VOL. CLXXV NO. 60
PARTLY CLOUDY
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
GREEN FARMER’S MARKET ON A CLOUDY DAY
HIGH 82 LOW 60
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Election sees increased sameday registration By AMANDA ZHOU The Dartmouth Senior Staff
OPINION
PAK: TO ENGAGE OR NOT TO ENGAGE PAGE 6
REGAN: CORPORATE ACTIVISM PAGE 6
SHAH: THE LAST STRAW PAGE 7
FREEMAN: CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE PAGE 7
ARTS
‘CRAZY RICH ASIANS’ IS AN ADDITION TO THE ASIANAMERICAN CANON PAGE 8 FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2018 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Barely a week after moving into college, Skylar Miklus ’22 realized they could vote the day of the New Hampshire primary elections. Although Miklus was already registered in Massachusetts, all they needed in order to register at the polls was their social security number, a photo ID and an email from Dartmouth’s office of residential life. However, same-day registration, which allowed Miklus to vote, is at risk. Although few details of its future implementation have been released, the passage of House Bill 1264 may only allow people to vote in New Hampshire elections if they have a New Hampshire driver’s license. Students make up a heavy portion of same-day registrations, according to Elaine Hawthorne, a supervisor of the checklist in Hanover who helps administer the election. This year, 140 people registered on-site, a large increase compared to 18 and 34 people who registered on-site, respectively, in the past two primary elections. The upswing in same-day registrations mirrors a
Members of the Dartmouth community gather on the Green for the weekly farmer’s market.
SEE VOTING PAGE 3
Geisel appoints new Hudak fills newly-created diversity dean position of dean for veterans
By ELIZABETH JANOWSKI The Dartmouth
Stephanie White was appointed as the Geisel School of Medicine’s new associate dean for diversity and inclusion by Geisel dean Duane Compton. White succeeds Leslie Henderson, who vacated the position to focus on her role as Geisel’s dean of faculty affairs. As head of Geisel’s o f f i c e o f d i v e r s i t y, inclusion and community engagement, White will act as a liaison between
the medical school and its partnering institutions — the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and White River Junction Veteran Affairs Medical Center — to foster a community of students and professionals throughout the Upper Valley, Henderson said. Compton added that White’s duties will extend from coordinating recruitment and retention efforts to reshaping Geisel’s curriculum through a lens of deepened multicultural SEE DEAN PAGE 5
B y EILEEN BRADY
The Dartmouth Staff
On Sept. 1, Anne Hudak began her new role as assistant dean for undergraduate veterans. Hudak assumes the newly-created position following her five years of experience as an assistant dean of the Dartmouth undergraduate student body. Prior to being an assistant dean, Hudak served as an academic resource for student athletes at Dartmouth. T h e n e w ro l e w i l l entail supporting the 36 undergraduate veterans at
Dartmouth in their academic and extracurricular pursuits as well as partnering with the admissions office to recruit prospective veteran students, Hudak said. She added that she hopestoconnectundergraduate veterans with unique postservice opportunities available to them and help them with issues that other undergraduate students may not face. “As veterans, many of these students have other opportunities off campus that it’s helpful for an undergraduate dean to be aware of,” Hudak said. “Many of them are slightly older [than other
students] and may have families or be living off campus.” Hudak said that she believes it is important for someone in Dartmouth’s administrative staff to be familiar with veterans’ unique situations and connect veteran students with resources they need, such as housing or childcare. Zachary Jaynes ’21, an underg raduate veteran, said that the creation of the position was a positive step for the veteran community at Dartmouth. “We do have a lot of unique problems that Dartmouth SEE VETERANS PAGE 3
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
Excavated Inuit bones returned to Avataq Culture Institute professor Deborah Nichols. The gravesites were estimated to be The Dartmouth Staff between 200 and 400 years old. At the time of excavation, there This past summer, the College were few regulations concerning retur ned bones the excavation of that w e r e “Canada’s the graves, she said. excavated from The 1990 Native Inuit gravesites country where the American Graves by a Dartmouth research was done, Protection and anthropologist in Repatriation Act 1967 to the Avataq but Canada doesn’t went into effect 23 Cultural Institute. have a national law years after Harp Representatives or a national set and his team from the Institute e x c av a t e d t h e visited the College of procedures for bones. The Act in June to take part returning human now establishes in a repatriation procedures for c e r e m o n y t o remains.” the discover y receive the bones and planned and return them excavations of -DEBORAH NICHOLS, to their original Native cultural r e s t i n g p l a c e ANTHROPOLOGY items on federal i n N u n a v i k , PROFESSOR or tribal lands, Quebec. protecting The Inuit artifacts and remains were assisting in the originally repatriation excavated from the eastern region process. of the Hudson Bay by Dartmouth “Har p’s son went through anthropology professor Elmer Harp his things a couple of years ago in a National Science Foundation- and brought [the remains] to funded survey and remained in the [anthropology] department,” Harp’s possession until his death Nichols said. “Once I discovered in 2009, according to anthropology what they were, that they were from
B y RACHEL PAKIANATHAN
burials in Canada, I felt they should be returned to Canada.” The formal ceremony included s p e e ch e s a n d p r aye r s f ro m Dartmouth faculty including Native American studies professors Maurice Crandall and M. Bruce Duthu, Avataq Cultural Institute president Josepi Padlayat and William Fitzhugh ’64, curator of the National Museum of Natural History’s Arctic Studies Center who was involved with the excavation. Representatives from the Institute lit a traditional Inuit oil lamp known as a “qulliq” during the ceremony, according to Nichols. Avata q C u l tu r a l I n s ti tu te executive director Rhoda Kokiapik said that she and others at the Institute were honored to take part in the ceremony and return the remains to the Inuit community. “It was shocking to learn that human remains were taken from the community and were in the [United] States,” Kokiapik said. “I was born and raised in that community, so the [repatriation] was something quite close to my heart.” According to Nichols, the ceremony held in June was the first of its kind organized by Dartmouth’s
anthropology department. She a heightened sense of respect and said the College’s legal counsel understanding. and Fitzhugh, a former student “You need to have this sense of Harp, helped direct the College of respect and know exactly to the Avataq Cultural Institute as what it is that you’re doing,” she the appropriate said. “Because i n t e r m e d i a r y “It’s sad that these we are handling to contact the a person — relevant Inuit remains were not at actual human community. remains.” their resting place “ C a n a d a ’s According to for such time. We do the country Patterson, the w h e r e t h e have the coordinates, analysis of r e s e a r c h and we will try to the collection was done, found at least b u t C a n a d a bury them where they six individuals, doesn’t have a were buried — under some of whom national law or were children. the rocks.” a national set Kokiapik said of procedures the Institute for retur ning -RHODA KOKIAPIK, plans to return h u m a n the bones to r e m a i n s , ” EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF the ground Nichols said. in Qitjirivik THE AVATAQ CULTURAL Prior to by the end of t h e f o r m a l INSTITUTE September. ceremony, and “It’s sad that Jack Mourouzis these remains ’18 and Holly were not at their Patterson ’19 worked with forensic resting place for such time,” she anthropology professor Bruno said. “We do have the coordinates, Frohlich to identify and analyze the and we will try to bury them where contents from Harp’s collection. they were buried — under the Patterson said the process of rocks.” identifying the remains required
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Hudak provides support for veteran students FROM VETERANS PAGE 1
doesn’t really address,” Jaynes said. “We have more paperwork issues and issues with financial aid, and many of us are older and have families or are in the reserves and may have to take a year off to go back to service.” The College previously partnered with the Posse Veterans Program to admit three cohorts of veteran students to Dartmouth, according to Hudak. The Posse cohorts had two professors, classical studies professor Roberta Stewart and writing professor Carl Thum, as their main resources to help with veteran-specific issues on campus. Hudak said that Dartmouth will no longer partner with Posse in the future. Director of admissions Paul Sundeadded that although the College will no longer be partnering with Posse, it will continue its efforts to recruit veteran students with Hudak’s help. Although Hudak will now serve as the primary resource for veteran students, current members of Posse cohorts will still have access to their professor advisors, Hudak said. “Having a dean is an extra layer
of help,” Taynes said. “A dean approaching the administration instead of a professor puts more weight behind us.” Besides supporting current undergraduate veterans, Hudak will also serve as a resource for prospective veteran students who are considering applying to Dartmouth. She said that she will be the main contact for prospective students with questions about the resources, opportunities and communities available to them as veterans at Dartmouth. Sunde said that the admissions office’s partnership with Hudak will offer prospective veteran students the chance to ask specific questions about the veteran Dartmouth experience. “We do a lot of partnerships,” Sunde said. “For example, we have open houses and faculty who will speak about their discipline or research. I think it’s a wonderful benefit for prospective students to have access to the folks who might be teaching them. Similarly, [Hudak’s new position] represents an opportunity for us to aid prospective students who have questions about the veteran experience that go beyond our expertise.”
NH changes voting laws FROM VOTING PAGE 1
larger trend nationwide — turnout is higher in this year’s primary elections nationally. According to the Pew Center of Research, as of July 27, the number of votes cast in this year’s Democratic house primaries was 84 percent higher than that in 2014. Hanover is no exception. A total of 1,581 people voted yesterday, whereas 1,277 people voted in the 2016 presidential primary and 758 people voted in the 2014 midterm primary election. The increase in voters registering at the polls is a victory for NextGen New Hampshire, an activist group that ran pledge drives this September on campus during freshman orientation and drove students to the polls. Emma Bliska, the Dartmouth organizer for NextGen, said she believes the increase in turnout is partially due to the incoming class of college students being “one of the most politically mobilized” classes. “These are students who were in high school during the Parkland shooting and Trump’s election,” Bliska said. Although HB 1264 does not go into effect until July 2019, many
students falsely believe they cannot vote in the midterm elections, according to Bliska. Both Miklus and Ian Hou ’22 said they had heard rumors that they would not be able to vote or would have to pay to vote. Youth turnout in the midterm election will affect the issues discussed during the 2020 election, Bliska said. “If students turn out, presidential candidates will come here in 2020 and know they will have to answer to young people,” she said. Regardless of how HB 1264 will be implemented, Hawthorne said no one who is already registered to vote in New Hampshire will be removed from the registry when the bill comes into effect next July. Those who register for the upcoming midterm election will be able to vote in future New Hampshire elections. In the meantime, students will be able to register to vote at the polls during the Nov. 6 election, should they miss the campus registration drives. The process was surprisingly painless for Hou. “Usually when I deal with the government, everything is pretty slow,” he said.
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PRODUCE EGG-CELLENCE
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Students stock up on produce on a warm September day; carrots, squash and eggs were farm-fresh options.
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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
“Employer Connections Fair,” sponsored by the Center for Professional Development, Alumni Hall, Hopkins Center for the Arts
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Fair: “Medi Quick,” sponsored by Dick’s House Student Health Service, Class of 1953 Commons
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Student Job Fair, sponsored by Human Resources, Collis Common Ground
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
International Student Social, sponsored by the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, One Wheelock
TOMORROW
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
“Employer Connections Fair,” sponsored by the Center for Professional Development, Alumni Hall, Hopkins Center for the Arts
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Telluride film: “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” directed by Marielle Heller, sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts
8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Concert: FRENSHIP, sponsored by Programming Board, Gold Coast Lawn
8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Public Astronomical Observing, sponsored by the physics and astronomy department, Shattuck Observatory
ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents. The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Stephanie White will address diversity and inclusion at Geisel FROM DEAN PAGE 1
understanding. As a Dartmouth Public Voices Fellow, White has written several op-eds in national publications dealing with the topics of race in pediatrics and in the hierarchy of academic institutions. In these pieces, White said she notes that racial disparities must be confronted directly in order to begin the process of constructing more open and inclusive environments, even if doing so prompts conversations that some might find uncomfortable. “It’s interesting being in the Upper Valley when your community is a little more homogeneous than others that you have experienced,” White said. “One of the things I’ve noticed is that some people, while they appreciate differences, are almost paralyzed with the fear of bringing those differences up because they’re afraid of saying something wrong or doing the wrong thing. And really to create an inclusive environment, it not only requires you to acknowledge that there are differences, but to be willing to appreciate them,
understand them and work with them.” White said she hopes to ease conversations on race and diversity at Geisel through a broad three to five-year strategic plan that will assess the medical school’s educational programming from a multicultural standpoint. As part of this initiative, she plans to integrate discussions of racial inequality into Geisel’s existing programming and attract guest speakers who will engage Geisel students, faculty and staff in larger discourses on how to increase equity in healthcare and in academic hospitals. “Having more conversations that get different people to the table encourages our community to think more about these issues and incorporate this way of thinking into their lives,” White said. “I think that’s the way that you really start to see change.” White came to Geisel in 2015 as an assistant professor of pediatrics. Over the past three years, she has grown increasingly involved in diversity-oriented initiatives at the medical school, serving as a student advisor and a member of
the admissions committee. Since 2016, White has served as Geisel’s representative at the Association of American Medical Colleges, where she sits on a subcommittee for diversity and inclusion and participates in national discussions regarding the future of equitable, fair learning opportunities in medical education. “This is a position that, when I was a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh, I envisioned myself being attracted to at some point,” White said. “I’ve always seen myself doing the type of work which really involved working with students, working with faculty and staff and building those bridges between them.” Compton said that White’s experience made her a top candidate for the position. “I was quite impressed by the insight she has brought to her work at Geisel, along with her advising roles in her professional societies and associations,” he said. Henderson noted that White has the right perspective needed to address issues at Geisel in “a way that promotes a diverse clinical and academic environment.”
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST EOWYN PAK ‘21
STAFF COLUMNIST JOSEPH COIT REGAN ‘19
To Engage or Not to Engage
Corporate Activism
Engage with the online comments on your own terms.
I’ve been looking forward to this day. Before backlash; for many, furthermore, it was a personal applying to The Dartmouth as an opinion offense to a struggle that they have dealt with in columnist, I’d read many of the student-written their own lives and the subject was too sore for articles and found myself seriously thinking about debating. But Spector’s article got people to talk. the issues raised, (the majority of the time anyway). I like to take people seriously, sometimes This experience is part of to a fault, for no other the reason why I wanted to “But while some people reason than the fact that become a columnist; not just may write them off as I like to hear what other to find an outlet to express people think and stack up people not to be engaged my ideas or to improve my their arguments against writing skills, but also to with, I find beauty in the my own. Perspective is get people to start thinking. democratization of new something I think should When I did publish my first ideas seen in this discussion be fluid with the more piece, I was astonished that forum.” knowledge gained. That, I people read what was in feel certain, is not something the school newspaper and controversial among most excited by the notion that what I say would actually Dartmouth students or anyone who likes to say be read by others and potentially have some sort they’re open-minded. I like to say I’m openof impact. minded and a bit of a risk taker, and I couldn’t As my eyes scrolled down the pages of various just ignore an opportunity to put my money articles, they were immediately drawn to some where my mouth is. So I bolted through a closing of the Facebook comments that were written in door and did a bit of a Facebook profile search response to those particular articles. They’re pretty on my first commentor (technology is real scary hard to miss. Some were short blurbs of retaliation, nowadays, huh?), and did not find him to be the others well-thought out and civilized responses. most agreeable. But I responded anyway. The Some were straight up rude, which I guess will get comment seems to have disappeared for now, but easier to deal with given the increasing ease one has I’m sure and even hope that there will be more to say anything online without real repercussions. in the future. In my estimation, many of them were written by Though writing is mainly an outlet for adult white males who either no longer or never expressing my thoughts, as an opinion writer, it went to Dartmouth. is my task, if not my obligation to have readers I noticed that many of these comments were reconsider their opinions, or at least have them left unanswered by the author, and understandably earnestly think about the issue, and to chip away so. Sometimes, an author just doesn’t want to at our natural proclivity for confirmation bias. In respond to someone who appears to be misguided, turn, as an ideal debate or discussion would go, doesn’t seem to have all the facts, is uncivil, is just other well-constructed arguments with different trolling around on the internet or, the worst in my perspectives may convince me otherwise. And I opinion, is so staunch about their beliefs that they want to be convinced. Everyone is ignorant to are unwilling to consider even a nuance of their some degree but who wants to stay as ignorant as pre-existing belief, let alone ideas that directly they started? In the age of social media, it seems contradict theirs. But while some people may like there aren’t as many civil debates as many of write them off as people not to be engaged with, us would like, but the online comments in opinion I find beauty in the democratization of new ideas articles are a small, important step toward getting seen in this discussion forum. Just look at what there. No one can change everyone’s beliefs for happened with Ryan Spector’s article “You’re a variety of reasons; differences in perspectives, Not Tripping” this past winter. I have opinions morals, religions, personal experiences and about that piece that I’ll spare for another time, demographic so engage at your own discretion. but I will point out that, at times, the debates But if the subject really matters to you, I think that took place online and in school seemed like there’s more to gain in discussion than there is to they were going nowhere. At the very least, there be lost. wasn’t enough room for all speech because of the To existing Facebook commenters, I say this:
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You can’t a foul on Nike for a game they aren’t even playing. A recent Nike advertising campaign is the latest controversy in our prevailing culture of “like or dislike.” The first ad posted on Sep.3 is a black-and-white photo of a solemn Colin Kaepernick overlaid with the words, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” This is a powerful statement for what it signifies about corporations and activism in America, as well as what his words say and mean to you. Nike is a corporation which intends to generate revenue and increase its share price by using a social justice activist who, by virtue of being given a platform by a global consumer products titan, will empower his own cause. Those protesting the campaign on social media often post about burning Nike shoes, or post pictures depicting Nike products shorn of the swoosh logo. Proponents of the campaign criticize these posts for a lack of recognition that destroying or mutilating a product that has already been purchased is an ineffective and foolhardy means of protest. In terms of the physical drivers of revenue for Nike, this is true; in terms of the intangible drivers of revenue for Nike, such as brand recognition, goodwill and trust, this is a more complicated issue. The intangible factors that affect Nike’s share price and gross revenue are most easily understood by the word “brand.” Put simply, brand is what causes consumers to purchase products with the same purposes at vastly different price points. Consider that Converse sells shoes for $55 and Yeezy shoes sell for $1000. Without branding, this would be impossible. With good branding, however, it is possible, and improper maintenance of a company’s brand will slowly unravel the magic that allows a company in a market as competitive as that of footwear to thrive. Converse is a good example of a company that had good branding, lost it, and regained it. In their beginnings, Converse were worn by athletes as famous as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. At the time, they were a successful, independent company. Yet an inability to innovate with the competition led to Converse filing for bankruptcy in 2001. Then, in 2003, after being kept afloat by private investors, they were acquired by Nike for $309 million. In 2017, Nike’s annual 10-K reported gross revenue of $2.04 billion for Converse. Nike reinvigorated Converse by cleverly marketing the shoes to a younger audience, and by leveraging their impressive array of global assets to sell Converse to a larger and more diverse market of consumers. Now Colin Kaepernick’s message is being used to do both these same actions at once. Leveraging size is easy to understand, but what is remarkable about the story of Converse is how it explains the intention behind the Kaepernick ad, and for what it reveals to be new about this ad. The reason for Nike’s success with Converse was that they tapped into the interests of the 30 and younger market. This market cares about having its voice heard. According to the 2018 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, this age group comprises 50 percent of the global population. More integral to the success of Converse and the intended success of Nike’s new marketing campaign is
that 55.9 percent of this group responded to a survey by saying that, “In my country, young people’s views are considered before important decisions are taken.” In the past, Converse achieved 29 percent year-over-year revenue growth in 2008 by marketing associating their shoes with counter-cultural icons whom Forbes magazine described as, “musicians, artists, and other ‘cool’ celebrities.” This is a tried and true strategy, but Kaepernick is different for his direct activism. He is not just a celebrity for his talents on the field, he is famous or infamous, depending on who you ask, for the movement that grew out of the moment on Sep. 1, 2016, when he took a knee at the final preseason game of the ‘49ers to protest police violence against African-Americans. Nike is doubling down on the 30-and-younger age bracket that, as of 2018, wants not only to be considered in decision-making, but to cause decisions to be made. The success or failure of this campaign will foreshadow whether or not other massive corporations will take the bold step of supporting an activist, rather than supporting popular figures who speak about causes without directly participating in them. The issue is further complicated by the fact that Nike has been tied to sweatshops, and in 2017, received a “C” rating from the Ethical Fashion Report. In the short-term, the success of this campaign could cause activists of the same cause as Colin Kaepernick, or similar social justice causes, to become a part of corporate marketing strategies. In the long-term, this could presage corporations who are willing to incur the costs of bettering working conditions in factories in order to signal to the 30 and younger age bracket that they are speaking with their pocketbook as much as with their brand torchbearers, as they are now speaking volumes by their choice of Colin Kaepernick for this most recent ad campaign. There is a question to be raised about how legitimate it is for a corporation to support an activist, considering that their motives, by the nature of their business, are not rooted in the values that spur on activists. However, the Supreme Court decisions rendered in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission is one way of saying that corporations speak with dollars far more loudly than they speak with spokespeople or official statements. Nike has spoken by investing heavily in Colin Kaepernick and the ad campaign. Whether or not one is against the specifics of the rollout of the campaign, it is important to consider the possibilities of its success for further improvement of living conditions for human beings. If you find yourself, like the wife of ‘American Sniper’ Chris Kyle, find the ad’s wording offensive to the heroes who have given everything for their country, you might want to consider the country they gave everything for, and what that country stands for on the global stage. Sometimes, the details are less important than the overall effect, and the Colin Kaepernick ad is one of these cases. So speak with your wallets, as you should with your voice, when you perceive injustice or are made aware of it from someone else. This does not mean you need to buy Nike products, but it does mean that Nike’s success, right now, benefits more than just Nike.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
STAFF COLUMNIST RACHNA SHAH ‘21
STAFF COLUMNIST JILLIAN FREEMAN ‘21
The Last Straw
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Plastics aren’t fantastic.
Earlier this summer, plastic straws were in been linked to reproductive abnormalities and the news. Seattle banned plastic utensils from increased rates of heart disease and diabetes in bars and businesses, Starbucks announced animals. it will stop using plastic straws by 2020, and The harm of these chemicals may extend major companies such as to humans. Chemicals McDonald’s are joining the “ In 2014, California added to plastics, such as movement to end the use of banned single-use bisphenol A, found in the single use plastics. It’s hard linings of food cans and plastic bags at large to imagine a time without beverage containers, can retail stores statewide. plastics, but widespread have adverse health effects use only dates back to In addition to statewide in laboratory animals. the early 1950s. Over the bans, California, New However, more research is past six decades, we’ve York, Maine, Rhode needed to understand the produced over eight billion Island and Delaware effects of these chemicals metric tons of plastics – a have labeling, recycling, on human health. number that continues to or reuse programs for There are many rise exponentially – of plastic bags in retail ways to reduce plastic which only nine percent waste in one’s day-to-day stores and Washington has become recycled. The life: bringing a reusable plastic straw movement D.C has begun imopsing produce bag to the grocery draws attention to the fees. On a global scale, wstore, using Green2Go importance of replacing the U.N has launched containers (newly made single use plastics once a CleanSeas campaign with more durable plastic) and for all. While the cost which 30 countries have and refillable water bottles, of change may appear joined, including Canada using disposable food prohibitive and daunting, and France, but not the containers, and buying in we need to replace single U.S.” bulk. On a larger scale, use plastics with more policy initiatives around durable materials, as the world and in the U.S the former damage the have targeted reducing environment, food chain, and human health, plastic and paper bag use. In 2014, California both within our communities and around the banned single-use plastic bags at large retail world. stores statewide. In addition to statewide bans, Since the early 1900s, plastic has been a California, New York, Maine, Rhode Island cornerstone of the aeronautics, construction, and Delaware have labeling, recycling, or reuse packaging and transportation industries. More programs for plastic bags in retail stores and recently, plastic has been regularly used in Washington D.C has begun imopsing fees. On a electronics, ranging from hair dryers to coffee global scale, the U.N has launched a CleanSeas makers. Being both lightweight and strong, campaign which 30 countries have joined, plastics improve fuel efficiency via aerodynamics including Canada and France, but not the U.S. and transportation, and are also easier and less In the European Union, over a third of expensive to install. In particular, plastic allows food sold is in plastic packaging. Additionally, packaging weight to reduce by up to 400 percent it is more expensive to transport drinks in glass and in production and energy costs by up to versus plastic bottles; glass bottles weigh more, 200 percent. However, the benefits of saving they cause more carbon dioxide pollution and and conserving energy by using plastic are raise transport costs to five times per glass bottle. outweighed by the consequences. Plastic wrapping also extends the shelf life of Plastics can harm the environment in many food, reducing food waste costs. Given these ways. For starters, plastic takes a long time to factors, perhaps instead of banning plastic, break down: between 500 and 1,000 years, to be improving it is the better option: helping facilitate precise. Even biodegradable plastic production, their breakdown and making future plastics which is less than 0.2 percent of petrochemical- biodegradable. For instance, Bulldog, a British based plastic production, may not degrade skincare company, is developing polyethylene quickly. Further, a study published in the journal tubes made from sugarcane; however, said Science found that half of manufactured plastic packaging may be up to twice as expensive as will become trash within a year of its production. its plastic alternative. As a result, plastics will also continue to harm Some argue that the real problem is a our food chain and ecosystems. Plastics aren’t throw-away society. In 1955, Life published digestible. As 270,000 tons of plastics float in “Throwaway Living,” an article that celebrated the seas, they “form smaller fragments,” often the modernity of being able to throw items consumed by marine animals, resulting in away rather than clean and reuse them as in intestinal blockage, malnutrition or poisoning. the past. Since then, society has experienced By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more the consequences of waste and begun initiatives plastic than fish. When algae associates with towards progress. For example, the “Be Straw plastics, a compound, DMSP, is released, which Free” campaign proposes an “offer first policy” attracts hungry marine animals, especially businesses offer straws instead of giving them to zooplankton, the base of the food chain. Almost consumers automatically. The campaign has one million seabirds and 100,000 mammals are found that 50 to 80 percent of customers don’t killed by plastic consumption each year and over take the straw. Together, the world can change 180 species consume plastic debris. Chemicals from a throwaway society to a zero-waste society, commonly found in consumer products have starting with straws.
The unfortunate and avoidable blemish stuck on rising star’s moment.
At the start of a post-match interview with ESPN after the U.S. Open women’s tennis final, ESPN host Chris McKendry began the conversation with new champion Naomi Osaka by saying, “You can hear everybody’s cheers for you. That was a victory you earned,” her tone filled with reassurance and comfort. It was a strange opening to an interview with the newest Grand Slam winner, who one would think at that moment knows her ability the most. Unfortunately for Osaka, this final match was different. Naomi Osaka is a 20-year old JapaneseHaitian-American professional tennis player. She is also the first tennis player representing Japan to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, and she did this by beating her lifelong idol and tennis legend, Serena Williams. Unfortunately, the brilliant talent that earned her the win was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding violations given to Williams throughout the match. The first penalty given to Williams sparked a chain reaction that distracted the audience from appreciating Osaka’s well-deserved win. Instead, the circumstances Williams faced were shaped as an illustration of the fallouts of sexism within the greater tennis community. This came not without recent strife after a violation was given to French player Alize Cornet earlier in the tournament. Cornet had briefly taken her shirt off because it was on backwards, and was penalized for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” In comparison, during the semifinal match between John Millman and Novak Djokovic, Djokovic relaxed shirtless on his bench during a ten minute heat break with no repercussions. In Williams’ case however, the official’s calls were completely justified, even if some deem them nit-picky in nature. Williams was first reprimanded for a coaching penalty. The International Tennis Federation rules state: “Players shall not receive coaching during a match...Communications of any kind, audible or visible, between a player and coach may be construed as coaching.” What made this call so controversial is that coaching is ubiquitous in the tennis world. Coaches signal to their players from the sideline between every point, and Williams’ coach even confirmed the allegation after the match. Despite the prevalence of coaching, the umpire has the right to make this call. It didn’t cost Williams anything but her first warning. She shouldn’t have had a problem being cautious of mistakes after that. After the call, Williams chose to defend her integrity by demanding an apology from the official. Considering she thought the call stained her honest reputation, her decision to denounce it was understandable, but the call was actually on Williams coach for making hand signals. It didn’t assume Williams saw or used them. Furthermore, like every other professional athlete that disagrees with a referee, she should’ve moved past the call and regained focus. She did not. The second violation was completely avoidable and, frankly, disgraceful: Williams, after losing a game to put the second set in
Osaka’s favor, threw her racket to the ground in an unprofessional and immature manner. This gave Osaka a point with which to begin the next set, though the young underdog didn’t even need it. She quickly sealed the set in three short rallies. Yet somehow, according to Williams, that game had been taken from her by the official. This is false. The game was taken from her, but by Naomi Osaka. Williams then, with a defeatist attitude, proceeded to call the official a “thief ”, referring to the set that Osaka had just crushed. This remark, marking her third penalty, cost her an entire game. The tantrum that ensued tainted the amazing match Osaka was playing. The audience, media, and anyone who tuned in amid the chaos were now under the impression that Williams was losing because of sexist officiating. Looking at the facts, this is simply not the case. Naomi Osaka was dominating the entire match and deserves complete credit for the victory. Her moment should not have been clouded and politicized because a professional athlete, however upstanding for women’s rights, could not keep her composure. Looking at the official in question, Carlos Ramos, and his record in Grand Slam finals, he was similarly strict in calls with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the French Open in 2017 and Wimbledon in 2018. The decisions by his superiors not only to stand by his calls but also to fine Williams for her behavior further back this conclusion. Yes, there are men who have said worse to officials and had not been penalized; however, this specific official’s reputation shows that he has been consistently strict with both male and female players. Episodes like Cornet’s shirt violation compared to Djokovic’s ability to bask shirtless on his bench show that inequality obviously exists in the tennis community. However, Williams was wrong to claim that the calls made against her during this match were rooted in sexism. Williams’ behavior was immature and unprofessional, and warranted the calls she received regardless of her gender. During the trophy ceremony, Williams tried to neutralize the situation for Osaka’s sake by comforting her and asking the crowd to stop booing. But there was no “this girl deserved to win” from Williams; a simple “she played well” would do. Osaka hid her face under her hat, visibly upset and embarrassed in what should have been her proudest moment. Naomi Osaka felt responsible for the audience’s frustration, she even apologized for winning the championship. She should have left that court with no remorse, but the spotlight was on Serena Williams and the false narrative that double-standards and sexism stole her comeback victory. The truth is, a nit-picky official decided to make strict calls in a big game, and Serena Williams could not keep her composure. Naomi Osaka is a rising star who already claims a string of victories against number-one players, she has beaten Serena Williams for the second time, and she undoubtedly deserves the U.S. Open champion title that she now possesses.
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Hopkins Center promises season exploring the idea of “home” By ELISE HIGGINS
The Dartmouth Staff
In the upcoming 2018-19 season from the Hopkins Center for the Arts, performances will examine a common theme of global diaspora and the idea of “home,” said Rebecca Bailey, publicity coordinator and writer for the Hop. Many of the guest artists will demonstrate unique and commonly underepresented experiences and identities through shows that range from multimedia dance performances to stand-up comedy. Bailey said the concept of where one calls “home” is important, especially in today’s world when so many people are moving between cultures and creating new relationships. In these new environments, interesting fusions take place, she said. This fusion is demonstrated in upcoming multimedia perfor mance “Written
in Water” by Ragamala Dance Company.” Incorporating classical Indian dance and both Hindu and Islamic poetry, the dance group will also explore the intersection between traditional performance and digital media. Furthermore, while the company is a traditional Indian dance group, it is based in Minnesota, creating an interesting question of origin.. Himadri Narasimhamurthy ’20 said she is particularly excited about Ragamala coming to perform at the Hop because Indian classical dance is not shown very often outside of India. Narasimhamurthy is a member of Raaz, Dartmouth’s South Asian dance group, and has been dancing her entire life. “I think it’s really cool that this kind of dance is being represented on a more mainstream level at a Hop performance,” Narasimhamurthy said. In the winter, the Hop will feature a performance of “Barber Shop
Chronicles,” presenting stories of those from the African diaspora reconvening across cultures in a London barber shop. Additionally, indigenous artists who may feel displaced in country that is no longer theirs are finding ways to tell their own stories through art forms including music, poetry and theater during “Indigenous Rising: An Evening of NextGen Native Artists.” When choosing g roups to perform, program directors at the Hop not only strive to bring artists based on audiences’ interests, but also to showcase work by Dartmouth students or artists commissioned by the College, Hop director of external affairs Michael Bodel said. Bodel said that the balance between bringing in outside acts while also showcasing student work is important, and that the Hop strives to connect the region and the academic community. “The Hop is unique in that it
both serves a fairly rural region and draws a wide swath of people from the surrounding 80 miles, but also provides a place for students to create work,” Bodel said. A new addition to the Hop’s various galleries that are used to exhibit student art work and visting artists is The Booth, located across from the mailboxes where phone boxes used to exist. Exhibiting submitted student artwork, the space provides a less traditional method of engaging with art while also utilizing an area of the Hop left outdated by modern technology. Student performance groups will also be active at the Hop this fall, including the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir, the Dartmouth College Glee Club, the Handel Society of Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra. Student groups will also be collaborating with one another, as with the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble and the Barbary
Coast Jazz Ensemble. The DSO, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble and the Dartmouth Opera Laboratory will all be celebrating Leonard Bernstein, an American composer and conductor, for the 100th anniversary of his birth. While students are able to participate through performance at the Hop, there are also many other types of opportunities for them to engage with different performers and art forms. The Hop brings performers to the Dartmouth community, and community members can engage with the artists through workshops in addition to seeing the performances or work they create, Bailey said. “The arts need to, and can, help inform a liberal arts education,” Bodel said. “But also the arts greatly benefit from the ideas and thinking and other academic opportunities that are happening, so it’s a two-way street.”
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is an addition to the Asian-American canon By joyce lee
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
A working-class woman meets an outrageously rich man, and they fall in love in much to the derision and outrage of the man’s family (mostly his mother). It’s a classic formula, seen in works like “Pride and Prejudice” to which some critics have compared “Crazy Rich Asians,” the romantic-comedy released this summer that featured an all-Asian cast. But watching the film on opening day, in a Japantown, San Francisco theater, as a KoreanAmerican surrounded by many other Asians and Asian-Americans, I made the inevitable comparison: “Crazy Rich Asians” is remniscent of every Asian drama I watched growing up, cinematized and Americanized and distributed to a theater near you. An Asian drama, for the uninitiated, is the term used for mini-series television programs broadcast in (you guessed it) Asian countries including China, Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. A lot of dramas center around a romance, and a lot of these romances derive conflict from their leads’ different social classes. This rags-to-riches-through-marriage trope is so popular that a Japanese manga called “Hana Yori Dango,” otherwise
known as “Boys Over Flowers,” was adapted as a drama in four different countries: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,and China, with the most recent Chinese adaptation, renamed Meteor Garden, produced by and aired on Netflix. “Crazy Rich Asians,” give or take a few side stories, seems to follow this trope to the number. Chinese American economics professor Rachel Chu, played with endearing warmth by Constance Wu, is swept off her feet and flown to Singapore by her handsome billionaire boyfriend Nick Young, played by Henry Golding. There, she meets his outrageously wealthy family, including his elegant cousin Astrid, played by Gemma Chan, as well as Peik Lin, her noveau riche college roommate, played with hilarity and no small amount of charm by Awkwafina. Most significantly, she meets Eleanor Young, Nick’s mother and Singaporean socialite, whom Michelle Yeoh captures with sensitivity, majestic grace and a frostiness that hints at the steely demeanor needed to live her kind of life. The film itself is vibrant, colorful and completely apropos for Jon Chu, a director whose beginnings in the film industry are attached to the neveractualized remake of the musical “Bye
Bye Birdie” and his own similarly fizzled adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” Chu successfully takes the film’s sharp but frothy source material and adapts it into something sweeping and rollicking, with a soundtrack that dips into vintage Chinese jazz songs and Chinese covers of American and British pop numbers. Thanks to such efforts, the movie is big, booming and brassy, yet guided by a meticulous hand that is inevitably rooted in the fact that “Crazy Rich Asians” is the first American film in 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast. Interviews with the cast and director have made certain that everyone involved with this film feel the weight of its potential failure for Asian-Americans and the delicate balance the film has to play to be a success. The film can’t be “too Asian” because it needs to appeal first to an American audience, but it can’t be so American that it loses sight of representing its characters and their ethnicities accurately. It needs to pay tribute to the significance of cultural backgrounds for Asian-Americans, but it also needs to avoid playing into the “perpetual foreigner” myth. “Crazy Rich Asians” might resemble an Asian drama, but it is an American film. Despite its similarities to an ageold trope, the film is Asian-American because it plays the same delicate
balance that many Asian-Americans play in our day-to-day lives. Its primary source of conflict is familiar to many, of the tensions between motherland and diaspora, of the inner battle between culturally fostered collectivist ideals and individualism that surrounds us socially; essentially, of whether or not we choose to say Asian or Asian-American. There are many, dramas, films and novels featuring Asian people as heroes, as complex characters who are not simply reduced to a series of stereotypes. But “Crazy Rich Asians” is not one of these works; it instead adds itself to a small and limited canon for AsianAmericans. This canon has sometimes felt so small that it was virtually invisible, only existent on YouTube with content creators such as Wong Fu Productions and on one-off episodes of TV shows such as Glee’s “Asian F.” It’s a canon where I often felt the need to include Asian dramas, so that I could find people who at least looked like me. In this canon, the last film to feature an all-Asian cast was 1993’s “The Joy Luck Club,” and besides the ethnicities of the cast members involved, the two could not be more different. Where “Crazy Rich Asians” is a purely cinematic experience, almost surreal in its joyful ride through pure affluence, “The Joy Luck Club” highlights the
lives and struggles of immigrant Chinese women and their daughters. I remember actively avoiding the film because I didn’t want to watch a film where I could all too acutely feel every micro-expression of grief, hurt and loss. “The Joy Luck Club” was a monumental film because it told the stories of Asian-Americans and highlighted some of what affected us — but “Crazy Rich Asians” is monumental in a different way, not because of the story of it tells, but because it is the first time I have seen a major American film give Asians and Asian-Americans the room to breathe, to be joyful, to simply be part of a good time without being told about our trauma and our history of exclusion over and over again. For the careful viewer, “Crazy Rich Asians” contains nod after nod to this canon. But the appearances of artists such as Kina Grannis, who is JapaneseAmerican and a frequent collaborator with Wong Fu, the end-credits cameo by Glee’s Harry Shum Jr. and even the casting of Lisa Lu, who portrayed one of the mothers in “The Joy Luck Club,” as Ah Ma, don’t just feel like Easter eggs included for Asian-American viewers. It instead feels like acknowledgement of “Crazy Rich Asians” as a boisterous, long-overdue addition to a canon that is finally expanding.