The Dartmouth 04/23/2019

VOL. CLXXVI NO. 22

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 67 LOW 43

OPINION

MIZE: LET’S GRAB A MEAL PAGE 4

ZAMAN: NOTRE DAME IN CONTEXT PAGE 4

ARTS

AUTHOR MARGARET ATWOOD DELIVERS LECTURE ON WRITING AND POLITICS PAGE 7

FILM THOUGHTS: EVERYONE HAS A GUILTY PLEASURE FILM, AND IT’S OKAY PAGE 8

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TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

NH legislature passes Amicus brief in SAE court ruling death penalty repeal highlights tensions in Greek life

B y Reilly Olinger The Dartmouth

On April 11, the New Hampshire Senate voted 17-6 to repeal the death penalty. With the House passing an identical version of the bill, House Bill 455, last month in a vote of 27988, the legislature has the necessary two-thirds majority to override a potential veto from Gov. Chris Sununu (R).

If approved, this will make New Hampshire the 21st state in the U.S. to abolish

the death penalty, following Washington in September 2018.

HB 455 would change the state’s punishment for capital murder from death to life imprisonment without parole. Last year, the House and the Senate both voted for the repeal but did not have the necessary votes to override Sununu’s veto.

Following last November’s midterm elections, in which Democrats gained control

SEE DEATH PENALTY PAGE 3

DDS employee raises funds for experimental paralysis treatment B y REBECCA NICOL The Dartmouth

Swiping in and greeting students at ’53 Commons, Dawn Fandino has interacted with most members of the D a r t m o u t h c o m mu n i t y.

U n b e k n o w n s t t o m a ny people, Fandino has rightside body paralysis from a hemorrhagic stroke she suffered six years ago, which has resulted in life-altering effects for Fandino and her family.

On April 7, Fandino’s partner of 13 years set up a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of a stem cell treatment that could potentially increase her quality of living. The c a m p a i g n h a s c u r re n t l y reached $1,190 of its $7,600 goal, with many of the donations coming from Dartmouth students.

Fandino has worked as a greeter at the Class of ’53 Commons since last August.

SEE FANDINO PAGE 5

ARYA KADAKIA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

An April 2018 amicus brief from three fraternities challenged Hanover’s position in its case against SAE.

B y HANNAH JINKS The Dartmouth Staff

Last month, the New Hampshire Supreme Court largely ruled in favor of Hanover in the case of New Hampshire Alpha of SAE Trust v. Town of Hanover. As part of that case, in April 2018, three Dartmouth fraternal organizations — Phi Delta Alpha Corporation, Zeta Association of Psi Upsilon and Trustees of Alpha Omega Chapter of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity — filed an amicus brief arguing that the town of Hanover unlawfully delegates governmental authority to the College, an abutter who may have a vested interest in obtaining Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s property.

The Court’s ruling addressed

this concern, but the existence of the amicus brief highlights a campus climate in which tensions remain high between the College administration and Greek organizations affected by the ruling.

In the March ruling, the Court remanded back to the Hanover Zoning Board Association the decision as to whether SAE itself qualifies as an institution.

According to Hanover director of planning, zoning and codes Robert Houseman, the ZBA defines an institution as either educational, religious or governmental. If the ZBA determines that SAE is an institution, the chapter house will no longer violate the town’s Amended Zoning Ordinance, which requires student residences

to “[operate] in conjunction with another institutional use.”

Despite the ruling, the pending case and amicus brief highlight prevailing issues regarding the relationship between fraternities and the College. Since 2015, Dartmouth has revoked its recognition of two private fraternal organizations — Alpha Delta and SAE — and witnessed the charter revocation of Sigma Phi Epsilon. The departure of these houses “[has] raised fears of a campaign against fraternity culture,” according to a 2017 Valley News article.

As discussed in the amicus brief, many affiliated students operate under the belief that their property rights exist “at the SEE SAE PAGE 3

PAGE 2

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Q&A with geography professor Justin Mankin B y KYLE MULLINS

The Dartmouth Staff

Justin Mankin is an assistant professor of geography at the College who specializes in climate change and climate modeling. A Norwich, VT native, he attended Hanover High School before attending Columbia University to study political science.

He worked in the intelligence services overseas before returning to academia, studying economics and environmental science at the London School of Economics and Stanford University. Mankin completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Just this year, he published two papers, one on the relationship between climate change and violence and another on the causes of increased rainfall in the southeastern United States.

Could you talk about your time in the intelligence services before you came to Dartmouth?

JM: So after college, I worked as an intelligence officer deployed overseas for a few years, a lot of which was in Afghanistan. That was the thing that piqued my interest in this role of the physical climate system and how it shapes possibilities for people. I was part of this post-9/11 recruiting boom that the intelligence community did when everybody needed to be forward deployed and supportive of these two massive war efforts that were going on in Iraq and

Afghanistan.

I realized pretty early on that it wasn’t a career for me. I liked the field work component, and I liked being out working with people, but I wasn’t convinced that I was doing good. So, with the support of my employers, I went back to graduate school at the London School of Economics, where I studied development economics and development studies and global politics — the politics of globalization. That kind of broke down some myths about this notion of globalization as this rising tide that’s going to lift all ships and how it was actually generating a lot of systemic inequities, not just across countries but within countries as well. It gave me a lens through which I could reinterpret my experiences on the ground in these words.

Some of your past research has been on the relationship between climate and violence.

Can you tell me more about that?

JM: If you just take the data about violence and temperature, and you do some statistical modeling on it with econometric methods, it emerges that warmer temperatures increase the likelihood of violent conflict. The two are related. And if you were to say, “Let’s control for GDP,” or, “Let’s think about why climate is positively selecting for violent outcomes,” it turns out that’s when things get really, really messy.

It becomes very hard to process to trace a changing climate — say, a

CORRECTIONS Correction appended (April 21, 2019): The April 16 article “Students say C3I policy draft rollout offered few feedback opportunities” stated that the proposed live hearing might be removed from the final policy; however, only aspects of the hearing related to posing questions to opposing parties might be modified in the final policy.

The online version of article has been updated to reflect this change.

Correction appended (April 22, 2019): The headline of the April 22 article “Women’s rowing dominates over Harvard in lone home regatta,” incorrectly said that the team defeated Harvard, when it defeated Boston University. The online version of the article has been updated to reflect this change.

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

warmer temperature — and how that actually manifests as somebody’s decision to pick up a gun and fight.

So it’s a background factor more than a direct influence?

JM: Unclear. Is it a permissive cause?

Is it a proximate cause? Somebody who’s investigating the recent Syrian drought and its relationship with the Syrian Civil War may say that it was a straw that broke the camel’s back. But against the background of very legitimate political grievances in the region, that same drought of that same magnitude in a different location at a different time — or even in the same location at a different time — may or may not have contributed to violence. The weather doesn’t give people guns and teach them how to shoot them, right?

The weather doesn’t necessarily give people political grievances, but what is clear from the data is that there is this relationship and the precise nature of that relationship is really challenging to tease out.

Your current research focuses on climate modeling. If you had to explain these models to someone with no background in climate change, how would you do so?

JM: The most fundamental thing is that we can’t conduct a controlled experiment on a planetary scale, so we use models of the Earth’s system of varying complexity. Models are always reductions of reality, but we still require them because they force us as scientists to formalize and integrate and abstract important scientific concepts. They position us to test hypotheses that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to test.

There’s this exploratory modeling side to understand the physics of why a system behaves the way it does, and then there’s also this predictive side, which is increasingly where the climate community has gone. There’s this massive political imperative to say what the future is going to look like. The water manager wants to know. The owner of the Dartmouth Skiway wants to know.

COURTESY OF JUSTIN MANKIN

Mankin completed his postdoctoral work at Columbia University and NASA.

Climate models are essentially just big computer programs, some of the most complicated computer programs on earth. They’re just millions and millions of lines of code, and they’re national lab scale endeavors — the products of nations — not of individuals.

Climate change has been very prominent in the news lately, mostly due to United Nations reports and proposed policies like the Green New Deal.

What’s your take on climate change policy going forward?

JM: As a scientist, I try to make this distinction between my attempts to objectively describe the world as it is and how it may evolve based on our understanding of fundamental physics, versus my place as a citizen — a person with loved ones and as somebody who cares about equity and justice.

I think there are some massive, unanswered questions about what it looks like for a developing country to develop in a world where it can’t industrialize in the way that other countries did in the 20th century. You have this tension between human well-being and environmental wellbeing, but then the environmental well-being also shapes human well-being. How do you reconcile

those things for the billions in the developing world who have daily risks that are very different than here in comfortable Hanover, New Hampshire? What does it look like for those countries to develop in a way that that’s equitable but also doesn’t do this kind of planetary insult?

I definitely think it’s up to the big polluters to change course.

They’re the ones who have the ability to do so from a technological perspective. The point is, from a citizen perspective, something big needs to happen. In the absence of that, it’s going to be these kinds of emergent policies at the local scale: cities trying to reduce their own carbon footprints, individuals trying to reduce their own carbon footprints. It seems like it’s a drop of the bucket, and maybe it is from a carbon accounting standpoint, but it’s about shifting a generation’s understanding of their role in shepherding the earth. If we start to raise people with an understanding that their choices matter, then I think there can be an emergent place where it’s commonly accepted among your generation of people that, yeah, of course we need to mitigate climate change.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Brief alleges College’s derecognition authority is unlawful FROM SAE PAGE 1

whim of Dartmouth’s unilateral and discretionary decision-making.”

On Feb. 5, 2016, Dartmouth revoked its recognition of SAE after the national charter of the Dartmouth chapter was suspended. A week later, the Hanover ZBA notified the SAE Trust that the chapter house was in violation of the town ordinance. The ZBA further stipulated that SAE must discontinue use of the chapter house or pay daily fines. SAE appealed to the ZBA — the beginning of a long string of appeal cases, each of which favored Hanover on almost all accounts. Eventually, the case reached the New Hampshire Supreme Court, where the 2018 amicus brief was filed.

An amicus brief is a legal document filed by a non-litigant — the amicus curiae — that provides information

relevant to the pending case. Attorney Sean Callan ’90, who represented the amici curiae in development and filing of the brief, said the Latin term “amicus curiae” translates to “friend of the court.”

“Other parties, who contend that the result or outcome of a particular case will impact them, are permitted to file a ‘friend of the court’ brief,” Callan said. “[Phi Delta Alpha, Psi Upsilon and Beta Alpha Omega] house corporations were interested in the outcome of this case because they are houses subject to the same zoning ordinance as SAE.” The amici curiae asserted the College’s unrestricted de-recognition authority amounts to an unlawful delegation of governmental authority.

The brief cited the Dartmouth Corp. of Alpha Delta v. Town of Hanover case, in which the Court construed the ordinance to require that a fraternity

“have some union, association or combination with the College.” In other words, a student residence must operate in conjunction with the College to remain in compliance with the ordinance. The amici curiae stated that once Dartmouth revokes its recognition of a fraternity, the chapter house no longer fulfills this provision.

Absent procedural protections, Dartmouth’s de-recognition authority allows the College to make conclusive determinations about property owned by private fraternal organizations.

Furthermore, the amici curiae argued that the College’s de-recognition of SAE was “at best arbitrary, and at worst, part of a premeditated plan to acquire the [chapter house].” The brief also stated that the current delegation of power violates U.S. and New Hampshire Supreme Court precedent.

The New Hampshire Supreme

Court responded that de-recognition is not the “sole determinant” in assessing compliance with the Ordinance. Instead, private fraternal organizations must prove that they broadly “operate in conjunction with an institution.”

“This case doesn’t fully cede zoning authority to the College because the [phrase] ‘operates in conjunction with another institutional use’ could mean more than just recognition,” Callan said.

“The court followed that intellectual pathway to avoid answering whether this was an unlawful delegation of governmental authority.”

Attorney Laura Spector-Morgan, who represented the town of Hanover before the New Hampshire Supreme Court, said recognition tends to indicate “conjunction.”

“Conjunction must be demonstrated by the fraternity, and is usually demonstrated by recognition by the

College,” Spector-Morgan said. “Neither the [ZBA] nor the courts have defined what other facts may be presented to demonstrate conjunction.”

Some affiliated students do not believe the current administration threatens the institution of Greek life at Dartmouth.

“I think there are tense feelings between the administration and other Greek houses,” Eric Forehand ’21 said.

“But I don’t think [those feelings] will crumble the institution of Greek life on campus.”

He continued that many of College President Phil Hanlon’s reforms, including the creation of alternative social spaces, have not gained traction.

“If the administration really wanted to [end Greek culture on campus], they would have taken more drastic measures by now,” Forehand added. “I don’t see Greek social culture ending anytime soon.”

Repeal bill passes with veto-proof margins in both chambers FROM DEATH PENALTY PAGE 1

of both chambers, the House and the Senate acquired the necessary majority.

The state hasn’t executed an inmate in 80 years and currently has only one inmate on death row — Michael Addison. Addison was sentenced to death in 2008 for the 2006 murder of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs. Although the repeal would not apply retroactively to Addison, Mark Chase, president of the New Hampshire association of chiefs of police, believes that Addison’s sentence will soon be converted to a life sentence. He added that death penalty in New Hampshire has only been used rarely.

“We have a pretty good record of not just throwing [the death penalty] around,” Chase said.

N ew H a m p s h i re c u r ren tly permits the death penalty under certain circumstances: murder of a member of law enforcement, a judge or a prosecutor while in the line of duty; murder committed during a robbery, aggravated felonious

sexual assault or kidnapping; murder related to drug offenses; contract killing; and murder after already being sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Sen. Bob Giuda (R-Warren) said he is not in favor of the death penalty and believes that the current circumstances that merit the death penalty are not equitable.

“We place a greater value on the lives of certain citizens than others,” he said. “An ordinary citizen’s life being taken isn’t worth the death penalty. I have a problem with that.

A life is worth no more or less than any other.”

Giuda said his decision to support the repeal comes as a result of his Catholic faith as well as what he calls his “consciousness” of the imperfections of the American legal system. He said he is concerned with the discrepancy of legal capabilities between the poor and the rich, the politics of death penalty trials and the frequent exonerations of people on death row.

“It is better that nine guilty men should live than one innocent person should be put to death,” he said.

Sen. Tom Sherman (D-Rye), shared the same concer n for potentially innocent people being put to death. In addition to the moral cost, he expressed distaste for the monetary cost of the death penalty. Millions of dollars are spent on appeals and trials, according to Sherman. He additionally noted that New Hampshire does not have a death chamber to conduct executions and would need to build a new one for any future executions.

“I can think of a number of places where that money is better spent,” he said.

Sen. Harold French (R-Franklin), Giuda, Sen. Martha Hennessey (D-Hanover) and Sherman all said they believe that the repeal will have few tangible effects on daily life in the state but see symbolic and moral value in the repeal.

“It creates a moral and ethical standard for our state that is clearly the high ground in how we treat people and how we value life,” Sherman said.

Hennessey added that many people find the death penalty to be antiquated and logically unsound.

COURTESY OF CAN STOCK PHOTOS

The legislature has enough votes to override a potential veto from Governor Sununu.

“[The death penalty repeal is] absolutely necessary and long past time,” she said. “I don’t see why we kill people who kill people to tell them that killing people is wrong.”

French believes that Addison will soon be serving life in prison rather than facing death but said that he believes a lifetime prison sentence

is enough of a punishment. “[We would be] doing him a favor by putting him to death,” he said.

“We have a motto in the state: Live Free or Die. Who wants to live in a six-by-nine foot box forever because of what you did? Gives you every day of your life to realize why you’re there.”

PAGE 4

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

STAFF COLUMNIST FRANCES MIZE ’22

STAFF COLUMNIST RANIYAN ZAMAN ’22

Let’s Grab a Meal

Notre-Dame in Context

What does it mean to sit down and eat at Dartmouth?

As Notre-Dame burned, the world’s other tragedies remained ignored.

We arrive at Dartmouth in all our intensity own way a kind of spectacular thing. Who has and meet an equally intense schedule. The the social wherewithal to constantly be asking D-Plan does not let its presence go unnoticed: strangers to lunch? We have taught ourselves It smothers both our academic and social lives. how to sit down with someone who may be As we are broken into quarters, with breaks in a perfect stranger and enjoy lentil soup from between each quarter, our time here is sectioned Collis in our reusable bowls. And we may well off from itself. In my own experience, this makes have an engaging conversation before rushing each term, each parcel of time, feel like its off to our 2A. own lifetime. Each quarter I think that these seems to have its own meals, as our anchors narrative arc framed by “I think that these to one another, should its clear beginning and its meals, as our anchors be treated delicately. ever-looming end. And that matter how deep a to one another, should No transforms the way we think conversation may be, a oneabout our relationships be treated delicately. off conversation doesn’t with one another. That No matter how deep a result in a relationship. said, what I term as the And at the rapid pace that “let’s grab a meal” mindset conversation may be, the D-Plan sets, there are is a clear case study of the a one-off conversation a lot of opportunities at problems that result from this school to get to know doesn’t result in a this transformation. people and then lose track Many of us here live relationship.” of them. I myself have had strange lives in which most amazing meals with people of our eating experiences I will never know beyond happen in one of four places around campus. the confines of a harshly-lit light side booth.

At this school, the meal is an island of calm, That is a problem. In our fast-paced a holy ground that we inexplicably choose to Dartmouth lives, we need to be wary of turning share with strangers. That cool guy from your people into human representations of that one class? You need to get to know him — ask him to time you ordered stir fry. Relationships take get a meal as soon as possible. The nice girl you time to become true and meaningful, and time admire from that club meeting? Grab a meal is something that we should relish at a school with her stat. There are so many interesting that aggressively tries to that it from us. If we people at Dartmouth, and with people wanting truly care about our time at Dartmouth, we to get to know interesting people, that “let’s cannot just carve it up and parcel it out to get a meal” might as well be carved into the strangers. We need to dedicate our time, and Baker Lobby floor. ourselves, to more than just getting a meal I think the “let’s get a meal” mindset is in its sometime.

Solemn crowds of Parisians gathered was responsible than healing, donation and on April 15 to watch as one of the city’s the affected community. greatest icons, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Similar tragedies have also recently burned. The news sent shockwaves around the afflicted other religious communities. Exactly a world and has prompted month before Notre-Dame immense sorrow for one “But for an incident caught fire, 50 Muslims of the greatest emblems were gunned down while of France and a marvel of in which no one died praying in Al Noor Gothic architecture. and barely any art was and Linwood mosques Notre-Dame has stood Christchurch, New damaged, the reaction in the test of time, prominently Zealand. It took thousands featuring in centuries has been, to say the of small donations for the of French history. That least, overdone. Media total to reach almost two a fire could diminish its percent of what has already grandeur is understandably outlets have churned been promised to Notreupsetting. But for an out headline after Dame. And there are plenty incident in which no one of other places on the globe headline about the died and barely any art where billions of dollars was damaged, the reaction fire.” could go, such as towards has been, to say the least, efforts to repair the Rio de overdone. Media outlets Janeiro National Museum have churned out headline after headline or aid for the ongoing Yemeni famine. about the fire. President Emmanuel Macron The issue isn’t just an international one. promised that Notre-Dame would be rebuilt Indeed, there are plenty in France itself who “even more beautifully.” could use an extra billion euros. There’s No doubt, Notre-Dame will rise again. definite irony in French President Emmanuel But many other symbols of worship and Macron’s choice to forgo his policy speech living religious communities don’t have this and focus on the Notre-Dame fire. His luxury. They aren’t benefiting from the same speech would have focused on France’s resources, time, and tears that are being Yellow Vest protesters, who believe that the poured into this piece of architecture. Barely French government is neglecting its working two days after the cathedral began to burn, class. These concerns have led to widespread Notre-Dame had already been promised rioting and have sparked a national debate. over €1 billion. Meanwhile, tragedies that But Notre-Dame somehow took precedence. took lives aren’t being met with the same That said, in light of what has happened at outpouring of support.

Notre-Dame, people have This past Easter Sunday, “Barely two days after begun re-examining their suicide bombings in Sri local communities with Lanka targeted several the cathedral began to fresh eyes. Within hours Catholic churches and burn, Notre-Dame had of the fire, donations to hotels, killing 290 people predominantly black already been promised three and injuring over 500 churches in Louisiana more. The victims’ families, over €1 billion. that were damaged by the ruined churches and Meanwhile, tragedies arson reached almost $2 their grieving communities million. Perhaps the most deserve the same and that took lives aren’t remarkable thing about more respect, empathy and being met with the Notre-Dame is its duality: resources as the material In its centuries overlooking same outpouring of symbol of Christianity in Paris, the cathedral has France. But it would seem support.” witnessed both dictatorship France’s luxury industries and revolution, tyrants and and wealthiest individuals liberators. If Notre-Dame’s — the bulk of Notre- Dame’s current donors burning can inspire and sustain a surge of — can’t be bothered. The reaction from the conscientiousness for legitimate tragedies, then rest of the world has been comparatively slow. this disaster may just be the most important And media coverage has focused more on who chapter of its history thus far.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Fandino’s position with DDS is first since her stroke six years ago FROM FANDINO PAGE 1

Fandino previously had a career in the apparel industry in New York but stopped working after her stroke.

After being unemployed for five years, she began work with DDS, her first position since the stroke; however, her condition has made her work difficult, she said. While working, she sits in a chair and uses her left hand to swipe student IDs. She also uses a cane to walk and has difficulty reading and spelling.

Fandino describes walking with paralysis as “dragging dead weight around.”

Fandino said the stroke caused bleeding in her left hemisphere basal ganglia, an area that governs movement and muscle coordination.

This resulted in right-side paralysis and also limited her physical and cognitive abilities. She said she hopes that an experimental stem cell treatment will help her regain some of the motor deficiencies she lost due to the hemorrhage.

The therapy she is interested in involves a set of injections given directly into the brain to regrow

the damaged neurons. Fandino said that the $7,600 the treatment would cost is not covered by insurance.

Being treated would require that she travel to a clinic in Boston or to her home state of Florida, according to Fandino.

The treatment Fandino is seeking arose from a 2016 trial which found that damaged caused by strokes can be healed with the injection of stem cells. Though experimental, the potential treatment has garnered optimism in the scientific community — but there are still many potential risks associated the treatment.

Although there is no guaranteed success from the procedure, Fandino said she believes that this is the only treatment available for her. She hopes that the treatment can help her walk without using a cane and perform other tasks on her own.

“If I get stem cell therapy, I would have use of this side of my body again,” Fandino said.

As a ’53 Commons greeter, she has touched many students simply by saying hello to them or asking about their day, according to Akash Seetohul ’22, who donated

to the page. He said that during his freshman fall, Fandino would always cheer him up by saying hello, as he walked into ’53 Commons.

“I also worked with her at ’53 Commons ... and she was very sweet to me,” Seetohul said. “I had no idea about her medical issues because she is always cheerful.”

This positive attitude makes Fandino beloved by the Dartmouth community, according to DDS director Jon Plodzik. He added that Fandino is a “wonderful” representation of DDS. “Dawn is enjoyed by many of our students, as I often see her talking to them about classes, projects and life plans,” Plodzik noted.

While being interviewed, Fandino was busy greeting students, many of whom recognized her and said hello.

“I want to make people feel good even when I’m not feeling good,” she explained.

She works on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and goes home to rest for the remainder of the day after her shift. She said that she believes that getting access to this

ANOTHER DAY INN PARADISE

ADRIAN RUSSIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Hanover Inn is often a hub of activity given its central location on campus.

COURTESY OF DAWN FANDINO

As a greeter at the Class of ’53 Commons, Fandino swipes in students and visitors.

treatment means that she could do things that many people take for granted, such as working, showering or even trimming her nails on her own.

As for the donations of the

GoFundMe page, Fandino is grateful for all of the contributions she has received thus far.

“Dartmouth has rallied behind me in ways I never expected,” she said.

PAGE 6

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2019

DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Exhibit: “Let’s Get Lunch: An Exhibit for the Discerning Palate,” sponsored by the College Library, Class of 1965 Galleries, Rauner Library, Webster Hall.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Seminar: “Metals Toxicity: Understanding Susceptibility and Underlying Mechanisms,” sponsored by the Geisel School of Medicine, Auditorium H, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.

Lecture: “The Energetic Universe in Focus: Twenty Years of Science with the Chandra X-ray Observatory,” sponsored by the Department of Physics, Wilder Hall, Room 102.

5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Lecture: “Has Liberalism Failed? An Exchange,” sponsored by the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, Rockefeller Center, Room 003.

TOMORROW 12:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Discussion: “Creating Brave Spaces for Open Dialogue on FacultyLed Study Abroad,” sponsored by the Guarini Institute for International Education, Baker Library, Room 102.

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Pets: “Visit from Winston, VT Therapy Dog,” sponsored by the Student Wellness Center, House Center B.

4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Talk: “Look at Me in the Eyes! Artist Talk and Reception,” by Jorge Carlos Álvarez, sponsored by the College Library, Baker-Berry Library.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

PAGE 7

HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ begins its final season with a blast B y veronica winham The Dartmouth

Before winter break, I had never seen a single episode of “Game of Thrones,” let alone read one of George R.R. Martin’s novels. By the time break ended, I had seen almost the entire HBO fantasy series, not just because I was enrolled in the winter class, ENGL 53.6, “Game of Thrones: Reimagining Medieval History as an Allegory of the Present” with English and creative writing professor James Dobson, but because it’s the type of show that once you start, it’s near impossible to stop.

Once I finished season one, I started season two. Before I knew it, I was one of the many eager fans anticipating the release of season eight.

“Game of Thrones” is addicting.

Every season and every episode builds on the last and gets more unbelievably intricate. The dual plotline of Iron Throne politics and the battle of the living and the dead contribute to a fascinating and suspenseful series with many complex relationships. Balancing these two topics leads to inevitable deaths, even of the main characters, as showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss make no attempt to stick to the

stereotypical happy ending of the fantasy genre.

There was a lot of pressure on Benioff and Weiss coming into season eight, as they have countless plots to wrap up in the shorter span of six episodes, compared to the previous 10, especially considering how the first episode of season seven, “Dragonstone,” started the show off with a bang. In the opening scene of “Dragonstone,” Arya Stark takes revenge on the entire Frey family for the tragic Red Wedding, in arguably one of the most satisfying scenes in the entire show. The first and second episodes of season eight did not capture this same level of intensity and was disappointing to anyone expecting a major death or battle after the anticipation of waiting close to two years (from late August 2017 to April 2019) for the final installment.

The main focus of “Winterfell,” the first episode of the eighth season, was tying up several loose ends by reuniting characters who haven’t seen each other in seasons. Though many of these reunions were happy, a few of the new encounters were very uncomfortable, and not just because of Bran’s constant presence as the Three-Eyed Raven.

While Arya’s reunion with both Jon Snow and Gendry Baratheon as well as

Theon Greyjoy’s resue of his sister Yara were heartwarming scenes, Daenerys Targaryen’s meeting with Samwell Tarly and Sansa Stark demonstrated tension among the allies.

Daenerys, formerly a fan favorite for her passion, determination and three (now two) dragons, gave in to her arrogance and desire for control, coldly telling Sam how she killed his family for not obeying her and threatening Sansa.

Depicting a massive turning point in Daenerys’s character arc, it seems as though she is set up to go power-crazy like her dad, the Mad King. Meanwhile in King’s Landing, resident villain Cersei Lannister gives in to Euron Greyjoy’s advances in a move unlike her powerful character, but that might have significance later on in the season.

In my opinion, the scene where Sam finally tells Jon the truth about his lineage is too brief. Jon just discovered that he is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne in arguably the most anticipated and important moment of the entire episode, and yet the conversation only lasted a few lines.

In contrast, a scene that lasted far too long was the dragon riding scene, where Jon and Daenerys ride to a magical waterfall over the clouds. The

cinematography was beautiful, and the scene would have been great in any other show or movie; it was, however, very unlike “Game of Thrones.” This fantastical, happy scene is soon followed

by Lord Ned Umber being found dead, pinned to a wall as a White Walker. The limbs surrounding Lord Umber were arranged in a spiral pattern similar to previous episodes, raising the question of why the Night King took the time and effort to communicate this specific message and what it means.

The second episode of the season was very similar and proved that “Game of Thrones” is choosing to make a slow transition to an intense finale. Not to give too much away as this episode just came out on Sunday, but there are more reunions, such as Brienne and Jaime’s, and crucial revelations made by Daenerys and Bran. Tyrion and Jaime face consequences for their past actions, and the White Walkers are ready to attack Winterfell, as they approach The Wall at the suspenseful end of the episode.

Also, my favorite character, the direwolf Ghost, finally makes an appearance.

In keeping the gore and suffering at a surprising minimum in the first two episodes, “Game of Thrones” shows its trademark unpredictability, as this

relatively calm Westeros will inevitably not last much longer. While viewers might be lulled into a false sense of security for now, as Ramsay Bolton once famously said, “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”

Benioff and Weiss showed little regard for keeping fan favorites alive when they killed off main character Ned Stark in the first season, as well as Stannis Baratheon and the many victims of the Sept of Baelor explosion and the Red Wedding.

The first two episodes might not have been the exciting, intense premiere that many fans were hoping for, but it did set the stage for a powerful season. Getting a lot of the reunions out of the way early gives me a lot to look forward to moving on and raised my expectations for the following episodes, such as the White Walker battle that will occur in the next episode.

The “Game of Thrones” premiere got a record 17.4 million viewers for a reason, and I have a feeling that the showrunners are building to a large climax. While it may be slower than some would have wanted, it will be worth it in the end to see who will sit on the Iron Throne — if there is a Kingdom left to rule at all.

Author Margaret Atwood delivers lecture on writing and politics B y veronica winham The Dartmouth

On April 18, Margaret Atwood, a novelist, poet and activist best known for her critically-acclaimed novel and subsequent Emmy award-winning Hulu TV remake “The Handmaid’s Tale,” gave a public lecture at the Spaulding Auditorium through the Dorsett Fellowship Lecture Series, a program that seeks to bring practitioners and scholars of ethics to campus.

At the lecture, Atwood was wellreceived for her witty and engaging discussion emphasizing the importance of protecting and furthering human rights such as gender equality as well as causes such as environmental protection to fight climate change. Atwood, who said she is well-versed in U.S. politics even though she is a Canadian citizen because she frequently writes about the

U.S., used her literary work and her personal experiences to comment on the warning signs in the current political climate.

According to Atwood, governmental control of women and babies is a sign of oppressive regimes, a concept she explored through her writing. She said her exploration of this subject was heavily influenced by her experiences traveling to countries under the Iron Curtain, where people lived in fear. For example, in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” published in 1985, Atwood described the dystopian setting as a place with “no cell phones, social media or lattes,” in which women are treated like property: as handmaids forced to fulfill what is considered their main purpose, to carry children, subject to the oppresive rules and harsh punishments of a totalitarian government.

“I create dystopia in literary forms,”

Atwood said during the lecture. “I leave it to the government to create the real ones.”

Atwood also commented on her passion about the issue of climate change, specifically citing soil regeneration and forest regeneration as cheap and effective ways to subvert carbon emissions. She also expressed interest in the Green New Deal, a plan promoted by some liberal Democrats to achieve 100 percent renewable energy in the U.S. by the year 2030. Atwood has incorporated her beliefs about the importance of the environment in her writing as well; she wrote the “MaddAddam” trilogy which is set in a once-lush society that was ruined after being overtaken by corporations, genetic enfgineering and worldwide plaugue.

Suitable for a writer who weaves her literary work with her political passion, Atwood said her philosphy in novel

writing is that every novel should serve the dual purpose of instructing and entertaining. As a result, readers can be interested and engaged from the start throughout the text, facilitating their understanding of the novel’s main, underlying message. She said that authors can leave a much more distinct impression on their readers than they may think, so writers must consider moral implications when writing dystopian fiction.

Due to her prolific influence in both of her passions, political activism and writing, Atwood is considered a “rebel symbol.” She has written 17 books of poetry, 16 novels and eight children’s books; her work spans numerous genres and has been translated into multiple languages and mediums, many of them with political themes. The influence of her work is evident; she has won the PEN Pinter Prize for her political activism in

life and in work, along with two Governor General’s Literary Awards — one for “The Circle Game” and another for “The Handmaid’s Tale” — as well as the Booker Prize for “The Blind Assassin.”At women’s marches and protests, women have worn red and white outfits inspired by the television interpretation of “The Handmaid’s Tale” to physically express their frustrations with sexism and subjugation, mirroring those in the fictional dystopia Atwood created.

It is important to have authors like Atwood come to Dartmouth to not only share their works, but also discuss the impact that they have had on other communities and the philosphies that their experiences have shaped.

According to Atwood, she has learned many lessons through watching how her works serve as symbols in human rights movements, and these lessons were invaluable gifts to the audience.

PAGE 8

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2019

Film thoughts: everyone has a guilty pleasure film, and it’s okay B y sebastian wurzrainer The Dartmouth Staff

Everyone loves bad films. We may pretend not to or try to justify this preference, but at the end of the day, we all have at least one guilty pleasure film.

Of course, the very notion of a “bad film” is contentious because no method of film criticism has the capacity to be purely objective. That being said, I still contend that everyone has the tendency to love films that we personally deem to be “bad” but elicit a distinct sense of enjoyment in us nonetheless.

Indeed, last spring, I risked lighting my non-existent reputation at this illustrious college newspaper on fire by writing an extended apologia for the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy (“Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith”). Yet that’s just the tip of my “guilty-pleasures iceberg.” Lest you need any more fuel for that fire, allow me to assert that I also love “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions.” I have seen each of the seven films listed here multiple times, whereas I’ve only seen Best Picture winners like “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” “No Country for Old Men” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” only once each.

Although it may be fun to write a self-effacing article in which I expose my occasionally “poor” taste in films, my interest in this topic is actually a little more abstract. My articles for The Dartmouth have increasingly transitioned away from straightforward film criticisms toward paradigms related to film history and film theory because the latter two approaches need not care about the quality of any given film

conceptually. Moreover, given that my interests pertain to understanding the ideological and psychological impact of cinema on individual spectators and society, I think it’s essential that we don’t limit our application of these paradigms and models to films that cultural discourse has deemed the worthiest.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that people should be allowed to love and hate whatever film they want, no questions asked. There’s definitely a problem if, for example, you claim to enjoy a film like “The Birth of a Nation” despite its blatant racism or fail to acknowledge the historical importance of “Citizen Kane” just because you don’t happen to like it. It is always essential to critically examine that which you love, lest you unreservedly consume and internalize any of its less savory ideological elements (to be clear, all film is always ideological). Nevertheless, outright dismissing people’s enjoyment of films that may typically be viewed disdainfully is bad film scholarship.

Thus, it is both reasonable and worthwhile to ask: Why do we occasionally love films that we know aren’t very good, while simultaneously having trouble engaging with certain films that we know to be quite excellent?

Let’s start by examining my own love for the seven films I mentioned above. At first glance, one might notice that the “Star Wars” prequels, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequels and the “Matrix” sequels all have a key characteristic in common: they are follow-ups to beloved films that were surprise hits upon initial release.

Moreover, each of these seven films was also made by the creative team that produced the original. In response to a demand from studios and audiences, each of these filmmakers opted to build on their original vision with sprawling, epic and messy tales that

disappointed fans precisely because but tend to get overlooked. By contrast, they were needlessly convoluted. “good” film classics have their flaws This observation might point to my overlooked. For example, there is a scene personal preference for convoluted in the midst of “The Wizard of Oz” speculative fiction. But I don’t think wherein Dorothy and the Scarecrow my odd taste does all that much stumble upon some talking trees and to illuminate any broader cultural the Scarecrow has to figure out how to paradigms at work here. After all, I trick them so he can get some apples. despise “Batman v Superman: Dawn From a narrative perspective, this scene of Justice,” yet that film is also a clear contributes next to nothing, but no one example of convoluted speculative would be inclined to question it because, fiction. The difference between well, it’s “The Wizard of Oz.” The “Batman v Superman” and the seven willingness of so many people to turn films listed above is that “Batman v a blind eye to these kinds of moments Superman” is broken at its very core. in beloved classics while ceaselessly Allow me to explain. Essentially, probing equally ambitious but less all bad films have a “best” version of admired films suggests to me that there themselves embedded deep within are two distinct modes of spectatorship their DNA — an at work here: ideal that the film viewing films as wanted to be and/ “Though approaching opens systems or or could have films as open systems viewing them as been, yet the final closed systems. product failed to has its flaws, it To illustrate, live up to, thanks also ensures that popular discourse to a concoction of tends to frame we hold ourselves poor filmmaking classics like choices.

Of appropriately “The Wizard course, sometimes accountable when of Oz” and that “best” version “Casablanca” as still isn’t very it comes to who “closed systems.” good, like the creates the media we Even elements case of “Batman that we may consume.” v Superman,” not like we tend which aspires not to question to be a film that because we just would have been terrible regardless of assume their existence a priori. The the wrong turns made in production. “Star Wars” prequels, however, tend By contrast, the “Star Wars” prequels, to be framed as “open systems.” We the “Pirates” sequels and the “Matrix” acknowledge that the films are works sequels although also “bad,” aspire of art created by human decisions, to be thoughtful, ambitious films manipulations and inclinations, thus indelibly marked by the very specific, we wonder to ourselves why director idiosyncratic and frankly admirable George Lucas decided to use so much visions of their respective filmmakers CGI or incorporate a character which makes them appealing. as insufferable as Jar Jar Binks.

Furthermore, these seven “bad” films My contention here is not that contain a host of positive elements that we should simply view all films as are readily available for appreciation closed systems. Though approaching

films as open systems has its flaws, it also ensures that we hold ourselves appropriately accountable when it comes to who creates the media we consume. For instance, a closedsystems approach would regrettably never allow us to contemplate that the filmmakers behind “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” decided to retain actor Johnny Depp even after his repulsive domestic abuse allegations.

Likewise, the medium of film has no room to grow if we don’t approach individual works as open systems that all have the capacity for improvement.

However, only through a closedsystems approach can we properly acknowledge that easily dismissed films often have more to offer than we realize. The political subplots interwoven throughout the “Star Wars” prequels have rightfully received criticism for their poor pacing and tonal dissonance relative to the rest of the films. Yet as I noted in my apologia, when taken on their own terms, these subplots are conceptually fascinating and reflect Lucas’s left-wing politics and his subsequent fear that fascism poses a genuine threat to the stability of democracy (which feels awfully relevant right now, wouldn’t you say?).

At the end of the day, I don’t necessarily think it’s healthy to overly monitor which approach you use when watching a film. But once the dust has settled and the time has come to think critically about the experience, I contend that a compromise position might be ideal. Be sure to probe the film; ask why certain decisions were made and what impact those decisions had on the film’s narrative, technical and ideological elements. But also spare a thought for meeting the film on its own terms. Because narrative, technical aspects and ideology exist there too, just not always in the way you might have originally anticipated.