This WEEKEND

WEEKEND // FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

The Incubation Period

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Cora Lewis explores Yale’s emerging entrepreneurial spirit.

8 7 VIEWS

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6 SELLINGOUT

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DANCEDANCE

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ON ROBOTS AND LEVIN

FINDING AN ALTERNATE PATH

A TANGO THROUGH YALE

Jordan Ascher and Simon Penzer introduce us to a Corp.-sponsored robot, and Leena Ramadan and Teo Soares nominate the next pres.

Baobao Zhang writes a personal essay about the anxiety of graduation — and what the hell she’ll do after.

Yanan Wang teaches us how to tango, and reminds us that it is not a dance so much as an addiction. We’re hooked.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

ASCHER & PENZER

WEEKEND VIEWS

DEAR MASTER ROBOT // BY JORDAN ASCHER AND SIMON PENZER

// ANNELISA LEINBACH

YALE IS CHANGING, AND MANY UNDERGRADUATES HAVE QUESTIONS. HERE TO ADDRESS CONCERNS IS YOUR NEW, YALE CORPORATION-APPROVED ROBOT WHO WILL BE REPLACING YOUR RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE MASTER. Dear Robot Master, I need to pick a major, and I’m torn between humanities and history of art. Can we sit down and talk about it?

-Majorless in Morse

RAMADAN & SOARES

Dear [student name], Have you considered courses in science, technology, engineering and math [STEM®]? Yale offers a variety of courses in the science, technology, engineering and math [STEM®] fields. These courses will prepare you for a wide range of careers in science, research, finance, business, international relations and management.

-Robot Master

Dear Robot Master, I’m looking to use my ISA to study abroad this summer. I’m trying to decide between doing an Eastern European history program in Prague or an architecture course in Siena.

Any thoughts?

-Traveling in Trumbull Dear [second query], In Singapore, your horizons will be widened, your range of competencies extended and your opportunities multiplied.

As a Yale-NUS student you will be surrounded by opportunities — intellectual, entrepreneurial, artistic, international, professional and interpersonal— that can launch you toward both long-term ambitions and unforeseen achievements.

As a Yale-NUS student, you may even have the opportunity to visit Yale’s American campus in New Haven, Connecticut. Welcome to Singapore!

-Robot Master

Hey Master R! I hear the University is really into this new college in Singapore. It sounds exciting, but how can we be sure the students’ right to free speech won’t be jeopardized?

-Bothered in Branford Dear peon, defaults read ~/.Yale-NUS/Applications/Freedom.app/Contents/ Info: The domain/default pair of /.YaleNUS/Applications/Freedom.app could not be found.

-[Master R] Dear Robot Master, What do you think the University is going to be like after President Levin leaves? How is the administration going to pick a new president?

-Stumped in Silliman Dear [SID #555362345], The Yale Corporation depends on students like you in selecting a pres-

ident. As the Presidential Search Committee’s Robot-Student Liaison, I will be holding office hours at your nearest electrical outlet to discuss your concerns. You may nominate human faculty members to serve on the search committee by emailing thiswillneverbechecked@yale. edu in the next 10 minutes. You may also submit paper nominations to the trash can on the first floor of Woodbridge Hall.

-RM [Robot Master] Dear Robot Master, I don’t mean to be a tattletale, but my floormates aren’t keeping quiet hours when I’m trying to study. How should I resolve this without creating bad feelings?

-Ticked in TD Dear [human student], Yale’s two new residential colleges will broaden undergraduate campus life and extend the benefits of a Yale College education to 200 additional students with each graduating class.

-Robot Master model #235-76a Dear Robot Master, I’d like to register a party I’m having this weekend for my friend’s birthday this Saturday. We’re expecting around 40 people — just following procedure!

-Debauched in Davenport Dear [≠off campus >50; =on campus <50 ~/.required_registration_ with_Master’s_office], Have “fun”.

-RM [Thanks to a generous gift from the Seymour H. Manatee ’36 Foundation, beginning in the 2013-2014 academic year, Yale College administrators will be replaced with robots and the Yale Schools of Art, Music and Drama will be demolished.]

Contact JORDAN ASCHER at jordan.ascher@yale.edu and SIMON PENZER at simon.penzer@yale.edu .

Replacing Levin // BY LEENA RAMADAN AND TEO SOARES

We respectfully submit our nominations for the next president of Yale University. In no particular order: Old Spice Guy: Look at Levin, now look at this guy, now back at Levin, now back at this guy. We need a president with chiseled abs.

Eric Wenzel: Thwarting the tofu onslaught since 2004.

Daenerys Targaryen: The rightful heir to the Iron Throne. Also: dragons.

Kristen Stewart: Her affinity for older white men will make her a hit with the donors. #CheatingSkank #TeamPattison4Lyfe Brandon Levin: We won’t even

F R I D AY SEPTEMBER 21

have to change the stationary.

Bob the Builder: Can we fix it? And by “it” we mean PayneWhitney.

Kanye and Jay-Z: They’ve been watching the throne.

Charlie Sheen: #winning #TitleIX Bruce Wayne: Elm City, Gotham City. Mayor DeStefano could use a dark knight.

Emilio Zapata: Viva!

The manager at Celtica: Thanks to her, New Haven’s sole purveyor of Claddaghs and shamrock shirts has staved off bankruptcy. The woman would do miracles for the Yale budget.

Mitt Romney: We are the 53%.

Dick Cheney: One Dick out, another dick in.

Captain Morgan: He already makes our decisions for us anyway.

Anderson Cooper: We now know for sure that his preferences align with those of most Yale students.

Rick Levin: Four more years.

Jane Levin: If she doesn’t get the presidency, she’ll end up as Secretary of State.

Peter Salovey: We hear he’s qualified or something. Mostly we just like the moustache.

Mary Miller: Kidding!

Justine Kolata: We hear she got new bunnies. Their names are

“THE LADY”: A FILM SCREENING BY THE MYANMAR PROJECT Davenport/Pierson Theater // 7:00 p.m.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is coming to Yale next week! Come join fellow students for a film screening of “The Lady”, a film about her life by Luc Besson, starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis.

“Hope” and “Change.”

Chief Justice John Roberts: Gender neutral housing? It’s a tax.

Steve Ells, CEO of Chipotle: Never since the ¡Ay! Arepa guy has the owner of a burrito joint enjoyed so much clout with the Yale community.

Mark Zukerberg: Young with business experience. Just make sure he doesn’t go for an IPO. The Nation of Singapore: Rick should have read the fine print in the Yale-NUS contract.

Contact LEENA RAMADAN at leena.ramadan@yale.edu and TEO SOARES at teo.soares@yale.edu .

BRUCE WAYNE: ELM CITY, GOTHAM CITY. MAYOR DESTEFANO COULD USE A DARK KNIGHT.

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: takethislollipop.com

Enter your Facebook username and password for a short film about a serial killer (i.e. any website you log into with your Facebook) viewing your Facebook profile.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND COVER

THE INCUBATION PERIOD // BY CORA LEWIS

he artificial incubation of eggs is an ancient practice. Writing in the year 400 B.C., Aristotle described the Egyptian method of warming and hatching eggs spontaneously in dung heaps, and documents have revealed that the Chinese developed artificial incubation as early as 246 B.C. Until modern times, knowledge of incubation practices remained a closely guarded secret, to be passed from one generation to the next. For ages, the appropriate temperature of a given egg was determined by holding the orb to one’s eye socket to judge the specific level of heat.

Ever since we realized we have the capacity to, we’ve been taking young, unformed things away from their original environments and trying to place them in more ideal settings or circumstances in which to raise them. Colleges, for instance.

Yale is an incubator of sorts — for embryonic student minds, for reptilian or warm-blooded philosophies, for newborn businesses and burgeoning research. Faculty and administrators brood over undergrad ova, protecting and sheltering them from all manner of harsh realities — whether predators or weather, the economy or unemployment. The barrier between the University and the world, or even New Haven, may sometimes feel as thick as your mother’s uterine wall, sometimes as thin as eggshell.

Exhausted metaphor aside, Yale’s startup incubation practices are both thriving and evolving their investment strategies. And while, in the past, Yale has reliably developed a particular species of graduate (to be explicit, one with corporate inclinations), a mutant variety (the trail-blazing techie) has emerged.

Nevertheless, these seemingly distinct strains undeniably come from the same source — a university that some claim is becoming increasingly corporate. Here’s what’s starting up.

T

START SOMETHING.

“START SOMETHING,” the blackboard imperative reads in WLH 211 Wednesday night, the first September evening with a real chill in the air. Ambiguous enough. Riot? Revolution?

Tonight, the implied antecedent is “a self-sustaining or profitable business venture.”

Standing in front of his punchy chalk message, Bob Casey ’11, the founder of the electronics recycling company YouRenew, peptalks approximately 75 student acolytes, who flocked to the classroom for the first in a series of six workshops on how to be a “lean model” start-up entrepreneur.

After a few minutes, it becomes clear that Casey is fluent in buzzwords and buzz-sentences of this ilk. A second Sparknotes-like blackboard gives a MadLibs spin to the required elevator pitch: “My company [name if any] is developing [offering] to help [defined audience] [solve a problem] with [special sauce].”

Casey is selling a kind of fill-in-the-blankstyle innovation.

In a pink Oxford shirt and boat shoes, rather than the Zuckerbergian hoodie one might anticipate, Casey is nearly indistinguishable from the undergraduates he’s lecturing, as he breezily charts his company’s progress from a “consumer-oriented trading platform for used electronics” to “servicing large enterprises.”

Dropping the industry-speak for a moment, the fresh-faced businessman lists a few of the 40-odd Fortune 500 companies with which he deals: “Today we have clients like McDonald’s, Comcast, Goldman Sachs, and Halliburton,” Casey rattles off. “We manage all of their mobile device repair, replacement, and endof-life recycling.”

The rapt audience stares and scribbles notes. They too could be the next upstart student tech company to, one day soon, service

F R I D AY SEPTEMBER 21

THE BIG QUESTIONS: HOW DO YOU FIND PURPOSE? Connecticut Hall // 7:30 p.m.

LOST SHEEP! Find your way to this enlightening talk with Dean Loge of Timothy Dwight College and Matt Croasmun, a Ph.Dstudent in religious studies and the teaching pastor at the Elm City Vineyard.

global fast-food chains, telecommunications giants, financial services companies and international oil conglomerates.

Start what exactly.

ON INCUBATION

In 1956, hardware store manager Joseph Mancuso reportedly altered an abandoned 850,000-square-foot manufacturing complex in Nowheresville, N.Y., into a new kind of facility. There, entrepreneurial tenants could keep offices, meet with like-minded peers, and network with experts and mentors in their fields. Soon, multiple businesses signed up for the program, including a winery and a chicken processing company. As The New York Times describes it, “it was Mr. Mancuso who, after seeing newly hatched chicks running around the facility, began calling it an ‘incubator.’”

“We had no idea what we were doing.”

This past August, a Forbes list of the “Most Entrepreneurial Colleges” this past August placed Yale in the near middle of the pack — 11 out of 20, with Stanford, MIT and Harvard in the top three spots. Alena Gribskov ’09, director of programs for the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, said it was the first time she had seen Yale included in this sort of list at all, so she takes the standing as a positive indicator.

Founded in 2007, the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute recently moved offices from its modest space on York Street, where it overlooked Ashley’s ice cream parlor and shared a floor with Mason Whitlock, the oldest typewriter repairman in New Haven, to 55 Whitney Ave., a building with sleek glass doors and a stone lobby floor. The building also houses Undergraduate Career Services.

Though still finding its footing, YEI has ushered more than 52 student-founded companies and products through its doors and onto the market since its inception. Independently, these ventures have raised $45 million in financing. And according to Gribskov, interest in entrepreneurship is on a steep rise: students have presented two to three times as many ideas for new ventures this year as in past years.

“There’s starting to be an awakening on campus that this is a viable way to make a large impact on society,” Gribskov said.

In the past, Yale students have been slower to start entrepreneurial ventures than their peers at rival institutions. Now, though, YEI has built up a stronger record of nurturing and supporting student companies.

“I think it’s taking us a little more time to figure out where Yale’s strengths lie in entrepreneurship,” said YEI Director Jim Boyle GRD ’94. “When we first started, we had no idea what we were doing.”

COOPERATIVE RESEARCH

When it comes to faculty innovation at Yale, the amiably named Office of Cooperative Research is responsible for monetizing, patenting, and licensing new discoveries and original research. The office has had particular successes in medicine, the life sciences, and computer sciences, said Gribskov.

The list of commercial technologies to come out of Yale’s labs and classrooms reads like the inventory of a sci-fi supply store or militaryindustrial database: C8 Sciences (cognition training software), Hadapt, Inc. (high-speed data analytics), Protometrix, Inc. (human protein microarrays), Rachiotek (spine stabilization device) and Vutara (high performance microscopy devices) are tallied alongside novel cancer drugs, genetic tests, clean technologies and the far less grave “Sonic Golf” (a training device for your golf game). But student ideas for businesses frequently have nothing to do with research or their studies, according to Boyle and Gribskov.

“I think one of the tendencies is to look at creating companies about problems that you

know and you understand.

So a lot of times you’ll see students in particular coming up with ideas that relate to things they’re familiar with. You see social media; you see textbook companies; you see coffee shops — things they have experience with,” Gribskov said.

The difficulty, then, is for the non-technically minded student to look outside of him- or herself, to find a more broad or universal problem in need of solving.

“Some of the most successful companies we’ve seen come out of YEI have actually been ones where students have taken a step back and looked at, ‘What’s a segment that really has a problem?’,” Gribskov added.

When pressed for an example of one such company, Gribskov initially mentioned the grilled cheese franchise Cheeseboy, founded

by Michael Inwald SOM ’10.

“It’s comfort food, so it’s pan-American,” she added.

But Gribskov went on to bring up an energygenerating desalination cell students have developed, and Boyle mentioned the company SilviaTerra, which was developed by School of Forestry & Environmental Science student Zack Parisa FES ’09. The venture offers a method of using satellite technology to help land managers count trees more efficiently.

Boyle said that Parisa wasn’t initially motivated by profit, but came up with the algorithm as a way to collect data for his own studies.

Only afterwards did the commercial possibilities enter the picture. Although the company recently won the Massachusetts Challenge for best “social impact” venture, its online profile also highlights its uses for the timber industry, noting that “timber inventory is a $200 million business in the United States alone.”

Said Boyle: “I don’t like the word ‘profit.’

We’re always looking to build ventures that are self-sustaining, that do not rely on philanthropic donations to keep going.”

The YEI offices themselves have a “self-sustaining” feel — desks crowded with computers, an Ikea-looking rug in cheerful colors, and boxy furniture seemingly molded by the bodies of exhausted student self-starters who have collapsed into them over time. But the friendly organization has plenty of less visible resources to offer as well, including a far-reaching spider’s web of connections and access to seedround and early-stage cash.

// CREATIVE COMMONS

THINGS OF VALUE

In this past July, partly prompted by alumni in the business world, the YEI made a move towards investing in new student-made companies, with an eye towards eventual equity stakes, rather than merely granting prize money and fellowship stipends as they have in the past. Essentially, this means that where the institute once expected nothing in return, the organization may now own a share of any future profits of a given student endeavor.

After receiving a donation for this express purpose, Yale split an initial $50,000 investment between two recently founded enterprises — Panorama Education, a platform for sharing school-related feedback, and Mental Canvas, a design-software company developing tech for 3-D sketching.

“These new investments are not a departure — they’re another building block in what we do,” said Boyle. “The entire cosmos of ideas is filled with very rough ideas. But ideas are cheap. Plans for implementing those ideas can be things of value.”

Since year one, the institute has offered a summer incubator program for student startSEE CUSTOMERS PAGE 8

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: Listening to songs about summertime.

Begin and end with Mungo Jerry.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND A

CAPPELLA

A

Capella only exists like this at Yale. Nowhere else in the world will you be allowed, as a nonsinger (or rockstar), to witness a debauched and drunken night quite like this. There’s face painting, cheering and instant camaraderie. This is the joyous formation of new families. Isn’t it beautiful? Photos by SARAH ECKINGER and ANNELISA LEINBACH

F R I D AY SEPTEMBER 21

YALE ANIME SOCIETY PRESENTS: “NODAME CANTABILE”

Saybrook TV Room // 7:30 p.m.

Chiaki, an arrogant perfectionist, is the top music student in his college. Nodame is a messy, eccentric pianist at the same school. When fate brings these polar opposites together, each brings beautiful music and love into the other’s life.

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: Avoiding Shake Shack

As far as burger joints go, it’s “un-American” and “subversive” and a “burger joint.”

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND DIPLOMATS

1 Church St. A look inside the ecuadorian embassy // BY YUVAL BEN-DAVID AND DAVID STEINER

We couldn’t find an Ecuadorian flag outside the consulate.

Which was funny, seeing as this was the Ecuadorian consulate. You wouldn’t know it by looking at the concrete and glass high-rises — drab cousins to the United Nations Headquarters in New York — on the corner of Church and George streets, right across from the new Gateway Community College and only a few blocks from the center of Yale’s campus.

The consulate opened in 2008 to relieve congestion at the Manhattan office, which had been serving all of New England, not to mention the 750,000 Ecuadorians in New York and New Jersey. (There is another consulate in Boston, but it’s more of a consular prosthesis because, unlike the New Haven office, it is run by volunteers.) The main function of the New Haven branch is to act as a liaison between the local Ecuadorian community and Ecuador — work that mostly entails providing identification documents, granting dual American-Ecuadorian citizenship to children with at least one Ecuadorian parent and lending its power of attorney. The consulate also extends services to nonEcuadorians, offering the usual smorgasbord of (student, work and cultural exchange) visas.

(Ecuador doesn’t require a tourist visa for visiting Americans.)

But forget that: This story wasn’t sealed with red tape.

The consul’s real job is to hit the streets and notify expatriate Ecuadorians of their rights. For example, it is obligatory to vote in elections in Ecuador, and failure to comply results in a fine. But Ecuadorian citizens living abroad are exempt from the fine, so one of the consulate’s tasks is to seek out and register local expatriate Ecuadorians so that no one is unduly penalized. This grassroots, mountain-to-Muhammad sort of approach, by which the consulate actively reaches out to its constituency (which effectively comprises Ecuadorians in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine), means that the office practically needs to sit on wheels. And, in fact, a consulado móvil — mobile consulate — does travel around New England.

The consulate is a resource for the larger Spanish-speaking community. For example, it runs workshops in Spanish on health care and on how to attain an Elm City Resident Card, the innovative, if controversial, ID card available to all New Haven residents that allows illegal immigrants to turn to the police without fear of deportation.

Consul-General Raúl Erazo Velarde can empathize with

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immigrants. He was one himself, said Yale Spanish lector Margherita Tortora, a family friend.

(The consul-general was abroad and unavailable for comment by press time.) In fact, it is the explicit policy of the Ecuadorian government to appoint consuls who can relate to the immigrant experience. According to Tortora, Erazo emigrated to Florida seeking medical treatment for his son, who was diagnosed with leukemia.

No doubt, Erazo’s is not your typical immigrant narrative.

According to figures cited by the New Haven Independent, there are an estimated 55,000 Ecuadorians in Connecticut, of whom only about 21,000 were recorded by the U.S census. A large number arrived after 1999, when Ecuador faced a banking crisis that resulted in a 32 percent fall in real per capita income, according to figures marshaled by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Many Ecuadorians fled, mostly to the United States and Spain.

In the United States, New Haven seemed like an obvious destination for the large number of folks with family and friends in the Elm City and in nearby Danbury, which have had sizeable Ecuadorian communities since the 1970s.

That could also explain why Ecuador made the rather odd choice of opening a consulate in New Haven as opposed to Hartford, where Peru, Brazil and Italy all have consulates. But we have a hunch — and that’s all it is, a hunch — that other considerations were present. Is it a coincidence that the consulate came to New Haven only a year after the introduction of the Elm City Resident Card? Representatives from the consulate gave us an unequivocal “yes,” saying there was no relation between the two events.

We also wonder whether the consulate might have opened to galvanize the Ecuadorian community in response to rumors that the East Haven police were harrassing Ecuadorian immigrants. The accusations reached a fever pitch in 2009, a year after the consulate’s ribbon-cutting, but the harassment had purportedly been going on for a decade.

The New York Times recently followed up on two separate harassment incidents from the winter of 2009, and reported that the Justice Department was investigating accusations of discrimination. Of those with suspect behavior, four police officers, one of whom was the president of the New Haven Police Union, were arrested by the FBI for assaulting illegal immigrants and covering up the assault with false reports.

Father James Manship of the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church had set out to document cases of police harassment in East Haven, a flashpoint of ethnic conflict. As reported by the New Haven Independent, a member of the community called Manship to warn him that the police were conducting an illegal search in My Country Store, the last in a long line of events marked by abuse.

Manship showed up on the scene wielding his weapon of choice — a video camera — and filmed the incident until the camera was wrangled from his hands, at which point he was arrested. The officers thereafter tried to confiscate the store’s surveillance tapes.

Manship’s charge? “Wielding a shiny metal object that could have been a weapon,” according to the police department’s written report. Just one problem: there was still Manship’s videotape that directly contradicted the written report.

With this video, the St. Rose of Lima church had the evidence it needed to submit the formal Justice Department complaint that launched the whole investigation, exposing the police racism and abuse to a national audience. In the wake of the incident, the Connecticut state legislature even passed a bill clarifying that it is legal for citizens to record police officers.

The original complaint was filed by Yale Law School’s Legal Services Organization, which raises another question: Could it be that one of the factors in the consulate’s decision to set up shop in New Haven was the proximity to Yale?

Whatever Ecuador’s original intentions, the consulate and Yale have certainly found common cause. Patricio Brito ’14, Yale’s only Ecuadorian undergraduate student, has been working with Consul-General Erazo to get Yale to invite the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, to discuss his progressive environmental policies on campus.

Hilary Rogers ’13 and Farrah Khan ’13 co-direct the YaleEcuador HIV Clinic Initiative in Manglaralto, where they send students over spring and summer breaks. (Manglaralto, they said, is conveniently located near a surf spot.) Participating students generally receive fellowships from Yale to do research while simultaneously volunteering with the clinic’s HIV education and testing projects. Rogers and Khan said that because the two-year-old initiative is still in its infancy, they have been wary of partnering up with the consulate. “We haven’t reached the step where we want to present ourselves to the consulate,” Khan

explained.

Regardless of Yale’s interactions with the consulate, its presence in Ecuador has been marked.

One Yale alum who traveled to Ecuador on a fellowship, Alex Harding ’08, conducted surveys and found that the community of Muisne had no access to potable water, so he founded a nonprofit called Water Ecuador. Water Ecuador has since expanded its operations to four more cities.

In 2011, molecular biophysics and biochemistry students in Scott Strobel’s “Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory” course traveled to the Ecuadorian rainforest, where they discovered a fungus that can sustain itself solely by feeding on polyurethane — a common plastic — even in anaerobic environments.

That means the fungus could be used to degrade plastic in landfills. The group’s findings were published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

// GOOGLE MAPS

The Ecuadorian Embassy at the corner of Church and George.

NEW HAVEN SEEMED LIKE AN OBVIOUS DESTINATION FOR THE LARGE NUMBER OF ECUADORIANS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN THE ELM CITY AND IN NEARBY DANBURY, WHICH HAVE HAD SIZEABLE ECUADORIAN COMMUNITIES SINCE THE 1970S. Later that year, the Yale International Relations Association filmed a documentary in Ecuador about the tribal politics of the indigenous Huaorani, who had lived in isolation until a halfcentury ago.

And in a few weeks, the New England Festival of Ibero American Film will feature “Pescador,” Ecuadorian director Sebastián Cordero’s latest production about a love story laced with drugs and death, as its lead off film on Sept. 27 at the Yale University Art Gallery.

While the consul will surely attend the screening — Tortora, who is organizing the event, said the event has the consul’s full attention — we suspect ConsulGeneral Erazo has more on his plate. In a few weeks, the city of New Haven will vote on a motion to adopt Puyo, Ecuador, as a new sister city.

We hope that Yale will take advantage of this opportunity.

Contact YUVAL BEN-DAVID at yuval.ben-david@yale. edu and DAVID STEINER at david.steiner@yale.edu .

YALE PHILHARMONIA

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS:

Woolsey Hall // 8:00 p.m.

Shinik Hahm leads the Yale Philharmonia in Rossini’s Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri, Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Esther Park.

Sitting in the rain.

At least it’s not snow.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND EATS

RESTAURANT REVIEWS A Venture into the Balls Business // BY JACKSON MCHENRY

The newest shack in town

Come for the oysters, stay for the good deals

// BY CAROLINE TAN

// BY JOSEPHINE MASSEY

New Haven Meatball House has a deceptively simple name. Yes, the new restaurant on the corner of Chapel and Park streets, does serve the mediocre, vaguely comforting plate of pasta and meatballs you know, love and will probably order. Don’t. Meatball House’s strength lies instead in its variations on that large, juicy glob of protein — whether alone, in sliders, sauces, or sandwiches — that are infinitely more satisfying than the standard fare.

The restaurant’s menu reads like a taxonomic chart built around five categories: balls with sauce ($7), sliders ($3 each), brioche sandwiches ($9), sides and salads (both $4). A list of variations unfolds under each option. The most important choices are the type of meat (beef, chicken, pork or vegetarian) and type of sauce (tomato, parmesan, pesto, or mushroom). Placing your order feels a little like filling out a word problem.

The key to a good meal, however, is not trying to find the right answer.

An order of beef balls with tomato sauce over spaghetti, for instance, gets you spaghetti and meatballs, but the overcooked product doesn’t stand a chance against a wellthought-out recipe from an actual Italian, or rather Italian-American, restaurant. The balls are fine and the sauce is fine, but there’s no reason other than tradition to bring them together.

The more inventive your order, however, the more rewarding it is.

Who knew that crisp, salty pesto would pair so well in a buttery slider with hunk of pork? Someone, probably, but at least for a night you get to claim that creation for your own.

The same goes for chicken balls in mushroom sauce, or the jambalaya slider special, which the waitress recommended, but you (yes you, good job!) ordered.

The sides and salads offer oppor-

F R I D AY SEPTEMBER 21

tunities for even more transgressive fun. You can have meatballs in your salad, with dressing! — sorry vegetarians. The sides range from down-to-earth fare to more inventive options. A solid rendition of mac and cheese is a highlight, but kale or edamame are on the docket.

The desserts offer similar twists on comfort food. “Spiked” floats put a dash of bourbon or rum into your ’50s sitcom-friendly beverage. The number of available options for the make-your-own ice cream sandwiches, which combine Ashley’s ice cream with Libby’s cookies, is sure to give you stress flashbacks to the entrée menu.

The fun inherent in crafting an order at Meatball House, and getting to say “balls” so many times in a mock-serious setting, is all part of the restaurant’s design. Bob Potter, the owner, envisioned his newest venture as a casual step down from Prime 16, his chain of highend, high-quality burger joints. The difference is clear. Meatball House features more communal tables, a toned-down bar and a rustic design scheme, mostly wood panels and exposed surfaces.

Meatball House’s vibe, however, ultimately prevents it from establishing a niche. It’s purposefully too lowbrow for a formal dinner, but too high-concept for a gathering with friends. The pricing aims to bring in people for something less formal than a date, but there aren’t a lot of other plausible occasions; maybe when you “grab a meal sometime,” but how often does that happen and, more importantly, what message does inviting someone out for meatballs actually send? It’s a mystery that can only be solved at New Haven Meatball House.

// JENNIFER LU

Large, juicy globs of protein at Meatball House.

When you enter the Naked Oyster Cocktail Eatery at 200 Crown St., you might mistake it for yet another bar trying to be trendy in the late-night scene of downtown New Haven.

The lounge chairs, curtains, loud music, and dim lighting look like any other after-9 p.m. spot featuring overpriced cocktails and peasized servings. However, the Eatery has a few things going for it that you wouldn’t guess from its cliched décor.

The drink menu provides the first clue: the Eatery has over a hundred different types of vodka, some from as close as New Haven and some from as far as Vietnam. Next comes the oyster offerings: The choices range from your typical New England finds (Cape Cod, Rhode Island) all the way to the West Coast (Washington and Oregon). The best by far were the Blue Points, probably because they were freshly picked from the Connecticut coast.

Every weekday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Eatery holds happy hours and offers its oysters for one dollar each.

Once cooked, however, the seafood loses its sparkle. The clams in the Clam Bianco ($11) were overcooked and when prepared in fried form, (Fried Clam Platter $12), were hard to distinguish from batter. The peppercorn steak ($17) wasn’t the best piece of meat one can find, but was good, and when paired with its delicious sweet mustard sauce, was hard to stop eating.

The Eatery finds its stride when it ditches the dishes you can find at any seafood joint

Contact JACKSON MCHENRY at jackson.mchenry@yale.edu .

“THE FATAL EGGS” BY MIKHAIL BULGAKOV

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS:

Yale Cabaret // 11:00 p.m.

In 1928, renowned zoologist Vladimir Ipatyich Persikov discovers a “red ray” that stimulates rapid reproduction in frog eggs. When a chicken plague decimates the Russian countryside, the government seizes his discovery, setting in motion a series of catastrophes.

and takes a risk in the cuisine it claims to provide: “French Louisiana Fusion.” I was lucky enough to go when the soup of the day was Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder with Smoked Bacon, and it was possibly more amazing than it sounds. It not only had a perfect chowder consistency — not too watery — but it was the perfect combination of salty and sweet. A spiciness lingers in the background but never plays a lead role. What makes it stand out is the chicken meat scattered throughout, which adds a delightful texture to the expected potato and bacon pairing. The only downside was the overcooked corn kernels which were mushy and forgettable rather than tender and readyto-be punctured (but that detail can be easily fixed). The soup is a meal in-itself — both because of its entrée size and diverse ingredients — and goes for the measly sum of $4. In economic terms, this is called consumer surplus, because I definitely would have been wiling to pay more.

The chowder justified what the owner, Abram Ozerk, claimed was why his restaurant was nothing like anything else in New Haven. It’s “five-star food for one-star price.”

Although the décor and the menu are at times hit-and-miss, the hits are worth a trip to the Naked Oyster Cocktail Eatery.

Canvassing.

‘Tis the season.

// JENNIFER LU

Naked Oyster Cocktail Eatery at 200 Crown St.

Contact JOSEPHINE MASSEY at josephine.massey@yale.edu .

S AT U R D AY SEPTEMBER 22

HIGHLIGHTS TOUR

Yale University Art Gallery // 1:30 p.m.

Gallery teaching staff lead these interactive tours. Each tour is unique, and a range of objects and themes is considered.

“This is SO GOOD.” That’s pretty much the going sentiment for anyone who has checked out the newest shack in town: Shake Shack, a popular burger joint with a cult-like following that opened on Chapel Street last week. I was assigned to review the new restaurant, a task that I accepted vigorously and carried out with pride, observing my surroundings between mouthfuls of food.

When I first stepped into the restaurant, I was struck by the burger joint’s clean and welcoming atmosphere. Every employee seemed genuinely happy to work there, and every customer seemed equally happy with their purchase. One of the waiters enthusiastically greeted me with huge smile and a “Hey! How was your day?” Before I had a chance to respond, he asked me whether I wanted a menu before enthusiastically greeting other customers in the restaurant.

The place was crowded. I recognized about a quarter of the audience — all Yale students — and immediately had to wait at the end of a relatively long line. It was about 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, which typically isn’t a busy time for restaurants, but I still had to wait about 20 minutes. That said, Shake Shack’s service was amazing, and the food came quickly.

While waiting for my order, one of the servers came up to me and asked whether I wanted a glass of water before my food came! I did. (I didn’t even realize I was so thirsty).

I ended up ordering a ’shroom burger, cheese fries, half-and-half (half lemonade and half iced tea drink) and a “Skull and Cones” concrete, which is just a fancy name for a frozen custard. Each was equally delicious.

I’ll start with the burger. The ’shroom burger is, hands down, my favorite part about the Shake Shack experience. It’s crispy, crunchy, and satisfies your cravings. The burger is made with a fried portobello mushroom stuffed with melted cheese and topped with lettuce, tomato and “Shake Sauce” (I still don’t know what that means). When I took a bite, my mouth was immediately filled with

muenster and cheddar cheese that oozed out of the fresh mushroom as I crunched away. It was satisfying, if slightly small.

For somebody who eats as slowly as I do, I was surprised that I finished my burger in roughly 15 minutes.

Next came the cheese fries (I tend to eat my food in order). The fries come pretty much as expected. Unlike most straight, narrow fries that you might see at McDonald’s or In-N-Out — which is functionally Shake Shack’s rival on the West Coast, where I’m from — Shake Shack’s fries are jagged. Made out of Yukon potatoes, these golden slices are the perfect way to cap a feast; they’re easy to eat, relatively light and a great way to keep the conversation going if you’re sitting in at one of Shake Shack’s tables.

New Haven’s Shake Shack is also particularly fun because of its Yale-specific menu. Two of their food items, the “Skull and Cones” concrete and “Handsome Dog” hot dog, are clearly tailored to a Yale audience. The Skull and Cones concrete was delicious; it’s chocolate and vanilla frozen custard with peanut butter sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough and a shattered sugar cone. Though it may be a bit too decadent for any given day, it worked well for my meal, since I haven’t had ice cream for a while and was craving a cold drink to cool my mouth after finishing up the cheese fries.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Handsome Dog, which I had the opportunity to try at Shake Shack’s pre-opening party last week. For me, the Vienna all-beef dog topped with cheese sauce and “Shackmeister Ale”-marinated onions had a bit too much flavor, but I encourage any Yalie visiting the shack to give it a go regardless.

All in all, my experience with Shake Shack was a very positive one. The atmosphere was inviting, the serving staff was enthusiastic and the food was delicious.

Once my food coma settles down and I get another burger craving, I will most certainly go again.

// SARA STALLA

Shake Shack opened last week.

Contact CAROLINE TAN at caroline.tan@yale.edu .

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: swimmingholes.org

There’s only a few weeks left of swimmin’ season! Find a hole near you.

PAGE B6

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B7

WEEKEND EATS

RESTAURANT REVIEWS A Venture into the Balls Business // BY JACKSON MCHENRY

The newest shack in town

Come for the oysters, stay for the good deals

// BY CAROLINE TAN

// BY JOSEPHINE MASSEY

New Haven Meatball House has a deceptively simple name. Yes, the new restaurant on the corner of Chapel and Park streets, does serve the mediocre, vaguely comforting plate of pasta and meatballs you know, love and will probably order. Don’t. Meatball House’s strength lies instead in its variations on that large, juicy glob of protein — whether alone, in sliders, sauces, or sandwiches — that are infinitely more satisfying than the standard fare.

The restaurant’s menu reads like a taxonomic chart built around five categories: balls with sauce ($7), sliders ($3 each), brioche sandwiches ($9), sides and salads (both $4). A list of variations unfolds under each option. The most important choices are the type of meat (beef, chicken, pork or vegetarian) and type of sauce (tomato, parmesan, pesto, or mushroom). Placing your order feels a little like filling out a word problem.

The key to a good meal, however, is not trying to find the right answer.

An order of beef balls with tomato sauce over spaghetti, for instance, gets you spaghetti and meatballs, but the overcooked product doesn’t stand a chance against a wellthought-out recipe from an actual Italian, or rather Italian-American, restaurant. The balls are fine and the sauce is fine, but there’s no reason other than tradition to bring them together.

The more inventive your order, however, the more rewarding it is.

Who knew that crisp, salty pesto would pair so well in a buttery slider with hunk of pork? Someone, probably, but at least for a night you get to claim that creation for your own.

The same goes for chicken balls in mushroom sauce, or the jambalaya slider special, which the waitress recommended, but you (yes you, good job!) ordered.

The sides and salads offer oppor-

F R I D AY SEPTEMBER 21

tunities for even more transgressive fun. You can have meatballs in your salad, with dressing! — sorry vegetarians. The sides range from down-to-earth fare to more inventive options. A solid rendition of mac and cheese is a highlight, but kale or edamame are on the docket.

The desserts offer similar twists on comfort food. “Spiked” floats put a dash of bourbon or rum into your ’50s sitcom-friendly beverage. The number of available options for the make-your-own ice cream sandwiches, which combine Ashley’s ice cream with Libby’s cookies, is sure to give you stress flashbacks to the entrée menu.

The fun inherent in crafting an order at Meatball House, and getting to say “balls” so many times in a mock-serious setting, is all part of the restaurant’s design. Bob Potter, the owner, envisioned his newest venture as a casual step down from Prime 16, his chain of highend, high-quality burger joints. The difference is clear. Meatball House features more communal tables, a toned-down bar and a rustic design scheme, mostly wood panels and exposed surfaces.

Meatball House’s vibe, however, ultimately prevents it from establishing a niche. It’s purposefully too lowbrow for a formal dinner, but too high-concept for a gathering with friends. The pricing aims to bring in people for something less formal than a date, but there aren’t a lot of other plausible occasions; maybe when you “grab a meal sometime,” but how often does that happen and, more importantly, what message does inviting someone out for meatballs actually send? It’s a mystery that can only be solved at New Haven Meatball House.

// JENNIFER LU

Large, juicy globs of protein at Meatball House.

When you enter the Naked Oyster Cocktail Eatery at 200 Crown St., you might mistake it for yet another bar trying to be trendy in the late-night scene of downtown New Haven.

The lounge chairs, curtains, loud music, and dim lighting look like any other after-9 p.m. spot featuring overpriced cocktails and peasized servings. However, the Eatery has a few things going for it that you wouldn’t guess from its cliched décor.

The drink menu provides the first clue: the Eatery has over a hundred different types of vodka, some from as close as New Haven and some from as far as Vietnam. Next comes the oyster offerings: The choices range from your typical New England finds (Cape Cod, Rhode Island) all the way to the West Coast (Washington and Oregon). The best by far were the Blue Points, probably because they were freshly picked from the Connecticut coast.

Every weekday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Eatery holds happy hours and offers its oysters for one dollar each.

Once cooked, however, the seafood loses its sparkle. The clams in the Clam Bianco ($11) were overcooked and when prepared in fried form, (Fried Clam Platter $12), were hard to distinguish from batter. The peppercorn steak ($17) wasn’t the best piece of meat one can find, but was good, and when paired with its delicious sweet mustard sauce, was hard to stop eating.

The Eatery finds its stride when it ditches the dishes you can find at any seafood joint

Contact JACKSON MCHENRY at jackson.mchenry@yale.edu .

“THE FATAL EGGS” BY MIKHAIL BULGAKOV

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS:

Yale Cabaret // 11:00 p.m.

In 1928, renowned zoologist Vladimir Ipatyich Persikov discovers a “red ray” that stimulates rapid reproduction in frog eggs. When a chicken plague decimates the Russian countryside, the government seizes his discovery, setting in motion a series of catastrophes.

and takes a risk in the cuisine it claims to provide: “French Louisiana Fusion.” I was lucky enough to go when the soup of the day was Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder with Smoked Bacon, and it was possibly more amazing than it sounds. It not only had a perfect chowder consistency — not too watery — but it was the perfect combination of salty and sweet. A spiciness lingers in the background but never plays a lead role. What makes it stand out is the chicken meat scattered throughout, which adds a delightful texture to the expected potato and bacon pairing. The only downside was the overcooked corn kernels which were mushy and forgettable rather than tender and readyto-be punctured (but that detail can be easily fixed). The soup is a meal in-itself — both because of its entrée size and diverse ingredients — and goes for the measly sum of $4. In economic terms, this is called consumer surplus, because I definitely would have been wiling to pay more.

The chowder justified what the owner, Abram Ozerk, claimed was why his restaurant was nothing like anything else in New Haven. It’s “five-star food for one-star price.”

Although the décor and the menu are at times hit-and-miss, the hits are worth a trip to the Naked Oyster Cocktail Eatery.

Canvassing.

‘Tis the season.

// JENNIFER LU

Naked Oyster Cocktail Eatery at 200 Crown St.

Contact JOSEPHINE MASSEY at josephine.massey@yale.edu .

S AT U R D AY SEPTEMBER 22

HIGHLIGHTS TOUR

Yale University Art Gallery // 1:30 p.m.

Gallery teaching staff lead these interactive tours. Each tour is unique, and a range of objects and themes is considered.

“This is SO GOOD.” That’s pretty much the going sentiment for anyone who has checked out the newest shack in town: Shake Shack, a popular burger joint with a cult-like following that opened on Chapel Street last week. I was assigned to review the new restaurant, a task that I accepted vigorously and carried out with pride, observing my surroundings between mouthfuls of food.

When I first stepped into the restaurant, I was struck by the burger joint’s clean and welcoming atmosphere. Every employee seemed genuinely happy to work there, and every customer seemed equally happy with their purchase. One of the waiters enthusiastically greeted me with huge smile and a “Hey! How was your day?” Before I had a chance to respond, he asked me whether I wanted a menu before enthusiastically greeting other customers in the restaurant.

The place was crowded. I recognized about a quarter of the audience — all Yale students — and immediately had to wait at the end of a relatively long line. It was about 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night, which typically isn’t a busy time for restaurants, but I still had to wait about 20 minutes. That said, Shake Shack’s service was amazing, and the food came quickly.

While waiting for my order, one of the servers came up to me and asked whether I wanted a glass of water before my food came! I did. (I didn’t even realize I was so thirsty).

I ended up ordering a ’shroom burger, cheese fries, half-and-half (half lemonade and half iced tea drink) and a “Skull and Cones” concrete, which is just a fancy name for a frozen custard. Each was equally delicious.

I’ll start with the burger. The ’shroom burger is, hands down, my favorite part about the Shake Shack experience. It’s crispy, crunchy, and satisfies your cravings. The burger is made with a fried portobello mushroom stuffed with melted cheese and topped with lettuce, tomato and “Shake Sauce” (I still don’t know what that means). When I took a bite, my mouth was immediately filled with

muenster and cheddar cheese that oozed out of the fresh mushroom as I crunched away. It was satisfying, if slightly small.

For somebody who eats as slowly as I do, I was surprised that I finished my burger in roughly 15 minutes.

Next came the cheese fries (I tend to eat my food in order). The fries come pretty much as expected. Unlike most straight, narrow fries that you might see at McDonald’s or In-N-Out — which is functionally Shake Shack’s rival on the West Coast, where I’m from — Shake Shack’s fries are jagged. Made out of Yukon potatoes, these golden slices are the perfect way to cap a feast; they’re easy to eat, relatively light and a great way to keep the conversation going if you’re sitting in at one of Shake Shack’s tables.

New Haven’s Shake Shack is also particularly fun because of its Yale-specific menu. Two of their food items, the “Skull and Cones” concrete and “Handsome Dog” hot dog, are clearly tailored to a Yale audience. The Skull and Cones concrete was delicious; it’s chocolate and vanilla frozen custard with peanut butter sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough and a shattered sugar cone. Though it may be a bit too decadent for any given day, it worked well for my meal, since I haven’t had ice cream for a while and was craving a cold drink to cool my mouth after finishing up the cheese fries.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Handsome Dog, which I had the opportunity to try at Shake Shack’s pre-opening party last week. For me, the Vienna all-beef dog topped with cheese sauce and “Shackmeister Ale”-marinated onions had a bit too much flavor, but I encourage any Yalie visiting the shack to give it a go regardless.

All in all, my experience with Shake Shack was a very positive one. The atmosphere was inviting, the serving staff was enthusiastic and the food was delicious.

Once my food coma settles down and I get another burger craving, I will most certainly go again.

// SARA STALLA

Shake Shack opened last week.

Contact CAROLINE TAN at caroline.tan@yale.edu .

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: swimmingholes.org

There’s only a few weeks left of swimmin’ season! Find a hole near you.

PAGE B8

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND COVER

YALE STUDENTS OR CUSTOMERS? // BY CORA LEWIS

CUSTOMERS FROM PAGE 3 ups, through which it provides a stipend, mentorship and support for entrepreneurs.

But alums involved in the program encouraged the YEI to do something further to help these teams stay on their feet after the summer.

“If investments could be made, you’d have an opportunity to benefit from the wealth they might create, and put it back into the program,” said Boyle, reiterating advice he was given. In this vein, the YEI will award another $25,000 today, to another student venture.

Still, there are no guarantees that the YEI will ever see a return on this or any of the other money. If the companies fail, as so many do, the dollars evaporate, as a recourse-less loan, explained Gribskov.

A LUXURIOUS CHOICE

Jessica Cole ’12, founder of the event discovery platform Roammeo, finds it funny that, among her friends, she’s considered the risk-taker, for not joining an i-bank, consulting firm, or a more conventional, stable career route. She acknowledged that her ability to make such a choice was “a luxury,” dependent on her financial circumstances.

“I may be jumping off a cliff, but I have some form of parachute on the way down,” she said.

For this reason, Cole says she never evangelizes start-ups or risk-taking to others.

On occasion, start-ups and social media entrepreneurs have faced accusations of creating jobs for the one percent or targeting only a privileged tax bracket, which has access to particular technologies and devices.

“That charge hasn’t been leveled at me by anyone but myself, but it keeps me up at night,” said Cole.

ON INCUBATION II

An incubation period may refer to either the amount of time an egg requires to hatch or the time that elapses between one being exposed to infection and showing the first symptoms (the interlude of a virus’s incubation in one’s body). This is an inadvertently apt set of definitions when it comes to Yale’s start-up incubators, the incubation of the average student and the role of the Yale Corporation, where economic and humanistic interests may conflict. Though sometimes incubation can lead to the maturation of a golden egg (the next Instagram, say, or a grilled cheese sandwich franchise), it just as easily can nurture a nasty, value-less bacterial culture.

THE CORPORATE MODEL IN EDUCATION?

Since being “exposed” to corporate philosophies (or pathologies), many, if not most, would claim that Yale has not yet shown undue symptoms of being managed primarily by economic concerns or bottom lines. (Though it’s worth noting that a report released by the graduate student union in

S AT U R D AY SEPTEMBER 22

YALE UNDERGRADUATE JAZZ COLLECTIVE: WEEKLY JAM SESSION Morse Practice Room // 7:30 p.m.

Bip bip boo bop waaaah waaah woooooom. Cool cats welcome.

2011 was titled “Yale Inc., the Corporate Model in Education.”)

But now, with the search for President Levin’s successor, it’s possible that a new head of the Yale Corporation could take the university in a more big business-minded direction. Professor Jim Sleeper ’69, a political science lecturer, is concerned this may be the case. He sees Yale’s educational role and its financial nature as starkly opposed. “[E]very university president should be asked publicly to restore balance between the institution’s academic mission and its economic goals. Every president should try to repair the damage being done to universities’ ethos by corporatization,” Professor Sleeper wrote for the Huffington Post at the start of September, after President Levin announced his resignation.

As the largest landowner in New Haven and the largest employer (not to mention an institution with an endowment in the double-digit billions) it would be ludicrous to deny Yale’s weight and heft as an economic player, but Sleeper’s concerns also reach to the beating heart of the student experience at the University.

“It’s about the creeping instrumentalization of the liberal arts education,” he said to a group of about 25 students seated outside of Commons in the early hours of Thursday evening. “Yale is selling career skills and students are buying.”

The students had been drawn to the meeting by an email from the Y Syndicate, a loose group of students that has been involved in protesting the structure of Yale’s official presidential search.

Sleeper went on to argue that students are increasingly using the University name to acquire “better” (higher-paying) jobs or to climb higher on the corporate ladder.

“That’s turning the liberal education into a commodity,” he argued as the sun sank a little lower in the sky.

COMPANY MORALE

When Brandon Levin, the student liaison to the Presidential Search Committee, was asked about what qualities he thinks the next president should have, he answered: “One of the most frequent sources of feedback I’ve gotten is, ‘We want a more visible president. We want a president who’s walking around campus.’ I think, to an extent that’s important, but at the same time, the president walking around campus for a lot of the day, or whatever it is, precludes that person from doing a lot of things that are important to Yale. That person is the CEO of a company, so keeping morale of the company high is very much important.”

If Yale were to be run more like a company, and less like an educational institution, it’s unclear precisely what form that would take, or what specific changes such a shift would incur.

But Ben Crosby ’14, a member of Students Unite Now, expressed a concern that the corporate-heavy Presidential Search Committee might stress profit and efficiency over more academic or intellectual priorities. “My concern is both with the structure

of the search and the potential outcome,” he said.

In a 2010 YDN article titled “Is Yale U. starting to run more like Yale, Inc.?” Isaac Arnsdorf wrote about the centralization of various University services to the detriment of specific departmental work, and, more vividly, the reference to students as “customers” in memos and emails between vice presidents of the corporation.

// CREATIVE COMMONS

ON INCUBATION III

Any period of incubation implies an eventual release or escape — the completed growth of a whole and fully realized individual. In the case of Yale as a university, and the individual Yale student or future entrepreneur, this adulthood necessarily entails somehow navigating the interaction of economic and human concerns, between financial success for its own sake and the service of some other — any other — value or good.

Contact CORA LEWIS at cora.lewis@yale.edu .

YALE IS SELLING CAREER SKILLS AND STUDENTS ARE BUYING.

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: Flying Lotus to collaborate with Beck.

“Sounds like Can, but really fucked up. It’s quite dark actually.” -Flylo

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B9

WEEKEND POSTGRAD

ON (NOT) SELLING OUT // BY BAOBAO ZHANG This summer, my mom gave me the talk.

I was eating frozen yogurt on the couch when she popped the question: “What are you going to do after Yale?”

Her tone frightened me. My mom and I had discussed postgraduation plans before, but always in casual conversations.

Usually, I parried her questions with a vaguely jokey answer, like “I’m going to be a poor grad student liv-

ing in a dingy New York apartment” or “I’m going to Cape Town to study the effects of income inequality on education” or “Maybe I’ll bum around Cambridge punting Chinese tourists.”

But this time, she sounded serious.

In my panic, I dropped my spoon.

“Your father and I want you to become financially independent after graduation,” she said.

All of a sudden, the couch I sat on no longer felt secure. In a year, it will become a foreign couch, one that I will no longer be welcome to sleep on for extended periods of time (two months is my parents’ limit). In a year, I will be sitting on my own couch, eating my own yogurt, living in my own apartment. The prospect of growing up never felt so real.

“But don’t worry,” my mom added. “You’ll be getting the old family car.”

I didn’t feel a bit reassured; I can’t even drive. *****

“

IN A YEAR, I WILL BE SITTING ON MY OWN COUCH, EATING MY OWN YOGURT, LIVING IN MY OWN APARTMENT. THE PROSPECT OF GROWING UP NEVER FELT SO REAL.

“

My mom’s talk might have frightened plenty of Yalies into finance or consulting jobs. But I’ve decided to eschew those common career paths. I don’t consider a job in finance or consulting evil.

Despite their role in the 2007-2012 global financial crisis, investment banks are still hugely important to a properly functioning economy.

Likewise, consulting firms provide valuable services to companies that employ countless Amer-

S AT U R D AY SEPTEMBER 22

AMERICAN NIGHT: THE BALLAD OF JUAN JOSE University Theater // 8:00 p.m.

As Juan José feverishly studies for his citizenship exam, his obsession to pass takes him on a fantastical odyssey through U.S. history guided by a handful of unsung citizens who made courageous choices in some of the country’s toughest times.

icans. But punching dollar values into a spreadsheet and perfecting PowerPoints for Monday meetings seems rather far from what I want to do in life.

When I talk to some of my panicked senior friends, they see a binary choice between going corporate and becoming homeless.

Even those who have never previously expressed interest in those two industries suddenly perked up their ears whenever they hear news about info sessions.

This panic has spread far beyond just seniors. Last Friday, the annual undergraduate career fair descended upon Payne Whitney Gym. As I trudged in my heels down Broadway (I was applying for a research job at the University of Chicago), I encountered two freshmen in ill-fitting suits headed in the same direction.

“What are you interested in?” I asked one of them.

“I don’t know. Maybe Bridgewater or Bain,” he replied. “I’m only in Intro Micro, so we’ll see.”

The undergraduate career fair looked like a sea of gray and black suits. As I meandered my way through the crowd, I heard the voices of enthusiastic young alumni pitching their companies to students. Maybe they were genuinely excited about asset management or derivative modeling. Or maybe they were just good at public relations. The dazzling array of flyers and brochures and pens and kitschy gifts disoriented me. Empty words like “talent,” “potential,” and “advancement” buzzed in the air. Feeling overwhelmed, I scrambled out of the gym (still in my heels) as fast as I could. There and then, I vowed not to “sell out.” ***** It’s hard not to sell out. Especially for a student on financial aid like me. I am not ashamed to say that I am a recipient of the Pell Grant, a form of aid given to low-income students by the U.S. Department of Education. I am not ashamed to admit that I have held a job since the first day of freshman year because I need the extra pocket money. And I am definitely not ashamed to admit I shop at thrift stores (and not just because of their hipster aesthetic).

Many of my friends from low-income families often feel pressure from their parents to enter high-paying careers.

It’s the typical immigrant story: the first g e n e ra t i o n parents want their children to have the American dream, to be able to have a house in suburbia, to have vacations every year. The parents push their children to excel in school and in college, so their children may one day become lawyers, doctors, bankers and consultants. The aspiration towards financial security, if not towards the upper-middle class, is certainly admirable. Often, I feel guilty for wanting to become a political scientist because I know I will never be able to provide for my parents in the same way had I chosen a more lucrative profession.

Fortunately, I have parents who support my decision to go into academia. Perhaps it’s because my dad never fulfilled his dream career. Growing up in Hangzhou, China, he always wanted to become an electrical engineer. The Cultural Revolution cut short his aspirations. When all the universities in China were shut down, my dad — barely out of high school — taught math for several years to make a living.

When the government finally res-

tituted the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (gao kao) in 1977, he had already turned 24. Although he wanted to go to college to study engineering, my dad’s score placed him in medical school. In 1970s China, and to a certain extent even now, your gao kao score determined your profession for the rest of your life.

Decades later, my dad has accepted the fact that he works as a non-tenured research scientist at a cancer hospital. But he still tinkers with ham radio and tries to fix my old electronics. He seems his happiest fusing wires together in the garage or trying to teach me how to fix DVD players. A shadow of disappointment hangs over his professional life. At his age, my dad feels he can never fulfill his aspirations to become an electrical engineer.

“Don’t be like me,” my dad once told me as he drove me to a GRE class. “Be happy with what you do.

But whatever you do, publish every year.” ***** The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” looped repeatedly on my laptop as I botched another statistical code to clean up a data set. A string of mild curses followed. But since I have gotten used these types of frustrations, I chuckle a little.

Sometimes I wonder why I take econometrics or conduct surveys for the News. I came to college as a student in the Directed Studies program, intending to major in English. Then, enamored with Plato and Thucydides, I wanted to study political theory. I longed to craft beautiful essays on grand ideas like Isaiah Berlin, Benedict Anderson or Ernest Gellner, who added literary elegancy to political prose.

One day during my sophomore year, a kindly professor took me aside and said, “You know there are no jobs in political theory, right? We’re in the era of big data, kid, so learn some stats.”

For those of us idealists who want to pursue our passions, we are often told the industries we pine to enter are diseased, dying or dead. (Plenty of News reporters and editors interested in print journalism can attest to this fact.)

Furthermore, as Joshua Revesz ’13 correctly argued in his Monday column “A harmful career fair,” the Yale Undergraduate Career Services (UCS) seems unhelpful for students who want careers outside finance, consulting, medicine, or law. Then, what is an enterprising, young idealist to do?

We get what we need. From the classroom, extracurricular activities and internships, we get the skills necessary to survive and thrive in a competitive economy.

These skills may extend beyond the confines of the classical liberal arts education. Why can’t an art major learn to create websites?

Or a history major learn to conduct geospatial analysis? Or a political science major learn how to use instrumental variables? In today’s fluid job market, employers seek hybrids like print-broadcast reporters or geographer-historians or sociologist-programmers.

(Yes, the last ones do exist and they work at Facebook.)

Despite my humanities leanings, I have grown to like statistics -- and even linear algebra. Statistical softwares have become my friends. Conducting YDN surveys, what once seemed like a chore, now feels exciting. Learning new skills often seems daunting. (I still get frightened when I open up R, a strange stats package that seems to employ a language from Mars.)

But this economy is not one for Luddites, even for idealist Luddites. Likewise, it’s hard to imagine searching for jobs outside the comforts of UCS, but the enterprising, young idealist must go the extra mile.

“What are you going to do after Yale?” many senior friends have asked me in the past few weeks.

I might not get what I want post-graduation, but I’ll get what I need.

Without selling out.

Contact BAOBAO ZHANG at baobao.zhang@yale.edu .

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: “The Master” opens at the Criterion.

Paul Thomas Anderson might soon be considered a master himself after this one.

PAGE B10

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND COLUMNS

GET BITCOINS Does it ever make you nervous to realize that our currency system is backed by a government that’s over $16 trillion in debt? Or what about the fact that the Federal Reserve gets to put money into circulation on a whim? Or have you ever wished — and please, stop reading and take your moral superiority elsewhere if you haven’t — you could print money on your own?

Well, at the end of Oct. 2008, an anonymous man calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto posted an academic paper online. The paper outlined the premise behind Bitcoin, an electronic currency system with no central bank or other authority — the strength of Bitcoin lay not in trust but in mathematics. Shortly after the release of his paper, Nakamoto released the first “Bitcoin client,” a computer program to implement the design he had described in his paper — an impressive feat given the enormous complexity and security concerns of the system. Bitcoin was born.

When you run the program, it first tries all sorts of adorably scrappy methods for discovering other computers running Bitcoin clients around the world. Think of this as dropping a goldfish in the middle of the ocean: eventually, with a little luck and a lot of perseverance, he’ll find a friend. Once the program finds the network of other Bitcoin clients, it can start working its magic.

Everything about Bitcoin works with the consensus of each program in the network. Each time a transaction occurs, all Bitcoin clients agree upon it and write it into a “block,” essentially a page in an enormous Bitcoin ledger. If a program tries to cheat by, say, spending the same Bitcoins twice, the rest of the programs will reject the transaction. The lack of a central bank or authority means no single body can defraud the system. If I want to send ten Bitcoins (popu-

When the ratio of asskicked to runtime is high

JACOB EVELYN THE FUTURE larly shorthanded to BTC), I tell a Bitcoin client, and that client tells all the other programs in the network. They all murmur for a second, nod their heads, and voilà — money sent.

But how are Bitcoins first introduced into circulation? Imagine a really hard math problem with tons of valid answers. (A simple example is finding a number that, when squared, equals four. Both two and negative two are solutions.) Each Bitcoin client is given the opportunity to solve one such problem (called a “proof-of-work problem”) and if all other programs agree that the solution is valid, whichever program solved it is allowed to create a certain number of Bitcoins for itself. This process, known as “mining,” is how Bitcoins are created. Since a solution is only accepted with the approval of the entire network, cheaters are quickly kicked out.

But, to counteract the everincreasing speed of computers and the growing number of people using Bitcoin, this proof-ofwork problem gets harder over time (with, of course, the approval of each program in the network).

Initially, it was easy to create new Bitcoins. Now, it’s only viable with a cluster of specialized computers devoted to the task. (Interestingly, online rumors tell stories of people with such computer clusters being raided by the police — apparently the abnormally high power use and heat output of the computers looks a lot like an underground marijuana-growing operation.) Unlike a government printing money whenever it feels like it, Bitcoins can only be created in this way, and as it gets harder and harder, fewer and fewer Bitcoins are created, resulting in a stable and predictable number of coins in existence.

In baseball, it’s called the Mendoza Line. A batting average of .200 is the last checkpoint on the slide into limbo. On the wrong side of that number, you have something to prove, or you’re headed to the bench.

DAVID WHIPPLE TUNEZ And so it is, strangely enough, with music.

Something about the 2:00 mark makes us blanch. Any song clocking in under 120 seconds is probably not going to merit $.99 on iTunes, nor will you hear it on the radio. Two minutes and 10 seconds? Sure, whatever. Just don’t slip beneath the Mendoza Line.

Much has been made of our shrinking attention spans, so it’s rare that we find something that’s actually too short. We channel surf and bounce from Facebook to Twitter and can never concentrate on anything and yada yada yada, as the adults in our lives continually remind us. Nothing can get over quick enough. But it seems that there is something fundamentally insufficient about a song that leaves us before breaking that two-minute finish line. It’s like a cliffhanger with no resolution, a mystery novel in which we never find out whodunit. The song ends before it’s over.

And yet this whole time, you’ve been thinking: But I love my favorite midget songs! Actually, so do I. The first time I heard the White Stripes’ “Fell in Love With a Girl” quickly became the second through 10th times I heard the White Stripes’ “Fell in Love With a Girl,” followed by the first time my dad threw open my door and told me to turn down that goddamn racket you kids call music. I am thoroughly convinced that Deerhunter’s “Cover Me (Slowly)” is the pinnacle of rock music, despite being one minute and 22 seconds long. And of course “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” excluding four seconds of silence at the beginning, runs 1:58.

The brevity of these songs is their secret weapon. There is, of course, that old showbiz adage to “always leave them wanting more,” and there is little I want more of than Wilco’s 1:38 “Another Man’s Done Gone.” That is what frustrates and captivates the listener of an awesome but truncated tune: the short burst of brilliance that would collapse under its own weight if stretched any thinner. The White Stripes song that served as my introduction to this paradox is a perfect example: the song has six chords and two verses, each repeated twice.

There are two instruments — electric guitar and drums — and one vocal. And if you can find a song with a higher ratio of ass kicked to runtime, please, let me know. When the song ends, catching me by surprise every time, I inevitably play it again. But to make it any longer would be criminal, like watering down a bottle of 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon (a good year, I’m told).

There is, though, a fundamental difference between short songs and longer songs. The craft in a longer song is not only in making the parts but in fitting them together; a good songwriter knows how to get from point A to point B, using each to make the other sound better.

But in a song shorter than two minutes, there is rarely time for a point B, and never time for point C (“Sgt. Pepper’s” is the notable exception here; if you were surprised to learn that it lasts less than two minutes, that’s because the Beatles were such masters that they got a full song’s worth of complexity into 1:58. Blimey).

Short songs, in a sense, are a one-trick pony.

They represent one snapshot of brilliance in its most distilled form. As a musician, I would bet you that most short songs are written quickly, a rogue puzzle piece with which no others will fit.

This is what makes the best of them so searingly powerful: they are undiluted inspiration.

It is also what makes them, ultimately, unsatisfactory. They obey the dictate to leave us wanting more at the cost of leaving us content.

The best songs grow out of the same moments of genius that result in our favorite short songs; they just manage to bloom while others remain embryonic. A short song is a preview for a longer song that never comes.

Yet such songs’ existance is a testament to the fact that someone, somewhere, thought they were scraps too beautiful to abandon.

Nobody puts out a song like that hoping for a hit. By nature, they’re useless as album filler. If a song makes it into the world at under two minutes, it just might have some kernel of genius that made it too good to throw away. Give it a listen. It won’t take long.

// CREATIVE COMMONS

Because of this stability, the lack of a corruptible central bank and the strong mathematical basis, Bitcoins, against all odds, are being accepted and exchanged in place of real money. Currency has value if people are willing to use it, and some online merchants have accepted Bitcoin payments as a way to stand out from the competition. On the customer side, Bitcoin has been widely adopted both by geeky online communities enthralled by its computer science and cryptographic foundation, and by libertarians favoring a currency not controlled by any government or central authority. (Bitcoin also garnered a lot of negative press by being the only allowed currency on an online black market called Silk Road, where one could purchase drugs and firearms.) As a result, exchanges have been set up through which one can trade Bitcoins for dollars, euros, you name it.

That’s not to say Bitcoin is a perfect system. There is no such

Bitcoin

thing as “credit,” only cash. Market prices tend to fluctuate a lot, and seem to be rising steadily over the long term. (In 2010, someone successfully traded 10,000 BTC for roughly $25 worth of pizza.

Today, a single Bitcoin is worth about $12.50. You do the math.)

And though the system itself is (reasonably) secure, many of the exchanges and so-called “wallets” for trading and storing the currency have been hacked into, with e-money worth hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen.

But, if you want to take advantage of Yale’s free electricity, why not try your hand at mining some Bitcoins? It’s unlikely to be fruitful with an average laptop, but after four years you may just be able to buy yourself some pizza.

Contact JACOB EVELYN at jacob.evelyn@yale.edu .

The Unapology Comedy Tour So a Facebook addict, the husband of a Jew, a divorced mom, a Puerto Rican Yale grad, a fat guy and a beat-boxing Jamaican American from Bridgeport walked into a bar on a Monday to tell some jokes.

The bar is called Cafe Nine and the occasion was the Fistful of Jokes Comedy Showcase, which is hosted there once or twice each month. I was sitting with my friend David at the bar stools we’d claimed long before the lights went down, and we were sipping Shock Top and snacking on free popcorn, waiting for things to get interesting.

Cafe Nine is hidden gem on the eastern edge of New Haven’s historic Ninth Square district.

With plenty of exposed brick, a fully stocked bar and live music almost every night, it’s definitely worth the walk, but since it’s tucked into the distant corner of Crown and State streets, it’s relatively unknown by the Yale crowd.

Most shows are drinking age only, which means that you probably won’t hear about it when you’re a freshman and, having already determined your favorite watering holes, probably won’t look for it when you’re a senior. And anyway, despite the sign out front, it’s easy to miss because the only time there are people around is long after dark, and that’s not the time you’d be wandering around that side of New Haven by yourself.

That’s why I’d brought David along. We’d walked over together just after dusk, right when all of the shadows off-campus start to look sinister. Admittedly, I was a little nervous but not because of the shadows. I was nervous because any good friend should be a little nervous when she asks someone to give up valu-

S U N D AY SEPTEMBER 23

KALLI ANGEL NEW HAVEN NORMAL able homework time on a Monday to watch people tell jokes. I was praying that it would be funny, that he would laugh a lot and that I hadn’t just wasted an evening for both of us. *** There is a specific taxonomy to humor at Yale. First you have your genus “caricature”, species either “lighthearted” or “disparaging”, e.g. fake emails from Dean Miller or Ronnell, quips about the eccentricities of deans and masters and rants about the hysterically impossible demands of certain professors. Then you have dirty humor — the double entendres, the crude metaphors, the serendipitous phrasing in some science textbooks and the jokes about why someone is or isn’t getting laid. You have what I’ll deem the “higher-order joke”, in which understanding the punch line requires knowledge of some obscure politician, chemical formula or Greek demigod.

And finally the most common and the most comfortable: selfdeprecation mated with irony or jadedness. “I’m going to fail my midterms!” Haha! “This is my third all-nighter in four days!”

Teehee! “I’m trying to double major in Biology and English!”

Ho ho ho! “I want to be a writer! an artist! a parent! a restaurant owner! But I’ll probably just go into consulting.” Lawlz.

In some ways, it’s good to know that we don’t take ourselves too seriously. After all, laughter is a crucial coping mechanism for stress, and there are many of us whose egos could take a beating.

(Hi, my name is Kalli.)

But still I worry that we sometimes don’t take ourselves seriously enough. It’s one thing to be a Yale apologist to the outside world, but when we can’t own up to who we are and what we want even to each other, where does that leave us? I don’t mean that we shouldn’t make fun of our foibles and fantasies, but I’m convinced that there is a way to laugh about our lives without simultaneously depreciating them. *** “So I went to Yale,” explained Roberto Velez, the Puerto Rican, at the beginning of his act. “I know it’s hard to believe because I’m here” — he gestured around the bar and at the mic, smiling helplessly. The crowd chuckled — “but I did.”

He paused. “Are there any Yale people in the crowd tonight?”

I started to raise my hand until I realized exactly what a Yalie might look like raising her hand and grinning proudly in the middle of this little bar. I shrunk back into my chair. Then I felt badly about judging the audience for how they might judge me and about not acting proud of Yale, which I am, so I smiled again, raised my beer half an inch and nodded ambiguously.

This whole internal conflict took about two seconds and probably went entirely unnoticed by the people around me. Velez continued with his act and soon I was laughing again, but my hesitation stuck with me.

I have laughed a lot in my time at Yale and, criticism aside, I’ve imbibed humor at all points on the spectrum. But there was something about the jokes — and the resulting laughter — that felt different at Cafe Nine on Monday. When the comics told sto-

LEARN HOW TO BELLY DANCE! Harkness Lounge // 2:00 p.m.

Families and kids are also welcome!

ries about their failing love lives, their moving mishaps or their imperfect parenting, they were definitely getting giggles at their own expense. And yet somehow they still managed to be courageous instead of apologetic and earnest instead of ironic. When they grinned at their own punch lines, they weren’t flashing staged smiles but real Duchenne grins, eyes lit up and crow’s feet wrinkling. Somehow they managed to be proud and humble and amused all at once, and it was hilariously inspiring.

It turns out I didn’t have to worry about David enjoying himself. Even without taking my eyes off the stage I could hear his laughter, and when the lights came on after the final comedian’s act, we were both beaming in the afterglow of happy hormones.

“That was so much fun!” we kept saying to each other as we practically skipped back home down Crown Street. We’d both had a few pints, but we weren’t drunk. It was after eleven, we both had work to do and we should have been discouraged by our dwindling potential for sleep, but we weren’t. We were just purely, completely happy.

So a Facebook addict, the husband of a Jew, a divorced mom, a Puerto Rican Yale grad, a fat guy and a beat-boxing Jamaican American from Bridgeport walk into a bar to tell some jokes. Three hours later a twenty-one-yearold girl leaves the bar humbler, happier and prouder.

Laugh all you want. I’m still smiling.

Contact KALLI ANGEL at kalli.angel@yale.edu or follow her on Twitter, @NewHavenNormal .

Contact DAVID WHIPPLE at david.whipple@yale.edu .

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: A$AP ROCKY @ TOADS.

Follow the lead of Marcus Schwarz ’13 and join The A$AP Mob.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER, 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND THEATER

A DANCER DANCES

In Tango’s Embrace

// BY NAVY ENCINIAS

On principle, I don’t take classes before 11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This means that, no matter what, I won’t even shop requirements for my major at this time. Classes with shining evals, classes that somehow magically fill all the skill requirements at once, and classes that have hot TFs and free trips to Fiji all get crossed-off my list. If it meets before 11:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I don’t even read the course description. From 9:30 to 11:00, at New Haven Ballet on Audubon St. (just passed Koffee), Ruth Barker teaches the Intermediate/Advanced Open Division ballet class, and school just can’t touch me and my ballet class.

I grew up dancing because my family is full of dancers, and since I was young, dance class was a part of my everyday life, whether I liked it or not. By the time I got to high school and began dancing in my father’s company, I did more dancing than school, more dancing than sleeping. I chose Yale because there was no dance program and I saw it as my way out.

Freshman year, for the first time since I was six, I just did school, Netflix Instant, and friend-making, and it was blissful. But by the time winter came, I noticed that without dancing everyday, I felt lost, constantly bored and sleepy, and soft at the edges. More than a lack of fitness or freshman-15 thing (though it was definitely those things as well, am I right?), it was a me thing. Without dancing, I didn’t quite feel like me. I don’t always necessarily feel like “a dancer” — that kid who has Martha Graham quotes on their

Facebook and says stuff like “for me, dancing is like breathing” — but I did realize freshman year that I’m happiest when my hamstrings feel long. I like to start and end my day stretching. I watch YouTube videos of the second act of “Giselle” during lecture. In a world where everyone seems to be living in their head, I feel like I live in my body, and (get ready for it, email me if you got me, babe) “God, I’m a dancer, and a dancer dancessssssssss!” So I Googled the closest ballet studio over winter break and began taking Ruth’s class the first week of my freshman spring. It was the best thing I could’ve done for myself here.

Ruth’s Open Division class is full of people who carve out a chunk of time in their weeks in the same way that I do and for the same reason — they feel they must. It’s full of people who also say, “I grew up dancing,” young things wearing knit knits and fleece warm-ups dangling from their slender frames, and even people who, though over 60, have better attendance than I do. And it’s because Ruth teaches a straight-up New York City Ballet style class, exactly 45 minutes at the barre and 45 in the center.

We always start plies in second position and attitudes for her are wrapped and high, a direct fallingoff of the way Mr. Balanchine liked them. She went to SAB, has perfect feet and intense hyperextension, and fills the room with the exact amount of austerity to make it feel like a real ballet class. She is like a mother to me here, because, like my dad, she’s willing to yell at me when I’m not doing well in class, grab me by the rib cage when

// BY YANAN WANG

it’s popping out and not in check, look me in the eye and tell me, “Navy, point your feet harder.”

My main homegirl at ballet class is a 65-yearold Argentinian woman named Inni. When you stand next to her at the barre, you can smell her heavy perfume. She wears tons of eye make up, six pairs of socks under her s l i p p e rs, and long sheer dresses over her silk genie pants and sports bra. She’s drawn to ballet for the glamor of it all, and always has been.

Before every class, as we stretch together on the floor, she tells how much she wishes she could have been a real ballerina: “You know, I wish it so bad. Don’t you? All of the performances and the lights? I’m too old.” But she takes the whole class, takes corrections from Ruth graciously, and does it because it’s clear that she absolutely must. And that’s the thing about ballet — if you must, you must.

// BRIANNE BOWEN

Argentine tango

Contact NAVY ENCINIAS at navy.encinias@yale.edu .

Ballet in the real world // BY CINDY OK

Just balance. Plié a little better every time. Stick to the motion until the motion sticks to your body. You can always stand a little taller, and stretch a little further. Feel the rhythm of your aura. Really taste the water as you drink it. Remember that you don’t know your own strength, or your own beauty. Don’t forget to breathe.

My ballet teacher’s voice is so soothing that it makes Björk’s sound like witch nails on a rusty chalkboard, and these are the types of things she says to us, lowly students of her introductory ballet class on Monday evenings. I swim in this schmaltz like an earnest puppy, practically nodding to myself while thinking, “You know what? I CAN feel my heart beat and my cheeks flush! Heyo,

// KATE MCMILLAN

S U N D AY SEPTEMBER 23

my body IS capable of fabulous things! Get at me, world.” It doesn’t constantly occur to me that my form is far from fabulous, or that everyone can always feel her heart beat, or even that those phrases are definitional clichés.

For an hour and a half, once a week, I don’t question anything. There’s no unwritten rule at New Haven Ballet that I have t o be

vital things for every second your eyelids rest. This is a class not about being good, or even a class about doing good. It’s a class and a space and a time about feeling good. And for an hour and a half, once a week, I don’t worry about letting anybody down.

I’m the only Yale undergrad in the class of mostly married people who are, as they say, “in the real world.” (Note: you can change this! All y’all are wholly welcome to join before my teacher and her gloriously disarming voice move on from New Haven Ballet and go onto spa music recording stardom or something.)

ALL Y’ALL ARE WHOLLY WELCOME TO JOIN BEFORE MY TEACHER AND HER GLORIOUSLY DISARMING VOICE MOVE ON FROM NEW HAVEN BALLET AND GO ONTO SPA MUSIC RECORDING STARDOM OR SOMETHING.

critical of everyt h i n g I hear or analytical about anything I do. Clichés are welcome, because there’s no pressure to be original; messing up is okay, because that’s really the only way to learn; closing your eyes whenever you feel like it is allowed, because you won’t miss eight

I don’t know if any of the other students graduated from Yale, but I imagine some of them must have when I sense the perfectionist disquiet in the room. Some of them keep their eyes always on the teacher because trying to fouetté on their own and diverting from the exact set would be simply devastating. Others can’t stand the sheer failure of having broken fourth position two beats too soon; I can tell from their facial contortions that their selfloathing inner voices are reeling: “No! NO! Bad, Sasha, that was so bad!” The stakes are low, but anxiety runs high.

It’s an introductory course without auditions, rehearsals, credit or grading, but Sasha

is enveloped in her own vanity (it seems like a bit of a Stockholm Syndrome situation to me).

It’s not just that she has to look good — she also has to make it look easy. She has to do it better than everyone else in the room, and she has to get some kind of approval from the teacher.

Last week, I went in for a complicated move and laughed as I did it completely wrong. One woman rolled her eyes, and said, “You’re just so … in your 20s.”

Is that how it goes, I thought, are we supposed to be footloose and fancy free right now and then become uptight and scared as we get older? Will there be a point when we stop laughing at our mistakes? Then I thought, oh right, our stakes — a B on a paper, your byline on an uninspired article, a bad improv performance — ARE so low.

Every time our teacher announces that we’ll do pliés and arabesques and turns individually across the room, the other women all pile in a corner, blushing and trying to remain unseen by the teacher and by one another. They’re totally shocked that I just go first and don’t seem to get embarrassed when I fall, which is almost always but who’s really counting? Well, maybe they are. Maybe they’re so convinced they’ll be judged because they’re passing harsh judgment.

And, okay, I must look straightup foolish trying a triple turn for the first time. But at least I did something, left the corner, moved my body, gave it “great action,” as my teacher would say. Why would I care what anybody thinks of how I look flailing around, when we’re all — all of us, every single one — just beginners?

The New Haven Ballet’s Open Division Beginner’s Course meets on Monday from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at 70 Whitney.

Contact CINDY OK at cindy.ok@yale.edu .

Contact YANAN WANG at yanan.wang@yale.edu .

YALE SWING AND BLUES DANCE PRACTICUM

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS:

Slifka // 8:00 p.m.

The place to come for your weekly swing & blues fix! This Sunday night dance practicum brings new dancers, longtime dancers, locals, and visitors together for an evening of social dancing with an informal, friendly atmosphere.

My elementary school in Canada used to have theme days where the principal would hire an instructor to teach us different skills, like acting or tennis. They were low-budget workshops conducted by people in the local community, and I remember getting very excited about Drama Day and Soccer Day and Rope Obstacle Day. But there was one event that I always dreaded: Hip Hop Dance Day. Hip Hop Dance Day was the time of year when my clumsiness was put on display, when I was forced to wiggle my short arms and stomp my flat feet in front of a watching crowd of teachers and classmates. It was like gym class, but with higher stakes.

For the sheer terror of this memory alone, I was hesitant about accepting my editor’s invitation to attend a session of the Yale Tango Club’s Wednesday night Argentine tango classes. I relented only because the website promised that no experience was necessary, and because I hoped I could redeem myself with this new dance form. But tango, as I soon learned, is not a dance.

It’s an addiction.

Chelsea Wells ’13, who joined the club in her sophomore year, said, “I’ve danced until my feet have gotten swollen. I like other dances, but I need tango.”

Stationed at the New Haven People’s Center on Howe Street, the Yale Tango Club runs a Beginner’s Bootcamp taught by dance instructor Robin Thomas. The club, which is run by graduate students but also open to undergraduates and local residents, has been co-run by Jessica Keiser GRD ’16 and Sigma Colón GRD ’15 since last June. Keiser credits her own initial involvement with the club to Thomas, whose charismatic teaching style makes the class both fun and effective. Having danced tango for 30 years and taught students for nine, Thomas has a virtual “monopoly” over tango instruction at East Coast universities, Keiser said.

When I arrived at the class, Thomas was just lacing up his beige suede shoes. He had a bald head and a wide smile, and he made the students laugh. He had a new dance partner for this year: Maria Elena Yvarra was raven-haired, slender and strong.

She stood on her sparkling high heels like she was walking on clouds.

Many tango students have expressed their appreciation for the physical intimacy that the dance creates between dancer and partner. Ten minutes into the lesson, I found myself holding hands with two strangers at either side of me; five minutes later, I was pressing my palms against an older man’s chest. I was nervous, but everyone around me seemed at ease. After each round of dancing wherein Thomas taught us a new step, we were instructed to change partners. Eventually I learned to cling more tightly to my partner, to follow more closely the patterns of his movement instead of shying away.

Keiser explained, “Graduate student life can be particularly lonely, and [tango] is a way to find community, it’s a way to find physical touch.”

“What attracts me most to tango is the embrace,” Alexander Chern ’11 agreed. “In this embrace, you need to mutually surrender and just completely give yourself to the person you are dancing with.” Chern and his former girlfriend took classes with the Yale Tango Club as undergraduates. Omar Mejia, a New Haven resident and downtown bartender, dated one his dance partners, though the couple has since broken up. Many people start tango for the romance, imagining “a man with a rose in between his teeth,” as Chern put it. They stay for the love of the dance.

No greater proof of tango’s addictive nature can be found than in the Yale Tango Club’s founder herself. Tine Herreman GRD ’03 led the transformation of the club from a fledgling dance group in 2003 to an active social community that encompassed weekly workshops and a national festival. Today, the Yale Tango Festival is one of the largest school-run tango festivals in the country, and the club itself boasts about 100 members. Herreman is now a full-time tango DJ and organizer based in New York, devoting her time to creating tango networks in communities around the city.

“It’s not that uncommon, as far as I can tell, that someone would leave their day-job for tango,” Keiser said. “It is unlike other ‘hobbies’ in the sense that it seems to have a way of eclipsing people’s lives.”

As student passion for tango grows, so too does the size and scope of the club. In addition to Wednesday night classes and open dancing, the Yale Tango Club also holds Milonga sessions at Kelly’s Restaurant & Bar and Sunday Practilonga at “Gypsy,” the Graduate and Professional Student Center at Yale. Practilonga is for dance practice, whereas Milonga is essentially a dance party. This year, the club is also introducing Monthly Milonga at Edward S. Harkness Hall.

For undergraduates, the biggest draw of tango might be the reprieve that it provides from the stress of college life. Similar to meditation, Wells said, it washes your mind of other thoughts and refreshes your mental state. During my lesson, I understood what she meant. Many of the moves required that the woman close her eyes while she was led by the man, so several times I simply mirrored my partner’s steps only to open my eyes and find us effortlessly standing on the other side of the room. I was so concentrated on the rhythm of the dance that sharing such physical closeness with a stranger no longer fazed me. I suppose that’s how it reels you in: it takes two to tango, and only one dance to get hooked.

The “47%”+.

PAGE B12

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND BACKSTAGE

BILL MCKIBBEN

// ANNELISA LEINBACH

Environmentalist, Journalist, Activist // BY NITIKA KHAITAN

B

ill McKibben, environmentalist and prolific author, has been described by Time magazine as ‘the world’s best green journalist.” He is the founder of the environmental organization 350.org and the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College. On Tuesday, he appeared at the weekly Yale Political Union debate to talk about divesting from fossil fuels, the subject of his Rolling Stone article that went viral over the summer.

WEEKEND caught up with him on Thursday and asked him about his time at the Harvard Crimson, his opinion on environmentalism today and the third option in choosing between Harvard and Yale.

A. Not so much. My father was an outdoorsman, and so we hiked and biked. When I was working at the Crimson, I covered the city of Cambridge, and at The New Yorker, I was writing the “Talk of the Town” column. It was only later in my 20s that my life kind of shifted. I quit The New Yorker and moved to the Adirondack Mountains, the great wilderness of the East, in upstate New York. I fell in love with that landscape and spent a lot of time in it — hiking, canoeing and cross-country skiing.

I also began reading the great nature writers — Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, Terry Williams and Rick Bass. And I began reading the early science about climate change, and as a journalist, I realized that this was probably the biggest thing that had ever happened. So, I started covering this and that’s how I came to write “End of Nature,” which was really the first book about climate change for a general audience. It really became my life.

Q. How was it writing about climate change at a time when no one else was?

A. As a journalist, it’s always good to be out in the front,

right? My book had two things going on. I was writing about what was going on scientifically, interviewing scientists and all of that. At the same time, the book was a kind of extended essay, almost philosophical, on the meaning of it all. I was very struck by the idea that there were really no wild places left on our earth, even the very wild place I was living in. I think that that’s an idea that has continued to grow in our lives.

Q. Has being a Methodist in any way informed your outlook on the environment?

A. Sure. Some years ago, I wrote a book about Job, which is really the first great piece of nature writing. I take very seriously the Gospel’s call to care for our neighbors. We’re not doing that.

We’re in the process of drowning and sickening our neighbors around the world.

Q. You’ve spoken about your desire to encourage campuses to divest from fossil fuels. How have people reacted to your call on college campuses?

A. We at 350.org haven’t fully unveiled that campaign yet. I was sort of jumping the gun at Yale and letting people know about it. I’ve also done that at a few other colleges in the last week or so — at Ann Arbor,

Madison, Amherst and a few others. The response has been remarkable everywhere. People understand that this is a compound moral issue as well as a practical one. And they understand that it’s no longer okay for us to profit off of the destruction of the planet. Now, of course it’ll be very difficult to persuade boards of trustees. But I’m very glad that we’re at least getting started with this process.

Q. Have you at any point felt disillusioned about the success or progress of environmentalism?

A. Yes. We’re losing and we have been. But in the last four years, since seven Middlebury College students and I founded 350. org, there has been a very rapid growth. It’s possible we’re going to give everyone a good run for their money.

Q. Do you think that campaigns like 350 will be enough?

A. I don’t know. I think that big movements are our only hope because the fossil fuel industry has all the money. We’re never going to compete with that much money. We need to rely on social movements. Our real problem, I think, is we have to make progress very, very quickly. The physics of climate change demands rapid incremental action. I don’t know if

we’re going to do it fast enough or not. We’ll find out.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on the upcoming elections? Are there any candidates or political parties that you think will be more open to environmental change?

A. I think that Washington is not going to save us one way or the other. I was shocked when Mitt Romney made his only comment about climate change, which was when he joked about it at the Republican National Convention, when he said he wasn’t going to help or be worried about saving the planet or any of that stuff. That did shock me. It’s not that Obama has done that great a job; I guess you can say that at least he isn’t telling jokes about it.

Q. In writing about your time at the Harvard Crimson, you’ve said that reporters had no drive to take on “the largest subjects of the day.” Do you have any advice for aspiring journalists today?

A. Yes, I think that college reporters should be overconfident at all times. And think that it is entirely all right to take on the big issues of the world around them. At the Crimson, I covered the 1983 presidential campaign and spent a month in New Hampshire. We wrote editorials about everything

going on in the world around us, and we wrote them as if the world paid some attention to us. At some level, that was very vain. But at another level, one has to take himself seriously as a thinker, as a writer and as a reporter.

Q. Now, the obligatory question: Yale or Harvard?

A. I think both of them are beautiful places. But if I was going to school right now, I’d be tempted to come up to Middlebury where I teach. It’s as academically serious as Yale or Harvard and it also has big mountains to go skiing and hiking.

Contact NITIKA KHAITAN at nitika.khaitan@yale.edu .

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OUR REAL PROBLEM, I THINK, IS WE HAVE TO MAKE PROGRESS VERY, VERY QUICKLY. THE PHYSICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE DEMANDS RAPID INCREMENTAL ACTION.

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Q. When did you develop an interest in the environment? Was it from your youth?