Friday, September 19, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 71

since 1891

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

Providence crime rate falls to historic low Community remembers

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

“Yellow Jackets,” DPS and Providence Police have been more present on campus to keep students safe and combat the number of technology thefts.

College Hill robberies increase while U. commits more resources to improving security

By CAMILLA BRANDFIELD-HARVEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Rhode Island’s capital city may be the safest it has been in decades. This year, there have been 186 fewer reports of burglary, 83 fewer reports of robbery and 65 fewer reports of aggravated assault with a firearm than last year, according to the Providence

Police Department’s Weekly Crime Comparison Report.

The rate of crime in Providence reached a 42-year low in 2013, wrote Providence Police Lieutenant Dean Isabella in an email to The Herald.

The number of crimes reported in all categories, from larceny to assault, has decreased since 2013 alone, he added.

Crime in the College Hill neighborhood decreased in all areas except for larceny from motor vehicles and burglaries, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft and vandalism, which rose 6 percent, 57 percent, 40 percent,

3 percent and 11 percent, according to the report. The neighborhood also saw two liquor law violations, up from one last year.

Paul Shanley, deputy chief of police at the Department of Public Safety, said he attends a statistics meeting with the Providence Police every Tuesday to get an idea of crime rates and trends throughout the city. Shanley said he noticed a rise in vehicle break-ins around Brown’s campus to pilfer belongings left in plain view, like laptops, briefcases and GPS devices.

Otherwise, the University and Providence communities have experienced predominantly positive changes, particularly in recent years as the University has dedicated more resources to campus safety, Shanley said.

Though Isabella said College Hill has been a historically safe area, Shanley attributes the neighborhood’s safer environment to the University’s expanded shuttle and on-call transportation services.

Brown community members also appreciate the contracted security personnel, referred to as “Yellow Jackets,” stationed at various points across campus, Shanley said.

DPS officers patrolling in conjunction with Providence police has » See CRIME, page 2

Thompson’s warm spirit

Mother of seven filled campus with music and inspiration, overhauled undergraduate advising

By RILEY DAVIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Reflecting on Marjorie Thompson ’74 PhD’79 P’02 P’07 P’09 P’12 P’14 P’16 this week, colleagues and friends repeatedly used a number of words and phrases: “Remarkable.” “Incredible.” “So dedicated to her students.” “A mother to everyone.”

“A force to be reckoned with.”

Remembered as an alacritous professor, talented artist and fierce advocate for undergraduate advising, Thompson touched the lives of countless undergraduates and colleagues during her four decades at Brown.

After declaring medical leave for the fall semester, Thompson died Monday after a four-year battle with cancer, Professor of Biology and longtime friend Ken Miller ’70 P’02 said. “In typical Marge Thompson style she never let on, never let up, never stopped doing the work that she loved until she was forced to.”

An advising exemplar After completing both an

Sexual assault task force makeup solidifies

By JOSEPH ZAPPA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

inside

The Brown University Community Council laid out plans Thursday for a sexual assault task force, as well as for programs that aim to promote discourse about privilege, power and oppression following the Ray Kelly incident last October, addressing two topics that sparked heated campus controversy last year.

Over the summer, Justice Gaines ’16, Adam Kemerer ’15 and Yvonne Yu ’14.5 worked with administrators to identify improvements that could be made to the University’s practices concerning sexual assault, said Frances Mantak, director of health promotion.

Gaines, Kemerer and Yu found three principal weaknesses in the University’s approach, Gaines said. They recommended that the task force improve the clarity of information about sexual assault policies distributed by the University; reform the hearing, appeals and sanctioning processes; and educate sexual assault case board members about narratives of privilege and discrimination, Gaines added.

Gaines said the students suggested

the University assign the processes to a board. In the past, appeals decisions have fallen on the office of Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services.

The University should also work to ensure that privileged perpetrators do not receive preferential treatment, Gaines said. Students with great financial resources can afford lawyers who help them get off more easily, he added, and administrators must be aware of this and similar advantages when making disciplinary decisions.

President Christina Paxson suggested that students receive “reorientation” about sexual assault at some point after their first week at Brown. Currently, mandatory sexual assault training for all students ends after first-year orientation.

A few changes to the University’s approach to sexual assault prevention have already taken effect. The University added dating violence issues to residential peer leader training in August, required that first-years watch a video on sexual assault before coming to campus and revamped the unit meeting all firstyears must attend after an orientation event on sexual assault, Mantak said.

The University also hired Marc Peters as men’s health coordinator and has started the search for a full-time Title IX program officer. The University has received about 25 applications for the » See BUCC, page 2

UCS chooses four students to join Task Force on Sexual Assault in efforts to reform policy

By CAMILLA BRANDFIELD-HARVEY SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Undergraduate Council of Students has selected four undergraduate representatives to serve on the Task Force on Sexual Assault announced by President Christina Paxson in a May letter to the Brown community. The selections were announced at Tuesday’s BUCC meeting.

Katherine Byron ’15, Justice Gaines ’16, Lauren Stewart ’15 and Yvonne Yu ’14.5 are the last representatives to join the 11-member task force. Other members include two graduate students, one medical student, four faculty members and four administrative staff.

The group is chaired by Russell Carey, executive vice president for planning and policy, and Michele Cyr, professor of medicine and associate dean for academic affairs at the Alpert Medical School.

The task force will begin meetings immediately, as early as the end of this week, said UCS President Maahika Srinivasan ’15.

UCS executive board members conducted interviews over the weekend

Arts & Culture

and selected the four finalists Monday night, Srinivasan said.

Council leaders “jumped” at the opportunity to select other students to represent the student body, she added.

With a short timeline to select students, UCS leaders composed an application in collaboration with Frances Mantak, director of health promotion, and Bita Shooshani, coordinator of sexual assault prevention and advocacy, Srinivasan said.

UCS released the application in a campus-wide email Sept. 7, with questions surveying why the applicant thinks sexual violence happens on college campuses, what can be done to prevent it and what the task force can address with regard to “student support and advocacy” and “policies and procedures for sexual misconduct.”

The conversation surrounding sexual assault policy recommendations began last fall, Srinivasan said.

The Sexual Assault Policy Task Force, a student group on campus separate from the formal committee assembled this fall, was working at the time to make policy recommendations and increase student representation on the Student Code of Conduct Committee, she said.

When campus conversation escalated in April after Lena Sclove ’15 publicized her struggles with the University’s disciplinary process for sexual » See TASK FORCE, page 2

Sports

Actor brings story of embracing identity amid social change to Manning Chapel on Saturday

North Korean refugee and pianist voices hope that music will carry his message back home

Football opens the season with a D.C. road trip to take on the Georgetown Hoyas

Women’s rugby looks to continue its winning ways against the scrappy Quakers

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weather

BUCC suggests roles for task force, encourages dialogue about privilege and oppression

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Marjorie Thompson was admired for opening her home to students. undergraduate degree and a doctorate degree at Brown, Thompson began her journey toward reforming the undergraduate biology curriculum in 1980, Miller said.

“Her passion for supporting students, her enthusiasm for science, her commitment to Brown (were) unsurpassed,” he added.

The University has an unusual structure for its biology departments, Miller said. Though no specific biology degrees exist at Brown — in botany or zoology, for example — there are six different biology departments “each with (its) » See THOMPSON, page 2

MEN’S SOCCER

Bears fall in opener of tough weekend Defensive unit falters as Bruno surrenders three goals to University of South Florida

By ALEX WAINGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As the temperature in Providence enters its pre-winter free fall, the men’s soccer team flew south to enjoy some warm weather and stiff competition in the Sunshine State. A strong showing from the University of South Florida gave the Bears an unwelcome arrival with a 3-1 defeat Thursday.

The Bears (2-3-0) arrived in Florida Wednesday afternoon, giving them enough time to hold a team practice that evening and adjust to the heat, said » See M. SOCCER, page 3

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

» TASK FORCE, from page 1 assault cases, Paxson announced the creation of a separate committee tasked with solely addressing sexual violence policy outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, Srinivasan said. The separate task force would conduct a quicker code review process and prepare recommendations by December, she said.

The recommendations presented this fall could be implemented as early as January or could be reviewed by the Corporation at its tri-annual meeting

in February, she said, adding that the nature of the recommendations will affect when they are implemented.

Going forward, UCS will encourage the task force to stay engaged with the greater student body and facilitate open discussions, Srinivasan said. “By no means are the four representatives the end-all representation of conversation,” she said.

The student representatives will attend an open forum at a UCS general body meeting, which are always open to the public, she said.

SEXUAL ASSAULT TASK FORCE RHEA STARK / HERALD

Members of the Brown University Community Council recommended administrators recognize that students with greater financial resources have an advantage when it comes to the sexual assault disciplinary process.

» BUCC, from page 1 position but will continue searching until the best possible candidate is found, said Liza Cariaga-Lo, associate provost for academic development and diversity.

Dialogue then shifted to the shutdown of the planned lecture by former New York City Police Commissioner Kelly last year, as Committee on the Events of October 29 members Dakotah Rice ’16, Lakshmi Padmanabhan GS and Philip Gruppuso, professor of pediatrics, biology, molecular biology and biochemistry, summarized the findings of the committee’s second report.

When bringing speakers to campus in the future, the University should

» THOMPSON, from page 1 own chair, (its) own interests,” he added.

In order to unite those six departments, Thompson established the Biology Curriculum Committee, comprising a representative from each biology department and — at her insistence — three undergraduate representatives, Miller said.

As an adviser, Thompson personally worked with hundreds of biology and independent concentrators every year.

“I would come up with excuses to go talk to her,” Elena Suglia ’15 said.

“Everyone who came in contact with her just got this sense that she was totally passionate about helping others at Brown.”

“She had a wickedly sharp sense of humor,” Miller said. “She could not only be funny and make you laugh, she could make jokes with a point, and that’s a rare skill.”

Reid Secondo ’16, a member of the BCC, said his favorite memory of Thompson was when he went to see her during his first year with questions on gonad development for the vertebrate embryology course she was teaching.

“She said, ‘You know what, Reid, you are like the indifferent gonad. Like the indifferent gonad, there will be different signals and mechanisms thrown your

Michele Cyr, associate dean for academic affairs for biology and medicine, co-chair Russell Carey, executive vice president for planning and policy, co-chair Lindsay Orchowski, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior James Valles, professor of physics Gretchen Schultz, professor of French studies Jason Sello, associate professor of chemistry Kirstin Boswell-Ford, associate University chaplain Mary Grace Almandrez, director of the Brown Center for Students of Color and assistant dean of the College Jack Hayes, director of athletics and recreation Liza Cariaga-Lo, associate provost for academic development and diversity Lauren Stewart ’15 Katherine Byron ’15 Justice Gaines ’16 Yvonne Yu ’14.5 Sara Matthiesen GS, American studies Brooke Lamperd GS, history Erin Wu MD’17

pay close attention to the framework in which conversations occur, Padmanabhan said.

“There were blind spots … in how Kelly was brought here,” Gruppuso said, adding that the way the University framed the event was “honorific.”

Doing so was a poor decision, given that members of the community found the policies Kelly implemented “dangerous,” he said.

The University must “use this moment to establish some sense of continuity” by “institutionalizing spaces” for open conversations about privilege and oppression, Padmanabhan said. Consistent conversations of that kind would mitigate misunderstandings that fueled

the hostility on campus before and after the Kelly event, she added.

The committee did not recommend policy changes that would modify the logistics of bringing a controversial speaker like Kelly to campus in the future.

“I don’t think there’s anything we could have discovered that would make it easier to bring a controversial person to campus,” Gruppuso said.

“This wasn’t an issue of policy,” Gaines said. “It was an issue of power, and privilege and equity, which was never addressed.” He added that the University should “not talk about whose freedom of speech we’re infringing,” but rather whom the University can empower to speak.

way that will force you to bend and twist and change but at the end of the day, you have to decide what you’re doing and what gonad you want to be. And you have to be happy, and take ownership in your path,’” Secondo recalled. “‘As long as you are content with who you are and what you want to do with your life, you should be a proud gonad.’”

The mentorship Thompson provided did not stop when students graduated.

Lily Chan ’13, a former BCC member, said Thompson was not only dedicated but “very intense, … very honest and very direct.” Thompson continued to mentor her even after she left Brown, Chan added.

“Everyone knew that she always had her Blackberry with her, and everyone knew that she replied to emails instantly.

No one knew how she did it,” Chan said.

“I think that was how I was able to keep depending on her for support even after I left Brown, because I knew she was there, both in person and over email.”

“She was absolutely tireless in terms of setting up office hours, staying late, helping people out with special projects.

It was just incredible,” Miller said.

as a talented musician and artist.

Driving once with Jody Hall, manager of undergraduate laboratories, Thompson asked Hall if she liked the music playing in the car. Hall responded that she did, and Thompson replied, “‘That’s me’ in her non-showy way,” Hall recalled.

“She was very modest about it,” Hall said, even though Thompson had just made her first recording and wanted to share it.

“All the things this woman does and now she’s adding this on top,” Hall remembered thinking at the time.

When he first learned Thompson was taking guitar lessons in the ’80s, Miller said, he thought it was nice that she was picking up a hobby. It was not until a couple years later, when Miller tried to schedule a meeting with Thompson and she responded that she was on the road opening for Richie Haven, that he realized what a talented performer she had become, he said.

In addition to her music, Thompson created the jewelry company Cellular Fun, where she handmade “biologically correct” pins that depicted cells like macrophages and epithelial cells, according to its website.

“She was a Renaissance woman for sure,” Suglia said.

“She did a million different things, and she did them all with unparalleled finesse.”

» CRIME, from page 1

Bloch said. “To some, it’s stringent police tactics. It’s good public policy.”

But Bloch said he attributes the change to a “huge, complex range of issues, from gentrification pushing people of economically disenfranchised communities out of urban centers, where there were typically clusters of crime, all the way to cultural trends,” such as fewer young people being led into violent subcultures.

Bloch added that the “suburbanization model” has inverted. Crime rates are rising on cities’ peripheries as upper-middle class white residents move back to urban areas and systematically edge out minority

‘A Renaissance woman’ Thompson was multifaceted and modest, finding success in her career

also led to wider visibility in the area, Shanley added.

“I think that the University has employed a lot of resources to make the area more secure and to make our community feel safer,” he said.

Providence’s improved crime rates are part of a national trend toward increased safety in urban environments, according to Stefano Bloch, a postdoctoral fellow in urban studies who teaches URBN 1230: “Crime and the City.”

“What you attribute the decline in crime to depends on who you ask,”

Family and beyond While several students said Thompson cultivated a sense of family in the biology department, she did not stop there. A mother of seven, Thompson was always willing to open her arms and welcome others into her home.

One year, unable to return to Louisiana for Thanksgiving break, James Young ’16 accompanied Thompson’s son Griffin home for Thanksgiving dinner.

Young said Thompson came downstairs from answering emails to embrace him warmly and welcome him.

“They’re a very quiet family, but they have a very loud influence on their peers,” Young said. “It’s interesting to note that unique paradox.”

Young added that Thompson quietly slipped away after dinner to continue answering emails from students.

Hall said Thompson “absorbed” both Hall and her son into her home for nearly 10 years, adding that she is “grateful (for that) on a daily basis.”

“She was a great mom,” Miller said.

“You can see that in her kids — how much they love each other, and how much they love their mom.

‘She was a force’ Despite her 5 foot 2 inch frame, Thompson leaves a large legacy behind.

Katherine Smith, interim associate dean of biology, said she remembers “being shocked” at Thompson’s tiny stature the first time they met in person. “In my mind, I had always envisioned her being a giant of a person, 6 feet tall and very large, because that was her personality and that was her power on campus. She was a force.”

“I’m filling enormous shoes,” added Smith, who assumed the role Sept. 1.

“Every day brings something completely new and challenging, but I’m enjoying it because I feel like I’m helping to continue to steer the ship that she has captained.”

Miller said he will remember Thompson primarily for the joy she brought to her work and to the workplace.

“I don’t think (she) could have imagined being anywhere else, or doing anything other than what she did,” Miller added. “And she did it out of joy. Not everybody at a university does what they do out of pure, unadulterated joy like Marge Thompson did.”

-With additional reporting by Isobel Heck and Caroline Kelly communities.

This trend has been evident in Providence, as outlying regions like South Providence, Olneyville and Chad Brown now experience the highest rates of reported crime, according to Isabella.

Though Bloch attributes urban safety to expanded police surveillance, the hallmark of the Providence Police Department’s improvement in areas like Olneyville is its community partnerships, for which they received the Community Policing Department of the Year Award by the New England Association of Chiefs of Police this year.

arts & culture 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

Louis Zingas ’18 leads Tariq Akeel ’16 into the box with a through ball.

The Bears face Florida Gulf Coast University Saturday.

» M. SOCCER, from page 1 co-captain Ben Maurey ’15.5.

Once a season, Bruno makes a trip to face a non-conference opponent that is often nationally ranked in the top 20. Two years ago, the squad flew out to the West Coast and took down the University of Washington (4-1-0), a perennial top-10 team, in overtime. Last year, the Bears dropped a close game to the reigning NCAA champion University of Indiana (3-1-2). This season, Bruno squares off with two “technically sound and talented” teams — South Florida (3-2-0) and Florida Gulf Coast University (1-3-2), Maurey said.

The South Florida Bulls received 20 votes in the latest NCAA rankings poll, gaining an unofficial ranking of 36th in the country. The FGCU Eagles were No. 24 in the last poll, but were dropped from the rankings after two consecutive losses.

The Bears aspire to compete with the level of talent represented by USF and FGCU. An impressive showing this weekend would propel the Bears into the ranking conversations, Maurey said.

“These are always some of the toughest games of the season,” Maurey said.

“We go play these teams that are better than the competition we will see in the

Ivy League, so it’s great practice for us.

We do it every year and it’s one of the highlights of the season.”

The two Florida squads possess talent on both sides of the ball and have showcased an ability to beat teams with both their offense and defense.

“They’re both very technically sound teams,” Maurey said. “It’s an entirely different style of play. They have players that have the potential to go pro, they’re fast, they’re going to have tons of fans, so it’s going to take a lot to beat them. We’re going to be running a lot, so our endurance needs to be on point. It’s going to be a challenge for our entire team.”

To compete with such talented sides, Bruno will have to continue the offensive dominance it has displayed over its last couple of games. The Bears netted four goals last weekend, posting two tallies on both Providence College (4-2-0) and Lehigh University (3-2-0).

“We’ve been so strong on offense this year, especially off of set pieces,” Maurey said. “We have a lot of big players and a lot of guys who can serve well. So we’ll continue to have opportunities off of those.”

Jack Gorab ’16 has mastered the art of delivering balls into the box with pace. The starting midfielder has already picked up a goal and an assist this season,

both of which came off of set pieces.

Gorab “has been a free kick specialist for a while,” Maurey said. “We practice them a lot. He knows exactly where we’re going, and we know where he’s going to play the ball.”

The Bears also do their homework and scout opposing keepers. Gorab understands what types of balls each goalie struggles with and consistently looks to expose these weaknesses, Maurey said.

Despite the preparation, Bruno came up short against their first Sunshine opponent Thursday night. A potent offensive attack from South Florida overpowered Brown on the way to a 3-1 final.

The Bears’ starting lineup once again featured Jameson Lochhead ’16 in place of Mike Leone ’17. Nico Lozada ’18 also cracked the starting 11, replacing fellow first-year midfielder Louis Zingas ’18.

The Bulls wasted no time, opening the scoring just 15 minutes into the first half with a goal from midfielder Edwin Moalosi, his first of the season.

USF continued to put on the pressure, outshooting Brown 6-3 in the first 45 minutes. The Bears completely outpaced the Bulls 7-2 in corners but could not convert on any of their set piece opportunities.

One silver lining for Bruno came at the start of the second half, when Alex Markes ’15 entered a game for the first time this season. The talented senior sprained his MCL during the preseason and had not seen action until this game.

Markes’ first appearance was marred just 53 seconds into the second half, when the Bulls struck again, this time off the foot of Matthew O’Neal.

USF put one more past goalie Mitch Kupstas ’14.5 to balloon the lead up to three 30 minutes later. The Bears scored a consolation goal less than a minute later.

Tyler Long ’17 was set up by James Myall ’18 for their first goal and assist of the season, respectively.

The Bears will have a few days to recover from their first game in the Florida heat before taking on their second opponent of the weekend, the Eagles, Saturday at 7 p.m.

One-man show charts narrative of social change Psychotherapist-turnedactor engages audiences with story of accepting gay identity

By DREW WILLIAMS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After spending decades as a psychotherapist, Steve Cadwell now has a second job that is admittedly a “bridge to retirement,” he said. But his autobiographical one-man show, “Wild and Precious,” has catapulted him into a national conversation on both gay rights activism and pure theatrical entertainment, with major performances planned in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.

Cadwell will perform his show, sponsored by the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and the LGBTQ Center, in the Manning Chapel Saturday.

Cadwell met University Chaplain Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson at the funeral of their mutual friend Maxim Daamen, a local psychiatrist, gay rights activist and professor at the Alpert Medical School.

Cooper Nelson invited Cadwell to bring his show to Brown both as a memorialization of Daamen and as a celebration of the future of human rights, she said.

The show takes an unusual approach to gauging its success. Cadwell tells audience members that they are free to leave at the intermission. But with most audience members sticking around for the full show, the performance seems to be catching on.

Cadwell speaks of his show’s positive reception with more than a hint of pride in his voice, and his confidence is fitting for a psychotherapist who has built a career on fighting shame associated with gender and sexuality. But he wasn’t always so self-assured — at 23, his psychological distress over coming out caused him to spend time in a state

hospital. “When I was a sophomore at Amherst College, homosexuality was a disease,” he said.

The show features an interlude of poetry and songs written over the past halfcentury, combining various visual and auditory media into a cohesive narrative of self-acceptance. It follows his journey from a child on a farm in Vermont to a proud parent with his husband Joe. “I’m doing a life review on stage,” he said, adding that he aims to detail the impressive “social change in the last 50 years” from a personal perspective.

As Cadwell’s life story continues to change, so does the play: He added a new musical number in front of a Burlington crowd Sept. 12. And though the show used to include an onstage assistant, Cadwell scaled down to a one-man cast to communicate with the audience on a more direct level.

Cadwell’s respect for the roles of both storyteller and listener stems from the years he spent on the audience side as a psychotherapist. “My appreciation of what happens in a good therapeutic relationship is that we connect, we relate,” he said.

The story is simultaneously a ritual of aging, a celebration of an increasingly accepting society and a reflection of the horrors of intolerance. This last point adds a crucial element to the performance: In understanding previous generations’ experiences of oppression, the current generation is better equipped to fight homophobia and cultivate diversity in a world in which gay people continue to be minorities who are vulnerable to scapegoating, he said.

By sharing his story, Cadwell challenges others to live out his titular inspiration — Mary Oliver’s poetic provocation, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” He said he plans to perform long into his “baby elder bloomer years.”

Business conference highlights creative problem-solving Annual summit unites creative minds to discuss business innovation in TED talk format

By GADI COHEN STAFF WRITER

The speakers at the 10th annual Business Innovation Factory Summit all have one thing in common: They want to shake things up.

The featured storytellers and audience members descended on the Trinity Repertory Company in downtown Providence Wednesday and Thursday, a congregation of “innovation junkies,” as the conference’s founder and chief catalyst Saul Kaplan called them. The event celebrates innovations in different fields of business through narratives, similar to a TED talk.

“Most of the people on stage talk all the time, so I ask them to tell a personal story,” Kaplan said. “It enables what I always call random collisions of unusual suspects — to help people collide outside of their normal discipline and industry sector.”

Innovation is truly sparked by the intersection of divergent experiences, Kaplan said. He founded the summit 10 years ago while he was working for the office of then-Rhode Island Gov.

METRO

Donald Carcieri ’65 on the state’s economic development strategy.

“It was part of a broader strategy to make design, innovation and entrepreneurship central to the way we think of the future,” Kaplan said.

The speakers come from a wide variety of backgrounds. From a worldrenowned interaction designer, to a 14-year-old robot builder, to a doctor who helped solve maternity deaths in Nepal, to a children’s book illustrator, speakers shared their personal stories with the hope of inspiring the audience to craft their own narratives of innovation.

“We spend a lot of time thinking about curating the event, and we’ve been at it for a while,” Kaplan said. “In the beginning, we were reaching out to people who we wanted to hear their stories, but now our network is so large and so strong that we get an amazing number of people who want to tell their stories coming to us.”

Keith Yamashita, the head of a strategy consulting firm in New York, was the first speaker at the summit — b­ ut he was not the last in encouraging the audience members to seek creative endeavors.

“We’re all born as creative beings,”

Yamashita said. “All of us in here have survived school that tells you, ‘you’re not,’ a workforce that takes it out of you. … Creativity is a courageous daily practice.”

Rupal Patel, a speech scientist at Northeastern University, spoke about building individualized voice boxes for people with speech impairments.

“The prosthetic box isn’t just about the words they’re saying,” she said. “It’s not just about the words we say — it’s how we express them.”

Eileen Gittins, the CEO of a creative self-publishing platform called Blurb, described her personal history with

technology, innovation and books.

“A book is the most awesomely crafted, created filter that history has ever known,” she said. “I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon.”

One speaker even centered his talk on an apology he made to the audience for inventing the online pop-up ad.

“First of all, let me say that I am very, very sorry,” said Ethan Zuckerman, before discussing his frustration with the public climate surrounding the Internet.

For Debbie Mills-Scofield, a strategy consultant and visiting scholar at Brown, BIF10 was her fifth time attending the conference.

“I really enjoy the diversity and the depth that just doesn’t exist anywhere else,” she said. “BIF is a humble, intimate version of TED and that’s what I enjoy about it. I meet so many different people from all walks of life doing so many different things in one place that I couldn’t do otherwise.”

Every year, Mills-Scofield brings a group of Brown students to attend the summit with her.

“I want them to meet people who can impact their life,” she said. “I want to expose them to ideas and people and things going on that they wouldn’t easily get exposed to.”

4 arts & culture New lit. magazine to feature multimedia Synecdoche’s first issue will be published in print at the beginning of the spring semester

By KATHARINE GROETZINGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Rising from the ashes of now-defunct Issues Magazine, Synecdoche launched this semester as the newest literary arts magazine on campus. In contrast to Issues’ focus on creative writing, the fledgling publication will expand to include visual arts and will strive to facilitate a conversation between readers and contributors.

Editors-in-chief Joshua Kurtz ’17 and Kimberly Meilun ’17 are the brains behind Synecdoche, which will be published biannually. The two served as junior editors-in-chief of Issues last year, priming them for the positions of lead editors-in-chief this year. But over the course of last semester, they conceptualized a rebirth for the magazine that would take its content in a different direction.

“Issues had a creative theme every semester, but there was no real connection to a bigger theory or conversation,” Kurtz said.

Kurtz and Meilun sought to address these shortcomings with a twofold vision: to feature a greater variety

of genre-defying work and to put artists in contact with the community surrounding the magazine.

Kurtz and Meilun said they are especially interested in artistic forms inspired by technology’s rise in the world today.

“Our mission is very much focused on multimedia work, things that are revolutionary and new techniques,” Meilun said.

Kurtz and Meilun personally solicited much of the first issue’s content, focusing on artists whose work transcends form and engages with the contemporary world.

Associate Professor of Visual Art Paul Myoda is one of the artists whose work will be featured in Synecdoche’s inaugural issue. He agreed to contribute because the magazine’s mission resonates with his own artistic values, he said.

“The editorial attitude focuses on how art can make meaning for us in the present by shining lights in two directions at once: the past, which is increasingly available through searchable archives, and also the future, where art will no doubt become something unrecognizable, given its impulse to perpetually redefine itself,” Myoda said.

In keeping with the magazine’s experimental approach, Myoda said he departed from his usual

three-dimensional work, which primarily includes sculptures and public art installations, to create two-dimensional pieces for the magazine.

The editors’ focus on collaboration and conversation emerges from a desire to allow readers to engage with artists like Myoda. Plans are underway for a conference this summer to bring artists featured in Synecdoche faceto-face with its readers, while online platforms will allow readers to connect with the magazine throughout the year. The main avenue of contact between artists and readers will be a blog linked through the magazine’s website, with Facebook and Twitter accounts featuring weekly quotes and components from the magazine.

“It will be an online base where we can get everyone involved from everywhere,” Meilun said, referring to the national presence she and Kurtz hope to cultivate for the magazine.

Synecdoche accepts submissions from across the country, and plans are in the works to distribute nationally. The first issue will go to press over winter break and be distributed around campus at the start of next semester. Four hundred copies will be printed.

Though still in its nascent phase, the project will create “a synecdoche of a greater art and literary world as a whole,” Meilun said.

Refugee plays odes to freedom North Korean musician Cheol Woong Kim seeks to converse with his homeland through song

By EMILY PASSARELLI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Atypically formal for a collegiate event, ushers dressed in black tie greeted concertgoers and a grand piano graced the stage of Salomon 101 Tuesday night.

Gathering to hear Cheol Woong Kim, a concert pianist and professor of music at Paekche Institute of the Arts in South Korea, speak and perform, audience members trickled in starting at 7 p.m., and within half an hour, the floor and balcony were packed.

At half past seven Kim — a North Korean native who fled and now lives in South Korea — began his concert not with spoken word, but with song.

Bowing humbly after performing Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 2,” he explained in Korean his somber choice of song. Translating his remarks, Peter Kim GS and Betty Kim ’15.5 explained that the song is featured in the movie “The Pianist” set in Nazi Germany. The film’s main character only keeps his life because a Nazi soldier appreciated his music, capturing the power of music even in chaos.

“I will be talking about my life and will play some pieces in between,” Kim said. “I hope that by learning about my life between these pieces that you will learn more about the life in North Korea.”

Living a “privileged life” as the son of a politician and a university professor, Kim started to play piano at age six.

There were only three available pianos in the entire city, and Kim attended a kindergarten that was home to one of them, he wrote in an email to The Herald. Kim Jeong Il, the North Korean ruler at the time, respected musicians, so Kim’s parents had him learn with hopes that the skill would help his career, he added.

At eight years old, Kim was one of nine chosen from 5,000 applicants to be accepted into the Pyongyang Music and Dance Institute. “Of those nine people, my first love was one of them,” he said at his performance. “I don’t think you can not talk about love when you talk about life, right?”

He then studied at the Moscow State Conservatory. “Before I studied abroad, I did not begin to question the kind of limit I had as a pianist. … I thought that to express music was to express the ideology of the government,” he said.

It was this restriction on his freedom of expression that eventually gave Kim the impetus to flee. He had planned to propose — to the girl who was one of

the nine — by playing her a song, but the song he wanted to perform was not permitted in North Korea. Practicing secretly in his room one day, he was overheard and reported to the authorities.

After being detained by the National Security Agency, he was interrogated about what made him play the song. He was instructed to write a report, and he escaped during this interim.

He did not talk to his parents. He did not talk to his love. “I could not tell her even if I had had the opportunity. And if I were to have told her, she probably would have reported me to the authorities,” he said.

Escaping first to China and later to South Korea, where he is now a professor, he said, “I did not escape for ideological reasons. I wanted freedom for my fingers to move on the piano.”

He said the type of music he played from the beginning of his piano instruction was half classical and half propaganda. “But people in North Korea still wanted to express themselves,” he added.

“No matter how totalitarian the government is, music will always prevail. It is basically the essence of life. And this is why I want to use music as a medium to change their lives.”

“I just said ‘them,’ but the truth is, I used to be one of them,” he added.

Kim closed his concert and conversation with a traditional piece that he transposed to better articulate what he felt demonstrated the harmonious blend of the cultures of North and South Korea.

Even today, citizens of North Korea cannot speak freely, he said to the audience. “To a nation that was united over 60 years ago and that could be united 60 years from now, I hope that I can converse with them.”

A standing ovation ensued as the lingering notes of his music and tone of his words echoed in the auditorium.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

IN CONVERSATION

‘Poems come to me in the form of a world’ Student’s translations of Amador’s poems to feature in bilingual reading Friday

By KATHARINE GROETZINGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The poetry of Pilar Fraile Amador, widely published in her native Spain, uses words to create and explore surreal spheres of personal and political identity. In a bilingual recitation, Lizzie Davis ’15 will open the door to these worlds for English-speaking readers with her translations of Amador’s poetry collections, “Larva Seguida de Cerca” and “Close.” The reading, which will take place in the McCormack Family Theater at 7 p.m.

Friday, is part of the Department of Literary Arts’ two-day festival, “Panic Cure: Poetry from Spain in the 21st Century.” Davis and Amador recently sat down with The Herald to discuss their parallel journeys of translation and creation.

Herald: Lizzie, what were your main concerns regarding the project?

Davis: My main concern was taking this beautiful, surreal universe created in Pilar’s poems and trying to transfer that so that a non-native speaker could have the experience of that text in English. A lot of it was in the details — tiny grammatical things.

In the end, it came down to going on my nerve to recast this light in English that had been cast in Spanish.

Herald: And were there any specific places where you went to Pilar for advice?

Davis: I wasn’t in contact with Pilar while I was working on the project. I didn’t want to send her anything until I had something that I was excited about, so I waited until the end to send it to her. Then she gave me her comments. There were a lot.

Amador: Some of the language in the book is very specific, so it is very hard to translate. Some of the language I use belongs to a small region in Spain.

Davis: There was one word that was actually a water bug, but I had thought it was a shoemaker.

Herald: Pilar, what are the main themes of the poems in your collections?

Amador: The poems come to me in the form of a world. So for me, it’s kind of difficult because I see the poems from inside-out. But I will say that the main theme of “Larva” is identity — the construction and deconstruction of identity. And the main theme of “Close” would be like community — how do we gather together?

Davis: What drew me to “Larva” is the way it deals with the communication on a subconscious level that exists between human beings — this wellspring from which poetry and all of the arts drink. What I really got from the first section of “Larva” was that there is an individual memory and there is also a collective memory, and the way that those intermix can

be very generative.

Herald: Pilar, how did you feel when you read the translations for the first time?

Amador: I feel that it’s very surprising the first time you read translations, because it’s like something that used to belong to you doesn’t belong to you anymore. But once you get used to that, it’s very beautiful because you can see how the meaning and the subconscious meaning can be translated into another world. It’s like, “whoa.”

Davis: I think that that was really hard for me to understand because I wanted to be as accurate as possible, but I think there’s something inherently subjective to translating where you’re having this visceral experience and you can’t really separate your own experience of the text from the translation.

Herald: Pilar, were there aspects of the poetry you were surprised to see emphasized in the translation?

Amador: This thing that showed up when I read Lizzie’s work was that the poems were becoming younger, lighter. I could see her youthfulness in the poems, and it’s very, very beautiful.

Herald: Lizzie, do you feel you developed your own tone in your translation?

Davis: The similarities between Pilar’s poetry and my own poetry made translating a lot of fun. We both move in nondelineated spaces. Her work is very image-driven. It has this multi-vocal timbre to it and it’s very disjointed. I could relate as a writer to what she was doing, but I really tried to keep from leaving a mark. I wanted to honor the beauty of her tone.

Herald: Pilar, when you were writing these poems did you have a specific readership in mind?

Amador: Not really. But I was thinking about restoring the things that went wrong in the past times of my country — some kind of poetic justice. I have always felt that there were two or three generations in Spain that were kind of lost to the civil war, so I always have these generations in mind. There are parts in the poems that may speak to those generations.

Herald: Lizzie, what was your process in translating?

Davis: My first impulse was to read the entire text. Then I went through and did rough translations so that I could get a deeper understanding. I found there was a line between maintaining the qualities of the original language and allowing those qualities to expand the language of translation. I tried to let the source text push the limits of English. But I wanted to make sure the poems really read as convincing poems on their own, so I thought a lot about recreating syntactical and stylistic elements seamlessly in English.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

today 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

bump, set, spike

menu SATELLITE DINING JOSIAH’S Made-to-Order Quesadillas BLUE ROOM Naked Burritos ANDREWS COMMONS Made-to-Order Baked Pasta

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Cajun Pasta with Chicken, Okra and Tomato, Vegan Tofu Hot Dogs, Butterscotch Chip Bars

Italian Chicken Parmesan, Italian Vegetable Saute, Basque Cake with Raspberries

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Breaded Chicken Fingers, Zucchini, Carrot and Garlic Medley, Nacho Bar

Orange Beef Pad Thai, Fresh Broccoli, Cavatelli Primavera, Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake

sudoku

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

McKenna Webster ’17 rises up and spikes the ball past a leaping defender. The opposite hitter has contributed 27.5 points in 14 sets of action, giving her the fourth-highest points per set average on the volleyball team.

comics Bacterial Culture | Dana Schwartz ’15

crossword

calendar TODAY

SEPTEMBER 19

2 P.M. BROWN-INDIA SEMINAR PRESENTS: FORMER INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE US, NIRUPAMA RAO

Nirupama Rao has had a multi-decade diplomatic career, recently serving as India’s ambassador to the United States. She will present a talk entitled “The Politics of History: India and China, 1949-1962.” Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute 6 P.M. BROWN TAIWAN SOCIETY: NIGHTMARKET

More than 16 student cultural groups will be represented at the Brown Taiwan Society’s Nightmarket. Performers will include a new KPop dance troupe, while Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Vietnamese food will be served. Sayles Hall

TOMORROW

SEPTEMBER 20

10:30 A.M. BROWN MOTION PICTURES CASTING CALL

Audition for one of four short films produced by BMP and written, directed and produced by Brown students. No prior acting experience is required. Wilson 102 12:30 P.M. VIOLIN MASTER CLASS

Celebrated violinist Augustin Hadelich — who has played with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, among other orchestras — will lead a master class. The class will feature members of the University’s Applied Music Program and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School. Grant Recital Hall

SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 21

11 A.M. CVS DOWNTOWN 5K

Team Wellness at Brown! will participate in Rhode Island’s largest annual race as part of an effor to promote health and wellness in the Brown community. Downtown Providence 1 P.M. BROWN WOMEN’S RUGBY INFO MEETING

Designated a varsity sport last year, Brown Women’s Rugby is having an information session for prospective team members.

No rugby experience is necessary to participate. Nelson Fitness Center

6 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

DIAMONDS & COAL A diamond to Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and Rhode Island School Superintendents’ Association President Katherine Sipala, who wrote in a joint statement, “None of us wants to test students too much.” Professors, take note.

Cubic zirconia to Traci Green, assistant professor of emergency medicine and epidemiology, who said, “We’ve seen a huge increase in the use of illicit drugs.” Is she referencing the results of a study or Spring Weekend?

A diamond to Adam Levine — not of Maroon 5 fame but an assistant professor of emergency medicine — as well as Professor of Medicine Timothy Flanigan for working to combat Ebola in Africa. Just don’t bring any souvenirs home to the States.

Cubic zirconia to William Deresiewicz, former Yale professor and author of “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life,” who said, “Surrender the need to have a clear career path.” You’re right, Mr. Deresiewicz. Instead, just follow the path to the Career Fair table with the most free stuff.

Cubic zirconia to Richard Bungiro, senior lecturer in molecular microbiology and immunology, who said, “I would trade my immune system for the immune system of a six-year-old in a heartbeat.” It’s okay, you can eat that cookie you dropped on the floor. We won’t tell.

Cubic zirconia to James McDonald, chief administrative officer of the Rhode Island Department of Health, who said, “Children are very efficient at spreading the flu.” Hear that, grownups? Time to step up your game.

I VA N A L C A N TA R A

Coal to the first-year who said, “Seminars also just force you to close your laptop and listen, and that in and of itself is something that doesn’t happen enough in college anymore.” What? What was that? We couldn’t hear you over the din of your smug liberal arts pretension.

A diamond to Brown Opera Productions for producing the “shortest opera ever written.” Sounds like the best opera ever written to us.

Coal to the student director of “Almost, Maine,” who said the new PW show running this weekend “may or may not contain a strip scene.”

Don’t be such a tease.

Cubic zirconia to football Head Coach Phil Estes, who said of the offensive line, “We’ve got to throw them to the fire a little bit” and “We’re going to dumb it down just a little bit to get our feet wet.” At least their toes won’t burn.

Coal to David Sheinberg, professor of neuroscience, for saying, “We don’t know how much people will put in.” The real question is, how much will they put out?

CORRECTION An article that appeared in Thursday’s Herald (“State to hold hearings on whether to delay exam graduation requirement,” Sept. 18) incorrectly stated that Rhode Island officials are considering delaying implementation of the NECAP exam graduation requirement until 2020. The state is in the process of replacing the NECAP exam with the PARCC exam.

The Herald regrets the error.

Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

“She did a million different things, and she did them all with unparalleled finesse.”

— Elena Suglia ’15

See thompson on page 1.

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General Managers Jennifer Aitken Nicole Shimer

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BLOG DAILY HERALD Editor-in-Chief Georgia Tollin Managing Editors Charlotte Bilski David Oyer POST- MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief Adam Asher COMMENTARY Editorial Page Editors Alexander Kaplan James Rattner Opinions Editors Gabriella Corvese Robyn Sundlee Maggie Tennis

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

The Islamic State: conceived by American hubris DAVID KATZEVICH opinions columnist

The Islamic State has been declared. The first caliphate since the fall of the Ottoman Empire a century ago, claiming to represent all Muslims worldwide, has been established. The speed with which the Islamic State — formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — spread from Syria back to its birthplace in Iraq was matched only by its military successes along the way, prompting the collective jaws of Western commentators to drop.

If one watches American news media, an ill-advised endeavor, the only thing heard more often than a bellicose call to arms against the new old enemy is the purported ignorance as to its origins. However, we must not be fooled into thinking the Islamic State somehow emerged from the depths of hell or is a product of spontaneous generation, like rats in the holds of pre-scientific ships. Rather, the ever-unfolding story of the Islamic State can clearly be traced back to American military and economic policy over the last several decades and most sharply to American bombs, bullets and arrogance unleashed in our deluded assaults on the people of Iraq.

The Islamic State was conceived in a river of blood, which first began flowing over two decades ago when the first George Bush, under the pretext of humanitarian aid to the oil fields of Kuwait, formed an international coalition to liberate the invaded Kuwaiti monarchy and punish Saddam’s dictatorship in what became known as the Gulf War. With a highly disproportional death count, this war could more accurately be described as an act of industrial slaughter, complete with an aerial assault on Iraqi soldiers retreating from Kuwait on the infamous Highway of Death and the live burial of scores of Iraqis by armored American bulldozers. While the vast majority of Americans have probably forgotten or never heard of these events, the atrocities of this war live on in the cultural memory of the jihadists. Although one cannot say it with absolute confidence, it is certainly conceivable that many of those killed by our bombs were the fathers and grandfathers of those now waving the black flag of the Islamic State.

However, as difficult as it may be to imagine, these senseless and

needless massacres were merciful compared to the slow and brutal economic strangulation that ensued for the beleaguered citizens of Iraq.

With minimal military justification, crucial civilian infrastructure was purposely bombed and destroyed, including the vast majority of Iraq’s electrical power stations and oil refineries, as well as many of its water purification plants, roads, bridges and other necessities of industrial

perial Project for the New American Century —, the second George Bush decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and once again invade Iraq. However, this time the goal was not merely to punish Saddam but to transform Iraq, which is what ironically occurred, although not along the lines envisioned.

What was meant to be a quick and efficient demonstration of American military omnipotence de-

The ever-unfolding story of the Islamic State can clearly be traced back to American military and economic policy over the last several decades and most sharply to American bombs, bullets and arrogance unleashed in our deluded assaults on the people of Iraq. civilization. To compound this misery, sanctions leveled against Iraq, once one of the most advanced and prosperous nations in the region, effectively wiped out its economy and all but brought the country back to the Stone Age with terrifying results.

Iraq’s GDP fell to about an eighth of what it was before the war. Illiteracy and child labor skyrocketed. Rates of malnutrition shot up, medical supplies became precariously scarce and diseases from lack of clean water became the norm. Estimates of excess childhood deaths as a result range from over half a million to a lower estimate of 100,000, figures which would make the Islamic State blush and were described by the former United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Baghdad Denis Halliday, as “genocidal sanctions on the innocent of Iraq.” In light of the illiteracy, poverty and destitution created by our actions, questions such as “why are they so violent?” and “why do they hate us?” would be almost comical if they were not so tragic.

While many of these events have gone down the Orwellian memory hole in this country, the next part of the story should certainly still be familiar. For a variety of pretexts, ranging from nonexistent weapons of mass destruction to nonexistent ties to al-Qaeda to our certainly existent modern manifest destiny of democracy promotion — but, of course, in no way related to oil, petrodollars, defense contractors, Dick Cheney’s Halliburton and the im-

volved into an all-too-predictable, all-too-costly and all-too-gruesome counterinsurgency against the newly liberated but less-than-thankful people of Iraq. Improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs against American military vehicles and private military contractors were answered by wholly indiscriminate fire against an unseen and elusive enemy and often against entirely in-

nocent human lives, as reported by the Iraq Body Count project, with a high-end estimate of over 1 million deaths — three percent of the country’s population — due to all the effects of the war, including destruction of sanitation and health-related infrastructure, according to ORB International. Although these inconvenient facts are rarely mentioned in the American media, we are living — and others are dying — with these results today.

As with all tragedies, this second War on Iraq is laced with its own cruel ironies, among which is the creation of what would later become the Islamic State. Under Saddam Hussein’s secular Ba’ath Party, fundamentalist religious groups were heavily suppressed as challenges to his rule. With Hussein removed from power, such groups sprang up once again, either from the ether or from the underground, to fill the void and combat American forces.

They were aided by the absurdly stupid policies enacted after the first phase of the war, the most inane of which was surely Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2, which disbanded the Iraqi military, security and intelligence infrastructure, putting 400,000 men knowledgable in the arts of war out of work and gifting many of them into the hands and leadership roles of the insurgency.

Other deluded programs included setting up a spiteful and vengeful Shiite puppet government in a ma-

The inferno we ignited, into which the Iraqi insurgents poured their own gasoline, consumed around 130,000 innocent human lives, as reported by the Iraq Body Count project. nocent civilians, as documented by American soldiers and independent journalists on the scene and verified by disclosed Wikileaks documents.

Military and private armed forces apparently began to suspect everyone with brown skin and a fluency in Arabic, a rather substantial portion of the Iraqi population, of being affiliated with the insurgency, as reflected in the civilian death toll and reports of human rights abuses by American forces. Overall, the inferno we ignited, into which the Iraqi insurgents poured their own gasoline, consumed around 130,000 in-

jority Sunni nation, as well as slashing the state sector and forcing neoliberal policies onto the Iraqi economy, embittering many and throwing countless people out of nonviolent work. Predictably, those idle hands soon picked up rifles, joining a variety of insurgency groups, one of which was the Islamic State of Iraq. If that name sounds familiar, it should: after countless refugees and fighters poured over the border to neighboring Syria and after crystallization in the cauldron of war against the government of Bashar Al-Assad, the Islamic State of Iraq now calls it-

self simply the Islamic State.

And thus, what are we left with?

A new old enemy cutting through colonial borders as surely and brutally as it cuts through the heads of apostates, enemies and Western journalists. A new state flush with cash and intent, providing vitally needed infrastructure to the population it governs, as well as the opportunity for violent Jihad and Promethean state-making to would-be radicals throughout the world, including in the West.

And what have we learned? Judging from Obama’s recent remarks to “take out (the Islamic State) wherever they exist” — absolutely nothing. Nonmilitary options, particularly economic ones aimed at replacing extremists’ weapons with true tools of state-making, have not even entered into the thoughts of the president elected on his promise to get us out of Iraq. Although serious questions remain as to the actual threat the Islamic State poses to the United States, with General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President’s top military adviser, going so far as to claim there is no sign of “active plotting against the American homeland” from the Islamic State, the war drums are already being beaten. Air and drone strikes, the propaganda poster children for Islamic radicals worldwide, are our first course of action, followed by the sort of training of local resistance fighters which turned the Mujahideen into the Taliban and in no small part assisted in the formation of the Islamic State in Syria by providing arms and instruction to those then fighting Bashar alAssad. What new, more horrific entity emerges from this latest baptism of blood is as yet unknown, but one can safely bet on its inevitability and brutality. As we sow, so shall we reap.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do learn are doomed to watch idiots and simpletons with reflexively violent reactions repeat it for them. It may well not be hyperbolic to state that in due time — if we persist in our actions — we may be looking back at this moment with nostalgia, with society as we know it collapsing around us.

God save us all.

David Katzevich ’16 enjoys learning from history, raising his fist in righteous indignation and shaking his head in futility.

He can be reached at david_katzevich@brown.edu.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

THE

sports

BROWN DAILY HERALD FOOTBALL

Bears to jumpstart new season in nation’s capital Eighteen new starters take field, hope to repeat last year’s beatdown of Georgetown

By ANDREW FLAX SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The football team opens its 2014 season with a trip to Washington to face Georgetown University on Saturday.

In 2013, the Bears opened a strong season with a 45-7 obliteration of the Hoyas in Providence that propelled them to a 6-4 record. But to repeat last year’s feat, the team will have to find its identity on the fly.

With only four of last year’s 22 starters returning — none on offense — the 2014 Bears are almost unrecognizable from 2013 team. With new players comes a new style of play, and Bruno will have to quickly discover what works best.

The Bears are ready to “find out what kind of squad we are,” said quarterback Marcus Fuller ’15.

Unfortunately for the Bears, Georgetown will have an advantage in experience. The Hoyas have three games under their belts: losses to Wagner College and the University of Dayton and a win over Marist

College. They have already undergone the growing pains that accompany a new season. But there’s a flip side to this coin.

“We have two game films on them,” said center John Heile ’16, adding, “and they don’t have any on us.”

The Hoyas may know who they are but that means Bruno gets to know too. The Bears also have the element of surprise on their side.

“They don’t know anything about us,” said linebacker Dan Giovacchini ’15.

“With 11 offensive starters … and a bunch of starters on defense leaving, we’re a completely different unit,” Heile said.

With the benefit of film, the Bears are looking to take advantage of the Hoyas’ habits and playing style.

“We just kind of look at schemes, tendencies, things like that, any weaknesses we could possibly exploit,” Heile said. “We just craft a game plan around what we see from them.”

Both Giovacchini and Fuller noted some specific Georgetown tendencies they plan to use to inform their play. Giovacchini observed that the Hoya offense has been “pass-happy,” while Fuller said he anticipated some “situations where (Bruno’s) receivers

ARJUN NARAYEN / HERALD

Offensive linemen Matthew Girard ’17 and Clayton Eubank ’17 huddle up with their teammates. The sophomores will lead a team that lacks veterans on the offensive side of the ball this year. are matched up with their (defensive backs) one-on-one.”

All things considered, the Bears expressed confidence about how they will play together and what waits for them in the nation’s capital.

Heile described the team’s chemistry as “incredibly important, and I think it’s come a long way … it’s

RUGBY

only going to get better and better.”

After spring practices and a scrimmage against Yale, the Bears have a fair amount of team experience, even if they have none in live game action.

Several players said that if the Bears can adhere to their game plan and avoid penalties, they should have a good shot to open the year with a

victory.

“We think we can have a lot off success against this D,” Fuller said.

“We don’t need any crazy individual performances. It just takes everybody doing their part.”

“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” Giovacchini added.

Saturday’s game kicks off at noon.

VOLLEYBALL

Penn defense poses test for Bruno Bears head to UNH for Bears hope to work out kinks, growing pains in preparation for duel with Quaker squad

By LAINIE ROWLAND SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Coming off its breakout win over Harvard last weekend, the rugby team will travel to Philadelphia this weekend to take on Ivy foe Penn.

Brown (1-0) kicked off its 2014 campaign with a hard-fought win over the defending Ivy champions and is looking to continue its domination

Saturday against the Quakers (1-0).

Neither Brown nor Penn will be lacking in confidence, as the Penn team also comes into the contest with an undefeated record and victory over Columbia (0-1) already under its belt.

The two teams did not face each other in 2013, though the Bears earned a decisive victory over the Quakers in fall 2012. But that contest is now distant history for college teams whose lineups can fluctuate from year to year.

Head Coach Kathleen Flores is only in her second year with Brown, so she has never seen the two teams play in league competition.

COURTESY OF BROWN BEARS

Saskia Morgan ’16 weaves through a series of defenders as she carries the ball forward.

“I know that they are very scrappy,” Flores said. “In the past, there have always been the top four Ivies and then the next four, and they were always knocking on the door to that top four.”

In Penn’s season debut, the squad faltered early in rainy conditions against Columbia but picked up its pace in time to jump ahead of the Lions and secure a win. The Bears will have to watch out for the Quakers’ senior Lucy Dawson, who scored two tries and won three of six conversion attempts in their opener.

The Penn defense also proved to be solid, shutting out the Lions over 80 minutes of play.

Brown will take the field with the same winning mentality it utilized against Harvard. With the squad looking to shine in its first varsity year, the Bears’ coaches said they have already been impressed.

“Harvard did beat us pretty handily last year,” Flores said. “While it wasn’t a surprise that we won … it was certainly welcome.”

The Bears made history by winning the first-ever varsity Ivy League women’s rugby game.

Facing Penn, Bruno will seek to maintain the successful parts of its approach against Harvard, while also making adjustments and tweaks in order to play an even better game Saturday.

“We took what we didn’t do well at Harvard … so we’ve been practicing working on our defensive launch a lot, and trying to bring up our attacking line a bit,” Flores said.

Both teams will be hungry for the win Saturday, but only one can take home a victory. The Bears seem to think it will be them.

three-game tournament Bruno squad battles Rams for Rhode Island supremacy at Holly Young Invitational

By CHRISTINE RUSH SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The women’s volleyball team will battle its Ocean State rival the University of Rhode Island this weekend at the University of New Hampshire’s Holly Young Invitational. With a sweep of Providence College under their belts, the Bears could cement themselves as the state powerhouse after this weekend’s competition.

Last year, Bruno lost to URI. Outside hitter Emma Thygesen ’17 said that with this past record, the team is ready to “stick it to them.” The Atlantic 10 team will also come prepared with a strong 9-1 record, and last Saturday, the Rams swept Rutgers in three games.

URI is not the only team posing a threat to the Bears this weekend. Bruno will play New Hampshire Friday and New Mexico State Saturday. “All competition is going to be good competition,” Thygesen said.

New Hampshire comes into the games with a record below .500, going

4-8, but regardless of the numbers, the Wildcats held their own in a tight match against Ivy League rival Dartmouth.

Like the Wildcats, New Mexico State currently has a losing record, 3-5, but has proved itself on the court against competition such as North Dakota State University and Missouri State University.

“We have made some good strides this week,” said Head Coach Diane Short said, looking forward to these three match-ups.

The Bears had a full week of practice — a luxury they have not had in quite some time. It was “nice to get a rhythm this week,” Thygesen said. They took advantage of the practice time to focus on and improve their blocking, stressing what Coach Short said were some of the weaknesses from the last tournament.

With stronger intra-squad relationships and a better understanding of one another’s playing styles, the Bears are prepared to attack their competition at the Holly Young Invitational. “We are actually at a better place this year compared to last year,” Thygesen said.

Short also seemed confident. “I do feel this team has showed consistent effort, and what more can the coach ask for when teaching?”