Volume 40 - Issue 4

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Publisher Ullrtn Harrison Editor-m-Chief Jom!J Dach \fanaging Editors \..itok Allan, J'\icle Handkr Designer Rathtl Engkr Seruor Editors Em1!J Koh, Sophia Ltar

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Staff Amy Fish, Pat Hayden, Matthew Lee, Sarah Nutman, Lizz~ Star, Ma1 Wang, Sarah Winsberg Mtmbtrs and Dmdors Joshua Ci\-in, Peter B. Cooper, Tom Gnggs, Roger Coho, Brooks Kelley, Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Kathnn Lassila, Jennifer Pitts, Hent] Schwab, Elizabeth Sledge, Jim Sleeper, David Slifka, Fred Sttebeigh, Thomas Strong, John Swansbwg Advisors Richard Bradley, Jay Carney, Richard Conniff: Ruth Connif£: Elisha Cooper, Julia Preston, Lauren Rabin, Steven Weisman, Daruel Yergin Friends Michael Addison, .Austin Family Fund, Steve Ballou,]. Neela Baneqec, Margaret Bauer, Emily Bazelon, Anson M Beard, Jr., Blatte Bennett, Richard Bradley, .Martha Brant, Susan Braudy, Daniel Brook, Hilary Callahan, Jay Carney, Daphne Chu,Josh Ci\in, Jonathan M. Clark, Constance Clement, .\ndy Court, !\fasi Deruson, Albert]. Fox, !\irs. Howard Fox, David Freeman, Geoffrey Fried, Sherwin Goldman, David Greenberg, Stephen Hellman, Laura HeYmann, Gerald Hwang, Walter Jacob, Jane Kamens!c)•, Tina Kelley, Roger Kirwood, Jonathan Lear, Leu-is E. Lehrman, Jim Lowe. E. Kohles Lowe, Daniel ~1urphy, Martha E. :-.:eil, Peter ~eil, Howard H 'Je-wman, Sean O'Brien, Laura Pappano,Julie Peters, ~'IS and Joan Platt, Josh Plaut, Julia Preston, Lauren Rabin, Fairfax C. Randal, Robert Randolph, Stuart Rohrer Arleen and \rthur Sager, Richard Shidds, W. Hampton S1dcs, lisa Sil-..."Crman. Scon Sunpson, -\dina Proposco and Dmd Sulsman, Thomas Strong, :-.Iargarita Whiteleather, Blake \'\"ilson, Daniel Yergm and r\ngela Stent Yergin

THE NEW JOURNAL

Volume 40, Number 4 February 2008

FEATURES 1Q (RJ\11~

From The Editor.,

". < IIGI ~CE

Immigrants struggle

In 2007, ~C\\ Ha,cn was ,Jammed \\1th the resignation of !'\\O U>p pohcc officials, a federal assault on ib immigram populanon, a ~p1ke in shootings. rhe arrests of three narcotic> officers, and a rash of verbal vJolcnct• on Yale's campus. In a city that has never rccm crcd from irs repuraoon as a cnme and crack-ra\'aged 1con of the rwcnticth-cemury city gone wrong, this stnng of events could not be dismissed as bad luck.

But rather than submiwng to a self-fulfilling characrerv.arion of their Cl['\, "ltw Haven res1dcnrs srood up. Ther came from (.It) Hall, synagogues, classrooms, and prisons w fill in for a police force they could no longer trust.

The'c n:~•dcnt' came to cmbodr a new form of commcm!) policing. Th1s L'SUC 1' for them.

to

lind health care.

I?JAmy Fi1h

1 7 THh BE.'.J -L \JD PI

\~s

1\dding onto America's most hat<..u building by .rlli Stitz

24

B.\CK'I'O 1111 S·IRI hi'S

Ex-cone; fight fi>r the cit)~" t<>LJt.,IDt ten fX!1U!11t b;• "\1rolt 1/ltm

32 \\' \1 KI~G \'\ n

1 Gon

Edgewood j<.:\\S ;urn to stamp out crime.

'?J Sophia I...rar

36 Co~:-;Ecnct..'T PbtORAL Cttics and suburbs cbsh oYer criminal justice.

'?J· E,,;!J Koh

15

T\~J

Dl Cops sw-ap guns for tascrs.

I?J Mai lf(mg

40

BonY Pour1< s

Trials of old illuminme %eta Psi photo.

I!J Pal lftl)·dm

4 43

THE CRITICAl

\ t-..GIJ

:>' jonla11 ]afk.r

46 E:-.;n on "I Laum Za.,· and Matt II a,g,Itajft

,_Journal.,

llw :Joumolls publi5tled fM limn during the~ :r- by lhe Yale.lnc.. PO. Box 203432 'lllle Statio~\,- Hiwn. CT 06Sl0. Oi!'u .odrn J0S Clown Slrftt_ AI Contents Copytight 2006 by Joumalot Yale, Inc. All Rights~ Ropoduc:.on Pl'l without wntten pennk<~en ol 11><- pubi1hof ....t ~"'., chl<f Is~ While lhis ~Is pu!)islled by 'lllle Collo9o ~.. V. • UnMnlty Is not mporulble lar IU content>. ~ty-frw hunc!led ~of Ndllssue.,. ~Med ~ 10 nwmbon ol II><- Yale ond Hlvtn community ~.,.~to thofe outlld<- lhe One,-. SIB. Two yun. S32.lhe New Joumolls printed by Turley Publlcallons. ....,_ MA; boclkftping oncl billing servlcrs.,. proylded by ColrNn llooi.keepngol- Hiwn. lheNfw JourNI oncour.,~e~~en to the ocfito< and COI!lf!WnU on 'lllleltnd- H.svtn lssun. Wrll1!to£ditotWs. 203412 Y.H ~Now Hiwn. CT06~20 AD letters lar pabliadon roost~ oddmslnd slgnal\ft.Wt! ml!rW t1w right to edit olletten lar puhllation.

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February 2008

3

POINTS Of_DEPARTURE

Art on Architecture "S.\M," ,\

PSEUDOSY~Iot ~

Y \I I

S'l1 D1 .._ r

majoring in art, couiJ !>kip the l.ou\'rc: on his next trip to Pans. I k'd rather take a tour of the city\ back nllep, Jc~em:J train yards, and ab:mJom:d factones. s.lm prefers street life 10 srill life. the urban landscape ro oil lanJ~cnpc:;. graffiu to da , -mci.

Grnfnu, Sam rcwgnizes, is a loaded term. It's as loaded as a can of spray paint under pressure. h loaJcd .Is a lone ~'Ord on a concrete can\"as in an innL·r city. As loaded as the art collccror who. at a London art auction 10 L';lrly h:bruary. coughed up S191,000 for a canvas image: of Kate Moss spmr·paintnl by the English grnffiti artist known only as "ltmksy."

The spark that charges graffiti is the same one thar electrifies the conHicr between one man's \"andalisrn and another's Venus dc ~hlo. "Cmffiti\ tics to lup-hop culrure makL· It pretty rnJical," Sam explains. Those ne::o run Jeep. In the lup-hop holy trinity, rap is the medium of oral e.xprcs5ion, brL-ak dancing of physical expression, and graffiu the mode of visual expression. "Graffiti is JUSt p:m of a way of life," says ~;un. Bur hkc ~o much of urban \.mcncan subculrurc, grnffiri has suffered rrusrcprcsentarion and crimin:ili:r.arion in mamstrcam society.

Just as the contro\"ersl31 rhymes of a handful of prominent gangsta mpper; have earned rhe mustcal genre a bad rnp, so, too, ha~ the es,cncc of graffiu been skewed by a f~·w prominent aw~ts.

4

"The vast majority of people involved in (graffiti) are not nearly as deStructive as the people on the surface," says Sam. 'lot that grnffiri enthusiasts would argue that sprny-painting private property i:-o legal. It is mcontro,·erribly illegalindeed, Sam requested to have his name \\ithhcld, and many grnffiti artists sign their work with nicknames, "rags," which ("lcllitate a quick geraway and also conceal their 1dentities.

Bur grnffiri, also known as "tagging," is perhaps more threatening ro the powers that be nor because of how the art form is ~:xpressed but rather because of what it expresses. Grnffiti artists' usc of rhe medium to articulate the societal ills and social unrest bred by urban inequalities has done as much for graffiti art's minted reputation as the form's controversial canvases. Tagging is known as an avenue of anti-esrablishment expression, whether of rebellious poliocal messages, such as the famous 1970 rag, "Dick Ni.xon before he dicks you," or even controversial religious idea.", like the doctrine com·eyed by the legendary London slogan, "Clapron is God." "1 r's real and raw," Sam says, "and th.,t ~cares people."

Sam is not only a grnffiti appreciator but .Jso a grnffiri artist. He certainly doe:> nor consider himself a criminal. "1 don't understand how any art could be looked ar as crime," says Sam. Growing up in a small tO\\n in the '\orthwest, he always admired street art from afar. He ne\·er ragged until he moved to the Elm City. "You can do sruff wtth spta} prunt that you can't do with a brush or on a computer. [t has its own look to u." \Yith an attention to technique befitting his art maJor, he explains, "You can uulize the way the paint does drip, and you ha'Ve the option of hard edges or soft edges." Still, he harbors no illusions about graffin's embatded srarus as art. '~\ lor of people \\-ho look at classic art forms rrught not appreciate it."

Bur ~>raffiti is. in fact, one of the world's oldest art forms. The prehistoric ancestors of mankind who expressed themselves on the walls of the La~caux caves \\'ere not only humanity's first arust.': rher were also our first taggers. \X'aU-·writing caught on \\;th our dist:lnt ancestors for the same reason it gained appeal m modem times. "It's so easy to

do," says Sam. "It'~ just a can, you know.

You go to the store and drop $3.50, and you're ready to rag." Tag art's com·enience facilitated irs modern resurgence among members of underground culture in Philadelphia and '\ew York City during the anriestablishmenr '60s and '70s, when graffiti quickly became a popular and populist art form. Even the etymology of the word graffiti. whose ancient ancestor is the Greck verb graphtin, "to write," reflects its deep roors in human culture.

Graffiti i~ a reflection of the ennronment on irs environment. Because of its illegalir:y, taggmg embodies the pur:;uit of ultimate artistic freedom. "You can't put bounds on art," says Sam. So he takes the work! as his art's subject and his art's surface.

-LauraZax

c#) Rubble Agents II

YOLI \J :-.: rt."RH I~'TO llih L\JlYRI~"THr>;E

basement of Welch Hall and talk to C.J. May about his team of srudenr waste manager:;. you might not be sure whether he\ discussing #6 Plastics or 00"'. In fact, he's talking about both, although his vcrsion of Bond comes equipped ·with garbage tongs and safety glasses. and is probably not wcarirg a ruxedo. \"\elcome to the world of emironmcntal esptonagc. It's a glamorous adc for what amounts ro sifting through fr.l!;h. ~lay, head of Yale's recycling program. is looking for a new way to confront an old problem: How do we make ~ure that our recyclables, carefullr placed in their blue, green, and brown THE ~EW JOUR.'\:AL

bins, don't end up going out with the trash?

According to .\lay, the ~olution lies m undercover reconnaissance. He grabs a leaf of bnght orange paper from his desk, and marks it v.ith the date. These sheets, crumpled up and planted 10 recycling bins by a coven group of Yale students, sen·e as tracking de"-ices. After the custo<lian takes out the recycling, these agents of ceo-espionage wait to ~ee whether the orange papers end up in the outdoor recycling bins where they belong. ~fay draws his inspiration for dus operation from legendary aquatic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Cousteau, May tells me, once used blue dye to prove that an inland water hole was connected to the ocean. "He just watched, and followed where it led," May says. These bits of orange confetti are May's blue dye, and they have resulted in ~orne serious findings.

Of ten buildings surveyed in the fall, five had custodial reams caught tossing their recycling into outdoor dumpsters. This, May emphasize~, is a crime. Recycling has been mandatory in Conneccicut since 1991, when the state had the worst record of garbage inaneration in the nanon.

May hopes that the "sting operation." as he calls it, will help hun gather enough hard data to find and plug the "leaks in the pipe" that prevent successful recycling at Yale. He takes the task seriously, amassmg evtdence as one would in a criminal trial and relymg on eyev.itness accounts as often as possible. .\fay also takes safety seriously. He urges me to enroll in a course on blood-borne pathogens if I am interested in joining his ream of agents.

Delicatelygrabbing the edge of an invisible (yet somehow believably weighty) bag of rrash between two fingers, he mimes for me the correct way of handling waste to avoid being hurr by, say, shards of glass or hypodermic needles.

Currently, the team is tiny; only two studentS are responsible for inspecting all of Yale's buildings. The more experienced of the two P.I.'s is a divmity ~chool student who, stuck in ~ew Haven over winter break, took advantage of Yale's dead campus to step up his recon '':ork.

Operating without a uniform, he was not received well by building supervi.~ors, who saw nothing more than a stranger peeking into their trash. A saintly smile February 2008

widens across his face as he admits that supenisors have called the police on him. :\lay is boss of another ~quad of recycling nuts-the Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnerslup. .\lay doesn't tap into the pool of STEP coordinators to expand the program. STLP has a different agenda, he explams. They're responsible for education in the collegesfor distributing mi.xed·paper bms and Buorescem bulbs and for throwing study breaks. "STEP coordinators arc like cheerleaders," he says. "\X'e need these guys to be like FBI agents." \!though "spy" is a word that makes coordinators cringe, 1\.lay offers it up freely, even proudly, to his waste team.

The program is not May's first effort at recychng regulation. The boldness of the ·waste inspeccions 1s a far leap from the more transparent effort that .\lay dubbed "recycling for muffins." He used to vtsit a number of sites daily, asking to inspect \vaste and offering pastnes to the building with the best recycling record. The program was popular among custo<lians and long after irs termination, .\lay had people calling to ask. "When arc you gomg to bring back the muffins?" ~owadays, if he visitS a workplace, askmg about rrash and offering muffins, the responses are guarded. e\·en hostile.

People who want to look through trash are seen as lunatics, psychopaths. potential terroristS; "l.ve fear anthrax in our waste bms and rat poison in our baked goods.

No, muffins don't cut tt these day~.

So l\lay's vision has cvoh·ed. Today, salvation depends on C.J.'s angels. ,\r the end of my \-isit, one of them scops by to tip off May about a bUtlding he suspects is mishandling its recychng. May potnb to his modest waste team. "This is when: they come in!" His excitement conjures an image-beautiful--of waste inspecrors in slick black uniforms descmding on ropes from a helicopter that hovers ju~t above an offending site. Hi~ eyes stray upward, pulled by the magnetic power of this fantasy-and then he laughs. Back to earth, back to the bowels of \\~c:lch Hall. back ro garbage

-UztY Stflr

A Bite out of Crime 0\"I.R nu t~\ST snEs \IO...,JHS, GE."lERAL Manager ]afar \hmed has hired nearly one hundred people to fiU the nine delivery pos1rions at his Domino's franchise at the corner of \X inthrop and Whalley. He crcles through so many new hires because delivering food in New Haven is a risk-y business. On average, one of Ahmed's dcliverymen is mugged each month.

J\t those odds, and with a wage barely m·er the Connecticut minimum, few can stomach the job for long.

"Of aU the places I've managed, including tn '\;ew Britain, Hamden, and .\bnhattan, thts 1s the worst," Ahmed says. "~obody wanrs ro work here because we ha,·e lots of problems."

Ahmed docs not suffer alone.

All across '\Jew Haven, food delivery busincs~cs regular!} repon incidents of robbery and ,;oJence against their employees. \ccording ro the New Haven Police Department, 23 deliverymen from 14 dtffcrent businesses were mugged between October 4 and December 1 of lasr year. In the last two weeks of January. police reported the mugging of three more.

The crimes are relatively straightforward: Restaurants will get a call, a delivery person will head out, and, when he.: arm·es, a double-crossing caller "1.\111 threaten or intimidate him until rhc goods arc handed over. Somecimes muggers wane money, but usually irs just for the food.

Recounted in newspapers the follo\"\ing dar. these incidentS often read like something out of a "\\~odd's Worst" crime ~pccial. A culprit's usual take is the vc:ncable treasure crove of four dollars and a slice of pizza-most muggers work in groups and most deliverymen only carry

5

a maximum of S20 in change. \X'eighed against the risk of spending years m jail, the numbers don't seem to add up.

But as employers and employees at local businesses explain, police hardly ever make an arrest in these culinary caperssomething the criminals themselves are acutely aware o£ ''You call and they come after awhile," Maher Omar, a local deliveryman, says of the police. "They ask you, 'How many, where, and were they armed' and then you never hear from them again," Omar complains. "If you are not a Yale student, they don't care." ,\hmed expresses sirrular frustration.

"If the police are more active, tf they catch someone, then people '-'111 stop. For $20, people could go to jail for ten years.

They just would not risk it."

Police blame the food delivery businesses. Officers say restaurants do not take the proper safety precautions and instead deliYer any place at any time in the pursuit of profit. "\X'e've made seYeral arrests, but we're nor going to get them all, for sure," 0 fficer Joe \very admits. "\X'har we've tried ro do, then, is reach out and educate the delivery food businesses about changing their behavior. But they continue to go and deliver to places where they've been robbed before."

Fingers are pointed on both sides: The local police are seen as needing to be more responsive; the delivery businesses, less reckless. But few are ready or willing to confront the systemic problems that allow the delivcrymen muggings to persisc.

New applicants quickly fill spots vacated by frightened deliverymen, so delivef) businesses have little economic incentive to protect their employees. Meanwhile, high workforce turnover rates like those at Ahmed's franchise make coordination among employees nearly imposstble. "lilrimately, what the restaurants need tO do is link themselves together and communicate \\ith each other about these robberies," Captain Peter Reichard said.

"That's probably a pipedream though."

For their part, dcln·erymcn themselves sometimes seem less tntcrcstcd m what they could lose on the jo~their wallets, their car, even their life-than in what they stand to gam-minimum wage, plus rips, minus the price of gas. For the sake of an extra buck, delivef)·man i.\fike Pallaus disregards police recommendations 6

that say to make clients come to the car window at night: "1 have a better chance of getting a tip if I go to the door," he says. "So I go to the door."

-Scolt Kelfy

Kings of the Hill Mo~T Frun w .\FTERJ...;oo:-;s .n C. \SA LmK\, a small community center in New Raven's Hill neighborhood, about nine teenagers sip Capri Sun, eat Rice Krispies Treats, and discuss ways to fix their neighborhood.

Students toss their coats and backpacks m a corner and chat quietly in the Casa's basement until thetr organizer, an older woman named Frances Vazquez, arrives ro help the Hill Youth Action Team (HYXI) develop and carry out tts cures for the Hill's degradation.

The team, created by the Hill Neighborhood Forum m conjunction with community groups Youth@Work and The Consultation Center, began as a sixweek leadership program in the summer of 2006. Like the Board of Young Adult Police Commissioners or New Raven's penodic "teen only" hearings, HYAT proVJdes an opportunity for young adults ro identify and solve problems in their community. It is committed to finding youth-based solutions and avoiding adult intervention whenever possible. Lindsey Redd, a junior at Career High School and one of the original members of HY:\T, takes that role seriously. "I want people to look back and say we did something," he says. "I want them tO say we improved the neighborhood." \'\'ith this goal in mind, HYAT hopes to eventually tackle loommg problems like

teen pregnancy and gang violence. But for now, the group focuses on smallerscale proJects: taking an inventOf)' of abandoned houses in their neighborhood, organizing a cleanup of Minor Street, and cr.:ating a colorful banner remmding residents to "Keep The Hill Clean."

The students' commitmem to action is evident even in the structure of their meetings. They open their folders and split in to various comminees: fundraising, community service, public relations, field trip organization, event orgaruzation, and design . •\s student Nicole Smith explains, "\X'e each serve on two comminees so that our jobs each week are set and everyone can be held accountable." She sounds more like the manager of a company than a high school junior in a sweatshirt and Jeans. Her professionalism is widely shared.

Despite their adult work ethic, HYAT members exude a youthful1dealism. "The little steps art noticed," says Redd. He, like man} of his cohorts, emphasizes the aesthetics of the neighborhood, claiming they "make people act the way they act." Indeed, when the team ranked the problems plagumg their neighborhood last _\ugust, litter won out over cnme and violence. Shamonay Pittman, a high school freshman and "the baby of the group;' explains the self-perpetuating cycle. "If the streets aren't clean, people don't think that one more piece of trash matters, so they don't pick it up. But," she continues, "it's hard to walk b} when there is only one piece of trash on a clean street." It's an apt summary of the "broken windows" theory which "Jew York City employed ro fight its own problems with crime in the 1990s. The teens often use this theory to express a larger hope: that their projects ~ill make people proud to live in the Hill.

The teens qualify this pride, tt:)"ing to differentiate it from that of gangs. ''We're sticking up for our turf in a different way, a non-violent way," explains Smith.

For most, involvement with HYAT began as a summer job. Redd applied for a job through Youth@\X'otk, a New Haven partnership that provides employment opportunities for students ages 14 to 19.

"They JUSt pur you places," he says. ''1 JUSt ended up here." Several students cite similar experiences.

Despite their coincidental beginnings \\--ith HYAT, many students feel invested

THE NEW JOURNAL

in the team. The money is now a fnngc benefit. Vuqucz, the supenrisor, says, "lt is probably a small incentive, but ther arc only making minimum wage and working six hours a week; they're here because they really \~.':lilt to be." Gizelle \\·ala echoes dus sentiment. "I care about what happens to the Hill now because I mtghr be able to do something about it."

These teenagers' commitmenc to the group and their neighborhood stems partly from the sense of empowerment HYAT gives them. "lt's an enabler," Smith says of the organization. The tec:m feel compelled to act because they arc not confident adult~ arc doing enough. "The oty should make sure that the streets arc dean, but the} aren't, so we're takmg over their job," says Ptttman. "The Mayor and aldermen dcfinttcl} know about us and some have met with us, but nothmg has expliody been changed," Vazquez adds.

"There arc a lot of good politicians, but it usually cakes them a while to cake spccafic action."

The change HYAT wants most ts the creation of a communi()· center; "muh describes it as "a place \~.·here teem on go when they're having problems wuh their famil}, a place to do homework, and a place where they can just chill. If we're no r at home or at school, we have no place to be."

"The Bop and Girls Club and Casa Lawu arc n.'1Uy directed to young er ktds," Vazque:r elaborates, "but the tccnagl'ni are the ones who most need ic; they llfC the ones who get in trouble."

It is difficult to imagine a bettl:r place to design the ideal community center than HYATs shamelessly idealistic, rigorously professional meeting.; beneath the Casa Latina. In trying to transform the Hill, to foster a deeper sense o f co mmuni()· among its teenage ctcizens, the group ha..; become a model community-albeit o ne of only nine srudents -trsel£ -Sarah ~-llfllla/1

films, concerts, talks, conferences bridging disciplines

bringing people together

The Whitney Humanities Center salutes The New Journal and invites its readers to attend upcoming events, including :

Translating Cervantes February 28, 4pm

Church

and

State-Ever Separate?

March 5, Spm

Saving the Whales (or Not): Science, Regulation, and Conservation March 26, Spm

Epic Heroes, Then and Now March 28-29

A Universe of One's Own: Cosmology

and

Theology

April 1, Spm

"fresh as if just finished" a celebration of Elizabeth Bishop April 7, 6pm

Looking Back/Looking Forward performances and talks inspired by the Orpheus myth April 15-19 for information about the c and many other WHC events. see: www.yale.eduf\\ he The Whitney Humanities Center. 53 Wall treet.

February 2008

ev. Ha\ en

;

The Thin Blue Line As CA.\IP Y.\LR "JNos ro A o.osr, HACH fall, a few hundred wide-eyed freshmen gather m Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall for what has been billed as a "security meeting." Upperclassmen cavon across the stage pretending to be bike racks and laptop Jocks. Their skits are destgned to im pan helpful safety tips: don't walk alone at night, always shut your door, and tn an emergency, use a blue phone to directly connect to campus police.

Four months--or four yearsaftetwa.rd, few srudents "'ill have made use of that last ptece of advice. Though the comforong blue glow of a campus emergency phone is visible from most places on campus, Yale srudents rarely confront crisis directly. In the era of cell phones, there is somedung quaint about the nooon that students would rurn to a public telephone m the1r hours of need.

According to Susan Dana Burhan~. manager or"security educaoon at Yale, blue phones were first mstalled in the 1990s and arc still used frequently-though not for the reasons one would expecL As blue phones can connect to any campus number, Burhans explains, most callers use blue phones ro make general campus calls, rather than summon the YPD. "The phones are used quite often because they are converuent and the calls are free," Burhans says. She even promotes blue phones as "a good way to save on your cell minutes." evidence supports Anecdotal Burham's claim. Freshman Alexa Chu

8

used a blue phone to call maintenance after her suitematc accidentally dropped several plates, lca,·ing broken glass and food spread across the Roor. Chu imended to use a cell phone, bur onlr knew the extension for mamtcnance, not its full phone number, so she used a blue phone instead. Another sruJcnt was recently spotted using an Old Campus blue phone while wearing only a rowel, presumably locked out of her room.

Still, the stated purpme of the blue phones lS to improve security, not to aid srudents shon on cash or clothes. Indeed, Burhans says that blue phones ha\·e been helpful irnmedtately iollo\\ing incidents because "if an mcidcnt docs occur and the police respond ncar the sire, they have more of an opportunity to search the area right after the incident occurs."

Without blue phones, victims might wait to call until after returning ro their dorms or aparunenrs. However, Burhans was at a loss to recall a orne \\'hen a call from a blue phone directly prc\·cnrcd a crime.

Yale isn't the emir place where blue phones have caught on a~ a security measure. Colleges across the country are embracing them, from Oberlin (67 phones) and Cornell (86) roJohns Hopkins (32) and the L niverstt) of Chicago (327).

Clocking in at four hundred-odd blue phones, Yale tops most other schools.

Burhans is always asking students to contact her if they feel a phone should be added ro a particular location. But the phones aren't cheap. Although prices vary, installing a blue phone typically costs several thousand dollars.

If this seems like a quarter- million dollar investment m maintenance hotlines, Code BlUe, a major seller of campus securit)· phones, defends irs products \\ith one word: deterrence. ,\ high!) visible blue phone lets the would-be criminal kno"'· that the art.'ll is well-secured.

The blue phones han.· another purpose, too, one intended for both that room full of freshmen, and rhctr fretting, bill-paying parents. Those steady blue lights are comforting, whether they're an effective securitv me.tsurt• or not.

· -Sarah Ir'insberg

Mission: Mentor "rr-.;r I" J\.lauro {\[agnct ~chou! is deserted. The entrance ro the lm\; boxy school Is unimpressive: The lobby is full of fish tanks nnd construction-paper posters.

But the federal~< •Vtrnmem is watchingspecifically, Carla "pmo and Z\lary Heth .\liklo,, two emplo1·ees whom the I•BI, in octwcen catchmg rerrorists and breaking up the mafia, has asked ro tutor kids from time to rime. lt's immediately clear that you don't mess with the 1'131-not even if you're in the third grade. Spino's first action upon arrwal .r tht. school was to look over thl "'>ruJcnr of the :'.lonth" list that Colcs-Cros.; pronded. One of :\hklos' son's fnends had occn braggmg al>out his Student of the \{onth status at afterschool, and ~pino wanted to make sure his story checked out. Luckily for hun, it Jtd. .\ccording to the J"BT website, there arc Adopt-a-School programs set up in 56 H~I fic.:ld offices and across thl' countr). Tlw specific programs \at') from mentoring and tutoring to hosting hohda) e\.:nt,. 1l1c goal of the inioauvc i~ "to help kids who arc 'at risk' or d.isadvanragcJ learn how w impro\-c academically and become ){OOd citi?ens. rrhe \'Oiumet:rsj hope, abon.' .111, to show kids how to resist bad mAucnces that could lead them ro crime, druK usc, gang participation, and viokncc." \t rhc "chool, Colc~·Cro"~ emphasv:cs the preventative aspect of the \dopt-a-School program. The agenb arc meant to ~e.rve as posuiYe role models m the liH:~ of 'tudenrs. l\lany of the kids come from broken homes and ha\'e T111. "' \Y<.JlOL 'D <•I· TilE \

THE

~E\\' JOl R~

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incarcerated parents. Agents' volunteering with the school gives kids the opportunity to see authority figures in a more positive light, though the agents' face-time with the children is fairly limited.

The partnership with the Vinnie Mauro School began in late 2000. At first, the agents participated in one-on-one mentoring and tutoring of the students.

The program fell by the wayside for a while after 9I 11, when the FBI realized it might have more pressing issues to deal with than helping fourth graders with multiplication tables. Later, a scaled-down version of the project was restored. Lately, Coles-Cross says, "we kind of know what we're doing a little more," and volunteers from the Bureau have been able to devote some more time to the school.

The Bureau's interaction with the school is still primarily limited to special holiday events and presentations. For instance, right before winter break, agents from the office come to the school to put on a holiday party and distribute &1ft bags to all the students. The upcoming spring project is a special presentation on internet safety. Coles-Cross was particularly concerned with exposing the dangers of websites like MySpace. The agents put on presentaoons about safety and the FBI itself, and generally make themselves available to help with any projects or events for which the school might need volunteers.

But this subdued voluntcerism is the full extent of the FBI's mfiltrarion into New Haven's public schools.

There appear to be no creepy plots to indOCtrinate the nation's youth. While it might at first sound like an intngumg tdea, there is little chance that there will be any "Fourth Grade FBI Agent" to follow "Kindergarten Cop."

-Edith Sang11eza

February 2008

9

Criminal Negligence New Haven immigrants struggle to find health care.

By A11~y Fish

F

our years ago, a Ol'\vly-arrived imrrugranr miscarried in the bathroom stall of Sr. Raphael's emergency room. "I r came-a big piece of meat \\ith blood-and 1 was so scared,'' she recalls. ",\nd I said. '':rou knO\\ whar,I dUnk I'm losmg my baby right no\\."' Sh(; spoke tittle Engli<>h. L mnsured, she had been made to w:llr. pregruot and bleeding. for se\'cral hours ar a '\.e\\ Haven cliruc., then for another hour a< Sr Raphael'~. "Ju:;t take Motnn," ~he remembers the d0crors saying as they sent her home after the miscarria~e. ''I sa ci. '"hould I c. me back?'and they said, 'Do }OU have insurance? ·~o.· And they said, 'Oh, no, don't come b.1c" If. ou come back, pu need an appotntment and some insurance."'

She would have three more miscarriages before undcrgmng surgery w remO\·e utenne scar tissue. The procedure restored her fernhty but left her \\ith an unexpected fi,·e-rhousand dollar debt. Though she h<ld, by that rime, heard about and qualified for free care at Yale-:-:l'\\" Haven Hospital. her surgery ""a5 taken over without her knowledgl· by the Yale ~rcJical Group. private pracnnoners at Yalt:->"cw Hawn who do not participate in the free care program.

On a recent afternoon :u Book Tr.: '~r Cafe, she pulls out a picturl" of her daught(r, nO\\ ten month old. ":-\ow 1 am aware, and '\\hen I had my baby I u,ed t1 st •o them and s:ud. '0:o no no! \\'hat are 0u .5 ·mg to do~ 'feliJ.m.• ~·ou belong to )ale \Icdical 10

THE :-:h\\ JOLR:'\ \L

Group? Yeah? So-l don't want you to touch me."' She had k·arned her lesson: Even in the middle of labor, she had to fight for her own care.

The story has a clear ncrim, bur who is the perpetrator? ot rhe doctors and nurses, who dl-al wuh chaotic, overcrowded emergency room~. ~ot the immigrants, legal or illegal, \\ ho make up only a part of the uninsured populaoon.

The government, maybe, b01 before policies can change, ,\mencans must resoh'e the debate o\'Cr who can and cannot claim government scrvtces. One thing is ccnam: If health care is a human nght. as many argue, then the lack of

"The other thing that is rea.llr stressful is medicme, because you don't have a special rate for that. Jr is really hard, really expensive." She knows people who buy medicine from their home countries or make nacural cures themselves. The exr.remelr sick often go back to their own naoons when they cannot find r.rear.rnenc here. The government should do more, she insists. But when asked what, she pauses. "It's hard for me to even think about it because of my legal situation. It's like you don't even exist here." \X'ith no cenr.ral source of health care information, immigrants learn to

She had tearne J d her tesson: J E ven ::~;~~!~~?. ~0':. :~s~~t =~ zn the mzddle of Jabor., s.he had to f~rgetri?g ~at." liaht for her own 'b• care.

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health sen;ces is a crime.

The woman pur:; away her daughter's

piccure and grows serious. "Why, in a first class counr.ry. the human beings are treated as merchandise?... How is

activtst with a planner and cell phone on the table in front of her. she speaks with conviction. "\'\'e are forgetting that we are human beings..We are Non-English-speaking l.IT1ITltgillflts must navigate the strange byways of an opaque health care '}'tt.:m. Legal restdents who work mimmum \l."agC jobs and arc not the guarduns of children often don't qualify for healrh insurance.

Undocumented residents arc not only derued benefits but arc also often too terrified to ask healthcarc professionals for help. "All the rime you arc afraid," one immigrant explains. "You arc aslcing yourself, oh, when are they going to ask me for my Social Secunty?"

The few clinics in Ne" Haven that accept the uninsured--<.:tther offering free care or charging a special fee-rarely offer translation services. Even those that do often take up ro two hours to get an interpreter on the phone. Emergency room care is limited, says Kelly Hebrank, a New Haven social worker. "People come m and say, "lou kno\1.~ I need this tooth pulled, it's causmg me a lot of pain.'

And I say, 'You kno\\', )OU can go to an emergency clinic but only if )Our face is swollen. They'll only sec you if your face is swollen-they don't care if you're in pain!"' "\X'e don't ha~·e access to a specialist," say · an uninsured mother of two, commumcating through a r.rarulator.

February 2008

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}

and Much More.

rely on word of mouth to navtgate the decentralized and chaotic U.S. health care system: a patchwork of hospital programs, public school social servtces, and intricate government regulations, held together by an array of fund-strapped, overu.'Orked non-profits.

For these U.S. residents, there is no health care system. ut there is a New Haven community that has chosen to take up the battle.

Ftghong against insufficient care is the collecovc force that connects i.mnugtants in need wtth the people and groups that can help them. It is a community in which restdents show fierce pade. "We're united," says Sandra Trevino, the execuove director of the Latina-interests organization Junta for Progressn-e Action. "I think that's one of the reasons why a lot of people are attracted to New Haven...\Ve welcome our residents." The solidarity of groups like Junta accompanies the intimate bonds of residents m neighborhoods like Fair Haven, home to a large immigrant population. Junta holds adult health

B

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203-777-8440 or to order onooe: www. )'dlebookstor-e .com 11

Visitors to HAVEN Free Clinic are greeted with a httge smile and a booming) (/·Buenos dias! English or Spanish?" classes to reach skills from "ho\\ tO talk to doctors" to "how to n.-ad mcdtcmc.: labels." For the most part, tmmtgranrs ~ay, thcr rely on fncnds and ne•ghbors to ad\'ise them and to lead them to the bot, safest places to find care.

On a recent Sarurda) mornmg, the streets of Fair Haven arc stlent except for the \\'hip of \Vtnter wind. But \ isttors ro H \.\'E'\, hee Clinic arc grectc.:d '' 11h a huge smile and a boomtnr;. ";BtttltOJ dias! English or Sparush'" Students from the Yale Schoob of \lclltt ne, Publtc Health, and ~ursmg, along \nth advtstng physioans and a few undergraduates, h;l\ e run the "':c.:ekl~ chnic 'tnce 2004. Because H \\ I., offers both mcdtcal and soctal 'ernces, -. •lumcers kn~ thctr pancnts' biographies. from their bo) friends and grandchildren to their jobs and thetr btlls.

Barbara Hm;chman ~11.0 '13, a bubbly medical srudcnr \\1th 'h1Il11lg blond hair, looks through patients' chart and sl.jueals with excitement. "\\e ha\e such great paoenrs cormng through t<Xla) l" She holds up a bulgtng folder. "Ooh, \..R.1: \nother one of our cptc panc.:nts. l ...'lst \\eek he brought in 1~ btlb." Htrschman\ team of social scrvtce \olumeas \\orks to make those bills disappear. \\ htlc: the clinic itself offers onl) baste L'arc.:, thl' volunteers negotiate wnh doctors and hosptrals ro ~ecure thetr pant:nb access to the ~arne expen~ive te~t~ and procedure that insured people rt.'CCI\ c. bnma Barber ~fED '10. an ~soctatc dircctor of H \\ E..~. ~ees the work :ts a lesson fur medtcal 5tudcnt" u~ed to a ''ell-funded ho~pital and well-tn,urcd pauents. "If \\e \\·eren't there, they wouldn't get a lot of the'<e tcsrs. The'e arc things that arc pretty readily available four da\ a \\eck m thl' ho.;pu:aL \.nd )OU JU"t go a fC\\ blocks away and thq 're noL" H !\\ E:--:l also copes wlth limited translauon servtccs. Toda), the cliruc expects thtrty or fort) paucnt , and one of two interpreters ha~ canceled

at the la5t mmute. \ nurse bursts mro the lobb) and demands of a volunteer, "Do wu kno\\ ~panL,h? Ho'' do )OU sa) wlonoscop} ?''The gt.rl he,itarc~. "llm ... I d• n't kno\\ ... rolonosropia?'

II \\ I .~ tl'3Cht.•s paocms ro take ,td\ ,tnragt. of soup J.archcns, public school ')stems, and communH) organizations like lunta. I he: more experienced volunteers .tlsu sn\e .ts unofficial authorioes on h~.tlth car~ ~t.n tees, c,pcctall) the maze of regulations that hnm access to free carL 'I ak ~C\\ llaHn ts one of the few pro\ldcrs of free care m ~ew Haven.

"St Raphe's the\ cut the bill m half, but n' soli not enough." HU"Schman say~.

1 \CO at \ale-Ne\\ Ha\cn, where the H \\I N group ha alhcs, problems wnh unannounced\ ale Mcdtcal Group charges arc frequent \pph mg for free care rcqum:s e:Kpert mancu\enng. To recci,·e free can:, pauem must ha\ c proof that tht1 do not qualtf\ for State \dministt.'Ted <reneral \s 1 ranee, \\ htch 'opulates that tts bcndicL'lnes hau· a soctal secunty number. I rec-care hopcfuls must apply to ~ \(, \, rt. cct\C a letter of rcjccoon, and usc that lctrcr ll>l.juahf) for complimentary c.trt.'. But irn• care programs accept only on~ spcnfic reason for rejection. \\'hen II\\ I :-: Hllumeers help a paoem apply 10 :-.. \G \, thC) mcludc a lcncr askmg for the tcchntLal catt.'gOf) oi rqection that en cs as a ocket for free care. "\\'e have had 100 percem succes' gctong rerecoon," Jhrschman S:t)S wtthout rrony.

Thts comrmtmcnt to pauent advocacy ha gncn HA.\ E~ a local repuraoon n n all\ of unrmgrants---e\en rho't: \\ ho lack documenranon. H WE..'-: workers kno\\ to broach the .;ubrcct dcltcatch wtth paucnts. Often people gtve fraudulent Socta1 Secuncy numbc~­ lltrschman smtlcs. "I JW>t ask, did )OU get thts octal secuntv nwnbcr from a fncnd, or n cousm?" lceong before chmc, the H \.\'E:-: team dio;cus<e~ the

(That !ocatio11 has bee11 there for 35 ) 'ears a11d it reaf!J, zs a pillar 111 the â&#x20AC;˘

lrnnugrauun nd C.u~t m Enforcement ICI m1d~ of l au H,ncn homes.

H \\I \\ rk r; \\ rncd that p:~bents would be fJ d 1 I \ c thc1r ho es. 'But

JJ

COJJJmU1ll!J'¡ It rcall) ts a pillar tn the c mmuru Barber. The ,:,arurd:l\ after rhl

13

till, H \\'E'\ lS not a panacea. In facmg the effects of the ICE raids on Fair Ha,·en residents, eYen community clinics fell short. Tre,-ino, the young, elegantly-dressed executive director of Junta. worked ,,·ith children traumatized br the raid~. "These children were woken up by officers screaming and yelling at si.-.; o'clock in tl1e morning and slamming ilirough rht:1r doors ,,,th guns." Trevino formed a suppon group for the children, but some whom she referred to therapy waited months for appointments. "There is negligence in the health care system

S

difficult for families and it can be quire scary for them," says Novelo. "They don't understand what's happening with the kids." aving learned to navigate the U.S. for themselves, immigrants who stay tO build families find a new ser of struggles. Undocumented parents struggle to obtain welfare services for their American-born children. Though, as citizens, these children are entitled to health care, undocumented parents don't know how to sign their children up for

H

By depriving undocumented parents of heat) Sandra Trevino points out) the government also leavesy oung citizens in the cold. of the cuy." She speaks softly but emphaocally. "\\'hat happens to a child who's gomg through a mental health chaos right now?" \s Trevino's story illustrates, New Haven faces a chronic shortage of bilingual rherapists. Patricia Novelo heads the L-mno clinic at Clifford Beers, a local mental health cemer for children and families. She radmtes calm as she stops tO talk to children 10 the wainng room, but she Jcscnbes her job as a scramble to fit in more appointments. "\\'e ha,·e about a six-month wmting list at this point... a few months ago we had about a year waiting list." the system Shortages make inefficient. If public schools had a large enough bilingual staff. they would not refer so man) families ro Clifford Beers.

If Clifford Beers had a large enough bilingual sraff. they could make the most of the n:sources they already have.

"The clinician~ end up using thetr time translallng. which is a waste of their time when thC} should be prO\·iding therapy," ;:-.:0\-elo explains...It IS really overwhelming and frusrraong." It's a chicken-and-egg Jilemma: The fewer a\·ailablc bilingual workers, the less cffcccivc those workers can be. ~[cam\ htlc, monolingual parents are left m the dark. unable to communicate with Enghsh-spc..'aking workers. "It is 1~

care. Others are simply afraid. Trevino describes a similar problem with heating assistance. In December, federal agents raided the Community Action Agency, a local non-profit that uses federal funds to help poor people pay heating bills.

The agency had assisted undocumented residents, who don't qualify for the funds, by making it easy to sign up with a fraudulent Social Security number. By deprivmg undocumented parents of heat, Trevino points out, the government also leaves young citizens in the cold. "Maybe the children's parents don't qualify for this assistance, but the child does. But the child can't fill out the forms! So where do you draw the line? Will we allow American children to go cold for these winter months?" Trevino sees it as a health care issue. "Imagine a house that has no heat the entire day, entire night-what is that going to do to one's health?"

Trevino is working with legislators to change the heating assistance policy.

But, for now, her story stands as one more example of a system that ignores the existence of a part of the population.

Undocumented immigrants in New Haven number an estimated ten to twelve thousand people-just under teo percent of the city's populacion. That number excludes their American-born children and the legal immigrant residents who

share many of tl1eir problems.

Non-profits are hard-pressed to provide services to these numbers.

Medical appointments, translators, and funds all come up short. Activists and social workers across the city repeat: There is not enough. But New Haven isn't giving up. As Trevino says, "The work that has co be done is endless, it seems at times. Bur one step at a time and we're going 10 me right direction. And the great part of it all is that you're not going alone.

You have a whole community that's going w1th you." That community will allow nothing-nor the language barrier, not a discouraging scarcity of resources, not the retaliation of the government-to get in its \vay. Ir will push through nacional health care crises, federal raids, and cold \vinters. It will keep ~ew Haven fighting for the people who have come knocking at its door.

TN] Am.)' Fish, ajunior i11 ]o11athall Edwards Colltt,e, is a st4f uriltrJorn:.J.

THE ~E\X' JOUR"-1.-\L ...

TASED! BJ' A!ai !Feu~

J

a} Kchcx IS a roser man. pannmc GlastonburJ, Cf pohce officer nd a full-nme regtonal manager for Ta,cr lntcrnaoonal, Kehoe dmcs a p(u,h, custorruzcd J Iummc:r u1m twm T \SER \"ani I) plates. He calls u h1' "double-ducy cucus wngon": h sen c' as patrol car and sale.; wagon. ~trapped to the nx>f i' a ~er of sucns, '' luch Kehoe uses ro chase down 'u peers wh1lc on du[). The 'Ides of the vcluclc c.trn T.1ser lntcrnaoonal\ morro: "Savmg I j, c:s I·\ cry Day." On the back, thert.·\ a p1crurc of the Tast.-r X26 The bestsdling "clc:ctromc control dc,;cc," 1t comes cqu1ppcd \\1th a da)nmc/rughmme camcra that shoots mfrared '1deo, a laser bc:am that acts a' a bullse) c, and of course, a black cartndge that can emu O\ er fif[) thousand 'oh from up to 35 feet awa\. \ 1cnms be\\-arc.

Kehoe wa me man m charge of teaching ~C\\ Ha'cn pohce officers ho\\ to usc thcu llC\\ weapon after the ctcy \"Oted m fa,or of launching a pilot roser progr.un Ia qear Onjul} 10, NC\\ Ha\en Police IA--panrnt:nt < htef I ranctsco Orw: announced that fifty Tascr X26 gun~ u"Cre huong me streets of :\cu Havcrt In addioon to packing a po\\erful clectnc

punch. the camera attached to m( X26 records the acnon from me barrel of the gun. producmg \1dt.-o clip' that can be u,eJ a' C\1dcnce. ~ew HaHn's nc..'\\ tockptle of ra<ers j01ned caches aln."lld) t.'Stabh,hed m over ninccy Connecocut town'.

Tasers arrived m rhc l~lm G[) afrer a t\\ o-year debate mer hO\\ the police force should respond to local cnme. Though \ ioknt fclonic~ m ~ew Haven\\ ere dm\ n 9 percent last year, nonfatal shoonngs tncreased by 40 percent, most the result of cl.1shes bet\\·een officers and suspects that cndc..-d in gunfire. The D~-adl) I orce Task I orce, a counc1l composed of 13 communi!) members. 'Ct out lO mtnlmlZ<" police ~hoonngs afrc.:r a local man wa~ gunned do\\ n for fla,hmg a kntft: at officers. ThC) made a rccommendmon to the Board oi Aldcrmcn that ro crs be used m'tc..-ad of dcadli.:r ucaporu, and me Board appro\ cd meu :-uggcsoon tn turn. :\ow. along u1m expandable batons, pepper 'Pfll). handcuff,. and ptstol~.local police branJi,h rhe nt."\\CSt of le s-thanlcthal wt:apon'.

The destgn of the Ta cr X26 mmtcs the shape and size of 1 gun, makmg It

msunctl\c.:l} fnmi.har to officers used ro handlmg piStol<. ''\\'e could ha,·e made it look like a toa.;rc:r instead," Kehoe JOke<, "but \\C wanted ro make sure officers uuuld know how to handle it." The compan) 's other models look decidedly less stnl,ter. The Tasc.:r C2, the ci\-ilian model, come~ 1n green, ptnk, blue, or lcop.trd pnnr. It looks like a cell phone and mc.lpacttares attackers ior 15 seconds.

Despite Taser International's efforts to branch out to other markets, the policefriendly Taser X26 remams its bestseller.

The same threc-\·olt batteries that power digital camc:ras charge the X26. \\'hen d1~charged. It rc.:kases a rectangular black carrndgc \\ith fishhook-hkc probes that lodgt: into skin or clothing. \ccording to 1:\ew Ha\Cn\ (,cneral Police Orders, any probe embedded tn su,pects' skm must be remo\ cd b) ccrufied mec.hcal peNonnel to 11\0td further mjuf).

Tascrs affect the motor ncn·ous §) rem, disrupong the bod} 's normal clcctncal stgnals and cau.'ing muscle, to tn\ oluntaril) contract t 9 nmes per second. \Vhilc the ro cr's fifl) thou,and lolrs certatnl} sound nsk\, Ta,c:r International':> offictal hne mamlJUlls that electrical safety 15

depends on not the volts but the joules.

Kehoe insists that tasers have no ad,·erse effect on coronary function. "It takes three tO four hundred joules of energy to stop a heart. The taser delivers .21 joules," Kehoe says. "Even if someone has a pacemaker, it v.·ould see the taser as electrical interference, that's it."

After a shooting, a police supen'isor downloads the footage from the taser's camera and records it to DVD. According to Rob Smuts, the city's Chief Administrative Officer, New Haven police officers have used tasers eight rimes since the program began last summer. The most recent incident involved a domestic

l/

choc insists that the electrical output

~rom tasers has never direcdy caused

a death. "Tasers are generally safe. Ninetynine percent of the injuries related to taser usc arc minor ones that come from falling tO d1c ground." \\'bile organizations such as \mncsry International attribute over 1:\\'0 hundred deaths tO taser use, Kehoe adrnirs to only 1:\venty cases where tasers were e\·en a conuibuting cause of death.

In each of these incidents, the shock was compounded by drugs or preexisting heart problems. He Bady denies the possibility that the electric shock alone can kill a man. ln \\'atcrbury, he recounts, a naked man was found pitchforking his own car

In 2005) a Colorado man was tased twice after allegedfy stealing lettuce from a Chuck E. Cheese salad bar. dispute in wluch the husband sprinted for a pistol in the bedroom, only to be stunned by a raser before he could reach the gun. "But for the taser, the man or the officers could have been shot fatally," Smuts says. "This 'vas a te>.:tbook example of how tascrs can step in to saw lives." ince 1999, Kehoe tells me, there have been over a million discharges of the Taser X26 nationv.:ide, including staged incidents during officer traming sessions.

Kehoe has tasered over 4,500 people in the field and during demonstrations. He has been tascred 27 omcs himself. 1 ask him what it feels like to be immobilized by a bolt of electricity for five seconds.

"Have you eYer hit your funny bone?

Magnify that feeling o,·er your entire body. It's definirdr uncomfortable, bur when it's done, it's done," he replies. He makes it sound almost ordlnarr"This device changes the way officers do their job," Kehoe clauns. He relates an incident: A few years ago he was searching a house suspected of containing large quannties of illegal drugs. \Vhcn he gor there with the search ,.,-arrant, he ;tnd his fello\\ officers were O\'Crwhelmed by a snarling black dog. Though they would have shot the dog in the past, this time they were able to tascr him. "Fifteen minutes later," Kehoe tells me \\ith a smile, "1 was petting the guy."

S

16

b) tht side of the highwa} last year. The man ran through 1:\\'0 plate-glass windows before police were able to chase down and tascr him. "This guy dies two or drree hours later, and of course the headlines rcaJ 'TasereJ .Man D1es' the next day. But you know what? The autopsy found a lcrh:tl dose of cocaine in Ius blood. Tha£'s what did it," he says.

Regardless of Kehoe's reassurances, public concerns cononuc w swarm around rasers. \mncst) International would like to see more independent tcsnng, and has compiled a !Jst of cases in which Citizens h;wc been rased inappropriately. \ccording to \mncsry, children have been shocked for nusbehavmg at school.

In 2005, a Colorado man was tased twice after allegedly stealing lettuce from a Chuck F. Cheese salad bar. But it's the sene~ of recent cvems at \mcrican umn:rsities rhat has shocked people inro reconsidering raser usc. \t CCLA, a student nan1ed .Mosrafa Tabarabaincjad was tasercd after refusing to show police his library ID card during a routine check.

Eye\\1tnesses swore that Tabambainejad put up no phys1cal resistance to the police anJ wa" ta~cJ while being handcuffed. \r the L! ni\·crsit)' uf Florida, srudenc \ndrcw ~[C) cr was rased after hoggmg the m1crnphonc at a John Kerry forum.

His protests became condensed m the popular catchphrase. "Don't taSe me,

bro!" Student demonstrations held afterward declared that the police had used excessive force. Coupled with Amnesty's complaints, incidents of this kind suggest that police can be too hasty in pulling out their new weapons.

Even in situations involving real crimes, police might not have the training to use rasers effectively. Though Smuts and Kehoe attest to the excellence of New Haven's taser program, the verdict outside city government remains unclear.

Just four days after the pilot program was approved, police bungled the first incident involving rasers in the Elm City. After a suspect was tased for punching a police officer, the firefighters at the scene didn't know bow to remove the probes from his skin and had to take him to the hospital.

Then, when no one could download the video evidence from the taser camera, an off-duty supervisor had to be summoned at three in the morning.

Despite the controversy, business is srill good at Taser International. They're the only manufacturer of the taser gun, not to be confused with the outmoded stun gun that induces pain instead of delivering the raser's patented "electrical muscular interference." "Our company name has become its own verb," Kehoe proudly exclauns. 'We're like Kleenex or Xerox!" The company has been sued 64 times, but so far, aU of the lawsuits have been dismissed.

To prove the safety of his company's product, Kehoe offers to taser me so I can feel what it's like to be temporarily incapacitated. "It doesn't even have to touch your skin!" he promises. ''I can just stick the probes onto your clothing." I tell him I have a low pain tolerance and gendy turn down his offer. Kehoe says that he won't hold it against me. Instead, he pulls out a tiny silver pin from his briefcase and places it into my palm as a parting gift. The pin is a model of the Taser X26, reduced to one-renth of its original size. I put it inco my pocket for safekeeping. I'm sure I'll never wear the pin, but I thank him nonetheless. This way, no one gets hurt.

1NJ

Mm lfang, 11 sophomon in Timoti!J DJJ.ight ulfw, u a rtajf wriurfor TN].

THE NEW JOURNAL

The Best Laid Plans Adding onto America's most hated building.

By Ali Seitz

'The Its/ of a'!} b11i/ding is how well it (an u.ithstand wtll-intended, and sometimes not so well-intended, (hanges. Tht q11ulion is: Is this lmilding pou.'trfol eno11gh on tht inside to u.ithrtand all thai has haJr ptntd to it?"

-Paul Rudolph, Convtrsations u.ith Ar(hitectJ

Y

~路s \rt and \rchitecturc Buildmg has

bct:n loved, hated, burned, partitioned, championed as a move away from the es>lishmcnt, and decried a~ en~rythmg wrong wirh the establi~hmcnt. This building toppled irs creator from the top of the trehitectural universe and, now, may wpple its renO\-a tor as \\路ell.

Paul Rudolph began designing the Yale \n and Ardutecturc Building in 1958, the same year he rumed fort} and became the dean of the Yale School of \rchirecrurc. He'd received his degree a decade easlier from Harvard's Graduate School of Design, where \\"'alta Gropm$ taught hun to destgn tn the clean glass box of the lnternacional Style, then spreading across the country.

Rudolph's first dr-J\\10~ of the A& \ showed a building just as open and squeak\路 clean.

But mw the course of five planning stages, the drawings began to show something encirely new. H uge, concrete pillars dropped \"crtically mro the structure. Thirry-se\cn mrerlocking levels spun out, slicing through the cavern ous central space. "h was championed when it was first built because it was a move away from the glass box," says Yale School of Architecture Profes~or \kc Purves, a graduate <tudcnt in architecture at Yale while the A&A \\'llS bemg constructed.

Rudolph's behemoth could nor be accomplished alone. He met his enabler m Charles Solomon, the cn.."am路e executive vice prestdent o f \lacombcr Construction To n:ach \\hat Rudolph called "the inner guts of the concrete," the company crt."ated sample after sample, hammering w expose the aggregate and crearc channels for staining. At first, the construction worke~ didn't take to the new matccal. Battered concrete would be used elsewhere by Rudolph and others in coming years, but the ,.\&A ~-as its debut. The Fcbruan 2008

17

beating was labor·tntl'fN\C and affromed any convenoonal nooon of lx>au£). l·,cnrually, though. the \\ork lx:came exciting. \X'orken; began to bring thetr '' 1\Cs or girlfriends after hour> to sec. Rtstng our of the street corner was a rebclhon in the making, a simster responst· to old constraints: Brutalism.

Toda), a ne\\ building is nstng alongside Jt. Ltke the onginal, some h;l\·c hailed it as a work of art; many others ha,·c condemned it as a sacrilege.

n

udolph .mJ 'mlomon craftnl a con J:\...crete man "It\ a strong archttecture," sap Karsten llarncs, .t Yale philosoph} professor \\ ho 'Pl'CtlhZl'S tn art and archttecturc. "I ha\c an enc)dopcJta tn German. UnUl't Brutahsm, thl'} onl) illustrate one butldtng ... " llarnes tnuls off.

Rudolph\. \s an icon of unfncndl) archuo.:crun:, the \& \ seem' to restst an adJmon, but Rudolph had em t~toncJ one all along According to the dc,tgncr, all bmldm~. including his O\\ n, m forl'\l'f unfimshcd.

"One charactensnc of thc t\\cnocth century ts that norhmg ts l'Hr completed, nothing ts cver fixnl,'' hl· satd. Build ings should al\\ .t) s .muctpatc cxpanston.

18

whether of the buildmg usclf or of mhcr buildings around lt.•:\rchnecrs lea\ e clues \\1thin their buildings that tnntc continuanon. Rudolph picked up on Louts Kahn's and aligned the \& \ \\;th an axts of

Rising out of the street corner was a rebellion in the makingy a sinister response to old constraints: Brutalism.

Kahn\ \rt Gallery. He disparagcd what he called "templcs''-butldmgs concetved as ~df-conrained untts, without regard for rhe structures around them. One of his h:u-shest cricictsms of :\lies \'an der Rohe, another propagator of the glass box, \\.aS

that a building of his "may be eighty stones high, but, nevenheless, conceprually a temple."

"Whether the :\&:\ Building is incompkte or satisfying is for others to judge," Rudolph assened. Although he would rather have seen the structure expand southwest oYer Chapel and York Streets as a continuation of the pinwheel motion of the building's upper floors, Rudolph placed the service core, which incluJed the elevators, on the building's other siJe to facilitate an expansion north.

He left clues bestdes the pinwheel and the service core. "If the next architect is at all sensttive," Rudolph said, "he will complete the courtyard, thereby adding immeasurably to the whole."

n

udolph dtdn't begin his career b}' ~estgrung buildings that begged to be challenged. He began \vith pretty, airy hou.ses m Florida. Bur around the time Rudolph became the dean at Yale, his \\ork grew hea,;er, more massiVe. Thts shift is marked by Sarasota Sentor Htgh School It is very florida, very open, but tt knows the wetght of its walls. \'\ hen the closest surface is r.v.·emy feet a-w-ay, It gives the impression of towering

THE NEW JOURNAL

over you. Most 'l.valls m Rudolph's Aonda hou5es mtended to be IJ1lllUtenal, like cloth panels, ro lc:r m the breeze, or ttan~­ parent, like glass. to let m the palm tree~.

Rudolph'~> 'chool, hke hts hous<.~. all0\1."5 the wind, but Roars giganuc form~ above and around the :wv.'lly. Its \l.1de step~ lead up to an expansrve entrance surrounded by huge planes. The \& \ lets almost nothing m. From outside, the ~tratght vertical walls seem to sm:tch hnutlessly sk}wa.rd. An invtungh wide ~et of stairs, similar to those tn s~ra~ora, leads to not an open entrance bur a clump of scored bicycles. The seemmg dead end ts puncrured by a non·dc~cnpt door to tts nght Through u, there ts another \l.1de swrcase, this one \l.1th obscenely low cetlin~.

T\l.·o feet shallo\l.·er and they would nic.lr passmg ~kulls. The dank, gloomy stairwell IS puncruatcd br opcrungs to t'llch success~·e floor. Orange sofas are caned out of random nook.s on the bndings. Tht'} chuckle as '-isirors dodge the sharp edges on the tum' The walls arc Jagged and stained, \l.'lth sharp knobb) ndges reaching out\l.wd!>, waiting to grab at any loose piece of clothing or skin.

Emctgtng from the staJ.r\1. ell at the $eventh Boor, one enters a gigantic draftFebruary 2008

mg room filled uith harned students and tight.

The room e>okes Sarasota. The confficung gra\1t)' and expansivene's of the space made one feel the \l.'lllb despttc tht:ir distance. The Sarasota \\'lllls ~cern harmless enough, but these arc rough, alien, monolith, different alwgether.

T

hough Rudolph's building was sup· posed to satisfy both the artists and the architects, he was gtven very few restrictions. At the inauguration of hts ,\n and Architecture Building in 1963, the architectural historian "ik')laus Pev~­ ner prophesized that the buildmg would

pndc goes unchecked. .\s dean of the School of \rchnccturc, Rudolph \l.'llS his o\\n cit em. The University footed the bill.

Yale's pre!;Jdent at the rime, A. \'Humer Gn,\\uld, enthustasocally funded modern architecture. Ingalls Rink, Morse and Ezra ~riles Colleges, rhe Bcittecke, the :\.n Gallet}. Kltnc Biolog~ Tower, Greeler Forestr} I aborarorr, and Rudolph's own Marned Student Housing all rose up under ( ,nswold. He gave Rudolph free rein over the \&A Despttc consultations with the painttng and sculpture faculty, Rudolph orily plt-ased the architects. He relegated the painters t<> tiny studios on the se,·enth

~t

its bes~ it stirs us from our complacenry. n -Sandy Isenstadt fail. A work of architecrurc should be a product of both funcoon and art, he argued, and if it fails in one, It should be dismissed. .\(any consider the A~\ an example of \!.hat happens when an architect\

Roor and the sculptors to rooms in the

ba cmem. \t the time, absrracr exprcsstont~m \\'llS S\l.ecpmg the department.

'Ibc artiStS wanted larger and larger can\'llSCS, but the \&. \'~ ele~'lltors and staJ.r\\ell kept the canvases to a certain s12e.

19

Even the architects were unhappY, though they were given the best spaces. Some began to erect temporary barrier.;, parritioomg the open space to shield themselves from the constant scrutiny of their peers.

In June of 1969, the ,\& \ caught fire. The Ne'"' Haven fire chief suspected arson. The blaze mcinerated any evtdence, but rumors Re\\~ Many students then and now believe the arson was retaliation for the closing of the school's cn:y-planning department. \lan) believe that "'ew Haven teenagers set the fire. \lanv blame disgruntled students, dissatisfied ,..ith Yale's supposed mdifferencc rowards the ans and convmced that the unfriendly 1\&A embodied that sentimenr.

After the fire, the sculptor.; packed up and moved out, decamping to a different building entirely. The painters and the architects S\\1tchcd places, the former immediately pamnonmg the founh floor to make studim. Screens darkened the glass on the extenor of the building, and the glass sheets themselves were subdh;ded.

Any beauty the building p<me,scd in irs light, open space~ was rernO\ed. Instead of a light filled. if cavernous, void, the space inside became, as Purves recalls, "a dark bole."

C

harle~ Gwathrney is re~roring the void--'.l.nd filling a hole next door.

He has undertaken the long·awaned renovation of the A&\ and rhe addttion of a ne\\· Hi~rory of .\rt Building. The \&A's restoranon will adhere as closely to Rudolph's firushed plans as possible and undo yc.m of panitionang ;\nd orher alterations. Gwathmey studied at Yale under Rudolph dunng the \& \'s inirial con· struction. Rolx t \.\1. Srcrn, thl' current dean of the \ale School of \rchitecture and a former classmate of G\\ .uhmey's, insists that Gw.\thrney "is very respectful of the building." Gwathmey credits Rudolph as a mentor, and has continually stressed that he wants the addition to be sensitive to the \&\-to "find the real ethic ... and extend and enrich it."

Unlike Rudolph, who had onlr ro obey himself, Gwathmey must subrrut to the School of \rchirecture, the History of \n Department, the .\rts l.Jbrary, and the President's office. He ha.~ ro constder cost, usage, building codes, ,10d other restrictions. The: fate of fellow architect Richard ~feic:r U'UTled Gw-athmey of

20

the co nsequences o f O\·ershooting the proJect's l.inuts. \Icier had planned a light, glassy addition that echoed the votd be· rween the rwo rismg verticals in the \&A b) placing a third to the north. The center atrium, though, reqwred that ilie office space, and the cJas,rooms, be smashed up agamst one sadc of the building. The l\leier scheme was roo tall, and, ultimately, too cxpensi\·e.

Rudolph rnccn~ed colleagues b)· moving slow!) and repeatedly changing

By

his own accoun~ Charles Gwathmey designed the addition in three weeks.

has destgn. \fter losing time u;th \(cier, rhe l ruversiry imposed a tight schedule on Gwathmey. By his own account, G\\ at'uney desagncd the addition in three \\ec:ks. \!though Rudolph failed man} of the 1\&Xs user.;, perhaps because of the tremendous freedom he was gtven, the bualdang fulfilled ats educational funcnon under the architect's definition. He built rhc \&.\ ro inspare, and to \\ithstand, radacal shifts in optnion. The pendulum swangs eYen among deans of Yale's School of \rchitecrure, from Charles \foore, Rudolph's succes>or, who thought that the \&.\ excrnphlied where modernism went wrong, to ~tern, obsessed with Jts resroraoon.

Rudolph didn't care if somebody liked his bwlding. He Je,cribed it as a ",oundang board" or a ''stgnposr." ·~\tars best, it srirs us from our complacency," says Hasto!') of \rt Professor Sandy Isensmdr. i\ student should n.'act to the .\&A. "The worst fare from m} \'lewpoint would be mdaffercncc..'' Rudolph said.

"Dc~tgrung. \\1th Rudolph, ""3' more like puzzle-soh;ng," Purves says. Rudolph pieced together the ,\&..\ based on his adeas about architectural education. The drafttng rooms \\eTc multilevel, based on

Rudolph's idea that the younger students should know what the older students were doing. "You looked down," he explained.

The jury was placed right in the middle of the exhibition space on the second Boor. Purves readily admits that assuming the painters would oblige this philosophy was a big mistake. He says that the design may be too public even for the architects.

"Too much like throwing people into the lion\ den," he hazards. Architecture studcms call it "the p1r." Even the walls assaulted. "I have a number of brwsed knuckles from reaching for doorways,'' Purves says, holding out a pair of weath· ered hands. \ VJith the new HistoC) of Art Build W ing, Gwathmey treads a fine lme between respecting and challenging Ru· dolph's expression of power. Gwathmey must respond to Rudolph's building, but at the same time, says Stern, "You don't want the building to look like Sancho Panza tilong at a concrete windmill."

"The History of \rt Department wanted to have an 1dentiry and presence.

They didn't want to have JUSt an anonymous building," explams Thomas Levering, the Gwathmey Siegel associate part· ncr working on the project.

School of Architecrure Professor Alan Planus understands Gwathmey's di· lemma. "It's an extremely serious building io the sense that it tries to relate to the [A&.\], yet have its own identity."

The addition also must span the gap berwcen a giant, the \&\,and a Lilhpu· tian, the delicate, Gothtc building that houses the Yale D:zi/r News. ''How do you place a building between these ~ unequal neighbors?" Harries asks. In the models for the addition, a diagonal exte· rior wall juts out from the corner of the smaller building. The monumental new strucrure eats the Yale Daif> Nt111s. "The whole thing reminds of some sad fairy tale, espcciall} as the tower grou-"S taller and dwarfs the Bnron Hadden Memorial Building," says YD1\ Editor-in-Chief Andrew I\.langino.

T

he fairy tale is widclr read. If Ru· dolph's building unposes an atmosphere of surveillance on his students, G\\-athmey 1s bemg watched, nor only by h.ts clients fr, om above, but also by a gen· eration of ~tudeots from belov.:

THE ='E\'\' JOGRNAL

--

..

February 2008

21

G\\ .uhmc} ts dcfaung th( \& \, ruinmg the cxcttl'ln~nt of tt, sap Yonah 1-rccmark, a scruor archnccturc maJor. The matenals, me ludmg bnght 7.mc, gla' . and alummum, \\til make the addinon outshme the \&A, he sa}:.. "It's too tlash}."

Other student:; agree \\1th htm. "\ lot of people sJ} It looks like can d):· 'a}:. \lcxandcr "a~ aroh, another undergraduate arclutccturc maJor, annO} cd b) the addinon's m\ nad matcnals and shapes. "He wa JUSt gomg to the buffet bc,tdc htm and ptckmg \\hat he liked" Dcsptte complamts, (,,,athmc} behc:'c:' the structure succeeds m rcfercnc mg the ongmal hu!IJtng. Its gnrg.mtuan mass t!m1':> from rhe \& \. The (,rear Hall, \lhich spans the b,t,ctmnt and first and second floor,, echoes the.: \& \'s large, muln-floor \otJs. The limestone subtl) references the concrt•te. Tht• ccnta \'Oid bct\lccn the t\\0 \Crnc.tl to\\ns of the \& \ IS JupltcateJ and turned m,tJe out b) a large block extmdmg out of tltc addmon. The addtnon's d1agonals and cunc,, on the other hand, arc meant as a counrcrpomt 10 Rudolph's nght angles.

YALE CENTER

1080

"\o how did you decide what to c1 ,·merpoint tn Rudolph's building and what ro rake more direcd} from tt?" I asked Gwathmey.

He laughed. "1 don't thtnk it worb that wa). I think that there w~b a clear planntng obligation." Unlike the undergraduates, he's had ro fulfill his obligauon ro various Yale department:. on a nght orne table.

But Frcemark sa~ s those obhgations were part of the problem. "Building:-. should not be designed on the fly. \\ hat the fuck!? Who can build a buildmg tn thn.:e weeks?"

A s Levering walks through the interIl.Jocking b·els of the \& \ and the new Hisrory of ,\rt Buildtng from bottom to top, he explains how the rear wwer clemem holds the new interconnecting fire stair. resrrooms, and scn.,ce cle\-ator, ho\\ the second floor looks up inro the thtrd and down into the libraf), and hO\\ the "monumental staJ.r" of the addmon a~cends through the larger space. The adcliuon I" user-friend!~. T thought. It seems

ltkc a grt-at place to attend class.

The new entrance lies JUSt to the side of the 1ld one. It\ a bit more open and \\ clcomtng than the origmal entrance. "\\as 11 meant to be?''

"1 \muiJ Sa), probabl). yeah," LeYering an'" ere d.

Gw:uhmt:} ·, building is a synthests of the man} d1ffercnt \otces whi!;penng m hts <:ar, an nns\\cr to the set of clue:. he had to collect from Rudolph\ builcling, from the surrounding strcetscape, and from the various departments. \s IsenstaJt ,,tvs, "lie juggles a lot, and appears to put them together well."

Kahn anJ Rudolph were al\\'ays concerned With ho\\ thctr buildings would look as ru1ns. Kahn, Purves explains, had trouble \\ith roofs because his favorite buildtngs were ruins. Rudolph's .-\&A has al\\ays had the stony, monumental aura of a ruin, whether burned out or b'l.lsslcd up.

Gwarhmc} \ bmlding tsn't a ruin. It IS funcnonal, usable. Detractors complain about its form. but nobod) doubts that it w11l work.

Chapel Street, New Haven

yalc.edu/ycba I 877 BRIT ART FREE ADMISSIO;>.;

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BRITISH ART

22

Tues-Sat 10-5. Sun 12-5 nWfd lw b<rn orgmizcd b) the Bn...JI MU$CUm, London lr supported by ~ American fiY!Ids of lh~ BntUb MIISnlm and an indrntniry from~ kdtnl Council on ~Arts and the Hunwnua AN

THE i\1•\\ JOCRK \L

Rudolph':> building, on the other hand, 1S difficult. It has never '.l."Orked. lt IS building as $culpture. Students learn to Ion: it--or don't.

The buildings embody one of the oldest debates in the history of archi· tecture. The ,\&A errs on the s1de of form. The addioon errs on the ~1de of funcoon.

T

he A&A, for all of the serious posrunng in Its concrete fa<;ade. has a sense of humor. Rudolph thought bwldmgs should. It laughs at the acadenues trylllg to find the library, and It laughs u1th the students after they understand Its ms1de~. It had a good laugh at the pamtcrs and sculptors before tt threw them out. lr laughs at anybody who equated aesthetic~ to beauty. It laughs at generations of Yale undergraduate~ who just don't understand. It laughs at its maker. dethroned from the U.S. architectural establishment.

It may very \l:elllaugh at its renovator.

The stairwell is meant to be a little: confusing the first time. At the complaint that a stranger can get completely lost m-

stde. Rudolph vellc:d, "But u\ not a public building." ::,rudents, only studrnts, \l.cre suppo cd · . Jearn what Rudolph called "the purpose!)' secret, lab)nnth-like et.rculanon sptem."

Over orne, when one walks up that dank stlurwell, tt feels like \1StUng an old fnend.

The new building \nil function bet· tcr m a traditional sense. \X hen students enter the History of \n building in the fall, exposed aggregate on the floors '.l.-on't tnp them and battered concrete on the walls u-on't bruJSe them Education \1.111 take place easil) tnSJde n. But will 1t ever educate like the A&A? \ggrav:ue?lnsptrc? Do what Rudolph felt a butlding should do?

I. I. \(

CI T Y

.JineJatitJners

1020 Cliaye{ Street

(Lcnver Leve{) J\fe1v Jfaven, CT

TN] •· .... a Jsn:io" 111 Tmmbu/1 OJ~. u On lim Edito,. of D'J.

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Preserving the art of writing for a new generation.

5Jtsan.L\1orelli '81 Chief Exemtit•e Officer Alt Bon Pain U7ednesdtn~

Febmary• 20th Ca!Eorm College 4:00p.m.

Se{ectea Payers Stationery 'Writing Instruments Invitations (jift 11'ray (jreeting Caras

Susan Morelli JOined Au Bon Pam tn 1988 and smce ha~ had rcspons1bihry for a mynad of c.hsciplines mcluding ..\farkeong, Catcnng, Human Resources-Scruor Rt'Cruiting, Concept Strategy, Special Projects for Operaoons, C.o.rporate Commwuc10ons, and Corporate M&A. Before being appomted Prestdem & CEO in 2006. ..\fs. Morelli scned for one }ear as Iruertm Prcstdcnt leading the rrunagemcm bU)"OUt. Immediatcl} pnor, she '1.\'llS VP ltJSotuoorl21 Sales, landing some of the Company's mo~t presngtous new hosptw and unn-ermy loaoons, as '\\-ell as pccial AsStStant to the CEO.

February 2008

23

Back to the Streets Ex-cons fight for the city's toughest ten percent.

B)' Nicole Allan

ar's up, fcllas?' ~li~s ~hirley sks, sauntering around rhe lassroom in a gre) sktrt suit. n:d hcc,,, and red hoops. "Ever) body go to school today?''

The cighr boys and three girls, slouched in their hoodics and windbreakers, look berwccn 14 and 18 }t"::rs old. The) ~ay norh10g. ~lis~ Shtrler reaches this life sktlb class four da\'s a week, but she never knows who wtll show up. ~!any kids arc courtordered w attend, some are brought 10 by fed-up parents or grandparents, and still others arc recruited b) the "-'c'' •Iaven 1-amily \lhance, a non-profit or~mzacion that orgamzcs me class. Toda) 's ses,ton began !arc. at 4:30 mstt."::d of 4:00. and people conunue ro trickle m. Before long. there arc IS boys and six gtrls MISs Shirk· has scr:m led ·Transferrable Sk11ls" (sic] on a b1g sheet of paper. She a~ks me cla-s for a defimoon.

George, who h:ts JUSt sauntered In, ratse' hts hand. He's ueanng sronewashed Jeans, spotless yellow and blue sneakers, and a :-.:orrh Face j:tcket. "It's wht•n you take something from life. from sch1x>l. and appl ,. to somt:·hmg like a JOb," he tells ~ft~s Shtrley. "Sa~· rou counr money real good selling drugs, rhea )llU can count mont] real good ~omewhere dsc."

Miss ShU'I~ had planned an (xcrcl'c 10 uhtch the kids uould brainswrm what ~kills a house\\ifc could marker if her husband got inJured, but she changes her rack. "b·erybod) know "hat the dcfinmon of a drug dealer is. nght?" she .tsks. The) laugh. She asks them ro shout out a drug dealer's transferable skills.

'The} can sa~c money.'' ''The} 're a chenusr."

"They can cook, tool" '"The} can measure."

The} can bag up, chop. break down. the k1ds S3). The\ c ,· · tlk, r.ht.-y can ,clJ. tl1e} can run. Miss ~htrlc) scribbles sktlls on me paper, and the ~roup dectdcs th.lt a drug dealer could get a JOb as a car l>aJe,man, 11 carpenter, nn inve. ror, or a

on duty theft and briben·. Hts scandal prompted an !·HI probe into the narcotics department, whtch produced rwo more arrests. \ man b} the door chimes in. "If you a cop you could be rhe one to change ho\\ people arc being treated, you could turn around what's going wrong," he says. He's oldt•r than the ktds, around forty. and his long braids arc covered wtth a knit cap.

I le has a diamond hoop 10 one car and :t dtamond stud in the other. Hts name is ~launce Peters, but the kids know him as HJc,t.

Blest has reformed himself since he dealt cocame in the '80s. Today, he is part 1 ,f '\C\\ Ha,·cn's Street Outreach Team, wluch \\':ls launched last July. \r ntghr, he dons a bright purple jacket \\ith "'-.L\X' H \\I '.J STRJJ~T TE:\..\1" 'tar~,pcd •>0 the h.lck, dm·cs around me Cit) m a minivan, wd ralks ro kids. He works for me • l'W Haven Family Alliance and is patd by pri,·atc orgwtzacions and me ~tate. He rcCl.'l\'eS informaoon from the police bur gi,·es none in return. ~ew Haven residents, who havt \\'llncsscd the unfolding of a police corrupoon scandal during one of the worst ~pikes m \'lolcnt shooungs the ciry has seen since rhe notorious early '90s, arc looking beyond traditional policing to protect rhetr homes and families. For man}. the most troubling fact i!' how much of me violence IS committed b)' rccna~ers, and they arc hoping rhat former

Chief Ortiz} resignation caps a 60 percent spike in .firearm-related homicides from 2005 to 2006.

~ctentl'i[

''If I'm a drug dealer. can 1 be a cop?' a'ks.

~ [j,, ~lurley

''sure }ou can," says a bo called HoBo. "look at 'em nghr nnu." He'~ referring to Billy \\'hue, a ~t.'W Haven narcoocs cop arrested lasr spring for

26

cnminals like Bbt and the sc\'cn other street outreach workers will help check escalaung muth gun \'lO)encc b) shouing k1ds hO\\ they got off me streets and wh} it's uorth the effon. \\'"'hen a gul says mat :;he gave back

ro me community when she \\"::S selhng drugs by buying book bah~ for all rhc kids on her block, Blest breaks in. "If drugs ga\ c back tO tht: commumcy, me communicy· wouldn't be 10 me state at's 10." Blest spc:tks with the aurhorit} of experience. "Book bags arc good, but tf kids arc on the streets nor going to school., then those book hags are cmpt), there's no knowledge 10 tr," Blest likes to sp~.:ak in aphonsms.

"Some of us drug dealers ha\ c m0rals." protests George, \\ ho is li\'lng in a group home and trpng to str.ughtcn out. \X'hilc he was selhng cr:tck, he sold to a woman he didn't realm: '' .1s his fncnd'~ mom until he knocked on her door to deliver a baggie. H1s friend ans\\ ered. "[ felt that was wrong cuz it was my homcbO) 's mother," he sa) s. He stopped selling ro her.

By now, ktds fill e\ er) chatr 10 the room, and the) 'rc talkmg over each or her, tr)ing ro squ~.:ezc in stories of fathers who left them. cousins who betra)cd them, and bab1cs they don't want to grow up like them.

A boomtng ,-oicc cuts through rhc buzz. \ shc>rt woman to a skintight, pale blue sweat:;hirt \\irh half-moon S\\t."::t statns stands on her ciptoes and \\'3\ es her arms. "Everybody knows ir's wrong," says ~fonique "Mo" Coop~:r, another street outreach uorker. "It's just our \\':1} of survivmg. Sumebod) passed It on to us.

It's a selfish game out there in me street." ~obod\ wanrs ro ~ell crack ro ~. •meonc·s mother, ~lo says, but sometimes n's JUSt uhat }' •u g<·r·.l do.

But she doesn't push an) more. She broke rhe cycle. \nd thar. prc<;umably, ts what 'hey're all h~re for. \ boy named .\lilton Sa)s he, too, ts trying to break the cycle, but his friends won't ler him. The) don't \\"::nt hun to stop selling or get off the Street', and he kn .•,., ,,, 1-'11 come afrer lum tf he docs. :\h~s :::,hU'Icy ath·ises hU'O to run, to do what It r 1kes ro get out of the game. but Milton bughs. 1'\o u"::y he'tl run.

Other kJds agn:c, ralkmg over each other agam, unnl street outreach workt.'r \ nthony "\nt'' \\ ard pulls up Ius S\\ e ncr and shouts, "} \\ish 1 rani I w1sh I rani" Alll''}'C~ in the room arc fixed on a foot long. inch-deep, Jagged scar runnmg through \nt\ belly far. "I was stuptd, I was stupid. I \\>15 ~o stupid," \nt 'a\S mro

espite rhe city's overall declining crime rates, '-;ew Ha,·en kids arc shooting each other more and more often. In the summer of 2006, the Clf}' wa< shocked b; the deaths of .Jajuana Cole and Jusrus ~uggs, both 13-yearolds who stayed our of trouble bur got 10 the wav of angry kids ,,;th guns. Cole and Suggs were part of the 90 percent of '\Je\\ f Iaven youth who, according to downtown alderwoman Bits1c Clark, arc far from troublemakers but soli at risk. (lark 1s chair of the aldcrmaruc Yout., \u;.,ces Conunirree- In the midst of a recent Clf)"\\'lde debate O\·cr whether to institute a youth curfew; she ht'ard again and again from the police that, as she puts it, "there were a corps of kids in the city that were causing the problems, that were at the core of the issues." So she and Communi[)· Sen;ces \dmirusrracor Kica ~latos did some research. The pair concluded chat only 3 percent of the cif)·'s youth \\ere involved in criminal acci\iC\, and i percent were at risk of heading Ul that d.irccrion. \\'hen Clark and ~Iaros examined '\.ew Havcn's youth programs-its after· school acovities, summer camps, and mcnroring partnerships-they reahzed that all of them were directed at the well· behaved 90 percent. The troublemakers, it seemed, wcre left to the police. \latos and Clark began to re<t.'llrch program< aimed at the at-risk youth populanon in other ciries. Tht.'}' soon k'arned about Providence's Insorute for

D

February 2008

the Srudr and Pracoce of Nonviolence, which garnered naoonal pubhclt\ for hiring ex-junkies as street workers. These social workers "ith unconventional pasts ht.-ad to the hospital after a <hooting, hook kids up with educational and occupational resources, and act as father figures to many who are alrt-ad} fathers tht:mseh·es. ;\!any consider this strategy an 1deal

(1ts a suroival tactz0 " Pete says.

(1'm gonna blow y our brains out before you blow mine. I may sit in jai4 but nobocfy wants to go into the ground JJ form of communi[}" policing, a concept which has been around for decades bur ·was spotlighted b} President Bill Clinton's Communi[} -Oriented Policmg Scnices (COP:> program. Included in the 1994 Crime Bill, COPS prom1scd ro put a hundred thousand nt.'\\ cops on rhc

street so that cities could continue to fund walking old-fashioned beats. The idea was that if the pohce established a constant neighborhood presence and got to know the people they were policmg, the new officers would pay for thcmseh-es m the crimes they prevented. 1bough COPS finished t\\·cnf}· thousand officers short of its goal, it contributed to the 33 percent drop m rhe national ,;olenr crime rate during Clinton's eight years in office.

"I am a strong proponent, an ardent proponent of commumf}" policing," outgoing '-e\\ Haven Police Chief Francisco Oroz .tsserts. "I think it's a way of life for policmg m '\.e\\ Ha\·en. Ir 1s insricurionalized hen m our department from top w bottom, 10 our commumry. and officers would h:wc it no other w-ay." ~c\\ lla,·cn embraced community policmg m 1990, under Chief '\icholas Pastore. Since dmng so, the city's cnme rate has dropped 56 per cent. COPS funding helped nurture this approach Despite a senes of Bush administration budget cuts char ha\1.~ severely reduced federal fundmg of local policmg. Omz. who became chief in 2003 after working his way up through the department, has remamed vocally committed to the pracoce of community policing.

-\n external panel called in ro re\;ew the police department 111 the midst of the narcotics probe, however, has obsen·ed a recent decline m '\.ew Havcn's commumf) policing pracoccs. \nd m '\;0\·ember.

Ortiz announced his resignau, on. He wtll stay on until the aty completes a national search for a new chief ro rebuild the

- POLICE DISTRICTS

Tyrone \\bcon. coordinator of the sttt'Ct outreach worker progr.un, sr.mds before a map of policL· dtstricts. emb:mled department.

RobSmuts,dc:purychief administmm e officer for \fayor John De~tefano, descnbcs the commitment nece"ar} to nwnram post-COPS commuruty poliang. "\'\e're talking millions annually, n's not trump changr. Some of the challenges \\e hau• n.'ll.ll) relate to the number of officc:rs," he explains, adding that the acy has commined taXpayer money to fund neu officers who will be as,igned to "bears and things that are really the background of community poliC1ng."

Yet Oroz's rCSJgiUrion cap~ a 60 percent !~ptke m firearm-rclat(.-d horruc1des from 2005 to 2006. "\'<'hen }OU look at public safety as a challenge," ~murs says, ")ou ha\e both the nwnbers, and :-:eu Hn,cn's domg ~cry well by the nwnbcrs, but you also look ar how people feel tn the commurucy and whether people fed safe." The recent spike in shoonngs, he explain , "undcrrnmes people'< ~en-:e of afecy." \X nh a police department m trnn mon, ew Haven cio.zens are eektng altcrnaovc mc:thods of kecpmg thctr nC!f!hborhocxh safe.

28

\X'hile Omz sa} s the rrect outreach worker program 1, "nbsolutel>" a form of communicy poliang, \lntos, the commurut} ~en,ce" admim trator \\ ho dc\"doped the program and snll oHrsees 1t for the Cit). ~~ cafl·ful to disrance the outreach worker' from an} den\'llll\ e of the uord "police."

"I thmk tt complements communi[} pohcing,'' she 'a's slo\\ 1), "but I uould classifj. it a~ a youth alh ocac\ program.'' \\'hen \lato' and Clark began to recreate Pro\'1dence's succc s m the Elm Clcy. th(.1 turned to ~~ Han~n police officer ~hafiq \bdu subur. \bdussubur has bet:n a local father figure for }cars. 1n 2003, he founded a youth program called CTRtbar 10 the Dtxwcll n~ tghhorhood, \\here he greu up. \frc:r) cars of walking a beat 10 the area. \lxlussubur knt'\\ mo t of the kid . He knt'\\ \\ ho the troublemaker were, and he had a prett} good 1dca of what the\ uere rrus mg.

CTRibat-u hich plC'wush relied on police do112tions and IS nou funded b, n combmanon of em and communm dollars-g:n c ktds an.<; and brerarurc

programs and campmg tnps. \bdu~subur brought m mu 1oans, wnters, and arusts. \{o,r 1mponantl), he pent tlffie wuh ktds tn'tcad of wamng to arrc t rhem. \dult,; knou \bdussubur as uell as lads do Clark knows him through the )Outh sc:n; 1ccs commttrec:, u htch he artends regul.lrl} as a rc:pre~entaU\C: of CTR1bat, .md \latos knows him as a DLxwell communlt) orgamzer. It ~c:c:ms evei)i>od} knows \bdussubur. ''I was kmd of rccruuc·J a:- CI"O of youth ,,olencc," \bdussubur recalls of being asked b) Oroz to tailor the PrO\,dcnce Mreer team program to ~c\\ Ha\en. ln the \\ ke of the dt'aths of Cole and LJW• \bdussubur had alrcad} orgamzcd an mformal tt.'am to ,,sit shoonng ,,cnms at rhc hosp1tnl. Th1s team mcluded Trace) ~uggs.Ju.. rus ~uw· mother, \\ ho needed a posim e ourlet for hcrgne( "I kneu I couldn'r JU t tt back," ~uggs recalls. "I had w get m there and talk to kid or the ,,corns and the famtlie,;, tf the lad couW ralk There had to be

from happerung agam. Thb \\".15 pretty much my O\\n \\".1}' of dealing \\;th mr own grief. What better person ro do this would be me? Sometimes people wam to hear from ,. •menne who'~ acrually been there. not from someone who hasn't experienced it."

City officials caught on to this idea.

Ther realized that, despite Alxlussubur's community work. he was not the right person to implement the program. First and foremo~t, he \\".l.S a cop. ~ot only did he need rime to focus on his beat, but there was also no one the target population trusred less than the cops.

The best people for the job, the aldermen decided, were the ones who had acruaUy been there.

T

yrone \X'eston, coorclinator of the street outreach worker program. served ten years m prison for narcoocs and violence. Now 37, he has been out of jail for nine years and is raising a 19-yearold daughter. Topping his grandfather cardigan and turtleneck ~ a full row of gold teeth, a lingering reminder of his yt.-ar.; on the :.trect. "\Vhen you look around and see the netghborhood," says Weston, who grew up in New Haven, "you can't complain about it because you had a lot to do \\ith iL" He feels a responsibility to fix a situation he helped create. \X'eston thinks he's the best one co lead the street outreach team because, far from judging meet life, he understands its draws, tts highs and lows. "I've been in the streets since I \\".15 13-years old, and I know why these kids love the streets," he explains, adJusting his wire-rimmed glasses. "I'm a grown man

local civic group known for ~prt:aJing a nonviolent mcss.tge, when Barbara Tinney, head of tht "Jew Han~n Famil) ,\lliance, heard about him. She hired him to launch the -\Uiance 's street outrt'llch team in July. Smce then, the program has builr a staff of ctght outreach workers, seven male and one fcmale, all of whom

N ew Haven resident~ who have witnessed the unfolding of a police corruption scandal during one of the worst spikes in violent shootings the city has seen) are looking bryond traditional policing to protect their homes andfamilies. have crurunal backgrounds. Tirmey admn' there's been some turnover in the staff due ro the challenges of the job. "There was a lack of suttabibry, let's leave it at that," she says carefully.

The triclciest part of coordinating rhe program is finding the right candid:ucs ro run it. "This has w be more than a job," Weston explains. Outreach workers arc hired tO be there for kids. anytime, anywhere. If they ger a rwo a.m. phone call from a kid about to go shoor someone, it's their job to get out of bed and ralk the kid down. Bur m order to receive such a phone call, rhey need to possess a

All ryes in the room are fixed on a foot-lonb inch-deep) ;agged scar mnning through Ants be!fy fat. (1 was stupicl I was stupicl I was so stupicl JJ Ant sqys into the silence. at 37, and still you have to tell vour~el~ 'You can do this, you can't do thar."' \'C'esron \\".l.S working wtth the Christian Brotherhood 'iumrrut, a FebCUU)· 2008

'ocial workers, court. and police tips and send' his outreach workcrs to find them.

Purple-jacketed and unarmed, the "'lOrkers disper~e across the city. First, \X'eston says, '')ou have ro idt.-ntif). you have to engage." Once rhe outreach workers have connected "ith rhe kids and gained some trUst, rhcr present options. One of the

trust·\\1nning balance of street crcd and menronng skills.

On a typical day, \\'esron says, he puts together a list of htgh-profile kid~ from

fl.'asons the ~cw Havcn Family .Alliance u-on the contract for the program was its pre-cxtsting resource network. If an outreach worker discovers that one of their ktds is failing school or expecting a child. he or she can hook the kid up "ith the Family Alliance's adult ruronng or parenting programs. rhe workers also refer rheir charges to outstde addicoon and counseling resources. 1\lany of the kids ar ~[iss Shirley's life skills class were brought in b} outreach workers.

Idt.':llly, rhe workers \vould also be in\·olved in emergency or !ugh-conflict siruarions. Rather than letting gang tension e'calarc to a sho<Jting, supporters of the street outreach worker program hope thar ktds would call \lo, Blest, Ant, Cousin Twi.z, Dougie, Remedy, Pete, or Picasso and talk ir out. Ideally, the workers' preventative role would replace the poltce's disciplinU) one. This would cause a reverse domino effect: as fewer kids would get shot, fewer kids would go ro jail, fewer kids would get out and deal bccau~c they couldn't get nnorher job, and fewer ktds \\-ould rurn to the streets for protection on!) to learn that, as \\'esron is fond of .;aring, "the streets don't love you back." ldt·ally, the streer outreach worker program \\ ould break the cycle.

29

eading our on patrol after the life 'kills class, street outreach 'il:orker Pete Lopez has promised a ride to George, rhe teenager who inadverrendy sold crack ro hts friend's mother. Pete hops in the bam·red white \'an while George hangs out,ide, dragging on a cigarette. \Vben Bles·, who is accompammg Pete on

H

mall. He checks in \\ith the owners of a conrcntcnce srore ro make ~ure they're nor being harassed by the kid~. but they stare at him silendy from behind the counter. f le walks over to the public library, which he says Dougie drops b)' frcquendy, bur no one recognizes him.

Outside, Blest is chatting with some

(Whenyou look around and see the neighborhoocl " says Weston) who grew up in New Haven) )lou can i complain about it becauseyou had a lot to do with it. JJ - Tyrone Weston patrol. has serded inro the passenger seat, Perc steps on the gas. George bangs on the door and Perc brakes so that George can ro~~ out his cigarette and climb in.

"That's why you the new gur," George laughs. lr\ Pete's second week on the job.•-\ '' inged ranoo on his neck peeks out of ht' purple Jacket, whtch he wears proudly. \ rnlilish beard frames his face and a gray knit lwlft coYers his !'kull. So far, Perc's only ridden uith Doug~c, Ius mentor, around DL'I.·well, bur tonight he and Blest, who t' tn hts third week, arc setting our on their U\\ n. \fter !hey drop George in the f ltll. thq slow down and begm to look around. Blest sees a group of kids with trick btkes hanging on the sidewalk, and he tells Pete to srop. The two get out and amble 0\·cr to the kids, who back awa}: Fh e minutes later, Pete and Blest are back in the car. 'Ther kno\\' me more outside this jacket," says Blest.

He's familiar with many of New Ha\'en's young people through a program called Cnicing Our Youth, which he's opc.--rared for a few } <.-ars now, but Blest 1~ still adjusting ro ltfc in rhe purple jacket. These kids don't recognize his neu uniform ret He and Perc talk constantly about Dougie, who's a more established prt~<.ncc ill the neighborhoods. They dme over to Di:rndl to meet up uith him but he has the rught off, so Pete pulli mto one of Dougie's usual haunts. a strip

30

kids on crick bikes, one of whom is Dougte's son. "You play ball, man, what you illto?" Blest asks one of them. He gets a mumbled response. \ police car flashes past, blaring ItS Steen, and me lads lose mterest. They pedal languidly away.

Blest moves on to two girls leaning on the \\'all outside Cluna ~mr He introduces himself to Wynisha, who's rwenty and ill school to be a parole officer, and Sandy, who's 17 and pregnant. "You read) to raise a child?'' Blest asks ::.andy. She stuffs her hands into her parka pockets and looks down, a faint smile stuck on her face. ,\ young bor ambles over and pms his head on her shoulder.

"Is this your gtrl?" Blest asks the boy, who laughs and \\'alks a\\-ay. Sandy's boyfriend is out dealtng, Bbr eventually pulls out of her. "\favbe you guys'll get married," he says, "bur he needs to be productive, pay child suppon. If you plan on marrymg this man you guys gona be r<..-ady for it, cuz it's a big step."

Sandy smiles, silentl).

Before he and Pete climb mro the '\'an, Blest tells Sandy, ..That's what it really is. you don't give yourself a chance." In the car, he says that he never knew his own father and had his firsr child ar 17. Pete, who also never knew his father, has a three-month-old son. He showed pictures 10 Sandy and \V~·nisha on hts cell phone.

"I get touched, like, ever since I've ~d my life around," Pete says as he

dnves over to the Ville ewhallvillewhich he and Blest agree ts the roughest part of town. They don't stop; it's not safe for a reporter. Perc grew up in the Bronx but has lived in New Haven for 19 years, he says. He dealt and used heroin and crack until five years ago, when he ha bottom. He still ancnds :-;arcocics \nonymous mecongs sometimes, and hL relics hea,-iJy on h1s faith; he's been a \(uslim for three years.

Pete and Blest recall how when they were teenagers, street fighting was fist to fisr '\.low, \\ith the pre\·alence of guns, rhmg:; ha,·e changed. "It's a survival L1cuc," Pete sap. "I'm gonna blow your brains our before you blow mine. I may stt m J<Ul, bur noboJr \\-ants ro go inro the ground." \s street outreach workers, the two \\am ro teach kids different ways to sun·we. The conver~ation cycles back to Doug~e, who recently prevented a shooting. One of Dougie's kids got jumped the other mght, says Blest, but his friends went ro Dougie's house in Dixwell before anyone called rhe police. Dougie talked to the perpetrator and the victim's friends, and he diffused the situation so that the police never knew about it. That, Blest and Perc say, b the kind of street outreach worker rhc) want to be. "l want to have my k1ds engulfed in me," Blest says. "I'm engulfed in my kids, bur I want my kids to be engulfed in me like Dougie's are in him."

Time will cell if a purple jacket, criminal background, and crusader's energy will win Blest k1ds' trust. Even if I hey do, me future of New Haven's street outreach worker program will remain tenuous. founding 1s ~ecurcd through July, but after that, Tmney and \X'eston will hare to convince funders that the outreach workers are making a difference.

E\aluating a violence prevention program, whether it's the street outreach ream or President Clinron's COPS, is rnck . l;,o man} factors affect gun ";olence tha · a \\inter drop in shootings could be attribured to anti-vmlcnce efforts or ro particularly cold w<.-athcr. Ttnney is workmg with Yale's Robert \\'ood Johnson Chmcal Scholars to de"clop a method of m<..-asunng the program's outcomes. "My main concern,'' she 'ap. "ts that people \\ill expect this 1s 'orne son of magic bullet." She \\'Orne' fund<.-rs will give up

TilE ~E\\' JOGR.~.\L

on the program "tf J,'Uil \'lolence Joc,n't end 10 a )L'ltr." "\ew Havc.:n'~ rdauonship ,,;rh it~ )Ollth and lb youth's relaoonship ,,,th guns arc roo dccpl) rooted to be fixed 10 a year. \Veston, Pete, .md Blest arc all around forty, and despnc having turned their II\ cs around, they all still feel the pull of the streets. The\' kncl\\ that there is no magll· buller to brc.1k the cycle of youth '•olcnce, bur they also knO\~o that the pohce aren't cutting it. The pohcc nen~r could ha\e negonarcd the unprecedented rruces nou lcndutg hope to :\:C"'.\· Ha\cn's toughest neighborhood,. I ..ast fall outrL'ach ''~•rkers tmen cnc.:d between rwo groups from Dixwell and thl· \ 1llc, mciliacing .1 series of talks bcrwet·n key players that culmuutcd in a stgncd paper rruce. Those same players now drop I>\ the Famll) -\lliance four runes a \\cck to rccetvc Job trauung nnd pracucc conflict resolution, nnd the} hdpcd ncgouate three additional rrucc~ incorporating part- of the 1-hll and the Trc, dtc area around Dw•ght .md KL·nsmgron sm:cb.

These agn:cmcms, whtch \Xes ton .utn< •tmn·d ro Busic Clark's Youth ~ernn·s Committee in l.ue \:on·mber, arc tenuous and han: n~l to m.1mfcsr thcmsehcs in 11 significant drop in shooongs. But m :\:cw Ha,cn's nc1ghhorhood", these piece~ of paper .;hicldmg the Cit}\ toughest ten percent from each other's guns arc a mas~1vc gesrun:--onc that \\ould never have occurred \\1thout the faclluauon of pcopk \\ ho, looking back, \\tsh thC) 'd .poken mstcad of shot. ThL·sc truces confirm that the soluuon to '\e\\ 1-l;nen's hFllll cp•Jcmic is not only a reformcd pohcc lkn nmt.nr but .1 group of reformed

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31

FEATURE

Walking With God Edge\Yoodje\VS aim to stamp out crime.

By' 5ophia Lear

32

A

squadron of Orthodox Jews gathers nighdy on the steps of the imposing stone yeshiva in '\;ew Haven's Edgewood neighborhood. Each we<us a black t·shin with "Edgewood Park Defense Patrol" ~'Iitten in scnpt on the back. and, until 'ovember, some carried concealed, hcensed weapons. They break into p:urs, and head out for a night of pounding and protecting the scree~. In warmer \\Cllther, they waved to residents s1tting on the porches of the netghborhood's dccapng Victonan homes. They are self-app01nred watchmen on the lookout for trouble, shufHing along groups of loitenng boys or stopping wheeling drunks from getting in theu cars.

But mosdy they just ''ralk, and wallong has never recdvcd so much media anenoon or caused such n snr. The hubbub centers on the guns and the Gret:r~. the pronunent and outspoken Orthodox Jewish family that founded the patrol last June. The family's p:unarch, Rabbi Darucl Greer, has spent much of his adult hie in the Edgewood neighborhood. H1s two sons, Dov and Hltezer, both in thetr thirtie~,live there as ~ell. Do1.·, the elder, IS a rahb1 ~1th a wry ~mtle chat often peck.s through h1s beard. He tt."llches and leads services at the ycsht\"a h1s father srarted.

Eliezer. the more brazenly outspoken. runs the Greers' property management company, renovaong and renting out nearby house~. .\s the media speculated on ~-hat would happen tf an Orthodox Jt.'\1.' shot a black man tn the mner ory. r:hc: Greers insisted ag.lin and agam r:hat their p.mol has nothing to do ~1rh religion. '' \ lor of us walk around here-forget shabboslt's ruce to w:Ukl" Dov o;ays.

It is nice to walk. But Orthodox Judaism cannot help but hapc: the Greers' relationship to theu home-and to walking. In our pick-up-and-move ~ooety, the Greers have an almost unparnlleled stake m their nc:Jghborhood. They can't escape the rc.-ality of the mner oty; ''white Hight" IS not an optwn for the Orthodox Jewish community. One day a ~cek, every week, every yc.oar, the Greers must walk everywhere. The spra'll·ling suburb', home to many Conscrvaovc: Jcu..., does nor accommodate that need. •\nd when crune threatened thi~ prerogaove, the Greers, inStead of rccreaong from theu February 2008

homes, imposed on themselves a mandate to walk the street:; every night.

Yet Dov's mslstence r:hat tlus is about more r:han r:he Orthodox commurury IS true as well. The denonunanon, which has long insisted on the good behavior of its adherent:;, can no longer go It alone:.

The Greers don't just want the membe~ of thetr congregation to behave. They need everyone w.

L:m June, walking home in the warmth cf a summer afternoon, Do1.• noticed three ktd~ traipsing a few yards behind him. Two doors away from home, he broke into a run. The boys sprinted after. pushed thetr way ins1de, and ~tarred whalmg punches on DO\· m the foyer of his house. He started tearing nght back mto the boys, shouong to his wife to call 911. The Greers could not flee and ~o thC} deoded to fight back. Two days after r:he attack, Daruel, Dov, and Ehczcr held a press conference in a yeshiva classroom to announce r:he founding of the Edgc'llo'Ood Park Defense Patrol.

T

he methods of r:hese modemda) .\laccabees have caused more: contro\-ersy and confus10n than thc:tr mom-..nons. Alr:hough the c.rccrs InSISted that members of the EPDP ~ould carry guns-defying strong pre~sun: from Cuy Hall to put r:hem clown-it soon became clear that, despuc the sensauonalism, no one m the EPDP was hkclr to fire one. The acuvtty of patrol, :tt any gwen moment .

IS tame and ~omewh.1t ttrrud. The: EPDP does nor make: ctozcns' acrcsts-the) call the pohce. The:) spend most of thetr orne polnc:ly askirtg groups to move dong.

The EPDP IS fundamentally a n~ual display. The guns were a theatncal measure, not a pracocal tool. The appearance of the EPDP on the stret:t~ mattered as much as. if not more than, r:he ~'Ork they did the.re. The EPDP Jus gn-c:n r:hc: Greers a public phtfonn from uilich to rail agamst the fatlure~ of C:icy Hall and the police department. EJiezer ha~ ozcd u. He holds numerous EPDP pre•s conferences outSide the: neighborhood police substation. "The press conferences, wtth Channel 8 and Fox :-.=cu'S-tt's like cats conung out for me cook:s~s," he sa}· L:lst May, m 1m cy-ptcal rhctoncal style.

Eliezer shouted, "Blood 1s being spilled on the back:; of mcompetencel" This theamcality has a purpose. The

Greers' use of spectacle m r:heir quest ro restore a sense of secunty is a tactic they share ~ith the police. Though pecperuall} at odds, bor:h groups have a lifenme investment m New Haven, and both have learned to use the v1sual to rcvi,·c a concept teetering on r:he edge of become a vesrige: ''commun.icy."

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fforts to preserve the communlt) began wir:h httle more than con:.crucoon paper and a copy machmc.

In me earl} '90s, as prosorutes roamed the streets, Daruel Greer pnnted out mulncolored Ayers and posted them across h1s nc:Jghborhood Suddenly, r:he mugs of suburban nuddle-aged men n:ccntly convicred of solicitulg prostirunon m Ed~'Ood stared out from every telephone pole. Below the photos v.ctl' the offenders' names, and above W'\S thc: ride, '10HN·OF-THE-\X'LL K." Thc: number of out-of-town men trolhng for sex immedUtely plummeted, a:. did the drug sales and vtolence that r:hriwd alon~ide the mdusrry. "He al~o got the l:tw changed, so that anybody who \\ .ts conncted had his car Impounded, too," Dov boa~ts of tu~ father's msptred :-.euler Letter maneuver "Then he'd ha\l': to e~plain to hts v.1fe UJ the suburbs 1.1. h.u happened to h1 car. ' Th" John-of·the\'\'cek progrnm\ ~uccess ha~ reached the: le\·el of Cit} lore, and Flie2cr and Do\ h;~ve tnternah..:..ed its lesson. \'\'hen cnml" nses tn a nctghborhoocJ, It po'eS an tmpliot quesuon: .\ce mere people here who are willing to stand up . nd sa). "\X'c arc the community. and v.c will ~ay--and enforce--v. hat we regurd as acceptable beha1.ior?"

D.uucl Gree.r, u1th the mgenwt} of public theater, forced the quc:soon to a head. The ans'\l.cr was yes.

The police also fought the rampant cnme of the: early nmenc:s Wlr:h an mge.nwt} that worked us way mto ctty lore. In 1990, New Haven adopted "communitl·based poliong." pcrmwently ttansfornung h~ the ory concen-es of public ufet). Janet l.mder, Mayor John De tefano'< first chtc:f administram·e officer, dcscnbes the: shift. " \n modcnt happelb, police respond, acre ts are made." he U\ descnbing the "before" plCture. Under the n~· program, by contrast. ''you get to kno~· the commuruty, }'OU kn~ the people 1n it."

Cops started to patrol the streets on foot and butld relationships with restdents on a particular block. Crime dropped, the program's success garnered naoonal prc~s. and '\e"' Haven became, tf not a sleepy college rown, then a city more peaceful than it had been in recent memory. Twcn!) ·one thousand crimes in 1998 petered out to nine thousand crimes in 2006.

Herman Badger. the former assistant cluef of police, says, "\\'e're long past the time when the police can just come in and make a communi!)· a place worth hving." He grew up in "e'' Ha,·en and has been a cop for 23 years. He expl.ams that communi£) policing changed the wa} busmess was done. "There was a big shtft from 'we're the experts' ro 'we're partners."'

Total crime is still far bdow early '90s b·cls, bur gun nolcnce has :;hor up m the last year. And residents feel that, rather than redoubling their efforts m response to the crisis, police have retreated to theu: bunker, darting our only for emergcncies, lea,-ing their charges to facc escalating crime without protection. \\'hat angers the Greers-and many other '\lew Haven restdents-ts the absence of a \'isible police pre~cnce.

This frusrr.uion reflects a drop m the number of cops in '\e\\ !Iaven. A decrease in federal funding for local policing under President George Bush has lcd to fewer pohce walking bears 10 urban neighborhoods. The police department has been knocked even further off balance by a scandal that decimated its n.1rcotics department. Last sprmg, the I·BI conducted n drug raid rhar led to the arrests of three officers on charges of theft and bnbery, the suspension of rhc operation of the department, and rhe resignations of several rop officials, including Badger. r\ew Haven has been struggliog to reform irs policing ever '10ce. Chief Franctsco Ortiz announced hts resignaoon tn '\0\·embcr, but :~greed to stay on until a replacement was found.

The impact of these disturbances has been felt on the streets. The ctry has pH mJsed to incn:ase the number of cop~ m '\ew Havcn, bur Badger admitted in October that rhe deparonent's approach has changed since irs vigorous days of communi(}· poliong. "\\'e haYcn'r gone bad to the t."llrl}' nmetie:;." he said. "but

34

we ha\'C become a bit more of a rt.':\CO\'e department, rather than proacci,·c."

What disturbs Ctty officials about recl:nt crune trends ts not the hard numbers but the new character of the perpetrators and the new St)·lc of thctr crimes. "\\c're acruall} seeing dclibcrare gunfire in places where you wouldn't before," expl.ams Rob Smuts, DeStefano's youthful chief admtmsrram·e officer.

,afc acrually makes It safer. \nd the effccuvcness of communi!:) -based policing Jepcnds as much on the Yisual aid of pohce on the streets. talking to residents, as the work they actually do there. to /()()k

n hne with the Broken \\'indCJw" thesis, Edgewood \'iolence has been transmutt.·d into a visual S) mbol. On one

I

The mugs of men recentfy convicted of soliciting prostitution in Edgewood stared outfrom every telephonepole.

"I Jkc 10 the commisston of a robbery, after the robber) 's done. .-\.!most in a marking fashion." Cnminals arc much voungcr, often 15 w t'l.\·cnt)·. And when they fire theu: guns, it is superfluous, unnecessary, drarnaoc. Vtctims arc not being killcd-thev're getting shot. In the arm, the leg, the ruchus, the foot, the hand. And they're nor shot at three in the mormng, as Eliczer ts prone to yell, but at sLx, seven, eight at night.

T

he) have been a stabilizing force," !'Lizabeth ~lcCormack says of rhe Grecrs. She has been the Edgewood alderwoman for the last twenty years. "\nd then there's the domino effect. They paint rhetr houses and someone says, 'Oh, d1eir house loob mce. 1 guess I'll p;unt m10el"' Stepping outside of ;\lcCormack's house on Pendleton ,\venue, it\ easy to get a sense of what she means. I'hc.: forty Greer-owned properties dot the neighborhood. \ftcr a few days, it'!' hard not to see the famil) 's houses sticking out hkc sore thumbs against a mish-mash of dilapidation. Thc trademark red, beige, green, and mushroom houses stand as an affirmarion of some communi!)· standard.

The police, roo, lend credence to the visual, if not a$ cxplicnly. The "Broken Windows" theor), which emerged at rhe same time as community policing, is an aesthetic one. espousing rhe onceradtcal tdea that fixing up a netghborh(>Od

tour through the neighborhood. drinng along \\'hallq \venue\ grimy neon drag, Eliezer says, "Right here ts something we call 'kids that are bored."' He grabs a flashh~ht off the dashboard and beams the light like a reacher using a pointer.

"These ktds art: bored."

Out on the sidewalk, 10 from of Planet Apizza's sterile glow, two black, male teenagers. draped m l:r small bikes, stare back. Greer Jean:- onr the passenger sear to fix them tn the fhshi.J.ghr's glare.

"It's unhkcl) the) 're gomg to bur ptzza for their parents. It's more hkcly that they're bor((/." \s he coasts along, Grecr reels off anecdotes of rccem \ tolcnce: \ c;Jr crashes through a house. Bullets 11) through an alderwoman's homc. A rabbi is held up at )..,'llnpotnt. \ shooting breaks our on Rosh Hashanah.

But dcspue these dramaoc events, black ktds on bikes-Uomg nothinghaYe become an icon of incipient chaos.

In High Point, :\onh Carolina, where recent police cfforrs han~ ~tamped our ramp.mt crime, a resident \\'lls quoted in the Ira// Jtmt jotmtal as ~a}ing. ·•J don'r kno" exactly how to phrase tt, bur you just don't !'ee as many people riding around doing nothing." \t n block watch meeting m the :--.orron ~ubstacion. Btl! i\lorns. a stooped, reured high school reacher '' ah a fe\\ wisps of \\ htte hair on hts head, demands of the small group, "\Vhl·rc art rhcst.·

our on the street at two and three in the morning! My mother would\·e had my hide tf I acted like that." A few others nod. Gone are the da} s, distant but keenly felt. when neighbors would put kids' aicycles left on the siuewalk safely onto their O\\.-ner's porch. hortly after launchmg their patrol, the Greers called Curris Sliwa, founder of naoonal community watchdog group the Guardian Angels and invited him to sun a chapter 10 ::-:ew Ha,·en. The Guardian .\ngeb began 10 the subway!> of NC\\' York in 19-5, uiten Sll\\-a turned

S

February 2008

fi\·e months \\"a!king within the borders of Ellsworth, Edgewood, West Park, and \\'halley, politely asking boys on bikes to move along. The Greers' guns were not a practical necessity but a political avowal that as long as the police remained absent, the Greers would remain conspicuously, militandy present.

Ehezer uses the word "control" a lot. Yet as he dnves the streets, one man yelling from the sidewalk manages to unnerve him. He speaks with increasing vehemence and agitation. "Let's get the state in here and do a narcotics raid!

B1g deal? i\-o. ~or a big deal \\bat's a big dtol is nobody's running the police department. And they don't want to do anything! They want to sit around."

The rise in violence hits home for the Greers. Despite all their efforts to enact communuy norms, there will al\\-ays be uncontrollable elements that seep through. Ells\\.'Orth. Ed&C\\'OOd. \Vest Park. Whalley. These borders are permeable. The guns were a defensive cry agamst this basic truth.

What the Greers have always wanted is sysremic change, a rop-down solution to their problems. In their eyes, Ortiz's announcement of his resignation \\.-as the first step rou,"afd a repentant. reno.,-ated police department, and so they laid off the political aigger. In November, they put down their guns. \'\'hen asked whether the EPDP conmbuted to Ortiz's deparrure, Elizer beams, calmer than he has been in weeks. '"\bsolutely, absolutely," he says. I asked him if any residents were disappointed that the EPDP was c.lisarming. "Sure," he shrugged. ''But I can't go door to door and explain all our policv decisions to everyone." The Greers are playing on a larger srage than jusr the streets of the F.dgewood neighborhood.

While their first act has been a success, they have no interest in quitting their task until the streets are safe, the police have returned for good, and Edgewood looks like ther remember it.

hh ckanmg crt:\\' 10ro a ciozen patrol that rode the .\lanhauan lines and gte\\ into an international phenomenon. Su\\ a accepted the Greers' offer, and Sli\\.-a and Ehezer were soon standing side-by-s1de at press conferences.

The cfu-ergcnce be!\\ een the C\\'0 groups· ldeologtes. howc..'\·er, 1s marked by guns. The Guardian \ngcb are adarnamlr unarmed, bur they Jo nor hesitate to make arrests, confiscate drugs, or use ph}s1cal force. The Greers, on the other hanJ, ha\ e yet ro make physical contact .\ ,.'1:.: Um: a mritJr in E!(!'O Stilts Coikgt, u a wtth any of their targc..>ted delinquents. ftmfJr Et!iJK gf TI"J. Gun, tucked inside therrcoa(!;, they spent

1NJ

35

FEATURE

Connecticut Pastoral Cities and suburbs clash over criminal justice..

ByEmi!JKoh ragedy lends itself w romantic retelling. On Sunday, July 22, 2007, Dr.\\ illiam Perit,Jr. of Cheshire, Connecticut, his wife Jenmfer Ita,, kc Pettt. and their daughters Hayley and .Michaela, ages se,·enreen and eb·en. began the day at church. The guls ~p~:nr the afternoon swimnung at their beach club while Petit took in 18 holes of golf w1th his father. Between se,·en and seven-thirty. llawke-Pcut and Michaela drove their Chry~ler Pacifica SUV to a Stop & Shop in :"\laplt:croft Plaza to purchase ingredient~ for the pasta and homemade sauce i\.lichaela would prepare later that evening. \t thrcl' o'clock the next mormng. the family's borne u-as mvaded by two men on parole who foi l•v cd the Chrysler Pacifica the three mtlc~> from laplccroft Plaza to Sorghum 1\lill Dm·e. Seven hours later, Joshua Komisaqcvsk} a;Ic "rc ·en Hayes fled the ~ccne, slammed the Petits' car into a barncade formed b) two pohce cruisers parked nose-to·nmc. and \\e-~: s 'm.. ~· taken into custody. \t the rime of their arrot, Petit, who moment:5 earlier had srumbled out of hts basement door into the arms of a neighbor. was the only member of his frumly snll ahve.

Seconds before Pent\ escape, 300 :->orghurn \WI was set aflame b) the two men \\ ho escap~o:d in the Cht}slcr Pacifica; the two men who strangled Petit'5 \\lfe and tied his daughters to the post5 of their beds co die tn the fire. Konu,arjevsky and Hayes appeared tn Mendcn Sup~.: nor Court the next morrung, prune suspectS m what would be trumpeted as one of the worst crones committed in Connecucut's memo[). \\ hen Petit appeared one week later, seated between his parents at a candlehght \·igtl outstdc his medical practice, the suspects remained incarcerated on a S15 million bail. Their cases had been transferred to :-;:ew HaYen County Court, news of thetr crimes had been \\idcly reported, and the suffenng endured by Petit and the women he mourned had begun the

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36

THE NE\\ JOLR....'-. \L

com crs1on from personal tragedy £Opublic namui\c.

T

he murders lend themsch·es to a morally focu~~:d n.trration, which the national pubhc ha~ heard repeatedly. The P~:tit.~ Wl'rc good people done 'Hong by thw unamb~ously evil ass:ulams.

The character of du~ family was em bowed in its patriarch. Pent, one paper nnred, "never strayed far from where he grew up." In Plamvtllc, twdn~ miles north of Cheshire, his family "formed a pillar of civ1c hfe." He opened hts medical practice dO\\ n the street from the general store of William Perir. Sr.. and hb examirung room wa~ adorned not "\\ith awards, bm with ptctures of his fanuly."

Petit and his wife were married 22 years. The couple met at the Children's f lo~pital of Pmsburgh where he was a third-year medical student, she a nurse.

Each pursued those can:ers: Petit is a prominent endocnnologisr, his wife was co-director of the health center at Cheshtre Acadt·my. Both were in rhe business of hclptng others, and their family followed 'l;Uit. Hayley wamed to be a doctor like her dad and was ht:aded to Dartmouth. her fathcr's alma maltr, in the falL Shc had ratsed more than 550,000 through "Hayley's Hope." a team she formed to participate in an annual walk supporting research for muluple sclerosis.

Articb describing personal details of the Petit's tn·es soon emerged allowing readers to peer into the family's private hfe. The public learned the instruments they played-Hawke-Pcur guitar and piano, :-.lichaela flute. The public learned of llayley's co-capt:tinship of high school arhlcric reams. The public learned that .\fichaela had made balsamic \inaigrene for t~c .-.alad and a pa."ta sauce of "native tomatoes, garlic. olive oil and basil" And the public learned that to reft:r to the girls by their nicknames was ro speak of Hayes and KK. Rosebud.

Reports also shed light on the tn·e~ of rhe criminal<. pamcularly that of Joshua Komisarjev,ky. Lake the Petit daughtc:r~. Komisar]C\ $ky gre~· up in Che<htre, though h1s adoptive family came from a line of disringutshcd Russian artists. Komisarie\·sk} 's great-~randfather, Fyodor Komisarjc\·sky. ~-as a Russian op<.>.ra smger and fnend of Tchaikovskl·· His aum, \-era, was a notable actress.

FebrU31) 2008

Kormsarjevsky was adopted by a electrician who~c wife homeschooled him and his stster. The couple al~o hosted foster children, one of whom purportedly raped Komisarjcvsky when ht• was fourteen. He allegedly began to burgle that same year. By 2002, he had accrued more than a do?Cn theft charge~ and had been sentenced ro ntne vears in jrul followed by six of supcf\-ised parole.

Chc~hire

orhcf\\ise idyllic semng. .\[any indi\;duals who spoke to the press after the murders admitted that the cnme forced them to acknowledge their tllusion of safety, to realize that their dectsion w leave their doors unlocked could nor prevent others from entering them.

The shocl.."\\'3\·c, of the cnmc reverberated through Connecocm. In a February S telephone conven;aoon,

Mostaccounts of the Petitmurders evokedthe town} manicured lawns and unlocked doo~ as if these .[Jmbols should have sustained secun!J rather than attracted incursion.

State Senator _\nclrew McDonald said that the "tragedy had scf\·cd as a clanon call" for Connecticut. The Petit murden; "displared glaring deficiencies" in the f the Petits were poignandr '"irtuous, cnminal justice system and heightened and Komisarjevsky and Hayes the level of arrenrion paid to Connecticut archetypally cruel, the rown which housed crimes. Still, state lawmakers had not been them all-Cheshire-became a complex entirely ignorant of such "deficiencies" battleground between criminal horror prior to the Cheshire murders. Leg~Siauon and quotidian comfort. It is difficult to enacred in July 2006 had created the rc.'COncile an ace of such unimaginable Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Oi\;SIOn and tasked It With "developing malice ,,;th so placid a place.

Cheshire is the" Bedding Plant Capttal a plan to promote a more effective and of Connecticut.",\ rown of 29,000, it is cohcstvc state criminal jusnce system." nestled in the stare's ~ourhwestern regton In \larch 2007. the agency prepared a or, to those who prefer more metaphoric ISS·page report titled "Comprehensive coordinates, 10 irs "hc.'lll't." .\ bedroom Plan I·or rhe Connecticut Criminal community, Cheshire is a throwback to Jusocc ':lysrem.'" Cheshire, this document the era of Rotary Club meetin~. picket demon~trared, had nor been the first and fences, and lifelong restdcnrs. Irs homes only catalyst for crimtnal justice reform in seemed irnpen'lous to crime.

Connecticut.

Residents and non-residents alike Dara from the I· Bl and the L'.S. n:adily indulge in dus ideal portral.t of Dcparrmcnr of Jusoce tndtcated that the Che>htre. ~lost accounts of the Petit Petit mi.uders constituted only one part murders evoked the town\ manicured of a larger and lasting national trend. lawn$ and unlocked doors. as if the'e \'wlent crime in suburban communities symbols should ha\·e sustained security wa5 up for the durd year in a CO\\. in 2006. rather than at:tracted tncursion. "You liw Cheshire serYes as a mtcrocosm for such in a netghborhood on a tree-lined street trends. Tn 2007, the town experienced for so many years," sevc:n·year "orghum 28 burglaries. a 75 percent incrc.-ase from .\liU resident Robert \vcrack tc id the 2006. \uthorincs ~cued 22 bags of Ntn-' )~rk Times. ''You get a false sense of hermn. One resident shot humelf in the basement of hi~ home on :\'orron I..ane sccunty."

The characterization of Cheshire after murdering his cx·wife and her 29as a ha\·en at the heart of Connecticut ycar-old daughter. hvc months later. 300 deltbcrately overlooked the three Sorghum Mill \Vas invaded.

This e\"idencc· confirms a point left correctional facilioes located at the to~n's northern end. The buildin~ \\"Cre largely untouched: The Petit murders disnusscd a:. unfortunate inrru,ions in an \\ere one symptom of a pcn .1'1'-e tllnc,;s The Judge who delivered the sentence described a "calculated, cold-blooded predator."

I

37

destroying Pleasantville. An account of the rown's earlier VIOlent encounters \\'aS a truth worth telling. Yer many of Connecticut's people replied, and the press preferred m overlook the~e trends, and concentrated on Che:.hire's clarion call.

In an August 8 column in the ;\·m Hatrn Rtgftltr, Randall Beach wrote, "It feels as if thJ.S cnme ts our own '9I 11.' The terrorist attacks and the Cheshire murders jolted us into the sudden rcalizaoon that our world 1s much crueler, savage and dangerous than we had thought, that we are not as safe as we had believed we were." He conveyed the concern of one woman in Wallingford, a rown adJacem to Cheshire, who recaUcd a conversation wirh a female neighbor m which they decided to gam about 100 pounds, let themselves go and forget trying to work hard for the nice cars. .\fter the Peot murders, this kind of reasoning ·was not uncommon.

Disjomted logtc was preferable to the unsettling truth: Safety is never ccrtam; selection so often random.

A crime as senseless as the Petit .fimurders demands resoluoon. People felt Komtsarjcvskr and Hayes should be severely punished, and loopholes within the criminal justice system should be closed. Connecticut GovernorM.Jodi ReU responded ro the outcry by suspending the parole of all mmates serving a sentence for a ";olent offense. "Secunty comes first," Rcll said in a September 21 statement. "I will not aUow public safety to be jeopardized because parolees rcrurn to a life of crime. Parole IS a privilege, not a right."

On November 26, a crowd of about 75 gathered outside the 'Jew Haven Correctional Center on \'\'halley .\venue to protest the suspens1on of parole. They argued that the ban was a consequence of the cnmes commttted by Korni,at')e'·~ky and Haye~ unfairly unposed on mmares held for ,;olcm cnmes and unfairly affecting all mmates m the form of P.ri<on 0\"C!Cl''\\'d.ing,

Protes·o~ carried signs: "Books not bars," "Schools not Jail ," "SSS for education not incarceraoon." Chants of: "\~bat do we do when we're under attack?

SCUld r:all, fight back"' and "\'\bar do we do when sooet'.' fails? Build schools, nor jails"' echoed m Elm Cicy streets.

38

The protestors accused the state of valuing suburban citizens m·er urban ones. "\\!hat it shows us IS that a Chesh1re life is worth more than a '\,ew Ha' en life," one declared. As the evenmg progres~ed, the Petits were upstaged. This-the rail). the frustration, the hype-was not about Cheshire. It u-as about a "new form of slaYery,'' protestors a\·owed, about families puUed apart, about a father, mother, brother,gont. It was about politicians who "do not know what it's like on the stn:et.''

It was about money, ,·otes, and elections.

1t was about "standing up,'' "crymg out," "demanding justice,'' and "taking back the srrcets.'' It was about a system-a cit), Kew Haven-leering its citizens down.

The responsibility for the bdown also shifted. The perpetracors were the teachers "who treated you like snot."

They were the ministers who needeJ ro "wake up." They were John DeStefano, Kew Haven's recently re-elected mayor.

represenr.1uves and senators appeared on the docket, including proposals to tighten crimmal sentencing, improve home ~ccunry, and purush burglars more har~hl).

Rcprcscnrativc \!fred \dinolfi, another re,ldent of Sorghum Mill Drive, H.'lld a lcncr addrc.;sed co the committee from Pent. "Dt.'IU' .\[embers of the Lt."ltdershlp of the Jud!cJ.ary Committee,'' It rt.':ld. "Mr life changed profoundly 126 da}' ago....

"These hornblc events not only took the hvcs of m) bt.'nutiful and wonderful \\Jfe and daughters, but ther also exposed some glanng defects in our laws, and their inabdil) to adequately ensure our public safety.

"Every resident 10 Connecticut deserves to ha\'e those glaring deficiencies in our public safety laws corrected fully and promptly ...

"I lisror) has shown that reputations

Cheshire) protestors notec£ had stood up) gotten mac£ and defended its own in a way that New Haven) plagued with systemic criminaf;usticeproblems rather than one shocking cn·me) never has.

They were the cops who beat people up.

They were the c1ry residents not present at the rally.

By the night's end, the \X'haUey protest had revealed a rift in the starr's identity, with its Bedding Plant Capital on one side and tts Elm Ciry on the other.

Cheshire, protestors noted, had stood up, gotten mad, and defended irs own in a wa) that :\ew Ha,-cn. plagued \\lth systemic crurunal justice problerru ratht:r than one (hocking crime, ncRr ha~. "\\"e'rc nor outraged enough m '\,C\' Haven," concluded one u-oman. "I sh• 1.. d not be able to see the comer from here:' anothc·r satd. ":\ly ~cw Ha\·en people, where arc you?'' ,_.-q,e State Judicial Committee l. conducted two public heanngs ro correct Connecticut\ inadequate criminal justice system. f-Ifteen public safe() measures proposed b} Connecttcut

arc made and legacies are established by how the neetls of the people are addressed by those responsible for shaping our go\'ernment's response to tragic events and the cnses that follow them ... "\nd I've got ro say," \dinolfi said once he had concluded his reading, "God bless Dr. Perir."

To wh1ch a woman u':ltching the ht"llnng softly but sharply replied, "God bbs us all."

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Body Politics Trials of old illuminate Zeta Psi photo.

By Pat Hqyden

en members of the Yale X'omen's Center Executive Board circulated Zeta Psi's now notonous ''\Ve Love Yale Sluts" photo on January 20, the} hoped to cast a critical eye on an emblemaoc image.

Instead, after weeks of public dispute, the gaze has swerved back to the protesters.

The Women's Center has been challenged for its intenoon to file suit, its criocs have been accused of insensitivit}·. and Yale is muggling to define the boundaries of this sexual dtalogue. Such disputes are not m:w to New J Iaven. The Elm City brims \\ith lund tales of sexual controversies and their dubious mcarnations.

The fim predates Yale. From 1640 to 1643, when four our of seven New Haven re~idcnts were men, the Colony experienced what historian John Murrm calls "something close to a bestiality panic." ~ew Haven was one of the world's most harshlr Puritanical societies, and tts authorities frcquendy handed do\\n !'.evere purushments for a variety of sex crimes, includmg sodom}; masrurbaoon, and zoophilia. Perhap< a victim of htstoocal circumstll.llcc; perhap~ bhnded by an unseeml} feosh, a one-eyed servant named George Spencer became the t:uget of one o: the most pubhc bestiality trul.s of the sevemeenth cenn..r Long a nuisance to his communir", 'lpencer came to the attention of authoones in l"a.dy 1641 when his neighbor remarked that one of his sO\\·'s new~m p~ets bore a scrilcing resemblance ·o pencec's

di.~figured visage. Concluding that "the monster'' must be Spencer's offspnng, the ne1ghbor explained the story: "Spencer being there an worke, the sow came into the stable, and then the temptaoon and his corruption did worke, and he drove the sow into the srye, and then comitted thatt filthyness."

Though some historians contend that the charges against Spencer would not have held in a more moderate religious climate, "JC\\ Haven authoocies probed the servant with zeal. Interrogated by a group of religious leaders, including men named Yale and Davenport. Spencer \\1IS condemned for much more th:m his

(;eor~e

~j?encer

was condemned for much more than his )?enchant for deflowerin~ sows. penchant for detlo\l.·ermg sows. In court. rumors ran rampant· Spencer had not been to church in five years, he had been whipped m Boston for stealing goods: he had attempted to a~ from his ~enitude to Virginia. Ultimately finding him guilty of "smfull and aborrunable filthyness," the New Han:n court delivered the punishment demanded by Leviticus 20:15: Spencer \\"aS to die, but not before

wtmessmg the public slaying of his promiscuous sow.

Founded in the wake of spectacular New Haven trials like Spencer's, Yale eventually confronted tts own cases of se:-.-ual transgression. '\;or surprisingly, definitions of de"1ance have proven wildly elastic over time. In 1821, Yale's disctplinary tribunal expelled Alfred N. Bullitt for "criminal intercourse wtth a female of abandoned character." Such "abandoned" young women--often factory girb or New Haven prostitutesfrustrated Yale authorities throughout the runeteenth century and ~ent more than one Yale man from the tn~titution.

A ccnfur} later, as heud shepherded formerly unspeakable sexual tssues into the mainstream and World War I placed a renewed emphas1s on traditional masculinit}·, the t;niversit}· stepped up its puni~hment of homosexual behavior.

In April 1923, John \\ tlltam Herron and Theodore SrudweU Smith were suspended for the remainder of the year after being comicted of "improper proceedings in their room.'' While undergraduate regulations ne\·er explicitly forbade gay sex, disc1plmar:y guidelines were ambiguously worded to condemn cri.minally effeminate behavior while avoiding the ugly bu~mcss of naming the d~d . ·~\ny breach of the commonly accepted rules of gentlemanly behavior," the rule~ read, "whether or not covered by the'e regulation~, \\iU be subject to di'aplinary action." Considering the

THE ~EW JOUR..'\'AL

official tolerance of both heterosexual anc.l homo,exual relationship~ at the Uni' e~>i() toJay, the case~ of wayward Yale men exemplify the power cultural context can ncrt on the judgment of transgressions. \'\hen the mtimate realm of sexual bcltanor is exposc.-d and condemned, the private become> the public. and a forum 10 which to recon .. d~:r and renegotiate fund:unemal ~ocul value> emerges.

In the case ot ">pencer's unfortunate indiscretion, t\.e\\ H:wen's Punran community r:w-ned him inro a scapc.goat and hb rrial uuo a reaffirmation of such \'lrtucs as piet). good\\11~ and hard \\ · trk.

Hter a year of Impnsonmenr. Spc1ccr stood at the gallows. Face to face with dt."ath, he urged the people of ~C\\" Haven to take a more righteous path than he h:~d. According to the record. "He bc.pn to speakc to the }Ouths abom htm. exorring them all to take.: warning by h1s ex:unple hou• the) neglect and despise the mt"llnes of Grace. and rherr s•>ulcs good as he had done.·." Finally, SpLncer admitted "his ~mpud~.:ncy and athe1smc," rhen "justified the sentence as righn:ou'. und fully confessed." \ccording to !'iooologr Professor Philip Smith, cases h.ke Spencer's offer a platform for the retr~.:nchment of communal ideology. ''The case can be made," Smith explains, "that ,;s1ble trials m such cases help to sc.:dirnent new understandings and ro offer an exLmplaf} narrative to the pubhc." \s '\ew Haven authorities fined the noo'c. cghd: u-ound Spencer's neck and ktcked away the !>tand, they scaled the rdig10u~ and social nlues of the communtty with rhe blood of one of irs member.;. "::\ow he was ready w dye," the coun'.; account rt."3ds, "and he musr goe prcsentl} to hell.'' ~pcncer's hangtng came at the hands of a ~ociet)' who~e conception of sex-ual aimt.• was firmly entrenched in Puritan-era abwluti~m; de,;;mcc was easilr defined by stncc, se\·cnteeth ccnrur} codes. Bur what happens when rhar ab~olure bedrock \"':J.mshes~ After all. what is so offens~'C about ''\\~e love Yak slurs" i.;n't that Jt i' deviant from <ocictal nornl.$, bur that It could be fnghtemngly m rune with them. f such public rnals become an opportunity for cliscu' ·mg >OCial \'lllues, what IS ar stake with the 5candal of Zea pq: The ~hock of many Yale

I

students extend' bc)ond that tlmtS\, \\hire sign held by one of the frarerntt} \ pledges. 'Their faces were slnlslu, gleeful, calculated,'' explains Kathryn Oltvarius '11, the \\nmen's Ct:nter\ consutuenq coordl!l:Hnr Special En:ms CoorJinator Clatrc (;ordon '10 expresses a ,imilar disgust for the l-uger offense' of fraternil) culture at Yale. claurung that "they arc settled tor·> ·his :>ld wealth. this powerful network." ~urularly. L!ZZ) :O.!adva '08, who sympathizes with rhe Center but is not uwolved with any of the oificial femirust channels ar Yale. looks nor at the stgn but at the 'ccne as a whole.

"It\ a bsg groun 0f ,.,,. ,," she sa··s...,,.d

(rts a big group of guy~ and my first impression zs that its aggresszve and threatening. " m) first impression ~~ that it's aggressin• and threatening.'' \\ h1le some studem~ equate manly bombast wuh ,·iolence and privilege. Histor) Profe,sor Cynthta Rus~ert reads ~omcthmg more banal into the photo, "Their iaces looked a little vacuous ... " she says. "Unfornmatcly. that Ani111al f-/QJm bcha\ior is so easy m dt~mis~ as tri\-ial" ~uch obscn"':J.Cons pomt to a rt."3,~essmem of fraternity culrure. \\hose worst stereotypes arc displaytd in rhe photo. To rho~e offended. rht:lr rapacious hand signs s1gnal the Yiolcm edge of the male collectivc, 311 the m< tre un,ettling u·hen posl[ioned in the '<tnglc space of idenufiable female sohdarit\ on campus. The agar on the far nght c."\okes the m"lscuhnc cnutlcmcnt of a smok) boardroom. Yet '' har troubles students most IS not the crowd's violence bur It~ surpnsmg sense of place. Shoulder.; b:tck and head~ cocked to the side. thC} arc rcla.-xed, at home.·. Thi) eerie 5crenit]. 'uggc,rs an a.'sumed unmuntt}. The photo is seen ro encapsulate culnsh brotherhood, male pmilege. and the gansh \\1des-nl.'SS that finds a \\1\} to thrive in a fortress of :tcadcmic excellence.

Like pasr 'cxual conrrm. ersies. the trial of Zeta Psi con~ntutcs self-exorciSm of a kind. Reacnons to the mctdent

have rhe potcntL"ll to reaffirm tolerance, dt\ er,lt)'. and progrc.·s) as ilie ,;crues hehmd Yale\ tmngincd identity. \Vhile some feminists hope that today's trial will bring them close to rhc Yale they expected ;md wish to crc.tte. other students came to Y.tlc to search of the tradu:ional male camaradenc for which Yale has long been famou,. Frarcrruut.>s, lih· women, deserve to feel at hom~ on campus. "I '\\c-anted to jom ,1 ready-made soc1al scene, a tight-knit group of guys," n:calls Ad:un Edelstein '08, who chose Y:tk• for the brotherhood he iclr 1t \\ould pro,;de. Edelstein became a DKI~ brother and remembers feeling srruck b) the frarcrrury's lustory of leadership and alliance. "Parr of the DKI-.. pledge process ts learning about the lustory of the frarernit\·," he explains. ''You memonze the former presidents, the facts of DKI :~ formation, and the mi~sron of the frarernlt)'." The Women's ( enter holds fast to its physical space ns a symbol of dcc1dcs of activism and h.trd-carned respect; /.era Psi pledges defend Yale as a space for characterbuilding horscpla) anJ hfelong masculine networks. Each camp makes a bid for a part of Yale\ pa<t; t.-ach holds a vision of the future they hope to create.

In 1642. Spencer dangled limply for a colonial crowd as a public reaffirmation of pic(). In 1923, John Herron and TheoJore Smith packed their trunks and qu1etl) \\1thdrc\\ fwm Yale so that the orthodoxy of gentlemanly behavior could be pre,c.>rved. \s the contro\·ersy simmers 111 2008. u remams unclear whether Yale ts capable of the social mobilization rhat characterized the public trials of our past. Reflecting on the reactions she has observed. l\lad\'11 si_ghs and adnuts, "In general tt'~ n polarizing event, not a umf) mg one." Pcrhap~ an affirmation of socral Yrrtues wJil once again evade us. Yale ts beyond publtc hangings and homophobic regulanons, but the myriad n.•acuons to "\'\'c love Yale sluts" have rC\ caled a hmt of conflicting ideals hdd by the Yale community. Would a sensanonal trial dc.-anse c>ur community of Its anxtcrics~ Or are they so deep-rooted th:u trial by fire 1~ as useless as tossing a \\ irch in a river ro sec 1f she floats?

TN] P.z1 H

11

a stm r 111 Tu11otlf] D~:~ht CD~. is a

lrfor'I':J. 41

Yale University Contributing to a Strong New Haven

Growmg New Haven's biotech industry and local economy Creating a v1tal downtown through Yale's communrty investment program Supporting New Haven public school education through partnerships Strengthening neighborhoods by helping Yale employees buy homes

www.yale edu/onhsa

THE CRITlC.A L ANGLE

Law & Udder Ex-Register reporter offs fictional Elis.

By Jordan Jacks n me Sq mour, the r~;poner­ pror.o •ont t of Karl·n Olson'~ first "lt."' Han·n lll)'Ster} nm cl, describt:~ her thtckemng plot :t- "'l alies fucking \\.-ith their !J,c, and the h\cs of those around them.'' It':; a common story.

But our heroine doesn't \\.-ork for }'D~ Sant, and the ~tor) rold m Jncrd ( ou·s isn't your ll\ crage dorm-room dtspure: among us pbyers arc a ~t-ed) exccumc, an escort serv-ice named "Come Togethl:r," and a srad· n.tkcd, \Cry dead Yale student on Htgh '-trrcct. E\en 1f her summary tsn't exacd; ne"' 'paper cop), the rcporrt'l' b right-"Th1' would become one helluva made-for-TV mo\'te."

For Ol<on, a i'\cw Ha,cn name and former Rrgisttr reporter, u has become something jusr as cxcinng: the backbone of an award-winnmg m)Stery no~el set m her hometown. Olson's senes-thret· books. another forthcommg-follo\\'S a middle-aged beat reporter at the ficttonal j\'t~~ 1-la:.rn lltrald as she solves cnmes and complam' about her cxpandmg

A

Febrw.ry 2008

w:u,rhne, 111 the shado\\' of Yale's spirl:~ on my skin, and I \\ondered how I could and gargoyles. The series mixes m JU~t be horny after bc..-,ng b~'atcn up, but I was." enough feminine anx.iet) ("1 pulled d1e Hut the 'eric~ atms to ,;olare more than little black dress out of the laundry basket, the qutckl) -crodmg srranglchold men but even if it had been clean, I'd had too have m:~inratned on the mystery no,·el much pizza and Mexican food m the bst since 'f'br Mllltr.rr H1ko11. It upends another couple of days to make it work for me') traditional expt•ctarion: that '\c\\ Haven rs and romance ("He was looking so damn nothing more than the home of Yale. The good, hts blue eyes twmkling. Ius biceps novels in the series showcase the Elm City bulgmg as he shrugged out of Ius jacket') as a community ap.trt from 1rs collegiate ro soften ItS gritty crime drama for a tics. hach book rakes place m a different broader demographic. The books ha' c ft'g!Oil of '\.e\\ H:ncn. s.. ,.r._.' ..-'ld Smokt ~old \\ell; since 2005. Obon has released a dt-als \\ 11h :1.rson tn \\(>Oster S<Juare. while new episode each }car. followmg the Sara Dtad of tht Df!J rackles 11leg.t! unmigration \nn Freed ~femonal Award-wi.nrung tn hur Ha\en. Satrtd uzn is. thus far. the Samtl Cozn \\1th 2006\ Sttondhand Smokt only nmcl ro spotlight the 1\'0C} to\\er. and 200-\ Dtad tht Df!J. Shot Gir11s due \nd spotlight Yale Jt doe'. In her quest to thsco~er who murdered srudentout this fall.

Central to the <enes' appeal IS thl turncd-escort :\khssa Pc'llbody. ~mour characrer of \nrue ~ymour. a foul- takes coffee at Amcus, "a 'mall bookstore mouthed bachelorette u ho can get \\1th a fabulous coffcl' bar and wonderful mugged one mrnurc, extol the \'lrtUCS of muffins and ~and\\1Che,," beratt.:s her her fleece bathrobe the next, and sum CO\\'Orhrs for ordenng Dorruno\ in'tead It up \\lth a Bridget Jonesian lament of of :-.all) 's, and walk~ aero" Cro"· sexual frustration: "I liked the way tt felt Campus, ( )Jd Campus, and the ~aybrook

43

courtyards. She interrogates the registrar to no avail, has com·ersaoons \\1th eyebrow-pterced students in coffee shop". and, m more than one scene, rehes on the: kindncs~ and chivalr) of a •·fnendly \sian kid." Before it ts all over, rwo Yalies arc dead-one bludgeoned in the heaJ b1 a small BuJJha statue, the other stabbcJ

uni\·ersiry students are the.· plot's fodder, propelling the narraci\·c through the1r own criminal and sexual endc.:avors. Students arc the ones getting killed; students are the ones doing the killing.

If a book like Chlor ts an} indtcation, tt's a genius marketing move. Ir's no secret that people ""ant co sec the Ivory Tower

5trip away the conventionSy the absurdist bovines) and the detective work) andyou have an intriguing) strange allegory for the testy plight of Yale and the Elm City. scores of time,; on the torso and le!,>S. Thc..1· arc the \ iccims of an e~corr ~en icc. cocaine, jealous friends. and City Hall inmgue.

Just a day tn the life. \ VJhat is ir about Yale that encourages W such portraits? Pubhc fascination with I '.lis runs deep: from Ch/Qr Doe.r )a/tto Tht Shills ro Pom and Oid<:~n. middlcbrrm pop-culrure has delighted in sexualizmg. endangcrmg. or exterminating th( Bulldog. If mass media ts an) mdtcauon. we euher hke to sec Yalics gcttmg offcd or gcrting it on. In Satrtd Cous. Olson provides both: Melissa Pcabod1 tn ultrarich legacy type, nnd Allison SanJers, ,\ scholarship student. get involved in a seedr escort service that rakes them off campus. inro the beds of \\ealth) )•>ung crooks, and evenrually to the1r death~.

Peabody falls at the hand~ of a Jt:alous roommate. \\iille ~anders is di:opatched h} a more comenaonal crimmal. Se)mour\ efforts w ~oh-c the case land her m the middle of can1pus.

The book is uniCJUC among ()J,on\ novels because it dcliberatd} engages Yale srudent.~ a..; represcnt:l.D\I:S of ,m ongoing town gown d} namic. In rhc other f\\"0 books, Yale i~ a removed tsland whose opulence sen·cs mostl} as n foil ro loc.al affairs. :--:ew Haven j, tht: cit) of the Wooster mob, Fa.Lr Ha\t:n gangs. and illegal imnugration. But in Sacrrd Cou:r,

-.ullied. "ex and ,;olcncc in the Ivy Lc.."ague sell because they art: thm~ ostensibly

outside the privileged gates of academia: as htcral matters of life and death, they embod} the mosr basic human acts.

Readers revel in highly educated munch for the san1e reasons dozens of Yale parents call their children worried stck Juring Sex \X'eek: they didn't think the kids had It ill them. \ book like Samd Con'S levels the playing field. Even your bnght neph=· could be a killer.

f the Yalies in S01.-rtd Coils come off like a bunch of murJc.:rous, coke.tddled prostitutes, the cit)· of '-.e\\ Ha\·en doesn't alwars fare much bcrrer. The town is overrun by corrupt Ciry !Iall politicians \\1th coteries of armed henchmen. The publisher of the nc\\ spaper is tm·oh-ed in a scam. \nrue gas thrc..-arcnmg notes, is mugged, held ar knife-point, and shot at. \. fat man named Hicke} tnes to convince her to JOin the escort sen ICC. \nnic notes how "on one block, the Gothic buildings of Yale to\\·cred over the street, but on the next, the netghborhood started gerttng sced1." She reminds herself not to walk ccrtam areas at night.

The Elm Ctt)' surwundtng Yale ts, as Obon purs It in Drad OJ lht Dt!], "those other neighborhoods in ~ew Haven. where ..;hootings are JUSt a matter of course, routine 'for the patrol cops. a thrcc-mch police blotter." ~onethclcss,

I

just as she opposes the notion that New HaYen is nothing but a home for Yale, she won't succumb to the town's reputation for unchecked crime. In Sacrtd Cows, as Seymour walks down Chapel Street lookmg at the decorative bovines that give the novel its name (and its lead character an excuse to say "Fuck the Cows" as often as possible), she notes that "even though New Haven offered great theater, restaurants, nightlife, and shopping, there was still a large contingent out there in the suburbs who thought they'd become crime \,cams tf the)' crossed the city line."

The characterization of New Haven in Olson's novels is loosely based on the reality of the ctty and heavily influenced by its mystery-novel pcdtgree. Given its genre, one that demands at least a little bit of criminal intrigue-a "whodunit" requires something to be dont--Olson's choice of serting doesn't necessarily demonize the Elm Cit); but she walks the line. If Olson is commenting on New Haven bv liberaong the metropolis from its collegtatc tenant, then the prevalence of crime m the novels-coupled with the city's recent criminal history-is another statement, a characterization of the sort that Olson seems so diligently to oppose.

The .\ruue Sevmour senes easily exchanges one stereotype:. for another: ~ew Haven isn't only for srudent..... There's plenty of room for cnrmnals.

That ::-:ev.· Haven 1s defended for its many virrues in a novel dedicated to

If

mass media is any indication) we either like to see Yalies getting offed or getting it on.

depicting its crimmal underbelly is one of the more inmguing facets of Olson's series. Multi-faceted and complex, the Elm Cit)' is probably the best-drawn character m the'e books. a bi.ls that bodes \\'ell for the city and poorly for the novels.

Dozens of character: are flat "types":

Karen Olson} a l\rew Haven native and former Register reporter, has wn·tten an an a1vard-winning JJrystery novel set in her hometown. then:$ 1om, the gruff bachelor cop ami \.ruue's sern1 bo) fncnd, who keeps nothing but a ~txpack m the rcfrigeruor; Dick, the 1rntaungh t:arnest reponer consmnrh as 1gncd to \nme's beat; 1arn, the cxhau ted editor; Patnc~:~, the r-:e,, York confidante uho lncs m New York and ui10 e purpose ts to come\ plot mformanon from an esteemed vantage pomr.

Olson's '\ale students arc the mo t thml) dra\\ n. The academiCS m &) mour's company ha'c an empt). collegute gwdcbook glaze mer them. Th~) seem to congregate at \.rncus prcoseh ''hen \nrue needs a up, at lea t one 1s stoned, and they ncarl) always f.1ll mto either the "boolash" or ''parn aruma!" typcs-th.lt ts, tf the) 'n: not murderers or escorrs.

Olson':; students arc either bonng. bcs\Hatcn:d autom.tton or l'll\'tng lunaucs. Samd Co11--l mo r subversl\e element ts us resolute d~t.re to ktll the Yalt: student, euhcr b) numbmg hun mto banaltn or cndmg her life u tth stab wounds.

Olson a surcd me that she felt no de trc to kill off ) rue students for am-dUng other than plot reason But the no,eJ' structure hmts at the touns larent des1re to take out obnmaous I lis carousmg m the u-ee hours of the mght The \cry panache w1th u tuch \IIi on :-.anders and Mtchellc Pcabod) arc done au':l) w1th berrays a bu of pleasure, extrapolaung ) rue' flawed rclanon hip

u1th

~cw

lla,·en to macabre IC\els. \\hat

'I he murderers arc caught, the corrupt ousted, the crumnals apprehended. tht• failed lme life of \.nnie ~C)mour, nor \s m) stcry no\'els are meant to elicit the mexplicable Cm\ Parade that gn cs the anncipauon and sarisfacnon, it would be no\ d It' name, nor the mtolcrabl) bormg cas} to sec the books 10 Olson's series as embezzlement r~:~rram ~ under!) mg much pro,1dmg a utop~:~n vision for the cuy's of the nO\cl\ mtngue. h ts the approach unprovcmcm. In •oh;ng a ficnnous the no\c.:l takes toward town and gown. cnme, SC) mour can in some sense, to ~tnp a\\':1) the comennons, the absurdtst some cadre of paperback mystery-novel bo\1nc . and the detc:cO\c work, and )OU affioonados. soh·e the problems facing ha\e an mmgumg, strange aUegof) for a 'cry real Cit) and a VCI'}' real school. the t<:'l) phght of Yale and the I lm Clt). SOCicl) 'll.'llflts to sec some mud on the Of cour;e, u hen the reporter 1\ Of) to\\ er, but reader; ultimately want controlling that allegol'} sa) s dungs hkc some sense of resolunon or progress.

"If I hadn't kno\\n about the fiann•c, Dcspnc the murderers, the escort~, and J might ha\e taken alh-anragt: of the the corrupnon, Olson's books arc, in the darkness since n had been a u h1lc SlnCl' end, fundamentally optimistic-the series I'd had my egg; poached," ceruin themes conunues, and the city ahvays remams to .m: bound ro be lost m translauon. But be wnttcn about.

C\ en when put in \nnic Se) mour's sailor's mouth, J'acrrd Cou-1 chil'f tntcn:st rtmams ns struggle w Integrate Yale and ~c..'\\ Ha\en, ~"'' Haven and .It:; rtpuranon, public pucepnon and rcaht. In rtus, :;c)mour rcrnatns a untf) mg figure, a p!7.7.a ob~c~~ed. rotr~:~nncall) confu ed ['o.;ew 1-fa,en nanH \\ho bndgcs the gap between the flau'Cd pcrccpnon of a cnme·addled Elm Cm and the opulent t\ Of) tower m us nudst Olson nps more than bod1ces. "he takes amuenc,-about cnmc; about urban de\-elopment, about illegal unrrugranonfrom real life Rrgukr headlines, onl) to have ~)mour pur them back m the } nian } *-r, a jlitmJT Ill St!Jbrook. u/kgt. u ficnonal Hrruld \\1th solunon attached. ProdtJmon M1111f1l!T of ·r.-.:j. tr~:~kes JOfTYd COJZ:r so fa~onaung 1s neuhc r

1NJ

45

~ END1ill1E

First

Sorry to eat and run!

Design b\· ' IJ'aura zJax, 46

\ rrwork by l\latt \\'agstaffc

Jonathan Edwards

A graphic designer and writer, his book jacket designs for

Alfred A Knopf have helped spawn o

revolution in the

art

ofAmerican book packaging.

His new novel, e learners will be published on February 19th.

C ge presents

Wednesday February 20th 4:00pm