MIR ROR 05.02.2018
ACADEMIC RIGOR: THE WORDS WE DON'T SAY | 3
WORD ETYMOLOGIES YOU DIDN'T KNOW | 4-5
THE DAY THE D.J. DIED: WHAT AVICII LEFT US | 8 BELLA JACOBY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
2 //MIRR OR
Editors’ Note
Mentorship in the Upper Valley STORY
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
This week is an ode to the alphabet, to words. The alphabet is one of the first things we learn as children, symbols permanantly etched into our minds as we carefully traced the letters on colorful construction paper. This is where we begin. Twenty-six letters and a childhood song, and all of a sudden the world is a new place. Finance (yes, you read that right) lies at the origin of our modern alphabet. Sort of. Historians believe the Phonecians helped found our modern alphabetical system. Needing a way to keep track of their finances, the Phoenecian merchants of the Mediterranean widely utilized a new system of writing where each symbol represented a sound. Sound familiar? The alphabet is everywhere. It’s made its way from the shores of the Mediterranean to the pages of medieval manuscripts, to our computer screens and even to our soup. So read on!
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5.2.18 VOL. CLXXV NO. 28 MIRROR EDITORS MARIE-CAPUCINE PINEAUVALENCIENNE CAROLYN ZHOU EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ZACHARY BENJAMIN PUBLISHER HANTING GUO EXECUTIVE EDITOR AMANDA ZHOU
By Zachary Gorman
Most would agree that children the world outside of the Dartmouth it’s a city or rural community, is super invaluable because you get a chance deserve all the help that they need campus. in order to develop into their best “[It] reminds me that Dartmouth to have that community outreach selves. Still, it may be surprising just is a really special environment where and understand a little more about how many programs Dartmouth there’s a lot going on and people where you’re from and where you’re has for college students that are are really intense … and I just love going,” McIlwain said. “And I think dedicated to working with local absolutely love these kids,” Nomof that it’s a tendency of Dartmouth youth. The six youth education and said. “They are hilarious and really students to come in and be like mentoring programs recognized smart and they’re kind of like my ‘Okay, I’m here for four years and by the Center for Social Impact — friends. I can’t imagine not seeing I’m going to leave in four years.’ But actually making roots and having America Reads, DREAM, Growing them twice a week.” Change, Outdoor Leadership By exploring the Upper Valley and building a community within Experience, SIBS and spending … is powerful and will definitely be and Summer i m e w i t h something that, as I graduate later “With [America Reads] ther Enrichment at DREAM this term, [I will] take with me to my Dartmouth — you can get away m e n t e e , next location. To find people who I offer Dartmouth from the campus for M a d i s o n can help there.” Though these experiences and students a variety McIlwain ’18 of ways to help a little bit, working believes that lessons are valuable to members children in and with the kids, knowing she has gained of youth service groups, nothing around the Upper valuable social surpasses the joy of helping the that there’s so much children they work with. Valley. awareness. “It’s so rewarding when working What makes more than your life at “ I yo u t h s e r v i c e [Dartmouth].” think it can with the kids,” Tran said. “The kids programs so be good to be love for you to come over. So every popular and aware of the time I come in, the kids will get so w e l l - l i k e d a t - THUYEN TRAN ’19, needs around excited. They run from their seats Dartmouth? the community and they come and hug us … So you INCOMING STUDENT Some believe that that you are know when you there, you’re there the answer lies DIRECTOR OF in,” McIlwain because they really wanted you. And in Dartmouth’s DARTMOUTH AMERICA said. “ I that rewarding feeling never goes isolation. Due to wouldn’t have away.” McIlwain believes that her the Upper Valley’s READS realized the relatively sparse poverty in this actions and experiences will remain population, the area if I didn’t of great importance going forward. “It’s important to have things College’s youth service groups have to see it firsthand. [My mentee] often travel well out of town has moved three times since I’ve in your life that are not for you,” in order to tutor and mentor known her ... she is so resilient and McIlwain said. “DREAM is stressful, it exhausts me, I don’t love it 24/7. Upper Valley children. Thuyen I’m so proud of her.” Tran ’19, the incoming student As Dartmouth students living But it’s not about me, it’s about director of the work-study tutoring in Hanover, we may see our [my mentee] … To have that kind program America Reads, believes surroundings as a place of affluence of legacy in a relationship with this can have a positive influence on and privilege. In many parts of someone that’s not for you, but for Dartmouth students’ outlook on the the Upper Valley, however, that is them, is a life skill.” After reflecting on her time college experience. simply not the case. After discovering “T here are not a lot of this, some students feel a renewed in America Reads and DREAM, opportunities for you to get out of motivation to help out and share Nomof cannot help but extol the Dartmouth bubble,” Tran said. their love of learning with children the happiness that children can bring to a “With [America Reads] you can get in their community. Dartmouth away from the campus for a little bit, “We all want student. working with the kids, knowing that t o g i v e b a c k “I think it can be good “ I there’s so much more than your life t o s o m e t h i n g to be aware of the think people [at Dartmouth].” because this is our needs around the gravitate Venice Nomof ’19, a member of community,” Tran toward that both America Reads and DREAM, said. “[Eventually] community that you positive agrees that the travel involved you realize that the are in.” e n e r g y with these programs provides Upper Valley is not and that necessary respite from the College’s as flourishing as it atmosphere. can be in Hanover. - MADISON MCILWAIN ’18, o p t i m i s t i c outlook, “It’s so easy to get stuck in your So we have the DREAM MEMBER especially head while you’re here, and just access, we have the w h e n think, ‘There’s nothing outside of people, we have the midterm Dartmouth, there’s nothing outside opportunity and we season hits of Hanover,’” Nomof said. have the resources and you’re DREAM, a mentorship program to give back to the really having started in 1999 that connects c o m mu n i t y. S o individual Dartmouth students that’s why we have this whole entire a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Nomof said. to nearby children in low-income Center dedicated to it.” communities, requires a long drive McIlwain believes that through “You go off campus and you get each week for student mentors to her time working with DREAM she fingerpainted all over your body meet up with their young mentees. has learned lessons that will help her and you’re just like, ‘It’s okay if the midterm doesn’t go very Nomof believes that the long drive after she graduates. from campus to the children’s “Getting plugged into any well because the world is full of schools gave her a nice glimpse at community that you’re in, whether incredible things.’”
Academic Rigor: The Words We Don’t Say STORY
MIRROR //3
By Kylee Sibilia
You hear the words “I’m fine” all the time at Dartmouth. It’s part of the lingo, the same as words like “Foco” and “facetimey.” It’s just something we say. Whether we’re inundated by three midterms over the course of 48 hours, four extracurricular meetings in a single day or a crisis at home that we are unable to deal with, when someone waves at us across the hall and asks how we’re doing, the vast majority of us respond with the same two words. Dartmouth is hard. That’s a pretty simple concept to grasp at first; it’s what we all signed up for, after all. But when you delve more deeply into what exactly makes a school like this one so challenging on a day-to-day basis, the situation becomes a little more complicated. Dartmouth has been one of the most highly rated academic institutions in the country for a while now, but in 2015, the College’s pedagogical approach was altered to put even more emphasis on the importance of learning. On Jan. 29, 2015, President Phil Hanlon announced his Moving Dartmouth Forward implementation plan, a key aspect of which was what was initially called “academic rigor.” This plan proposed to “require more from students in classes and consider ways to increase the rigor of the academic experience, such as curbing grade inflation,” with the eventual goal that “students are 24/7/365 learners and intellectual pursuits take precedence over activities that lead to high-risk behavior.” In the classroom, the concept of academic rigor did not necessarily result in any immediate, earthshattering ef fects. Professor Christopher Snyder, chair of the economics department, noted that his department had already been aware of the growing problem of grade inflation prior to the implementation of MDF and that he and his colleagues had already taken steps to address that problem. “Before [MDF], some colleagues just took a look at the grade distribution and saw that this is something we should keep an eye on, so as a department we just set up some guidelines,” Snyder said. “They’re non-binding. In fact, faculty are free to grade any way they want. I think it just sent the message that we were concerned about grade inflation.” In the economics department, these guidelines take the form of suggested medians for each class the department offers, with prerequisite classes having lower medians than core, elective and culminating classes. According to Snyder, these guidelines were published before the announcement of MDF, but the two initiatives sent the same
message: grade inflation is a problem at Dartmouth. It is still early to measure empirical data on the success of MDF at curbing grade inflation, but a study conducted by College Pulse on the concept of academic rigor gives us some insight into how students have changed the way they view the learning process over the course of the last three years. Out of the 478 Dartmouth students who responded to the survey, 45 percent said that they thought academic rigor had increased during their time as an undergraduate. However, from a student’s perspective, it seems that the plan’s impact on grade inflation has been negligible. While 37 percent of Dartmouth respondents said that they thought grade inflation had decreased during their time at the College, 37 percent also said that they thought it had stayed the same. This is consistent with Snyder’s assessment of the academic experience at Dartmouth, at least in the economics department. “We’ve always prided ourselves on that,” Snyder said. “That it was rigorous before and rigorous after.” The consistency of the rigor of classes at Dartmouth is relentless; it’s one reason that excessive stress is such a big problem for so many students here. Director of the Student Wellness Center, Caitlin Barthelmes, dissected the relationship between academic pressure and mental health on a college campus. “I think there’s definitely a bidirectional relationship between mental health, stress and all the other things happening in our lives,” Barthelmes said. “We know that academics can certainly be a primary source of stress for our students. They’re here to learn, and a lot of their time is spent in the classroom and working on classwork, so it makes sense that this super component of people’s lives may hold more weight and therefore may actually contribute to more stress in their lives.” Part of the stressfulness of academic life at Dartmouth stems from its speed. When there are only 10 weeks in a term, each term can feel like a pressure cooker for students. Sophia Domingo ’20 spoke to the rapid nature of the quarter system. “Everything is so fast-paced at Dartmouth,” Domingo said. “So it’s hard to stay on top of your classes, and still get sleep, and stay healthy, and have a social life and not be a hermit.” According to the survey, 96 percent of Dartmouth students said that they agreed with the statement that the College is academically challenging. Again, this number is probably unsurprising to most of us.
But as Barthelmes explained, that number means more than what we might think when we first see it. “I was talking about this b i d i r e c t i o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p, ” Barthelmes elaborated. “And the reverse is also true. We know that students report that the things most negatively impacting their academic performance include stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems and also concerns for friends and family members.” With classes that result in excessive stress and lack of sleep that subsequently results in reduced academic performance, it is clear that mental health is a problem at Dartmouth. Fortunately, the College has a variety of resources available to students who seek help. Barthelmes elaborated on some of these resources. “Services may look anything like a one-on-one appointment like a wellness check-in, or a BASICS session where we can talk about reducing drinking or making changes around other kinds of dimensions,” Barthelmes said. “We have things like workshops around mindfulness, yoga sessions, and then we also work with our campus colleagues around some of those different policies and practices that can influence students’ wellness.” Beyond the scope of the Student Wellness Center, Dartmouth also offers counseling services through Dick’s House. In contrast to the variety of resources funded by the College, mental health in the culture of student-life at Dartmouth is much less prevalent. Jenna Salvay ’20, who recently attended the Ivy League Mental Health Conference at Princeton University, addressed the disparity in student-led mental health awareness groups at the College. “This might be an exaggeration, but I remember Yale being like, ‘Yeah we have like twelve students groups,’ and all of them had at least three,” Salvay said. “It was kind of weird for us to go up there, and when we were presenting what we had at Dartmouth we were like, ‘Well, we don’t have any of that.’ And I could just see the other schools being like, ‘Hmm, that’s kind of weird,’ but that’s why we went to the Conference in the first place.” Barthelmes also acknowledged the lack of openness at Dartmouth in terms of conversations between students concerning mental health. “We know that from some of the data we’ve collected from the Dartmouth Health Survey that many of our students do feel like there’s not free and open discussion around emotional and mental health,” Barthelmes said. “I think
DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The first floor of Berry Library is one of the most popular study spaces on campus.
that’s something that both students and staff and faculty and all of our community members are hoping to change in the near future.” Salvay is part of a group of students that is trying to change the way people approach mental health at Dartmouth. They have recently organized a student organization specifically oriented towards addressing mental health, with goals like placing a mental health and wellness chair within each major student organization at Dartmouth in order to increase advocacy, as well as working with the DALI Lab to create a new student app to give students easier and quicker access to mental health resources. “It’s called ‘Unmasked,’ and it’s an anonymous peer support listening app,” Salvay explained. “It lets students connect with other professional resources. Basically student listeners who are trained will reply to students, and we’ll have set hours when people can go on, and if we’re not online they’ll be able to turn to other resources.” Progress like this is encouraging, but Salvay acknowledged that the College has a long way to go before the campus climate is accommodating to those facing mental health issues. “I feel like it’s something that could continue to be worked on,” Salvay said. “I feel like here, it’s kind of that weird thing where people are like, ‘Yeah I have so much work, I’m so stressed.’ But when it gets really real, like, ‘No, I’m actually really sad,’ or like, ‘I really don’t feel that good,’ then it’s like people don’t talk about that kind of thing. And it makes you feel overwhelmed, but it also makes you feel like you’re the only one experiencing it.” Dartmouth is certainly not the only college facing these issues, as Barthelmes emphasized. “If you look at national data,
across the board, college students are seeing increases in mental illnesses, mental health disorders and things like depression and anxiety,” Barthelmes said. “So we’re not alone in this, and I think it’s honestly a public health problem that colleges across the nation and the world are really paying attention to and trying to apply best practices for how do we help our students.” In addition to Dartmouth students, the survey was also available to other students in the Ivy League. Out of the1,009 respondents, 97 percent said that they found their university to be academically challenging. When asked whether respondents prioritized social life or academics more, 57 percent of respondents opted for academics, and 11 percent chose social life. Only 32 percent prioritized both equally. Dartmouth is not alone in its struggle to create an open and supportive conversation about whether or not the way students choose to spend their time is healthy. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t do better, nor that we shouldn’t expect more. The text of MDF published on the Office of the President’s website says we should be “24/7/365 learners,” but I disagree. I think we should be learners when we can, which is most of the time. But I also think we should be adventurers, Good Samaritans and healthy human beings. I think we should be friends to each other. And if that means taking minutes, hours or even days out of our lives to do something as simple as sit on a couch and talk to each other about how we’re feeling, then I think that’s what we should do. Even if that means setting aside that textbook or that problem set, we should do it for the simple reason of needing to rest our brains and focus on a different kind of mental activity.
4// MIRROR
Ten Word Etymologies Y STORY
The Avocado Craze is real. The ahuacate, the Aztec form of everyone’s favorite overpriced fruit, had been an important part of the Central and South America diet dating back to 500 B.C. Around the early 1900s, the ahuacate made its way to the United States, but California farmers found the fruit hard to market to Americans because of its difficult pronunciation in English. To make things even worse, it was also the Aztec word for testicle, based on its shape and the belief it was as an aphrodisiac. The farmers decided to rename the crop “avocado,” and the rest is history. So the next time you see yourself tempted to buy an avocado at Collis, perhaps knowing the origin of the word will save you some DBA.
The word disaster stems from the French word “désastre,” which is derived from the Old Italian word “disastro.” All three variations of disaster evolved from the latin “dis” and ancient Greek “astron,” which together was interpreted as “bad star.” The ancient Greeks studied astronomy and the cosmos, so “disasters” are due to some unfavorable alignment of the universe. If your life seems to be utterly falling apart mid-week seven, blame the stars.
The word muscle comes from the Latin word “musculus,” meaning “little mouse.” “Musculus” was used as the medical term for muscle because some believed the muscles resembled mice. More gains, more mice?
By Nik
Don’t we all like to be called nice? Looking back Nice comes from the Latin “nescius,” which me in the late 1300s, nice began to refer to things th to people who were well dressed and put togeth it does today and was used to describe sophistic
The word awkward is one of my favorite adjectives, and I of two parts: “awk-” and “-ward.” “Awk” stems from an wrong way.” The suffix “-ward” is a directional word from and you get something awkward: “turned toward turning away from awkward situations.
Adulthood is jobs, taxes and mortgages, and frankly, it does not sound too appealing. Needless to say, the word mortgage itself is scary. However, its etymology may be even scarier. It is derived from the Old French for “death pledge.” Proof that finances are truly the death of us. Can we please just stay in college forever?
MIRROR //5
You Probably Didn't Know
khita Hingorani
It was seriously funny seeing my professor clearly confused as we sat in the deafeningly silent classroom. Oxymorons, phrases in where seemingly contradictory terms appear in conjunction, are the gems of the English language. The roots “oxys,” standing for sharp or keen, and “moros,” standing for foolish, make the word oxymoron itself an oxymoron. Those Greeks were just too smart.
k at the etymology of this word, maybe we should think again. eans “ignorant,” and was used to call someone a fool. Starting hat were considered luxurious. By the 1400s it was used to refer her. A century later, nice began to have similar connotations as cation.
I use it to describe just about everything. It is built n Old Norse word that translates to “turned the m Old English’s “-weard.” Put these parts together g the wrong way.” No wonder we just want to walk
Whether it’s an endearing childhood name or a recently developed label that will never be lived down, most people seem to have some sort of nickname — for better or for worse. Around the thirteenth century, a nickname was known as “ekename”, meaning “additional name.” Ekename stems from the Middle English word “eke,” translating to “an addition.” In Medieval script, words were often written so close together that it was hard to tell where one began and another ended. The articles “a” and “an” preceding words often got mixed up. This shift in the original word occurred around the 16th century, shifting from an “eke name” to slowly becoming a “neke-name” and now “nickname”.
I can’t express the number of times I’ve tried to make a sarcastic joke but instead ended up unintentionally offending the other person. Sarcasm comes from the late Greek word “sarkasmos.” This word is derived from “sarkazein”, meaning “tear off the flesh.” This takes the term roasting to quite the extreme. I’m glad the standards of sarcasm have toned down a little since then.
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. We’re on our last word, which means we’ll have to soon say goodbye. This classic parting address has its roots in the late 16th century as a contraction of the phrase “God be with you.” In letters it was often shortened to forms that resemble archaic texting abbreviations, such as “Godby’e” and “God b’w’y,” which eventually resulted in the “goodbye” we use today. AMANDA ZHOU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
6 //MIR ROR
‘53 Commons: More Than Just A Dining Hall STORY
By Jacob Maguire
E a c h d a y, t h o u s a n d s o f Dartmouth students enter the Class of 1953 Commons, the College’s premier “all-you-care-to-eat” dining facility. However, few may consider the behind-the-scenes action and extensive planning that goes into running ’53 Commons. According to Jon Plodzik, director of Dartmouth Dining Services, dining on campus should not solely focus on providing food to students. “Dining at Dartmouth isn’t just a process for eating,” Plodzik said. “It’s a social experience for students, and we at DDS strive to make those experiences as smooth and comfortable as possible for our customers.” The opening of ’53 Commons in 2011 was made possible by a $12 million gift from more than 250 alumni in Dartmouth’s Class of 1953. The space is designed to be conducive to social gatherings. Jennifer Nakhla, ’53 Commons manager, said that the furniture in the dining hall was chosen intentionally in order to facilitate various social interactions among students. “A long, square table definitely conveys a different sense of purpose than a small, round table,” Nakhla said. “We have tried to make different seating options possible for students so that they can eat with a friend while they work on a paper or visit the Commons with their whole track team.” Plodzik came to Dartmouth in September of 2016 from the University of New Hampshire’s
dining service. He sometimes jokes that if he didn’t believe in the importance of improving Dartmouth’s dining program he “would be in the Caribbean by now.” Plodzik is passionate about DDS and believes strongly in the program’s possibilities. “I love when students are excited to see what we have to offer,” Plodzik said. “I take great pride in our program.” While he is proud of Dartmouth’s current offerings, Plodzik emphasized that he always sees room for improvement. Although he likes Dartmouth’s “all-you-careto-eat” system in ’53 Commons, he hopes to make the program even more accessible by phasing out meal periods and allowing the dining hall to stay open throughout the day, among other changes. Prior to the “all-you-care-to-eat” program’s inception, Plodzik said that Dartmouth had an à la carte plan in which students had to buy food items individually at each of Dartmouth’s cafés and dining facilities. Plodzik views the Class of ’53 Commons’ “all-you-care-to-eat” dining service as “an equalizer,” as it ensures students have equal access to food at Dartmouth regardless of their economic means. “No student at Dartmouth should have to be hungry because they’ve run out of DBA for the term or meal swipes for the week,” Plodzik said. “We are trying to change that.” Similarly, Nakhla sees improving the dining options and listening to
DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Before the “all-you-can-eat” system was implemented at ’53 Commons, students were on à la carte dining plans.
student feedback as DDS’s “greatest priority.” She monitors the “thought box,” a box in which students can submit feedback and concerns, and also hosts a Student Advisory Committee meeting each term in Paganucci Lounge. According to Plodzik, the purpose of the Student Advisory Committee is to “gain global feedback” and “talk about big ideas” regarding the future of Dartmouth Dining Services. Plodzik said that some topics under discussion are modifying meal plan offerings, changing the structures of grilling stations around campus and possibly implementing a food
DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The Dark Side, the eating area of ’53 Commons known for its long rectangular tables, now also features circular ones.
vending facility at the soon-to-beconstructed Irving Institute for Energy and Society. Nakhla said that her favorite aspects of her position as a manager are having the abilities to work alongside her colleagues and improve students’ dining experiences when they enter the Class of ’53 Commons. “It makes my day when I can help students,” Nakhla said. “I like supporting staff members to provide a great service for students and I love seeing a student’s face light up, for example, when I give them a scoop of hummus.” However, Nakhla’s role at the Class of ’53 Commons does come with some challenges. “My biggest challenges are probably supporting staff members through change and building a framework for everyone,” Nakhla said. “I try to balance change with the regularity of daily operations and I also strive to inspire students each time that they come in.” Nakhla meets with her employees each day before their shift begins in order to facilitate communication and comradery. “Every day we have a staff huddle and go over what’s happening as well as upcoming events,” Nakhla said. “I also tell them bad jokes.” Alexandra Mena ’20, who worked at the Class of ’53 Commons during her freshman spring and sophomore fall before deciding to pursue other opportunities, agrees that Nakhla and the other supervisors strove to create a positive working environment. “Jennifer and my other supervisor, Gordon Wright, were super nice and were very understanding
whenever I was late to work due to an academic conflict,” Mena said. “The other employees were awesome too. My coworkers were really funny.” While employed for DDS, Mena scheduled her shifts on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays because it coincided best with her academic schedule. A typical day for her would consist of arriving at 6 p.m. and working until 10 or 10:30 p.m.. After arriving at work, Mena would generally clock in, put on her gloves and work in the dish room. Mena appreciated the positive working environment, the higherthan-average student wages and the frequent opportunities to earn overtime. However, she admitted that she found the position to be “tiring and more labor-intensive than anticipated,” especially during the “peak times” between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Despite its challenges, Mena believes the position strengthened her character and workplace skills. “I definitely lear ned time management and how to be organized,” Mena said. “I also learned how to work at a fast pace. Working for DDS definitely pays well and it allows [students] to take a mental break from studying. Overall, it was a good experience.” Mena will continue to cherish the friendships that she made with her coworkers in ’53 Commons during the two terms that she spent working there. “I really enjoyed getting to know my coworkers, and I say ‘Hi’ to them now whenever I go to [’53 Commons] because I got to know them,” she said. “[’53 Commons] got more friendly for me.”
MIRROR //7
HackDartmouth IV: Hackers in Hanover for 24 Hours STORY
By Cristian Cano
What does computer hacking mean? Today it can mean anything from using a computer to gain unauthorized access to information to simply accessing someone’s online credentials without permission, like when strangers “hack” Facebook accounts left logged in on public computers. Hackers are often depicted as technological geniuses whose rapidfire coding skills allow them to crack even the most secure of firewalls. Think secret government agents who are racing against the clock to disable a ticking bomb, unlock a secure facility or discover the whereabouts of criminals in hiding. Do hackers exist at Dartmouth? Yes, although maybe not quite how you’d expect. Instead of hijacking others’ computers, all one has to do to be a Dartmouth hacker is to participate in a hackathon. On Apr. 14-15, Dartmouth hosted its fourth annual hackathon: HackDartmouth IV. What exactly is a hackathon? According to the event’s website, a hackathon is an event in which “hundreds of programmers get together to build something from scratch, be it a website, app, or some other product of their imagination.” Admittedly, the hackathon definition of hacking is much looser than the popular one, as hackers create their own computer programs instead of taking over someone else’s. That doesn’t mean that these hackers’ work is any less important, however. Over the course of 24 hours, participants are tasked with envisioning and completing a computer program that will be judged based on set criteria, with the highest scorers winning prizes. E m i l y L i n ’ 1 8 , wh o h a s been involved with organizing HackDartmouth since its first year in 2015, was the director of sponsorship and marketing for HackDartmouth IV. She said that her main roles include spreading the word about the event and reaching out to potential sponsors, although this year she served more as a mentor to younger students who will run the event after she graduates. When asked about how HackDartmouth has grown since her freshman year, Lin said that size has fluctuated each year. The first year was a moderate size, but then the second and third years were smaller. This year, the size increased again, with Lin citing an extra 70 to 100 participants beyond what was expected. While the event’s growth has advantages, it also brings some unexpected challenges. For example, due to HackDartmouth IV’s especially high yield rate, the event’s
organizers didn’t have enough gear like t-shirts to distribute to everyone. “Throughout the years, we’ve had to learn how to coordinate better than before because the event itself has been getting bigger,” Lin said. Lin also explained how HackDartmouth used to be supported by Major League Hacking, an official student hacking league that provides collegiate hackathons with hardware, workshops and other resources. However, this year HackDartmouth lost that support, and consequently the number of applicants fell from between 700 to 900 to only around 400. According to Lin, this change was a result of Major League Hacking wanting to prioritize assisting new hackathons, while HackDartmouth has now had four years to become an established hackathon. Lin expressed how impressed she was, though, that HackDartmouth IV had a much higher retention rate despite a smaller applicant pool. Participants come from all over the globe. Many participants come from other colleges — some from all the way from California — and HackDartmouth was able to provide some students with travel subsidies to make the journey more financially feasible. Lin shared that this year, there was even a participant who flew all the way from the United Kingdom. Other than competing, students also come to the hackathon for a variety of other reasons. Some attend primarily to network with various company representatives. There are even participants who don’t want to stay awake for 24 hours but would rather just attend the various workshops on the itinerary. “Some people I know go to hackathons just to attend the workshops,” Lin said. “Maybe you don’t want to stay up for 24 hours, but you do want to learn something new. I think that’s something really exciting.” Teddy Ni ’19, a HackDartmouth IV participant, said that the event was his first major hackathon experience. He had previously participated in HackDay, a smallerscale 12-hour event tailored to beginning programmers but still felt like he went into HackDartmouth IV not really knowing what to expect. Ni and his teammates worked on a project called Plain Privacy, a Google Chrome extension that analyzes websites’ privacy policies and gives users the most important information. This allows users to have a better sense of how websites are using their data without having to sift through long policies with complicated jargon. Ni talked about how his team
COURTESY OF HACKDARTMOUTH
Competitors listen to a presentation during the fourth annual Hackathon, which was held from Apr. 14-15.
managed to collaborate and finish their project in such a short time frame. He admitted that figuring out the most efficient way to work together was sometimes a struggle, but they managed to find a system that worked well. Usually, one person was actively coding while the others were thinking and planning. While he and his teammates usually switched off between coding and planning, there was one member of their team that wasn’t a coder at all. “One person on our team didn’t really know how to code,” Ni said. “He was just really strong at math, so he worked through algorithms and showed us how the math would work out. We would code that for him.” Ni said that no one on his team had ever done a 24-hour hackathon before, so they weren’t entirely sure what to focus on. He admitted that they spent too much time working on eliminating bugs, but now he believes that during a hackathon, it’s more worthwhile to come up with a grand idea and fret less about the small details. Plain Privacy won the Sponsored Google Prize, and Ni has hopes to continue polishing the code and eventually publish the project to the Chrome Extension Store. Natalie Jung, the design resident at the Digital Arts, Leadership, & Innovation Lab, was one of HackDartmouth IV’s six judges. Due to her role in helping students develop a sense of design based on
both visual and user experience standpoints, she was asked to judge projects specifically for the digital arts category. Jung, who had never judged anything like a hackathon before, found the experience of going to each team’s table and learning about their projects rewarding. She said that several projects blew her away due to their originality, and she also appreciated the variety of perspectives that the groups exhibited. “My first question was always, ‘What are your backgrounds? Who are you?’” Jung said. “It was really a mix of people. My first reaction was just, ‘Wow, this is such a great, interdisciplinary group.’” When remembering projects that especially stood out to her, Jung praised students’ creativity. For example, she recalled one project named The Poetics of Space that combined poetry with 3D space. Another project that Jung talked about, RGB Symphony, used the red, green and blue values of pixels in an image to produce music. The color values of each pixel were used to determine the pitch, octave and duration of each note, and then all of the notes were played back to create a melody. The project won the Digital Arts category. “The very next day after judging, I came back and told everyone [in the DALI Lab] about the RGB Symphony,” Jung said. “It was such an interesting blend between music and … visual arts.”
Reflecting on the difference between the kinds of projects that her students work on in the DALI Lab and the projects that hackathon participants complete, Jung believed that the shorter time frame prevents students from holding back. She said that a 10-week term is already quite a short timeframe for completing projects, but in just 24 hours students aren’t “running” but “flying.” Jung, in her role as a judge, offered not just praise but also advice and constructive criticism. While she would have liked to see more visual clarity in students’ projects, she recognizes that students don’t always have enough time. Instead, she advises all students to always keep in mind a project’s target audience, platform and industry. “I think if [HackDartmouth participants] went into the projects knowing exactly who their users are, and knowing what platform they’re going to work on, then they can achieve great things,” Jung said. After hearing the perspectives of a HackDartmouth organizer, a participant and a judge, a common thread emerges: the importance of not being afraid to take risks and be creative. In a hackathon, hackers want to plant big ideas that might eventually grow into full-fledged products, or even mark the beginnings of a startup. As long as the idea is there, there’s no need for perfection. The code can always be polished later.
8// MIRROR
The Day The D.J. Died: What Avicii Left Us STORY
By Veselin Nanov
Swedish D.J. Avicii passed away on Apr. 20 at age 28. Since then, most of the media coverage has focused on speculations about the cause of his death and the toxic nature of electronic dance music culture. I will refrain from dissecting these topics because I believe that the fact of Avicii’s passing is more thought-provoking than the circumstances that surround it. The rest is bordering on gossip that does little to honor the memory of an artist who was generous to his audience and fully dedicated to the melodic and uplifting music many of us came to know him through. I first stumbled across Avicii’s debut album “True” when I was 16. At the time I had just seen “Stand by Me,” and the aesthetic of the video accompanying “Hey Brother” gave me the same sweet taste of American boyhood that I had watching the movie. Throughout the next couple of years, Avicii’s songs featured consistently on my playlists and increasingly on the radio in my hometown in Bulgaria. At the same time, the D.J. was garnering international acclaim, touring the most prominent music festivals around the globe and attracting massive audiences that swung hypnotically to the beats of hits such as “Levels.” So when I got news of Avicii’s passing, I was shocked like most of his fans. However, I was not in mourning and I certainly did not intend to write a piece on him. People die every day, and the passing of a gifted young musician is just as unfortunate as the death of any young person with dreams and promise. However, as I realized while going through multiple tributes to Avicii’s work, the D.J.’s legacy has an impact beyond the musical world. It communicates a message of universal human siblinghood and empathy to a young and vibrant generation that celebrates its youth on the dance floor. It also has the ability to resolve the inequality and aggression that manifest in multiple global crises today. In order to fully understand the impact of Avicii’s music, we must look closely at the D.J.’s legacy. It is possible to hear echoes of “Hey Brother”’s message in the news around the world the day Avicii died. The D.J. co-wrote the song with a team of other Swedish musicians. “Hey brother! There’s an endless road to rediscover” Early in the morning on Apr. 21 — Apr. 20 in the Western Hemisphere — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared
that North Korea would suspend nuclear weapon and long-range missile tests. This was a step towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and improvements in the relationship between the North and the South. For the first time, the two countries also opened a direct hotline between their top leaders’ offices. The crisis on the Korean peninsula had begun to seem endless last year when Kim launched a series of nuclear tests that raised tensions in the region and caused global unease. Kim’s announcement gave the international community hope that the last 50 years were a process whereby the two countries moved down an uncertain road to the rediscovery of political stability rather than mutual destruction. These early hopes were reaffirmed a week later when the leaders of North and South Korea announced that they plan to collaborate on denuclearization and expressed their readiness to formally end the Korean War. A recent episode of “The Daily” podcast from Apr. 30 featured the story of an American-Korean woman trying to trace down her grandfather in North Korea. The story exposes the tragedy of the many families that were separated by the war. It also shows that 50 years of separation have left deep scars. If families get the chance to be reunited by the improvement in the North and South’s relationship, there is a long, multi-generational road that still lies ahead in mending those scars and rediscovering filial bonds. “Do you still believe in one another?” Thousands of students across the U.S. gave a definitively positive answer when they marched the streets together in protest against gun violence on Apr. 24, four days after the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting. Yet the question itself is as pressing as ever. It was two seniors at Columbine that committed a massacre costing the lives of 12 of their classmates and a teacher. On Feb. 14 this year, not a stranger but a former student murdered 15 of his classmates and two adults at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In short, the victims of gun violence at educational institutions are terrifyingly young, but so are the perpetrators. Indeed, the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas shooting claim that they are part of the “mass shooting generation.” But they are also part of a generation that has the momentum to persuade government officials
to enact more strict gun control regulations. By coming together in protest, American youths are making a good use of this momentum. They are also sending a clear message. For every shooter out there, there are hundreds of non-violent protesters who care deeply not only for their personal safety but also for that of others. Those protesters value each other’s lives as much as they believe in one another’s power to eradicate gun violence. They are on the side of their generation that represents humanity of the kind Avicii evokes through his song. “Do you still believe in love? I wonder” The belief in love between p e o p l e o f d i f f e r e n t t r i b e s, ethnicities and faiths wanes more every time the conflict between Palestine and Israel costs another life. On Friday, Apr. 20, during protests alongside the Gaza strip, four Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli snipers. Israel’s and Egypt’s 11-year barricaide of the
barren region produced many protests like the one from Friday. At first, the plan, which was called the Great Return March, was to have a six-week peaceful sit-in. According to Israel, the demonstrations quickly turned into a scene of deathly strife between Israel’s army and Palestine’s Hamas and other extremist factions. The deaths on Friday brought the total number of fatalities in the Great Return March protest to 37. Many in the international community have voiced their support for Palestine. T he support movement was reinforced when Natalie Portman, an Oscar-winning actress of Jewish descent, declined an invitation to attend a ceremony in Israel meant to celebrate her achievements. Yet, expressions of solidarity like these haven’t convinced the Israeli government to change its policies towards Palestine. At this point, it seems like the international community is washing its hands off with public demonstrations of support for Palestine. That further reinforces disbelief in a love for
humanity that would push not only individuals, but also societies, to take difficult yet much-needed action to stop the loss of human life. “Oh brother, I will hear you call!” Saturday afternoon on the day after Avicii died was sunny. I basked in the rare warmth of early New Hampshire spring. I heard music as I was flipping lazily through one of my textbooks. The distant sound of “Hey Brother” approached as a stranger on a longboard played it as a homage to the musician through his portable speaker. Then, surrounded by blossoming spring, I first recognized Avicii’s music as an urgent calling for amity amid a society that destroys itself one murder at a time, that seems to have lost track of the beauty that comes with preserving life. Yet, as in nature, all things go in cycles, and life and peace will return with the effort of people who embody the life-reaffirming music of performers such as Avicii.
MIA ZHANG NACKE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF