VOL. CLXXV NO.113
PARTLY CLOUDY
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Students voice concerns with C3I
ART IN UNLIKELY PLACES
HIGH 28 LOW 6
B y RACHEL PAKIANATHAN The Dartmouth Staff
NATALIE DAMERON/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The phone booth across Hinman mail center has been repurposed to house student artwork.
OPINION
PAK: MAGNIFICENT BEASTS PAGE 4
HILL-WELD: MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE PAGE 4
ARTS
‘A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS’ REMAINS AN ENGAGING SERIES PAGE 7
THE 23RD SEASON OF ‘THE BACHELOR’ IS AN EMBARASSMENT PAGE 7 FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2019 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
Students had the opportunity to voice their thoughts on the College’s recent move to address sexual harassment and abuse of power on campus. On Jan. 11, Student Assembly and the Student and Presidential Committee for Sexual Assault co-hosted an open forum about the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative — the College’s new initiative to combat sexual violence.
The initiative, which was a n n o u n c e d by C o l l e g e President Phil Hanlon on Jan. 3, follows the filing of a $70 million lawsuit against the College alleging that Dartmouth violated Title IX and failed to protect the plaintiffs from sexual harassment. SA president Monik Walters ’19, SA vice president Nicole Knape ’19, SA ambassador of student life Carlos Polanco ’21 and SEE C3I PAGE 2
College fails white paper mental health assessment B y KYLE MULLINS
The Dartmouth Staff
The mental health crisis on college campuses across the nation has come under scrutiny. In a recent study focusing on the eight Ivy League schools, Dartmouth earned an “F” for its leave of absence policies in a new white paper — a paper that seeks to explain an issue and persuade readers of the authors’ philosophy — from the Ruderman
Family Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation that advocates for disability rights. The white paper accuses the Ivy League as a whole of “failing to lead the sector of higher education in supporting students with mental health disabilities.” Of the eight Ivy League schools evaluated by the Foundation, two — Dartmouth and Yale University — earned failing grades. The highest grade, a D+, was assigned to the University of
Geisel hosts planetary health symposium
B y GRAYCE GIBBS The Dartmouth
The seventh annual Geisel Physicians for Human Rights conference focused on something not always talked about in conjunction with human health: planetary health. The conference took place in the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center on Friday, Jan. 11 and Saturday, Jan. 12. The events
were organized by second-year Geisel medical students Prajesh Gongal Med ’21 and Steven Tau Med ’25, who is also a doctorate c a n d i d a t e, a n d i n c l u d e d a documentary screening, a keynote presentation, group lectures and smaller workshops. There were 275 registrants including undergraduate students, graduates, community SEE PHYSICIANS PAGE 3
Pennsylvania. Brown University, Columbia University and Princeton University all received Ds and Cornell University and Harvard University both received grades of D-. The paper scored the schools on 15 metrics, all of which relate to leave of absence policies, and characterizes various components of the schools’ policies as “ambiguous at best
ARYA KADAKIA]/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
SEE MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 5
Counseling services are housed at Dick’s House.
EPA unveils rule change, Dartmouth analyzes
B y Sunny Drescher The Dartmouth Staff
Just before the federal government shut down in the final days of 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a proposed rule change that would alter how the federal government determines air pollutant regulation. The rule change would prevent the EPA from considering certain benefits — such as positive health outcomes — associated with reducing mercury levels during its
cost-benefit calculations. In a “more ideological than political” play, the Trump administration is choosing not to defend a former Obama-era policy decision that affects the regulation of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, according to Jeff Holmstead, a partner and leader of the environmental strategies group at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Bracewell. SEE MERCURY PAGE 3
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Study finds men equally as likely to feel imposter syndrome B y LORRAINE LIU The Dartmouth
Many students at Dartmouth may have experienced a fear of inadequacy after their admission to the College — a fear that their accomplishments are the result of serendipity rather than actual ability. It turns out that men are just as likely as women to experience imposter syndrome, according to a recent article published in Inside Higher Ed by associate dean of students and admissions at the Geisel School of Medicine Roshini Pinto-Powell. Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern whereby an individual doubts their accomplishments and fears being exposed as a fraud. Pinto-Powell noted that she has observed more cases of men experiencing imposter syndrome during her years of working with students as an advising dean and teacher in the medical field. “In the last five years, I’ve seen that [the number of men experiencing imposter syndrome] is definitely slowly increasing,” she said. “That was something that really surprised me and I wanted to call it out.” Pinto-Powell said she did not view imposter syndrome as a diagnosable medical condition, but instead as a term used to describe
an internalized feeling common in students. “To me, it’s not so much of a diagnosis in the medical sense,” she said. “It’s a feeling of inadequacy, [a] feeling of being exposed as a fraud.” Brian Reed, associate dean for student academic support services and dean of undergraduate students, said he also considered imposter syndrome as a kind of feeling, rather than a medical condition. “I don’t know if [students] could name it as imposter syndrome or articulate it,” Reed said. “[Students] will come in and talk about classes, D-Plan, study abroad [opportunities] and when [we] see that look of hesitation — that moment of anxiety — we sort of taught ourselves ... how to recognize [imposter syndrome].” Pinto-Powell said it appears that more women experience imposter syndrome than men because women are more likely to discuss their feelings. She added that she anticipates a higher number of men reporting their feelings about imposter syndrome in the future as societal norms change to be more accepting of men sharing their emotions. “In the last five to eight years, there’s [been] more and more men who are willing to talk about
their feelings,” she said. “Whereas culturally in the society [of] the past, that wasn’t a common thing.” Pinto-Powell also argued that imposter syndrome affects men and women differently. “It seems almost that men are less likely to suffer from it, but when they do get it, it affects them more.” she said. “Because societally, I think they feel that they cannot admit [to suffering from imposter syndrome] if [it makes them appear] more inadequate.” Lucas Mayer Med’20 said he experienced imposter syndrome during his first year at Geisel. Meyer added that he did not notice a difference in the numbers of men and women experiencing similar feelings. “Completely anecdotally speaking, I feel like I know just as many males as females [who] happen to [feel] this inadequacy at some level,” he said. Reed said he has seen more women than men experiencing imposter syndrome during his time working in the undergraduate deans office. “Our experience suggests that [men] can feel that way,” Reed said. “But if you ask me about the percentages, I think it leans more to women.” Reed added that imposter syndrome is more likely to affect
marginalized groups. “ I t h i n k i t ’s p a r t i c u l a rl y concentrated in first-generation college students, who don’t necessarily feel that they have the preparation [to attend Dartmouth] if they didn’t go to a preparatory high school,” he said. Student Wellness Center director Caitlin Barthelmes related feelings of loneliness to imposter syndrome. Barthelmes said loneliness arises when students’ college experience differs from their expectations. “We know that 73 percent of Dartmouth students who answered t h e h e a l t h s u r vey re c o rd e d feeling very lonely in the past 12 months,” she said. “When our experience isn’t matching up to those expectations of friendships or academic performance or any variety of things, that’s when we can often feel lonely.” According to Reed, the College develops programs during first-year Orientation to help students handle imposter syndrome. He said that these programs provide “coaching and encouragement” and help students “find their confidence.” “We get a lot of opportunities to work with groups like the First Year Student Enrichment P ro g r a m , N a t i ve A m e r i c a n programs, international student pre-orientation program and s t u d e n t at h l e t e s w i t h t h e i r
advisors,” Reed said. “We really start working with students to talk about [how] Dartmouth doesn’t make admissions mistakes.” Pinto-Powell suggested that colleges and universities develop mentoring systems to combat imposter syndrome. She added that students should also set proper expectations for their college experiences and reflect on the circumstances of their past to be able to openly share their feelings with others. Barthelmes pointed out that building relationships, expressing emotions appropriately and seeking help from resources can also help combat imposter syndrome. “[It can help to try] to speak out and work to build supportive relationships in which you can be honest and authentic to someone else,” she said. “But it can also be reaching out to other resources like professional counselors or mentors or support people.” Mayer said he was able to come to terms with imposter syndrome after speaking openly about it. “I think putting a name to it and [speaking] hopefully about it really [allows you] to feel more at peace with how you feel,” he said. “[Understanding] that other people have the same symptom really helps you kind of get over it.”
College holds forum to dicuss sexual misconduct initiatives FROM C3I PAGE 1
SPCSA executive chair Paulina Calcaterra ’19 facilitated the forum in Collis 101, which saw about 20 attendees over the course of an hour and a half discussion. Representatives from SA and SPCSA said that the purpose of the event was to field student opinions about the initiative in an open setting and report those sentiments to the administration. The College does not currently have an official representative for the initiative, they said, but is in the process of finding one. Senior associate dean of student affairs Liz Agosto ’01 was the only administrator present for the entire duration of the meeting. Student Wellness Center associate director Amanda Childress arrived later in the forum.
“We wanted to form a place where people felt comfortable enough to bring up their concerns, to know what worked and what d i d n’t wo rk a s p a r t o f t h e initiative,” Polanco said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “Just so we can gather information to bring forward to the College leadership.” Polanco opened the forum with a short presentation outlining the initiative and its components. The initiative features reforms largely inspired by a 2018 report published by t h e N at i o n a l A c a d e m i e s of Science, Engineering and Medicine. These reforms include mandatory Title IX training for faculty and staff and an evaluation of the College by an independent external advisory committee. Following the presentation,
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. Update appended (Jan. 14, 2019): The online version of the Jan. 10 article “Tuck sttudents travel to Puerto Rico to research energy crisis” has been updated with further comments from Salas.
the remainder of the forum was had with interim dean of the dedicated to open discussion College Kathryn Lively, who cited among the attendees. During financial concerns and difficulties the discussion, students voiced in acquiring and retaining mental skepticism about the roll-out of the health professionals. Agosto initiative and also noted the its components. “We wanted to form shortage of One student ental health a place where people m described the professionals in i n i t i a t i v e a s felt comfortable the Upper Valley “too little, too enough to bring up as another cause late.” for delay. T h e their concerns, to Other issues t i m e l i n e f o r know what worked brought up at the implementing forum included and what didn’t the proposed s t u d e n t s ’ r e f o r m s a l s o work as part of the doubts about c o n c e r n e d initiative.” t h e C o l l e g e ’s several students transparency present at the in releasing f o r u m . O n e -CARLOS POLANCO ‘21 department expressed evaluations frustration with and reports as the College’s mandated by commitment to t h e i n i t i a t i ve. hiring five new Students also counselors in voiced concerns a three- to four-year time frame, regarding the efficacy of using despite the immediate need, and online modules for faculty and the one- to two-week long wait staff training. times for students currently seeking During the open discussion, counseling on campus. Calcaterra said that she thought In response, Walters referenced it would be difficult for online a conver sation she said she training modules alone to reverse
“years of socialization.” Diana Vizza ’20 said she attended the forum because she wanted to add her voice to the discussion about sexual violence on campus. “I’m not seeing enough accountability,” Vizza said. “When people aren’t held accountable and people don’t see people being held accountable, people think what they’re doing is fine.” Calcaterra added in a later interview with The Dartmouth that she felt the discussion at the forum was constructive and informative. “I feel like it got at the core of why ... this [initiative] feels weird,” she said. “Why did this not feel great even ... if [it] might look good [on paper]? I feel like we got to that understanding of what about [the initiative] irked us and what about it is hopeful.” According to Polanco, SA is planning on holding more open forums in the future. “ We re a l i ze t h at s t u d e n t dialogue is not something that happens often on campus,” he said. “So it’s definitely something that’s going to be a regular part of Student Assembly in the future.”
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Physicians for Human Rights holds College studies toxic fifth annual health conference mercury levels exceptional films I’ve ever seen,” “We’ve passed the point where Myers said in his introduction. our welfare is separate from the members, faculty and staff. “We have renounced almost planets. I would love to see the P a s t c o n f e r e n c e t o p i c s unwittingly our emotional, spiritual coming generation of medical have included women’s rights; [and] moral relationship to the professionals actively engaged in incarceration, reparative health natural world … Chris Jordan uses that conversation.” and restorative justice; and finding ecological grief to bring us back to Pedro Castro ’21 said that he a home and health for refugees. our relationship.” attended the conference in order Gongal said they hoped to explore Geisel School of Medicine to learn more about an issue that is new issues this year. professor Jonathon Ross attended the often overlooked when considering “We wanted documentary public and global health. to branch out “We wanted to branch “I realized how much of an screening and a n d ex p l o re c o n f e r e n c e impact energy poverty can have t o p i c s t h a t out and explore topics lectures. He on one’s health,” Castro said. had not been that had not been d e s c r i b e d “If you can’t afford electricity for explored or t h e f i l m a s lighting or cooking, you’re forced explored or [that] [that] people “stunning” and to use kerosene or wood fires to d o n’t r e a l l y people don’t really view “emotionally cook food, which has shown to view as a human as a human rights issue. moving.” have significant impacts on lung rights issue,” T h e health, for example. … I think Gongal said. We, as med students, c o n f e r e n c e one of the worst mistakes we can “We, as med are not aware of how r e - c o nv e n e d make is thinking that the problems students, are Saturday afflicting the world right now have planetary health affects on not aware of m o r n i n g a t no solution. That’s just a failure of how planetary human health. It was as 8:30 a.m. for imagination.” health affects much an exploration for Myers’ keynote Geisel professor of community human health. presentation, a nd famil y medicine Sa r ah It was as much all of the attendees as it “ P l a n e t a r y Johansen, who also served in an an exploration was for us.” H e a l t h : advisory role to Gongal and Tau for all of the P e r i l s a n d for conference planning, said that attendees as it Po s s i b i l i t i e s the conference was fantastic. -PRAJESH GONGAL MED ’21 f o r H u m a n was for us.” “The overwhelming sentiment Gongal was that there was a stimulating, Civilization.” said he hoped I n informative and moving group of attendees addition to four speakers, and diverse disciplines lear ned how main lectures, and perspectives represented,” she the changing environment affects the conference split off twice added. their own health, others’ health into breakout sessions. Optional Gongal and Tau began planning and animal health, and how these workshops included “Mercury and the conference over seven months issues relate to global human rights Arsenic in Our Food” and “Effect ago, in May 2018. As co-organizers, issues, especially in poorer areas of of Natural Disasters and Global they found speakers, recruited the world. other students Re s p o n s e i n Though the conference did Haiti.” to work with examine planetary health in them and Additionally, “I think one of the poorer locations, an emphasis a c a d e m i c worst mistakes we can chose the was also placed on the local d i r e c t o r o f conference area, with workshops such as the Arthur L. make is thinking that topic. geography professor Jonathan Irving Institute the problems afflicting “ W e Winter’s “Implications of Climate for Energy and wanted a the world right now Change for the Northeastern Society Amanda topic that we United States.” could explore G r a h a m a n d have no solution. Tau said that a lot of the topics Tuck School of That’s just a failure of ourselves discussed in the conference focused Business clinical as well as on both the local and global levels. p r o f e s s o r imagination.” giving an “A lot of our speakers do work o f b u s i n e s s educ ation a l in this local, Upper Valley area in administration experience to -PEDRO CASTRO ’21 New Hampshire and Vermont,” A n a n t everyone who he said. “Environmental change S u n d a r a m attends,” Tau happens everywhere, including hosted an event said. here. It was something we wanted o n “ E n e r g y, What to really bring back home.” began as Health, and Keynote speaker and Planetary Policy.” They a one-day Health Alliance director Samuel discussed about the health impacts symposium with a few speakers has Myers shared introductory remarks of different energy sources, as well evolved into a two-day conference on Friday night before the screening as the implications of energy policy with over 15 speakers coming from of Chris Jordan’s documentary — for example, how a carbon tax a wide variety of backgrounds. “Albatross.” Relying mainly on would affect the health of those “We hope people got as much visuals and music, the film shows living in poverty with limited information as they could out of the effects of plastic on albatrosses, electricity. this and hopefully incorporate which are large seabirds found in “I would love to see more something that they learned into the Southern Ocean and North presence of the public health their daily lives so we can make Pacific. professional in our environmental the whole world a better place,” “‘Albatross’ is one of the most decision-making.” Graham said. Gongal said. FROM PHYSICIANS PAGE 1
FROM MERCURY PAGE 1
Celia Chen, director of the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, said that the rule — which currently limits emissions from industry — is effectively still in place, but the cost-benefit analysis process may undercount certain benefits associated with emission regulation if the proposal is approved. The Dartmouth Toxic Metals Program is a National Institute of Environmental Health Studies Superfund Research program that specializes in studying air pollutants, primarily arsenic and mercury. Chen noted that the Dartmouth program is unique because it is perhaps the most involved in studying mercury, making it a notable contributor in the international mercury science field. According to a policy brief provided to jour nalists and policymakers by the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Program in December, humans are primarily exposed to mercury in the U.S. by consuming freshwater and saltwater fish. The brief also notes that there is no threshold for methylmercury exposure below which neurological impediments are undetected. Brian Jackson, director of the trace element analysis core facility in the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Program, said that coal-fired power plants are “the major anthropogenic source of mercury” that the environment is forced to absorb. Jackson added that methylmercury — a for m of mercury produced by bacteria — is a neurotoxin that is especially harmful to infants and young children. Chen said that eliminating the consideration of certain benefits — such as improved health outcomes — from the regulatory cost-benefit analysis makes the total benefits from an emission regulation weigh less against the costs and “potentially undermines the math showing that regulation is appropriate and necessary.” She added that the words “appropriate and necessary” have been the subject of litigation for decades. However, Holmstead said what the administration is proposing has “no practical impact” on regulations currently in place. “It’s essentially to make a symbolic statement,” he said. Holmstead, who also led the EPA’s office of air and radiation from 2001 to 2005, said that the EPA has been dealing with air pollutant regulation since 1990 when Congress amended the Clean Air Act to specialize the regulations for 189 air pollutants classified as hazardous air pollutants, or HAPs. He noted
that Congress called on the EPA to identify industrial processes that emit significant amounts of HAPs. Holmstead said that the EPA was supposed to examine the emissions, analyze the average emissions of the best 12 percent per industry — causing the least environmental harm — and mandate the rest of the industry to perform at that level. Coal-fired electricity-generating power plants, however, were additionally subject to other regulations and subsequently convinced Congress that they should not also be subject to the HAPs requirements, Holmstead said. Over time and through lots of litigation, the EPA was asked to determine if it was “appropriate and necessary to additionally regulate hazardous air pollutants” with respect to these power plants, given other power plant specific regulations that were also in place, according to Holmstead. The Obama administration’s EPA determined that it was in fact appropriate and necessary to regulate HAPs from coal-fired power plants, which spurred the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule in 2011. The MATS rule imposed an emission control requirement for power plants which necessitated them to invest in technology. However, the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the EPA did not sufficiently take the costs and benefits of emission regulation into account when it mandated this rule. By the time that the cost-benefit analysis was remanded back to the EPA to handle, industry had already come into compliance with the MATS rule and invested in the technology to meet the MATS emission standards, according to Holmstead. Though the Obama administration argued that the MATS rule was appropriate and necessary following a cost-benefit analysis and the power plants had already complied with the technological requirements of MATS, the Trump administration does not want to defend the finding that the MATS rule was appropriate and necessary, Holmstead added. The proposed rule has yet to be published to the Federal Register, where once published it will then be subject to a 60-day public comment period. “The comments that will be made during the public comment period will essentially be the same as the comments that people had been making informally to the EPA for the last many months,” Holmstead said. “But maybe they’ll be persuaded [to drop the proposed rule change].”
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CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST THEODORE HILL-WELD ’20
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST EOWYN PAK ’21
Miscarriage of Justice
Magnificent Beasts
Cyntoia Brown and the case for sentencing guideline reform. A longstanding debate in philosophies of law goes something like this: We place power in our legislatures to create and enact laws, and in our courts to apply those laws to cases before them. When courts encounter a case that does not fall clearly inside or outside of existing laws, do they still have the authority to decide what the just result is, and what the scope of their discretion is in deciding that justice? Either way, the court must make a decision about the interpretation of the law — choosing to follow the explicit letter of the statute for the sake of precision still allows a judge to decide what is within the scope of the law and what is not. This means that regardless of what decision is made, it will be a verdict on whether the facts of the case fall within the bounds of one law and not another. Midway through readings for class on this very debate, my phone alerted me of a case that exemplifies this concept and the importance of navigating it carefully and thoughtfully: the commutation of Cyntoia Brown by the governor of Tennessee. Last Monday, Governor Bill Haslam granted clemency to Cyntoia Brown, a 30-year-old woman serving a life sentence in a Tennessee prison. The complexities of her case perfectly illustrate the impossible task of a legislature to write every exception and particularity into a law, and the importance of judicial discretion when applying those laws so as to serve justice and not simply an incomplete statute. Brown was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery and given a minimum of 51 years served prior to parole under Tennessee state law. A quick look at the outline of her case would suggest that such a sentence is deserved: after all, she herself admitted to committing the crime, and she fled the scene with belongings from the victim’s home. Cut and dry felony. But to decide as such would be a deliberate move to elevate the importance of the facts of her case that explicitly apply to Tennessee statutes on murder rather than to weigh them alongside the circumstances within which she committed her crime. If the letter of the law is superior in all instances, then there would be no reason to look further. But if we believe that law is something more, that there is a greater sense of justice that legislators are trying to capture and that judges are tasked with executing with
their guidance, then no statute can absolutely determine the importance of any one set of facts. If, instead of starting from what Tennessee law has explicitly criminalized, we begin from the circumstances Cyntoia Brown found herself in, the applicability of the statute becomes far less cut and dry. For starters, Brown was a 16-year-old victim of sex trafficking, who was coerced into sex work and, in the final instance, the bed of a man nearly three times her age. Her physical safety, food and shelter weren’t guaranteed facts of life — they were conditioned on her capitulation to cruel abusers with no concern for her mental and emotional wellbeing, but merely for her physical capability to serve their needs. What law could possibly describe these circumstances and provide a course for assigning liability and administering justice? Brown was found competent to be tried as an adult, and the simplified facts of her case were found sufficient to trigger the mandatory-minimum sentencing of life with 51 years before the possibility of parole. Is that justice? Governor Haslam, in his final days in office, decided to take mercy on Cyntoia Brown. But simply praising his role in administering justice leaves people open to accepting the mechanisms that created the circumstances he needed to rectify in the first place. Since the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, judicial discretion in the sentencing phase of trial has been significantly constrained so that legislators could campaign on law-and-order platforms. But those laws prevent the balance of power I brought up before. Legislative power doesn’t even have to be abrogated in order to allow for a better administration of justice, it simply means that statutes defining behaviors people wish to discourage shouldn’t reach into the sentencing process. A case like Brown’s could have still resulted in a guilty verdict, but her coercion should have allowed the judge to both condemn her crime and put her on a path to rehabilitation and growth rather than confinement and stagnation. If Americans want to administer justice, we have to admit that particularities can complicate not what we think is wrong in the first place, but what we think our response ought to be.
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ISSUE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
LAYOUT: Elizabeth Janowski
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.
And where you can no longer find them.
Remember Blu? That loveably awkward macaw from “Rio”? As of 2018, the Spix’s macaw, upon which Blu was based, has been declared extinct in wild habitats. 2018 said some untimely goodbyes to amazing flora and fauna specimens. In a study from last year, scientists examined dozens of highly endangered bird species and ultimately reclassified three of them as extinct. Other species are following the same pattern. The Adenocarpus faurei, an Algerian flowering shrub, is now considered extinct after a thorough five-year search for any sign of the species. In December, after a series of rigorous surveys, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presumes the Ozark pyrg, a small snail found in Arkansas and Missouri, to be extinct, and will not list it under the Endangered Species Act. And already, at the turn of the new year, the world lost a snail named George — the last member of a Hawaiian snail group called Achatinella apexfulva — on Jan. 1, marking the extinction of yet another species. Species come and go through natural selection. As a result of environmental pressures, species who are better adapted for survival and reproduction will have successful progeny that will go on to carry those genes, emphasizing or eliminating certain ones in the process. However, we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction period of the last half billion years. In other words, we are currently living through the “worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago,” according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Natural extinction occurs at a rate of one to five species becoming extinct each year, but scientists estimate that we are now losing 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural extinction rate, with 150 to 200 species of flora and fauna going extinct every 24 hours. At this rate, the possibility that we lose 30 to 50 percent of all current-day species by the middle-century is not so far-fetched. This is the first mass extinction period in all of human history and it is happening precisely because of humans. Unlike natural disasters such as eruptions and asteroid strikes that have brought down animals from the age of dinosaurs, current extinctions are a result of human activities that drive habitat loss through exploitations for natural resources, the introduction of exotic species that harmfully proliferate with no natural predators, pollution and global warming. False beliefs in the medicinal properties of white rhino horns have driven up its demand in the black market. Venerable Californian redwoods that have stood tall and proud for thousands of years have fallen victim to humans’ cosmetic taste for reddishbrown furniture. Since 2016, 50 percent of the Great Barrier Reef coral system (visible from space) has died due to rising temperatures in water driven by human-induced climate change. And with thebottleneckingof theseendangered species caused by activities such as overhunting and overfishing, we are producing a crippling loss of genetic variation that further decreases the chances of these species’ ability to adapt and survive. Consider these isolated endangered species cases and loss of genetic variation in concert with the fact that predators rely on these plants and animals in an interdependent, complex ecosystem, and you get a domino effect that has no end in sight.
But why should we care? According to a study done in 2012, it would cost next to $76 billion dollars a year just to preserve land animals. And why would we want to spend money preserving animals like wolves, which seem to pose a threat to both humans and livestock anyways? From an economic standpoint, biodiversity provides essential services that are critical to survival, as humans are also netted into this web of interdependency. Biodiversity can directly provide us with food, but also with pollinators of crops and food, producers of the oxygen we breathe, digestors in the gut and a myriad of other things. Theoretically, all of these services could be engineered artificially, but it would take a whopping $33 trillion a year to execute, according to a study done in 1997. For context, the global economy produced about $18 trillion that year. Given our exploding population growth, the cost for comparable biosphere services is probably far higher. In a study done five years later, scientists found that the benefits of conserving biodiversity outweigh the costs by a factor of 100. If humaninduced extinction were to be left unchecked, 18 percent of global economic output would be wiped by 2050. In other terms, that’s a hefty price tag of $28.6 trillion dollars a year. The future of the world’s biodiversity is looking grim, especially in light of President Trump’s alterations to the Endangered Species Act — with one modification being the removal of consultation with scientists and wildlife agencies before approving federal ventures like logging and oil and gas drilling. However, a number of companies and organizations are acknowledging the costs of biodiversity loss. For instance, Cargill, involved in producing food ingredients, endorsed a U.N. declaration on deforestation by pledging to make their palm oil supply chains in Malaysia and Indonesia fully sustainable. San Diego and other cities have collectively banned containers made out of polystyrene (Styrofoam), including items such as food and drink containers, egg cartons, ice chest coolers, aquatic toys, mooring buoys and navigation markers. On a smaller scale, a number of grassroots organizations and local movements led by handfuls of determined citizens have succeeded in protecting steams, wildlife habitats, tidal flats, coral reefs, national parks and biodiversity against formidable bureaucratic odds. But the battle is far from won. Picture a damaged war submarine one might see from the movies — the fiery red swiveling alarm lights, intermittently-flashing warning signs, frantic limbs and whining sirens that drown out panicked voices — and the evolutionary crisis would still be inadequately described. Though perhaps not as obvious, environmental degradation is dangerously subtle yet just as pressing. Creatures and plants that have survived natural selection for thousands of years are meeting their premature end. The extensive tree of evolution now has branches that have stopped branching out and dwindle in stature. This is our reality, and we should care. We must care. If not for nature itself, then care for the people lest we bring about our own ultimate destruction. In the words of past president Theodore Roosevelt, “There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country,” and those timeless words ring truer now more than ever before.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Medical leave of absence process causes College’s ‘F’ score accommodations’ which could mitigate the need for the leave of absence,” Heyman said. “Things like reduced and discriminatory at worst.” At Dartmouth, a medical leave of course load, living off campus or absence — taken to help a student having a single dorm room without a recuperate from a physical injury roommate. ... But many of the policies or mental condition — is taken in don’t say that students are entitled to consultation with the undergraduate these reasonable accommodations deans office and the College’s health under the law.” Members of the College services. Director of College health service Mark Reed estimated that 65 administration involved in the leave of absence process, to 70 students per however, pushed year take medical “We can nitpick back against the leave of absences, findings in the about 80 percent of about wording and study. Associate which are for mental so on and so forth, dean for student health reasons. but I think it would academic support M i r i a m services and dean Heyman, a senior be more productive of undergraduate program officer at to say that this is students Brian the Foundation and Reed said the the author of the an opportunity for process of white paper, said Dartmouth, or any determining leaves that based on her other Ivy League of absence is highly conversations with individualized for experts on leaves school, to make a each student, of absence before few small changes which was not conducting the reflected in the study, she was not to communicate to study, due to the surprised by her the sector of higher study’s emphasis findings. education that on written policies. “Colleges “I think we really around the country they’re taking this [guide each] are failing at this, seriously.” student through and I didn’t think the process,” Brian the Ivy [League Reed said. institutions] would -MIRIAM HEYMAN, M a rk Re e d be any different, for SENIOR PROGRAM added that leave better or for worse,” of absence policies Heyman said. “I OFFICER AT THE are problematic hope to inspire FOUNDATION when they take the Ivy [League a “cookie-cutter schools] to emerge approach,” which he said is not the as leaders on this issue.” Many of the ratings have to case at the College. Brian Reed pointed out that in do with the explicit language of Dartmouth’s policies. For example, practice, there is no minimum or Dartmouth does not “communicate maximum length for medical leave, entitlement to accommodations based though the student affairs website on individualized assessment” and thus classifies a student who has had four earned one point out of three for that consecutive leave terms as “inactive.” “That is really dictated by the category, which is the minimum score. The study also asserts that Dartmouth’s student’s readiness to return or their leave of absence policy contains no wellness to return,” he said. He noted that a member of the “language against generalization, fear, or stereotype” and notes that there is Class of 1991 emailed him a few days no explicit mention of housing policy ago asking about readmission. Mark Reed said that students who in relation to readmission. “The policies as they’re written have the support of a “treatment team” reflect institutional commitments — or at home can apply for readmission once lack thereof — to [support] students the treatment team confirms they are with mental health disabilities,” ready to return to school. “Some students just take a little bit Heyman said. Heyman said that while the longer,” he said. “If they take a few study does not find evidence of years, if they take a few terms, that’s discrimination under the Americans okay.” The College’s deadlines for with Disabilities Act, it does point to a lack of transparency in the schools’ withdrawal and readmission are leave of absence policies. According cited in the white paper as being too to Heyman, transparency can act as a restrictive, but in practice, both Brian and Mark Reed suggested that the “buffer” against discrimination. “For example, according to the deadlines are more nuanced. The ADA, students with mental health former only applies to whether or not disabilities are entitled to ‘reasonable grades for the term will be recorded FROM MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 1
on a student’s transcript — withdrawal can still be initiated after the deadline — and the requirement thats students apply for readmission within 60 days of the start of an academic term is “fudgeable,” according to Brian Reed. “The 60-day [deadline] is not arbitrary — it’s about allowing the student to do a handful of tasks before enrolling,” he said. Enrollment in classes, D-Plan changes, visa applications for international students and sorting out housing are all easier to accomplish with at least a 60-day window, according to Brian and Mark Reed. Senior associate dean of student affairs Liz Agosto ’01 emphasized the desire of the College to provide support for students taking leaves of absence. “What we’re really asking students to do in these [processes] is to be talking to the people who are their support in order to best be healthy,” Agosto said. “This process isn’t a one-size-fits-all process.” Heyman said she believes the publicly-available language about leaves of absence is still lacking at the Ivy League schools. “If, in fact, you’re right that the practices don’t align with the policies as written, make some changes to the policies to communicate the positive practices that already exist,” Heyman said. “We can nitpick about wording and so on and so forth, but I think it would be more productive to say that this is an opportunity for Dartmouth, or any other Ivy League school, to make a few small changes to communicate to the sector of higher education that they’re taking this seriously.” Brian Reed said that the College could improve the situation for students by creating a centralized hub with consolidated information about leave of absence policies. The information is currently spread across several sources, including the student affairs website and the student handbook, he added. Officials from the other Ivy League schools suggested that the study’s methodology was flawed. Will Meek, director of counseling and psychological services at Brown University, wrote in an email that “the methodology on that report is so flawed that no one takes it seriously, and it likely worked against [the Ruderman Foundation’s] interests in drawing attention to it.” Meek declined to comment further. Columbia University’s health services directed a request for comment to Columbia College, which did not reply to a request for comment. Yale University directed a request for comment to its website about leave of absence policies. Cornell University, Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania did not reply to requests for comment.
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DARTMOUTHEVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
WEEK 3 FORECAST
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
CECILIA MORIN ’21
TODAY 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Off Campus Programs Tabling Session, sponsored by Guarini Institute for International Education, Collis Commonground
1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Lecture: “Opacity to Clarity: Driving Security across a Silicon Valley Giant’s Value Chain,” with Edna Conway, chief security officer at Cisco, sponsored by the Thayer School of Engineering, Byrne Hall
TOMORROW 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Dartmouth Town Hall hosted by executive vice president Rick Mills, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m
Lecture: “Daughters of Mnemosyne: Architecture, Memory Storage, and the Helleno-Roman Theater,” with University of Texas at Austin professor Rabun Taylor, sponsored by the art history department, Carpenter Hall
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m
Lecture: “In Conversation with Jake Sullivan,” with former director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department and national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, Filene Auditorium, Moore Hall
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ remains an engaging series B y sebastian wurzrainer The Dartmouth Staff
In my review for the second season of “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” I commented that the Netflix adaptation for the beloved, darkly comic 13-book children’s series by Lemony Snicket (pen name for Daniel Handler), was unique for its remarkable consistency if nothing else. While it might be true that each season is an improvement from the last, the margins of quality difference are slim throughout. As a show, it began excellently and has yet to falter. As an adaptation, director Barry Sonnenfeld and his team of writers and co-directors have managed to not merely be faithful but also complementary to their source material. To paraphrase Mikey Neumann from his video “The Story of Harry Potter Part 3,” the books make the [show] better and the [show] make[s] the books better. The third and final season wraps up the dour — yet often delightful — tale of the three Baudelaire orphans by adapting Snicket’s final four books: “The Slippery Slope,” “The Grim Grotto,” “The Penultimate Peril” and “The End.” The Baudelaires continue to play their cat-and-mouse game with the villainous Count Olaf as he covets their enormous fortune, all while a
mysterious organization known as “VFD” looms in the background, pulling a surprising number of strings. I noted in my season two review that the seventh book and its subsequent adaptation break the narrative’s repetitive formula as the Baudelaires become mistrusted fugitives and Count Olaf is given immunity. In part, this explains why the third season feels a little more riveting than its predecessors; everything is a tad more unpredictable. Thus, while past seasons have contained a mix of standout episodes and decent but weaker entries, this season hits all bullseyes. In fact, it’s exceedingly rare for a TV series to go out on its highest note. Typically, they hit a peak and then flounder on for a few more seasons, never really regaining the same momentum. However, while I may always have a special fondness for “The Reptile Room” episodes from season one, “The End” is doubtless the show’s single greatest accomplishment. For one thing, while all the other books are adapted as two-parters, “The End” is condensed into a single episode. Occasionally this means it’s a little rushed, but it also feels more concise and contained as a result. Moreover, the story essentially ends in the previous episode; thus, “The End” serves more as an epilogue or philosophical thesis for the show
than an actual narrative conclusion. It takes the moral ambiguity at the heart of the show’s premise and runs with it, thoroughly exploring how reductive the categories of “good” and “bad” can be. While this is far from a radical sentiment, it is still expressed and examined in a manner that is surprisingly insightful. Indeed, the entire third season is more emotionally rich and resonant than its predecessors. The theme of complex, even troubled, family relationships is highlighted to great effect. Parents trying and failing to protect and guide their children becomes a recurring undercurrent in some of this season’s best scenes. Likewise, the in-universe Rod Serlingesque narrator Lemony Snicket, once again played with supreme dry wit by Patrick Warburton, becomes a proper character in his own right for the first time. Just as last season we met his brother Jacques, played by a scene-stealing Nathan Fillion, this season introduces his sister Kit, played by the equally scene-stealing Allison Williams. The writing subtly parallels the relationship shared by the Baudelaire orphans to the fraught dynamic between the three Snicket siblings. It’s a beautiful little conceit and emblematic of the surprising depth that this show is capable of producing.
Of course, Warburton and Williams aren’t the only actors on top of their game this season. Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes give their best performances yet as Violet and Klaus, the elder Baudelaire siblings, and Neil Patrick Harris is at his most deranged as Count Olaf. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; this season has delightful and delirious supporting characters beyond counting. Add on top of that some slick direction and witty writing and you’ve basically got the best possible iteration of “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” To be fair, if you didn’t like season one or two, this isn’t going to do much to change your mind. As always, the show’s artificiality creates a certain distance between the story and the spectators that I don’t always think is intended. Yet these little flourishes, whether they be the excessive fourth wall breaks or the theatrical set design, are precisely what make the show so memorable. Nevertheless, I’m left to contemplate at the end of it all, “What is the intended audience for this show?” Most adaptations of popular children’s books would try to attract the (young) adults who grew up with the books as well as a new generation of children waiting to be swept up by the story. But it must be said that “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is no longer a children’s
show. In fact, it seems to have next to no interest in appealing to the age range that once sustained the book series. It’s not that children couldn’t watch the show; it’s a little dark, but not especially gory or foul-mouthed. They just wouldn’t get it. And I’m not trying to be condescending or belittling when I say that. Rather, much of the humor in the show just assumes a certain life experience. In a sense, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” has become an argument against itself. It may have begun as a children’s show intent on capturing the books’ honesty about the moral complexity of the world. But by now I think the writers have realized that you can’t do that without getting a little too real, a little too honest, a little too melancholy. Thus, the show isn’t aimed at children, but instead at the children who are now all grown up. Perhaps the show’s greatest strength — and yet also the reason for why its appeal might be limited — is that it ultimately isn’t an adaptation, but a re-examination of its source material from an adult perspective. It ponders just how sad the lives of these characters are, and just how admirable and yet also futile their journeys are. The result, as I’ve already mentioned, is oddly insightful, and perhaps at times even a little profound.
The 23rd season of ‘The Bachelor’ is an embarrassment
Bachelor” clearly know it. The whopping three-hour-long The Dartmouth Staff episode consisted of an endless stream On paper, Colton Underwood of gags and cringy conversations. It was the obvious choice for the 23rd was painful to watch when Demi, the Bachelor. He fits the mold of the first contestant to step out of the limo, generic pretty boy, was a former blurted out “The last time I was with professional football player and runs a a virgin was when I was 12 years old, non-profit for kids with cystic fibrosis. but I’ll give it a shot.” She didn’t even Oh wait, and he’s a virgin too. For the give the guy a chance to say hello. However, she was clearly not the first time in bachelor history, reality only contestant TV’s knight in to fail Human shining armor D e c e n c y has more than “However, [Demi] 101. One girl just his dignity was clearly not the to lose. On the only contestant to fail pmeargfoi cr m et rdi c ak season premiere where she took which aired last Human Decency 101. h i s “ v - c a rd ” Monday, the 30 One girl performed a and yet another women vying handed him a for Underwood’s magic trick where she re d b a l l o o n , heart were just took [Underwood’s] popped it, then so baffled by ‘v-card’ and yet said, “Well I how someone guess I popped who looks “sooo another handed him a g o o d ” c o u l d red balloon, popped it, your cherry.” It is certainly possibly be a 2 6 - y e a r - o l d then said, ‘Well I guess not unusual for virgin. Quite I popped your cherry.’” reality TV shows to drag out a frankly, no one contrived bit, really cares why but this was too Underwood is a virgin or not, because no one knows obnoxious for even the most seasoned who he even is. The only interesting Bachelor veterans to endure. The episode’s saving moment was thing about Underwood is his virginity, and the producers of “The when animal enthusiast Alex D. came
B y ELIZAbeth garrison
out of the limo dressed as a sloth and said, “I heard you like to take things slow.” She proceeded to spend the rest of the night moving and speaking in slow motion, climbing trees and driving the other women bonkers — by far the most entertaining moment of the night. Obviously, if the show needs “sloth girl” to save the day, it’s missing something: a compelling star. What Underwood lacks in sexual experience he certainly doesn’t make up for with originality. Throughout the course of the episode, he kept repeating “Wow, she’s gorgeous” with almost every woman who stepped out of the limo and walked into the mansion. Maybe his shortage of charisma is the true reason why he hasn’t been so lucky. When host Chris Harrison asked him why he was on “The Bachelor” he replied, “I’m doing this for me.” Not exactly the most compelling answer. Underwood’s chats with the contestants weren’t any more revealing. He stuck to vague and uninteresting comments about how he was close to his family and loved his dog. It was more exciting hearing about his dog than hearing about him. The only topic discussed to any level of detail was Underwood’s virginity. Underwood explained that he never made the conscious decision
to stay a virgin. He isn’t waiting until that this is true; he didn’t seem to marriage, he simply was too focused have a genuine connection with either on his career and never met the right Kufrin or Booth, and even if he did, person until he went on season 14 it was so obvious that the producers of “The Bachelorette” and fell in fabricated the whole storyline for the love with Becca Kufrin, to whom drama. It is already apparent that the Underwood whole season will claimed he was revolve around “[Underwood] ready to lose his whether or not virginity in the stuck to vague Underwood will fantasy suite. and uninteresting have sex in the Unfortunately, fantasy suite, Kufrin ended comments about not his quest u p d u m p i n g how he was close to to find love. At Underwood best, he’s a naïve his family and loved because she idiot completely was friends with his dog. It was more oblivious of U n d e r wo o d ’s exciting hearing about the fact that former flame, he is being Tia Booth, who his dog that hearing manipulated confessed to still about him.” and degraded have feelings for for ratings. At him. Then, he worse, he’s a went on to get shallow fame back together seeker. with Booth on “Bachelor in Paradise” On tonight’s episode, it is likely the but eventually dumped her because contestants will continue to bombard he was ostensibly still in love with him with personal questions or try to Kufrin. conquer him like some kind of sexual Now Underwood claims to have challenge. Honestly, I’m not sure it’s the perspective and emotional clarity worth the effort. Wash-board abs? to meet the woman of his dreams. He Check. Complicated dating history? says he is hopeful that the process will Check. A sliver of personality? work for him because he developed Eh, not so much. Underwood real feelings for Kufrin on “The Underwood is a dud, and no amount Bachelorette.” It is hard to believe of editing can change that.
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019
‘New Work for Goldberg Variations’ is a masterpiece B y isabelle blank
her into the final product,” Tanowitz said. “I really went for it and wanted to The Dartmouth Staff convey how much this dancing came Choreographer Pam Tanowitz directly out of the music, so I put the and pianist Simone Dinnerstein piano in the middle of the stage.” tackle Bach’s equally canonical and Ta n ow i t z ’s ch o re o g r a p hy intricate “Goldberg Variations” in a is clean-lined, featuring staccatocollaborative piece entitled “New Work movements that blend both balletic and for Goldberg Variations.” Tanowitz’s contemporary dance practices. She company performed the new piece creates a lively but delicate language this past weekend at the Hopkins of movement that coalesces well with Center for the Arts. The performance Dinnerstein’s skillful playing. At the proved to be a testament to the value beginning of the dance, the curtains of contemporary re-invention of an open to reveal a dark stage. Ghostly age-old piece. dancers stand before Dinnerstein’s During her pre-performance talk, piano, their figures barely visible in Tanowitz said that choreographing to the pressing blackness. The first sounds such a ubiquitous piece “is daunting, of Dinnerstein’s music emerge from [because] everybody has a favorite darkness. It is as though the dancers’ version of the piece, a favorite subsequent movements are born from sequence.” According to Tanowitz, these isolated notes alone. the project began when Dinnerstein Once the stage is fully illuminated approached her with the idea for and the first aria is well under way, the Tanowitz to choreograph a new work dancers appear. They wear striped “Goldberg Variations.” chiffon tunics and overalls in shades “I was very reticent to do this piece,” of pink, yellow, orange and blue. The Tanowitz said. “At the beginning of the group evokes a sherbet-hued version process, Simone o f P i c a s s o ’s brought over tons harlequins. of her CDs for “I was scared. And Tanowitz did me to listen to, then I listened to the well in giving and I was all set her first aria and my heart Dinnerstein to say no. I was own presence. scared. And then melted. I thought, ‘I Bare feet firmly I listened to the can forget about the planted on the first aria and my g round and heart melted. I other stuff.’ I forgot fingers flying thought, ‘I can about the fear and over the keys forget about to produce the magnitude of the the other stuff.’ intricate music, I forgot about variations, and I knew t h e p i a n i s t ’s the fear and the I had to choreograph center-stage magnitude of presence literally the variations, to Simone’s rendition.” and figuratively and I knew I had g ro u n d s t h e to choreograph choreography -PAM TANOWITZ t o S i m o n e ’s and lends an CHOREOGRAPHER rendition.” extra layer of T a n o w i t z FOR “NEW WORK FOR theatricality to the said that the work. Tanowitz’s choreography is GOLDBERG VARIATIONS” d a n c e r s ro l l the result of a true under, sit by and collaboration whirl around between pianist and choreographer. Dinnerstein’s piano. At one point, “The first aria is so beautiful that I a dancer sits back-to-back with barely choreographed to it,” Tanowitz Dinnerstein and mimics the pianist’s said. “I let the music have its own manual movements with her feet, moment.” eliciting chuckles from the audience. Tanowitz added that Dinnerstein In Variation 17, Dinnerstein’s fingers attended rehearsals and became cross and uncross over the keys while familiar with the dancers. The friendly Tanowitz’s dancers dance diagonal rapport between dancers and pianist grapevines: their feet crossing and is evident in the performance. uncrossing across the stage. “It’s rare to have a musician present Tanowitz said that she sought to ... while you’re choreographing to her embed a sense of dialogue within the music, and so I really wanted to bring piece.
“I worked with the dancers and with Simone to form a series of multidimensional relationships so that [the piece] is not just dancers performing for an audience, but that [the performers] have established relationships with each other and with the music,” she said. “These dialogues overlap and become a part of the process of the piece and then stay there in the choreography.” Tanowitz’s dancers don’t only project to the audience, but give each other glances, knowing smiles and furtive looks: evidence of process-based relationships that crystalized to be a part of the final product. Lily Hanig ’19 noted the power of live music and Tanowitz’s choreographed web of inter-personal relationships. “It was really interesting when the piano would finish a piece and the sound would reverberate and the dancers used those echoes to keep moving in a way that doesn’t happen with a recording,” Hanig said. “A lot of dancers focus on moving the body alone, but in this, the dancers did a lot with their eyes and heads. They really danced and interacted with each other and didn’t just dance in the same static headspace.” Students of Professor Ted Levin’s
first-year seminar “The Power of decisions. I think that [Tanowitz’s Music” attended the performance on choreography] matched the music Friday for an assignment, as they’ve perfectly and went really well with the been studying Bach’s “Goldberg piece.” Variations” for the past few weeks, said Just as the performance began in Clarke Eastman-Pinto ’22, a member darkness to Bach’s first aria, Tanowitz of Levin’s class. concludes the performance with “The piece was very thought- Bach’s “Aria di Capo.” The dancers provoking, but I thought its meaning stop moving and position themselves was not expressly conveyed,” Eastman- around Dinnerstein’s piano. The Pinto said. lights dim, darkening the dancers’ Fiona Cronan forms so that only ’22 disagreed with n n er s tei n’s “A lot of dancers focus Di her classmate. fingers moving “I think that on moving the body over the keys having studied alone, but in this, the are illuminated. the ‘Goldberg T he dancer s V a r i a t i o n s ’ dancers did a lot with return to whence for weeks in their eyes and heads. they came; the [“The Power of movement Music”] really They really danced and stage-light improved my and interacted with melts back into understanding the music. This each other and didn’t o f t h e is a dreamlike, performance,” just dance in the same cyclical finale that Cronan said. “It’s static headspace.” staystruetoBach’s one thing to look organization of at the dancers and the variations. try to figure out -LILY HANIG ’19 Aria to aria, what’s going on, darkness to but when you’re darkness, stillness familiar with the to stillness. The music, it’s easier to understand the reverberations of piano and past choreography and the choreographer’s movement remain.
COURTESY OF MARINA LEVITSKAYA
Choreographer Pam Tanowitz and pianist Simone Dinnerstein collaborated for ‘New Work for Goldberg Variations.’