Friday, February 12, 2010

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 13 | Friday, February 12, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Curtain rises on PW’s thrilling ‘Until Dark’

U. trashes plan to cut papers

High-pitched notes ring quietly in the background — a prelude to a sinister outcome. The dim lights shine over the Hitchcockian apartment set, as an uneasy atmosphere settles in. “Wait Until Dark,” which opens Friday night at Production Workshop and runs through Monday, is an emotional thrill from beginning to end.

“This play flips everything you

By Claire Peracchio Senior Staff Writer

By Luisa Robledo Staff Writer

ARTS & CULTURE know,” said director Lee Taglin ’10, smiling. “It creates expectation and satisfaction in different ways.”

Alone in her apartment, a recently blinded Susy Hendrix (Leah Cogan ’13) falls victim to a trio of con men.

Believing that a heroin-filled doll is at her house, the men make Susy the

target of their manipulative games and test her limits.

“It’s a story about a woman’s survival — a blind woman surviving,” said Alexandra Keegan ’12, the stage manager.

Taglin chose Frederick Knott’s play to mark his directorial debut because of the different climactic elements of the script, he said. He wanted to focus on the characters and their interactions and create a “thrilling experience” for the audience.

“This is a piece we’re very proud of,” Taglin said, adding that he felt lucky to have worked with such a passionate team. “It’s been phenomenal.”

Cogan transformed into “the world’s champion blind woman,” as Susy mockingly calls herself in continued on page 4

them too, the matched students each receive an e-mail notifying them that they have a match — and telling them who it is.

The site launched Saturday.

Already over 900 students have registered, Huang said.

“It can be hard to date people at Brown,” said Gerardo Tejada ’10, who was featured in the promotional poster series that Huang

The Organizational Review Committee’s recommendation that newspapers be eliminated from University dining halls will not be enacted, Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

The ORC, which was charged with reducing expenditures by $14 million in order to stem the drain from the University’s endowment, recommended eliminating a program that provided the New York Times and the Providence Journal to students for $33,000 per year, according to the report the committee released on Feb. 2.

Originally a program initiated by the Undergraduate Council of Students, the newspaper service is currently funded through the Dining Services budget. If the program were to continue, the ORC’s report recommended, it should “return to being funded by UCS and the student activities fee.”

“During the ORC process, one of the guiding principles was to seek savings that wouldn’t hurt the student experience,” said Marisa Quinn, vice president of public affairs and University relations.

President Ruth Simmons will present a set of recommendations

continued on page 2

continued on page 3

Courtesy of Alexandra Keegan

Leah Cogan ’13 plays Susy Hendrix, a recently blinded woman, in Production Workshop’s “Wait Until Dark.”

Cancun trip Dating site gives lovelorn Hope canned over alcohol

By Talia Kagan Senior Staf f Writer

By Kristina Fazzalaro Staff Writer

The 2011 Class Board recently canceled a planned spring break trip to Cancun because of liability concerns about alcohol consumption expressed by the Student Activities Office, according to Director of Student Activities Phil O’Hara ’55. A University-sponsored spring break trip is unlikely to happen now, O’Hara said.

Neil Parikh ’11, president of the class board, e-mailed the student body on Feb. 4 to announce the trip’s cancellation, six days after he sent an e-mail to all undergraduates that the board was sponsoring a trip through STS Travel, which included the company’s party package.

“Due to liability, reputational, and logistical concerns, the trip will no longer be associated with Brown University or the Class Coordinating Boards,” Parikh wrote in the second e-mail.

The original Jan. 29 e-mail’s inclusion of the line “All day parties and free drinks” was what forced the SAO to ask the board to rescind Brown’s official sponsorship of the trip, O’Hara said. “Brown has to protect itself from liability suits,” he said.

In their “exuberance” to find out

inside

continued on page 3

News......1–3 Arts.............4 World..........5 Editorial.......6 Opinion........7 Today..........8

www.browndailyherald.com

At the beginning of each semester, Kai Huang ’11 and Arune Gulati ’11 would make a list of five girls they had crushes on. Then, at the end of the semester, they would review their progress.

“I was like 0 for 25,” Huang said. “It was never good.”

Then, this past summer, while hoping that a crush would chat

with him in an “online Facebook death stare,” Huang thought of a potential alternative to the uncertainty of modern romance.

That initial concept, grown out of “experiences of repeated failures and awkwardness,” now exists in the form of Prospect and Meeting, a Web site that Huang founded, he said. Users with a Brown e-mail address can enter up to five students they are interested in. If users’ crushes list

Brown skier looks to bring Olympic gold to Cayman

By Anish Gonchigar Staf f Writer

Dow Travers ’12 was on a ski lift at the Mountain Ski Resort in New Hampshire when he agreed to an interview with The Herald on Sunday. Travers was competing in a race for the Brown ski

FEATURE team, just days before he headed to Vancouver to compete in the giant slalom — the first athlete to represent the Cayman Islands in the Winter Olympics.

The Cayman Islands is a British territory of 56,000 people located in the Caribbean. The taxexempt trio of islands is known for its abundance of coral reefs and white beaches, in addition

to having more registered businesses than citizens, according to BBC News.

Though the picturesque islands don’t immediately conjure images of alpine skiing, Travers said his interest first emerged during family vacations to the Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Colorado. Travers began racing when he was 13 after an exchange program in France.

Travers said his Olympic ambitions began several years ago when his coach told him he would be able to compete if he improved in a few specific areas.

“A few years ago, my coach told me I could qualify if I got my points down to a certain level.

And I focused on getting those points down, and he was right,” continued on page 3

snow p l a c e l i k e ratt y

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Facilities Management monitors campus for snow and ice around the clock. See article on page three.

Arts, 4

Sports, 7

Opinions, 11

The blog today

IN SOVIET RUSSIA… Alum’s film on life in Soviet Russia makes it to Sundance

Sleeping in Students make use of the V-Dub’s extended breakfast hours

Beating the Clock Brian Judge ‘11 fights for a post-circadian society

Got the love bug?

BlogDailyHerald asks how students really feel about Valentine’s Day

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Friday, February 12, 2010

“It creates this kind of subtle world of mystery on campus.” — Roman Gonzalez ’11 on Prospect and Meeting

In first week, new a.m. option ups V-Dub traffic

By Ana Alvarez Senior Staf f Writer

More students have visited the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall during morning hours since Brown Dining Services introduced continental breakfast there Monday, and most have expressed praise for the change, said Ann Hoffman, director of administration for Dining Services.

From Monday to Wednesday, Dining Services saw a steady increase from 80 to 119 students who ate at the V-Dub from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., the new extended hours, according to data provided

by Hoffman.

On Wednesday, the busiest day, 29 percent of the students who ate in the morning attended the continental breakfast. Every day saw an increase from the previous week in the number of students who attended breakfast.

Students at the continental breakfast on Wednesday said they were pleased with the new option.

According to Hoffman, Jared Furuta ’10, assistant unit manager for Dining Services, wrote in an email to Hoffman that the continental breakfast is ideal for students with later classes who normally would not wake up early to go to breakfast.

Dorothy Lutz ’13 said she did not used to get breakfast because

of late classes but now takes advantage of the new continental breakfast.

“I am a really big fan since my class starts at 11,” she said.

David Sanchez ’13 said he liked and took advantage of the new option, which “is very convenient.”

Hoffman said Janet Parris, food services manager of the V-Dub for Dining Services, wrote in an e-mail that attendance at the continental breakfast varied during the time slot. While continental breakfast is chaotic between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., the V-Dub calms down from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Parris wrote.

Hoffman added that it is still too early to be sure if this increase will continue in the coming weeks.

“At the beginning of the semester, we see typically high counts in all of our operations and high counts at breakfast,” she said, “but after a while that goes away. It takes time to settle into patterns.”

Only one customer has complained so far about the absence of hot food options at the continental breakfast, Hoffman said.

“This person misunderstood what would be of fered,” she said.

Most other students are satisfied with the current options.

While enjoying her breakfast, Karin Wefald ’13 said, “I don’t mind not having hot breakfast because there is still other stuff accessible.”

sudoku

Daily Herald the Brown

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 George Miller, President Claire Kiely, Vice President

Katie Koh, Treasurer Chaz Kelsh, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each members of the community.

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Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

New dating site Prospect and Meeting has attracted over 900 registered users and made more than 150 matches.

The ‘awkwardly beautiful’ power of love continued from page 1 made for Prospect and Meeting.

The site could make dating “less threatening,” he said.

“The reason it works is it’s this return to (the) playground innocence of just having a crush on someone,” said Phil Kaye ’10, another student featured in the posters. He compared Prospect and Meeting to “the giggling friend” who tells two people of their mutual crush.

A fortuitous intersection The site’s name comes from Huang’s musings of two summers ago. While thinking of a failed romantic endeavor as he walked home along Prospect Street, he noticed the romantic potential of the intersection of Prospect and Meeting streets, and filed the thought away.

Last summer, when Huang brought up the idea for the site to several friends, Ben Martadarma ’11 said he realized it sounded familiar.

At his New York public high school, Stuyvesant, it was tradition for seniors to post “crushlists” several weeks before graduation. The lists, which were first posted on a wall in the school building, were typed up and put online for students to search for potential matches.

Martadarma, a computer science concentrator, told Huang the programming for this site would not be too hard. Gulati and another friend, Tyler Parker ’11, who worked on the site’s design, were also involved.

Martadarma began programming over winter break.

Then, a week later, Huang called with some bad news.

Huang had found out about Good Crush, a site that worked the same way. Unfortunately for Huang, this one was already set up and had a slick interface as well as networks for many different universities.

“I cannot remember the last time I was that depressed about anything,” Huang said.

Crushed hopes Good Crush, which also allows users to list up to five crushes and has the same match-up feature,

grew out of a student project that founder Josh Weinstein debuted at Princeton in 2007.

Weinstein also went to Stuyvesant High School. But while Martadarma hadn’t even posted a senior crushlist, Weinstein had been heavily involved. He was the first one to post the lists online, a task that took him “three days of nonstop typing,” he said.

In 2007, Weinstein brought the concept with him to Princeton.

When he launched the site as a student government Valentine’s Day project, over 30 percent of the student body signed up within 24 hours, he said.

Weinstein decided to expand it nationwide — he is officially launching the site with over 20 colleges for Valentine’s Day. But he also included networks for schools where he is not officially launching, such as Brown. As of Monday, there were about 30 Brown users, he said.

Almost 15,000 crushes have been sent on Good Crush, according to a counter on the site.

Back on Prospect Street Meanwhile, Huang decided to go ahead with the project, believing in the local appeal — and clever name — of Prospect and Meeting, he said.

The programming took a total of two-and-a-half weeks, Martadarma said. He then tested the site with friends to make sure it was secure.

Passwords are encoded, and he is the only one with access to the lists.

But he is not looking, he said.

In the past week, there have been a few bugs to work out. For example, until several days ago, users could list themselves as a crush — something that 25 students did, he said.

It seems like many students who have used it so far have listed friends to test it out, said Martadarma, who hasn’t yet heard of an actual romantic match despite over 150 matches on the site. Still, he said there has been a lot of curiosity and excitement.

Others are skeptical. “It doesn’t seem like it would work,” said Nathaniel Jeffries ’13, adding that he

wouldn’t want to meet someone that way.

Some students she has spoken to react negatively, saying they “don’t need a dating site to get play,” said Alicia Maule ’11, another student featured on the site’s promotional posters. “But it’s fun.”

There is another potential, she said. “It could be a form of sexual liberation for those who don’t have the confidence or support or experience in that realm,” she said.

Meet your match On Wednesday morning, Roman Gonzalez ’11 received an email that he had been listed, and spent the whole day thinking about it, he said.

He said he is intrigued by the site. “It creates this kind of subtle world of mystery on campus,” he said. It “awakens everybody’s consciousness that there are people who like other people.”

The site can also awaken tensions. Gonzalez knows two people who are dating, but who each received a notification from someone else. There was an awkward curiosity that neither felt they could pursue, he said.

Beyond notifications, there is the question of what to do when you actually receive a match.

Maule probably wouldn’t e-mail her match, but would instead “extend (herself) more verbally and physically” when with them, she said.

Huang said if he were to receive a match, the interaction probably would be awkward — but “beautifully awkward.”

Huang wants to expand the site, with features like a blog or the potential for two lists during the sexually charged time period known as “senior scramble.” One would be the traditional list of crushes, while the other could be for just “hooking up,” he said.

In the meantime, he is working hard to promote the site. One of his dreams is for every student on campus to receive at least one notification from the site, he said.

“Everyone is liked by someone,” he said.

Friday, February 12, 2010

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

“Nothing at Brown can have alcohol be the advertising centerpiece.” — Director of Student Activities Phil O’Hara ’55

Facilities attacks icy sidewalks

By Anita Mathews Staff Writer

The flurry of blizzard predictions for Wednesday’s weather was the kind of forecast that mobilizes Facilities Management to prepare the sidewalks for the worst of storms.

Though the actual snowfall often falls far short of meteorologists’ expectations, as in Wednesday’s case, Facilities doesn’t take any chances.

“We plan for the worst, and hope for the best,” said Donna Butler, director of custodial services.

While it takes a substantial staff to clear the snow and ice on Brown’s campus, the department is also responsible for neighboring streets and city sidewalks — a job it tackles with over a dozen plows, said Patrick Vetere, grounds superintendent.

About 50 Facilities staff members volunteer to be on call to help with preparations like salting or plowing, a group known as “Evergreen.”

Sometimes “we have to have staff report in the middle of the night,” said Carlos Fernandez, assistant vice president of facilities operations and engineering.

“Through proper communication and planning, we are able to inform our staff (in advance). We try to be proactive.”

Fernandez said the staff is very faithful — “they support Brown to the end.”

This dedication is especially helpful for a job that often demands doing the same duties multiple times. According to Fernandez, it is not unusual for the salt that Facilities spreads on the sidewalk before a storm to be washed away by rain and melting snow, making it necessary that Facilities staff ap-

Page 3

U. to recommend keeping newspapers in dining halls continued from page 1 from those proposed by the ORC and the University Resources Committee to the Corporation later this month. However, Simmons and others “recommended that this should be reconsidered,” Quinn said, because the proposed cut would result in “minimal savings compared with other actions.”

“There is a real value for the community in having newspapers available to students,” Quinn said.

As a result, it is “unlikely that it

Travers said.

Travers has been steadfast in his dedication to training. Though he ordinarily struggles to practice 50 days a year — in addition to Brown ski team’s month-and-a-halflong, biweekly trainings — he took the last year off from school to dedicate 200 days a year to skiing.

On top of Travers’ sheer commitment to skiing, he manages to find time for a second passion — rugby. As a freshman, Travers joined the Brown rugby team and soon became instrumental to its success.

“Soon after coming to Brown, Dow became one of our starters,” said Brown Rugby Coach David LaFlamme. “He’s a very aggressive player.”

Rugby team captain Andrew

— With additional reporting by Zung Nguyen Vu

SAO never approved class board’s Cancun e-mail continued from page 1

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Wednesday’s snowstorm was not as bad as predicted, but Facilities Management still had plenty of plowing and shoveling.

ply more.

“Safety is always a concern,” Butler said, “whether students are on campus or not.”

Even during winter break, she said, when the majority of students returns home, Facilities operates as it does when the University is in session, if only for the Providence residents who frequent the campus.

Fernandez said he and others on the Facilities staff feel a sense of personal responsibility when they hear about people injuring themselves on the ice.

The custodial staff also maintains areas around University buildings like the Rockefeller Library to

protect them from the wear and tear caused by storms, though this is not required.

Vetere said his staff is always exploring new technology to aid in the clearing process. The newest salting product that Facilities uses is enhanced with magnesium chloride, which melts “ice at lower temperatures and is less damaging to plants and masonry.”

Though the rapidly changing New England weather is a challenge, Fernandez said he has learned what to expect and how to improve Facilities’ preparation for winter weather.

“After taking a few falls,” he said with a smile, “you learn.”

how many students would be interested in such a trip, the members of the board did not show the text of the Jan. 29 e-mail to one of the advisers assigned to the organization, O’Hara said.

“Nothing at Brown can have alcohol be the advertising centerpiece,” he said. “There has to be something more to it.”

O’Hara said he told the board that it could research spring break

Travers skis from beaches to Brown continued from page 1

is something that will be forwarded”

by Simmons to the Corporation, said Quinn of the proposal.

“The ORC recommendations that were posted on the Brown website are just that: recommendations,” UCS President Clay Wertheimer ’10 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

“They were submitted to President Simmons ... One item that she is NOT recommending is removing newspapers from the dining halls.”

Alvarez ’11 also praised Travers’ commitment to the team. “Last fall season, he was at every practice and at every game. That’s just the kind of guy he is,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez added that the team was not surprised that Travers had reached the Olympic level in skiing “because he really is talented at both sports.”

Travers’ role on the team also led Brown rugby to tour the Cayman Islands in the spring of 2008.

The team played three matches there, the last of which was against the Cayman National First XV team. Travers’ performance in that match led the Cayman Islands to invite Travers back to play for them in a World Cup qualifier. Travers said he wants to play rugby in the 2016 Olympics, LaFlamme said.

One of the main reasons that Travers, a potential geobiology concentrator, chose Brown was be-

cause it was a place where he could pursue three of his passions.

“I came to Brown because it was one of the universities where I could balance academics with the athletics that I do,” Travers said.

“It was one of those places where I could ski and play rugby and get a great education.”

Travers said it has been “incredibly difficult” to balance his athletic and academic commitments. “Most of my professors have been very flexible, though I’ve been having a bit of trouble with the deans,” he said.

With the Opening Ceremony taking place Friday night, Travers said he is “feeling sore and tired from weeks of training,” but he expects to do his best when he competes. “I don’t really want to leave anything behind on that hill, and I want to make my countr y proud.”

www.browndailyherald.com

trips and discuss the details with him, but he would have to approve any University-wide e-mails sent by the board. He said he would have removed the remark from the e-mail if the SAO had seen the e-mail before it was sent.

“We tried to plan the trip out of interest from the student body,” Parikh said in an inter view with The Herald. “It’s unfortunate that the administration doesn’t want to go forward, but we hope to pursue it in the future.”

Arts & Culture The Brown Daily Herald

Friday, February 12, 2010 | Page 4

Film fest brings Israel to College Hill Alum’s documentary on Soviet era hits Sundance

By Sara Luxenberg Staff Writer

The second-annual Israeli Film Festival of College Hill begins on Saturday with the Providence premiere of the Oscar-nominated film “Ajami.”

For the committee of nine students who organized the festival, the seven films to be featured will serve to portray Israel in a cultural — as opposed to a political — light.

The festival committee was “born out of frustration,” said Danya Chudacoff ’11, its co-director, who first had the idea to start the film festival as a freshman. “Last year, there was a frustration with the way the country of Israel is discussed and appreciated on campus,” she said.

“There was really no venue for students to discuss Israel in any other context” besides the political, she added.

The first Israeli Film Festival, held last year, concentrated on historic Israel. This year, the committee chose films that “gravitated toward what Israel is like on a day-to-day basis,” Chudacoff said.

Jenna Zeigen ’12, the committee’s other co-director, said “the predominant way to look at Israel” is through a political lens. People forget that “Israel is a country in itself, with living, breathing people,” she said.

“I hope this film festival can bring them to light in all their diversity,” Zeigen said.

One film that highlights this diversity is “Turn Left at the End of the World,” which will be shown on Feb. 14 and 18 and is co-sponsored by the Watson Institute’s Year of India. In exploring the lives of Indian and Moroccan Jews in Israel, the film provides “insight into commu-

nities that people don’t really know existed,” Chudacoff said.

Jesse Golden-Marx ’13, another member of the festival committee, will give an educational presentation at the screening. The committee is trying to address the common misconceptions that Israel is extremely orthodox or only a violent country, he said.

Another film that speaks to diversity is “A Matter of Size,” a film about an Israeli who discovers sumo wrestling in Israel. The screening is co-sponsored by the Japanese Cultural Association and will be shown on Feb. 14 and 17. The film “shows there are other cultures that do exist inside of Israel,” Golden-Marx said.

The festival also seeks to emphasize Tel Aviv in new ways with films like “Or (My Treasure),” a movie about prostitution and its effects on a mother-daughter relationship.

The film, which will run on Feb. 15 and 18, delves into “gender issues in Israel” and is more universally relatable, Chudacoff said. “It’s day-to-day, it’s human, it’s one of the things that happens in a big city like Tel Aviv.”

The film festival will also touch on themes that people often associate with Israel, such as political conflict and the Holocaust. “Free Zone,” which will be screened on Feb. 16, is “the most political film we have,” Chudacoff said. “We picked it because the film itself is a discussion.”

“It’s not conclusive,” she added.

“It just kind of exposes a certain reality and ironies of the situation.”

“Free Zone” is the only film in the line-up in English. The rest are primarily Hebrew with English subtitles.

“Summer of Aviya,” to be shown on Feb. 15 and 17, will explore issues surrounding the Holocaust.

“We want to keep talking about it, discussing it, remembering it,” committee member Sarah Levy ’12 said of the Holocaust. “This is a good way to do so in an Israeli context.”

The committee members worked hard to bring this year’s film festival to life. “We had to write a lot of grant letters and fill out a lot of applications,” Zeigen said. The committee reached out to local synagogues, campus groups, academic departments and nationwide Jewish organizations, she added.

“Our attendance last year was pretty good,” Chudacoff said, adding that the committee expects an even better turnout this year. “The word is out more,” she said. “There’s more of an interest in it now.”

The film festival has no target audience, Chudacoff said. “We want to have this discussion with everyone.”

Chudacoff especially encouraged people to attend the festival’s opening screening of “Ajami,” which is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.

“It’s the Providence premiere.

The Avon doesn’t even have this film yet,” she added.

The committee emphasized the diversity portrayed in the film and its realistic quality. “The actors aren’t professional actors. They’re actual people from the neighborhood of Ajami,” Zeigen said.

In choosing this Oscar-nominated film, the committee is also “showcasing success in the Israeli cinema industry, which is something to be very, very proud of,” Chudacoff said.

Cogan ’13 dazzles in new PW show continued from page 1 the beginning of the play. Although Cogan’s eyes have the emblematic blank stare of a blind person, she manages to convey emotions powerfully. Through her gestures and facial expressions, she connects with the audience members and draws them into her chaotic situation. She succeeds in fooling viewers into thinking that she is completely blind, without seeming dull or flat.

Cogan’s use of props is also brilliantly coordinated. Without exaggerating her inability to see, she

stumbles into furniture with an almost-natural clumsiness. Her movements are flawless, yet spontaneous enough to still look real.

But it’s the dynamic interaction between the actors that makes this play so captivating. They are visibly engaged with each other’s performances, which allows them to create the ideal emotional atmosphere.

They respond almost viscerally to each change in mood and tone.

“It’s a beautifully collaborative project,” said Assistant Director Nick White ’10.

The cast and crew came back to

Brown to rehearse a week before classes started. They lived together and spent up to eight hours per day on stage. “It was great,” Taglin said, laughing. “When you live together, you really break through.”

For White, those seven days were “an incredible learning experience,” he said, adding that it had been an ideal atmosphere to allow actors to try something new every night.

“We all learned from each other,” he said.

“After living so closely,” Taglin said, “this play is pulsing and ready to burst — pshboom!”

By Miriam Furst Staf f Writer

“My Perestroika,” a documentary that director Robin Hessman ’94 described as an “unusual look of life behind the Iron Curtain,” was featured in the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, at the end of January.

Hessman said the film follows the lives of five people who were childhood classmates growing up in Moscow “behind the Iron Curtain.” By the time these five people graduated from college, the Soviet Union had collapsed and they needed to figure out how to live in a new society. “My Perestroika” portrays Soviet Russia from a personal point of view, as opposed to a political or sociological point of view, Hessman said.

Caroline Libresco, one of the festival’s senior programmers, said they saw many documentary films about contemporar y Russia during the selection process because 2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“There is much to say about the impact and interplay of the old communist and the new capitalist system on Russian life and society,” Libresco said. “What makes ‘My Perestrokia’ such a special film is that it examines that very dynamic in a deep, microcosmic way.”

In addition to filming the five main characters’ current lives, Hessman integrated their home movies from the 1970s and 80s.

“My Perestroika” also includes shots of the Soviet propaganda that surrounded the characters during their childhood.

“Hessman’s close relationship with her subjects is evident in their tremendous ease and candor in front of the camera,” Libresco said. “All of these factors conspire to make it an exquisite and important film.”

Hessman said she began research for the film in 2004, but has had a strong interest in Russia since her time at Brown. She began to work on the film after realizing that, despite the end of the Cold War, there are still many misconceptions about what life was truly like in the USSR. After interviewing many people for the film, Hessman found a mar ried couple who were childhood classmates. Hessman wanted to use the couple, Boris and Lyubov Meyerson, who both became history teachers, because she wanted to explore “what it’s like for them to teach history today, compared to the history they learned in the Soviet Union when certain things were forbidden,”

www.diamondsandcoal.com

she said.

What’s more, both teach children born after the fall of the Soviet Union who lack “real comprehension of what the country was like when their parents grew up,” Hessman said. After deciding to follow the Meyersons in her film, Hessman found three other of their former classmates: Olga Durikova, a single mother who rents billiard tables for a living; Andrei Yevgrafov, a businessman; and Ruslan Stupin, a punk musician.

Hessman’s main goal in making the film was “to try to make people know life behind the Iron Curtain emotionally, rather than intellectually” and to understand “what our generation of Russians had gone through,” she said.

Hessman has no familial ties to Russia, but became interested in the country “because they were the enemy,” she said.

At Brown, Hessman concentrated in modern culture and media and Russian language and literature. She is grateful that Brown allowed her “to make her own path,” she said.

She also said Brown’s open curriculum made it possible for her to study abroad for a large portion of her undergraduate career.

During the spring of her freshman year, she studied abroad in a language program in Leningrad during the city’s last year with that name — the last year of the Soviet Union. Hessman continued to spend time abroad in Russia, spending only four semesters on campus at Brown.

“I’m grateful to Brown because any other school would’ve had too many distribution requirements to let me go away that much,” she said.

While on campus, Hessman said, one of her most profound experiences was volunteering for and then working as an assistant to Richard Manning, a film archivist in the Department of Modern Culture and Media.

Hessman also took many film classes with Leslie Thornton, professor of modern culture and media studies, who has stayed in contact with her former student.

Thornton said Hessman “was fierce in pursuing her goals. She was very focused, ambitious, effective, and passionate.”

“Robin did something that I’ve never seen any other student do,” Thornton said of Hessman’s decision to enroll in film school in Moscow her junior year. “She knew the kind of experience she wanted and knew it wasn’t going to happen on Brown’s campus, so she did something much more dramatic.”

World & Nation The Brown Daily Herald

VANCOUVER 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS

Online today: Ratty vs. V-Dub: Who wins? www.blogdailyherald.com Friday, February 12, 2010 | Page 5

Opening details remain mysterious

By Michelle Kaufman McClatchy Newspapers

The 2010 Winter Olympics get underway Friday with the first indoor Opening Ceremonies in the event’s 86-year history, and that is looking like a wise decision. It rained all day Thursday and more rain is forecast through Saturday, threatening the start of some of the ski events.

Despite a few unavoidable leaks on Twitter and Facebook, the extravaganza remains shrouded in mystery.

Pop stars Bryan Adams and Sarah McLachlan are expected to be in the show at 60,000-seat BC Place, but will Celine Dion join them? Will there, in fact, be two cauldrons, one indoors and one outside by the waterfront? Most importantly, will The Great One, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, light the cauldron?

Word is the show will feature Aboriginal drummers and acrobats from the world-renowned Canadian Cirque du Soleil. It will cover themes ranging from Canada’s wilderness to its passion for winter sports.

More than 2,500 athletes and 10,000 journalists have gathered in this beautiful-but-snowless city, and a television audience of 3 billion is expected to tune in over the course of the 15-day competition.

Here are 10 Reasons to Watch

(in no particular order) …

Shani Davis vs. Chad Hedrick, Round 2 One of the spiciest Olympic rivalries is between U.S. speedskating “teammates” Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. Davis, the world-record holder at 1,000 and 1,500 meters, refuses to train with the U.S. team, appear in its media guide, or accept its money. He does things his way, and his mother, Cherie, wears Dutch orange rather than red, white and blue. Davis and Hedrick feuded four years ago over Davis’ decision not to compete in the team pursuit, and the icy relationship continues. $100 Million Question Canada did not win a single gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics or the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and genial Canadian athletes and fans are tired of being the nice guys.

A $100 million “Own the Podium” campaign was launched, and Canadians are poised to sing “Oh, Canada” and watch their Maple Leaf rise up the flagpole. No team is under more pressure than the hockey team. Anything less than gold will be considered a massive disappointment.

Lindsey Vonn’s Shin NBC executives surely are nervous as the anointed American star

of the Games, skier Lindsey Vonn, is questionable after injuring her shin during a Feb. 3 training run. Vonn is not only one of the best U.S. female skiers in history, but she is blonde and photogenic. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated last week, and also appeared in this month’s SI Swimsuit Issue. Will this be the Vonn-couver Olympics, or will she follow Bode Miller as American ski bust?

He’s Back Oh, yes: Short Track speedskater Apollo Anton Ohno is back, feeling comfortable just a few hours from his hometown of Seattle. He could leave here the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian ever. He has five medals ­— two golds, one silver, two bronze — and Bonnie Blair has six.

Wanted: American Ice Princess The last time the U.S. failed to win a medal in women’s figure skating was 1964. This could be the year the U.S. medal streak ends. There are only two American skaters competing, rather than the usual three, because of country’s poor performances at recent world championships. The best medal hope is national champion Rachael Flatt, who has the technical difficulty but may lack the artistry to finish ahead of

favorites Kim Yu-Na of South Korea and Japanese skaters Mao Asada and Miki Ando.

Nordic Combined No, we’re not kidding. For the first time in Olympic history, the United States has a chance to win a medal in this sport, which is ski jumping plus cross-country skiing.

Todd Lodwick is in his fifth Olympics, Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane are each in their fourth, and they finally figured out how to keep up with the Europeans.

They’re Wearing What?

Even if you are not a fan of figure skating, it’s worth tuning in just to see the costumes. It used to be just the women’s costumes that dropped jaws, but now the men have joined the fun. Johnny Weir wears faux fur, Evan Lysacek wears feathers, and Evgeni Plushenko is known for his over-the-top outfits. Russian ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin just ditched their aboriginal costumes because they were deemed offensive.

Brooms and Stones If you’ve never watched curling, this is the time to start. The strange-looking sport involving brooms and 42-lb. granite stones is huge in Canada, with more than 1 million participants. There is major pressure on the Canadian men’s and women’s curling teams to bring home the gold.

Skicross Crashes The new Olympic sport of skicross features a pack of four skiers racing downhill at the same time, bumping each other as they negotiate turns, moguls and jumps. Think NASCAR on skis.

The Snow Leopard A wild lynx wandered onto the Olympic downhill course on Wednesday. Thankfully, there were no skiers on the run at the time. During the Games, watch out for Kwame “The Snow Leopard” NkrumahAcheampong, a 35-year-old former safari guide from Ghana who is his countr y’s only representative at these Games. He is entered in the slalom and giant slalom.

www.blogdailyherald.com

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Friday, February 12, 2010

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r

Amenities not key to college quality To the Editor: Ethan Tobias’ column (“What Toyota can teach Brown,” Feb. 11) sadly condones the continued race of colleges and universities to compete on the basis of country club-like amenities. Brown’s reputation is built not on newspapers and paninis, but rather the qual-

ity of its faculty and students. Instead of lamenting the loss of shiny new buildings and luxuries we can reasonably forgo, let’s insist that Brown maintain or increase financial aid, BIAP funding, and faculty and staff positions.

Nick Hagerty ’10 Feb. 11

julia streuli

e d i to r i a l

President Simmons and Goldman Sachs From The Herald, Wednesday, January 22, 1986

Only one spring info session left!

Feb. 15, 8 p.m. at 195 Angell St.

t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief George Miller

Managing Editor Chaz Kelsh

editorial Arts & Culture Anne Speyer Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Features Brian Mastroianni Features Hannah Moser Metro Brigitta Greene Metro Ben Schreckinger News Sydney Ember News Nicole Friedman Sports Dan Alexander Asst. Sports Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Han Cui

Deputy Managing Editors Sophia Li Emmy Liss

Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor

Graphics & Photos Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor production Copy Desk Chief Kelly Mallahan Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Neal Poole Web Editor Post- magazine Editor-in-Chief Marshall Katheder

Senior Editors Ellen Cushing Seth Motel Joanna Wohlmuth

Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Claire Kiely Katie Koh Directors Sales Kelly Wess Finance Matthew Burrows Client Relations Margaret Watson Alumni Relations Christiana Stephenson Managers Arjun Vaidya Marco deLeon Aditi Bhatia Jared Davis Trenten Nelson-Rivers Alexander Carrere Kathy Bui

Local Sales National Sales University Sales University Sales Recruiter Sales Special Projects Staff

Opinions Opinions Editor Michael Fitzpatrick Opinions Editor Alyssa Ratledge Editorial Page Board Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member William Martin Board member Melissa Shube Board member Gaurie Tilak Board member Jonathan Topaz Board member

Julien Ouellet, Designer

Goldman Sachs has been arguably the most controversial financial firm throughout the recent economic crisis. Critics have accused Goldman Sachs of selling financial products to institutional investors and betting against those same products with its own trading money, as well as hastening American International Group’s collapse by liberally valuing its losses on securities that AIG insured.

Goldman Sachs received $12.9 billion in taxpayer money as a result of the eventual AIG bailout. On top of that, the firm also received a $10 billion loan through the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. Nonetheless, in 2009, Goldman set aside $16.2 billion for employee compensation — almost $500,000 per employee. In this context, we want to say a few words on President Ruth Simmons’ role as member of Goldman Sachs’ Board of Directors and compensation committee.

In evaluating President Simmons’ board membership, it is important to distinguish two ways in which she contributes to the corporate governance of Goldman Sachs. First, President Simmons brings to the board a unique sensitivity to the views of women, minorities and young people. She is one of two women on the board, the only African American and the only member whose primary background is in education.

In an interview with the editorial page board, President Simmons said she has worked to convey minority employees’ issues to the firm’s management and helped build an initiative to provide business management education to 10,000 women in developing countries throughout the world. She also said she keeps the company in touch with young people’s values — things like sustainability, equality and work-life balance.

When it comes to these issues, we can’t imagine a better advocate than President Simmons. In this regard, her perspective has a tremendously positive impact on Goldman Sachs. And since the firm

employs 32,500 people worldwide and plays a major, global role in allocating capital and managing financial risk, President Simmons’ board membership has positive ramifications on an international scale.

At the same time, as a member of the Board of Directors, President Simmons is responsible for exercising oversight in all areas of the firm — including the firm’s more controversial financial and compensation practices. When we take into account these actions, we are less enthusiastic about President Simmons’ board membership. We worry about whether her views on financial issues can in fact shape policy at Goldman Sachs to the same extent as her views on human resources issues.

Fortunately, Simmons herself is very mindful of this concern.

“I am constantly probing, questioning whether or not I can make a difference. The moment that I feel I cannot make a difference, I’m gone,” she told the editorial page board. We want President Simmons to hold herself to that statement, and knowing her, we trust that she will. The relative moderation of Goldman Sachs’ 2009 employee compensation has been a nice gesture. CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s bonus fell well short of what many expected. Yet, the firm’s efforts to improve in the area of corporate citizenship must not stop there.

In the coming months, Goldman Sachs will exert great influence on America’s economic recovery and the government’s effort to design a new financial regulatory framework. We are glad that President Simmons will have a central seat at the table as both these processes move forward, and we hope — for the country’s sake — that her voice is heard loud and clear.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

Joe Milner, Kate-Lyn Scott, Rebecca Specking, Copy Editors Alicia Chen, Hannah Moser, Claire Peracchio, Anne Speyer, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Ana Alvarez, Alexander Bell, Alicia Chen, Max Godnick, Talia Kagan, Sarah Mancone, Heeyoung Min, Kate Monks, Claire Peracchio, Jenna Steckel, Goda Thangada, Caitlin Trujillo Staff Writers Shara Azad, Nicole Boucher, Kristina Fazzalaro, Miriam Furst, Anish Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, Matthew Klebanoff, Sara Luxenberg, Anita Mathews, Luisa Robledo, Emily Rosen, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine Senior Sales Staff Katie Galvin, Liana Nisimova, Isha Gulati, Alex Neff, Michael Ejike, Samantha Wong Design Staff Caleigh Forbes, Jessica Kirschner, Gili Kliger, Leor Shtull-Leber, Katie Wilson Web Staff Andrew Chen, Warren Jin, Claire Kwong, Phil Park, Ethan Richman Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit Copy Editors Nicole Boucher, Sarah Forman, Claire Gianotti, Christine Joyce, Sara Luxenberg, Alexandra Macfarlane, Joe Milner, Lindor Qunaj, Carmen Shulman

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Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Friday, February 12, 2010 | Page 7

Workin’ on my fitness

BY BRIAN JUDGE Opinions Columnist Enough is enough. I was up late trying in vain to write a paper recently about the passing of the literary visionary J.D. Salinger, so I ventured to the OMAC in hopes of going for a run to get the creative juices flowing.

As they say: Might makes write. But after braving the cold Providence night, I arrived at the entrance of the OMAC to discover that it was closed!

Some of you will surely say, “Why don’t you just go running outside?” Please. Don’t even get me started on how dangerous it is to go running in Providence at night. And besides, I am from the South, so there’s no way you’re getting me to run outside when it’s this cold. As I was staring hopelessly into the dark cavern of the OMAC, another midnight runner bounded up the stairs eagerly, only to be met with my depressing, “It’s closed.” The person’s face sank like the Titanic. We walked back towards Thayer Street in silence. I hadn’t experienced such a slight since President Ruth Simmons declined one of my t-shirts with her face silkscreened on it.

Not being able to exercise late at night impacted my academic experience. What could be more important to us as Brown students than the sanctity of academics? I mean, imagine how ridiculous it would be

if I couldn’t get a spicy with at one in the morning after stumbling drunkenly down Thayer Street and rubbing my head on the sneeze-guard above the lettuce. If midnight runs are as much a part of one’s work routine as blacked-out chicken sandwiches, then it should be given the same status by the powers that be. Some people prepare for

a small loss of value from this arbitrary and seemingly irrelevant policy. I’m sure it was designed by some Corporation bureaucrat to maximize costs and minimize services. If not, then it is probably a law that Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 passed to appease the powerful people-who-look-for-a-flashing-greenlight lobby. I demand instant satisfaction of

We should be able to afford to keep the lights on all night in the OMAC just like we can afford to keep stacks of room-temperature cheese next to a hotel pan of fried chicken. It’s just common sense. class on Thursday by dressing scantily and going pole dancing on Wednesday. Is my habit really so ridiculous?

We ought to give equal status to all study routines, with complete and total disregard for all potential haters. As Ralph Waldo Emerson says, consistency is the hallmark of a sensible institution. Plus, Brown had almost $3 billion. We should be able to afford to keep the lights on all night in the OMAC just like we can afford to keep stacks of roomtemperature cheese next to a hotel pan of fried chicken. It’s just common sense.

It is unfair that my parents are suffering

my most ridiculous whims! Or else what are our parents paying all this money for?

As serious as this concern may seem to me, I think this exposes a much darker underlying problem that we all must face: we haven’t become a post-circadian society. We all thought that the beginning of the age of the 24-hour convenience store was going to change the way we think about sleep habits.

But the sad reality is that it hasn’t. Tedeschi still closes at two in the morning. Closedminded time bigots are winning. We cannot let them.

The notion that nighttime is for sleeping

is an oppressive discursive construct that is propagated by the diurnalist hegemony.

It is a narrowly equatorial discourse bordering on nocturnalist. People like us who live closer to the poles experience night and day as fluid and ambiguous categories that help contextualize the various life-processes that constitute our dominant cultural practices. For most, the equinox is a Paganesque primitive that is a sadly distant ideal.

Our progressive sensibilities demand that everything anyone does must be celebrated regardless of how idiotic it is and our conservative sensibilities demand that everything be sacrificed on the altar of efficiency regardless of how valuable it is.

But all this isn’t to say that there must always be a temporal hierarchy of privilege when it comes to using gymnastical facilities. Who are the administrators of the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center to say that these ought to be inflexible boundaries? We can’t tacitly cede the agency each of us has over the fitness of our own bodies to soulless bureaucrats.

As a wise man from Alberta once told me: “The problem with Fukuyama is that he’s not Tocqueville.”

Take heart, Brunonians: It is darkest just before dawn.

Brian Judge ’11 is just trying to get in top form for the Laydeeezz at Fish Co.

Haiti: Making morality meet reality

BY ALEXANDER CAMPBELL Guest Columnist In his Feb. 1 column, “Haiti: Where morality meets reality,” Brian Judge ’11 ended on a strong note: “But in the end, it isn’t about us and what we want for Haiti. It is about what Haitians want for Haiti.” The logic there is unimpeachable, though the rest of Judge’s article argues a rather different point: “If we want to feel good about our dogmas, then we should go on saying that Haiti is just fine as it is, and it is only our own prejudice that says that it ought to be different. If we want to actually mitigate suffering, then we need to be willing to be paternalistic.” That’s where disagreement arises.

No one has said that Haiti is just fine as it is, but the idea that Haiti could develop along the path of Taiwan by hosting American sweatshops is absurd. Haiti’s problem has never been a lack of integration into the capitalist world economy, or even insufficient “Protestant work ethic.” On the contrary, the “Protestant work ethic” that powered capitalism in countries like England and the Netherlands was built on protectionism at home, access to capital and the coerced work ethic of people bought and sold as slaves in Jamaica and Barbados, Curacao and Suriname.

While Haiti has certainly fared worse than many other ex-colonies for numerous historical reasons, no country has pulled it-

self up from such thorough subjugation. Taiwan had access to significant amounts of capital and development aid, and like China, Japan and South Korea, has enjoyed a degree of autonomy that no Atlantic World colony has ever seen.

That said, the international community has the opportunity to be either helpful or harmful. The appropriate course of action is, of course, to honor the policies that (as Judge said), “Haitians want for Haiti.” But not all Haitians speak with one voice, and perhaps more importantly, Haitian politics are circumscribed in a larger world political system

popular priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown for the second time in 2004 with American support.

In short, Haitians do not need a change of culture, for it is not Haitian culture that has impeded “progress” for centuries. Rather, it is the “international community” (read: excolonial powers) that needs to change its culture; for it is those same nations of the “developed world” that have consistently jeopardized the wellbeing of Haitians as a people over the past two centuries. To merely drop Haiti into competition for the scraps of industrialization that America leaves to other

The answers for Haiti will have to come from its neighborhoods, labor and community organizations and churches rather than American banks. where “what Haitians want” is systematically ignored. In 1825, Haiti was required to pay reparations to France for the latter’s loss in slave property resulting from the successful rebellion of Generals Toussaint and Dessalines. Opening the twentieth century, the United States occupied the country militarily from 1915 to 1934, creating the conditions for the brutal father-son regimes of Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier. If that all seems like ancient history, the nation’s first democratically elected president, the immensely

countries (i.e. textiles) is a grotesque policy in light of Haiti’s history and the enormous debt that the former colonial powers owe to Haiti and, yes, scores of other former colonies they have left in the same position.

To that end, I believe the appropriate steps are clearer than many would like to admit. First, large amounts of money need to be issued to Haiti, with no strings attached.

Haiti must not be left open to predatory creditors and corporations. Secondly, money should go to Haitians to the greatest extent

possible. It should go to the Haitian government and to Haitian organizations. Institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, led by countries like the United States, have controlled Haiti for more than long enough; the idea that they know best is almost laughable by now. Finally, all is for naught if Haitians do not have a democratic government in which they have faith.

The least that the U.S can do to that end is not undermine democracy where it does exist. The answers for Haiti will have to come from its neighborhoods, labor and community organizations and churches rather than American banks.

I am not Haitian, and I obviously do not speak for the Haitian people. Unfortunately, the final decisions about how to deal with Haiti will most likely be made in the United States and Europe, giving the residents of those countries a degree of responsibility in seeing justice done. There are already grassroots organizations in Haiti organizing for a better future for their country, and the same organizing needs to be done here in the United States. Opposing the predetermined policies of powerful banks and corporations, at home and abroad, is an uphill battle, but the stakes of losing are simply too high to not take it up.

Alexander Campbell ’10 is a history concentrator from Louisville, Kentucky.

He can be reached at alexander_campbell@brown.edu.

Got something to say? Leave a comment online!

Visit www.browndailyherald.com to comment on opinion and editorial content.

Today The Brown Daily Herald

3

Facilities keeps snow and ice at bay

The women’s hockey team (218-4, 0-15-3 ECAC) will host Cornell (11-8-6, 10-2-6) on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Meehan Auditorium. The Bears will stay at home on Saturday to take on Colgate (9-17-4, 5-9-4) at 4 p.m. Brown will look to snap its eight-game losing streak.

After two home weekends, the men’s hockey team (7-13-3, 5-83) will hit the road to face No. 6 Cornell (13-6-3, 10-3-2) on Friday and Colgate (11-11-5, 8-6-1) on Saturday.

c a l e n da r Today, February 12

tomorrow, February 13

4:00 p.m. — Ron’s Right Arm: Synthesias, Sensoriums, and the Experience of Recording Studio Work, Orwig 315

10:00 A.M. — Sexual Assault Peer Education Training, Wilson 105

7:30 p.m. — Dancing with the Profs, Alumnae Hall

7:00 p.m. — Israeli Film Festival Screening of “Ajami” (2009), MacMillan 117

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Vegan Vegetable Couscous, Hot Pastrami Sandwich, White Pesto Pizza

Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Baked Vegan Nuggets, Baked Potato Bar, Raspberry Swirl Cookies

DINNER — Stuffed Shells Florentine, Onion Rings, Cheese Pizza, Salmon Provencal

Dinner — Grilled Chicken, Risotto Primavera, Cheesy Grits Souffle, Vegetarian Minestrone Soup

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Friday, February 12, 2010

Page 8

d i a m o n d s a n d c oa l Coal to cutting varsity teams. We thought they wanted to trim the University’s budget — not FishCo’s revenue.

A diamond to the University for partnering with Pfizer, maker of Viagra. We assume this is part of a plan to help our endowment grow.

A diamond diamond to Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty Carolyn Dean, who told The Herald this week that postdocs received a salary increase last year to maintain equity. Who better to comment on equity than Dean Dean?

Coal to the University for hosting the unattractive Samsung charging stations in eateries around campus. Then again, this isn’t the first time the University has overlooked appearance — these are the same people that brought us Grad Center, after all.

Coal to 2011 Class Board President Neil Parikh ’11 for arranging “all day parties and free drinks” in Cancun for the junior class without asking permission. We can’t imagine what the University found objectionable.

Diamond to State Rep. John G. Edwards, D-Dist.

70, for introducing a bill to decriminalize pot. We would confuse you with the former senator, but we know you’d never cheat on your Mary Jane.

Diamond to Robin Hessman ’94 for becoming interested in Russia “because they were the enemy.”

That’s like when we were mean to the pretty girl in our second-grade class because we like-liked her.

Coal to the University’s decision to keep bringing our competitors into the dining halls. The Herald was looking for ward to its monopoly of your breakfast table.

Coal to the marriage equality rally that was postponed this week because of poor weather conditions. It doesn’t count if it was just raining gay men.

menu Sharpe Refectory

to m o r r o w

Film fest brings Israel to College Hill

s p o rt s a ro u n d t h e b e n d The men’s basketball team will host Dartmouth on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center and Harvard the following night — same time, same place. The Crimson (15-5, 4-2 Ivy League) and Big Green (4-16, 0-6) are the only two Ivy teams that Brown (7-16, 1-5) has yet to play.

The wrestling team will host a dual meet against Harvard at noon on Saturday in the Pizzitola Center and another against Lehigh two hours later, the team’s final home meets.

4

to day

comics Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

crossword

Excelsior | Kevin Grubb

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Hippomaniac | Mat Becker