less common, such that being on the field hockey “We should have more time to as Colorado or Virginia. Then I say team here has helped her adjust. spend with our international menI am from China. Some eyebrow However, students explained tors, and also they need to work raises usually meet my response. that they did encounter some more on explaining how the school Although my tennis instructor distinct system works,” did not know my exact hometown, cultural Sethi said. “For “We should have he still managed to throw out some differences example, the Dmore time to spend fun facts about China. Usually when here from Plan for internapeople ask me about my hometown, their home- with our international tional students is I say “northeastern China” or just lands. pretty inflexible mentors, and also they and I didn’t feel “Manchuria,” a historical term that For seems to be more recognizable. On example, need to work more on well-informed my second day on campus this fall, although [about that] explaining how the I met a fellow student’s grandfapolitical before I arrived at ther who remembered the name correctschool system works.” here.”

Manchuria perfectly — “My family ness is However, fled to the U.S. through Siberia and often highly Sethi explained -SHIVANG SETHI ’17 Manchuria!” he exclaimed to me. valued in that his brother Part of the reason why Dartmouth people’s was attending accepts international students perspeech in Brown Univerhaps is to create a diverse environAmerica, certain topics may not sity at the time, which helped him ment in which students can expand be as sensitive in other countries. adjust more easily. Having friends their horizons. Without direct conBautista explained that she has or family in the U.S. can not only tact, it can be difficult for someone to watch herself sometimes with be comforting, but can also help to sympathize with the way others what is socially appropriate to students assimilate to American live in other parts of the world. The discuss. culture more easily. same applies to many international “Sometimes I will say Noah Lee ’18 , who is from students, which is oftentimes why we something I just used to say in Korea, pointed out another issue chose to go abroad for college.

Australia,” Bautista said. “And for international students: the ColGemma Bautista ’19 , originally I just realize that I cannot say lege ending its need-blind policy for from Brisbane, Australia, explained it here because it will offend international students beginning that this was her impetus behind someone. Although nothing bad with the class of 2020. The College coming to college in the U.S. has really happened, I still have moved to a “need-aware” policy, “I choose to study abroad beto be careful.” replacing the need-blind policy of cause I am really interested in other Learning the appropriate imthe past eight years. cultures around the world, especially plication of certain words seems “I was an SAT tutor in Korea American culture,” Bautista said. to be another step in fitting in the and I used to encourage other

students to apply to Dartmouth because it was need-blind,” Lee said.

“But I cannot say the same now.”

Chi Pham ’17 , originally from Vietnam and president of the International Student Association, thinks the change will discourage international students from applying to the College. She said this is unfortunate, as we already have the lowest rate of international students in all of the Ivy League. Sethi and Pham opined that overall, the international student body should be more cohesive. They said that although ISA tries to do this, students often self-segregate according to their home countries.

“Besides being tiny, [the] international student body is further fragmented into many small groups,” Pham said.

Although these groups — most of which are based on countries — are very robust individually, Pham believes that if ISA could bond them together, international students as a whole will have a much stronger voice. Currently, she noted, But ISA only connects these communities very loosely,she said.

“We are trying to make a bridge between different groups and unite the influence of all these groups as a whole, while still preserving the independency of each one of them,” Pham said.

She believes that these movements will elevate interconnectedness of international students and will also allow American students greater access to the community.

New Subject COLUMN

MIRROR

//7

By Mary Liza Hartong and Andrew Kingsley

We’ve all been there. Staring at the never changing “12:17 p.m.” on our laptops, back row of Astro 2, wondering what soup awaits us at Collis. Just when the planets couldn’t get more boring, the stars align, and you see her. She’s so original with her Patagonia fleece, black leggings, Dartmouth baseball cap and white Converse high tops. You’ve never seen anything like her before. But you resist. She’s a black hole. Get any closer and she’ll swallow you up.

Your best friend turns to you, observing the drool that has accumulated on your keyboard. He recommends flitzing her. But you don’t even know her name! How are you supposed to find her in this infinite vacuum of space we call Dartmouth? All seems lost until you glance at her bag. Luckily, she has her entire blitz monogrammed onto her L.L. Bean backpack. Thanks, multiverse.

Okay. Here it goes. You pull up blitz and draft a series of flitzes that are sure to win her heart.

Subject Line: Netflix and Chill

Subject Line: Take this Gov 10 survey

Subject Line: Big Bang

Sup Molly. It’s Tony from Astro. There’s a new episode of “Cosmos” with Neil DeGrasse Tyson on tonight. I figured we could, you know, chill or something. Or stargaze. I guess I’m just a romantic at heart. What did Wordsworth say? I’ve got that James Dean, daydream look in my eye. And you’ve got that red lip, classic thing that I like. Poetry, am I right? Anyways, hope to see you tonight.

1. Do you like your Astro class?

2. How about your Astro prof ?

3. Now look behind you. What about the guy in the back row in the pastels?

4. No, not that one. The one with sick flow.

5. Goddamnit. The only one who is awake.

6. Do you consider yourself a fiscal conservative?

7. Would you grab a meal with the cute awake guy?

Thank you for completing our survey.

Your answers are a matter of life and death to us.

Sup Mol. You want some molly? Cause I got some. By the way, nice rack. Want a pic of my junk? I don’t know if I can fit it in a photo though. It’s pretty big. LOL. Trust me, it’s no white dwarf. All my frat bros know. But not like that. They can just tell.

You know? Frat. Wanna Big Bang later?

Sweet, T Subject Line: Homework help

Hey Molly. My name’s Tony. I’m in your Astro class, you know, the guy in the back with the frat letters. I’ve seen you there and you seem really cool. Wanna hang out sometime? Or just grab Collis? Let me know.

Molly, is it? I was out sick last week from Astronomy Two and have fallen behind in class. I was wondering if we could meet for coffee or a movie to go over what I’ve missed. Maybe go canoeing, you know, just to review the moons of Saturn. Or, just go mini-golfing to cover the dark matter unit.

Oh, wait, I know! We could go to the observatory. Look at the starry night, drink some champagne, observe Venus in retrograde, eat some chocolate covered strawberries, maybe see a shooting star or some lip action? If you say yes I might just big dip you into my arms.

Cool, Tony

Stellar, Anthony

Subject Line: Hey

Apologetically, Gov 10 Subject Line: Riddle Me This There once was a girl named Molly who spent her days winsome and jolly. With legging tight and with converse so white, to love her would not be a folly.

Molly, should the harvest moon shine down upon the eastern most pine trees of campus tonight, you shall find me waiting in the place most hallowed to dreamers like us. Bring your quill pen and your condoms.

Tonight we teach the BEMA what it means to shoot for the stars.

Waiting for the constellations of your heart, Tony

Lick, Toned Tony Subject Line: An invitation Esteemed Molly, Please allow me to treat you — as the multitudinous and phenomenal womyn that you are — to a five star dinner at Pine. Or rather, you can treat me. Whatever makes you feel empowered. A womyn who chews on her pen and online shops throughout class deserves to be treated like a goddess, and that’s all I want to do. Your empty KAF cups and egregious Snapchats make me go wild with respect for you. Ms. Molly, be mine, my mochaccino, my face swap gal.

Sincerely, Mr. A. P. Rugliano Subject Line: Meal?

Foco?

- Tony

8// MIRROR

Music and the Mind

Music professor Michael Casey is working on an innovative technology to create music from brain waves.

PROFILE

By Abbey Cahill

Music professor Michael Casey is working with a new kind of musical instrument: the human brain. He is the director of Bregman Media Labs at Dartmouth, where music, computer science and neuroscience meet.

“It’s a place where the ‘mad scientist’ combines with the ‘mad composer,’” Casey told me.

The lab is located in Hallgarten Hall, an academic building that’s so small it looks like a house, complete with a doorbell at the front door. For outsiders, it’s one of Dartmouth’s best kept secrets, a place that I’ve mindlessly walked by hundreds of times. But inside, there are people asking big questions: What is music for? What can music be?

Casey wants to entertain these questions in relation to technology. One of the projects he’s working on right now involves using electroencephalography devices to measure electrical activity in the brain and to convert that activity into sounds. The result is a “brain ensemble,” in which musicians sit in ensemble just as members of an orchestra would. By the act of relaxing or concentrating as a group, they can try to synchronize brain wave activity and control certain aspects of sound.

“So, there may be a very new kind of musician, where the agility resides in precise thought control, rather than in motor skills,” Casey explained.

Why do we care so much? Why is it so exciting to push the boundaries of what music can be? Why do all humans, without exception, enjoy music?

At the end of the 1990s, Steven Pinker, an infamous cognitive scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, declared that music is simply “auditory cheesecake.” It’s something we all like to indulge in, but it holds little practical value. Casey disagrees with Pinker. When asked about auditory cheesecake, he offered a couple more promising theories.

Music helps us communicate. One idea, Casey explained, is that music and language evolved together. Some of the evidence is that intonation changes the meaning of our words. In mother-infant communication, for example, we use tones; it is the temper and the melody of the voice that conveys meaning, not the actual words. Inflection always affects meaning. Casey gave me an example.

“When I was growing up, if my mother would say my name in harsh staccato tones, I would know I was in trouble,” Casey said, laughing. “It’s the same word, but it has very different meanings depending on how you deliver it — that is the music of language.”

Music also influences nonverbal communication by strengthening bonds between listeners or musicians. Daniel Shanker ’16 , who co-wrote the antimusical “Legally Drew,” said that music has become the main way he connects with people.

“Right before my dad dropped me off at college, he gave me two tickets to a Dispatch concert in Boston and told me to make a new friend,” Shanker said, “The friend I ended up inviting, someone I had jammed with once or twice by the time the concert rolled around, ended up becoming one of my best friends and current bandmates.”

Casey is interested in the notion that music creates an opportunity to socialize in difficult scenarios. Music is a common experience that bridges gaps across languages, generations and cultures.

“It may well be that the very propensity of the brain towards music is what draws us together as social beings and allows us to have societies in the first

place,” Casey said. “It’s big stuff.”

Music also bridges gaps across disciplines. The students that come to Bregman Media Labs usually have strong backgrounds in music, but they also bring extensive knowledge from other fields like philosophy, math and neuroscience.

Casey himself teaches classes in music,

“It may well be that the very propensity of the brain towards music is what draws us together as social beings and allows us to have societies in the first place. It’s big stuff.”

- MICHAEL CASEY, MUSIC PROFESSOR

computer science and cognitive science.

“The students I work with are just like I was,” he told me. “I was always a double major and I still am.”

Something about music is inherently interdisciplinary. Autumn Chuang ’16 , a double major in engineering and music, has been playing music for as long as she can remember. At Dartmouth, she is part of the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra and the Subtleties, an all-female a cappella group. When asked, she quickly identified that music and engineering require similar types of thinking.

“Yes!” Chuang said. “Music is very analytical and requires you to be able to think and perform on your feet.”

Similarly, Shanker draws parallels between music, math and computer science.

They all have rules, he explained. For example, programming languages have strict syntactic rules, and musical notes fall into scales. For Shanker, the exciting part is breaking the rules in unexpected ways.

“I think seeing the brilliant way certain theorems are used in the most exciting proofs is the same as, say, the way The Beatles’ ‘All You Need Is Love’ fits the verse into 29 beats,” Shanker said.

Casey was excited to explain how music and computing overlap every time we open up Spotify or Pandora. He called it “everyday magic.”

“For us to be able to enjoy music in streaming format, someone had to figure out how to break the sound into little packets that could be sent over the internet and then reassembled on a device and turned back into sound,” Casey said.

With the advent of new technologies, music has changed dramatically over the past half century. In 1967, Dartmouth was one of the first to develop a commercial digital musical instrument; it was called the Synclavier, and it was a joint production of the Dartmouth music department and the Thayer School of Engineering. It became popular when people like Michael Jackson and Sting started to incorporate it into their music.

Now, according to Casey, maybe as much as 90 percent of the music we listen to has been created at least in part by electronic means. In Japan, for example, there are pop artists who produce music based entirely on Vocaloid, a singing voice synthesizer. They have become ma-

jor superstars, and they’re not even using their real voices.

So technology largely manipulates how we consume and create music, but it might also help us understand how music works in our brains. Mimi Fiertz ’18 is learning about the interactions between music and the brain in her cognition class. She was fascinated with the complexity of how the brain processes auditory information.

“I think that we often view listening to music as a passive escape,” Fiertz said.

“But there are so many things occurring in your auditory cortex as you listen, just to process pitch, for example.”

We listen to music for lots of different reasons — to study, to party, to work out and to fall asleep. We listen to music for relaxation and enjoyment. When we start to look at the effects of music on the mind and body, Casey explained, there’s a potential for music to promote wellbeing. He takes this idea a step further in his work with the relationship between music and medicine.

Barbara Jobst, a neurology professor who leads the Dartmouth-Hitchock Medical Center epilepsy center, is a highly trained classical musician. She grew up in Leipzis, Germany, where Richard Wagner was born, spending her childhood playing

piano and violin. Over dinner one night, she and Casey began to talk about the relationship between music and electrical stimulation to treat epilepsy. They wondered if listening to certain types of music could suppress some of the negative electrical energy in the brain, just by kicking it into a different electrical rhythm.

“These are uncharted waters for the relationship between music and medicine,” Casey said. “But with the equipment that is available right now, we may be able to systematically investigate how music can have a positive medical effect on the human brain.”

Casey emphasized that we live in a very interesting time. He urges students in our generation to think carefully about our relationship with music and with all forms of communication. In an era of instant gratification, we have a world of music available to us at the touch of a button.

It’s important that we are taking pause to consciously experience it.

“You are part of a generation that may need to fight to reclaim music,” Casey told me at the end of our interview.

The question remains: in a world of constant communication, can we appreciate and utilize the power of music to connect us?

KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Michael Casey is a music professor and director of Bregman Media Labs.