Monday, April 25, 2011

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxlvi, no. 55

Monday, April 25, 2011

Since 1891

Athletes challenge administrators on team cuts Ivy film fest brings out Sorkin, Franco

By Nicole Boucher and Claire Peracchio News Editor and City & State Editor

Filmmakers and enthusiasts alike enjoyed a taste of Hollywood on campus last week. The Ivy Film Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with a week of advance film screenings, student films, industry panels and talks by two established members of the industry.

ARTs & Culture Friday’s talk by actor James Franco and Saturday’s keynote speech by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin were the two most popular events of the festival.

Behind the scripts

After a 30-minute delay, Sorkin did not disappoint. His talk — moderated by Sam Marks, visiting lecturer of literary arts — kept the audience roaring with laughter.

Sorkin discussed his experiences working on “The Social Network,” “The West Wing” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” weaving in humorous personal anecdotes.

He said he only wrote one draft for “The Social Network.” He continued on page 7

Claire Peracchio / Herald

Richard Spies (left), chair of the Athletics Review Committee, spoke to athletes about proposed cuts to four varsity sports teams. The men’s soccer team (top right) attended the meeting in solidarity with members of the teams threatened by the committee’s recommendations.

timing during a heated questionand-answer session following brief speeches by administrators.

“It’s important that you hear directly from us,” said Michael Goldberger, director of athletics.

By Katherine Long Staff Writer

Two rallies representing opposite sides of the debate over bringing the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps back to Brown took place peacefully side by side on the Main Green Friday. Though tensions at times ran high, rally participants managed to find common ground in their arguments.

The Coalition Against Special Privileges for ROTC organized

the anti-ROTC protest to provide “a physical manifestation of opposition to ROTC as the semester is coming to a close,” said Alex Dean ’14, a coalition leader. The anti-ROTC rally attracted about 35 student and faculty protesters to the steps of Faunce House. In response to the coalition’s planned rally, the Brown Republicans organized a pro-ROTC “Support Our Troops” protest to be held at the same time in the same place.

About 15 students took part in the

pro-ROTC rally.

At one point, ROTC opponents erupted into a chant of “Support our troops! Bring them home!”

Recognizing mutual values, ROTC supporters responded with a chant of “We agree!” After the rallies ended, students from both sides mingled in small groups debating each other.

“Maybe they have more in common than they think,” by-

continued on page 2

Courtesy of Sam Rosenfeld

Break-dancers from across the country faced off at Friday’s “Floorgasm” hiphop event, held in the Kasper Multipurpose Room.

Lax-luster

Bruno falls to Cornell in Senior Day game

Sports, 8

The No. 6 women’s crew team dominated through rain and shine last weekend in its final home regattas of the year.

The Bears faced regional rivals University of Rhode Island and Boston University in beautiful weather conditions Friday and easily cruised to victory in every race of the day. The varsity eight — despite being forced to row first due to a broken oar on the third varsity boat — obliterated second-place URI by 19 seconds with a time of 6 minutes, 12.20 seconds. The second varsity eight turned in an impressive performance, finishing nine seconds ahead of URI at 6:18.40. The varsity four were neck-and-neck with

bird bones give hints of dino strides

By Emily Rosen Staff Writer

BU for the majority of the race, but in the end, the Bears pulled out a narrow victory with a time of 7:08.30, just 1.1 seconds ahead of the Terriers.

Columbia and No. 10 Cornell traveled to Providence for Bruno’s final home competition of the year the following day and were met with dismal skies. The teams faced strong winds, heavy rain and an incoming tide throughout the day on the Seekonk River.

“In outdoor sports, this is something you have to prepare for and deal with,” said Head Coach John Murphy. “It was windy, there was a steady rain and it was cold, so it wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t something where they couldn’t do their best.”

A plump guinea fowl walks across a bird-sized treadmill. X-rays record the precise movement of the bird’s bones, tracking its hips as they interact with its legs. A computerized model of the bones is aligned with x-ray images, and an animated bird skeleton begins to walk on screen.

In another of the lab’s projects, bird feet are dipped into trays of mud, leaving three-pronged tracks in the goop.

Professor of Biology Stephen Gatesy is using these birds and their footprints to study dinosaur movement. By collecting data on living animals, he is able to draw conclusions that can be applied to the study of fossils.

Birds are the best living model organism when it comes to deciphering fossils and dinosaur movement, Gatesy said. “You see fossils with a different set of eyes each time you learn something new about a living animal.”

He is interested in using his guinea fowl models to study how the skeleton moves. One major question he seeks to answer is why joints move as they do, and not in certain angles and directions, he said.

continued on page 8

continued on page 2

continued on page 3

Women’s crew shines under gloomy skies

By Sam Rubinroit Sports Staff Writer

inside

the path we were on,” Goldberger said. Brown has the smallest athletics budget in the Ivy League but fields the third-most teams.

Conflicting ROTC camps face off A step up —

b ot t o m s u p

news....................2-3 CITY & State............7 editorial............10 Opinions.............11 Arts.......................12

He added that the lengthy process, which involved reviews by four different committees over two years, has placed a “black cloud over athletics.”

“We just could not continue on

Good sports Athletes fight for fencing, wrestling and women’s skiing opinions, 11

weather

By Aparna bansal Senior Staff Writer

Seventy students whose teams are in danger of being cut, and the dozens more who showed up to support them, met with administrators in an emotionally charged Solomon 001 Friday at 8 a.m. to discuss controversial recommendations that would eliminate four varsity athletic teams.

The Athletics Review Committee’s proposal to eliminate the men’s and women’s fencing teams, men’s wrestling team and the women’s ski team are intended to strengthen the University’s athletics program, said committee Chair Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president.

At the meeting, which marked the start of a public comment period concerning the recommendations, students voiced their outrage and questioned the announcement’s

t o d ay

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The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Varsity athletes protest Lab uses proposed cuts to teams guinea fowl to model movement continued from page 1

When the discussion process began in 2009 during the University’s organizational review, administrators intended to make cuts from the athletics budget. But the recent recommendations would actually increase funding for the remaining teams by roughly 10 percent while eliminating the four teams.

Though Spies acknowledged the recommendations’ profound effect on the students and coaches who have devoted so much to the teams in question, he emphasized the committee’s top priority was improving the quality of athletics, which are currently suffering from a budget stretched too thin.

“It comes down to how big a program we can promote,” he said. “You have to look at the whole picture.”

Spies fielded an array of questions from frustrated students. Why announce the changes now, when students no longer have the option of transferring to an institution that offers their sport? What will happen to the coaches, who may soon be unemployed on short notice? Could other teams soon face the prospect of being cut?

Hudson Collins ’11.5, a member of the wrestling team, questioned why affected teams were not given more advance notice.

In similar situations, many colleges simply “rip the Band-Aid off ” by enacting changes without any input from the community, Spies said. The opportunity for teams to respond is now, he added. Though the committees deliberated for a long time before coming to the decision, Spies said it is possible that a team might bring up an issue that has not yet been considered.

This week, administrators will meet privately with each team. They will also take the proposed changes to the Brown University Community Council Tuesday and the Undergraduate Council of Students Wednesday. Administrators will then finalize their recommendations and present them to President Ruth Simmons, who will in turn offer them to the Corporation at its May meeting. The Corporation will decide if the programs will officially be cut for the 2011-12 academic year.

“The feedback we get, even if it does not make our recommendation, will go to the president,”

Daily

the Brown

Goldberger said.

Affected athletes have organized a rally against the cuts on the Main Green at 1 p.m. today.

There is never a good time to announce changes such as this, and making an announcement that teams could be cut while the committee deliberated would only have muddled the process, Spies told The Herald after the meeting.

The tension in the audience was palpable. When Cory Abbe ’13, a member of the women’s fencing team, pointed out a potential conflict of interest on the committee — why appoint the head football coach and two student-athletes from teams unaffected by the recommendations to the committee, given that they would stand to gain more funding if other teams were eliminated? — the audience burst into applause before Spies could respond.

Spies urged students not to question the committee’s motives. “You will only damage your case,” he said.

He also assured the audience that no additional cutbacks were in the works. “We’re recommending a program that is sustainable,” Spies said. “There is not a list of next cuts.”

But the changes currently under consideration are wrenching enough, students said.

“I live here. I don’t go home,” said Grant Overcashier ’12, a member of the wrestling team, after the meeting. He added the decision is “destroying” his life. A recruited athlete, Overcashier came to Brown from a family with limited financial means, a situation he said is common among wrestlers.

“Brown is my life. Brown is my home, and (wrestling) is why I’m here,” he said.

Many students, like football player Tom Uszakiewicz ’14, attended the meeting out of solidarity.

“I came here to support all the student-athletes,” said Uszakiewicz, adding that, as an athlete, he could not imagine his team being cut after training all of his life to compete at the college level.

For the students whose teams might be eliminated, the possible changes are forcing them to weigh a decision that earlier would have been unthinkable — whether to leave Brown.

“Because of this, they’re forcing us to consider transferring,” said wrestler Billy Watterson ’14.

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continued from page 1 The group has also conducted similar experiments to study bird flight.

But Gatesy, who has taught anatomy courses to medical students, likes to focus on the minute and subtle behavior of the bones.

“Each joint has a different solution to movement,” Gatesy said. Studying locomotion can help describe how, for instance, a knee joint is different from an ankle joint. “I’m an anatomist,” he said. “I love the shape of things and the structure.”

Robert Kambic GS works in Gatesy’s lab and shares his interest in “dino” movement. Wearing a dinosaur-themed T-shirt, he pulled up images of bird bones on the computer screen. He studies the “types of ligaments and soft tissues you put in a joint to get certain movement” and said he hopes to “see if there are broad rules that we can apply to the dinosaurs as well.”

Gatesy called his work “exploratory,” emphasizing that it is more discovery-based than hypothesisdriven. In some studies, the lab snips certain ligament or connective tissue, looking at ways the animals’ movement responds.

Footprints left in Gatesy’s trays of mud reveal a surprising level of detail. He uses the prints to create three-dimensional animations of footprint formation.

“How does the foot interact with the mud?” he asks. A footprint does not represent a single moment in time. Instead, each subtle movement of the foot — as it sinks millimeter by millimeter through the mud — results in slight disturbances in the medium.

Gatesy mixes beads into mud before sticking a bird’s foot — or model of a bird’s foot — into the mixture. Using x-ray data and computer animation, he is able to track the movement of individual beads as the foot sinks in.

Now, researchers are able to apply this knowledge of footprint formation to trace fossils around the world. Looking at a footprint, a paleontologist can make a more informed analysis of the dinosaur’s movement — based on evidence, thanks to Gatesy’s guinea fowl.

Campus News 3

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Hip-hop jam showcases dance styles

By Leah Bromberg Contributing Writer

continued from page 1

Friday night, dancers from across the country connected in the Kasper Multipurpose Room, spreading awareness of hip-hop as a tool for social change and competing for a cash prize of $250.

About 150 people attended Brown’s first-ever “Floorgasm,” a hip-hop jam showcasing break-dance and popping dance styles. The event drew poppers — who practice a jerky style of dance — breakdancers — also known as b-boys — emcees, D.J.s and even graffiti

Arts & culture artists from around the country.

Judges Alfonzo “Megatron” Hunt and Jennifer “Lady Beast” Viaud opened up the hip-hop jam with a display of their own popping prowess. The judges electrified the audience, which cheered and screamed. Viaud, who describes her popping style as “funky, robotic, feminine and mannequin,” said that she is the only woman she is aware of who competes in national jams on the East coast.

The youngest break-dancer who spun and hurtled his tiny frame across the floor was just five years old. Six-year-olds Devik and Isaiah were driven to the competition by their fathers, who were break-dancing pioneers themselves in the 1980s.

Freestyle lifestyle

Dancers strove to express the positive impact of hip-hop. Pierre “Boogie” Arreola ’13, president of Brown’s Breakdancing Crew and member of the Gr818ers, a Los Angeles based hip-hop group, organized the event. Arreola drove five hours to pick up the speakers, raised funds and networked nationally with b-boys from across the country. “This year, ‘Floorgasm’ is different in that we have competitions,” Pierre said. While previous hip-hop events at Brown focused only on performance, “the true essence of hip-hop is that battling, a friendly competition,” Arreola said. The competition pushes dancers to better their craft and also just to have fun.

Hip-hop is not just a dance — it’s a lifestyle, a culture and a tool for social change, Arreola said.

He carries the hip-hop mentality everywhere, even into the classroom. In his classes, he said he does not feel pressured to impress professors or students but tries instead to be true to himself. School is not about the final grade, “it’s about the process. It’s how you got there,” Arreola said. “This is a culture based on self-expression.

It started out because there were people who were oppressed in the ’70s and ’80s.”

Members of other University dance groups said they learned a lot from the event. The jam showcased a form of dance — unchoreographed — very different from those generally performed at Brown. “No disrespect to (Amer-

Opposing ROTC rallies knock heads

Courtesy of Sam Rosenfeld

Reed Frye ’11 performed at Friday’s “Floorgasm,” awing the audience with a flip.

ica’s Best Dance Crew) or So You Think You Can Dance, but anybody can get up on stage and do something that’s choreographed.

But can you get up in a crowd, and captivate the crowd from your own soul? That’s what these kids are doing,” said Hunt, co-founder of the “Slaughter House” training facility for poppers.

“It’s nice that we have a different view of dancing: the battle culture. I’m glad these guys bring it,” said Srihari Sritharan ’12, a member of Brown’s Badmaash dance group. “There needs to be more of this kind of stuff here. This is a lifestyle that Brown never sees,” added Alec Lee ’14 , a member of the break-dancing crew. Breakdancing judge and local hip-hop organizer Jose “B-boy Face” Maldonado said he does not emulate commercialized break-dancing because a true b-boy dances from the soul. The moves dancers compose so effortlessly are sculpted by hours of practice and dedication.

Maldonado showed off the scars on his shoulders, elbows, wrists and head, called “b-boy burns.”

“I can guarantee you that 90 percent of the boys here have these scars,” he said.

“There’s not a lot of these types of events in Rhode Island. Seeing the real form of hip-hop happen in Rhode Island is a blessing. A lot of people think hip-hop is Lil’ Wayne and Gucci Man. Hip-hop is not gangster,” said Kelvin “Poppin Groove” Romero, a student from Cranston High School West who described his style as “popping, funky, loose, more like a boogaloo type, robotics, isolations.”

Romero affirmed the qualities that shape hip-hop into a tool of social change. Hip-hop takes kids off the street and keeps them from doing drugs or joining gangs, Romero said. He said hip-hop is not just a dance style, but a culture.

Hip-hoppin’ the Ivy League

The event aimed to introduce Brown to the underground hiphop community. “It’s a movement to make College Hill less segregated from the rest of Providence and the world of hip-hop,” said Sam Rosenfeld ’12, a member of

the Gr818ers and a Herald editorial cartoonist. “Brown is all about hip-hop, and they don’t even know it,” said Arreola, the event’s organizer. He connected the “four tenets of hip-hop” to Brown’s mentality: peace, love, unity and having fun.

“I’m trying to show Brown that hip-hop is not about negativity.

There’s this unity,” said Arreola.

Many dancers said that hip-hop represents positivity and selfexpression. “I never thought that hip-hop culture would be around here,” Romero said of Brown. “I’d definitely like to see more events like this at Brown. ... It’s peaceful.”

Attendees expressed surprise that such an event would be hosted by an Ivy League institution, because a common stereotype of hiphop is that it does not jive with higher education.

Kevin “Rebil” Fidler flew in from southern Florida to learn new dance styles. Popping and wave styles vary by region, he said.

“It’s like an accent. If I do a wavestyle like they have in Florida, it’s going to be different from someone in Boston or Rhode Island,” he said.

“That an institution as prestigious as Brown would sponsor continued on page 9

stander Harry Mickalide ’12 said about the two rallies.

But the atmosphere was not always so civil.

Each group tried to drown out the other’s speeches with music and chants. After the anti-ROTC rally’s grand finale, which involved marching into University Hall and presenting the case against ROTC to President Ruth Simmons’ assistant, ROTC opponents surrounded the Brown Republicans and chanted loudly before disbanding.

“The rally went really well,” said Jonathan Leibovic ’12, a coalition supporter. “We beat the pro-ROTC folks into retreat. It was great.”

Coalition members built their protest around the fact that the ROTC program does not allow transgender students to participate in its military training and scholarship program.

Coalition supporters bore signs saying, “Support trans rights!” and carried rainbow flags.

“The idea that the University would even consider allowing a discriminatory group on campus is insulting,” Gabriel Schwartz ’13 said in an address to protesters. “But since it’s trans students they’re discriminating against, people think it’s more okay. But I say — funk ROTC and support trans rights!”

“Funk ROTC” was the name of an ROTC protest parade featuring the What Cheer Brigade, a marching band from Providence, that took place later that night around campus.

“Discrimination is not a reason to keep ROTC off campus,” said Terrence George ’13, president of the Brown Republicans and chairman of the College Republican Federation of Rhode Island. “On the whole, the group does more good than bad,” he said.

George, who organized the pro-ROTC rally, pointed out that ROTC provides scholarships for students from underprivileged backgrounds and “makes our

military smarter.” He accused the coalition of using “anti-military rhetoric” despite their “support our troops” chant.

“The simple fact that they suggest that bringing ROTC to Brown would make the campus less safe impugns the honor of the military,” he said.

The coalition argues on its website that Brown would be less safe if ROTC were again allowed on campus because of the military’s record of sexual violence. The “culture of sexual violence is pervasive enough to invade the military’s interaction with the civilian world,” according to the site.

Anti-ROTC protesters also argued that allowing ROTC back on campus would provide tacit University support for American military intervention abroad.

“The reason ROTC was expelled from campus in 1969 was because of the catastrophe in Vietnam,” said Steve Rabson, professor emeritus of East Asian studies, veteran and a participant in the anti-ROTC rally. “America hasn’t learned from Vietnam not to continue intervening militarily — the debacles in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are proof enough of that.”

Other protesters sang anti-war songs and recalled the legacy of Vietnam in speeches and chants.

But despite their conflicting rhetoric, leaders of both groups agree the ROTC debate transcends political boundaries.

“This issue isn’t a partisan issue,” George said. “It’s an American issue that everyone can get behind and support. It’s encouraging to see people getting together behind one issue.”

“For me, this isn’t about antiwar or pro-war, anti-military or pro-military politics,” wrote Chris Gang ’11, a coalition member and former Herald executive editor, in a press release. “It’s a question of what Brown, as a community, values.”

The Committee on ROTC is expected to present more findings to the Brown University Community Council Tuesday.

Arts & Culture 7

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Film festival entertains with celebrity guests Musicians evoke joys of folk continued from page 1

praised director David Fincher for his ability to make scenes of Mark Zuckerberg typing “look like bank robberies.” Sorkin said he felt a particular affection for Zuckerberg because he considers himself “socially awkward” as well.

“I’m the dumbest in my family,” he said. “I grew up surrounded by people that are smarter than I am. … I really liked the sound of intelligence. I wanted to be able to imitate that sound.” When he writes screenplays, he asks himself whether it would appeal to him, his friends and his father, rather than to the mass population, he said. When asked about the political motivations behind his work, Sorkin replied he does not have a political agenda. “My fidelity is entirely to storytelling,” he said.

“My education and experience is entirely in writing, not in politics.”

But he did have strong views on social networking, which he said had a “lack of sincerity” and is more performance-oriented than personal.

Sorkin also expressed concern that reality television is “making us nationally, collectively dumber and meaner,” another idea that resonated with the audience.

He touched upon the writing process during his talk, explaining that starting is the most difficult part. He said he uses index cards to help him write. His first play, “A Few Good Men,” was written on cocktail napkins while he worked as a bartender, he said.

“I’m the first person to play all the parts,” he said. “I’m very active when I’m writing — talking out loud, jumping up and down.”

Akiva Goldsman, Oscar-winning screenwriter of “A Beautiful Mind,” taught him that it is also important to “fall out of love with the book” and create something new when adapting a novel into a screenplay, he said.

Students asked him about his favorite episode of “The West Wing” and what went wrong with “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Sorkin said he could not name a favorite West Wing episode but pointed to a unique episode in response to 9/11. The early end to “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” was his own fault, he said, but was canceled for commercial reasons.

Sorkin also spoke about his next project, “More as the Story Develops,” a television show he described as a current version of “The West Wing,” but with a focus on journalism instead of government.

An insider’s view on acting

The line to enter Salomon for Franco’s talk stretched across the Main Green to the George Street gates. Moderated by renowned journalist Charlie Rose, the talk began with short clips from Franco’s works. The audience cheered at his scenes from “Spiderman,” “Milk” and “127 Hours.” Franco then talked about his experiences working with Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and some of his earlier appearances on “Freaks and Geeks” and “General Hospital.”

continued from page 12

Rachel Borders and Becky Specking / Herald

Movie star James Franco (top) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (bottom) spoke about their Hollywood experiences — focusing on their artistic processes — and fielded questions from students as guests of the Ivy Film Festival this weekend.

Franco said he initially felt frustrated that as an actor he did not have more control over the direction of the piece, which led him to find other outlets for his creative energy. He said he came to understand that directors have to collaborate with many different departments and do not want “actors that (they) have to fight with on set.”

Rose asked Franco about how his continuing experiences in academia have informed his career.

Franco replied that working with his favorite writers in university settings was akin to working with great directors such as Boyle.

“Some bloggers like to say I’m a super weird guy,” he said. “But what is so weird about going to school? I could be doing a lot weirder things.”

Franco, who is also a writer and painter, said he enjoys finding the best form through which to deliver his subject matter and blending different mediums to examine their interactions and limitations. He does not feel like he needs to be the best at everything but approaches each pursuit in a humble way, “trying to bring something genuine to each,” he said.

“Embarrassment is something that used to hold me back,” he said.

“But now I don’t care as long as my intentions are pure … if that means I’m going to fall, that’s OK. I’m going to take that risk.”

He became a little more tense at the mention of the Oscars, which he

said were a sensitive topic because of the “vicious” response his hosting drew from critics.

“I went out there and I tried to deliver those lines as well as I knew how,” he said.

Jacob Ramos ’14 told The Herald he appreciated James Franco’s “obsession with academia” but was disappointed with the level of questions by Brown students. One student asked whether Franco would be interested in smoking marijuana after the talk, a question Franco brushed aside.

“We’ve never had two keynote speakers of this caliber,” said Max Gindi ’11, programming coordinator for IFF. “It’s the most packed schedule we’ve had.”

IFF was able to bring Franco and Sorkin to speak through personal connections such as Thomas Rothman ’76 P’11 P’13, co-chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said Debbie Lai ’12, co-executive director of IFF. “He’s always been a great supporter of the IFF,” she said.

Aspiring filmmakers

Members of the IFF staff received hundreds of student submissions and 31 movies to screen on Friday and Saturday. This year, the festival had a particularly diverse range of submissions from around the world, said Travis Bogosian ’13, programming coordinator. The final selections were made based on the quality of the writing, acting,

cinematography and story, he said.

Many student films had a haunting and dark feel. “Exclusive,” based on a short story by acclaimed Israeli author Etgar Keret, brings together the hopelessness of a breakup with the horror of everyday crime.

Two films by students of the American Film Institute were particularly poignant. “Thule” describes the sinking sense of despair and detachment that a group of men experience at an Air Force base in Greenland. “Clear Blue” brought in a fantastical element as it showed the encounter between the lifeguard at a community pool and the mysterious mermaid who swims in it. The festival also featured documentaries about cycling in Boston, a Kenyan refugee camp and animations about a cruel bird couple and a thoughtful elephant.

“Some were entertaining, some were educational and some were just OK,” said Daniel Goodman, a prospective graduate student who attended the screenings.

“I thought they were really good — we don’t have a film festival at Tufts,” said Neha Agrawal, co-director of the film “Between the Curbs.”

This year, the festival debuted the new social change award. “We really want to encourage people to think of films not just as entertainment but as a way to communicate a message,” Lai said.

During a panel discussion continued on page 9

performers at a disadvantage, but the location provided a cozy environment for a rainy day. The music was never too loud, and performers only experienced minor sound mixing problems.

The festival kicked off with a traditional contra dance Friday night and also hosted workshops on shape note singing and Ghanaian drumming on Saturday.

Merchandise and crafts stands took up the back and sides of the hall. Violins were displayed on one table, and the instrument maker encouraged festivalgoers to take one and try it out in one of the designated classrooms in Sayles.

But the music was always at the forefront of the action.

Headliner Erin McKeown ’01 kept eyes and ears in rapt attention for her hour-and-a-half set.

“I have literally played this song all over the world, and I always think of Providence when I play,” McKeown declared before her bluesy guitar began to buck and her voice seemed to take up all of Sayles. “The way I learned to be an artist was in living in this city and going to gigs,” she told the crowd.

Her two bandmates, Erik Deutsche and Mark Dalio, provided tight accompaniment that was more than simply background.

“Everyone was respectful and really quiet,” said McKeown. “Tonight I was really focused on my relationship with Erik and Marc.”

McKeown’s style is an eclectic mix of singer-songwriter and folk rock, event organizer Avi Kenny ’11 said.

Jake Hill and Deep Creek, another highlight of the festival, are a classic rock and folk-tinged four piece from Plymouth, Mass. Lead guitarist Kit Carlyle often stole the show, with a wailing energetic guitar.

A range of music types and group sizes kept the 12 hours from seeming too monotonous, although most festival attendees came and went throughout the day. The audience was constantly changing, with the greatest concentration of students appearing in the last hours of the show.

Last Good Tooth, the last act to perform, took the stage at 11 p.m.

Composed of Rhode Island School of Design and Brown graduates, the three-piece folk group delivers convincing folk and blues tunes with a raspy but powerful voice and fiddle accompaniment. The band also performed at last year’s folk festival.

At their meetings, members of Folk Musicians of Brown plan the festival as well as jam together. “The all-around mission of the club is to promote folk music at Brown,” said Kenny.

“I’m most excited about the music,” said club member Tyler White ’13 before the festival. “Live music’s always better than recorded music.”

8 Sports Monday

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Raining on the parade: Big Red demolishes Bears 18-5 on Senior Day By ethan mccoy Assistant Sports Editor

In a must-win game to keep its postseason hopes alive, the men’s lacrosse team came up short at home in muddy conditions Saturday. The Bears (5-8, 1-4 Ivy) could not keep pace with No. 3 Cornell (10-2, 5-0), who clinched the outright league title with the 18-5 win.

The loss eliminated Brown from contention for the fourth and final spot in the Ivy League playoffs.

“We’re disappointed,” said tricaptain defenseman Peter Fallon ’11. “They’re an extremely good team, but we always play them pretty tight. Especially on Senior Day — we came out really excited.

We were all ready to go and felt really well-prepared, and they just made more plays than we did.”

The Big Red jumped out on top early, scoring the first three goals of the game. Brown had its first breakthrough with just under five minutes left in the first quarter when tri-captain Andrew Feinberg ’11 found the back of the net to cut the lead to 3-1. But the Bears could not build off the score, and a pair of Big Red goals before the quarter’s final whistle gave Cornell a 5-1 lead.

Brown got one back quickly at the start of the second quarter when attacker Rob Schlesinger ’12 beat Cornell goalie A.J. Fiore. But from that point on, Cornell ran

away with the game.

After Schlesinger’s goal, the Big Red showed why it is ranked third in the nation, scoring seven consecutive goals to put the game out of reach. Three goals in the second quarter extended the lead to 8-2 at intermission. After the break, the Big Red resumed right where they left off, building a 10-goal cushion before Schlesinger’s second goal of the day broke Brown’s nearly 30-minute scoring drought.

But the Big Red did not relent.

After scoring 10 goals in the second half, Cornell finished with a whopping 18 on the day, the most goals the Bears have allowed all season.

Bruno’s two late consolation goals came from Jeffrey Foote ’11 and George Sherman ’13.

The Cornell onslaught was spearheaded by All-American Rob Pannell, who Fallon said the team regards as “one of the best players in the country, if not the best.” Pannell had two goals and five assists, while teammates Steve Mock and Roy Lang each had hat tricks.

The Big Red clinched a share of the Ivy League title for the ninth consecutive season and will host the postseason tournament. The squad appears to be on track for a postseason run in the NCAA championships, having already beaten every Ivy League team they have faced this season and taken down then-No. 1 Syracuse.

“They’re extremely smart play-

ers — they’re tough players,” Fallon said. “At the end of the game, they may not have the superstars … but everyone on that team does the little things right, and that’s what wins games.”

The disappointing result on Senior Day was not indicative of what the class of 2011 has accomplished in its four years on the lacrosse field. The 11 seniors have twice won the Ivy League championship — in 2008 and 2010 — and in 2009, earned a birth in the NCAA Playoffs.

“It was emotional for us,” Fallon said of playing his last home game in a Brown uniform. “It’s disappointing to not have done as well as we’d like on Senior Day, but at the end of the day, I’m so proud to play for this team, play for these guys and play for the program. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

The class boasts a number of impressive individual accomplishments, as well.

Feinberg has tallied 121 career goals in his four years, fifth all-time at Brown and seventh among all active Division I players.

Fallon, who is an All-American and two-time All-Ivy selection, is currently on the watch list for the Tewaaraton Award — college lacrosse’s Heisman trophy — and the Lowe’s Senior CLASS award, which recognizes athletic, academic and community-related achievements.

Goalie Matt Chriss ’11 entered

Emily Gilbert / Herald

Playing in his final home game, Matt Chriss ‘11 struggled in the rain, allowing 16 goals as men’s lacrosse lost badly at home to Cornell.

Saturday’s game ranked fourth nationally in both save percentage and saves per game, and David Hawley ’11 was drafted this winter in the seventh round by the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse, the country’s top professional league.

These seniors have the opportu-

nity to end their Brown careers on the right note next week when they travel to Hanover, N.H., to take on Dartmouth (5-8, 1-4). The Big Green is still in the running for the final place in the conference playoffs. Though the Bears no longer have a shot at postseason play, they can still spoil Dartmouth’s chances.

Women’s crew glides to victory on home course continued from page 1 Despite the conditions, Bruno had little difficulty clinching victories in all five of the day’s races. The varsity eight finished in 7:41.80, nearly 14 seconds ahead of second-place Columbia. The second varsity eight again posted an impressive time at 7:52.50, which ranked ahead of both Cornell’s and Columbia’s varsity eight times.

“The weather on Saturday was terrible,” said Casey Kelsey ’11.

“But because we race and practice on the Seekonk every day, we think it’s an advantage racing on our home course in these terrible conditions because those other teams don’t have experience with it.”

As the school year winds down, the Bears’ schedule picks up. The team has one final tune-up race against eighth-ranked Yale Saturday in preparation for the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges Sprints held May 15 in

New Jersey. The sprints are the qualifier meet for the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

Murphy said he is confident about the upcoming races but warned his players about getting ahead of themselves.

“For the NCAA, you have to get selected and then worry about winning,” Murphy said. “I think we’re in a good position, but we never take it for granted. This race against Yale will make a difference for us in rankings, and then the Eastern Sprints is basically where the committee making the selections will base it on. We have to take it one hurdle at a time, but we are in a good position at this point.”

Kelsey said she knows nothing is guaranteed, but the team has its sights set on a trip to the West Coast.

“It’s going to be a challenge to get there,” she said. “But I’ll say that we’d be very disappointed if we didn’t make it.”

9

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Festival features Dancers of all ages break it down aspiring filmmakers continued from page 3

continued from page 7 featuring young filmmakers and producers Friday, independent filmmaker Andrew Renzi, director Antonio Campos and producer Josh Mond stressed the importance of internships and experience in the film industry. They discussed the difficulties faced in funding a film and suggested that aspiring filmmakers search for grants and be as honest as possible with potential investors. Knowing how to write a good synopsis of the film is crucial when trying to raise funds, Renzi said.

Exemplar feature films

Throughout the week, advance screenings of feature films were also shown — many of which were previously featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Cara Marcous ’97 answered audience questions after the Wednesday screening of “On the Ice,” a film she produced. Shot in Barrow, Alaska, the movie tells the story of two teenage boys who accidentally murder their friend and try to bury their guilt along with their shared secret. The film features beautiful shots of the vast, frozen and empty landscape of Alaska, a backdrop that highlights the teens’ growing isolation.

Marcous discussed the challenges of shooting in the cold Alaskan climate and the struggle between the traditions of the elder members of the Native American community, the Inupiaq and the hip-hop culture of the youth in the small Alaskan town.

Friday’s screening of “Ceremony” featured a question-and-answer session with director Max Winkler and lead actor Michael Angarano.

The indie romantic comedy stars

Uma Thurman, who plays the older woman that Angarano’s character Sam tries to steal back at her wedding. The audience was entertained by the many lighthearted moments of the film, such as when Sam cracks a pun about shellfish in the middle of a tense, emotional scene.

After the screening, Winkler and Angarano discussed the characters and their experience working together. They interacted jovially with audience members as they answered questions about their inspirations, the challenges they faced and the music they selected for the film. Angarano described working on the film as a “cathartic experience” and recounted how he broke down crying listening to Bob Dylan after the last day of filming.

“A lot of the great lines were improvised,” Winkler revealed, adding that he will start working on his next film in the fall.

“This movie might be one of my favorites,” said Soma Chea ’14, who said he will continue to follow Winkler’s works after being impressed by “Ceremony.”

The festival concluded Sunday with a brunch featuring performances of student screenplays.

“The overall quality (this year) was higher than ever before,” said Hannah Levy ’13, screenplay coordinator. The screenplays covered topics including Hurricane Katrina and the relationship between mother and son.

The festival aimed to allow aspiring filmmakers to gain exposure to industry guests, Lai said.

“It is a great and unique celebration of films that you don’t see on this scale at any other university,” Levy said. “We hope to inspire young filmmakers and get the community excited about film.”

an event speaks to the openmindedness of the community,” said Taylor Lomba ’15. He drove to the event from Dartmouth to compete in and support an event that promoted the underground hip-hop movement. “Screw those misconceptions. We’re giving you a chance. It is the voice of the people, and it means something.”

Breaking structure

At most dance competitions, performances are structured, sticking to a rigid schedule. But at “Floorgasm”, b-boys performed when they felt like it and stopped when they decided to. The breakdancing competition was consistent with this relaxed organiza-

tion. There was no set schedule or hierarchy in the competition. The only structure the jam emphasized was the shape of the body as it responded to the music and the beat which guided self-expression through dance. Between official battle jams, dancers took actual breaks, forming circles and watching other break-dancers. Dancers studied other dancers with intensity, their hands gripping their knees as they bent over with concentration. Throughout the bboy battle, other b-boys cheered, whooped and responded to the dancers loudly.

The winner of the competition was an eighth grade student named Alex “A-Boogie” Potocki, who charmed the crowd and beat out several adult performers. His

comics Cloud Buddies! | David Emanuel

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Gelotology | Guillaume Riesen

friend and fellow popper Masyn “Mase 1” Lorick — an 11-year-old — was a crowd favorite. Both boys are some of the youngest poppers from Boston. They were driven to the event by their mothers.

“Hip-hop is the self-expression of one unique individual’s thought. It’s emotion brought out in body movement,” Hunt said.

The dancers brought this quality to the dance floor as they expressed their love of hip-hop at Brown.

Hunt expressed the unity, positivity and support he sees as central to hip-hop when he said at the very end of the jam, “I don’t care who’s blessed the floor tonight.

I got respect to you all — male, female. This is what popping is all about. And tonight you all did it at the one and only “Floorgasm.”

10 Editorial & Letter Editorial

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Editorial comic

by julia streuli

Proceed with care in adding master’s programs Last Thursday, The Herald reported that the University is moving to establish “professionally oriented master’s programs” by fall 2012.

According to Karen Sibley, dean of continuing education, most of the instruction will be done online save for “intensive periods” of actual class time at the very beginning and end of each program.

Though we like seeing the University take opportunities to expand Brown’s academic offerings, we remain skeptical that they might come at the expense of the undergraduate experience. Brown is fundamentally an undergraduate institution, and, in this significant way, it differs from some other universities to which we are frequently compared. We fear sustained efforts to approximate their graduate prowess will result in undue neglect of the undergraduate college that makes Brown distinctive.

This is why we were pleased to see Sibley’s explanation to The Herald of the myriad ways in which administrators have worked to assuage these and other concerns that this program raises. Class time for these nontraditional students will be concentrated on weekends and in the evenings to avoid disrupting undergraduates, and when they are in Providence, the students will stay in hotels so as not to strain housing resources.

Perhaps most importantly, after two years, the program will have a net positive effect on the University’s finances. Though Brown will provide financial aid, it “is not expected to play a large role” in the new master’s programs because most costs will be paid by the enrollees’ professional employers.

So it seems that the new master’s programs will not come at the expense of other programs here — in fact, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 estimated that after all the costs, these programs will bring in about one-third of their cost in profits. Assuming Sibley’s and Kertzer’s assertions are accurate, we are cautiously optimistic that this new program has the potential to be a net positive to Brown. But some concerns remain.

For example, The Herald reported that one of the main objectives of establishing this program was to diversify Brown’s revenue sources.

But should the University really be creating new programs just to serve as cash cows? We, like Richard Fishman, professor of visual art, who was quoted in last week’s article, worry about the possibility of “eroding Brown’s reputation in order to leverage a revenue stream.”

Particularly considering that the bulk of the education will be provided over the Internet, we are concerned that programs such as this have the potential to diminish the value of a graduate degree from Brown. We disagree with Sibley’s assertion that classroom education is not inherently superior to online education, and we fear the short stint prospective, professionally oriented master’s students will spend in an actual classroom will be insufficient to meaningfully supplement their primarily online education.

This is not to say that we are categorically opposed to this new program. It should help mid-career professionals get the training they need to stay afloat in a rough job market by giving them practical knowledge in the context of a liberal learning approach. And Fishman explained that his concerns were abated when he saw the operation of Brown’s new IE Executive MBA program. Other schools, like Yale and Penn, have successfully established similar initiatives. If, as we hope, the new professionally oriented master’s programs are implemented carefully and with attention to the concerns we and others have highlighted, we expect that they will become a valuable addition to Brown’s curricular offerings.

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

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letter to the editor Cutting athletic teams hurts recruits To the Editor: One of the happiest days of my life was when I received my acceptance letter to Brown.

Today was one of the saddest days of my life when I learned that the wrestling team will likely be dropped (“Athletics committee recommends axing four varsity teams,” April 21).

As a scholar-athlete growing up in Kansas, it was my dream to excel both in the classroom and in the athletic arena. I was able to win a national wrestling championship and three state championships in high school. I was also only the third wrestler in the state of Kansas in the last 30 years to have the chance to wrestle in the Ivy League.

I fell in love with Brown for the diversity and richness of all that Brown offers, and of all the schools that recruited me heavily — including Princeton, Michigan and Stanford — I felt that Brown was the place for me.

The coaches and athletes and the students that I met were amazing. To be able to discuss wrestling and chess and music and politics within a span of minutes was tantalizing. I couldn’t wait to start my studies there.

Now, I’m confused. My dreams seem shattered. I don’t know what I should do. Wrestling has provided me with insight and work habits that have carried over to my studies, and as a young athlete, my dream is to pursue collegiate wrestling as there is no real opportunity

after college. There is just a fleeting moment of time to pursue my wrestling goals. In some ways, that is one of the beautiful things about that sport.

Brown has a reputation for the happiest students and for being open and caring and creating many opportunities for students of diverse backgrounds to excel in many areas to make a difference. By cutting athletic programs, Brown’s actions are painful. They limit opportunities, they stifle dreams, they are exclusive and not inclusive.

Also, the timing could not be worse. There are really few opportunities for the current and recruited athletes to look elsewhere. Scholarships have already been given out, transfer deadlines have passed. The message being sent is that Brown does not care about its student athletes and does not even take into account the timing of such decisions.

Please keep the teams for one more season. It would allow the athletes the chance to look for other opportunities, and I suspect that many of the recruits would end up staying at Brown despite their sport being dropped. Your timing and actions send the message that you don’t care, that money is what drives your decisions, that individual opportunities for recruits and athletes mean nothing with regards to the timing of your decisions. That is not Brown. Or is it?

Zack Tanenbaum ’15

quote of the day

“I really liked the sound of intelligence.

”

I wanted to be able to imitate that sound.

— Aaron Sorkin See festival on page 1.

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Opinions 11

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, April 25, 2011

Save our sports

By Hudson Collins, Krista Consiglio and Jonathan Yu Guest Columnists On April 21, the University released its Athletics Review Committee’s report, which outlined a variety of proposals for the Department of Athletics. The committee recommended that the wrestling, men’s and women’s fencing teams and women’s ski team be eliminated. The 17-page report outlines the committee’s ultimate goals and recommendations, which include an increase in the overall athletics budget, a better alignment of schedules to avoid conflicts between academic and athletic programs among student-athletes, improvement and development of athletic facilities and a reduction in the number of recruited student-athletes. Although well-intentioned, the proposed plan comes at a great cost to student-athletes and the Brown community as a whole.

With regard to the athletic budget, cutting these four teams would have a minimal impact on the bottom line. Combined, these teams represent approximately two percent of the athletic department’s $13 million budget. If one of the committee’s principal concerns is the budget, then we should be seeing more substantive cuts to more programs. Even Michael Goldberger, director of athletics, told each of our teams that according to his own calculations, 18 teams would need to be cut to bring our

athletics program up to par with the most competitive Ivy League schools.

Concerning the women’s ski team’s schedule and conflicts between academic and athletic schedules, this is — as with numerous other sports — something we were fully aware of when we decided to come to Brown, and for us, something that we deem well worth the effort. Not a single member of the ski team has felt that their academic experience at Brown was diminished because we could not take classes at certain times. We have all had amazing and

the Ivy League that does not have a dedicated space. But Brown fencing is still a very competitive program. This past season, the fencing team sent five members to the NCAA championships, placed second in the Northeast Fencing Conference and finished with a top-15 national team ranking. The fencing team was disappointed when it was excluded from the final building plans for the much-awaited fitness center. But the team would much rather work with the University to use what is available rather than get cut altogether. When look-

The reduction of student-athletes on campus means the reduction of a productive, diverse and integral segment of the undergraduate population. successful academic experiences, and our alums have gone on to very successful careers.

The University also justifies the cuts by saying they cannot provide adequate facilities for a high-quality, competitive experience. Overall, Brown’s athletic facilities do lag behind those of comparable institutions. But wrestling has its own facility, and skiing does not require major use of any Brown facilities. The committee’s justification only rings true for fencing — the team practices in the middle of the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center floor, and it is the only fencing program in

ing at Brown, we knew full well the kind of facilities that were available and how they compared to other institutions, yet we still chose Brown over these other institutions.

What we are left with is a group of athletes that are fully dedicated to both their sport and Brown.

We fully understand that participation in varsity athletics is a privilege. We appreciate this opportunity and owe Brown much for giving it to us, and many of us make a conscious effort to contribute to the immediate and external communities as part of our athletic participation and obligation. Members of each team serve

Brown by holding leadership positions in various student organizations. Our teams also maintain an important presence in the local community by volunteering at Providence’s Vartan Gregorian Elementary School at Fox Point, in addition to other projects. Athletes, like every other student group, bring diversity to campus. We come from a wide range of cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and want to contribute to community life in as many ways as we can. The reduction of studentathletes on campus means the reduction of a productive, diverse and integral segment of the undergraduate population.

In recent years, the Brown community has faced a variety of challenges, such as the contract negotiations with the Brown Dining Services union and library union workers. In each of these cases, the University has been sensitive to their respective concerns and recognized the importance of treating these groups within the community with equity. All we ask is that President Ruth Simmons and the Corporation extend that same treatment to Brown’s students. Ultimately, to sever ties with these sports, their participants and their alums is to alienate an important part of the Brown community and to work against the purest ideals of stewardship, inclusiveness and fairness.

Hudson Collins ’11.5 is a member of the wrestling team. Krista Consiglio ’11 is a captain of the women’s ski team. Jonathan Yu ’11 is a captain of the men’s fencing team.

Mediocrity of the middle

By David Sheffield Opinions Columnist Enough with fake reasonableness. The idea that the position in the center is always the right one and the one we should always take is as pervasive as it is wrong.

The mediocrity of the middle pervades in news, politics and everyday life. It is bad enough when we are discussing value judgments — he says murder is wrong, she says it is fine, let’s split the difference and just maim the victim. But it is worse when the issue is about facts — facts are very rude things that fail to shift when we ask them.

We even have a presidency built around the idea of moderation in all policies. I would not have a problem if this were just what President Obama believed. My issue is that he tried to make this into a virtue.

The president is a less-religious version of Ned Flanders — he is even left-handed.

It is one thing to expect to negotiate and come to some centrist agreement. If both sides can block anything, what else can one expect? But it is wholly another thing to always choose the middle ground beforehand as if it were an honorable practice. There are times when the reasonable position is actually in the middle, but it is not reasonable because it happens to be in the middle.

The media are even worse — particularly when it comes to science. They all too

often report science in one of two ways: Either there is a new tentative study, whose importance is blown out of proportion — often when there are better studies that contradict it — or well-established facts are reported as tentative guesses. Scientists are uncertain about many things, but too many journalists treat well-established theories as if they were just the musings of a guy in a lab coat.

This is the major flaw of news organizations — they seem to believe that objec-

when these views are espoused by nonscientists. I am sorry, but your musings about how Jesus lizards — i.e. dinosaurs — lived happily among humans a few thousand years ago are wrong and stupid.

They should not be presented on par with scientific theories, as if some reasonable middle ground exists between reality and fantasy. The Earth’s climate does not decide to hold steady, and diseases are not mitigated by people agreeing to split the difference. Half measures might be better

This is the major flaw of news organizations — they seem to believe that objectivity means uncritically letting each side make their point.

tivity means uncritically letting each side make their point. I wonder why they do not just replace journalists with computer programs that aggregate press releases. Never mind that objectivity is about conforming to the way the world is, independently of one’s biases. If someone says something that is nonsense, a reporter should treat it as such.

Evolution, climate change and stem cells have all been pummeled in the press this last decade by ideologues who lack any real knowledge about the issues. Journalists have been too willing to highlight differing views on scientific theories, even

than nothing, but they are still worse than a full effort.

Misrepresenting climate change might be extremely harmful, but misrepresenting medicine produces more immediate effects. Representing the argument as being between two equal sides leads to harm, as unsuspecting victims of this silly dichotomy take quack remedies rather than real medicine. Ear candling — lighting a candle in your ear canal — does not work any better and is no less dangerous because its proponents are presented as respectable people with an interesting product. Yes, I kid you not, as stupid as this

sounds, people do actually shove candles in their ears as an alternative to real medicine.

The same goes for homeopathy (magic water), acupuncture (magic needles), chiropractic (magic manipulation), therapeutic touch (magic waving of the hands without touching — it holds the distinction among quackery of being wrong twice in its name alone) and hundreds of other bizarre nostrums and odd practices.

If there is one fact about the world that everyone should know, it is that for the entire history of science, every answer has been something other than magic. Magic is the perennial failure, and yet those of us who care to point out this fact get branded as intolerant and closed-minded. I am not the intolerant one — nature is.

I have no problem with people who happen to lie in the middle other than to the extent that I disagree with them. My issue is with compromising values and reality as if it were a positive thing to do. I can say this no better than Thomas Paine: “A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice.”

David Sheffield ’11 is a mathematical physics concentrator because it is interesting, not because we need to bridge the divide been physicists and mathematicians. His intolerant tone can be criticized at david_sheffield@brown.edu.

Daily Herald Arts & Culture the Brown

Monday, April 25, 2011

In ‘Monologues,’ vaginas take the stage

W h at ’ s t h e w o r d

By Phoebe Nir Arts & Culture Staff Writer

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Jason Beckman ’11 entertained the audience at Word!’s final spoken word show of the year at the Rites and Reasons Theatre over the weekend.

Festival unites folks through music

By Ben Kutner Staff Writer

The portraits on the walls were just faces in the crowd at Saturday’s Brown Folk Festival. Older hippies were in abundance, filling the chairs of Sayles Hall to create a mix of Providence folks and Brown

students. Music filled the hall from noon until midnight, with a combination of professional bands, singer-songwriters and student musicians.

“Every year it’s been expanding,” said Kayla Ringelheim ’11, one of the event’s organizers. On its third anniversary, the festival featured

national acts alongside local acts from Providence and New England.

Though the festival was originally scheduled to be held on Lincoln Field, it was relegated to Sayles due to rain. The reverbheavy acoustics of Sayles often put continued on page 7

For an organ that’s located right at a woman’s center, the vagina can seem awfully remote sometimes. It’s an alien planet, a dark cellar, a jungle unseen and often uncharted by its female host, alternately neglected or hyper-sexualized by a society that’s obsessed with it. It’s also the subject of “The Vagina Monologues,” a play

by Eve Ensler, performed this past weekend in the Englander Studio in the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

The play was sponsored by the Coalition Against Relationship Abuse, and all proceeds from the performances were donated to Sojourner House, a foundation committed to ending domestic violence.

“The Vagina Monologues,” which was written in 1996 based on the testimonials of hundreds of real women, has become a worldwide phenomenon, dedicated to empowering females by shedding light on the enigmatic vulva. It’s a daunting task, but, fortunately, nobody has to do it alone— the 16 strikingly talented and beautiful performers are all onstage for the entire show, responding to one another’s monologues with snaps, laughter and shouts of support.

Among the voices represented are a 72-year-old woman discovering masturbation, a lawyer-turned-sexworker with a proclivity for props and a victim of sexual war crimes.

To hear these narratives is to gain

a newfound appreciation for the relationship every woman who has ever lived has had to navigate with her own anatomy. The stories to be told about the vagina are endless.

As stated in the show’s introduction: Even “looking at your vagina is a full day’s work.”

Simultaneous with the production of “The Vagina Monologues” was The Brown Monologues/Dialogues, an ongoing blog comprising personal essays by students discussing sexuality and experiences of gender. The project was spearheaded by Raisa Aziz ’11.5 and aims to rectify some of the problems the production team had with Eve Ensler’s play, namely its lack of diversity, Western bias and occasionally prescriptive tone.

Despite these shortcomings, “The Vagina Monologues” is a force to be reckoned with, a play of miraculous sincerity on a subject that has been taboo for what feels like forever. Though some of its content is shocking, it’s never vulgar. Any discussion of sexuality in the play abandons cynicism in favor of a touching innocence.

“The Vagina Monologues” transcends the specific experiences of the stories it tells in order to reach anyone who knows what it is like to search for a connection with the self and with others. As a male audience member commented in the talk back that followed Saturday evening’s performance, “I’ve definitely changed how I regard my interactions with vaginas.” If that’s not the power of the arts, then nothing is.

Art ‘anti-conference’ provides food, thought for attendees

By Emma Wohl Senior Staff Writer

vice versa,” Ehn said — art should “sustain you in a delightful way.”

Speaking to guests of the Arts in the One World conference Friday afternoon, organizer Erik Ehn, head of playwriting and professor of theater arts and performance studies, laid out the rules of the discussion: “You do whatever you like.”

The conference took place from Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon in locations on Brown’s campus and around Providence. It was designed as “an anti-conference conference — there’s never a fee and there’s always food,” Ehn said.

This is the sixth year of Arts in the One World, which explores “ways artistic, political and historical purposes intersect (through reconciliation, the recovery of historical memory and advocacy for justice),” according to the event’s website.

Last year’s conference took place over five days and consisted of more formal panel discussions. This year, though, he said he “wanted to intensify the intimacy.” Accordingly, the whole event was shortened and conversations were set in small groups rather than in front of large panels.

The events were centered around meals. “I’ve long believed that a good meal is a good play and

Friday’s event was organized around lunch at AS220, a local artists’ space and restaurant. Guests gathered in groups around small tables, jostling for space and struggling to hear each other.

The conversation focused on definitions of justice and how it can be applied through the arts.

Margaret Namulyanga GS, an aspiring playwright, described justice as a “release of tension.” Her work focuses on the relationship between trauma and the arts in her native Uganda. “I find it so hard as an individual to resolve these issues,” she said.

Michelle Hensley, of the Ten Thousand Things theater troupe in Minneapolis, focused on the role of equal access to the arts. Her troupe performs in prisons and homeless shelters as well as for more conventional audiences.

Each guest was asked to provide a definition of justice and explain how it fits into his or her work.

One table arrived at an impasse.

Emily Gould, a conflict mediator who attended the event as part of her son’s college tour, said she saw justice as “a restoration of right relationship.” But Ian McDonald

A ‘release of tension’

GS said he believes society tends toward injustic. They were able to agree, though, that access — to basic necessities, to the arts, to a voice — is necessary to achieve justice.

After an hour’s intimate conversation, the talk opened up to encompass the whole group as guests elaborated on earlier conversations.

One woman simply listed phrases that had come up repeatedly: “Justice, waiting, asking the right questions, shutting up, let it emerge.”

Interacting with the arts

The conference included a number of other events, beginning with an invitation-only dinner Thursday evening and ending with lunch Saturday at Matthewson Street United Methodist Church.

Saturday’s programming included a panel discussion about post-genocide Rwanda and several workshops in applied theater.

At the panel discussion in Wilson 102, moderator Jean-Pierre Karegeye, assistant professor of French and francophone studies at Macalester College, and other guests who had experienced the genocide spoke about the purpose of commemorating violence.

“A crime forgotten is a crime repeated,” said Jean de Dieu Mucyo, executive secretary of the Rwandan National Commission Against

Genocide.

Their conversation focused on reconciliation among Rwandans and finding a way to move forward.

“I must conclude that Rwanda is unique … that we will always be defined by the events of 1994,” said one speaker. But he added that Rwanda is expanding access to free education and raising its per capita income.

Across campus in Alumnae Hall, workshops focused on making the arts accessible to many audiences. Professional actor, dancer and clown Orlando Pabotoy taught a tango. His lesson demonstrated the difficulties of being both a leader and a follower but was above all about listening to the music, he said.

Martha Bowers’ workshop activities had participants sitting in circles on the floor, whispering to each other. At other times, they were running around the room and jumping off the stage.

Global Connections

The Arts in the One World conference grew out of a program that Ehn organizes every summer. “A reason for having the conference in the early going was to bring to the (United) States some ideas that we engaged on our summer trip to Africa,” he said.

Ehn leads annual trips to Uganda and Rwanda with students and professionals in the arts. The trips focus on “how art and trauma intersect,” examining the role of the arts as these countries rebuild.

In March, the Theatre Communications Group awarded Ehn a Global Connections grant to “expand the third annual Centre x Centre Theatre festival (Kigali, Rwanda), which will include workshops and performances from around the world,” according to the organization’s website.

But Ehn said that, ideally, his role in the projects he has started will continue to diminish. “My hope is that it will be a festival that I’ll have to be invited to,” he said.

“I’d mostly like to clear space, and then hope that if I come back the next day somebody will have put three rocks together and a foundation will have started,” he said.

“The administration on the Rwandan side has really taken local root,” he added.

Arts in the One World is “in the middle of itself,” Ehn said — the conference was designed to go on for 10 years. While the first five years were “a rallying cry,” the final five are “a focusing down,” he said.

“Next year could be even shorter, but — I would hope — deeper,” he said.