The Dartmouth 11/01/2019

VOL. CLXXVI NO. 94 CLEAR AND BREEZY HIGH 52 LOW 30

OPINION

MALBREAUX: CANCEL CULTURE, NOT CANCELED PAGE 4

VERBUM ULTIMUM: A COMMUNITY OF FAITH PAGE 4

ARTS

REVIEW: HBO’S ‘WATCHMEN’ AN ENGAGING, ORIGINAL SERIES PAGE 7

SPORTS

WOMEN’S HOCKEY FALLS 4-2 TO VERMONT IN SECOND GAME OF SEASON PAGE 8

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

COSO recognizes 14 DDS and Student Assembly introduce new food security efforts new student groups B y Andrew Sasser The Dartmouth

As students sort through their email inboxes, they may see that some new clubs have become recognized by the Council of Student Organizations. On Oct. 16, COSO recognized 14 new clubs and organizations.

According to COSO board member Erin Fitzgerald ’20, these clubs include the following organizations: C a m p Ke s e m , C re at i ve C o l l e c t i v e, D a r t m o u t h College Foodways Collective,

Dartmouth Design C o l l e c t i ve, D a r t m o u t h Energy Alliance, Dartmouth Generations, Dartmouth Latinx Public Service Society, Dartmouth India Association, Dartmouth Software Engineering S o c i e t y, D a r t m o u t h Undergraduate Research Association, Dartmouth Women in Law and Politics, Hanover Community Kitchen and Musical Empowerment.

Some of the new groups SEE COSO PAGE 5

PAULA KUTSCHERA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Q&A with Paul DePodesta, featured in Lewis’ “Moneyball” B y LAUREN ADLER The Dartmouth

On Friday, Cleveland Browns chief strateg y o f f i c e r Pa u l D e Po d e s t a visited Dartmouth to speak to College President Phil Hanlon’s class, QSS 30.01, “Sports Analytics,” and the sports analytics club.

DePodesta gained notoriety after the publication of Michael Lewis’ best-selling book, “Moneyball,” which

was later adapted into a popular motion picture.

“Moneyball” details how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane and DePodesta, portrayed by Jonah Hill in the movie, used sports analytics to propel the team to a recordbreaking winning streak and the 2002 American League Championship Series.

DePodesta spoke with The SEE DEPODESTA PAGE 2

’53 Commons will serve lunch five days a week during the upcoming winter break.

B y Amber Bhutta The Dartmouth

As fall term winds down and interim approaches, many students face an issue beyond finals and winter break plans: food insecurity.

Despite efforts to address the issue, the lack of affordable dining options in the local a re a , e s p e c i a l l y d u r i n g breaks, often leaves a number of students scrambling for a l t e r n a t i v e s . H o w e v e r, Dartmouth Dining Services and Student Assembly are working to resolve at least part of this issue.

In an attempt to increase food availability for students, the College will offer select dining services during the

upcoming interim for the first time. From Dec. 2 to Dec. 19, the Courtyard Cafe at the Hopkins Center for the Arts will offer certain menu items from 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day, and ’53 Commons will serve lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday. DDS will also offer takeout services when the Courtyard Cafe and ’53 Commons are closed from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 and Dec. 20 to Jan. 1. While students can pay with either cash or DASH, eligible students may also receive additional financial aid.

“Right now, we’re looking at this pilot and seeing how successful it is,” said associate vice president of business and

hospitality David Newlove.

“If it’s successful, we might carry it into other breaks and other time periods.”

Newlove said that over 50 students have already signed up for the program, and students have until Nov. 19 to sign up.

A d d i t i o n a l l y, S A i s working to revise and improve its efforts to reduce food insecurity on campus.

Last year, SA conducted a study on the scope of food insecurity on campus and proposed solutions. As part of the study, SA surveyed 335 students — 133 of whom were on financial aid. Fiftythree percent of the surveyed SEE FOOD PAGE 3

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

DePodesta talks sports analytics, advice for Dartmouth students FROM DEPODESTA PAGE 1

Dartmouth about “Moneyball” and analytics.

How did you become interested in sports analytics? What inspired you to develop your first algorithm?

PD: I played football and baseball in college — not terribly well, but I loved both games and wanted to find a way to continue. I knew it wasn’t going to be as a player, so I looked into a bunch of different avenues, including coaching. I really thought I would become a football coach, and my career started in football — my first job out of school was in the Canadian Football League.

But then I got this internship with the Cleveland Indians and it felt like I had hit the lottery — they had just been in the World Series, and I had a chance to be a part of the organization. I was actually just driving the van at spring training — it wasn’t very high-level, but it gave me a chance to be exposed to all these different people.

In terms of actually taking the next leap into analytics, that had really never been in my mind.

Analytics, back then, didn’t exist.

It wasn’t a thing within sports, there were no analysts at teams.

After a year with the Indians, I became the advance scout for our major league team, which is the person who watches your opponents before you play them and writes the scouting report on them — how to pitch to this hitter, what to expect from the opposing manager in different situations, etc. It’s sort of competitive intelligence. I was encouraged over spring training to

write some mock advance reports, but after that first game at spring training, I remember going back to my office and thinking, “I am wholly unqualified to do this job.” I was in a bit of a panic, like, “What am I going to do? I can’t see everything these other scouts see who’ve been in the game for 25 years, I have nowhere near the library of players in my head, I can’t see all the nuance that they grasp.” I was concerned about how I was going to finish this assignment, but I realized that I didn’t have to tell the players what to do, like, “Hey, you should throw this guy high fastballs from two strikes.” What I could do is just report what happened objectively — when other teams have thrown high fastballs with two strikes, this guy is one-for-20. That got me to start diving into the data, because I wanted my reports to be as objective as possible. Because the reality was, why should they be listening to a 23-year-old who never played in the big leagues? So, I really just became a provider of factual information.

As I got deeper into the data, I realized, there’s a lot of really rich information here, and it grew from there. When I got to Oakland, they encouraged me to run down that road as fast as I could and we started having success, which just heightened our enthusiasm for that approach. But I have to say, it was largely accidental and certainly not premeditated.

Baseball is ideal for what you do because of the sheer volume of data available. What has it been like to switch to football and have less data to work with?

CORRECTIONS Correction appended (Oct. 31, 2019): The Oct. 31, 2019 article, “An examination of mental health resources for Dartmouth professors,” originally stated that the Office of Counseling and Human Development provides resources for faculty; however, the Counseling Center only serves undergraduate and graduate students. The online version of the article has been updated to reflect this correction.

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

PD: They have different challenges.

In baseball, the good news was we had over one hundred years’ worth of data. The bad news was, that data wasn’t exactly what we would’ve wanted, had we designed it ourselves. There was a lot of data that wasn’t that relevant, and there were things we thought would be particularly relevant that we didn’t have. In some respects, we had to upend conventional thought because this data had been in place for so long and people assigned certain weight to different statistics.

Football is different — we haven’t had data for a hundred years, there aren’t as many things to upend, but we have to create data from scratch.

Nowadays, every NFL player has a GPS sewn into their shoulder pads.

We started getting that data in April 2018, but the data set is absolutely enormous — even for one play, it’s an incredible amount of data. So now the challenge is, how do you manage all this data, and how do you pull insights from it that are actionable for your organization.

You’re famous because of “Moneyball.” How have the book and the movie impacted your career?

PD: Early on, it actually created some real challenges for me, both personally and professionally.

It’s hard when someone else’s account of your life precedes you in every setting, so when you go to meet someone new — a potential employer, a new player, a new associate — they already have a very clear vision in mind of who you are because they read a book or saw a movie. That’s challenging, especially because this wasn’t a documentary — the characters, especially in the movie, become almost caricatures in order to tell a more compelling story. In some cases, they make us look better than we really are, or smarter than we really are, and in other cases, not as much. That was a challenge. On the other hand, it’s been incredibly gratifying because I’ve gotten to meet people, be exposed to companies, industries

— really highly accomplished individuals — and learn from all these things. I would’ve never had those opportunities had it not been for “Moneyball.” It’s a bit of a mix, but at the end of the day it’s been a real blessing because of the opportunities that it’s provided.

How can what you do apply outside of sports?

PD: It’s funny, before the book came out, Billy Beane and I got a copy of it, and we read it from cover to cover and were both mortified, like, “This is going to change our lives and people are going to know all these secrets about us.” It was difficult to grasp. But one thing Billy said was, “My only hope is that people see this as more than just a baseball story.” That has happened so far beyond our wildest dreams, and that part of it’s been gratifying.

We’ve gotten to see analytics applied to all these different fields, we read about it all the time, and the moniker is usually “Moneyball for health care,” “Moneyball for agriculture,” “Moneyball for politics.” That part has been really neat, and Billy and I have both had opportunities to meet people in a lot of these different industries applying similar concepts. One for me that’s intriguing is health care.

We have all this personalized data around health care, and there’s so

much that can be done with it. To me, that’s a lot more compelling than the A’s winning games. And as gratifying as that was, it’s even more gratifying that some of these ideas have taken hold in other parts of our culture.

What advice would you give Dartmouth students interested in pursuing a career like yours?

PD: I tell everybody that I would read a lot, and very broadly. I’ve spent 25 years in sports, but I almost never read about sports. I love sports, it’s my job, I’m passionate about it, but that’s not what I read about.

I’m always looking for inspiration or the spark of an idea that comes from something seemingly disparate to sports — it could be something about health care, or business, or financial markets, or leadership. I would encourage people to do that, because there are a lot of really interesting connections to be made, and that’s where we’ve made our leaps. It wasn’t by trying to follow best practices in baseball, it was by coming up with something novel, and the only way to do that was to look outside of our own industry for inspiration. I would encourage people to do that rather than be narrowly specialized in one field.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Cost of living during winterim a challenge for low-income students FROM FOOD PAGE 1

students receiving financial aid reported that they had stayed on campus at least once for interim due to financial restrictions. Of those students, 56 percent reported that eating in town or purchasing groceries for the duration of interim was not financially stable for them.

For many students, such as Maleah Wenzel ’20, the cost of living during breaks has been frustrating because of the lack of adequate dining options in town and provided by the College.

“If we are looking at it from a statistics point, they might not be willing to spend enough money to feed those few people who really need food over the break,” Wenzel said. “But if we’re looking at it from a human rights standpoint, the College has a $4.5 billion endowment, and if they spared a few hundred dollars, then they

could keep students from actually started a few days in, so you would starving.” have to find food before that,” Originally from Alaska, Wenzel Wenzel said. “But even as they has spent multiple breaks on started, as someone who constantly campus due has to eat a certain to financial amount to keep “OPAL and FYSEP restrictions my weight up, two — she said would do meals once meals a day is not s h e o f t e n or twice a day that enough.” found herself We n z e l h a s s t o c k p i l i n g started a few days in, also indirectly d i n i n g h a l l so you would have to experienced food food and during find food before that.” insecurity attending academic ter ms. numerous Though she O f f i c e o f -MALEAH WENZEL ’20 considers herself Pluralism and “lucky enough to Leadership have scholarships and First-Year to cover big meal Student Enrichment Program plans” for academic terms, she events “just to get by,” especially explained that a few of her friends since she has a medical condition did not have such financial luck and that requires her to eat a high- had to buy the least expensive meal calorie and high-fat diet. plans available. As a result, however, “OPAL and FYSEP would do those friends often ran out of meal meals once or twice a day that swipes and DBA before the end of

WHO’S A GOOD BOY?

BOWEN CHEN/THE DARTMOUTH

A very good dog engages in a fun game of fetch on a beautiful fall day.

the term, and she frequently used her own DBA to purchase food for them, Wenzel said.

“Balancing my privilege in having those scholarships and wanting to help my friends who don’t have those but also needing to help myself with my medical condition, that can be pretty rough,” Wenzel said.

SA has previously taken measures to address campus food insecurity, including a voucher program that provided $2,500 worth of gift cards to the Hanover Co-op to students.

As Wenzel explained, however, the program, “while helpful, did not meet all of student need.”

“I did use the voucher program, and it helped a little bit,” she said.

“But, first of all, it’s hard to get to the Co-op because you either have to walk while carrying everything or drive. If you can’t afford food, you most likely can’t afford a car and parking, and the $25 or $50 at

the Co-op doesn’t go that far.”

SA is currently looking to revise the voucher program because of both need-related issues and legality.

“There are a lot of legal issues with the way the voucher program was set up,” said SA president Luke Cuomo ’20. “Effectively, if we are giving away our funds to students, for one, the College has policies about that, and, two, there [are] taxation laws that come into question.”

He added that SA also hopes to work alongside the Sustainability Office to start a cooking vessel — essentially kitchen supplies — rental system that would allow students to cook their own meals when oncampus dining options are closed.

“Not a lot of people are always affected,” Wenzel said. “But those who are affected are affected to a level that can be dire. Those are the people that really need to be focused on. “

PAGE 4

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

SENIOR STAFF COLUMNIST TYLER MALBREAUX ’20

THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD

Cancel Culture, Not Canceled

Verbum Ultimum: A Community of Faith

Cancellation, while not perfect, gets some things right.

Dartmouth should not engage with religious identities just on holy days.

The term “cancel culture” is the latest he issue an apology at the Academy’s request. euphemism for political correctness. Often He refused to do so, the Oscars went on a term lobbed leftward, cancel culture refers without a host, and his stardom remained to the online public shaming, usually of a comfortably intact. celebrity, for some past action now deemed And as for lesser-known talents like Gillis, inappropriate. The intention is to encourage it’s hard to believe his SNL firing is careerothers to “cancel” consumption of the ending. He’s already back to headlining celebrity’s work. comedy clubs and has The most recent received public support “If cancellation is example of cancel from the likes of Bill culture’s relevance is in Burr and Rob Schneider. often ineffective the firing of Shane Gillis.

His cancellation, and detrimental to Saturday Night Live hired paradoxically, has given its own aims, then Gillis for this season’s him more attention than run, only to fire him predoes it merit serious he might have otherwise premiere when racist jokes enjoyed. attention?” about Asian Americans We have already seen from one of his podcast this same ironic effect of episodes resurfaced. cancellation in other cases.

Gillis’ firing is what critics of cancel culture Some moved to cancel Michael Jackson consider speech policing gone rogue. A young after the release of “Leaving Neverland,” a comic made some bad comments, from documentary which profiled two men who which he later distanced himself (although claim that Jackson molested them as children. he stopped short of apologizing), and has Yet, upon the film’s release, Jackson’s album possibly lost his biggest career break. Gillis, sales actually rose in the Billboard charts. in other words, has been cancelled.

Similarly, while Kanye West laments that Gillis may make a compelling case for he too has been cancelled, his album, “Ye,” critics, but it’s worth considering how cancel debuted at No. 1, not long after he insinuated culture normally works. Cancel culture is slavery was “a choice.” actually much less effective in most cases, If cancellation is often ineffective and and the concerns of its critics are vastly detrimental to its own aims, then does it overinflated. merit serious attention? One could dismiss That is because many celebrities, like cancel culture as a loud megaphone for Kevin Hart, often continue to be stars despite regular people to announce their regular, cancellation. Hart, despite using homophobic inconsequential opinions. But that overlooks material in his standup bits for years, still could have hosted the 2018 Oscars, provided SEE MALBREAUX PAGE 6

Today is Día de Los Muertos, the Mexican community. Even if there are groups that students holiday celebrated throughout Central America, may practice their faith and culture with, those can honoring those who have passed on. Last week was still be isolating. Students should not have to find Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, a celebration faith-focused communities — even when those of new beginnings, the prevailing of good over evil. communities are doing great work, like the Tucker Signs and celebrations of both can be found Center for Spiritual and Ethical Life — to feel seen across our small campus, here in our neck of the or prioritized. Students are multi-dimensional, and woods. Diwali lights were organized all over the one’s faith and culture should be a part of who they Green on a chilly, twilight evening last Saturday. are, never composing the entirety of an identity.

Colorful paper decorations and skulls brighten up the Students should not be asked to choose to sacrifice first floor of Baker Library, and will have continued one identity for another. An example is the academic celebrations at La Casa tomorrow. Though Latinx calendar: students might have to leave a religious and Hindu populations, outside of Dartmouth’s celebration with their community on campus to student body, are quite small in the Upper Valley, return home and finish writing a paper. such vibrant cultural activity here in the Upper Valley The academic calendar is not drawn with respect has surprisingly sustained a strong presence. The to these religious holidays, even though there are College currently houses 25 different religious groups observances happening on campus. While the all housed under the umbrella valid counterargument is of the “United Campus that it would be impossible “For its first two Ministry.” Additionally, the to structure Dartmouth’s Tucker Center for Spiritual rigorous 10-week terms centuries and then and Ethical Life hold Speed around every religion that is some, this community represented on this campus, Stories, Voices of Faith panels and spiritual advising for did not possess visible it is still an important point students. to consider: Though our critical mass of nonIt’s important that we community is diverse, it is white, non-male, appreciate the diversity of still fragmented into diverse faith and culture that students non-straight and non- and disparate communities. have brought to this campus, Just because there is not one cisgender people.” and we call for continued clear solution to this problem, efforts to bring more voices does not mean that it is not to the table. impacting some students more Dartmouth’s history has only recently included than others. different religions. For its first two centuries and This editorial is merely a meditation on the state then some, this community did not possess visible of our campus, as rich in life experiences but quite critical mass of non-white, non-male, non-straight poor, often, in perspective. Too often, discussions and non-cisgender people. Just as one example, that start with “look how far we’ve come” spiral into Diwali was not celebrated formally on campus a call to settle for meagre progress made. Instead, until as recently as 2006, and yet many, if not most, we hope that by looking to our recent past and not current Dartmouth students would be shocked to liking what we find, we will head toward our near not have such observances occurring on campus. future with more thoughtful actions. Members of We have taken our religious diversity for granted, this community should not only be inclined to attend and we still have yet to prioritize these culturally rich one of the religious services and gatherings on this opportunities. As Dartmouth students surrounded campus for a particularly special holiday — rather, by numerous spiritual and cultural experiences, it is these events should serve as reminders that we have a privilege to learn about other faiths and important a diverse community. We encourage the community to remember just how recently our campus was to go further — to engage with diverse perspectives closed off to some of them. through classes, clubs and discussion with friends — It is important to recognize how far this and to be friends with people different from them. community has come. It is also important, however, The lack of integration we are frustrated by will to recognize what is left to do. probably not be fixed by a new academic calendar Diversity is an attitude, not a number. Simply that works around high holy days. Perhaps we can possessing critical mass of students of a single start with interest in the world outside our narrow demographic for them to host their own events lived experiences. does not mean that their culture or lived experiences The editorial board consists of the opinion editors, the are fully integrated into or considered in our executive editor and the editor-in-chief.

DEBORA HYEMIN HAN, Editor-in-Chief

AIDAN SHEINBERG, Publisher

ALEX FREDMAN, Executive Editor PETER CHARALAMBOUS, Managing Editor

ANTHONY ROBLES, Managing Editor

PRODUCTION EDITORS CAROLINE COOK & EOWYN PAK, Opinion Editors

BUSINESS DIRECTORS JONNY FRIED, JASMINE FU, RAIDEN MEYER,

KYLEE SIBILIA, Mirror Editor LILI STERN & BAILY DEETER, Sports Editors LEX KANG & LAUREN SEGAL, Arts Editors DIVYA KOPALLE, Photo Editor SAMANTHA BURACK & BELLA JACOBY, Design Editors HATTIE NEWTON, Templating Editor JESS CAMPANILE, Multimedia Editor

Advertising & Finance Directors HIMADRI NARASIMHAMURTHY & KAI SHERWIN, Business Development Directors ALBERT CHEN & ELEANOR NIEDERMAYER, Strategy Directors VINAY REDDY & ERIC ZHANG, Marketing, Analytics and Technology Directors

ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER, Engagement Editor WILLIAM CHEN & AARON LEE, Data Visualization Editors

ISSUE LAYOUT ANDREW SASSER SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Groups must have faculty advisor, 10 members for recognition FROM COSO PAGE 1

recognized by COSO this year are student service groups. According t o F i t z g e r a l d , m a ny s e r v i c e organizations were previously run through the Center for Social Impact. She added that COSO received many recognition requests from new service groups which sought official recognition from the College.

“A lot of students were really passionate about starting new service groups,” Fitzgerald said.

“They came to us and asked how they could be recognized.”

Fitzgerald said that after new clubs receive COSO recognition, they become eligible for funding, which the COSO board allocates among all clubs and is paid for by the student activity fee charged to students’ tuition bills each term.

Additionally, Fitzgerald mentioned that COSO-recognized groups can have access to a listserv and organizational email, as well as the ability to book rooms for meetings.

All COSO-affiliated groups have to go through a recognition process. According to the COSO website, organizations must draft a constitution, find a faculty or staff advisor and have at least 10 student members. Fitzgerald said that after all these requirements are met, all of the recognitions are made at

a recognition meeting where the board asks questions about the day-to-day operations of the club and the role of the organization on campus.

“Usually, when we have a new organization, we’re looking for some kind of niche that they’re filling that’s not being filled,” Fitzgerald said. “We also want to see if they’re well-organized and have a structure in place so they can last [for] a long time.”

One of the new clubs that was approved this term is the Dartmouth Design Collective.

According to Anca Balaceanu ’20, a leader in the Design Collective, the organization’s goal is to create a “support community” for students interested in design and bring them access to opportunities in the design industry.

“It’s hard to break into the [design] industry coming from a place like Dartmouth,” Balaceanu said. “We want to grow the skills of the Dartmouth community in design and also inform students about how they can get jobs in the design industry.”

Balaceanu said that the group will conduct activities like design career panels and design make-a-thons to help people practice their design abilities. She added that the group also wants to set up a mentorship program between older students and

OLYMPIA NAGEL-CALAND/THE DARTMOUTH

A wide variety newly-formed student organizations recently obtained official recognition from the College.

newer students to get new students interested in the field of design.

Another new club that was recognized by COSO this term is the Dartmouth Energy Alliance.

According to club co-founder Max Holden ’22, the Dartmouth Energy Alliance seeks to engage students

in topics of energy on campus, particularly through the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society. Holden added that the club hopes to develop new students’ interests in the field of energy through mentorship programs, research opportunities and other

educational opportunities on and off campus.

“We felt that there wasn’t really a space for undergraduates to explore the energy industry,” Holden said.

“We really hope to give students a sense of direction about what the energy industry looks like.”

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DARTMOUTHEVENTS

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

WHOPPERS, ALL THAT’S LEFT

NATALIE DAMERON ’21

TODAY 2:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

Conference: “George Ticknor (‘1807) and His Legacy in the 21st Century,” sponsored by the Spanish and Portuguese Department, the Leslie Center for the Humanities, the 250th Anniversary Initiative, and DCAL, Baker Library, Room 102.

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Lecture: “Hockey Sticks are Everywhere! The Recent Emergence of Climate Change in Greenland and New England,” with earth sciences professor Erich Osterberg, sponsored by the Physics and Astronomy Department, Wilder Hall, Room 104.

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Workshop: “Spam Musubi Workshop,” sponsored by the Native American Program and Hokupa’a, Native American House.

8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Viewing: “Public Astronomical Observing,” sponsored by the Physics and Astronomy Department, Shattuck Observatory.

TOMORROW 4:00pm – 5:45pm

Documentary: “Paper Lanterns,” sponsored by Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages, Carson L01.

FROM MALBREAUX PAGE 4

some very real instances in which cancellation has transcended rhetoric.

Bill Cosby, R. Kelly and Kevin Spacey have all been cancelled, leaving permanent damage to their careers and their legacies.

Rightfully so. Celebrities should not retain such privilege in a society — the privilege to be lauded, to be revered, to be paid — while also committing abhorrent acts against ordinary people.

True, celebrities are also real, fallible humans who work to make a living.

But unlike the manager of the local

Kroger’s, their work performance — their actions, their opinions, their song lyrics, their standup material — is judged by the society in which they are heralded. Such is the privilege of celebrity status, and such are the strings attached to it.

Therein lies the real power of cancel culture. While the actions of Hart and Gillis are not as atrocious as Cosby’s or Kelly’s, their work, even if it’s comedic, cannot and should not be immune to the evolving norms of decency and respect. Because jokes can hurt too.

Because racism and homophobia guised as comedy is not art. It’s barely comedy.

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Review: HBO’s ‘Watchmen’ an engaging, original series B y JAMES CRONIN

The Dartmouth Staff

“Watchmen” seems like HBO’s first attempt at a replacement TV show for “Game of Thrones.” Even before the disappointing finale of “Game of Thrones” which aired this May, it seems HBO has been clamoring to produce a new hit show to keep their subscribers. My verdict on whether or not “Watchmen” has the ability to do just that is — being only two episodes into the season — hard to say, but it’s at least off to a good start.

“Watchmen” is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s 1986 graphic novel of the same name. Moore’s “Watchmen” was a satire, a deconstruction of the concept of superheroes. The television series follows the events of the graphic novel, but takes place over 30 years later in the present day and focuses on racial tensions in Tulsa, OK. Having read the graphic novel, I understood some of the more zany details of the gritty “Watchmen” world, but I was still at a loss for much of the past two episodes.

However, the feeling was quite nice.

Even being familiar with the story’s dark take on what superheroes would be like in real life, I was constantly intrigued by what each new scene revealed about the fictional world created on the screen.

Produced by Damon Lindelof of “Lost” and “The Leftovers” fame, it’s clear that HBO has not taken any shortcuts in making “Watchmen,” putting top creators on the project.

HBO spends an estimated $2.5 billion a year on content, and clearly, “The Watchmen” received a sizable budget from those dedicated funds.

The set-pieces and CGI are as good as any other big-budget show on TV.

The music is great too, which makes as of now. The show seems to paint sense seeing as it’s Trent Reznor and both liberals and conservatives in a Atticus Ross from the Nine Inch bad light at times and I don’t think Nails who handle the score for the I, or anyone, can really classify what show. Overall, the effort put into kind of statement Lindelof is making.

“Watchmen” shines through — all Perhaps viewers will know when the of which is highlighted by good season has run its course. In the production. first 15 minutes of the first episode, The characters, as well as the a cop is shot and killed because, in perfor mances the actors have the seemingly hyper-liberal political delivered, are intriguing, and I’m landscape of the show’s world, interested to see cops have to in what direction radio their Lindelof directs “There are plenty of headquarters t h e m . Re g i n a other contradicting in order to get King plays the and conflicting permission lead role, Angela to draw their Abar, also known messages the show weapon from as Sister Knight, throws at me, such its mechanical and does a great holster. At this job with it. She that every time I point, viewers previously worked think I have gotten a would probably with Lindelof on think the show good sense of where “The Leftovers,” is making a but I have not the show is going, a statement seen that show, so new concept or piece about gun I only knew her as c o n t ro l , bu t the voice of Riley of information that then it is and Huey on Adult completely negates revealed that Swim’s animated the murderer all my previous ideas show “The was a member Boondocks.” King is introduced into the of an altmost certainly does mix.” right, white not disappoint in supremacist live-action. Tim g roup called Blake Nelson, of multiple Coen the Seventh Kavalary. A police brothers’ movies fame, is also officer dies because of liberal gun present, and he does a great job at laws but is killed by the exact kind playing a deadpan vigilante named of conservative person who would Looking Glass. Other important consider such a law an infringment actors in the show, like Don Johnson on their rights. It simultaneously and Jeremy Irons, are great when paints liberal ideals and conservative shown, but their appearances have extremists in a bad light. been intentionally sparse thus far.

There are plenty of other “Watchmen” is not an easy show contradicting and conf licting to synthesize. It’s incredibly political, messages the show throws at me, but that’s all I really feel that I’m such that every time I think I have equipped to say at this point. I have gotten a good sense of where the no idea to which direction it leans show is going, a new concept or

piece of information that completely negates all my previous ideas is introduced into the mix. I enjoy this about the show because it’s bold. It pushes boundaries and makes me question what exactly is going on in every scene. This aspect of the show kept me constantly stimulated as I tried to figure out what the subtext was. The writing is what keeps me enthralled — it’s fantastic.

I have also enjoyed the way the show approaches world-building.

Lindelof drops the viewer into a drastically different version of America, in which it sometimes rains squids and the cell phone was never invented. There is no expository dialogue or convenient newscasting playing in the background to explain away the befuddlement whenever a new aspect of the world is introduced. The pilot presents the world as it is without any qualifiers.

I came into the show with as much background knowledge as possible, and even I’m not spared from mild fits of confusion when I see something like paparazzi flying

around in mechanical moth suits without any reason for why that’s considered normal in this world.

I think this slow trickle of information about the world is fantastic, and it adds a greater sense of realism to the show as well. Why should I be familiar with the world of the show just on account of having read the books? Thirty years have passed. That’s a ton of time, and I’m glad the world has evolved. I respect Lindelof for doing something new with the story and not sticking to crowd-pleasing references from the source material.

“Watchmen” has my attention.

While its premiere wasn’t the most exciting pilot I’ve ever seen, the series has shown enough promise that I’ll see it through to the end.

Lindelof has demonstrated his proficiency as a showrunner, and the writing is some of the freshest I’ve seen on television in a long time. I recommend “Watchmen,” but may suggest waiting to start it until you have a large block of empty time to binge-watch.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS

PAGE 8

SPORTS SPORTS

Women’s hockey falls 4-2 to Vermont in second game of season

B y KAITLYN LEES

The Dartmouth Staff

Dartmouth women’s hockey (0-2) fell 4-2 to the University of Vermont (4-1-4) in an away game on Tuesday night. Last week, the Big Green lost 7-4 in its season opening match-up against Harvard University.

Last year, the Big Green beat the Catamounts 3-1.

“We for sure knew that UVM was going to be better than last year. We knew they were going to be a fast, gritty team,” said forward Gabby Billing ’22.

Billing thought the team had an good mindset overall going into the game but still might have slightly overlooked the Catamounts, since the Big Green had beaten them last year.

Head coach Laura Schuler spoke about the team’s efforts to tighten up its defense since the game against Harvard and feels that real progress has been made, especially on defense that showed against Vermont.

“I thought we significantly s h o w e d i m p rove m e n t t h e r e, although the score didn’t reflect that,” Schuler said. “Going from seven goals against to three was an improvement. We need to continue making that a focus for us going forward.”

Vermont came out of the gate hot with three goals in the first period. After Vermont’s first goal, forward Catherine Trevors ’23 responded with a goal to tie up the game. However, the tie was shortlived, as Vermont quickly scored again and scored one final time before the period ended.

After a challenging start, Trevors said the team was able to improve in

the second and third periods. The second period was quiet between the two teams as the Big Green remained two back. Billing scored her first goal of the season within the first five minutes of the third period to bring the Big Green within one.

During a Dartmouth penalty halfway through the final period, goalie Hannah Humphreys ’23 was able to keep the Catamounts from extending the lead. Overall, she had 11 saves in the third period.

Dartmouth had five penalties to Vermont’s three.

Ultimately, the Big Green was unable to score on its own powerplay opportunity, and the game ended at 4-2. Billing and Trevors each had a goal and an assist for the second game in a row. Jennifer Costa ’21 also provided an assist for the Big Green. Dartmouth took 19 shots on the goal while Vermont took 31. Tuesday marked the Catamounts’ ninth game of the season and only the Big Green’s second game.

Despite two losses to start the season, Schuler said she was proud of her players’ ability to translate feedback from Harvard’s game into their performance against Vermont.

“Throughout the game against UVM we just kept getting better and better defensively,” Schuler said.

“That’s where we have to pick up right where we left off going into these two games this weekend so that we can see some success.”

The offense has had two strong performances so far and has been able to consistently produce shots on the net. In addition, Trevors spoke of the importance of maintaining offensive pressure and keeping the puck in the opponent’s

end.

“If we have the puck, we do good things,” Trevors said.

Getting off to a stronger start is a priority for the team moving forward.

“Against Harvard and UVM, we’ve had to dig ourselves out of a hole and that’s something that you don’t want to be doing,” Billing said.

Billing added that the team

needs to focus especially on playing the first 10 minutes to capitalize on potential momentum and be proactive instead of reactive. In order to accomplish this goal, the team is planning on tweaking some of its pre-game rituals to start on the same page.

Billing also said that a special thing about their team is that the focus is on the whole team working

together instead of one individual’s performance.

Dartmouth looks to carry this positive energy into success this weekend as they return to the ice at home. On Friday, the Big Green will take on Yale University (2-0) at 6 p.m. On Saturday, the team faces off against Brown University (0-2) at 3 p.m. The Big Green took both teams to overtime last season.

ELSA ERICKSEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Big Green will host two home games this weekend following a 4-2 loss to Vermont on Tuesday night.