VOL. CLXXV NO. 132
SNOWY
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
V-Feb focuses on “visibility” this year
A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS
HIGH 34 LOW 22
B y LORRAINE LIU
The Dartmouth Staff
OPINION
LEVY: TAKE YOUR TIME PAGE 4
OPINION ASKS PAGE 4
ARTS
REVIEW: ‘WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING’ IS A NOSTALGIC DEBUT NOVEL
NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Dinesh D’Souza ’83 spoke last night at an event hosted by Young America’s Foundation.
Snow sculpture returns in a “mammoth” way B y Andrew Culver The Dartmouth Staff
Despite the war m weather, this year’s mammoth snow sculpture stands tall, bolstering the official Dartmouth tradition that has faded in recent years. “I think 2015 was the last year one officially occurred,”
Chris Cartwright ’21, who headed up this year’s sculpture build, said. Last year, the snow sculpture was not a Collegeorganized endeavor, but rather funded and built by a group of students and alumni. “We were very much working on our own,” said
Jimmy McHugh ’19, who helped to organize and build both this and last year’s sculpture. This year, the sculpture’s organizers worked more closely with Dartmouth officials, the Office of Student Life and alumni SEE SCULPTURE PAGE 2
Debuted at Dartmouth in 1998, the play “the Vagina Monologues” inspired and s t a r t e d t h e V- Fe b r u a r y campaign, stemming from the global V-Day movement that aims to promote gender equity and end gender-based violence. However, over its 21 years, the campaign has evolved to feature more events and reflect different initiatives. This year, V-Feb focuses on “visibility” as its theme to increase the campaign’s inclusiveness, according to cochair of the V-Feb committee Sara Cho ’20. Cho noted that the “V” in the 2019 V-Feb stands for “visibility” instead of “vagina” and “voices,” which were traditional interpretations of “V” in past years. She explained that the 2019 V-Feb committee decided to let “V” stand for “visibility” this year to “work towards intersectionality and inclusivity.” “[Using V to re present vaginas] is exclusive to transwomen and non-binary folks,”
Ch o w rote in an em ail statement. “It also perpetuates the misconception that sexual violence is an issue pertaining only to people with vaginas.” V-Feb started to incorporate two other major plays — “Upstaging Stereotypes” and “Voices” — in 2013 and 2014, respectively, to address other communities on campus, such as people who identify as gender nonconforming and womxn. “We started to include Upstaging Stereotypes to talk about masculinity, and Voices is also a response to the Vagina Monologues,” Cho noted. “[The plays are] a way for [us] to listen to more Dartmouth students’ experience.” Other than the three major plays, V-Feb also features dif ferent prog rams each year by collaborating with a wide range of different campus organizations and departments. This year, the V-Feb committee partnered with the Native American Prog ram and invited SEE VFEB PAGE 3
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REVIEW: ‘TANGERINE’ PARALLELS A RELATIONSHIP WITH A REVOLUTION PAGE 7
FILM THOUGHTS: WHAT IS THE ENDURING POWER OF THE CULT CLASSIC? PAGE 8 FOLLOW US ON
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DHMC to merge Researchers seek to create with GraniteOne self-charging pacemakers
B y Lucy Turnipseed The Dartmouth Staff
Two top health care organizations have announced a merger that aims to more effectively meet the health service needs of the state’s residents. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and GraniteOne Health — which consists of Catholic Medical Center, Huggins Hospital and Monadnock Community Hospital — have just
begun the lengthy process of combination. T he organizations announced that they signed a letter of intent — a non-binding agreement — on Jan. 24. The new combined nonprofit health care system will be named Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health GraniteOne and is expected to be finalized sometime in 2020, although the letter of intent states that “the combination will not take effect until and SEE MERGER PAGE 5
B y GRACe Lee The Dartmouth
The need for additional surger y to re place the batteries for implantable biomedical devices may soon be eliminated. Researchers at the Thayer School of Engineering and clinicians at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have been attempting to extend the lifetime of the batteries used
in such devices, and now they may have found a way for pacemakers and similar devices to be powered by a patient’s heartbeat. Pacemakers and aut o mated i mpl anta bl e cardioverter defibrillators are implanted under the skin in the chest to monitor and pace the heart rhythm. W h i l e t h ey e f f e c t i ve l y track heart movement, their battery life can be unpredictable or short,
according to Javier Banchs, a cardiologist at Baylor Scott & White Health . There are many risks and costs associated with the surgeries that patients need to receive every five to 10 years in order to replace the pacemaker or automated implantable cardioverter defibrillators, according to Thayer professor Zi Chen , one of the project’s principal investigators. SEE THAYER PAGE 3
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Q&A with anthropology professor Jeremy DeSilva B y Savannah Eller The Dartmouth Staff
For anthropology professor Jeremy DeSilva, the evolutionary lineage of human beings hold a special allure. DeSilva specializes in human evolution and the anatomy of proto-human species, particularly the origin and evolution of bipedalism. DeSilva recently coauthored a special issue of the journal “PaleoAnthropology,” focusing on Australopithecus sediba, a two million-year-old potential human ancestor found in 2008 in South Africa. What fascinates you about paleoanthropology and the study of ancient bones? JD: What really fascinates me is that each of these bones — whether they are tiny little bits of a backbone or whatever it is we find — those were the remains of our ancestors. I think what really compels me is that each one of these bones tells a story about our past and helps reveal how we are the way we are today. I can’t imagine a more compelling question to ask. Why are we here? Why are we the way we are? And one of the ways we get at that is by investigating these incredibly rare, fragile remains that are so packed with information. Who was Australopithecus sediba? JD: Sediba is a species in a group called Australopithecus, and Australopithecus was a kind of early
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
human that lived between two and four million years ago. What we know about Australopithecus is that they walked on two legs. They left us footprints — their knees, hips and their feet would all suggest they walked on two legs, but they still had a small brain.
What are some things that the species’ discovery reveals about human evolution? JD: What we’re learning is that Sediba has a brain about the same size of a gorilla’s brain, but it’s not shaped like a gorilla’s brain. It’s actually shaped a little more like yours or mine. This is confirming, or at least supporting, some early ideas in our field that brain reorganization preceded brain enlargement, so that’s kind of an important realization about brain evolution. Brain reorganization and enlargement didn’t happen in lockstep. What are some of the challenges of interpreting the bones of extinct species? JD: There are enormous challenges. The way you move and walk is not just a function of your skeleton. It’s also muscles, tendons, ligaments and all the soft tissue in your body, and none of that fossilizes. So we have to make inferences. One of the other big challenges is that when we find fossils like this, you can’t ever put Sediba on a treadmill, right? They’re extinct and we will never know for certain how they walked — because we don’t have time machines — so what we have to do
is rely on our understanding of how form can be used to infer or predict the functions of an organism. What are the tools of your trade? JD: The kind of work that I do honestly doesn’t require much. I need calipers and plane tickets. My calipers are my most trusted tool to take measurements of things, and these measurements matter. If you can quantify a size or a shape and compare that to humans and chimpanzees, it’s telling you something. So those are my most important tools — my calipers and the ability to travel to get to the fossil site. What would be one of your “holy grail” finds — a breakthrough that you want to make? JD: We have almost no idea what an ancestral chimpanzee looks like. We don’t have fossilized chimps. Part of the reason is that they lived in the forest and it’s harder for fossils to form or even be discovered in a forest. Also, we think fossilized chimps are probably located in some really unstable areas in Africa, so very few people are looking in these regions. But having a fossilized chimp would give us a sense of how much change they underwent in their evolutionary history. Because we have no fossilized chimps, we use modern chimps as a model and that’s very likely wrong. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
Snow sculpture built despite warm weather FROM SCULPTURE PAGE 1
he said. Cartwright said that once the Winter relations to “start bringing [the Carnival theme was announced, the sculpture] back as something the building team had three main goals for College is organizing, while the students the sculpture: that it match the theme, are still doing the ground work,” that it be feasible for construction according to McHugh. and that it connect to some element Outdoor Programs Office program of the Dartmouth community. The coordinator for mammoth was student advising a natural choice “Initially we wanted A n d r e w given this year’s C r u t c h f i e l d to do a mammoth Carnival theme, ’18, who was going down skiing “Ice Age.” in charge of “Initially we o v e r s e e i n g but we thought wanted to do a the student we would not be mammoth going construction, down skiing, but able to support the said that we thought we funding for this structure, so we did a would not be able year’s sculpture toboggan run.” to support the came from an structure, so we did “ i n t e re s t i n g a toboggan run,” mix” of sources, - CHRIS CARTWRIGHT ’21 Cartwright said. with a third No one helping coming from with this year’s the Office of construction had Student Life, a third from the alumni much snow carving experience, he said. relations office and the final third “We’ve honestly been totally through alumni donations. figuring it out on the fly,” Cartwright Both Cartwright and McHugh added. agreed that the weather presented the While Cartwright and the biggest challenge to the sculpture this Dartmouth Outing Club headed up year through a combination of warm most of the snow sculpting, McHugh temperatures and rain. led members of the football team and “We had a little bit of an issue Gamma Delta Chi in volunteer efforts. last year with weather, and this year Volunteers constructed the wooden we just got a little bit more unlucky, frames which held the snow in place but I was happy we were still able to during the initial stages of construction. get a sculpture out there that looks “Last year, we used concrete forms pretty good given the conditions we to dump the snow into, but the concrete had to work in,” companies were McHugh said. super swamped this “I think it came Crutchfield year, so the students out remarkably agreed, adding built our own that not only well and that was forms,” McHugh the recent said. “It felt really entirely because warm weather good to get that but the large of the students’ accomplished.” snowstorm a efforts and their Cartwright said few weeks back that finding people threw off their dedication to making to help build the construction sure that it would sculpture this year schedule. was difficult. happen regardless of “ T h e “ Jus t getting w e a t h e r conditions.” volunteers out has been in there was a big opposition to challenge,” us this entire - ANDREW CRUTCHFIELD Cartwright said. time,” he said. “I’m already ’18, OUTDOOR Cartwright, thinking about next PROGRAMS OFFICE inspired by year honestly,” he his parents’ said, adding that memories of figuring out what snow sculptures during their time at worked to motivate people to help and Dartmouth, joined the project last what didn’t is crucial in planning how spring and ended up joining the Winter to make the sculpture better for next Carnival Council in order to make the year. snow sculpture a more official part of “I think it came out remarkably well the weekend. and that was entirely because of the “Essentially that made me, in the students’ efforts and their dedication eyes of the College, in charge of the to making sure that it would happen project, so it was kind of accidental regardless of conditions,” Crutchfield how I became heavily involved in it,” said.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
V-Feb events see high participation Researchers turn kinetic energy into electricity FROM VFEB PAGE 1
Cinnamon Spear ’09 MALS ’13 to speak about rape being a tool for colonization and ongoing sexual assault in Indian country. Other collaborators include the women’s, gender and sexuality studies department, which helped organize an exhibit on the global #MeToo movement on first floor Berry, and the Black Legacy Month organization, which organized a movie screening of “For Colored Girls.” Co-chair of the V-Feb committee Olivia Audsley ’21 emphasized the collaborative efforts that the V-Feb committee and many organizations — ranging from the Office of Student Life to WISE — put into the V-Feb kick-off event, which includes a Valentine’s card making event and a workshop on sex toys. “There are so many different clubs that participated in our kickoff and they really come together to celebrate this month, because it works to include everybody on campus,” Audsley said. “We really wanted to reach all across campus, so we really tried to collaborate with as many different clubs as possible.” Cho added that apart from assisting with prog ramming, collaborating organizations also help the V-Feb committee to advertise events by sending
emails about them using different accounts. “We have a lot of members i nvo l ve d i n m a ny d i f f e re n t organizations who are able to help,” she said. Cho noted that the 2019 V-Feb events have seen higher participation than in past years. Audsley attributed the “significantly higher attendance” to the change in the V-Feb c o m m i t t e e ’s o r g a n i z a t i o n a l structure this year, which adds a marketing subcommittee to the team. “There are five subcommittees and one of them is marketing, which is focused just on increasing attendance and awareness on campus,” Audsley said. “They’ve done a really great job getting students into our events.” Paulina Calcater ra ’19, a member of the programming subcommittee and host of the dinner discussion on feminism at Dartmouth, said that she was happy to see more people interested in V-Feb events, but pointed out that high attendance for the dinner discussion may have limited in-depth conversations. “It’s scary to participate in that big of a group with unfamiliar people there,” Calcaterra said. “I think it just shows us that people wanted to talk about [feminism at Dartmouth] and don’t often have
places to talk about that.” Co-director of the Vagina Monologues Rebecca Luo ’20 commented that the play gives women a space for their voices to be heard and respected. As an actress in the play during her freshman year, she said the experience was “transformative.” Audsley identified the lack of representation in the 2019 V-Feb committee as a problem that the team should address in the future. “Our committee is dominated by white cisgender, heterosexual women and that really needs to be improved,” she said. “We need to work on what we do and try to be intersectional.” Calcaterra agreed with Audsley’s call for more diversity in the V-Feb committee. “It’s hard to have programs that reflect diverse and inclusive perspectives because people in the room planning it have a limited framework,” she said. Audsley said she hopes to see high participation for the rest of V-Feb’s events. “We’re really going to challenge ourselves to think outside of the box, [to] bring voices that are not traditionally in the room of V-Feb into the room,” she said. “So far with just four of our events that have happened, we really hit that goal. It’s really just a matter of continuing our upward motions.”
PROTESTING D’SOUZA
NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Dinesh D’Souza ’83’s invitation to lecture at the College on Monday evening drew protests from Hanover residents.
FROM THAYER PAGE 1
harvesting units connected in parallel. The research team has The study’s findings imply been working on designing an that sufficient electrical energy implantable, minimally-invasive can be converted from the kinetic b i o m e d i c a l d ev i c e t h at c a n energy of a pacemaker lead to efficiently convert the mechanical sustain operations of the heart. energy of a beating heart to There can be efficient conversion electrical energy. of mechanical energy from the “The device beating heart should b e “The device should to electrical integ ratable, energy without be integratable, lightweight and any significant biocompatible,” lightweight and interferences Chen said. “It biocompatible. It w i t h should effectively cardiovascular capture energy should effectively functions, from t h e capture energy from according to the heart without team’s research the heart without interfering paper. with its normal interfering with its “ Wo r k i n g functions.” on something normal functions.” They focused t h at h a s t h e on a type of potential to porous material - ZI CHEN, THAYER have a massive that can convert impact — on SCHOOL OF k i n e t i c e n e rg y the interface f ro m t h e l e a d ENGINEERING of health and of a pacemaker PROFESSER energy — and the patient’s to improve h e a r t b e at i n t o healthcare is electricity without affecting the very exciting,” Closson said. pacemaker’s or the heart’s normal Currently, the researchers are functions. seeking to further enhance the Once the researchers refined design so that it is suitable for the design of the energy harvester, implantation in humans. they implanted the pacemaker “Over the next years, we will prototype into large animals like compare different designs and pigs or dogs. They then analyzed choose the one that has the best videos and fluoroscope images performance, the one that can of how well the pacemaker lead replace batteries and can be moved with the motion of the implemented without disturbing heart during the cardiac cycle. any of the bodily functions,” “You can see how the leads said Lin Dong, a postdoctoral defor m and researcher at move as the Thayer and heart beats, “Working on the study’s first and translate something that has author. t h o s e B a n c h s, w h o the potential to have movements in focuses on the video to a massive impact — device therapy the bench top on the interface of for patients with in the lab,” heart problems, f i r s t - y e a r health and energy said that despite Ph.D. student — to improve being unaffiliated and study with the College, c o - a u t h o r healthcare is very he and his peers A n d r e w exciting.” have been closely Closson said. following the “ Yo u c a n project. also use the - ANDREW CLOSSON, “This is a m a c h i n e s FIRST-YEAR THAYER promising in the lab concept toward t o s i mu l a t e PH.D. STUDENT which both what the lead industries and experiences physicians [have] in the heart and [then you can] an ambition, but with little further refine the devices.” practical steps,” he said. “This Through these experiments, the research project is the beginning group created an effective design of an interesting journey with in which a thin piece of film is challenges ahead, and is followed wrapped around the pacemaker closely by a lot of people with a lead in a helical shape with two lot of enthusiasm.”
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CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST GABRIELLE LEVY ‘22
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION STAFF
Take Your Time
Opinion Asks
Don’t join extracurriculars freshman fall. To no one’s surprise, many members of the Class of 2022 were once hyper-involved, overachieving high school students. I’m one of them. In high school, I was a peer tutor, varsity athlete, editor of the newspaper and involved in various other activities. At Dartmouth, my plan was to pick up where I had left off and throw myself into as many activities as possible. After all, this method worked for me in the past, allowing me to make friends and build a life for myself each time I switched schools. This time, though, that didn’t quite happen. Of course, this was not for lack of interesting things to join. I was thrilled about the idea of writing for The Dartmouth, firmly convinced that I needed to start some form of scientific research and eager to give back to the local community by getting involved in volunteering. By the end of freshman fall, however, I had done none of these activities. And I’m glad about that. Freshman fall was amazing, but the first few weeks were stressful. Looking back, orientation was one of my least favorite weeks at Dartmouth. The point of orientation was not lost on me. I knew that the many opportunities to socialize and meet people were important. The problem was that I felt pressure to not miss out on anything. Not surprisingly, the need to constantly be “on” left me exhausted. While broaching the subject with my friends, I found that this idea of burnout was a common theme among first-years in orientation. Maybe it’s because as an introvert I tend to surround myself with other introverts, but many of my friends assured me that they too grew tired of making small-talk and plastering an unwavering smile across their face. Even the extroverts in my life, who genuinely enjoyed this type of social interaction, expressed their desire to get orientation over with and finally establish a daily routine. For first-years, the stress of building a new life away from the pillars of stability of our old high school lives is not insignificant. When everything is new, the little things like figuring out where to go to dinner and who to go to dinner with take up time and energy. The quarter system also means that midterms are mere weeks into a new term, mandating a fast adjustment to Dartmouth’s demanding pace. That’s why I made the decision to step back from the craze of applications and tryouts and take the time to adjust to my new life
at Dartmouth. I spent time reflecting meaningfully on how I wanted my extracurriculars to shape my Dartmouth experience. Although I joined two organizations, Dartmouth Running Team and GlobeMed, they were both relatively low time commitments. I was able to spend my time studying for classes and getting into the swing of Dartmouth. And I suffered no consequences. Unlike in high school, when everything seems to culminate in a battle to get into college, it doesn’t really matter whether students join activities in their first term of college or their second. Although graduate schools certainly weigh factors such as passion and involvement, there is no penalty for taking a term to get a solid footing. I strongly encourage my peers to do so. In a sharp contrast to my own choice, many of my friends went all out: they auditioned for a capella groups, became Great Issues Scholars and tried out for competitive club sports teams. I’ll be the first to admit that I felt a pang when my friends recounted their tales of being woken up early in the morning to screaming club-leaders holding “Congratulations” signs in fine Dartmouth tradition. There were times when I worried that I wasn’t doing enough to build a community for myself, and that my friends would find their new best friends on sports teams and clubs and forget about me. Funnily enough, this didn’t happen. By hearing about the experiences of my friends and learning more about Dartmouth’s clubs and groups, I got a better sense of what would be meaningful for me, and what perhaps what wasn’t the best use of time. I also spared myself some of the crushing disappointment of being rejected from elite groups, which can feel like a big deal as a naïve freshman riding the high of your high school experience. Now, having joined The Dartmouth, started doing research through the Women In Science Program and begun volunteering in the Upper Valley, I am content with my schedule and glad that I waited. I know who to eat dinner with and how to handle the ebb and flow of midterms. I have established a life for myself in Hanover. By waiting until winter term to truly get involved, I gave myself time to adjust. As I’m sure all fine Thayer engineers would attest, I found that building a stable foundation is more important than getting the job done quickly.
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ISSUE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
LAYOUT: Grayce Gibbs
SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth
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What does Dinesh D’Souza’s visit to campus mean for the community? Last night, Dinesh D’Souza ’83 gave a talk in Filene Auditorium entitled “A World Without Walls.” He has espoused controversial views in the past, and his presence sparked student protests. What does Dinesh D’Souza’s visit to campus mean for the community? D’Souza’s invitation by the College Republicans signals the degree of alienation that the group feels from the broader Dartmouth community and the degree of support and reliability they believe to have within their ranks. D’Souza was a controversial figure while he was a student here, and his career has continued along a similar trajectory full of fear-inspired vitriol and contradictions. I’m sure that he genuinely believes his brand of conservatism to be the best way to energize the Republican base, but I think that were he to take a moment to listen to anyone outside of his bubble he would realize that politics of hate and mistrust are no way to organize a society, nor bring people together. -Theodore Hill-Weld ’20 Content aside, Dinesh D’Souza’s talk was a flimsy one. It touched on too many subjects at once to say anything substantial, and if an idea was followed to its logical end (which rarely seemed to happen), its path was a convoluted one. This point was noted during the Q&A portion of the talk by an audience member. D’Souza then acknowledged the decentralization of his talk, but defended its fragmentation by saying that this was likely the only time that many of the audience members would be exposed to views such as these. He had to pack it all in. This means that on this campus, when shoddy argumentation purports a controversial message, both the structure and the content are justified by the fact that they are “unique.” Does this then mean that the College should accept (and fund) speakers who don’t do the intellectual legwork to craft solid arguments simply because what they are saying is uncommon? Perhaps the real reason students are so seldom presented with arguments like D’Souza’s is that they are so easily dismantled. -Frances Mize ’22 What we have here is a conservative speaker, with a great many controversial statements, views and past actions, coming to this campus to speak to students at a promoted event. On the one hand, this could merely be an opportunity for the College Republicans to gain publicity and exposure through a provocative visitor in the hopes of furthering the conversation on campus, and benefitting Dartmouth’s closet-conservatives by showing them that they are not alone in their views. On the other hand, this event may be a statement by the College Republicans to deliberately divide our campus even further, lessening the opportunity for the advancement of open-minded, rational and tolerant discussions. I believe the intention was the former, but the more probable result is the latter. Bringing a speaker with a problematic past and views situated at the far end of the spectrum might not be the best way to create an environment conducive to open conversation — and this is the bigger problem at hand. Dartmouth is a campus with a liberal
bend, getting uncomfortably close to a consensus that works against many students’ cherished free speech. What all sides of this campus should be working toward is not promoting their own views, but instead encouraging a better atmosphere for each other: one in which students can speak their minds within an accepting setting and learn from the ensuing conversation. Dinesh D’Souza will not help this cause. -Jillian Freeman ’21 The D’Souza talk will mean little for the Dartmouth community because D’Souza and his protesters cared more about cultivating their personas than exchanging their ideas.The political theater of the progressive protesters was clear: They wanted to be seen decrying and disrupting a “fascist” speaker. They also hoped he would tacitly admit to his “bigotry” or “shame” or other deplorability in front of an audience. D’Souza’s political theater was subtler but equally counterproductive for campus discourse. As D’Souza’s self-promotional video at the beginning made clear, D’Souza wanted to be seen as a rogue intellectual fighting progressive censorship of the truth. He opened the event with an analysis of “The Road Less Traveled” by Robert Frost to give the event a veneer of intellectualism, but his speech was too unstructured and incoherent to adequately explore any of the issues he touched upon. He chose to compete with protesters for “gotcha” moments at the expense of many curious students who had good questions about the substance of his work. In short, the talk was not an intellectual discussion of historiography. Unfortunately, this event was nothing more than self-reinforcement for self-proclaimed culture warriors who debase our discourse. -Steven Adelberg ’21 Dartmouth College’s allowance of Dinesh D’Souza’s address illustrates the administration’s continued commitment to diversity of thought and the challenging of popular opinion. Notwithstanding the various layers of problematic content D’Souza promulgates, the College should be applauded for its valiant goals. Although one can wish the idyllic, accepting, inclusive Dartmouth community could be entirely representative of the broader world — it simply is not. Dartmouth students must learn to exist in a polarized environment. Part of that education is identifying which beliefs make us uncomfortable, and mastering the art of protest and productive discourse. Without a conflict of opinions present on campus, such an exploration will not exist. After the visit of two controversial Republicans in less than two terms, it is clear the administration isn’t changing its tune too soon — so what does this mean for Dartmouth moving forward? It is crucial that we have systems in place at Dartmouth to make the presence of controversial guests a learning experience, rather than a divisive one. It is indisputable that D’Souza’s comments personally targeted a great part of our student population. We must have forums for groups to gather in solidarity, pages to post our thoughts and accessible, non-biased conversations. -Chantal Elias ’22
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Merger follows in national trend FROM MERGER PAGE 1
unless” the two organizations reach a “more definite agreement.” Input from the public as well as each organization’s board of trustees, federal and state regulators and the Bishop of Manchester — due to his association with the Catholic Medical Center — will contribute to the decision. “As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve,” DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center CEO Joanne Conroy said in a press release. “It is important for healthcare systems to evaluate how we can best serve our patients and communities and prepare for the future so we can continue to provide the high level of care that people expect.” DHMC is the only teaching hospital in the region and home to a cancer institute and children’s hospital. GraniteOne is a more communityoriented non-profit agency that also encompasses leading medical treatment areas. Eugene Nelson, Geisel professor of community and family medicine and The Dartmouth Institute specialist on health policy and clinical practice, noted that the merger is part of a larger national trend. “Large health systems are merging forces with other large health systems to increase the size of the population served, geographic reach, access to both primary and specialized services and access to coordinated health and community services,” Nelson said. UniquetotheDHHandGraniteOne merger is its potential to implement a more educational approach to health services in New Hampshire — in terms of teaching and research — due to the academic nature of DHMC, according to Nelson. According to Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Health board of trustees chair Vincent Conti in the press release, the merger of the two organizations will “ensure that we can continue to offer high quality, lower cost, New Hampshire-based care.” Conroy said that cost savings would occur through data-sharing and backend service combination. She noted that this would allow for a greater focus on patient care, especially access to specialty services. Ellen Meara, The Dartmouth Institute specialist on health policy and clinical practice and economics professor, noted that there were necessary trade-offs when merging heath systems. “Whenever there’s a merger ... the two have to coordinate and integrate to a larger scope to become more effective in the health care market,” Meara said. “You absolutely worry that there’s more market power on the part of that organization.” She said that benefits include sharing of resources, but prices may rise. “At the end of the day, you have to weigh the outcome of the benefits from being able to integrate resources, particularly in smaller places in New Hampshire and rural areas that may struggle with access to health care, and the increase in prices when they merge,” Meara said. “For 15 years, our two organizations have worked closely together to improve the lives and health of our patients and their families,” GraniteOne Health CEO Joseph Pepe said in a press release. In 2010, a merger between the DHMC and the Catholic Medical Center was denied by the state attorney general, due to a fear that the former would overpower the latter. There were
also concerns surrounding conflicting moral views of the DHMC and CMC regarding health care. These concerns were addressed in a Jan. 24 joint Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and GraniteOne Health press release that stated each organization would continue its current methods, with CMC continuing its “Catholic model of care.” “Health care is a deeply personal experience and it is important to assure all our patients that they will continue to receive the health care services they want and need, at the place and time they want them,” Conroy said. Resident of Mason, New Hampshire Katherine Gregg expressed her opposition to the proposed merger in a Concord Monitor opinion piece. Gregg wrote that she had “read with dismay” of the proposed merger. She wrote that she sees the merger as a monopoly-like domination the new conglomerate will have in the state. “What they refer to as efficiency — by which I think it commonly means rolling costs all into one — actually doesn’t help consumers,” Gregg said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “It doesn’t promote competition and therefore prices can go up. If there’s no competition, there’s no incentive to keep prices low.” “Combining systems would allow us to advance [our intended] vision, expanding access to primary and specialty care for all New Hampshire residents, including vulnerable patients and communities,” Pepe said. The two groups’ new website, forahealthiernh.org, boasts the phrase “together we are stronger” on its home page and informs visitors that their decision to merge was based on a precedent of “successful collaboration.”
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DARTMOUTHEVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
WEEKS 7 THROUGH 10
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
CECILIA MORIN ’21
TODAY 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Breakfast with the Arts: Featuring sculptor and visiting lecturer Joseph Montroy, Nearburg Gallery, Black Family Visual Arts Center
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Presidential Faculty Lecture: “New Space: Breakthrough Innovations for Space Science,” with professor Robyn Millan, Filene Auditorium, Moore Hall
TOMORROW 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Conversations and Connections: A discussion with Barayuwa Mununggurr and Gunybi Ganambarr, artists from the Northern Territory of Australia. Hood Musem of Art
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m
Recital: Dashon Burton, bass-baritone, and Annemieke McLane, piano, Faulkner Recital Hall, Hopkins Center for the Arts
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m
Charles C. Jones Seminar: “Motivational Environments: Advancing Transdisciplinary Strategies for Experiential Learning, Human Centered Design and Innovation,” Dr. Winslow Burleson, New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing associate professor, MacLean Hall, Thayer School of Engineering
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Review: ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is a nostalgic debut novel B y Florida Huff The Dartmouth
I grew up in the south, and some of my most vivid childhood memories took place on the sandy shores of the Atlantic or in the pristine saltwater marshes on the Carolina coast. I was always captivated by the raw beauty in these environments: sunlight bending through Spanish moss, the great arc of a blue heron in flight, hundreds of fiddler crabs scuttling across the mud flats and the gentle lapping of waves at low tide. The sheer abundance of life clustered within the marshes always astounded me. They were their own little sanctuary, sheltered from concrete high-rises and boisterous tourists, having just the right conditions to foster an entire ecosystem. When I first read the description for “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens, I was suffering from homesickness and desperate for a taste of my southern roots. Set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina from the 1940s through the 1960s, “Where the Crawdads Sing” checked all my boxes for the perfect winterim novel: historical fiction, a female-centered narrative and a way to satisfy my craving for
home. I picked up the novel on my way to visit a friend in North Carolina, and I was immediately hooked by the emotive nature of the protagonist’s story. The lushness of Owens’ prose rendered “Where the Crawdads Sing” utterly enthralling; I couldn’t put it down. “Where the Crawdads Sing” depicts the coming-of-age story of the “Marsh Girl,” a secluded young woman named Kya living in the marshes of Barkley Cove, North Carolina. Kya grows up with an abusive father and a mother caught between taking care of her children and pursuing a life free of violence and poverty. When Kya’s mother ventures into town dressed in her finest clothes and fails to return, Kya faces the first of many abandonments in her young life. Soon the rest of Kya’s family leaves Barkley Cove, and Kya at nine years old, illiterate and barely able to cook grits, is forced to fend for herself. Despite all odds, resilient and resourceful Kya finds a way of life in the marsh. Mother Nature becomes her new mother: a nurturing presence, a great protector from the harsh world outside Kya’s marsh home and a tutor in lieu of formal education. At age 15, Kya falls in love with a local boy named
Tate, who teaches her how to read. When Tate leaves for college, Kya finds herself abandoned again, and she retreats even further into her marsh haven. But several years later, Kya’s lover Chase Andrews, Barkley Cove’s golden boy, is found dead at the foot of the town’s water tank, and Kya can no longer keep the outside world from infringing upon the life she’s created for herself. By far, the most outstanding quality of “Where the Crawdads Sing” is Owens’ ability to seamlessly capture the raw beauty of the Outer Banks. Although “Where the Crawdads Sing” is Owens’ first fiction novel, Owens is the author of three nonfiction books detailing her career as a wildlife scientist in Africa, and her skills in nature writing definitely transferred to this novel. I finished “Where the Crawdads Sing” feeling like I had spent a blissful few days in the marshes, utterly transported back to my childhood days of spying for herons and catching sand crabs with my bare hands. But I was equally swept away by Kya’s story, whose rawness took my breath away at moments. I empathized with Kya’s curiosity, strength and natural intellect. I ached at her profound sadness over the loss of her family, her
disillusionment with love and her inescapable identity as an outsider. I’ve read countless stories with female protagonists, but the emotional depth of Kya’s narrative stood out to me and kept me turning the pages, eager to delve deeper into her story. “Where the Crawdad Sings” emphasizes the importance of human connection, as Kya’s personal relationships throughout the novel take on a greater weight due to the extent of her isolation. I found Kya’s familial relationships most compelling; although they are gut-wrenching, these relationships authentically portray the devastating and lingering effects of abuse, poverty and neglect. In contrast, the love story between Kya and Tate is timeless and sweet. Although their relationship reads like a young adult romance at times, it’s age-appropriate for the teenage characters, and the patience and eagerness with which Tate teaches Kya how to read gives their connection a greater depth. The novel alternates timelines throughout the majority of the novel, switching from Kya’s childhood in the 1940s and 1950s to the investigation of Chase Andrews’ murder in 1969. I wasn’t initially very drawn to the murder
mystery narrative in the novel, as I was impatient to return to Kya’s story. Overall, I don’t think the murder storyline in “Where the Crawdads Sing” was as wellexecuted as it could have been; the detectives were bland, the investigation was slow to pick up and this section couldn’t measure up to the vivacity of the rest of the novel. However, Owens does an excellent job of building tension throughout Kya’s trial, and by the reading of the verdict my heart was beating out of my chest. The trial reconciles Kya’s reputation as a feral marsh-dweller with the reserved and intellectual version of Kya readers have come to know, tying in Kya’s coming-of-age story with the novel’s salacious murder mystery. “Where the Crawdads Sing” drew me in with its promise to nurture my nostalgia for home, and the novel most certainly delivered on that promise. But by the end of the novel, Kya’s story touched me just as much as Owens’ ode to the marshes. The novel is immersive on all fronts: a fascinating story about love, loss and survival, an authentic depiction of the intricacies of rural Southern life and a homage to the uncontainable beauty of the Outer Banks.
Review: ‘Tangerine’ parallels a relationship with a revolution B y Lucy Turnipseed The Dartmouth Staff
“Tangerine” by Christine Mangan transported me beyond my world. I felt like I knew how the ghostliness, both the good and bad tangles of history, feels in Tangier. The book brought the feeling of standing on top of Phoenician tombs, gleaming white against the azure of the intersection of the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans alive; I felt like I could feel the layered history beneath my feet and the physical manifestations of syncretic culture present before my eyes. “Tangerine” has opened my eyes to the restlessness and nervousness that welled in the crowded medina of the city during the mid-twentieth century. The book introduced me to the oppressing yet sweet heat. The spirit of the backdrop is ineluctable in “Tangerine” by Christine Mangan, and that is only the story’s locale. The story also undulates with its descriptive settings, passing between the snowy Green Mountains of New England and Morocco. Further, readers know how it feels to be both protagonists, Lucy Mason and Alice Shipley, and can think how they think and anticipate their reactions before their
eyes even meet the words on the page is sure to produce is as complicated that tell them. as life itself. Instead of a sappy, sad The story opens with Alice living movie that elicits the same biga newly constructed life in Tangier, a picture thoughts about humanity, newly-wed in an about-to-be-newly- however, each and every word is freed country. It is a life that Lucy utterly personal. would live perfectly but one that That personal feeling Alice fears. While Alice’s life is not accompanying every word is exciting, it is relatively stable at the precisely what gets the reader beginning of the wrapped up in story, only to be the history that “It is not that this book upset by Lucy, is brought to life who comes from is simply enthralling, in “Tangerine.” her anonymous The depiction but the strange life in New of the role York. Arriving relationship between of women in i n Ta n g i e r, the two women at the societies across she drags the world at this up the pair’s center of the narrative time of colonial tumultuous past pulls at something unrest, right in Vermont and when power deeper.” slowly initiates dynamics were the reader into changing across their shared the globe, is history. The manipulation and especially poignant. Contrasting in atrocities they went through are many ways, but perfectly parallel only matched by the connection and for the plot, Mangan provides an overwhelming magnetism they have intimate portrait of the changing with each other. tides of colonialism and gendered It is not that this book is simply dynamics. enthralling, but the strange At times, the extreme frailness relationship between the two women of one half of the female duo and at the center of the narrative pulls at the seemingly psychopathic mind something deeper. Their impossible of the other seems exaggerated. dependency is dangerous to both, but While it is true that one person is not the mutual destruction their kindred purely one thing or another, the way
in which Mangan highlights these market days happen regularly, with characteristics makes a statement locals going about their routine about the way women are almost business. But there is a restlessness forced into singular roles by society. to the group. When they leave However, the pair also seem too their regular roles behind at night, aware of their emotions, more in they are protesters, activists and tune with the celebrants of w o r k i n g s o f “I thought I knew their impending their mind and how one word or a freedom letting their sensations loose in the than the average simple phrase could streets and person. opposing foreign be evocative of Beyond these rule. inconsistencies history, but Mangan Life goes on, w i t h r e a l i t y, pushed me to think as Mangan M a n g a n illustrates, that one word could definitely creates e ve n i n t h e characters that, be capable of this m o s t u t t e rl y on the surface, — and this word destructive would appear moments of n o r m a l t o can connect anyone the novel. But s o c i e t y. T h e who understands there is always only outward more happening her narrative to that d i f f e re n c e i s under the veneer that one wears history in a personal of togetherness trousers daily, way.” with which most which is one hint are primarily of Lucy pushing acquainted. I the envelope. thought I knew Mangan’s parallel plots of the two how one word or a simple phrase women and the colonial liberation could be evocative of history, but movement in Morocco converge well Mangan pushed me to think that one toward the end of the novel. The idea word could be capable of this — and of a surface reality and an alternative, this word can connect anyone who true undercurrent of chaos is also understands her narrative to that seen in the streets of Tangier; history in a personal way.
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
Film Thoughts: What is the enduring power of the cult classic? its themes for days, but ultimately, it won me over with charming characters and perfect casting. It As we find ourselves hurtling didn’t hurt that the film is set in toward the already contentious Seattle and I’m from the Seattle 91st Academy Awards ceremony, area — although I must admit I think it might be time to that Seattle has never looked that take a break from our regularly consistently sunny. scheduled prog ramming and Regardless, I want to focus on tackle a seemingly unrelated two aspects of the film that intrigue question: Why do we like cult films? me most. Firstly, I was extremely Before we proceed any further, familiar with “10 Things” before though, we need to come up with a watching it precisely because working definition for “cult film,” the film has such a specific yet or we’ll just be stuck here going fervent fan base. In my personal in circles for days. Because the experience, that fan base was the parameters tend to vary greatly group of kids in high school who based on who you ask, I’m going to did drama and thus loved the film opt for a fairly broad definition and for its Shakespeare connection. argue that cult films are those films For the uninitiated, “10 Things” that tend to be is essentially an a d o re d by a adaptation of group of fans — “A great many cult “The Taming no matter how films, however, are of the Shrew” small — even set in a 1990s if the film itself incredibly flawed, yet high school. isn’t generally these flaws tend not to Secondly, the regarded to film frequently matter all that much be that wellwalks a very fine made. To be to the audiences that l i n e b e t we e n clear, we’re not covet these films.” odd and bad. talking about This fine line so-bad-they’reis especially good films like evident in “The Room,” relation to all which certainly qualifies as a cult of the Shakespeare connections. film in a different sense. Yet when it The general plot of “The Taming comes to a film like “The Room,” of the Shrew” is adapted fairly most of the enjoyment comes from seamlessly, but the film insists on how very bad the filmmaking is. drawing attention to its literary There is an inverse relationship roots in a variety of inorganic between overall amusement and moments. Somewhat objectively, overall quality. A great many cult these moments aren’t particularly films, however, are incredibly good and stick out like a sore flawed, yet these flaws tend not thumb because they aren’t better to matter all that much to the integrated into the film as a whole. audiences that covet these films. That being said, this is exactly the I’m favoring this unconventional element that appeals to so many definition of “cult film” largely people about “10 Things.” because this article was inspired T h u s, I m i g h t d r a w t h e by three films that my girlfriend preliminary conclusion that people introduced me to during the past tend to forgive the flaws of cult few weeks. Specifically, we watched films precisely because those “Pretty in Pink,” “A Knight’s Tale” flaws add to their flavor. A prime and “10 Things I Hate About example of this paradigm might You.” You might argue that none be the ultimate cult film: “The of these movies constitute “cult Rocky Horror Picture Show.” films,” but I think that really speaks From a storytelling standpoint, to the broadness of the concept that film is a structural mess. But more than anything else. By and not only does that not matter to large, I enjoyed all three films, but the people who love the film, but I want to focus specifically on “10 I suspect that they wouldn’t love it Things.” Despite its many, many as much if the narrative was better flaws, I genuinely loved it. I could paced and executed. In a sense, certainly debate the pros and cons there seems to be an acceptance of the film’s gender politics and that cult films are the way they are
B y sebastian wurzrainer The Dartmouth Staff
because they couldn’t be any other often at odds with the cadence way. Admittedly, viewers might of the high school teen drama. often apply this same sort of logic And even though I found these to films that are simply considered elements to be distracting, I still “great” or “masterpieces.” But for found myself to be thoroughly those films, people accept them as engaged with the film’s often complete unto themselves because rather ludicrous drama. I can only they are aware of their quality; describe my viewing position while they are the way they are because watching “10 Things” as an odd they are great and thus should mix between ironic enjoyment not be any other and s incere way. Yet with cult enjoyment. films, it’s not as “The Oscars need And I suspect though fans can’t to do better at that may well acknowledge the b e t h e k ey acknowledging the flaws or oddities to cult films — they just don’t actual ‘best pictures’ in general; matter. It’s as if of the year, but they an ironic these strange little awareness of will never be able to films wouldn’t fill a film’s flaws a very specific account for those films yet a sincere c ultur a l ni che enjoyment that will one day be if they weren’t o f t h e f i lm exactly a s indelible cult classics.” in spite of imperfect as they and perhaps are. because of And as I think those very through it, this logic makes flaws. In a sense, great films perfect sense to me. “10 Things” transcend their flaws because is certainly flawed, and it would they’re great, while so-goodhonestly be a much stronger film they’re-bad films transcend their if it toned down its Shakespeare flaws by not transcending them at fanaticism. But I wouldn’t actually all, and cult films transcend their want it to do that. I enjoyed it flaws because without those flaws so much in part because the they would not be unique, and thus Shakespearean aspirations are less culturally relevant.
So, why bother to explore this topic during the lead-up to the Oscars? The honest answer is that I’ve been too busy watching “10 Things” to watch “Roma.” But the answer that makes me look more professional might go something like this: Cult films define the contours of the Oscars’ limitations. Film critics spend a lot of time complaining about how the Oscars nominate all the wrong films. Nevertheless, we tend to forget that the most impactful and influential films from any given year often won’t be those films that we consider to be objectively “the best.” The Oscars need to do better at acknowledging the actual “best pictures” of the year, but they will never be able to account for those films that will one day be indelible cult classics. In 1999, a Michael Mann film called “The Insider” was nominated as one of the year’s five best pictures. “10 Things” was released the same year. I’m sure “The Insider” is good; it’s probably more well-made than “10 Things.” But as far as I can tell, no one remembers it. Yet Heath Ledger singing and dancing to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” isn’t about to leave our collective cultural consciousness any time soon.
SNOW MUCH FUN ON OCCOM POND
NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Dartmouth students brave frigid waters to take the Polar Plunge, a beloved Dartmouth Winter Carnival tradition.