Thursday, February 27, 2020

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 25

METRO

State to ban 3-D-printed guns, ‘ghost guns’ Bill passes through House 60-6, Senate 343, still to be signed into law by governor

ANNA SEMIZHOOVA / HERALD

In recent efforts to increase gun control, Rhode Island Congress passed a gun prohibition bill supported by the governor and attorney general.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

U. holds forum discussing Sustainability Report draft

BY HENRY DAWSON METRO EDITOR The University’s draft Strategic Sustainability Plan Report received feedback from community members who urged a greater focus on equity and climate justice at an open forum Wednesday.

The forum, led by Stephen Porder, assistant provost for sustainability and professor of ecology, environment and society and evolutionary biology, aimed to incorporate community dialogue into the draft before implementation can be planned and executed within the University’s operations. Approximately 40 community members, including a mixture of faculty, staff and students were present at the forum.

The report outlines a vision for the University’s efforts to combat climate change by mitigating the environmental effects of University operations. The committee responsible for the draft plan is comprised of Brown faculty, two undergraduate students and one

Journalists expelled by Chinese Foreign Ministry

BY OLIVIA GEORGE AND CLARA GUTMAN ARGEMÍ METRO EDITOR AND SENIOR STAFF WRITER

In the first six weeks of the 2020 Legislative Session, both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly passed bills which outlaw 3-D-printed guns and other untraceable or undetectable firearms, better known as ‘ghost guns.’

With supporters including Governor Gina Raimondo and Attorney General Peter Neronha P’22, advocates hope that the bill’s legislative progress will become part of broader efforts toward gun control legislation in Rhode Island.

“Ghost gun legislation is important because (it would) make it illegal for folks to circumvent the normal licensing and regulation around buying guns,” said Katherine Kerwin, Providence councilwoman and director of communications for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence. Ghost

Community advocates for greater attention to climate justice, equity within plan

METRO

Chinese gov. revokes press credentials of three WSJ reporters, including U. alum

BY KARLOS BAUTISTA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

SEE GUN PAGE 3

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

graduate student.

“The biggest one (takeaway) that came away from today’s meeting … was this discussion of equity and the social side,” said Jessica Berry, director of the Office of Sustainability. “And that is no surprise, but today’s forum really brought to light that that is something that needs to be addressed in some way.”

The report emphasizes five categories of environmental effects: greenhouse gases, nutrient pollution, biodiversity loss, water use and human health. Specific goals include net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, a 25 percent reduction in the University’s nitrogen and phosphorous footprint by 2030 and ending the purchase of all tropical hardwoods.

While these focus areas are different from those of typical environmental action plans, such as energy, waste reduction or transportation, Berry believes that these traditional bucket categories naturally relate to those chosen for the sustainability report.

After outlining the plan, Porder opened the floor for community discussion. One community member called

On Feb. 19, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its decision to expel three Wall Street Journal reporters, including University alum Chao Deng ’09. The move marked the country’s first direct expulsion of foreign reporters in over two decades.

Two of the reporters left the country on Feb. 24: Josh Chin, a U.S. citizen and the Journal’s Beijing bureau chief, and Philip Wen, an Australian national. Deng, also a U.S. citizen, remains in the coronavirus containment zone of Wuhan, in central China’s Hubei province.

The journalists’ press credentials were revoked in response to an opinion column published in the Journal on Feb. 3 whose headline, “China

is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” was described as racist by the Chinese government.

William Lewis, the Journal’s publisher and the chief executive of its parent company Dow Jones, said in a statement that it was not the Journal’s intention to cause offense with the headline. “However, this has clearly caused upset and concern amongst the Chinese people,” the statement continued, “which we regret.”

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, directed The Herald to a statement telling reporters yesterday that the Journal “has contacted the Chinese side through different channels, admitting it’s wrong to publish the insulting article and saying it has drawn lessons from the episode,” but has not issued an official apology, as China has asked them to do.

The Journal’s News and Opinion departments are kept separate, in line with journalistic best practice.

This means that none of the targeted reporters were involved in writing, editing or publishing the controversial

SEE JOURNALIST PAGE 3

TV REVIEW

‘the goop lab’ is awesomely absurd

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Netlix’s “the goop lab” delves into the wellness practices championed by goop founder, Gwyneth Paltrow.

Paltrow’s lifestyle brand experiments with spirituality in new Netflix series

BY NICHOLAS MICHAEL SENIOR STAFF WRITER

SEE REPORT PAGE 4

“At the center of this glass bottle is rose quartz — the crystal of compassion, tenderness, and comfort,” describes an $80 water bottle on Santa Monica-based lifestyle brand goop’s web store. The Netflix series, “the goop lab,” released on Jan. 24, serves as a sort of realization of this luxurious gemstone-powered drinking vessel.

Packed with deliciously opulent

Herald History

Commentary

Commentary

News

On this day in 1987, U. recieved $95,000 grant to study AIDS care Page 6

Schmidt ’21: Introverts should step out of comfort zone to make most of life Page 7

Siemens ’21: New State Senate resolution could end years of corrupt gerrymandering Page 7

New exhibit at Haffenreffer Museum displays objects from refugees Back

approaches to wellness and high production value, the six episode docuseries traces what it means to embody the “open-minded ethos” of a goop employee, according to goop’s website.

From psychedelic-induced meditation to lessons on female masturbation, “the goop lab” takes a holistic albeit

SEE GOOP PAGE 2

TODAY

TOMORROW

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

GOOP FROM PAGE 1 expensive approach to the wellness phenomenon of the post-aughts age. goop, founded by actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 2008, is a lifestyle brand frequently criticized for its participation in the modern health craze and pseudoscience. In the introduction sequence of each episode, Paltrow explains that she started goop because she knew her “calling had to be something other than kissing Matt Damon on screen.” Paltrow’s assertion of empowerment-via-wellness continues to present itself throughout the series, which promises the same sense of fulfillment for watchers who buy into the goop-ist praxis.

A few memeable products on goop’s website include a $75 “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle, and a Vampire Repellent Spray for, well, repelling vampires. Clearly, there is a market for goop’s product, as the company was valued at $250 million in 2018. The lifestyle brand seeks to exonerate itself in the new Netflix series, which demystifies goop’s own claims around health and wellness through interviews and experimentation.

The beginning of each episode opens with a disclaimer: “The following series is designed to entertain and inform — not provide medical advice.” Still, “the goop lab” has faced massive flack from media and scientific professionals — it is branded with a measly 2.3/10 stars on IMDb. But, “the goop lab” isn’t seemingly sinister or vacuous — it is a sunny, monied and occasionally ridiculous lens through which to view self-help, and it is emphatically presented as a mere supplement to professional medical treatment.

Each episode of the series follows a similar pattern. In attempt to remedy frequent criticisms of goop’s pseudoscientific solutions to health issues, the episodes each invite one alternative medicine practitioner and one licensed medical professional to provide commentary. The two “experts” engage in an interview with Paltrow and Elise Loehnen, goop’s chief content officer. Here the licensed professional serves to validate the claims of the alternative healer. What follows is a conversation between professional interviews and real time experimentation, where goop employees volunteer to go into the field and test out the alternative medicine practices.

The series premiere, “The Healing Trip,” documents the goop staff’s trip to Jamaica, where they explore the therapeutic power of psychedelic mushrooms. Aerial shots of the lush

jungle landscape are broken up only by shots of poreless goop employee faces. During their hallucinogenic trips, “the goopers laugh, cry and release a gamut of intense emotions,” says Netflix’s blurb of the episode.

This catharsis is most certainly visible in the viewing experience, which is at times disconcerting in its viscerality.

One employee, who breaks down in tears on camera while on her trip, reflects the morning after that she was “really drained physically and emotionally,” but that she felt as if she “went through five years of therapy in five hours.” This purge of the subconscious was something aided by the psychedelic experience, but the value of emotional connection it instilled “isn’t linked to Jamaica or Los Angeles or anywhere. It’s in you,” emphasized one of the ‘psychedelic psychotherapists.’

In the second episode, “Cold Comfort,” bikini-clad goop staffers plunge into frigid Lake Tahoe waters in the midst of winter. Scenic landscape shots and color grading beautify the emotional release induced by the ice-cold water temperatures, which seem to represent the mind’s ability to control how the body reacts to its environment.

Led by self-proclaimed ‘Iceman’ Wim Hof, the group of six goop employees seek to release anxiety through shock exposure. And, after exercising meditative breathing practices beforehand, they seem empowered in their newfound control over panic as they calmly take the jump into the lake. After the experience, one of the goop employees reflected, almost in tears and still shivering: “I don’t know if my anxiety will go away, but it was definitely a turning point.” This is the sort of humble optimism that “the goop lab” purports in its pseudoscientific practices — one that is harmlessly absurd, proposing improved health rather than touting it. “the goop lab” is unique in the way that it presents these therapeutic methods of harnessing the power of emotion. The scenes alternate from sumptuous spiritual vacations to a palatial Santa Monica office, proposing a luxe, healthy lifestyle that almost no one would reject.

In that visualization of flawlessness and unattainability, “the goop lab” offers an expensive solution to self-care that doesn’t seem all too bad. The aspirational, expensive Californian lifestyle so prevalent in pop culture is reified in the goop series — and the ridiculous capitalist spiritualism is what makes the show so fun to watch.

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LITERARY ARTS PRIZES 2020

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

The Literary Arts Department is sponsoring the following prizes for the Brown community

Academy of American Poets Prize: For the best poem (up to 10 pages). Open to all Brown students.

Kim Ann Arstark Memorial Awards: For the best poem or poems (up to 20 pages) written in celebration of life. Open to all Brown students.

Mark Baumer Prizes for Language Art: For the best works in language art (any media).

Open to Brown students. A discrete Mark Baumer Prize is open to university staff and information about this will be shared under separate cover.

Feldman Prizes in Fiction: For the best story or stories (up to 20 pages). Open to all Brown students.

Beth Lisa Feldman Prize in Children’s Literature: For best story or stories for children four to eight years old (up to 50 pages). Open to all Brown students (and may be a collaboration).

Frances Mason Harris ’26 Prizes: For a book-length manuscript of poetry or prose fiction by a currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate woman.

John Hawkes Prize in Fiction: This contest honors the memory of John Hawkes, the internationally-recognized author and dedicated professor of creative writing at Brown University. The contest is open to all students currently enrolled in the Graduate Program in Literary Arts. The submission must be a work of fiction (up to 50 pages).

Edwin Honig Memorial Prizes in Poetry: Honoring the memory of Edwin Honig — poet, translator and founder of the Literary Arts Department at Brown University (up to 10 pages). Open to all Brown students.

Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop Prizes for Innovative Writing: For literary work, any genre, that best exemplifies the spirit of innovation found in the writings and translations of Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop (up to 15 pages). Open to all Brown students.

DEADLINE: 11:59 PM ON 15 MARCH. ALL APPLICATIONS ARE COMPLETED ONLINE. TO APPLY VISIT: BROWN.EDU/CW THEN GO TO: LITERARY ARTS PRIZE ENTRY 2020

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

JOURNALIST FROM PAGE 1 opinion column.

Walter Russell Mead, the Hudson Institute scholar who wrote the opinion column, was unavailable for comment. An editorial published by the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board explained that Mead, a regular contributor to the Journal, did not write the headline.

Chin, Wen and Deng “represent the best traditions of the Journal,” wrote Matt Murray, editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, in a statement following the Ministry’s announcement last week.

Deng graduated from the University with a double concentration in Neuroscience and Economics. She is also a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, and joined the Journal in 2012. Her areas of focus include China’s economy and finance, with recent reporting ranging from US-China trade negotiations to hospitals struggling to cope with the fast-spreading coronavirus.

National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said on Monday of the journalists’ expulsion that “the United States is considering a range of responses to this egregious act,” calling China’s move “yet another attempt

GUN FROM PAGE 1 guns are particularly dangerous because of their ability to slip through metal detectors due to their plastic hardware and their lack of serial numbers, Kerwin added.

The Senate passed the legislation Jan. 29, with a vote of 34-3. The House passed a similar bill Feb. 13, with a 60-6 vote, on the same day as the “Valentines Not Gun Violence” rally organized by Thoughts Prayers Action, a University gun violence prevention group, The Herald previously reported.

If signed into law by Gov. Raimondo, the legislation would prohibit the manufacture, importation, sale, shipment, delivery or transfer of any ghost gun or 3-D printed firearm that could elude metal detectors.

“No matter what you think about the Second Amendment, no matter what side of the issue people typically fall on, it seems really obvious that you shouldn’t be able to manufacture

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

to control the press, and prevent the world’s readers as well as investors from reading important stories about China,” according to Reuters. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing did not respond to The Herald’s multiple requests for comment.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement that “Chinese authorities should immediately restore the press credentials of the three Wall Street Journal journalists and allow the media to report freely in the country.”

Steven Butler, the CPJ’s Asia Program coordinator, told The Herald that the CPJ “strongly condemns” the Chinese government’s actions. “They shouldn’t be expelling accredited journalists who don’t break their laws,” he said.

According to Butler, the expelled journalists had been doing fact-based reporting on the coronavirus as well as other topics. “This is a particularly inopportune time for China to be expelling journalists because of the ongoing coronavirus epidemic,” he said, adding that “recent events have shown that free flow of information would have been much better early on” in covering the epidemic.

“These are the kind of journalists that China should want to have operating there. They do a really good job of

documenting what’s happening in the country,” Butler said.

The Wall Street Journal is currently banned in China. Its website was shut down in 2014, according to its editorial board. In August 2019, the Chinese government did not renew the press credentials of another Journal reporter, Chun Han Wong, after he published an investigative story on the business interests of President Xi Jinping’s cousin in Australia. But this is the first time since 1998 that journalists have been directly expelled from the country while their press credentials are still valid.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a statement last Wednesday that the action taken against the Journal’s reporters “is an extreme and obvious attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign news organizations by taking retribution against their China-based correspondents.”

But the expulsion of their reporters has not dampened the Journal’s commitment to covering China “with the highest standards of news reporting,” read Murray’s statement.

“We will continue to write about China,” he added, “without fear or favor and with no agenda but the truth.”

a weapon without a serial number,” said Gabe Mernoff ’22, co-director of the University’s chapter of Thoughts Prayers Action.

“It’s not going to be the easiest thing to enforce; it’s going to be hard to prevent people from 3-D printing, with private 3-D printers,” Mernoff said.

But he added that “It’s important to at least set a standard.”

Representative David Place (R - Burrillville, Glocester) is among those who do not support the ghost gun legislation. “I don’t believe the bill actually accomplishes anything,” Place said.

“Federal law already makes these types of firearms illegal. The only thing we did by passing this legislation was give our criminal justice, our prosecutors and our law enforcement another tool to over-prosecute anybody.”

Similar ghost gun-banning legislation was introduced last year, but did not get a vote. “Generally, the House and the Senate, particularly the House, are not super in favor of any gun vio-

lence prevention policy,” Kerwin said.

“And so they’re not really inclined to pass gun violence prevention bills, even low-hanging fruit ones, which the ghost gun ban is considered” to be, she said.

Supporters of the bill hope that this year will be different, with many optimistic that banning ghost guns will be among a host of common sense gun legislation passed by the General Assembly this session. Other gun control legislation that has recently been introduced includes a bill which would increase regulation of high-capacity magazines and the banning of assault weapons.

“We … should be passing some common sense legislation that will help prevent gun injuries and deaths,” said Representative Rebecca Kislak (D - Providence), who voted in support of the passage of the House bill.

“I think that it’s generally important to treat gun violence and gun injuries and deaths as a public health problem, because they are.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

HENRY DAWSON / HERALD

Stephen Porder, assistant provost for sustainability, outlined the University’s future operations to combat climate change as well as its steps to make environmental action more inclusive. A second meeting to discuss the plan will be held on March 2 by Brown Climate Action Now at 85 Waterman Street.

REPORT FROM PAGE 1 for a greater inclusion of equity and a focus on using the plan to directly assist marginalized communities disproportionately affected by climate change. Another attendee suggested greater crosstalk between the committee and the staff involved with the Academic Diversity & Inclusion Action Plans.

Forum members also suggested a greater focus on the larger Providence

community.

Zanagee Artis ’22, leader of international climate justice organization Zero Hour, emphasized the need for the social aspect of climate change to be considered in the plan. “The sustainability plan, as it is now, is a lot of hard science. … We need to focus more on the human health side of the plan,” Artis said.

While Artis thought the forum was a great step towards involving student

feedback, he saw a need for greater campus outreach.

“A lot of people who self-select to come to these things are already engaged in environmental work,” he said. “So to see students on campus who might be doing different work, whether it’s in ethnic studies or urban studies, … would be really great for the planning.”

An overarching goal for the plan that Porder articulated was to incor-

porate sustainability into the “daily fabric” of life at the University. He referenced carbon sensors installed in University buildings as an example of the paradigm shift he hopes the plan will invoke. “Before we started down the carbon reduction goal, the reason we were putting sensors in buildings was because that was a way to get rebates on electricity bills, so it sort of paid for itself,” Porder said. “Once you switch the vision to ‘No, the goal

is carbon reduction, not just to get rebates,’ and we’re willing to pony up some money, then the conversation changes.”

A second meeting to discuss the plan will be held on March 2 by Brown Climate Action Now at 85 Waterman Street.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | TODAY

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Carney Lunch Talk 12:00 P.M. Sharpe Refectory

Bank of America Coffee Chats 4:00 P.M. CareerLab

Screening of “Harriet” 5:30 P.M. 85 Waterman St. Room 130

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Probability Seminar presents Patrick Lopatto 10:00 A.M. 182 George Street

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TOMORROW English Language Workshop 10:00 A.M. Sciences Library

Bate-Popo Poetry Reading 1:30 P.M. 159 George St. Room 102

Providence French Film Festival 7:00 P.M. Granoff Center

Jennifer Koh Recital 8:00 P.M. Granoff Center

Q U OTE OF TH E DAY

S U D O KU

“(Being a senator is) about being someone who is going to make a difference and honor the fact that all people should have rights and access to life.”

—Tiara Mack ’16 SEE MACK PAGE 2

HI G H I N T H E SKY RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle O S SWO D Lewis Edited by CR Rich Norris and JoyceR Nichols

ACROSS 1 Not interesting 7 Real heel 10 German exports 14 Beaucoup 15 Eight-time Norris Trophy winner 16 Bit attachment 17 *Largest port in NW Africa 19 “Black Beauty” author Sewell 20 Metric distances: Abbr.

21 Athos, to Porthos 22 Word with dark or gray 24 *Warrior’s cry 27 Hersey novel setting 30 Rob Roy’s refusal 31 Four-time Grammy winner Lovett 32 *Picnic side dish 35 23-Down’s div.

37 As found 38 Pupil surrounder 41 Ft. Worth campus 42 *Knocking sound 46 Australian sixfooters 49 Punching tool 50 “SNL” alum Mike 51 *Delighted 54 Animals who like to float on their back 55 Female hare 56 “Hardly!”

59 Violin holder 60 *Island nation in the Indian Ocean 64 A sweatshirt may have one 65 Rocker Rose 66 Sedative 67 Overnight lodging choices 68 Low grade 69 Incursions ... or, phonetically, what the answers to starred clues contain DOWN 1 With 2-Down, “Rio Lobo” actor 2 See 1-Down

3 __ stick: incense 4 Hagen often mentioned on “Inside the Actors Studio” 5 Head, slangily 6 Key of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto 7 Funnel-shaped 8 Compass-aided curve 9 Pulitzer category 10 Like a spoiled kid, often 11 Unwritten reminder 12 Cab storage site 13 Hunted Carroll creature 18 Microwave maker 23 Braves, on scoreboards 24 Against 25 Exactly 26 Mauna __ 27 “Whoso diggeth __ shall fall therein”: Proverbs 28 Fundraiser with steps?

29 Thing taken for granted 33 California’s Big __ 34 Not dis?

36 Chow 39 Avatar of Vishnu 40 Wd. derivation 43 Some Duracells 44 Silly talk 45 Foil maker 47 Capsizes 48 Neighbor of Isr.

51 __ Minh 52 Comparable to a March hare 53 Words with lamb or mutton 56 School sports org.

57 Like Cheerios 58 Half of seis 61 Fire truck item 62 G.I.’s mail drop 63 Paul McCartney, for one

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

02/27/13

ROSLYN CORIZ / HERALD

By Mark Bickham (c)2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

02/27/13

Swing into spring by checking out some of Brown’s iconic attractions. One figure in Tom Friedman’s “Circle Dance” dives into the new season, and the tower crane remains glorious as ever.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

FROM THE ARCHIVES: THIS DAY IN HERALD HISTORY

Feb. 26, 1987, “U. Receives Grant To Study AIDS And Evaluate Local Health Care” This article describes a piece published in the Feb. 26, 1987 Brown Daily Herald.

On this day in history in 1987, Stacy Bereck Chernosky ’90 P’23 covered the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $95,000 grant for the

city. “Different cities face different problems — political, financial, organizational,” he reflected.

“The patient populations are also different. We want to see how different cities attack problems and what the implications are for patient care.”

University to study community-based AIDS care.

The Center for Health Care Research at the University — now called Brown University Center for Gerontology & Healthcare Research — planned to explore methods to provide specialized, affordable and accessible health services to residents in 11 cities across the country.

The grant followed the RWJF’s $1.6 million donation to the same 11 cities in Oct. 1986. In gifting the University the $95,000 grant, the RWJF charged the University with determining the types of services cities should offer. Vincent Mor, then-director of the Center for Health Care Research and his colleagues visited the locations to “familiarize themselves with each city’s resources,” Bereck wrote.

At the time, Mor emphasized to Bereck the Center’s concern with acquainting the team with the unique characteristics and struggles of each

During their visits, the team paid particular attention to the needs and goals of each community, conducting extensive surveys of patients who were suffering from AIDS. The Center evaluated cities that spanned from coast to coast, including New York, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami and Seattle.

At the time of the publication of Bereck’s article, the grant was in the first phase of a potential four-year, $1 million study. Since then, the University has continued to prioritize AIDS research through the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research and other University-led projects. Along with continuing to fund AIDS-related research at the University, the RWJF also maintains its commitment to other initiatives focused on underrepresented communities, The Herald previously reported.

CLA R IF ICAT I O N A previous version of the Feb. 26 article, “Phi Beta Kappa elects 40 members of junior class,” did not specify that Amanda Brynn Mickelson ’21, Minako M. Ogita ’21, Alexandra Reice ’21, Marianna Grace Scott ’21 and Trisha Neel Thacker ’21 work or have worked for The Herald.

CO R R ECT I O N A previous version of the Feb. 26 article, “Brown students express opinions on new residence hall plan,” quoted Dorrit Corwin ’23 as reacting to photos of what the new residence hall would look like.

In fact, no design or photos of the new residence hall yet exist, and Corwin was referencing photos of the Deborah Berke Partners architecture firm’s previous work. The Herald regrets the error.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Editorial Leadership Editor-in-Chief Colleen Cronin Managing Editors Sophie Culpepper Allie Reed Senior Editors Elise Ryan Alex Smolar post- magazine Editor-in-Chief Amanda Ngo

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

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How introverts can thrive at Brown

BY RACHAEL SCHMIDT ‘21 OP-ED CONTRIBUTER

The social environment at Ivy League universities and other top colleges is one where extroverts typically thrive. First off, the admissions process necessarily selects for students who are comfortable sharing personal details about their lives for strangers to evaluate, both in their essays and their alumni interviews. Once on campus, students with strong interpersonal skills can excel. It is the extroverts who have an easier time creating large social networks, becoming club leaders, forming relationships with professors and impressing on-campus recruiters. In this environment, introverts like me may feel that we are at a disadvantage, since the instinct to put ourselves out there does not come naturally.

But instead of being deterred, we should recognize the myriad opportunities we have for personal growth. Introverts should view our undergraduate years at Brown as the perfect time to practice leaving our comfort zone and to hone social skills that we can carry with us to our post-graduate careers.

Interpersonal skills are essential to any career. Whether you go into academia or investment banking, you will not be able to avoid giving research talks, presenting findings or year-end reports and spearheading meetings. You will have to reach out to and form connections with colleagues, higher-ups and people outside of your organization.

While extroverts may have the upper hand, introverts can make active efforts to become more comfortable doing all of these things.

Undergraduate years at an Ivy League university are the best time to develop these skills. There are many networking events, and

the strong alumni community is almost always happy to help out current students. Student organizations offer countless opportunities to contribute meaningfully to communities of peers. Though we introverts may have to seek these opportunities out ourselves — which can seem daunting — in the long run, leaving our comfort zones will be nothing but beneficial. We will be pushed out of our comfort zones all throughout life, so we might as

on any social situation in which I find myself.

Working up the courage to take initiative in developing communication skills is difficult, but I almost always do so because I admire my peers and take inspiration from their willingness to speak to and engage with others. I have often found it difficult to be more outgoing in certain situations while still being myself. But the challenge has been gratifying.

“Introverts should view our undergraduate years at Brown as the perfect time to practice leaving our comfort zone and to hone social skills that we can carry with us to our postgraduate careers.”

well practice it in a low-stakes environment of fellow students.

When I first arrived at Brown, I was overwhelmed by the social environment. But I have been pushing myself in various ways, joining fun and social clubs and assuming leadership positions that encourage collaboration with my peers. While I still consider my social confidence a work in progress, I have made huge strides toward being able to take

It is also critical to note the difference between introversion and social anxiety, although one person can be characterized by both. I do not want to speak on behalf of those with social anxiety, nor give the wrong impression that merely putting oneself out there is sufficient for treatment. While introversion may involve a tendency to be shy, social anxiety can be crippling, making social interactions a challenge to get through

and nearly impossible to initiate. I admire those who suffer from social anxiety for their courage, especially those in incredibly social environments like Brown. I merely speak for introverts who may feel that at high-achiving institutions like this, the odds are stacked against them.

While extroverts may always occupy the spotlight of attention, I have connected with many others like me during my time at Brown. Even though it may not seem that Brown has room for introverts, we should recognize that we are more represented than we might initially appear; we are just good at camouflaging into a social environment.

At Brown, an introvert can stay in their comfort zone and keep to themselves, or they can partake in extroverted activities. I’ve thankfully never felt like Brown was trying to shape me into something I’m not; I have just felt that it was pushing me to go places I have never gone before.

While I cannot speak for everyone at Brown, I do believe there is a niche for everyone out there, extroverted or introverted.

Brown sees us for who we are and appreciates it; it invites us to be part of its community, no matter our various personalty types. Every networking event, final presentation and mixer give us the interpersonal skills we need to prepare us for our careers beyond Brown.

The Ivy League might provide extroverts the opportunity to thrive, but it can also provide us introverts the invaluble tools we need for navigating an extroverted world.

Rachael Schmidt ’21 can be reached at rachael_schmidt@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

S.2007: The end of partisan gerrymandering in Rhode Island?

BY OLIVIA SIEMENS ’21 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

This Thursday, the state Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hear public commentary on S.2007 , a joint resolution to inaugurate an independent redistricting commission in Rhode Island. If passed by both chambers of the state assembly and ratified by a majority of Rhode Island voters, the resolution would take effect next year, closing the book on nearly 40 years of extreme partisan gerrymandering by the state legislature.

Last week, The Herald covered the “uphill battle” that the proposal will likely face in the state assembly. Senior Staff Writer Benjamin Pollard ’23 was correct to note that the fight against political corruption will be a fierce one: Rhode Island’s Democratic state representatives have configured notoriously partisan legislative maps tracing back as early as 1972 , and their efforts to consolidate control over the state legislature have only accelerated in recent cycles.

While other states (particularly those under Republican legislative control ) have seen considerable public backlash against their partisan gerrymandering practices, Rhode Island’s legislature has, for the most part, evaded criticism from anti-corruption activists. This is a mistake — and a catastrophic one at that.

There has been a trend in recent years toward implementing legislation aimed at combating gerrymandering practices. Today, there are eight states that have established independent redistricting commissions, a few of which

were instituted after the 2010 census. Initial studies have shown that independent commissions can actually neutralize partisan bias in the redistricting process. These findings hold particular promise in areas where redistricting has long been marred by inequitable reapportionment practices that further entrench the

would be Republicans somewhere else, but they don’t feel they can win without a ‘D’ next to their name.”

In other words, Rhode Island politicians have systematically misrepresented their true ideological commitments in order to win over a liberal state electorate — all while rigging

“Rhode Island state representatives have abdicated their most basic democratic responsibility: that of representation itself.”

power of the party drawing the lines and effectively disenfranchise wide swaths of voters across the state.

Over the past decade, a staggering proportion of Rhode Island’s “Democratic” lawmakers have backed unmistakably conservative policies, ranging from disparaging women’s reproductive rights to nearly rejecting the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to passing a rigid voter identification law in response to many of the same unsubstantiated voter fraud concerns generally reserved for Republican political circles. As state Republican Representative Brian Newberry said in a 2014 New York Times interview , “Lots of Democrats (in Rhode Island)

the redistricting process in the interest of diminishing the electoral prospects of both progressive Democrats and authentic Republicans.

PlanScore, a project dedicated to quantifying historical gerrymandering data, reported that following the 2012–2014 redistricting process, Rhode Island’s redistricting plan was more heavily skewed toward Democrats than 92 percent of all enacted plans nationwide.

Believe it or not, this form of political corruption is perfectly legal. Just last year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering claims are “nonjusticiable,” meaning that the federal judiciary has no power to rule on whether any such electoral meddling

— no matter how flagrantly discriminatory — is unconstitutional. The Court has long expressed its reticence to rule on “political questions,” preferring to leave such determinations in the hands of the state legislatures.

In the absence of a judicial remedy, one thing remains abundantly clear. Rhode Island state representatives have abdicated their most basic democratic responsibility: that of representation itself. They have corrupted our system of government and betrayed the same voters who entrusted them with the power of public office. And in the absence of an independent redistricting body, there is nothing to stop them from doing it again.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or a conservative or somewhere in between. Even if you personally benefit from the political gerrymander, all of our rights are at stake when representatives of either party work to undermine the constitutional value of equal protection in our election process.

It’s about time for our representatives to do better —and time is of the essence. If the state assembly refuses to act this year, it will be another decade before Rhode Islanders will have another chance at a fair redistricting process. It is crucial that Rhode Island voters put pressure on their representatives to support political equality by voting in favor of resolution S.2007.

Olivia Siemens ’21 is the co-founder of the Rhode Island chapter of Represent.Us, a national group working to end political corruption and improve election processes nationwide.

Opinions pieces published in The Herald — which include columns, op-eds , letters to the editor and editorials — are written independently of news coverage.

8

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

New exhibit comes to Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology ‘Transient Matter’ exhibit features refugee life jackets, original art, photographs

BY CAELYN PENDER SENIOR STAFF WRITER A new exhibit, titled “Transient Matter: Assemblages of Migration in the Mediterranean,” opened at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Feb. 20. The exhibit showcases a collection of objects — inlcuding life jackets, blankets and a baby’s bottle ­— left behind on the island of Lesvos in Greece by migrants on their journey across the Aegean Sea to seek refuge in Europe. Polaroids and original art by the migrants were also featured in the exhibit.

The curators launched “Transient Matter” Thursday with a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session in Friedman Hall and a visit to the exhibit.

The exhibit is curated by Yannis Hamilakis, professor of Archaeology and professor of Modern Greek Studies and co-founder of the Decolonial Initiative at Brown, Darcy Hackley GS, Sherena Razek GS and Ayşe Şanlı GS. Hackley, Razek and Şanlı are doctoral candidates in Archeology and the Ancient World, Modern Culture and Media and Anthropology, respectively.

The display, which is located in the Manning Hall Gallery, focuses on the experiences of refugees living in Moria

Refugee Camp — the largest campin Europe. “We wanted to show migration as a phenomena that incorporates both dimensions” of loss of life and agency, Hamilakis said. Agency is one of the main themes that the exhibit focuses on, including the ways in which the refugees build their own shelter, find their own food and create schools within the refugee camps.

The exhibit consists of photos, videos and sound clips compiled from multiple trips to Lesvos by Hamilakis and Hackley. It also features polaroid photos taken on a camera lent to the inhabitants of Moria as well as art made by refugees in the camp.

Additionally, “Transient Matter” includes life jackets collected from a “life jacket graveyard” on Lesvos where refugees who arrived by boat discarded these items. The exhibit “is an experiment at the same time (that) it is an attempt to see what happens when objects are not supposed to be shown in a museum,” Hamilakis said.

Another aspect of the exhibit is an interactive map where attendees can trace their own family lineage.

The curators asked attendees to “just retrace their own family lineages and histories of migration, which unless you are Indigenous, you have,” Razek said. “There’s something sort of dialectical happening from the objects that we have here,” she added. They are “not normal art objects or … museal objects.”

Hamilakis began working on the project on the Moria Refugee Camp

HERALD FILE PHOTO

On Feb. 20, “Transient Matter: Assemblages of Migration in the Mediterranean,” which includes a collection of objects left behind by migrants on the island of Levos in Greece, opened at the Haffenreffer Museum. in 2016, and he was joined on a trip to Lesvos by Hackley and another graduate student in 2017. There, they began collecting and curating many of the objects that would ultimately end up in the exhibit.

“We wanted to start from the material dimension,” Hamilakis said. “This material in that local context very often is seen by many regions and authorities as rubbish or trash, as things that need to be cleared away as soon as possible.”

The exhibit as a whole is a collaboration with four charity organizations that each support refugees in different ways.

Hamilakis helped bring “Transient

Matter” to the Haffenreffer Museum after he successfully created a smaller version at the Joukowsky Institute, said Emily Jackson, Haffenreffer Museum operations and communications coordinator.

The Haffenreffer then worked with the curatorial team because “typically the curators that we partner with are our faculty and students so they don’t have a significant amount of curatorial experience,” Jackson said. “What they have is the specialized content knowledge.”

The museum staff helped with marketing the exhibit as well as the

logistical setup of making the “specialized knowledge fit in a physical space,” Jackson said.

Prior to “Transient Matter,” the Haffenreffer’s past two exhibits, “Drone Warriors: The Art of Surveillance and Resistance at Standing Rock” and “Sacred is Sacred: The Art of Protecting Bears Ears,” were “also very important in a contemporary political context and social-political context, and that’s something that we really value doing and something we’d like to do more of,” Jackson said. “It’s kind of an important part of anthropology to be part of those conversations.”