WEEKEND

WEEKEND // FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012

Packing a Political Punch

Will Yalies be the footsoldiers of the 2012 election?

BY AKBAR AHMED, PG 3

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LOVE WITHIN THE DISCIPLINE

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

‘URINETOWN’ REVIEW

Yanan Wang gives us the low down on married professors in the same field — and reveals their kids’ playdates.

Intrepid WEEKEND writers reveal their strategies for survival. Watch out, tributes.

Joy Shan reviews the latest play at the Off Broadway Theater and finds revolution amidst the comic.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

// BY AUSTIN BERNHARDT

MADISON & KAHOE

July 15, consider your diem carped! During a recent visit to the ophthalmologist, I was elated to discover that I would, for the first time in my life, require the use of glasses. Friends of mine who have sported lenses since a young age assured me that this would pass. They may seem cool, they said, but really, glasses are just inconvenient and expensive. However, their four-eyed wisdom was in vain. I had already psyched myself up thinking of all the possible situations in which I would be able to look over the tops of my frames at people who had made less-than-intelligent remarks in my general direction. Some examples: “You want me to lend you HOW much money?” “You want to go WHERE for dinner?” “You read WHAT over spring break?” I bring up this episode not because I think I’m particularly obnoxious or dismissive, though I am certainly both of those things more often than is justified by my height, weight and attractiveness quotient. Rather, what this illustrates to me is that I’ve increasingly adopted a mindset in which I regret not being able to use clichéd expressions and gestures gleaned from T.V. and movies in my everyday life without seeming obnoxious, dismissive or just plain weird. To be clear, I’m not talking about catchphrases. (If you have a catchphrase, you should unequivocally lose it. Trust me, it’s not working for you.) I’m talking about the requirement implicit in any plot-driven show or movie that stuff happens. As a result, the threshold for discomfort or objection is just a smidge higher than it is in real life.

Contact AUSTIN BERNHARDT at austin.bernhardt@yale.edu .

F R I D AY MARCH 22

// BY CALEB MADISON AND CODY KAHOE

FROM: Coordination Dean of Occupy New Haven TO: All Occupy New Haven Residents SUBJECT: Updated Occupy Housing Procedures All right folks, judging by the increased amount of squirrel in Mindy’s Occupy Stew over at Tent 7, it’s springtime again. That means, time to figure out our new living arrangements for the coming fiscal year. To make this process as fair and painless as possible, we’ve got a few ground rules and guidelines for the tenting lottery, so put down your water-bottle shower and start reading this here leaflet. As you all know, we’re selecting tents by lottery this year, but there are a few exceptions to the standard policy. First of all, certain options are out of the lottery at this point. Judging by the sounds and smells emanating from Tent 11, Matisyahu’s roadies are not finished with their orgy started way back in September, so

WHERE DO I GET OFF WITH ALL THIS CARPE DIEM CRAP? HOW MANY DIEMS HAVE I CARPED? NOT MANY, I’LL TELL YOU THAT. I’m also, by the way, not talking about ‘bedroom gymnastics,’ as I believe the kids call it now. But I am, at least in part, talking about romance. My friends from high school and I have a recurring conversation any time we’re in a subway car together and spot an attractive woman around our age who looks like she might also be an interesting person. It goes something like this: “How about her?” “Go for it.” “I would if this were a sitcom.” “Psh. Exactly.” “No, really! I’d go up and be like, ‘Hey, I never do stuff like this, but … ’” And so on and so forth. The key for me is the “I never do stuff like this, but” part: the INDSLTB moment. I’d go so far as to say we all have INDSLTB moments, the points in our day when, if the universe’s probability engine broke down, we would totally go for it. We’d ask out the girl, or the guy or the postgendered individual. We’d throw our phone into the river. We’d hop into the back of that pickup truck and start in on a wild, whirlwind adventure. But most of the time, we don’t. We take a deep breath, shut down the fantasy part of our brains and focus on the task at hand. The INDSLTB moment vanishes, and life resumes as it should. Now, I’m not saying it’s a good idea to get into the back of that pickup truck. After all, where’s it going? Better yet, who’s driving? In fact, now that I think about it, don’t get into the back of the pickup truck. But all that other stuff is still on the table. It’s a gamble, sure, but all the best stories come from the INDSLTB moments. What are we afraid of? Short of certain death, probably pretty trivial things, that’s what. I realize all of this sounds at least vaguely selfrighteous. Where do I get off with all this carpe diem crap? How many diems have I carped? Not many, I’ll tell you that. In fact, nine times out of 10, I’m the one saying things like, “I don’t know about this, you guys.” “Are you sure there aren’t any security guards?” “No way am I doing that!” “I’m nauseous.” So I’m not saying be like me. DON’T be like me. In fact, I’m saying we should all NOT be like me. And since it’s so scary, why don’t we all do it together on, say, July 15? Spread the word: July 15 will mark the first annual INDSLTB Day. Ask him/her/zhim out! Throw that shit in the river! Still don’t get in the back of that truck, please, but short of that, if you wouldn’t normally do it, do it! You won’t regret it, and even if you do, it’ll make a great story.

Occupy Housing Draw!

// DAVID YU

GRENIER

BERNHARDT

WEEKEND VIEWS

WYBC’S BOOLAPALOOZA

Toad’s // 8 p.m. till the cows come home. It’s time for WYBC’s biggest show of the year. With Dale Earnhardt Jr.

that option’s out of the picture. Also, Dirty Louie has made it clear that he intends to stay in his teepee. If anyone wants to challenge him on it, feel free, but I would recommend you wear heavy armor and bring along a Hostess Snack Cake tribute of your choice. These restrictions aside, obviously everyone wants a shot at the PartyYurt and the Tent-Pack, so it’s probably going to come down to a drumcircle-off at a date and time to be announced. I’m thinking every Sunday at 9 a.m., until we can find a nice loud group of Party-Yurters! More seriously, we have received several noise complaints about the Party-Yurt, so let’s keep it down. Finally, it has come to our attention that our long-held policy of personal waste disposal is no longer a viable option. Turns out the holes we’ve been digging have been slowly eating away at the foundations of New Haven Green, and it looks like if we keep burying our treasure we’re

literally gonna start sinking into our own poo. So, in addition to running over to use the toilet at Claire’s Corner Copia, we will be providing selected tents with composting crockpots and seven-tiered storage baskets for your toiletries. That pretty much wraps it up, folks! Remember to write out and sign your tent contracts on the back of a maple leaf (no oak — let’s not repeat last year’s confusion), and submit them to Dirty Louie. Just slip it under the teepee flap. He’ll find it. Your Tenting Coordinator, N. Ferguson P.S. Be sure to come to Tuesday’s Chant Committee Meeting prepared with words that rhyme with capitalism. Contact CALEB MADISON at caleb.madison@yale.edu AND CODY KAHOE at f.kahoe@yale.edu .

10 reasons I’m hoping this Spring is temporary // BY ANYA GRENIER

Chances are, if you were having a conversation this week that did not revolve around your break, the Hunger Games or your thoughts on nihilism, you were talking about how great it is that spring is finally here. In no particular order, here is a list of reasons why you were wrong: 1. For girls, having to shave your legs. I have been dealing with the transition by dressing exclusively in floral skirts so long I might be mistaken for an extra on the set of “Little House on the Prairie.” I recommend you do the same. 2. Suddenly, Yale seems more disorienting than it has since the first weeks of school, when everyone was literally a stranger anyway. Since then, I’ve gotten used to waking up to find the courtyard of Silliman a windblown, deserted wasteland. Now I wake up, look outside and ask myself, who are all these people? Apparently there’s an entire floor of sophomores in my entryway I did not know about. It’s possible they didn’t leave their room for the past four months. With the warm weather, it feels as though the Yale I’ve gotten used to has gotten lodged inside a much bigger school. Walking back and forth to classes all winter long, I got used to seeing pretty much the same strangers day after day. Now it seems as though I don’t recognize anyone, not the guys deeply absorbed in a game of chess outside of

WLH, not the people in the weed circle on Old Campus, not the partially naked, entirely orange girl tanning outside of LC (does she even go here?) and I’m not sure how I feel about it. 3. Allergies. Whether or not you get them, know that they are caused by breathing in pollen, which is basically tree sperm, which is basically really gross. 4. Studying just became that much more unpleasant. I used to race down the stairs into Bass, grateful just to escape the wind tunnel on Cross Campus. Now, going to the library means walking past, not just the occasional Sunday morning Quidditch match, but at least four Frisbee games, a tightrope walking tournament and even the occasional game of croquet. And with such constant reminders of everything else you could be doing, it’s even harder than usual to sit in the library wondering how you could possibly write this art history paper, in which you use words like “peripheral” and “abstraction,” without sounding like a complete asshole. 5. Daylight savings. Except this time the loss of an hour somehow translated to a weeklong feeling of jetlag. 6. I just bought five new sweaters. 7. No longer having a good excuse to not go out at night. If you really just want to spend your Friday night knitting elf clothes or watching YouTube vid-

eos of deep sea creatures (seriously, stop reading this and search “goblin shark” right now) — and if you’re here there’s a good chance you do, in the winter you have an excuse readymade. Unlike polar bears, or Qpac kids, you weren’t born with some sort of natural mechanism that allows you to withstand sub-zero temperatures. Toad’s is far away, and you’re worried about losing your coat. Now you just sound like a loser. 8. Gradually building up weird sandal tans before summer even starts. While it seems like the sun isn’t actually doing anything right now, it really, really is. 9. Transitional jacket season. Enough said. 10. An increase in the frequency and size of tour groups. This results in a few things: A) Making it extremely difficult to get into Commons when you only have 10 minutes to eat lunch, B) Extreme backpack envy, and C) The nagging fear that somewhere, somehow, a Japanese woman has your picture on her hard drive. And, now that everyone knows I’m basically a grouchy old lady with a penchant for pioneer fashion, I’m going to go build a blanket fort, watch videos about the mimic octopus and hope for snow. Contact ANYA GRENIER at anna.grenier@yale.edu .

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: Before the rain rolls in Saturday, fire up the grill and throw some meat on the barby. Ditch the gas grill and go with charcoal for the sweet whiff of dehydrated plant and animal matter.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND COVER

A CANDIDATE OR A CAUSE? SPECIFY AN ISSUE YOU CARE ABOUT:

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es, the Students for a New American Politics Political Action Committee is one of those PACs you keep hearing about. Yes, they’ve raised over $200,000 and sponsored 30 candidates since being founded at Yale in 2004. But the way they use their money is less like the vilified Super PACs spawned from Citizen United and more like opportunity creation for young political activists. “No one else is doing this — we’re operating in a unique way, getting people with incredible organizing talents to work on progressive campaigns, and creating a pool for further campaigns that’s a lot larger,” said Matt Breuer ’14, the executive director of SNAPPAC. What the organization does is simple, explained finance director and former Ward 1 Democratic Town Committee CoChair Amalia Skilton ’13: It endorses progressive candidates across the nation, and then invites applications from college students hoping to be placed with one of their campaigns. The students accepted as SNAP Fellows receive a stipend of up to $5,000, free housing and transportation, and 12 weeks to help

DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE INVOLVED IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN LATER THIS YEAR?

9% 66% 25% YES

NO

MAYBE

F R I D AY MARCH 22

a progressive candidate make it through the polls successfully. “Our mission is twofold,” said Skilton, who worked on an Iowa Senate race as a SNAP fellow in 2010. “We want to elect better people to Congress right now, and we want a good long-term progressive movement.” The amount of money SNAP fellows receive is based on their demonstrated financial need, Breuer said. SNAPPAC provides actual campaigns with actual people, he added, donating the maximum PAC contribution of $5,000 per election race by hiring a student field organizer who can work for a progressive candidate without worrying about the pressures of needing to earn money for college. Having such help is worth far more than $5,000 to the campaigns in the sorts of close races SNAPPAC focuses on, Skilton added. Skilton said that SNAP has received 600 applications for this election cycle. That’s up from 60 in 2010. “We’ve hired 11 so far,” she added. “We currently have enough funding to hire 14 more, and our goal is to hire 40 people in total.” Are Yalies interested? Where do they sign up? According to the numbers, maybe not so much. A News survey conducted earlier this week revealed that only 9 percent of Yale undergraduates currently plan to work on political campaigns, presidential or local, later this year. Even Elizabeth Henry ’14 — an outspoken member of the Yale College Republicans and the Tory Party — said she finds the prospect of sitting at a campaign field office and making phone calls to voters “boring.” It seems that, amidst the mess of internship applications, Yale Summer Session emails and travel plans, we’ve left political work on the backburner. Mac Herring ’12, the campaign manager behind the ‘Sarah Eidelson ’12 for Ward 1’ effort last semester, said that she believes Yalies are politically engaged at an intellectual level, but are less interested in getting down to tangible political action. After working on the Obama campaign in 2008, Evan WalkerWells ’13 arrived at Yale for prefrosh visits in early 2009. What he found, he said, was a campus where “everyone made it seem like Yale really cared about politics; it was in the lifeblood of the campus.” That impression didn’t last long, he said. “Yale students are very busy

A TALK BY PETER MINSHALL, CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL ARTIST: ?BLUE DEVILS, BATS, AND FANCY SAILORS? Yale Rep Lounge // 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

A talk by Peter Minshall, acclaimed Caribbean Carnival Artist who designed the Opening Ceremonies for Barcelona and Atlanta Summer Olympics and the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

and this stuff seems like an extracurricular,” Walker-Wells said, adding that misconceptions about what political involvement actually is and how “big and important” a role students can have results in a very small group of Yalies that are actively politically involved. “Field organizing is something that gives everyone a tremendous amount of responsibility — I spent three to five hours a day writing emails, three to five hours making phone calls and another three to five hours talking to people,” he added. “But there’s a sense at Yale that this isn’t tremendously important.” While prioritizing other student activities may be one reason political campaigns are neglected, some suggest a lack of passion on campus is also to blame. One senior interviewed, who preferred to remain unnamed, said that she feels many Yalies consider themselves politically involved even if “all they do is read the fucking New York Times.” “A lot of people at Yale are ostensibly liberal, but they don’t know what they believe — it’s the same with people who consider themselves conservatives and don’t know what they believe,” Henry said. Yale College Democrats president Zak Newman ’13, after carefully stating that he believes the last fall’s press frenzy about Obama having lost the youth vote “has been proven false,” said that campaigns are very excited to have students work with them. What Yalies’ political engagement depends on now, he added, is what they feel passionate about and choose to pursue. He cites examples, ticking them off on his fingers: this kid’s really into youth issues, that one’s starting a HuffPo blog about foreign policy. Students are pursuing what Newman calls their “pet issues.” But they’re not going to be able to do so using a fellowship from SNAPPAC. Breuer said Yalies have access to enough resources from their school, in terms of financial aid and fellowship support that they do not generally need outside help if they truly feel that they want to work on a campaign. “It is ludicrous for SNAP to hire someone like me,” Skilton said. “Nothing is preventing Yalies from doing this — they have no loans and few work hours; they can go door to door. It is silly to argue that it’s hard for Yalies to be involved in politics.” But, to mangle a phrase from the Occupy Morgan Stanley pro-

tests last fall, what do our peers do with that privilege?

THE BIG, THE STRUCTURED AND THE OFFICIAL

For most students, the most visible and organized platforms to effect any kind of political change are probably the partisan political groups: the Yale College Democrats and the Yale College Republicans. How much these two organizations take it upon themselves to push their party’s candidates both at the Connecticut and national levels could well be a key determinant of Yale’s experience of the 2012 races. “The Dems absolutely is a platform for people to start getting involved at the national level,” Newman said, though he added that he thinks his organization can have more of an impact at the state level. Lincoln Mitchell ’15, the Dems’ membership coordinator, said that he is planning a large recruitment push during Bulldog Days and the first few weeks of the next academic year, to get the Class of 2016 excited about the polls in November. “It’s hard for the Dems to mobilize people at the local level because their by-laws don’t allow them to endorse in a primary [ … ] and this is a one-party town,” Herring said. “It’s easier on the national level, where there’s only one Democrat for them to support.” Once the organization is aware of who the clear Democratic candidate for the Senate may be, however, Newman said he anticipates that they will “pick up the pace” in terms of publicity and outreach to Yale students. From that local point of view, one benefit of last year’s aldermanic race, during which Newman managed the campaign of Vinay Nayak ’14, is that large numbers of Yalies switched their voter registration to Connecticut. In addition, Newman foresees the Dems taking a strong interest in the race for Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat in Massachusetts, with Yale volunteers apparently eager to boost support for Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren. The other side’s plan of action is less clear. “What do you do as a conservative at Yale?” Henry asks, hair blonde in the sunlight shining through the Starbucks window and Southern twang out in full force. She points out that the kind of voter registration drives the Democrats run are not helpful for the Republicans, as they are likely to, whether on campus or

out in the city, simply be signing up more individuals who will vote Democratic. Those who can be convinced to join the conservative side, Henry said, make their way into the fold on their own volition: “A vote for anyone but Romney is a vote for Obama, and I’d say at this point virtually all the conservatives at Yale are for Romney.” “The people who come to our meetings are the ones who think very seriously about Republican campaigns and perhaps the conservative movement, and they tend to support more establishment, safe campaigns,” said Michael Knowles ’12, the chairman of the Yale College Republicans. Knowles said that he has been approached by Republican candidates running different races across the state, and that he wants to get his group, “the loudest oppressed minority on campus,” involved in helping candidates in contests such as the ongoing U.S. Senate race in Connecticut, in which Linda McMahon and Chris Shays are currently competing for the Republican endorsement. “A big initiative of the Yale Republicans has been to publish, to come out of the closet,” he added. “That’s the only way we’re going to dispel these unfair mischaracterizations [and] get from 92 percent [for Obama] to even 91 percent.” Newman said he thinks there is no opportunity for the Republicans to work effectively on the state level in Connecticut. Calling McMahon “unelectable,” he added that he sees value in an organized GOP presence on campus to further a conversation in the run-up to November. Ben Stango ’11, a former president of the Dems, said that he considered the 2008 elections “unique” and would not expect to see comparable levels of excitement and large-scale organizing this year. “Campaigning comes down to the fact that Yale students are often really engaged in a variety of things that relate directly to them [ … ] and if the political groups are able to connect abstract national issues with the lives of students,” Stango added. More and more, it seems, the focus of these large platforms winnows down to individual interests and passions. “When I try to think about what the Dems can be doing, I’m mostly thinking about what’s good for people in the organization and what’s good for them SEE ELECTION PAGE B8

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: to “Stop Making Sense;” it’s SOUND advice from Mr. Byrne.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND ARTS

DAVID BYRNE AND JAMES MURPHY: JUST A COUPLE OF GUYS // BY SUSANNAH SHATTUCK

This article is going to make me sound like a total fangirl, but you know what? Sorry I’m not sorry. On Wednesday morning, I woke up and faced a serious dilemma: What does one wear when she knows that she will be meeting two of her greatest heroes? I quickly abandoned all hopes of looking or seeming “cool;” I concluded that attempting anything other than quiet admiration in front of David Byrne and James Murphy would be futile and foolish.

David Byrne and James Murphy. I didn’t really believe that they were both coming to Yale to have a moderated discussion about two of my favorite things, art and music, until I saw the event posters going up. I felt, for the first time since coming here, that Yale had somehow translated all of my interests, desires and goals into a one-night-only event. (Maybe this is how politically-minded people here feel all the time.) Allow me to try to explain my excitement. David Byrne was the

WHEN THEY FINALLY ...TOOK THE STAGE, MY HEART WAS PUMPING AT SUCH A RATE THAT, HAD I BEEN BORN WITH ANY SORT OF CONGENITAL DEFECT, I WOULD HAVE DIED.

founding member of the Talking Heads, a band I have been obsessed with ever since learning at age 11 that a family friend, who is a heart surgeon, listens exclusively to the song “Burning Down the House” while operating. The band holds a particularly dear place in my musical memory; the first mp3 I ever bought — on Napster, to give you a sense of the timeframe — was “And She Was” by the Talking Heads. James Murphy was the leader of LCD Soundsystem (rest in peace) and is one of the co-founders of DFA Records. He is the creator of a musical empire that embodies all things good in the world. I am more than just an unabashed LCD Soundsystem fan; I am one of those annoying, loud people who scream when any LCD song comes on at a party and shout all the words, as if we don’t want anyone actually to hear the music. Together, these two men have created or had a hand in the creation of most of my favorite music, but that’s not even the main reason for my admiration for each of them. Both David Byrne and James Mur-

phy have retained complete control over their creative work in spite of their fame and success, two things that have consistently destroyed lesser artists since the advent of public opinion. I really appreciate their ability to sustain an aesthetic vision and to bring that vision to everything that they touch. The idea of hearing these two King Midas figures speak to these visions made my head spin with excitement. I did everything I could to ensure that I would get a seat at this talk; I reserved a space through the School of Art, I arranged to take photographs of the event for my job as a social media intern for Yale and I agreed to write this article. I still showed up early to the Yale University Art Gallery, eagerly waiting in line outside the auditorium for an hour before one of the event coordinators read my name off of a list and let me inside. Hyperventilating a little bit, I settled into a seat in the fourth row and waited for David Byrne and James Murphy to emerge. When they finally walked past my seat — I was only inches away from them

Greenhouse’s Very Short Introdouction is Very Short — And Very Good // BY SCOTT STERN

When “The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction” arrived in the mail, I initially thought I had ordered incorrectly. It looked too short, too cute — maybe only nine inches tall with barely 100 bitesized pages. Yet after a moment’s pause, I realized that this was what the title had promised: a very short, accessible introduction. “The U.S. Supreme Court: A Very Short Introduction” is the latest book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse LAW ’78, who covered the Supreme Court for the New York Times for 30 years, and is now the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. It is the latest

F R I D AY MARCH 22

“Very Short Introduction” — part of a series that concisely introduces the reader to topics ranging from Heidegger to hieroglyphs. “The U.S. Supreme Court” is a perfect introduction to the Supreme Court by one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject. Greenhouse begins by highlighting the Supreme Court’s rather inauspicious beginnings. The Court didn’t hear a case until a year after its first session; indeed, writes Greenhouse, during its first two terms “it had almost nothing to do.” It wasn’t until 1792 that the 2-yearold Court issued its first opinion. And the early Supreme Court was hardly considered prestigious. When the first Chief Justice John Jay

ELLINGTON JAZZ SERIES: RON CARTER TRIO Sprague Hall // 8:00 p.m.

Donald Vega, piano; Russell Malone, guitar; Ron Carter, bass.

ran for and won the governorship of New York, vacating his seat on the bench, a newspaper called his victory a “promotion.” John Rutledge initially declined being a Justice on the first Supreme Court in order to sit on the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas. It wasn’t until the venerable John Marshall became Chief Justice that the judiciary was “no longer the stepsister of the other two branches.” Even after the Court began to gain some modicum of power and prestige, its existence was tenuous. The Constitution says almost nothing about what the Supreme Court should do all day; it barely alludes to the very existence of the office of a Chief Justice. So the Court had to

— and took the stage, my heart was pumping at such a rate that, had I been born with any sort of congenital defect, I would have died. Luckily, I survived, and, doing my very best to keep my mouth closed and my chin drool-free, I eagerly focused my attention on David and James. (I feel like we’re on a first-name basis now, we three.) One thing I noticed right off the bat was that John Schaeffer, though equipped with a radio voice of liquid gold, was not a great moderator; he was far too focused on sticking to a question-and-answer format that felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I was grateful (not to mention overwhelmed with joy) when David Byrne bashfully interrupted this stilted oral examination to offer up some adorable anecdotes. The conversation between David Byrne and James Murphy, with two strange and wonderful video interludes, was a bit different from the one I had imagined in my head. Maybe I expected both men to be more … Distant? Aloof? Artists with a capi-

define its duties over time, through strategic, cautious, historic rulings (like the storied Marbury v. Madison). Even the size of the Supreme Court changed constantly, going from five to six to nine to ten back to seven before finally settling on the current nine. This demonstrates, if nothing else, that the Supreme Court existed in a state of flux. Yet over time, it would become one of most important components of our government. Abortion, affirmative action, gun control, gay rights, free speech, the death penalty, and the separation of church and state have all appeared in cases on the Court’s docket in recent years. And they are likely to reappear in years to come, especially as the debates over the legitimacy of Obamacare and the constitutionality of gay marriage come to a head. The members of the Supreme Court matter. The constitutional right to have an abortion, the ability of state schools to use race in assessing applicants and the invalidation of the death penalty for mentally retarded defendants have all hinged on a single vote. These 5-4 decisions illustrate the subjectivity of Supreme Court work — as Greenhouse writes, “the art of constitutional interpretation is far from a paint-by-numbers exercise.” In other words, had one member of the Court been different, our soci-

// VIVIENNE ZHANG

Murphy, Byrne talk art and music.

tal A? Instead, I found that they were both surprisingly personable and genuine. Hearing that James Murphy turned a doodle into the logo for his record label (“Yeah, let’s use that! No, literally, let’s use that. That doodle. Without changing anything.”) and that David Byrne had to pay for the fabrication of his bike rack designs for New York City rather than the other way around made both men seem less like artistic geniuses and more like two guys, just trying to do their thing. Even though they didn’t accept the invitation to my house (that I twice extended to them), I left the talk feeling a little bit more optimistic about the future; after all, if David Byrne and James Murphy are just a couple of guys, albeit really awesome ones, then there might yet be hope for the rest of us. Contact SUSANNAH SHATTUCK at susannah.shattuck@yale.edu .

ety would be very different today. In other words, this stuff matters. If you know very little about the Supreme Court, there is perhaps no better guide than Linda Greenhouse. In fact, her New York Times coverage was so influential that some critics suggested that federal judges were changing their rulings in order to gain favorable coverage from her (in what is known as the “Greenhouse Effect”). And when Greenhouse writes in her very short introduction, “The behind-thescenes drama remained unknown outside the Court for the next twelve years, until Justice Blackmun’s papers were opened to the public at the Library of Congress,” she neglects to mention that the public’s understanding of Blackmun’s papers is largely due to her own research (as highlighted in her thorough tome “Becoming Justice Blackmun”). In 87 small pages (plus appendices at the end) Greenhouse cogently illustrates the history, functions, composition and importance of the Supreme Court. In a slim volume that you can literally carry around in your pocket, you will find a wealth of knowledge. Contact SCOTT STERN at scott.stern@yale.edu .

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: “Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze. I’ve got a big fat momma tryin’ to break me. And I love you live so please, live this life of luxury. Lazing on a sunny afternoon.”

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND FEATURE

TILL END OF TENURE DO US PART? During one of his “Moralities of Everyday Life” lectures last term, psychology professor Paul Bloom cited research conducted on babies as a way of opening a discussion on the nature of human kindness. What few of the over 400 people in the class knew, however, is that for Bloom, the origins of this research were close to home — literally. Among the dozen academics whose work was presented in the course was Karen Wynn — notable infant researcher, Yale psychology professor and, as it turns out, Bloom’s wife. “Karen is my favourite scientific collaborator,” said Bloom. Bloom and Wynn are not the only Yale couple to have academia turn into romance. Under the eaves of the University’s Gothic structures, on the swing sets hung from lofty trees and by the spring-time flowers scattered across residential college courtyards, Yale has seen many a pair find and foster love within its storied walls. And in an institution where scholarship is valued above all, it is no surprise that Yale has attracted many married faculty members who work in the same academic disciplines. What is it like to share a home with someone who works not only for the same university, but also within the same department? The professor couples interviewed told diverse stories about their romantic beginnings, but there is one thing all of them seem to agree upon: When it comes to marriage, there is nothing quite like having a spouse whose work complements your own. *** In 1998, Yale hosted the International Congress of Assyriology & Near Eastern Archaeology. Held in a different city every year, the conference brings together Assyriology scholars from around the world. Two of the attendants were Kathryn Slanski and Eckhart Frahm, current members of the Near Eastern Languages and Civilization faculty at Yale. At the time, Slanski and Frahm were just young scholars. They met for the first time at a reception in the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, where they exchanged pleasantries about each other’s work. “I’m sure we talked about the papers that each of us gave,” Slanski said, “because I was impressed by him and he was impressed by me.” After the conference, they went their separate ways, only having lunch together once at the Paris gathering the following year. They were living in different continents at the time, with Slanski having accepted her first academic post at Tel Aviv University and Frahm working as an assistant professor at Heidelberg University in Germany. Four years later, however, they met up again — this time in New Haven as finalists for an assistant professorship at Yale. Because Slanski is a native of Connecticut, she insisted on taking Frahm out to lunch, telling him that he could treat her to the next meal if he was chosen for the post. “He’s been buying lunch ever since,” Slanski said in a New York Times article announcing the couple’s marriage at New Haven’s Lighthouse Point Park in September of 2006. They now work side by side at the University, where they are both teachers of Assyriology.

When two married professors apply for posts at Yale, department chairs often try to hire both partners, economics professor Benjamin Polak told the News in 2010. While it is clear that the professors’ attraction to each other extends far beyond appreciation for one another’s work, other pairs interviewed agreed that mutual passion helped to create an initial spark. Philosophy professors Tamar Gendler and Zoltán Szabó, who also met at an academic conference, fell in love over pizza and Grice’s theory of implicature. They met at the Harvard-MIT Graduate Student Philosophy Conference in the fall of 1992, Gendler said, when she was a graduate student at Harvard and he was a graduate student at MIT who had presented a paper at the event. Gendler said that Szabó helped her carry pizzas to the conference dinner, they started dating that weekend, and were engaged within 18 months. That summer, Szabó got his Ph.D., and they were married shortly afterwards. Gendler said that she initially made conversation with Szabo because she was intrigued by his work. “Part of the reason we liked each other in the first place was because we admired the way the other person thought,” Slanski agreed. “I think it’s a real privilege to have someone who can appreciate the work that you do.” *** One of the challenges facing academic couples working in the same field of study is preventing their work from consuming their personal lives. When asked whether she and Szabó talked about their work often at home, Gendler said that they used to discuss philosophy at the dinner table when their older son Laszlo, 14, was a toddler. It might have been “too much,” Gendler said, when they realized that one of Laszlo’s first words was “counterexample.” “We don’t have sharp boundaries between home and work. We spend a lot of time outside Yale, for instance, talking about research and ideas,” Bloom said. “I suppose this has its pros and cons, but I’m very happy with this sort of life.” Most couples interviewed said that while they often talk about their work , they seldom argue. This is the case with p s y -

chology professors Marvin Chun and Woo-kyoung Ahn, who both specialize in cognitive science but have distinct research interests. For others, being married to an academic within the same field can create ideal opportunities for close collaboration. This is the case with Slanski and Frahm, who have worked together on a variety of projects, such as leading an Assyriology summer program for Iraqi students and scholars. In 2003, following the United States’ invasion of Iraq, the two of them also drafted a petition to protect the artifacts that had been ransacked from the National Museum in Baghdad. The petition was signed by more than 700 scholars from around the world and presented to the United Nations Security Council. “We value each other’s work highly. I’m not sure that you could expect that from a partner who wasn’t an academic and couldn’t understand what it’s like to be in academia,” said Slanski. *** Many of the couples have been immersed in their fields of study for so long that it seems only natural to be married to someone who shares their passion. As Slanski noted, “[Being married to an academic in the same field] is so normal to us that we don’t think about it.” These professors’ attachment to scholarship goes beyond their commitment to one another, extending to their close social circles. In describing the series of events that led her and Szabó to Yale, Gendler remarked on all the encounters she had with Yale academic couples even before her and her husband became members of the faculty. She noted, for instance, that she and Szabó spent the 2003-’04 academic year on sabbatical in Hungary, where Szabo’s family resides. In the summer of 2004, Bloom and Wynn lived in the same apartment building as Gendler and Szabó in Budapest. As it turned out, Bloom and Wynn played a large role in compelling Gendler and Szabó to consider positions at Yale. The scholarly connections have extended to the professors’ children as well. The son of Bob Frank and Rafaella Zannuttini, both Linguistics professors, plays in a classical guitar quartet with Laszlo Szabó. When he was in the sixth grade, Laszlo attended Cold Spring School with Zach Bloom as well as the children of three other Yale professors (including the son of professors Michael Della Rocca and Christine Hayes). “It’s a small town …,” Gendler mused. Overall, professors said that their experiences as academic couples have been rewarding. It is comforting to be married to someone who can appreciate the challenges of academia, Chun said. “Being able to communicate and understand each other is a huge plus,” said Chun. “For example, we don’t have to explain the stress involved with having a grant proposal deadline or receiving a rejection letter from a journal or grant agency.” Slanski agreed. “I find [my husband’s] work very creative and exciting,” she said. “It’s a privilege that I don’t take for granted.”

Ethan Heard ’07 DRA ’13 creates Hades in a basement // BY JANE DARBY MENTON

Basement Hades: Songs of the Underworld, playing this weekend at the Yale Cabaret, reimagines the Orpheus myth through original text and music, multimedia clips, and — yes — even puppets. The show retells the myth with five different Orpheus’s, each representing one of the five stages of grief. Water sculptures, candlelight and hundreds of yards of web-like yarn transform the basement theater of the cabaret into mythical Hades, with audience and actors connected by the river Styx, painted on the floor. WEEKEND sat down with director Ethan Heard ’07 DRA ’13 to discuss the creative process behind the show.

Q. You directed another show, Trannequin, for the cabaret last semester. What brought you back to direct a show this spring? A. I’m a directing student here so I look for as many opportunities as I can. I had done Julius Caesar in the fall, so I was looking for something more musically oriented. I come from a music background; I was a Whiffenpoof and one of the Duke’s Men. Musicals are like therapy for me. Q. What drew you to the myth of Orpheus? A. We were looking for a story that invites musicality. I’ve directed Orpheus before for [Yale Baroque Opera Project] and I felt I had unfinished business with the story and wanted to develop it more. Q. How did you transform a familiar myth into a new experience for the audience? A. It’s a really eclectic mix of music — from the 18th century to last week. We wanted it to be surprising for the audience, for them to not know what would happen next. The audience is very much implicated in the world and the story as well; the river Styx is painted on the floor and weaves through the audience.

Q. What role does music play in ‘Basement Hades’? A. I would say that 80 percent of the show is music. Hades welcomes us to the world and frames the action, but we try to tell the story with music. And not just with music, also with sound. You enter and there is water dripping into buckets, a sound which continues to haunt the audience throughout the show. Q. What difficulties did you encounter in preparing for the production? A. Scheduling — it’s kind of crazy to get all these people together in the same room. Some people were commuting from NYC, others were traveling on their own. All the pieces kind of came together at the last minute. What was great was that we all really got along with each other and built a trust; everyone was very dedicated. Q. What do you hope the audience will take away from your show? A. I hope they can enjoy 45 minutes of beautiful surprising music, outrageous puppetry and stunning visuals. I hope they question definitions of play and concert. I hope they think about their loved ones — what they treasure about them and also what they miss about the ones who are gone. I hope it transports them into a different world — that they enter the cabaret and it is a really immersive, inviolable experience. Q. By the way, I love your shirt. It’s so colorful! A. Thanks! It’s my opening night shirt. Contact A8E< ;8I9P MENTON at jane.menton@yale.edu .

// ETHAN HEARD

Basement Hades at the Yale Cabaret.

Contact P8E8E N8E> at yanan.wang@yale.edu .

// KAREN TIAN

F R I D AY MARCH 22

JG8:< J?<<G 8E @E;<G<E;<EK =8J?@FE J?FN 9P <CC@P G<E># D: É() Morse College Dining Hall // 9:30 p.m.

Three separate collections tell the story of the past, future and present through the perspective of fashion.

N<<B<E; I<:FDD<E;J1 Worship your sun god of choice: Helios, Ra, Surya, Tonatiuh, Shemesh. Utu, Huitzilopochtli, Mithras, Freyr, Amaterasu, Garuda etc. Isn’t that what’s the happenin’ on Old Campus these days?

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND PANDEMANIA

Scott Stern does Peeta Mellark, better the girl can’t make up her damn mind). If I initially acted as Peeta did — team up with the Careers — but then didn’t save Katniss, my fiercest opponent would be out of the running right there. Problem solved, and I’m one step closer to winning the Hunger Games. At that point I could abandon the Careers, hopefully taking out Cato and that creepy girl with the knives as I flee. Then I would hide, allowing my opponents to pick each other off one by one. My strength is in my … well, strength, so I do fare well with close combat. It behooves me to fight as few competitors as possible, however, because hand-to-hand combat is tiresome. When I finally win, I will bring long-needed pride (and funds) to District 12. Perhaps we can expand the bakery! Oh, I’ll take care of Katniss’s family — far better than Gale ever would. Honestly, Gale … what kind of name is that anyway? Peeta is way more normal. Clearly.

Caroline + Peeta = Bliss in Panem // BY CAROLINE TAN

I spent a long time thinking about who I would be in “The Hunger Games,” and was torn between Foxface (in the sense that I don’t know how to hunt and would likely spend my time in the arena stealing from the other tributes while waiting for them to kill each other off) and Katniss (since I’m basically in love with Peeta and want to replace her as his on-screen lover). But Foxface doesn’t work for me because I don’t have red hair and don’t want to be a character without a real name anyway, and Katniss doesn’t work because I don’t have a handsome lover back home waiting for me to return. Unfortunately. So I decided I’d just be

Who cares about glory? Final moments with Alexander Ludwig

myself. Except I’d be a modified version of myself with a black belt and krav maga license — two useful self defense methods that will help in the arena when I face the other tributes and the Gamemakers’ tricks. In this parallel world, my romantic life would also be thriving. Peeta Mellark would be madly in love with me, and the two of us would share a budding romance that even President Snow could not deny. Besides, this arrangement works out best for everyone, as Katniss could continue her relationship with Gale and I could spend my time baking bread with Peeta. Everybody wins. And even better, the four of us could double date.

// BY NICK DEFIESTA Who cares who I am? All I know is that I’d do everything in my power to team up with Cato. Sure, Katniss might be all fiesty and Peeta’s got that whole lovey dovey thing going on, but have you seen Alexander Ludwig? I don’t care if he’d stab me in the back eventually, I just want my final moments in the arena to be spent next to the hottest (and deadliest) tribute in Panem.

Hum like a sewing machine, sting like a bee

A

re you hungry? Because we are. Hungry for victory. Hungry for survival in the fight till the bloody death. Or maybe we’re just hungry for “The Hunger Games.” This WEEKEND, our finest tributes share with us the personas of their fictive Panem counterparts and their strategies for tackling the Hunger Games. This much we know: they may not be strong, but they sure have skill. For the most part.

// BY SIJIA SONG Children make very unlikely gladiators. But don’t tell that to the orchestrators of the Hunger Games — or to the contestants who enter, “American Idol” style, into a bloody fight to the death. Given my own recent introduction to the series, it’s probably natural to spin out self-insertion scenarios in my head, to wonder what I would do in the Hunger Games, who I would ally with and what weapon I would use. The answer to the last: poisonous, genetically-modified wasps. Why? Because I’ve always wanted to shoot what amounts

to an angry, fuzzy homing missile at someone. Realistically, it’s a pretty infeasible idea. For starters, I’m afraid of insects. But the actual me — bespectacled, easily distracted and completely non-athletic — would never survive in dystopian Panem anyway, so I may as well suspend disbelief and indulge in the rule of cool. Of course, the actual Hunger Games run on the same rule. Like reality TV or professional wrestling, the Games operate as much on narrative tropes as on true skill. Viewers have the power to send in “gifts” to the competitors,

influencing the outcome, and the more likable the contestant, the greater the support. That’s why it would pay for me to be a plucky heroine from District 8 (Textiles) allied with a frail little girl to protect, as opposed to a smug killer with a chronic backstabbing disorder. Of course, this being the Hunger Games, my companion would likely be tragically killed by the others before the end, thus at least sparing me the need to do it myself. Yes, it really is that kind of book. And then there’s the small matter of revolution, because the Capitol government hasn’t just been using the

bloody spectacle of the Hunger Games as entertainment; they’ve also been oppressing my district. Anyone who thinks textile workers are docile should think again, because after years of inhaling factory smoke and chemical compounds, we’re just about ready for spontaneous combustion. Smash all the looms! Stab the Peacekeepers with knitting needles! If we burn, you burn with us! The Hunger Games are coming.

Mason strikes big with pinecones // BY MASON KROLL

Katniss can shoot a squirrel in the eye with a bow and arrow. Peeta can paint with all the colors of the mud to camouflage himself expertly in the riverbank. Rue can leap from tree to tree with the agility and grace gained only through years of experience. Their dire circumstances at home have given them the tools essential to survive in the arena. My childhood was far plushier, and I seriously worry that it has left me dangerously unprepared. Sure, I had a good education. I learned to play the piano. But when it comes to things that really matter — survival skills in a post-apocalyptic fight to the death — I come up emptyhanded. How talented is the tribute from District San Fernando Valley? What skills have I picked up from the land of scorching heat and ample frozen yogurt?

// TAO TAO HOLMES

S AT U R D AY MARCH 23

! IN

If I were a character in “The Hunger Games”, I would be Peeta Mellark. Clearly. I mean, there are really only two options for men, and I don’t even want to get into that other one. For girls, the choices are much more interesting — would you be the obvious choice (Katniss), the youthful choice (Prim), or the interesting choice (Foxface)? If I lacked the Y chromosome, I would definitely go with Rue (who was my favorite from the beginning). Peeta is honest, smart, and a fierce competitor. He — or rather I — would represent District 12 with pride. But I would have a very different strategy for winning than the Peeta known to “Hunger Games” readers and moviegoers: Screw Katniss … but not in the way you would expect Peeta to. I mean, betray Katniss! Look, the strategy of pretending to love her will work extremely well in getting sponsors. But it becomes problematic if I actually fall in love with her. Clearly. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and there is no place for silly romances (especially if

LE T

// BY SCOTT STERN

M E A S G BE E H G T

THE 7TH ANNUAL ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL WHC // All WEEKEND

“Scialla” for some laughs and “Terraferma” for a morally passionate drama about Italian immigration. See the WHC website for showtiems.

Let’s start with archery. At the summer camp I used to go to, we would go as a cabin to the archery range right next to the Ga-ga courts. The goal was to pop a balloon at the center of a bull’s-eye about 20 yards away. Forget about the balloon — I couldn’t even figure out how to get the arrow to stay up without slipping. Plus, the hours we spent learning about archery safety would probably inhibit my ability to lethally shoot someone in the heart. If my arts and crafts skills are any indication, attempting camouflage would be a disaster. I avoid going to the gym at reasonable hours for fear that people will judge me, so physical strength is out too. One time I went to a class on Tae Kwon Do, but it was just after the dentist extracted one of my teeth and I was a lot more concerned with why the inside of

my mouth felt like silly putty. The one thing I could bring to the table is some measure of speed. I mean, I ran cross country in high school, so that has to count for something. I would have to specify to my assailant that the exact distance I would be running for my life is five kilometers and that he couldn’t go too quickly at the beginning. Or, if there were hurdles conveniently placed every 35 meters, I’d be golden. Barring the implementation of some sort of affirmative action system for overprivileged tributes, the only way I might survive would be climbing a tree. From there, I could fling pinecones at my opponents until they moved on to some new target or I ran out of pinecones.

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: “The White Savior Industrial Complex” by Teju Cole in The Atlantic.

Tao: Meditation master, mutt — not a fighter // BY TAO TAO HOLMES A few things about the new female tribute from District Six. Keeping with the trends (Thresh, Rue, Clove, Cato), she has a punchy name loaded with all kinds of possible interpretations. Tao as in Dao, as in Tao-Te-Ching, as in Taoism? (The absolute principle underlying the universe, combining within itself the principles of yin and yang and signifying the way, or code of behavior, that is in harmony with the natural order?) That’s deep. And that’s what this tribute draws on to get herself to the final few: a harmony with nature that no other tributes possess. What’s the deal with the meditation skillz? Tao can meditate so hard that she can go for days without food or water, literally floating above her corporeal self into a trace-like, spirit state. Doesn’t need to waste her time and energy scampering around setting traps for rabbits, this one. But what does she do when 21 of the tributes have died out and her meditation isn’t proving very lethal? Well, she doesn’t come from District Six for nothing; Tao knows her medicinal flora and fauna like no other. Being all harmonious and everything, she’s not one for confrontation, so she mortar-andpestles up some not-so-medicinal concoctions, slips them into her com-

petitors’ sources of sustenance, and BAM, they die. Not really bam, but they die. Actually, the Capitol is pretty pissed that Tao cops her way out of a crowd-pleasing confrontational murder scheme. They force her into a final one-on-one and she legitimately learned nothing from the training session, so she gets killed within seconds. Basically, little female monks don’t make for great reality TV. But — Tao, along with her angsty monosyllabic name, also has another key trait: racial ambiguity. Have you seen the current tributes? Okay, all I’m saying is that in some futuristic North American hinterlandia, wouldn’t we be seeing a little more ethnic intermixing than Peeta, Katniss, and Gale have to show for? Actually, when Tao was looking at the current Guide to the Tributes at the Miami airport, she noticed they were all pretty much white, black, or Asian. What’s with that? Tribute boys from Districts Eight and Ten are a little less clear, but honestly, Panem. The Capitol could have definitely encouraged some more creative breeding. Get some mutts in the arena! Mutts put up a great fight. I mean, clearly not Tao, but generally speaking.

OSAMA PLAY: WRITTEN BY KENNETH REVEIZ ’12 AND DIRECTED BY GABE DELEON ’13. JE Theater// 4:00 p.m.

“You came into my life wanting attention and the dissolution of the white, Christian, American, nationalist, capitalist, imperialist hegemony, and all I wanted was to go to the grocery store and consume with the expectation that once I accrued enough capital and power I would be able to sleep with anybody I wanted to and still be publicly straight. A reason to believe.”

WEEKEND RECOMMENDS: “Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up,” a remix by Hugh Atkin.