BARNARD BARNARD
BULLETIN
Inside: From the Margins to the Mainstream: Trans Policies at Barnard
Vol. CXVII, Issue 8
March 8th-March 21st 2009
Letter From the Editors Our cover is a photograph of an actual bathroom door in the Barnard quad. We happened upon it while journeying through the first-year floors, remembering our floor meetings where our RAs asked us whether or not we felt comfortable with a co-ed bathroom. Last year, the New York Times Magazine ran an article about the former Barnard student Rey, who identified as male. In the article, the author noted, “Barnard does not have the kind of groups for trans students or awareness campaigns and genderneutral bathrooms that some of the other women’s colleges do.” These bathroom signs beg a larger question we face not as students who attend an all-women’s college, but, more specifically, as Barnard students: where does gender identity fit into everyday life at Barnard? In the Times article, Rey commented that he felt more welcome at Columbia, where he eventually transferred, than he did at Barnard, saying “Around the Barnard women, I felt extremely other.” This comes in contrast to Barnard’s long-held reputation as a liberal center for exploration of gender issues. According to another article in the New York Times on transgender policies in colleges around the country, the Medical director at Wesleyan’s student health services was encouraged by the school to “use a lot of my administrative time” to look at transgender health issues. At Smith, students voted to eliminate female pronouns from the student constitution, replacing “she and “her” with the phrase “the student.” These are the kind of forward-thinking role defying measures that one would expect to see at Barnard, particularly since Barnard’s Center for Research on Women has a strong focus on gender studies. Our centerpiece on page 16 explores the school’s policies on transgender students in light of Rey’s story, one year later, and a campus visit by transgender activist Dean Spade.
Editorial Board Co-Editors-in-Chief Alison Hodgson ’10 Allegra Panetto ’09 Managing Editor Viana Siniscalchi ’11 Editor-at-Large Amanda Lanceter ’09 Co-Features Editors Samantha Greenberg ’11 Hayley Panasiuk ’11 Politics & Opinion Editor Nancy Elshami ’10 Arts & Entertainment Editor Rebekah Kim ’10
Music Editor Rebecca Spalding ’12 New York City Living Editor Emma Brockway ’10 Art Director Emily Stein ’09 Head Copy Editor Gillian Adler ’10
Management Head of Finance Nelly Davcheva ’10 Advertising Manager Iffat Kabeer ’11 Office Manager Claire Frosch ’10
Please note that the opinions expressed by individual authors are not necessarily reflective of the Bulletin Staff.
Notably, Columbia’s university-wide non-discrimination policy includes “gender” and “sexual orientation,” but not the contemporary language of “gender identity” or “gender expression” included by many other colleges and universities. It is true that transgender students are in the minority at Barnard. However, if we want to shed the “girls in pearls” reputation that the New York Post so crudely used while describing Rey’s housing woes while at Barnard, or the “half finishing school” description used by the Times Magazine author, we still have some way to go.
Alison Hodgson
Allegra Panetto
Public Relations Coordinators Tracy Rodrigues ’11 Miriam Toaff ’10 Chief of Distribution Stefie Gan ’12
Front Cover Art
Production Associate Editors Ariel Merrick ’09 Daliya Poulose ’12 Amanda Rodhe ’12 Claire Stern ’12 Layout Editor Meagan McElroy ’10 Assistant Art Director Mabel McLean ’12
Want to support the Barnard Bulletin? Check donatons can be made payable to the Barnard Bulletin and sent to: Barnard Bulletin, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Photo Editor Julia Martinez ’09 Web Designer Diana Windemuth ’11
Concept: Alison Hodgson Allegra Panetto Emily Stein Photography: Emily Stein
Back Cover Mabel McLean
Want your artwork on the back? Please submit it by email to backcover@barnardbulletin.com.
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Features
Staf f Events Calendar 4 The Ar t of Negotiation 5 Bear Essentials 6 Reverberations 6 Well-Woman 7 Cooking Column: Your Own Red Lentil Soup 8 Pop Culture Obsessions 30 Alumna Let ter 31 Archive Page 4
Politics & Opinion
9 10 11 12
An Imperialist History of Rhetorical Questions Women in Politics Column: Clinton’s First Initiative as Secretar y of State A Call to Arms: Rereading Conflict The End of Guantanamo Bay
Centerpiece
16
From the Margins to the Mainstream: Trans Policies at Barnard
Arts & Entertainment
13
13
14 19 20 21
2009 Oscar Dopplegangers Barnard Theatre Department Thesis Show A MoMA-nt of Silence: Rediscovering Old Hollywood The “Third Mind” Exhibit at the Guggenheim The Brandeis Problem Musings of a Pop Culture Junkie: Scrubs
Music
22
Grammy Recap: Music’s 51st Annual Night to Remember
NYC Living
The Wandering Photographer 23 The Frugal Foodista: Lassi 24 The House That Ruth, the Taxpayer, Built 25 Finance Column: The Prarie Oyster 26 Times Square Loses Virginity and Turns 21 27 Why “The City” Belongs in Quotes 18
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features
Events Calendar: Staff Picks
March 8
March 20
Been obsessed with the band Ok Go since the day you first YouTubed their infamous treadmill dance? See them live tonight at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Doors open at 7:30 PM and tickets are $20. http://www. musichallofwilliamsburg.com
Love to gaze at the stars? Then attend the Astronomy Department Public Outreach Presents Public Lecture and Stargazing at Pupin Hall. Observe the sky from the telescopes of Rutherford Observatory! The event is free and starts at 8 pm. Go to http://outreach.astro.columbia.edu/ for more information.
March 9
March 21
Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum is hosting the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM at Low Memorial Library. A question and answer session will follow his keynote. Advance registration is required at www.worldleaders.columbia.edu
Miss the good old days when all you did in school was copy and paste stuff to create artwork? Well, revisit them in the Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament 2009 at Webster Hall. Now that you’re older, you can replace the glue and scissors with the computer! Tickets start at $15 and the event starts at 7 pm. See www. cutandpaste.com for details.
March 10 Are you a member of the Facebook group “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet”? If so, you may be interested in the expert panel discussion about our evolving solar system at the Hayden Planetarium. The event begins at 7:30 PM and student tickets can be purchased for $13.50 in advance. www.haydenplanetarium.org/programs/asimov Emma Brockway ’10. New York City Living Editor
March 21 If you’re willing to roam the city for some of the best chocolate there is to offer, come to the Chocolate and Dessert Walking Tour, which starts out at Jacques Torres Chocolate Shop. Your sweet tooth will be pleased. It starts at 1 pm and tickets are $40.
Daliya Poulose ’12, Associate Editor
The Art of Negotiation Tips on pay negotiation from powerful and accomplished women Situation: A coworker retires and you end up bearing the work burden. “When it comes to asking for a raise, it is best to put such feelings aside. Focus on the business case for boosting your salary. How much, by your calculation, have you saved the company? You may not know exactly what your retired colleague was making, but take a conservative guess. If, for example, she was earning $40,000 annually and you are doing half of her old job, then you are saving the company at least $20,000. Asking for a $10,000 raise, then, would seem absolutely fair. If you can attach a dollar value to the additional work you have been assigned since her departure, all the better. Estimates regarding the costs of employee turnover vary. According to a survey conducted by William M. Mercer Inc., however, 45 percent of companies report that turnover costs more than $10,000 per employee, and 20% of companies estimate that turnover costs more than $30,000 per employee. That covers costs including recruiting, lost productivity and the time that other employees spend covering for the vacancy. You can therefore argue that it would make no economic sense for your employer to refuse your offer and risk losing you”. Excerpted from washingtonpost.com Lily M. Garcia, Esq., SPHR, Senior Employee Relations Consultant, Employment Practices Solutions
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bear essentials PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT LOTTERY: Students must take part in the lottery in order to enroll in a laboratory or statistics course offered by the Department of Psychology. The lottery for courses offered in Fall 2009 will open on Monday, March 30, and close at 11pm on Sunday, April 5. If you have questions, please contact Ms. Megan Wacha, Psychology Dept. Administrator (mwacha@barnard. edu; 212-854-2069).
International students should speak with Dean Kuan Tsu or Dean Starks about the impact of study abroad on your visa.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: All F1 students who will be traveling outside the United States for spring break and whose I-20’s have signatures older than six months must obtain a new signature prior to leaving the US. Dean Kuan Tsu, Dean Starks and Mr. Farrell in the Dean of Studies Office are authorized to sign I-20’s. Seniors who are interested in working in the United States after graduation or any other F-1 students who wish to work off campus at a paid job or internship for the summer should make an appointment to see Dean Kuan Tsu or Dean Starks as soon as possible to begin the application process for optional practical training.
IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO TRAVEL ABROAD DURING SPRING BREAK, make sure you are up to date on your vaccines and aware of health concerns in the regions you are traveling to. Call Health Services at 212-854-2091 to schedule a pre-travel visit.
SPRING LISTENING HOURS: The Furman Counseling Center offers evening residence hall walk-in sessions. No appointment necessary. No concern or topic is too big or small. Whether the financial climate has you stressed and strained, or senior thesis and job searching feels overwhelming. Whether you need a place to talk out roommate and housing selection issues, or you just don’t know what’s bothering you but you think something is, drop by one of our Listening Hours and we’ll help you sort it out. Listening Hours are open to all Barnard students. They are held by Counseling Center staff on Tuesdays in Plimpton Hall, 7-9:30pm, and Thursdays in Elliott Hall, 7-9:30pm. STUDY ABROAD LISTSERV: If you would like to receive information regarding study abroad, or updates on upcoming events or visits, please send your name, email, and class to studyabroad@barnard.edu, and we will add you to our listserv. STUDENTS INTERESTED IN STUDYING ABROAD: As you begin to consider studying abroad, we encourage you to obtain a passport if you do not already have one. To start the process, visit the U.S. Department of State Passport Information website at http://travel. state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.
STRESSED OUT? Every Wednesday, 12:15-1pm, there’s a Stress Management workshop in the Well Woman office (119 Reid), facilitated by therapists from Furman Counseling. No sign up necessary, just show up. Come once, come every week!
BARNARD HEALTH SERVICES SPRING BREAK NOTICE: The Barnard College Student Health Services will be closed for clinical care during Spring Break, March 16-March 20. The Health Service will be open for administrative purposes only during the break, from 9am-4:30 pm. Barnard students will have access to Columbia University Health Services during the break for urgent care needs only. Call Health Services at Columbia at 212-854-7426 for information. Additionally, the Emergency Clinician-OnCall will be available 24/7 during Spring Break for telephone emergency medical advice at 866-966-7788. Emergency Room visits must be authorized by the Clinician-On-Call in order to activate the Barnard Student Medical Insurance for reimbursement. DEADLINE FOR WITHDRAWING FROM A COURSE OR UTILIZING THE PASS/D/FAIL OPTION is March 26. Please remember that you are expected to be enrolled for at least 12 points. SPRING 2009 PROGRAM PLANNING MEETINGS FOR MAJORS AND PROSPECTIVE MAJORS (scheduled as of 2/24/09): These meetings are very informative, and we urge prospective majors, as well as declared majors, to attend. AMERICAN STUDIES: Monday, March 23, 6-7pm, 421 Lehman ART HISTORY: Wednesday, March 25, 12pm, 305 Barnard Hall (Visual Arts Studio) ASIAN & MIDDLE EASTERN CULTURES: The Department does not hold a Program Planning Meeting, due to the variations across tracks in the major. If you are
interested in the major, please meet with the following persons, by world area: For China track: Focus on Social Sciences: contact Prof. Guobin Yang (gyang@barnard.edu, 321 Milbank, office hours: Tuesday 4-6pm, Wednesday 2-4pm). Focus on Humanities: contact Prof. Sun-Chul Kim (skim@barnard.edu, 303 Milbank, office hours: Monday 4-6pm). For Japan or Korea track: contact Prof. Sun-Chul Kim. For Middle East and South Asia track: contact Prof. Rachel McDermott (rmcdermott@barnard.edu, 321 Milbank, office hours: Monday 11am-1pm; Thursday 11am-12pm). BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES: Thursday, March 26, 12-1pm, 903 Altschul CHEMISTRY/BIOCHEMISTRY: Friday, April 3, 12-2pm, Sulzberger North Tower DANCE: Wednesday, March 11, 12pm, Barnard Annex (2nd floor) ECONOMICS: Thursday, March 26, 121pm, James Room (Barnard Hall 4th floor) EDUCATION: Thursday, March 12, 12pm, 327 Milbank ENGLISH: Tuesday, March 24, 2:304pm, Sulzberger Parlor (Barnard Hall 3rd floor) ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: Thursday, March 26, 6:30pm, 530 Altschul FRENCH: Thursday, March 12, 12-1pm, 306 Milbank HISTORY: Monday, March 30, 5-6pm, 409 Barnard Hall HUMAN RIGHTS: Thursday, March 12, 12:15-1pm, 225 Milbank NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR: Thursday, April 2, 12-1pm, 903 Altschul PHILOSOPHY: Tuesday, March 10, 121pm, 326 Milbank PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY: Tuesday, March 31, 4pm, 514 Altschul POLITICAL SCIENCE: Monday, March 30, 11:30am-1pm, Sulzberger North Tower PSYCHOLOGY: Thursday, March 26, 12pm, 323 Milbank SLAVIC: Wednesday, April 1, 5:306:30pm, 226 Milbank SOCIOLOGY: Tuesday, March 24, 4-5pm, 332 Milbank STATISTICS: Please contact Prof. Dan Rabinowitz, Undergraduate Adviser for the Department (dan@stat.columbia.edu; 212-851-2141). THEATRE: Wednesday, March 25, 6pm, 229 Milbank URBAN STUDIES: Wednesday, April 1, 6pm, 202 Barnard Hall
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features
R E VER B ER ATION S
Creative fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose submitted by Barnard students.
Valediction for George By Alicia Mountain On the august occasion of descent We recollect what has been won and spent; This George—our second—much like Britain’s third Did shine his light across the sovereign world. His measure of success in arts of War, His reign exceeding past the year of four, Misfortunes of a kingdom’s growing debt, Soldiers in hidden dungeons to abet— These trials Lord George so deftly did survive, While watching half of Orleans swim alive. Authority our ruler did expand, In necessary ways, you understand, With distant “rebels” he had to contend, Mere civil liberties did he offend. The dynasty falls to a darker age, Heaven and Earth grow hot in fits of rage, And years to come in books of History, America’s King George, what will he be? A man gone mad who ravaged all the globe? No, but a boy in Emperor’s newest robes.
Well-Woman As the end of winter approaches and we long for warm days spent lounging on the steps and walking the busy streets of Manhattan, I can’t help but get excited for the seasonal fruits and vegetables beginning to emerge. There’s something about fresh picked peas, tender asparagus, and juicy strawberries that’s so pleasurable it makes my mouth water and my stomach jump. Some may think I’m crazy, but it is exactly this pleasure from food that needs to be embraced. In Well-Woman we emphasize that small acts like eating breakfast daily and treating yourself to an indulgent dessert or relaxing massage can have a great impact on everyday wellness. Food, in particular, is essential to our well-being. The one thing we all have in common is our need to eat. Food is the fuel for our body that allows us to get to class and meet up with our friends. It is proven that eating a healthy breakfast, complete with whole grains, fruits, and protein, boosts
your ability to concentrate and get through the day. Eating is also good for the soul. Friendships and relationships are forged over shared meals and drinks. Grandma’s secret pie recipe or your hometown specialty dish can bring you comfort and remind you of important people or events in your life. It’s no wonder that March, the month of growth and women’s history, is also food awareness month. Yet, if food is so important to our survival and to our relationships, why do people forget to eat or end up eating on the run, in class, or at the start of a week’s worth of work? To most, food is something that appears on a plate or in the store, bereft of any known origin. Do you know how your meal got to your plate? Do you know how it was produced and if the workers involved in its development were treated justly? Do you know if the environment is being harmed by the production of your meal?
By Chelsea Whittaker We may not all have the time or finances to buy sustainable and organic foods, to frequent to the New York Greenmarkets, or to worry about where our food is coming from. But as it is food awareness month, try to take time to start asking these questions and begin to develop a greater consciousness about your food. The pleasures of eating go beyond the initial taste. The pleasures can come from a greater knowledge of the food, an understanding of the physical and mental benefits of healthful eating, and a hand in preparing and cooking the food. Ultimately, these pleasures lead to a holistically healthy body and mind. For more information on healthy, sustainable eating and for recipes and quick tips, stop by Well-Woman in 119 Reid and check out our blog at www. wellwoman.wordpress.com. Eat Well. Be Well. Chelsea Whittaker is a Barnard senior and a Well-Woman Peer Educator.
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cooking
Photograph by Christina Black. Drawing by Sonia Tycko.
Your Own Red Lentil Soup There is a feeling of pride when one can cook something delicious without a set of instructions or a recipe. It is often a point of pride among home cooks, implying that one has finally come of age in a culinary sense, and that instincts reign supreme in the kitchen. The cookbooks and biographies of James Beard (the American culinary giant of the greater part of the 20th century) have filled my reading list of late and made him endearing to me, notably for how he relaxed in his later years to empower his readers to experiment for themselves. In James Beard on Pasta he merely gives ideas, inspiration, and basic technique, suggesting that his cookbook is the musical theme on which the cook can create a myriad of variations. While I cannot claim Beard’s genius or culinary stature, this column takes inspiration from his later years in offering a very basic formula easily transformed into the exact recipe of your desires. This is based on a superb New York Times recipe, “Red Lentil Soup with Lemon”. Its beauty lies in the soup’s malleability to vegetarian or carnivorous tastes, prepared equally for a light lunch, or hearty supper. You are in total control of the recipe. Your specific cravings give it purpose. The essentials for this favorite meal of mine are red lentils, a small onion, and some of your favorite spices. Red lentils expand when cooked into a creamy texture. They can handle any amount of water or stock you add so that not only can you control the consistency of your soup, but also so that it’s nearly impossible to make a mistake. As meat eater, I often turn the soup into a meal by searing salt and pepperseasoned chicken breast or thighs in the bottom of the pan with a little vegetable oil, adding the diced onion, red lentils, seasonings, and stock on top of it. The chicken finishes cooking in the soup, and you can bet it never dries out. Red lentil soup, in whatever form you make it, truly benefits from adding fresh, bright flavors at the very end, such as lemon and parsley or cilantro. Warm bread to sop up the remains never goes
amiss either. Without further ado, a list of ingredients and a basic cooking method to tweak as you please. Happy cooking! -Red lentils (1 cup usually feeds 4 people) -Chicken or vegetable stock (wellseasoned water can substitute) -1 onion, diced -1 large carrot, peeled and diced -Olive oil or vegetable oil -Potato, in large chunks (optional) -Chicken breast or thigh (optional) -Seasonings to taste (salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, ground coriander, ground cumin, garam masala, red chili flakes…) -Tomato paste (1 Tb per cup of red lentils usually) -Lemon or lime wedges -Cilantro or parsley, chopped If using chicken, season it on both sides with salt and pepper Heat up a hearty drizzle of oil in the bottom of a soup pot Cook the chicken about 4 minutes per side until golden, you’ll hear a sizzle
A column by Christina Black when it enters the pot when it is hot enough. Don’t touch the chicken during the 4 minutes or it won’t sear nicely. Add chopped onion and carrot to pot with a pinch of salt and pepper. **If you’re not adding chicken start with this step and don’t heat up the oil first. Stir well and cook until the onions and carrot become soft, about 5 minutes. Add red lentils and plenty of your favorite spices, stir well. Add stock or water, at least to cover the red lentils, although you can add much more. Red lentil soup usually takes 1 quart of liquid per cup of lentils. If adding tomato paste or potato, stir it in now. Bring pot to a boil for a minute, then turn it down to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes, until the red lentils have expanded and are soft to eat. Taste for seasoning again and adjust to your liking. Serve the soup with a wedge of lemon or lime and a sprinkle of freshly chopped cilantro or parsley.
Christina Black is a Barnard senior and Bulletin cooking columnist.
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features
Pop Culture Obsessions By Amanda Evans
After a nine-hour day in Butler consisting of nonstop work and studying, I decided that an evening of relaxation was in order. I rewarded myself by logging onto the celebrity gossip website Perez Hilton, while simultaneously downloading the season finale of Momma’s Boys—reality TV’s trashiest new edition. My post-library downtime is not unlike that of many Barnard students, which raises the question – why do intelligent and intellectual Barnard women look to such mindless sources for entertainment? Gossip websites like PerezHilton and PopSugar, magazines such as US Weekly, Glamour, and Lucky, and television shows such as One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl and Grey’s Anatomy are all a common aspect of our popular culture, which entertain Barnard women. Yet, these things have virtually nothing to do with academia and often seem irrelevant to our studies here at Barnard. Alexandra Ingber, BC ’12, explains that it makes sense for such intellectual individuals to look to nonintellectual areas for fun. She said, “While I personally don’t like things like US Weekly and reality television, these things are an escape for many Barnard women; it makes them normal—if we were to constantly be surrounded by intellectual intense stuff we would run out of steam,” she says. Kathryn Altomonte, BC ’09, admits that in her downtime she is more often than not engaging in pop culture- oriented activities. She visits the online tabloid www.popsugar.com every day. She explains that this is the way “society is wired. The day after the Obama press conference, I picked up the Wall Street Journal and the front page was a huge picture of Alexander Rodriguez admitting to using steroids. It was pretty sad that the Wall Street Journal would put more emphasis on a steroid scandal than our president talking about the economy.” She adds that it is “more fun to read gossip than to think about how my graduating class will be unemployed in a few months.” These somewhat “vapid” magazines do have a purpose – they provide individuals with an escape from reality.
Margaux Groux, BC ’12, agrees. “If you look at world culture, even the wealthiest CEOs enjoy things like wrestling and boxing,” she says. Carla Stoffel, BC ’11, has no shame for her love of magazines and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She explains that liking “trashy TV or magazines has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence.” She says that even though she doesn’t read many bad magazines anymore she still loves them. “The other day I saw someone had left US Weekly on the plane I was on. I was so excited I grabbed it as fast as I could,” she says. She knows that seeing the media criticize weight gain in Jessica Simpson (or Jessica Blimpson, as Perez Hilton has so endearingly named her) may not be an entirely horrible thing. “It’s not like it’s thing that she gained weight, but it made me feel better to read about other people’s problems,” she says. Rachel Abady, BC ’12, agrees, “You can’t take things like Perez [Hilton] seriously. Names like Jessica Blimpson
and Jennifer Maniston are humorous, and the primary reason people love it is because it makes them feel better about themselves; it’s mindless and relaxing.” Even so, not all Barnard women partake in the obsession with celebrity gossip and soap opera-like TV dramas. Daryl Seitchik, BC ’12, says, “it’s much better to read a good novel than to watch mindless television. It annoys me when I am sitting at the dinner table and all my friends talk about is the latest episode of ‘One Tree Hill.’” She adds, “Magazines, such as US Weekly, and websites, such as Perez Hilton, focus primarily on petty issues, and are simply a waste of paper.” However, if after graduation you find yourself unable to find a job, becoming a celebrity may be an option. As Perez says in his book Red Carpet Suicide, “Anyone can get famous with the right tools, no talent necessary.” And if you make it into www.PerezHilton.com, you know you’ve truly made it. Amanda Evans is a Barnard first-year.
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politics
& opinion
An Imperialist History of Rhetorical Questions By Nancy Elshami Every so often, a new pertinent ‘question’ is situated at the center of international political ideology and discourse. Questions concerning groups of people, pieces of land or even whole empires have become integral to our global history. These questions mark significant points of policy change, and shape cultural perceptions and apprehensions. As agendas change and questions are ‘answered,’ more questions arise, suspending us in a seemingly endless imperialist question and answer session. Of the more profound questions surfacing in the late 18th century was the Jewish Question, born out of the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. This idea gained momentum as concern over the status of Jews in European society intensified. Interestingly enough, from the Jewish Question there emerged both the Zionist Program and the Nazis’ Final Solution. The question, though, was not a question at all, but a euphemized agenda. The ‘question’ was not whether to rid Europe of the Jews, but how to do it. Clearly, opinions were divergent, but Great Britain ultimately went in support of the Zionist program as it posed a partial solution to another pressing issue on the isle’s mind. The Eastern Question was just as rhetorical as the Jewish Question. It concerned itself with the disintegrating Ottoman Empire, and how the empire should be dealt with. It was not a question of preserving the Ottoman Empire, or the rights of religious minorities within the empire, but of upholding European states’ interests and keeping Russian influence at a minimum. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, promising a Jewish homeland in Palestine, was a strategic maneuver by Great Britain to impose discontinuity in the region and thwart any prospect of a single powerful Arab state. The mandates and arbitrary divisions which sliced the Ottoman Empire into spheres of influence after World War I further achieved this end. The ‘answer’ to these questions, endorsed by the same powers that posed the questions to begin with, did not actually solve anything. The state of Israel was established in a marvelous sweep of
killing two birds with one stone. Through the foundation of the state of Israel, antiSemitism certainly was not eradicated, but rather than viewing them as a parasitic component of society, Europeans could now share mutual interests with the Jews. Moreover, with the foundation of Israel stemmed one of the most profound questions of our time, and that is the Palestinian Question. What this phraseology achieves is not to question, but to prelude. The ‘end’ is usually very simple for imperialist governments to conceive of; it’s the ‘means’ that are often difficult to execute. By posing such issues as the Ottoman, the Jewish, the Palestinian and several others throughout history in the framework of a question, a problem, an unsolvable issue, concerns begin to rise. Urgency and necessity become an unrelenting force, and so the ‘answer’ or the ‘end’ is reached at whatever price possible. What is perhaps more significant about this phenomenon is the cultural perceptions and prejudices it engrains in society. History is laden with these questions. Examining them (why they were asked, who has asked them, and more im-
portantly, who has answered them and who benefits from these answers) allows us to analyze the past more comprehensively. Questions breed more questions; these questions are posed only by the powerful, who inquire to maximize profits and prevent competition. Whether the answers to these questions leave people dispossessed, at war, or oppressed is insignificant. Such trivialities only become worthwhile when they interfere with imperialist agendas, in which case, the problem is addressed by yet another question. And so the cycle continues.
“Urgency and necessity become an unrelenting force, and so the ‘answer’ or the ‘end’ is reached at whatever price possible.”
Nancy Elshami is a Barnard junior and Bulletin Politics and Opinion Editor.
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politics
& opinion
By Gillian Adler
The new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton carries the baggage of being fiercely pro-Israel, which provokes suspicion about her position as a conciliatory mediator in the conflicts of the Middle East. Former United States President Bill Clinton, her husband, has a legacy in dealing with Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. This foundation also situates Hillary in a problematic position. Her loyalty to Israel will undoubtedly facilitate trying peace negotiations with the newly elected Israeli government, but on the other hand might cause her to be viewed apprehensively by the Arab world. She did, in fact, vote to label Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group during the Bush administration. Obama voted against this label, and indeed criticized Clinton for her decision. Ostensibly for these reasons, the Obama administration appointed Senator of Maine George Mitchell as special en-
voy to the Middle East, taking over a number of responsibilities that inherently belong to the Secretary of State. Nevertheless, the Obama administration decided to appoint Mitchell on the grounds that he posits a worldview of fairness and good intentions to the public, and that he will help to create peace-talks and to dispel conflicts in this region. Clinton herself claimed to encourage the naming of Mitchell as special envoy. Fortunately, however, Clinton has commenced her political peregrinations in Asia. During her presidential campaign last year, Clinton claimed that the American relationship with China would be “the most important bilateral relationship in the world this century;” Clinton has wisely decided that China will be front and center in her motions in the international sphere, and this will be particularly beneficial to the restoration of the United States’ economic health. Her recent trip to Asia also suggests the new administration’s hope to secure and improve ties with China, Japan, Indonesia, and Korea. According to www.timesonline.com, Clinton declared during a speech in New York, “Some believe that China on the rise is, by definition, an adversary. To the contrary, we believe that the United States and China can benefit from and contribute to each other’s successes.” Clinton hopes to improve the situation particularly in North Korea, where the U.S. seeks to grapple with the region’s nuclear initiatives. Obama’s administration is maintaining the policies of the
Drawing by Stefie Gan.
Clinton’s First Initiative as Secretary of State Bush administration regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapon plans. Clinton, who believes that nuclear weapons could become the most malignant force to threaten the stability of Northeast Asia, will concentrate on international talks to convince Pyongyang to renounce its nuclear program and ambitions. Additionally in Asia, Obama and Clinton believe that China must be a key player in addressing and challenging climate change. China was recently announced the largest global emitter of greenhouse gasses. The new U.S. administration hopes to create a partnership with Beijing, in particular, to confront global warming, primarily because the city possesses almost $700 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. Obama and Clinton believe that by encouraging China to lower carbon emissions, the U.S. will advance the possibility of creating a deal in Copenhagen, Denmark in a post-Kyoto treaty on climate change. Clinton has marked her turf as a United States diplomat in Asia, as of now. While Senator Mitchell has accepted to oversee relations in the Middle East and Richard Holbrook plans to represent the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Clinton has asserted proud ownership over her appointed assignment. Perhaps the congested upper echelon of Obama’s foreign policy team is a necessity in this global atmosphere of complications and conflicts.
“Clinton has marked her turf as a United States diplomat in Asia, as of now.”
Gillian Adler is a Barnard junior and Bulletin Head Copy Editor.
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politics
& opinion
A Call To Arms: Rereading Conflict As the prototypically altruistic college student, we’ve all been there. You go on the website of your favorite news source and a shocking headline from Africa grabs your attention. Rebels wielding machetes, mass starvation, refugees in the hundreds of thousands, unfettered sexual violence, genocide or even a combination of these “unspeakable” acts dominate the headlines. In this vein, senseless massacres, apprehended or elusive warlords and deadly epidemics are among the most recent headlines assigned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and have been for decades. Judith Matloff, a professor at Columbia’s Journalism School, who was a reporter in the African Bureau of The Christian Science Monitor after the 1994 Rwandan genocide says, “The brutality in DRC is a mere abstraction for most Americans. I feel it is incumbent on reporters to convey the horror. The public needs to comprehend the magnitude of these deeds.” In an age when such information is literally at our fingertips, it is the visceral that both disgusts and entices. But what, exactly, are we learning? Indeed, the inherent complexities that have evolved after years of ongoing civil war and violence are not only hard to explain but are also difficult to
comprehend. With the conflict in DRC, the rift between experts and the average, caring citizen is chillingly apparent. Often, even those with a vested interest remain underinformed. In other words, when most follow the conflict in DRC, the horse leads the cart. Severine Autesserre, a Political Science professor at Barnard and expert on DRC believes that most major news sources oversimplify the conflict. “They assume the public won’t understand,” she says. “The stories focus on sexual violence, like rape, or massacres with machetes to grab attention. There is a failure to reconceptualize Congo.” Professor Autesserre noted that many of the accounts of the violence even misreport the most fundamental aspects of the stories, such as the location. This failure to reconceptualize conflict outside of the realm of the sensational, specifically in Africa, manifests itself in a variety of ways. Some are exceedingly ridiculous. Take, for instance, the new initiative by NBC News where they take the “To Catch a Predator” model and apply it to possible Rwandan warlords who live in asylum in the United States. Even in the early stages of planning the show, which has yet to air, the producers ran into trouble with the FBI and various human rights groups for hin-
By Allegra Panetto dering prior investigations. Here, we see an instance of a major news network entering the extremely delicate arena of transitional justice. It is yet another brazen example of a growing culture of media desperation: why leave it to the experts, such as non-governmental organizations that are dedicated solely to such initiatives, when you can boost ratings? However, sometimes creating a media sensation can prove helpful. Josh
“The onus is on media consumers to self-educate after reading conflict related stories, especially if the stories strike a chord.” Ruxin, the director of the Center for Global Health and Economic Development at Columbia, who is a guest blogger on New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s “On the Ground” blog observes, “When celebrities know the issues well I think they bring news to an audience that sorely needs to hear what’s happening. This reminds me of some work I did years ago with Danny Glover, a gentleman who understands how celebrity can be helpful. He called on Senator Kerry to discuss the Global Fund. Kerry opened the door for Glover and then handed the floor to me. That’s the right way for celebrities to be helpful.” And now for the Kristof-ian plea: next time you read an article on DRC, or any conflict in the world, take the extra five or ten minutes to do some research. The onus is on media consumers to selfeducate after reading conflict related stories, especially if the stories strike a chord. Resources such as the International Crisis Group are as readily available as CNN.com, and provide excellent summaries that are both comprehensive and thorough. If knowledge is indeed power, it’s the least we can do.
Allegra Panetto is a Barnard senior and Bulletin Co-Editor-in-Chief.
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politics
& opinion
The End of Guantanamo Bay By Sigourney LaBarre Only two days after his inauguration, President Obama signed his order to close Guantanamo Bay within the next year. He also ordered the closure of foreign prisons developed by the CIA as well as a ban on torture and other inhumane techniques of interrogation. To ensure that all United States officials, including CIA investigators and military soldiers, employ the same acceptable interrogation techniques, President Obama also enforced the adherence to the United States Field Manual during interrogation of all prisoners and detainees. While he campaigned for the November election, President Obama announced that he intended to close Guantanamo Bay as one of his first executive actions in office if he were elected. His campaign advisors admitted to the media that the closure of the prison was controversial, but they also stressed the importance of closing Guantanamo Bay as a bold step away from the policies of the Bush administration that many believed to be the cause of negative perceptions of the United States in global politics. The Obama administration initiated the process of closing Guantanamo Bay during the second week of February. The Justice Department began to gather evidence against each of the prisoners at the detainee camp, which is the first step in the process toward reversing the detention policies of the Bush administration that many human rights advocates in the United States as well as around the world have strongly opposed. The order to close Guantanamo Bay has stirred immense controversy among Americans on several different levels. At the federal level, the main issue seems to be the tension between pure moral obligation to the Geneva Conventions and establishing a process of law that the government can promise to maintain in each and every case for all of the prisoners that would be released
from the detainee camp. This will not be an easy task, since each prisoner has a different case. The United States can send some prisoners to their home countries to be tried, while other prisoners will have to remain in the United States for their trials. Still others, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who claimed to be one of the principal coordinators of the attack on September 11, 2001, have enough evidence to implicate them that they must remain in the United States, but they cannot be tried because the evidence against them was gathered through unlawful methods of interrogation. Thus, thorough and clear guidelines must be established in order to guarantee that all prisoners released from the prison will have a place to go. At the state level, many senators have expressed concern about the implications of releasing more than 200 prisoners captured on the allegation of terrorism against the United States. Those prisoners, who will remain in the United States for their trials, will most likely be placed in prisons around the country. Two likely locations include a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and a naval ship in North Carolina. Senator
Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas, has stated publicly in regard to this prospect, “Absolutely opposed. The community is opposed. The base is opposed.” Many people feel threatened by the presence of accused terrorists within the borders of the country, not to mention within the borders of their own states and towns. On the most personal level, many tensions exist between the pervasive immorality at Gauntanamo Bay and the justice that many citizens, especially those related to victims of September 11, feel is necessary in order for the United States to uphold its image as a strong nation. It has been made evident in many firsthand accounts from prisoners and guards as well as in many investigative reports from journalists that the standards of treatment at Guantanamo Bay need to be thoroughly investigated and evaluated. No matter what the outcome of closing Guantanamo Bay might be, President Obama made one thing absolutely clear during his address to the State Department on the same day that he signed the executive order: “I can say without hesitation or equivocation that the United States will not torture.”
Sigourney LaBarre is a Barnard sophomore and Bulletin staff writer.
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arts
& entertainment
Double Bill: 2009 Oscar Dopplegangers A young woman becomes embroiled in a complicated series of love affairs, all of which seem to center around a character played by a volatile and virile Javier Bardem. Lovers are swapped and blood is shed, all against the backdrop of the beautiful Spanish countryside. The woman is as hotblooded as she is beautiful, and is played to critical acclaim by Penélope Cruz. The film just described is not 2008’s Vicky Christina Barcelona, for which Cruz recently won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Instead, it is Jamón, jamón, a 1992 Spanish comedy/drama, which also happened to be Cruz’s film debut. Her first role so neatly mirrors her Academy Awardwinning performance that the two characters could be the same woman filmed at different periods in her life. Silvia from Jamón, jamón is a young, sensual ingénue who is seduced, and brought away from her incompetent fiancé, by Javier Bardem’s character Raúl. The sexual tension between the two is tangible and could easily translate into the unstable, violent passion shared by Bardem and Cruz as a divorced couple in Vicky Christina Barcelona. The parallels between Cruz’s first role and her Academy Award-winner mark a trend, in which there is an uncanny relationship between this year’s Oscar films and the winners’ debuts. Take Kate Winslet, who took home the award for Best Actress for playing an illiterate ex-SS guard in The Reader. Her first role was in 1994’s Heavenly Creatures, in which she and Melanie Lynskey played teenage girls who bludgeon Lynskey’s
By Liz Watson mother to death after she attempts to separate the two friends. In both cases, the viewer is asked to sympathize with a character who has done something inherently monstrous. Both Juliet (Heavenly Creatures) and Hanna (The Reader) are characters humanized through a deep love of literature and narrative, and they are both shown capable of intense, enduring love and devotion to another character—to the extent that their love almost absolves them in the audience’s eyes. The comparisons continue, with Best Picture Winner Slumdog Millionaire finding its evil twin in director Danny Boyle’s first feature, Shallow Grave. Both films center around two boys and a girl, linked by extraordinary circumstances, who find themselves entangled in a dark world of violence and betrayal. A huge sum of money acts as the McGuffin, and one figure of the trio is dead by the end of both pictures. However, while in Shallow Grave the closeness of the characters catalyzes their brutal fates, in Slumdog the relationships among the three are what ultimately liberate and redeem them. Heath Ledger nabbed Best Supporting Actor for smearing on pancake makeup and giving a haunting, horrifying performance in The Dark Knight. In the little-seen Australian comedy Clowning Around, Heath Ledger had his first onscreen role, one which would eerily echo his last before his untimely death. The man who will be forever remembered for playing the Joker started his career in 1992 as “Orphan Clown.” Liz Watson is a Barnard first-year.
Photograph by Embry Owen.
Barnard Theatre Thesis Program: “Sorry, Wrong Number” By Shazeeda Bhola Sarah Hartmann, BC ’09, is one of three showcasing directors in this year’s Senior Thesis Festival for the Barnard Theatre Department. She has chosen to direct Lucille Fletcher’s suspense thriller Sorry, Wrong Number, the story of a bedridden woman who mistakenly overhears a murder plot over the phone—problem is, no one believes her story. It seems the choice of play was easy for Sarah since Sorry, Wrong Number exemplifies what she appreciates most about theatre: its ability to tell stories differently from film or television. Sarah admits that she was on the edge of her seat when she read the script and was intrigued by the fact that the story is an entirely auditory experience for the main character, Mrs. Stevenson. Sorry, Wrong Number began as a radio play, which Sarah has interpreted through “the visual medium of theatre,” as she put it. Theatre, as opposed to film and television, can allow two scenes to occur simultaneously—in this case, there is the protagonist overhearing the murder plot and then there are the characters planning the crime. Of theatre and the show itself, Sarah remarked, “Theatre creates live experiences for the audience—the actors and the audience are all in the same space at the same time.” Her interpretation of the play invites the audience to participate in the action happening on stage. The audience has the unique experience of being cognizant to both the protagonist’s experi-
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ence and the actual origin of the sounds. As director of the play, Sarah is at the heart of the production, design, and communication necessary to make Fletcher’s script come to life. Though it gets difficult to balance work, school, and directing her first play, the process is thoroughly enjoyable for Sarah. After all, she is the creative mind behind a show that will truly exemplify the lively quality of theatre. Barnard Department of Theatre Spring 2009 Senior Thesis Festival I Sorry, Wrong Number directed by Sarah Hartmann Little Brother, Little Sister directed by Natalie Glick Life Under Water directed by Rebecca Versacci The Festival runs March 5-7 at Minor Latham Playhouse Tickets are free and available at the TIC in Lerner Hall Shazeeda Bhola is a Barnard sophomore.
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arts
& entertainment
A MoMA-nt of Silence: Redis
“A live piano acc helps to transpo the glamorous se black-and-white which are devoid definitely not lac emotional satura
By Jenny Lyubomudrova If you’ve ever felt like pausing the rush of today’s Hollywood film culture—a stream of gory movies followed by bad romantic comedies—you should take a trip to Midtown and shortly leave today’s media world for one of silent
film. The Museum of Modern Art is holding an exhibit that combines silent film screenings from the 1920s era with original film posters, individually handpainted for the feature films. Open
through March 14, the exhibit consists of two complementary projects: the film exhibition Batiste Madalena and the Cinema of the 1920s, and Madalena’s Hand-Painted Film Posters for the Eastman Theatre.
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arts
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ediscovering Early Hollywood
Photographs by Jen Oh.
As the exhibit explains, the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, NY, then owned by industrialist George Eastman, was a mecca for silent film audiences in the last decade of the silent-film era. Eastman commissioned the artist Batiste Madalena to create original film posters advertising the Theatre’s silent screenings. Having to appeal to a sophisticated audience as well as a demanding Eastman, Madalena created over 1,400 unique works over a course of four years, sometimes painting a total of eight posters a week, each of which today is more suited to MoMA than a movie venue. Each poster is a careful combination of bright colors and bold silhouettes, invoking Art-Deco style and incorporating the vivid and stunningly engaging melodramatic quality of the silent-film era. One particular poster features the famous profile of John Barrymore, grandfather of Drew Barrymore. Following in the colorful footsteps of the rest of the Madalena posters, this advertisement for Beau Brummel boasts Barrymore’s black silhouette along with an appropriately theatrical phrase that reads, “He won the hearts of all women except the women he loved.” On the opposing wall another set of posters from the same series is so original it’s hard to believe it is the product of the same artist. One poster features an almost caricature-like face of the stunning Greta Garbo as The Mysterious Lady—a dramatic pre-World War I tale of a cunning Russian spy who ultimately falls for the charming young Austrian officer whom she is sent out to sabotage. Keeping in mind that (as with admission to the museum) a movie ticket is free with CUID, it might be a good idea to devote a weekend evening to the kind of entertainment our great-grandparents used to enjoy for nearly the same price. Upcoming films include Beau Brummel, the Barrymore film based on the 1916 British play by Clyde Fitch; as well as a gang drama, Underworld; and a popular comedy about a young football player titled The Freshman. Both films stunningly differ from their contemporary namesakes, particularly with today’s Underworld being a cliché vampire drama rather than a glamorized story of 20thcentury gangs. The films featured along with the Madalena posters are presented in the fashion in which they would have been originally shown, preceded by introductions that serve to further explain the history of the Theater and the films. A live piano accompaniment helps to transport the viewer into the glamorous setting of the black-and-white presentations, which are devoid of words but definitely not lacking in emotional saturation. Although most modern movie audiences would probably expect to lose interest shortly into the films—which attempt to compensate for the lack of spoken dialogue with characteristic over-acting—the popularity of the exhibit proves that the glamorous productions have stood the test of time and continue to captivate audiences generations later.
no accompaniment ansport the viewer into rous setting of the white presentations, devoid of words but not lacking in saturation.”
Jenny Lyubomudrova is a Barnard first-year. Batiste Madalena and the Cinema of the 192os and Madalena’s Hand-Painted Film Posters for the Eastman Theatre, 1924-1928 run through March 14, 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth Avenues Beau Brummel (1924), Saturday, March 14, 2 p.m. The Freshman (1925), Saturday, March 14, 4:30 p.m. Underworld (1927), Saturday, March 14, 6:30 p.m.
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centerpiece
From the Margins to the Mainstream: Trans Policies at Barnard By Sigourney LaBarre and Sara Jane Panfil
For the second consecutive year, the campus organization Q has organized and hosted a forum on gender sponsored by the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW). This year the forum included a lecture by Dean Spade, a former transgendered student at Barnard, who graduated five years ago and is now a prominent figure in the world of queer and trans law and politics. In a theoretically single-sex learning environment such as Barnard, the topics addressed in this forum particularly resonated in light of recent questions concerning school gender policies and philosophies. A March 16, 2008 New York Times Magazine article, “When Girls Will Be Boys,” brought the issue to a national audience, adding additional prominence to this already contentious issue. Oftentimes, the trans debate centers around how to award legal and medical protections to non-sexually conformist persons, which heterosexual, genderconforming citizens already enjoy. During his lecture, Spade instead chose to focus on the future of the total trans life experience, opting not to define it along traditional hetero-normative terms. “How could we come to have this belief that what the law says about you is the sum total of our goals?” he asked, echoing a sentiment that has recently gained ground in Barnard’s queer-activist arena. Rebecca Young, an Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at Barnard, has published articles and given lectures that operate along the same lines. Focusing largely on behavior-based sexual terminology, she writes, “deflects attention from social dimensions of sexuality that are critical in understanding sexual health.” Obscuring the “big picture” of increasing everybody’s right to live long, fulfilling lives in favor of emphasizing “equality” in legal or medical terminology eliminates opportunities to make truly deep, lasting changes in gender relations. Former Barnard student Dean Spade, transgender activist and founder of Sylvia Project, identifies as trans-male.
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centerpiece Of course, translating this into actual policy is another matter. The 2008 “As a women’s college, New York Times article referenced an incident at Barnard involving a first-year Barnard is allowed to trans-male, who dropped out of Barnard after his roommates filed an official discriminate based on complaint with the Residential Life and sex as long as all legal Housing Office because of his gender identity. For this reason, Q, Barnard’s males are excluded from queer-activist organization, works to acceptance.” translate this sympathetic rhetoric into a school philosophy that will make all students feel safe and welcome. Anna Steffens, a junior at Barnard and the co-president of Q, is one of the campus’s pioneers for making this vision of overall sex-identity acceptance a reality. For Steffens, Q, along with other students on campus who are aware of the transgender discussion, it is irrelevant why a person identifying as male would choose to attend an ostensibly all-women’s college. She explained that no matter how a student gets to Barnard, “Once you’re here we have a responsibility to you.” Natalie Wittlin, the other co-president of Q, notes that “how supportive Barnard is of students who already identify as male (though are legally still female) when they enter... is a matter of debate.” Although many teachers and students claim to ally themselves with the Q cause, incidents like those described in the New York Times article throw this rhetoric into doubt.
Rebecca Young, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at Barnard.
At this point Barnard only accepts legal females – in other words, biological and anatomical females. If someone born female identifies as male, he is legally eligible for acceptance to Barnard. To change this policy to include acceptance of legal males who identify as female could likely lead to legal complications for Barnard. As a women’s college, Barnard is allowed to discriminate based on sex as long as all legal males are excluded from acceptance. However, if they were to admit a legal male who identifies as female, Barnard would lose that legal right. Thus, for the time being, the objective of Q is not to change the acceptance policies of Barnard but to improve the policies that relate to student life on campus. It is about making “change on the level of provision of resources” instead of “making change on a policy level,” according to Wittlin. However, Steffans is more hopeful, adding that, “we shouldn’t exclude the possibility of more radical [policy] change in the future.” Q, like Dean Spade and Professor Young, prefer an emphasis on overall life experience of transgendered students rather than a strict focus on legal categorization. Q is focusing its attention on offices around campus, such as Residential Life and Housing, Health Services, Counseling Services, Well Woman, and the Registrar. Steffans states, “It is important to examine all of these different facets at Barnard to make sure that nobody is falling through the cracks.” The academic environment is also a focus for Q. Sensitivity to and awareness of transgender and queer issues are especially important in the classroom, where students can easily be made uncomfortable and thus discouraged from reaching their full intellectual potential. The Barnard transgender agenda—far from taking on the hostile political overtones that many right-wingers fear—expresses simply its desire for all students across the entire sexual spectrum to be able to live their lives with peace and acceptance.
“Natalie Wittlin, copresident of Q, notes that ‘how supportive Barnard is of students who already identify as male (though are legally still female) when they enter... is a matter of debate.’”
Sigourney LaBarre is a Barnard sophomore and Bulletin staff writer. Sara Jane Panfil is a Barnard senior.
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B
NYC LIVING
T h e Wa n d e r i n g P h o t o g r a p h e r
Now that SoHo has become one of the most popular and wealthy neighborhoods in New York, designer boutiques perfect for window-shopping can be found on several main thoroughfares, such as Broadway and Spring.
Small art galleries can be found throughout SoHo (from “south of Houston”). While they cater to buyers, they also offer the public the chance to view world-class art for free. The William Bennet Gallery created a replica of Dali’s famous clock for its exhibit of his prints and drawings.
Like most downtown neighborhoods, SoHo boasts several old historic churches that are still in use today, such as the one pictured here.
SoHo By Embry Owen
Before gentrification, SoHo was a thriving community of artists. Many of them were attracted to the neighborhood because of its unique apartment buildings, like this one, which offered cheap lofts for rent.
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ARTS
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Photograph by Shay Cornelius
The “Third Mind” Exhibit at the Guggenheim: Why Cultural Exchange is Undeniable The outside of the Guggenheim looks like an upside-down, white vortex. But Frank Lloyd Wright laid out the inside of the museum in a six-story, unending ramp. Walking along this circular path made me think of walking into the center of the convoluted, human unconscious as portrayed by the new exhibit “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989.” After getting in for free, thanks to my CUID, I walked up the spiraling ramp and encountered the first piece in the exhibit. Not knowing what to expect, I did not understand the large, gold-plastered room titled “The Death of James Lee Byars.” However, the audio guide explained this piece as the artist envisioning his own memorial. Rather than viewing death as a physical state, Byars illustrates death as a “poetic space of mind,” a noiseless mood that follows the ceasing of all thought. His artwork emphasizes a motif within the entire exhibit—Eastern philosophy’s emphasis on the unconscious. Passing the golden room, I entered a larger room with artwork covering the walls. A piece by Stanton MacDonaldWright called “Dragon Trail” impressed me, yet at first I could not see how this work depicting nature belonged in an exhibit about Asia. The oil painting has a lively color scheme and expresses nature in a two-dimensional, surrealist style. Associating surrealism with European artists such as René Magritte or Salvador Dali, I was surprised when the painting’s caption attributed MacDonald-Wright’s inspiration to the Chinese philosophy of qi: such brushwork became “not a series of lines, per se, but a harmonization, a balance of opposing abstract forces.” Such harmony embodies this notion of qi, which is the spirit of life animating everything in this world, from mountains to animals to humans. Looking at the image again after reading the
caption, I saw the presence of these “abstract forces.” MacDonald-Wright does not portray the natural world as a lifeless environment that has no relation to humanity. His bright colors and the unusualness conveyed by his arrangement of dissimilar subjects reflect moods of the human mind. His work captures nature’s ability to mirror
the chaotic absurdity of unintelligible thoughts buried in the unconscious. Farther up the ramp, the uniqueness of Franz Kline’s “Painting No. 7” stopped me. The audio guide explained Kline’s minimalist bemesrushstrokes and Asian calligraphy’s influence on him: “Denying its literary function, artists saw the abstract potential of the calligraphic brushstrokes as a symbolic reflection which involves not only its shape, but the spirit.” This “spirit” is again qi, a life force connecting every material thing and manifested by the motion of
By Sharon Guan calligraphy. No longer using nature to illustrate the mind, expressionists like Kline depicted the unconscious itself as the subject. The movements of a brush reflect the motion of thoughts; “Painting No. 7” makes visible an idea’s hidden footprints. Jackson Pollock, another expressionist, voiced a similar design: “When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. … The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess.” His statement shows his belief in a spiritual communion between the artwork and the artist. He invested his unconscious into his work, and the painting took on its own life. Pollock externalized the inner commotion of his mind. The exhibit opened my eyes to the intellectual forces that shaped the Western artistic mindset. For people who thought as I did, viewing Western art movements as an isolated cultural phenomenon, I challenge you to go to the Guggenheim and witness for yourselves the artistic interdependence of the East and West.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is located at 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. “The Third Mind” runs through April 19, 2009. Sharon Guan is Barnard first-year.
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Not-So-Rosy Outlook for University Arts By Alexandra McCleary with contributing reporting by Rebekah Kim The president and trustees of Brandeis University announced in late January that they would be closing the university’s famous Rose Art Museum and using the proceeds to pay for their ever- expanding budget deficit. The large public outcry that resulted consisted of everything from student sit-ins to citywide town hall meetings about the fate of the museum. The school has now issued a clarification of its original press release, saying that the Rose will still exist as a gallery and research center, and that only a few paintings may be sold if necessary to cover costs. A remaining source of contention, however, is the precedent being set for both museums and universities. More than 3,000 museums belong to the American Association of Museums, which has strict regulations concerning the selling of art to pay for anything other than more art. When the National Academy Museum in New York sold two paintings of the Hudson River for $15 million, the AAM responded with a sharply worded letter denouncing the museum and its decision and restricted other museums from loaning the museum pieces from traveling collections. The National Academy Museum has since withdrawn its membership to the Association. Life goes on for the museum; it is at least able to stay open. The question is what other arts institutions in peril will do in order to survive. The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, for instance, has responded to its endowment loss by laying off 16 employees and cutting the number of traveling exhibitions from three to two. It is yet to be known how museums as a whole will act during the current economic situation. The issue is further complicated when a museum is attached to a prestigious liberal arts college. In addition to dealing with art lovers, the administration must also grapple with the students, faculty and alumni who feel a “crisis of confidence,” so called by Brandeis faculty in a letter of opposition to the president’s announcement. Many at Brandeis were more unsettled about the lack of consultation in making the decision than the decision itself; the director of the Rose himself was not
aware of the plan until an hour before the initial press release. Students, too, have responded with anger. A Brandeis junior, Paul Balik, wrote in an e-mail that one of the sources of the student outburst was “the general exclusion of any student input into the decision.” Also in contention is the very nature of the role of fine arts within a university, particularly a liberal arts institution. Brandeis University spokesperson Dennis Nealon stated: “The bottom line is that the students, the faculty and core academic mission come first. [The Trustees] had to look at the college’s assets and came to a decision to maintain that fundamental commitment to teaching.” So the question is, how dispensable are the fine arts to a liberal arts institution? The Rose case indicates that to the Brandeis administration, the fine arts are to an extent expendable in the furthering of the university’s mission. As a liberal arts college, Barnard faces the same question but responds to it differently. Barnard President Deborah Spar and Provost Elizabeth Boylan recently affirmed the school’s dedication to the arts. Spar called the arts “a fundamental part of the campus,” and Boylan stated, “Among the Ivy schools, we [Columbia and Barnard] have the best arts programs.” Spar excitedly referenced
the new art spaces the Nexus will provide for the architecture and theatre departments, including a black box theatre. As fundraising for the Nexus was completed prior to the financial crisis, the expansion of Barnard’s art spaces will not conflict with the need for careful spending in the near future. Other institutions are not so fortunate. The Rose case may have attracted the most attention, but Brandeis is hardly alone in its approach to the financial, and now fine arts, crisis. Missouri State University plans to cut its Missouri Fine Arts Academy by 2010. Cornell University’s administration announced that each of its colleges must take a 5-percent budget cut. These types of cuts have been almost universal among institutions of higher learning. As the economic downturn continues, universities will need to reexamine not only their finances, but the relationship of the fine arts to their missions and to the liberal arts education itself. For a look at a Brandeis student’s response to the Rose controversy, see the full letter from Paul Balik, Brandeis ’10, at www.barnardbulletin.com. Alexandra is a Barnard first-year.
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& ENTERTAINMENT
Musings of a Pop Culture Junkie:
Scrubs: A Love Letter So far, the first ten episodes of the eighth (and almost certainly final) season of Scrubs have aired, with more new episodes returning to ABC on March 18. Like many other shows, Scrubs has stayed on the air far longer than it should have, reaching its lowest point in its seventh season, and its final one on NBC. The season was further compromised by the infamous Writer’s Strike, leaving the season incomplete and the episodes to air out of order in attempt to salvage some sort of logical conclusion. By the end of it, I’d had enough. The jokes were played out, the self-referential humor that was once funny was now overdone, and the immaturity of many of the central characters was tiresome. I was relieved, however, to hear that ABC was picking up the show and giving it one more chance to end on its own terms, rather than leave fans with the anticlimactic end on NBC. Still, given how much the previous season let me down, I did not go into the new season with very high hopes. Luckily, it seems the show has managed to recapture the charm that earned it so many fans in the first place. It’s clear that the writers are trying to wrap things up for the characters that so many have grown to love over the years, creating story arcs for them that make sense for the places they’ve reached in their lives. Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) finally stops sabotaging his career and steps up to be Chief of Medicine, Carla (Judy Reyes) and Turk (Donald Faison) are getting ready for their second child, and Ted (Sam Lloyd) finally gets some happiness in his life in the form of a girlfriend, the delightfully quirky Stephanie Gooch (Kate Micucci). One major flaw in the seventh season was that, in some cases, the characters’ immaturities were too unrealistic for the points they were supposed to be at in their lives. This was especially true for J.D. (Zach Braff). Although part of J.D.’s
charm lies in his childishness, he needed to grow up, and we’re finally getting to see more of that. Instead of merely leading new interns around and taking pride in his power over them, we’re finally seeing him act as a real mentor to one of them. He’s also getting his personal life more on track, finally reaching a point where he can be with Elliot (Sarah Chalke) in a more stable way than he ever has been before. Similarly, Elliot is finally confronting some of her neuroses, making her less of a caricature and more of a well-developed character than she has been in more recent seasons. Despite all of the grievances I’ve had with Scrubs, and even if it hadn’t started to redeem itself lately, I would still count it among my favorite shows of all time. As bad as some of the worst episodes were, the best episodes still are amazing television. At its peak, Scrubs
By Amanda Lanceter was incredibly funny, and yet still managed to have truly moving, dramatic moments that saved it from being just another forgettable comedy. I’ve watched these characters date, get married, have families, and go from being the lowly interns to the respected attending physicians. Despite my complaints about Elliot, I still love her and all of her flaws. I still have a crush on J.D. and not Zach Braff. I love watching Carla and Turk’s relationship evolve and go through all the ups and downs. There has to be a reason why I keep going back to my DVDs to watch the same episodes over and over, and it must be because there really was something special about this show. So while I know it’s time for it to end, part of me is still sad to see it go. Thanks, Scrubs, for an amazing ride. It’s going to be hard to replace you.
Amanda Lanceter is a Barnard senior and Bulletin Editor-at-Large.
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MUSIC
Grammy Recap: Music’s 51st Annual Night to Remember By Sophia Mossberg On February 8, the 2009 Grammy Awards aired live from Los Angeles, CA during a period of economic decline and stress, which the music industry is surely not immune to (far from it, judging from the layoff reports). However, the Awards served as an appropriately glamorous respite from foreboding newscasts and reminded Americans of the artists and songs worthy of our attention, at least for three hours. This year the Recording Academy continued to acknowledge various trends in popular music and culture, which might have proved surprising compared to past years’ Awards; Herbie Hancock’s 2008 Record of the Year was a musical stunner, though not a popular reflection of the masses’ tastes, and 2009 saw similar circumstances. This year, the Academy highlighted artists known for their whimsical and irreverent voices in music, like Katy Perry and Lil’ Wayne. In fact, Lil’ Wayne led the way along with Coldplay with the most nominations of the evening. Some
audiences and artists have criticized the Grammys for catering to the music industry and the masses, functioning as a promotional machine. True artistry perseveres and deserves to be recognized, and this year was no exception. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, a duo that certainly proved dynamic, not only took home the award for Record of the Year but also managed to snag four additional awards including Album of the Year, making the team the biggest winners of the night. Raising Sand marks an interesting turn in musical parings, as Krauss is known for her bluegrass sound, and Plant is a former rocker of Led Zepplin. Together they bring what Plant calls “that Nashville touch” to the forefront of innovation in musical collaboration, not to mention a nod toward a contemporary sound drenched in a bluegrass and country vibe. Other contenders for Record of the Year included Adele, Coldplay, Leona Lewis, and M.I.A. Interestingly enough, all four of these nominees are natives from the other side of the pond, where fabulous British bands and singers have continued to emerge from throughout decades. Grammy history has shown that an international foundation and spirit is a trademark characteristic (of winners?). Song of the Year and Best Rock Album, other Grammy hallmarks, were awarded to Coldplay, who won three for Viva la Vida. The album’s title track is one of their few songs in which strings dominate the instrumentals. Best New Artist, always an important category as it serves in part to determine the nature of the upcoming musical season, featured nominees Duffy, Adele, the Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum, and
Jazmine Sullivan. Adele’s sultry and raw blend of mellow soul prevailed, and for the second year in a row, Best New Artist went to a soulful British singer, perhaps solidifying the place of that fresh kind of soul that past winner Amy Winehouse and Adele bring to the turntable. Adele also took home the coveted Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her ballad Chasing Pavements, a standout on her album 19. While the actual Awards took center stage Sunday night, other aspects of the Grammy’s were monumental, although they were a bit distanced from primetime. At Clive Davis’ annual Grammy Party, talented but troubled diva Whitney Houston’s long anticipated public performance earned comeback declarations. In less hopeful news, the rumored domestic dispute between Chris Brown and Rihanna stirred up talk and headlines, proving that celebrity news prevails, even on music’s big night. Also new to this years’ Grammy’s was the introduction of the Grammy Museum, the downtown Los Angeles incarnation uniting art documentation with the creative and technical aspects of recording music. The magnitude of the Grammy Museum project shows the vital role of the Awards in a society, in which music will continue to influence and dominate much of popular culture. Perhaps Bono, winner of a whopping 22 Grammys best sums up the influence and meaning of the awards, which extends beyond simply recognizing talent: “the Grammys invited jazz, country, rock, soul and classical into the same hall. No regard for demographic studies of what would deliver ratings, no radio call-out research-- a mad amalgam of the profound and the absurd and the creeping realization that one man’s Mozart is another man’s Vegas.”
Sophia Mossberg is a Barnard first-year and Bulletin staff writer.
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NYC LIVING
The Frugal Foodista A column by Ava Friedmann
Lassi
Images courtesy of www.lassinyc.com.
28 Greenwich Avenue between 10th and Charles St. 212.675.2688 www.lassinyc.com There is something to be said about pastry chefs taking on the savory side of cooking. They offer a certain air of precision and attention to minute details that can easily be overlooked, bringing traditional dishes to new levels. Former pastry chef Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez elevates traditional Indian cuisine in subtle yet creative ways at her petit restaurant, Lassi, tucked into the West Village. Despite her pastry background and having never traveled to India, CarlucciRodriguez offers up some of the most outstanding Indian fare in the city. Restaurant is perhaps a huge overstatement when describing Lassi, as it only has five seats. The food establishment functions primarily for take-out and delivery orders to those lucky enough to live nearby. However “for those determined diners” (as the menu puts it), it is worth waiting for those highly coveted five seats. In-house diners are welcomed into the compact eatery where they order at the counter in the front and then take a seat at the bar hugging the left wall. Although there are no waitresses at this joint, but the service is outstanding because Carlucci-Rodriguez is always in the front ready to answer questions and offer recommendations. Lassi’s menu doesn’t read like a typical Indian restaurant. Instead of offering an extensive variety of India’s diverse cuisine, Carlucci-Rodriguez fits all of her dishes onto a
chalkboard divided into three sections: parathas, curries, and lassis. Parathas are layered flatbreads that are both airy and thick, exponentially better than pita. They are served either plain or stuffed with ingredients ranging from potato to goat meat. The all-star of the paratha dish is the side of boondi raita, a yogurt dipping sauce that provides a refreshing flavor that contrasts the intricately spiced breads. Unlike traditional raita, CarlucciRodriguez creates a new take on the sauce, incorporating minuscule chickpea dumplings, which allows her pastry background to shine. The curries are divided into vegetarian and meat/fish options. All curries are served in bowls with a side of basmati rice, and even half sized portions are filling. The sarson paneer is made with mustard greens and paneer, a traditional and mild Indian cheese. Again, CarlucciRodriguez doesn’t fail to bring the curry to a new level, boasting fresh, homemade paneer that is delicate and light. The daily dal, a classic lentil dish, is also outstanding. Instead of being overcooked, the lentils maintain their shape and subtle crunch against the soft rice. For those lamb lovers, the keema mattar is made
with lamb and peas. However you will never find a chunk of lamb in this dish; instead, the meat is precisely ground into a fine texture, making the curry appear more like a chili stew. Don’t forget to order a lassi at the end of the meal. The restaurant’s namesake is a traditional yogurt drink commonly treated as a palate cleanser to calm your mouth after the spicy meal. Similar to a smoothie, lassis are tangier and creamier, doubling as a perfect snack or dessert. Lassis are commonly made with mango, but not surprisingly CarlucciRodriguez offers more creative variations on her menu. The rose lassi tastes exactly like the aromatic flower, and the coffee lassi beats the overly sweet Frappuccino by far. If your sweet tooth is craving something extra, there are always daily dessert specials. During my visit, I ordered a jasmine hot chocolate to go, an exquisite take on the comforting beverage. Floral undertones peek through the thick, rich chocolate, which elevated the drink to a whole new level. Sipping on my hot chocolate as I explored the winding West Village streets, I knew I’d be returning to Lassi soon. The food is executed with such impressive attention to detail that it deserves a stage much larger than the restaurant’s dorm room-like confines. However, its small stature also makes Lassi approachable and friendly – two characteristics that are hard to come by in bustling Manhattan.
Ava Friedmann is a Barnard senior and Bulletin Food Critic.
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NYC LIVING
The House that Ruth, the Taxpayer, Built
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Drawing by Stefie Gan.
By Kathryn Altomonte Tradition, class, and world championships are a few of the words that would come to mind when one thought about the New York Yankees. Yet recently, the baseball team has been plagued with steroid scandals and the release of information that the team has needed to use public funds to pay for its stadium. In recent months, angry taxpayers have brought some new words to mind. At a hearing held by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky on January 14, the city’s Independent Budget released figures that showed that the financing of the new Yankee Stadium needed the city of New York to sell more tax-exempt bonds than originally estimated. In the end, the amount of tax-exempt public funding involved in this construction process will total approximately $941 million. One can see some of the positive considerations that both the Yankee organization and the city of New York envisioned when they set out the plan to build this new stadium in 2006. The construction of Yankee Stadium has created 6,000 part-time construction jobs, 1,000 permanent employment positions, and a new Metro-North station, all of which encourage more people to visit and shop in the Bronx and spend a day at the stadium. So if the construction of the stadium really is this simple and appealing, why has such a controversy developed over its creation? Although every year the Yankee organization will write out checks to pay back the money they receive from these tax-exempt bonds, some do not believe that it is the city’s money to pay, and by default, the tax payers’ responsibility to fund the construction of a wealthy sports team’s stadium. When the economy is
failing, and many New Yorkers are left without jobs, why should the city bail out the “Evil Empire” which grossly underestimated new stadium costs? Even as a Yankee fan, it is hard to understand why my favorite team should be allowed to dip into public funds to build a stadium that the public may not even support, especially since this stadium is much less “for the people” than the original Yankee Stadium. With less seating, more private luxury boxes and state-of-the-art dining facilities, it is inevitable that individual game as well as season ticket prices will increase. According to Pinsky, taxpayers’ dollars are not going toward building the extravagant seats and expensive restaurants; funds are going toward the “shell” of the stadium. Pinsky’s logic seems pretty weak, considering that in order for these restaurants and boxes to exist, the shell must be of a substantial size. When I was sixteen years old and walked into Yankee Stadium for the first time, an overwhelming sense of tradition and awe came over me. Looking out into the field, I felt as if I was standing in front
of a part of history, and that the fans around me were the same types of people who were cheering for Joe DiMaggio 70 years ago. I loved that the concession stands were probably the same ones from years past and that the interior was a little worn, because it represented the great Yankee history. Not many other stadiums could boast that it witnessed 26 World Championships or seasons with players as influential as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Mariano Rivera. Now it seems that all of that character, tradition and brilliance has been demolished and replaced with state-ofthe-art restaurants, new and improved seating, and freshly painted walls. In my eyes, and in the eyes of my fellow fans, it seems like our money has been used to demolish the Yankees colorful history. Perhaps the destruction of the old Yankee Stadium and the creation of this expensive, luxurious stadium represent the end of the Yankee era of class and honor and the mark the new one of greed and superficiality. But for all of the current, past, and future Yankee fans, I hope this is not the case. Kathryn Altomonte is a Barnard senior.
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NYC LIVING
Finance Column
The Prairie Oyster
There are two ways to treat a bad hangover. Bartenders have long sworn by the “Prairie Oyster”: a lessthan-appetizing combination of olive oil, ketchup, egg yolks, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and lemon juice. President Barack Obama nurses his with a $787 billion stimulus package. It is no secret that Americans got carried away in the midst of rising prices, widespread credit and general prosperity in the early 2000s. Financial institutions got swept up in the growing returns on investments and assumed more risk than they could handle. Consumers abused the concept of “credit” to an unprecedented extent. Businesses leveraged themselves to the moon without serious plans of action to unload the debt. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila… Now that the party is over, Americans and New Yorkers, in particular, are just beginning to sober up and in the process ashamedly own up to the irresponsible behavior that landed the economy in this rut. Even before his official inauguration, Obama proposed emergency legislation to address the crisis. In his first 100 days as president, he has enlisted the support of House and Senate leaders to pass the American Economic Reinvestment and Recovery Plan. The recovery plan, as Obama described it in his first press conference as president on February 9, 2009, is designed to “break the vicious cycle where
lost jobs lead to people spending less money, which leads to even more layoffs.” Better known as an economic stimulus, the plan provides for approximately $500 billion in spending programs and $280 billion in tax relief, mostly for the middle and working classes. As New York City is the financial capital of the world and a city known for its general commercial vigor, the five boroughs will likely feel the effects of the stimulus plan (in conjunction with the $2.5 trillion bailout of financial institutions) more than any other city in the country. The stimulus may encourage some spending in New York. Restaurants and retailers may have more business this spring than they had last fall and winter, but the package probably won’t save as many jobs in the short-term as the White House hopes it will. Most likely, beneficiaries will hoard their savings like squirrels hoard acorns before a long winter, dulling the intended effect of this pricey legislation. After these emergency response quick-fixes are implemented, the federal government plans to concentrate on longterm solutions to tackle economic woes. In combination with other agencies, the Securities and Exchange Commission will take major strides to regulate the “freefor-all-ism” that formerly characterized the financial world. Entrepreneurs and economists realistically and disappointedly expect that financial enterprise will never be the same: there will be stricter standards for lending and borrowing, and less available credit for Corporate America. On the other hand, these regulations will inspire confidence in the stability of the economy. Stability will indicate that existing jobs are secure, so consumers can continue spending, which, in turn, allow businesses to thrive. Because New York City is one of the most commercially vibrant cities on the planet, it will be among the first to read these
By Melissa Lasker signals and display signs of recovery. The American Economic Reinvestment and Recovery Plan definitely represents a step in the right direction on both short- and long-term levels. Obama’s vision of creating jobs in growing sectors – to improve and rebuild the country’s infrastructure – is an ambitious one. Putting Americans back to work will ultimately pump money through the economy again, reversing the effects of the current slowdown. Despite the fact the plan doesn’t completely satisfy politicians’ wishes on either side of the aisle, experts agree that inaction would be the worst strategy for putting the markets back on their feet. Passing this bill was paramount to restoring the financial health of New York’s businesses, the indispensable elements that give this city its unique character, as well as to the American people in general. On the other hand, the bailout, though it may treat the awful headache from which America is still suffering, fails to address the underlying culture and confidence issues that made this mess in the first place. While the finance world may have temporarily sworn off assuming excess risk at the expense of the American people, who knows how investment managers will behave when optimism makes its big comeback to Wall Street. After all, history does teach us that man has a short-term memory. The $787 billion stimulus package, like the Prairie Oyster, treats the symptoms, not the disease.
Melissa Lasker is a Barnard junior and Bulletin Finance Columnist.
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NYC LIVING
Times Square Loses Virginity and Turns 21 It’s always upsetting when a small, local business is replaced by a big Barnes and Noble or Walmart. The corporate chains always seem to triumph in the face of, well, anything. However, this takeover story is decidedly different. Come April, the Virgin Megastore, the massive music retailer and Times Square icon, will cease to occupy its midtown address. Replacing it will be a giant Forever 21, a clothingchain specializing in fashionable trends for young people with tight budgets. This deal is corporate-eats-corporate, as a selfproclaimed megastore is overtaken by a fashion powerhouse and the retail space is set to expand from 60,000 to 90,000 square feet. While the dismal economy and foundering music industry certainly play a part in Virgin’s departure, they are surprisingly not the reason behind the takeover, as the music retailer has remained a successful business. In an age where record labels and retailers like Tower Records succumb daily to music downloads and iPods, the Virgin Megastore boasts a $6 million profit line and is the highest volume music store in the U.S. Simon Wright, CEO of Virgin Entertainment Group, said that a large part of that success is due to smartly diversifying merchandise offerings and shifting the retail focus to electronics and apparel rather than CDs. According to sources, the shutdown is being blamed on that other evil this city is so familiar with: real estate. In August 2007, the Virgin Entertainment Group of North America was acquired by two real estate companies, Vornado and the Related Cos. Vornado also happened to own the part of the building that the Virgin Megastore occupies. Thus the issue is one of rent, not lack of retail sales: Virgin has only been paying $54
per square-foot when the market rent in the area is estimated at $700 per squarefoot. It only makes sense for Vornado to find business willing to dole out a higher rent. As neon-bright, overbearing and touristy as it may be, a certain level of dismay will accompany the Virgin Megastore’s farewell. The store looms large and “corporate,” but the music emporium has other redeeming qualities; with so much store space, you can find anything from the most obscure LPs to little-known movies you’d be hardpressed to find in a Best Buy. The place resembles a mini-UN, where everyone can find something to please them at the crossroads of the world. (Although I have to admit that as a fast-walking, tourist-dodging, Midtown-eschewing New Yorker myself, the crowds were not a big a draw.) The Virgin Megastore is an
By Ellie Krupnick icon, inspiring its own big-box version of nostalgia. In its place, Forever 21 will set up shop. This is a switch that will no doubt excite female college students from Morningside Heights to Washington Square Park, as the new outpost will be the largest Forever 21 store, triple the size of any other in New York. Forever 21 is a company that is rapidly expanding, not only creating bigger stores but also acquiring faltering competitor Gadzooks Inc. and its retail locations. The popular L.A.-based retailer is even crossing oceans, setting up shop in South Korea and Thailand, and scouting sights in Shanghai. The Times Square takeover represents a real flexing of this retail giant’s muscle, and they’ve got the profits to back it up: Forever 21 projects revenues could reach $1 billion in 2009, up from a handsome $640 million last year. This is pretty impressive for a corporate company that is, in fact, privately owned. Forever 21’s incredible success is based on a simple formula: fashion for cheap. In a time when Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus boast “70% off!” sale signs and marring their sparkling windows, the cheap trends Forever 21 offers are the name of the recesionista’s game. Sad as it is to see luxury brought to its knees, it’s hard to resist the inexpensive mix of basics and trends that Forever 21 gets just right. (Any woman on Barnard’s campus can attest to this). The impending presence of a Forever 21 “megastore” underscores the retail maelstrom that rages with no end in sight. While Forever 21 lacks the international appeal of the Virgin Megastore, it certainly draws more customers these days than Henri Bendel’s. So come April, it’s goodbye to music, movies and more, and hello to piles and piles of clothes. Virgin’s blinking red neon sign will be missed for about a millisecond— and then, we’ll get shopping. Ellie Krupnick is a Barnard sophomore.
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Why “The City” Belongs in Quotes
NYC LIVING
By Emma Brockway Last December I squeezed into my skinny jeans, slid on my super-uncomfortable sling backs, smeared on some sticky lip gloss, and went out with my friends to a Chelsea hotspot. I have since been dubbed the “Debbie Downer of Downtown Nightlife.” Just as I took note of the deodorant stains on my discount Diane von Furstenberg top and the price of my half-eaten “deconstructed” salad, in walked every normal (which is to say insecure) girl’s worst nightmare: a blonde bombshell nearly six feet tall with both the figure and finances for skinny jeans you won’t find at the bottom of the Century 21 clearance bin. When I noticed the tag team of cameramen and gaggle of girls behind her, I knew that I was no longer in the city, but in the presence of “The City.” MTV’s Whitney Port is the new Carrie Bradshaw. But she represents an improvement upon the frizzy haired narcissist of yesteryear, because this series, showcasing a city girl with humble roots in L.A., is “real and unscripted.” Carrie Bradshaw sauntered around the streets of Manhattan in a tutu and landed herself a handsome financier, but everyone knew that Candace Bushnell and some executives from HBO invented her New York City life. Carrie ate a Magnolia cupcake from time to time and so can you. A tour will take you to her famous Upper East Side stoop, where you can further embrace the 30-minute “Sex and the City” fantasy, whether you are a middle-aged woman from Minneapolis or a gawky teen from Long Island who claims to worship Manolo Blahnik. “Fantasy” is the key word, because Carrie, her closet, and her close encounters were not real. On “The City,” Whitney buys two pairs of Blahniks and her friend and selfdesignated “social” (we are to imagine this is short for “socialite”) Olivia Palermo is a family friend of Manolo himself. The Bergdorf’s binge wouldn’t hurt so much if viewers could write it off as a fictional foray into high fashion, but alas, “The City” purports to represent “real” New
York City life. The economy has college students wondering if a post-college life in New York is even possible. Port’s city doesn’t seem to be the same one I’m living in. “The City” hasn’t achieved the ratings MTV had been hoping for. Unlike “The Hills,” and “Laguna Beach,” the megahit “reality” shows that feature sunkissed SoCalers with mundane problems and trendy haircuts, viewers – especially New Yorker viewers - haven’t warmed to MTV’s variant using East
“The sweeping panoramic views of the city seem to be the only intimation of authenticity.”
inch stilettos. The show’s fluffier-thanTasti D-Lite premise seems grossly out of touch with what it ostensibly goes out of its way to capture: reality. Traditional television is often designed to provide a temporary escape from reality. Reality television should provide a different kind of escape. MTV, throw us New Yorkers a bone. Please let Whitney gain twenty pounds, ask Jay to wear the same shirt three days in a row, and don’t tip off Olivia when she’s about to step in dog poop. Maybe then we’ll be more inclined to warm up to your version of reality.
Coast urban life. The sweeping panoramic views of the city seem to be the only intimation of authenticity. Port’s entry level job at Diane von Furstenberg somehow funds a life of leisure in a Gramercy apartment and unlimited cab rides. Her hipster musician boyfriend Jay is somehow always at odds with her friends above 60th, as the show posits the essentialist view that you really are where you lay your hat, or in Jay’s case, fedora. The kids in this city hardly ever cook for themselves, and when they dine out, somehow their restaurants of choice are bigger, better and more glamorous than that random diner where the “Sex and the City” gals gabbed their way through brunch. In short, except for the occasional break-up or bitchy stare down, life in “The City” is perfect at a time when life in our city is anything but. I am not suggesting that “The City” revamp itself and introduce viewers to the seedier side of Manhattan life, although it would be great to see how Port would navigate the subway system in sixEmma Brockway is a Barnard junior and Bulletin New York City Living editor.
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AD
Penn GSE by the numbers: 500:
Number of new students we 'll accept for fall
85:
Percent of students receiving scholarships
21:
Number of degree programs offered
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1:
year - average length of a master's program
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ALUMNA LETTER
From Broadway to Pennsylvania Avenue During the last weeks of senior year, one committee of Barnard students focuses on the question of what to give as the senior gift. In 2006, I was in favor of repaving the cobblestone walkways on Barnard’s campus. I am sure many of you reading this article have shared the experience of dressing up in your best wear and new Sex-and-the-City heels to walk out from the Quad en route to the subway, only to have your heel get stuck in one of the many cobblestones that produce a veritable obstacle course on the way to Broadway. My first realization of this cobblestone treachery was on the way to a dance party on my first night of New Student Orientation. While I had hoped to make a great impression in front of my new classmates, I ended up breaking my heel and falling face first in front of Barnard Hall. Little did I know that this event would become a ritual for all new beginnings in my life. As I started my first week at The White House as a political appointee for President George W. Bush, I had a similar experience. This time, however, it took place on West Executive Avenue, right outside the entrance to the West Wing and in front of the motorcades of several cabinet members and secret service agents. In both instances this was not the first impression I had hoped to make. However, at Barnard and at the White House I learned how to pick myself back up and hold my head high, even as I had to hobble across the cobblestones in front of some of the highest elected officials in our country. Those of you who are reading this article, both current students and Barnard alumnae will agree with me that the Barnard experience is not an easy one. Barnard challenges each of us in multiple facets of our lives. There is a reason why Doris Miller from the College Activities Office would call us “strong beautiful Barnard women.” Aside from being beautiful inside and out, we are strong because we are tested in many ways. Whether it was waiting in line for that freshly-made Caesar wrap, or waiting in line at the Registrar for L course sign up, we’ve all proven our stamina. As
a student I had no idea how much my Barnard experience would prepare me for my future. My experience at The White House began as an intern for Mrs. Bush. During the internship, I was given the opportunity to work on the White House Summit on Malaria that was hosted by the President and Mrs. Bush on December 14, 2006. In 2005, President Bush launched the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) with the historic goal of reducing the number of malaria-related deaths in Africa by 50%. Today, the $1.2 billion pledge has already reached and provided malaria treatment and prevention services to an estimated 25 million people in subSaharan Africa. The Summit was the first time I was able to participate in a health care initiative that affects people on a global scale. I was especially moved by the President’s remarks: “By making the world more hopeful, we make the world more peaceful – and by helping others, the American people must understand, we help ourselves.” Looking back, it was during my senior thesis experience at Barnard that I first became interested in health care policy. As a pre-med student I only took internships and classes that I thought would be helpful for admission to medical school. It was only after I was required by the Seven Ways of Knowing to take a political science class, that I discovered a new passion for public policy which led me to change my major. Though you never know what avenue you’ll end up on, take advantage of what Barnard has to offer you. Take a class or an internship opportunity that sparks your interest even if it doesn’t correlate to your major or career path. Even if you decide it is not the job for you, you will learn more about yourself, your interests and your strengths. Thanks to my major advisor, Prof. Richard Pious, I applied to the White House Internship program in 2006. Little did I know that I would end up as a political appointee for President Bush and serve more than two years in the White House. Participate in alumnae events and ask the women you meet to share their
By M.A. Moutoussis ’06 stories with you. I met Laila Shetty ’03 during her senior year when I was a first year student and she was President of Student Government. She encouraged me to get involved in Student Government. There, I realized the potential each of us has to give back to our community and how fulfilling giving back can be. Even after Laila and I graduated, she continues to be a mentor to me. Attend career and financial planning workshops offered by the Offices of Career Development and Financial Aid. Trust me – you will be very grateful once you meet with the HR office of your future employers and are trying to understand the meanings behind words like: W-2, W-4, TSP and Roth IRA. Engage your friends and classmates in personal and intellectual dialogue, especially those you disagree with. Working in the Bush White House, I have definitely had experience debating my friends about politics. However, I will never regret engaging in any of our conversations, though they were oftentimes personal and challenging. My friends still tease me about how I managed to graduate from Barnard as a Republican. However, they don’t realize that it is because of them, my professors and my classmates that I can defend my opinions and think critically about what I stand for. Throughout his Presidency, President Bush reminded Americans, “To whom much is given much is required.” Following the events of September 11, 2001, President Bush remarked, “the true strength of America is the love, decency and compassion of the American people.” No matter our background or political views, Americans help each other and their fellow citizens around the world during times of need or injustice. Barnard ingrains this same compassion and sense of responsibility in each of us from our first days on campus. An oasis in Morningside Heights, Barnard does an exemplary job of reaching outside its gates to the residents of the surrounding community. From Barnard’s NYC Civic Engagement Program (NYCCEP) to CCO’s Day of Service, students build a
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ALUMNA LETTER foundation of social and civic responsibility. Take advantage of these opportunities. Your four years at Barnard fly by far too quickly. My advice to current students is get involved with something bigger than yourself, a cause that you are passionate about. When you find that cause, be it serving in student government, or the Morningside Heights community, you will add new meaning and depth to your life. This was something I experienced both at Barnard and in Washington D.C.
Looking back, the determination and strength Barnard had instilled in me enabled me to achieve the standard of excellence required by working at the White House. Every day that I walked through the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I considered it an honor and an undeserved privilege. I still remember as a first year walking through the Barnard gates and wondering what the next four years would hold. We never know what lies ahead of us. But I know one thing for sure. Next time I come across cobblestones, I’ll be ready.
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