THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 97
since 1891
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
Construction to commence on applied math building CareerLAB
sees rise in undergrad job postings
Completion scheduled for next December to make way for new engineering complex By ASHWINI NATARAJAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After the Corporation approved construction on a new applied math building, designs are being finalized and foundation work is kicking into full swing over the next few weeks. The Corporation’s Committee on Budget and Finance gave the go-ahead at its meeting this month for construction to begin. The structure will be built in the parking lot next to Barus and Holley — close to the current home of the Division of Applied Math at 182 George Street. Construction is set to begin next month and finish December 2015, The Herald previously reported. Architectural Research Office, the architecture firm responsible for the Friedman Study Center and the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, will design the building, while landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol will map out the placement of the new structure and ensure the landscape design of the site “match(es) with the design of the University campus,” said Stephen
Michigan State study projects about 97 percent of employers will hire 2015 graduates By ALEKSANDRA LIFSHITS STAFF WRITER
COURTESY OF STEPHEN MAIORISI
The new applied math building is currently in the “design build” phase of the construction process. Foundation work will begin next month. Maiorisi, vice president for Facilities Management. The new building is currently undergoing a “design build” process that allows construction to start before the design is complete, Maiorisi said. Foundation work is set to start within the next month, while the building’s exterior and interior designs are still being finished and will then await the Corporation’s
approval. “The driver was the engineering building,” Maiorisi said of the new applied math construction. At the moment, some of the department’s faculty members and graduate students are located in two historic houses that must be torn down to clear space for the new engineering building, Maiorisi said. Construction on the new
engineering complex will begin once the faculty members and students settle into their spaces in the new applied math building. Collaboration between University administrative teams involved in the building plans and the Division of Applied Math has been key to the efficiency of the designing and planning process, » See APMA, page 2
As a recent national study predicts that job opportunities for the graduating class of 2015 will increase by 16 percent, CareerLAB has seen signs of a strong hiring cycle for Brown seniors, administrators said. There have been more job postings on the Job and Internship Board and more technology companies recruiting on campus this year than in previous years, said Jim Amspacher, interim director of CareerLAB. A study released earlier this month by Michigan State University researchers found that employers are looking for more recent college graduates. Eighty-four percent of employers » See JOBS, page 2
Jorge Elorza eyes City Hall Eye to Eye destigmatizes learning disabilities
By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rookie Democratic mayoral candidate Jorge Elorza countered chief rival and former mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci’s prominent role on the city’s political stage with a show of his own last Thursday. Budweiser cans and hipster glasses were more abundant than ties and suits at the historic Columbus Theatre for the 37-year-old Providence native’s benefit concert. Local bands took the stage, including gritty folk band Death Vessel and f-bomb-dropping female rapper Medusah Black, whose creativity was fostered by AS220, a local arts nonprofit where Black now serves as a youth program leader. The music, and Elorza’s commentary between each act, brought both beanie-clad teens and well-seasoned grandparents to their feet. “Are you a feminist?” local artist Roz Raskin asked Elorza before the theater’s large audience. “Absolutely,” Elorza said, giving a nod to Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean
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In” and his campaign manager Marisa O’Gara. “She’s the boss,” he said of O’Gara. Elorza has garnered the support of more than Providence’s cool kids and cultured residents. On Monday, he received a formal endorsement from President Obama, an uncustomary move for a president. Providence residents favor Elorza over Cianci by about 10 percentage points, according to last week’s public opinion poll conducted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. Despite these endorsements, critics still hound Elorza for his lack of experience. The mayoral campaign is his first time pursuing an elected position. Elorza’s chief rival, Cianci, who boasts two felony convictions and a personality as large as his campaign billboards, has attracted the eye of the national media for his controversial presence, while Elorza, a first-time candidate, has had to focus on spreading his name in Providence. With 22 years of mayoral experience under his belt and $477,347 more in campaign fundraising, Cianci boasts both more TV commercial time and better name recognition throughout the city. Cianci has also attacked Elorza’s criminal record — a shoplifting arrest when he was 18 — and alleged that Elorza is an atheist. » See ELORZA, page 3
Alum’s experience with dyslexia inspires nationwide youth mentoring program By GABRIELLE DEE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Exploding magic tricks in the middle of an elementary school classroom and daily rounds of chess with Janitor Jim marked a journey governed by dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for David Flink ’02. As part of the Swearer Center for Public Service’s Social Innovation Initiative, Flink shared fragments of his childhood journey in Alumnae Hall’s Crystal Room Monday, during which he introduced his new book, “Thinking Differently,” and discussed Eye to Eye, a program that matches school-aged children with learning disabilities with college student mentors with learning disabilities. Flink exuded an energy uncontainable by his gray suit and the old portraits that surrounded him, speaking with a steady humor that matched his restless pacing. Instead of beginning his hour-long talk with the trials he faced in order to cofound and rise to chief executive officer of Eye to Eye — one of the leading nonprofit mentoring programs in the country — Flink opened by asking, “What is the
ARTS & CULTURE
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LILIAN CRUZ / HERALD
David Flink ’02, who co-founded Eye to Eye in 1998, believes learning disabilities are new avenues of thinking rather than academic setbacks. potential in thinking differently?” Flink co-founded Eye to Eye in 1998 with four other Brown students. The program operates on the belief that learning disabilities are new avenues of thinking, not academic setbacks. Flink was not diagnosed with learning disabilities during his early elementary school years. Rather, he was stamped with different labels, progressing from “lazy” to “stupid” and finally “troublemaker.” A regular at the principal’s office, Flink constantly endured lectures pushing him to try harder, Flink said. “Trying harder when you’re dyslexic was like being in a wheelchair and trying to get up the stairs. I didn’t have a ramp.” Three main experiences pulled Flink out of the rut of discouragement. The first was with Janitor Jim, who befriended him
Commentary
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Kenyon GS: HBO’s new streaming service will affect subscription demands
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weather
Mayoral frontrunner discusses path to politics, vision for city ahead of next week’s election
as he sat banished from class in the hallways and always let him win at chess. The second encounter was when his normally impatient father recorded himself reading an entire science textbook so Flink could better absorb the material. Finally, his family made the enormous financial sacrifice of buying him a laptop, which carried the secret weapon of a dyslexic student: spell check. Though these gestures helped Flink achieve better success at school, their true function was to boost Flink’s flagging self-esteem as symbols of support, he said. Loneliness is one of the major detriments of the stigma associated with learning disabilities, Flink told The Herald. “It takes a toll on your soul.” Eye to Eye eliminates this stigma and » See LEARNING, page 4 t o d ay
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
» JOBS, from page 1
ORLANDO LUIS PARDO LAZO / HERALD
Business managers of performing student organizations such as dance crews and a cappella groups weighed numerous factors as they set Family Weekend ticket prices. Some prioritized drawing a large crowd, while others strategized to bolster funds by charging attendees at the door.
Performance groups juggle Family Weekend ticket prices While some groups view parental attendance as a profit-making venture, others keep ticket prices low By GADI COHEN STAFF WRITER
Unfamiliar faces dotted the audiences at a cappella concerts and dance shows this weekend as parents, siblings and other guests flocked to campus theaters and auditoriums to support student performers and experience a taste of Brown culture. But what was afternoon entertainment for many visiting families was a fresh set of challenges to some business managers of these student groups. As one of the only occasions when students do not make up the majority of audience members, Family Weekend can feel like an economics exercise in supply and demand for those in charge of setting the prices for performances. Several groups weighed the benefits of making tickets more expensive for family members
against those of keeping prices equal for students and family members, and their decisions reflected the tension between the desire to primarily serve the student body and the need to make an additional profit from visiting relatives. Julia Elia ’17, the business manager for the female a cappella group the Ursa Minors — which performed on Friday with the Bear Necessities, Badmaash Dance Company and the Divine Rhythm step team — estimated that parents made up around 70 to 80 percent of the audience in MacMillan 117. The entrance fee for the show was the same for parents and students: $3 before the show and $5 at the door. “We wanted it to be for students as well as parents,” Elia said. “We chose a reasonable price because, as a student, if there’s too high of a price, it could be a deterrent.”
Though the Ursa Minors’ concert this weekend failed to draw as many people or as much money as past performances, the group received many more donations than usual, Elia said. Family Weekend “doesn’t draw the biggest crowd, despite the fact that there are a lot of parents,” Elia said. “It’s also not our biggest moneymaker — our biggest funding comes up in February,” when the group offers singing valentines, Elia said. Other groups charged higher prices for parents to maximize student attendance. The Brown Derbies charged students $5 and parents $8, while the Brown University Chorus charged students $5 and parents $15 for its Saturday concert. Meanwhile, some groups were not concerned about funding and chose to have no entrance fee. “We wanted our concert to be open for everyone,” said Charles Chretien ’15, the business manager for Disney A Cappella. “We think that if we
charged something, less people would have attended it, and we wanted it to be as inclusive as possible.” Chretien said the majority of the group’s funding comes from either the Undergraduate Finance Board or paid University gigs. “We didn’t feel the need to raise more money,” Chretien said. “We’re managing with the money we get from the University — we don’ t have huge expenses.” Alex Sherry ’15, UFB vice chair, said many a cappella groups do not receive funding for Family Weekend performances because the events are already profitable. “We have the funding process in place to make sure the groups are able to use the money appropriately,” Sherry said. “If a group wanted to charge ticket sales at the door to lower the cost of the event, we would consider covering the difference, but we don’t fund events if a group is trying to fundraise and make money off an event.”
COURTESY OF STEPHEN MAIORISI
The new applied mathematics building will have three levels and feature a large common room space and more room for graduate student offices.
» APMA, from page 1 Maiorisi said. “We work very closely with the faculty to make sure that whatever is being proposed is something that’s going to enhance their program.” Hongjie Dong, associate professor of applied math and head of the undergraduate program, said the new building will offer more benefits for the graduate program than for the undergraduate program. “I think for graduate students, they will definitely benefit from the new building because it will be a much more renovated building,” Dong said. “They will probably get more space for their offices, and the common room will be a bit larger than the current one.”
Though the new applied math facility will have a modern aesthetic, its design will contrast with that of the engineering building, Maiorisi said. The scale of the buildings are very different — the applied math building is planned to be 13,000 square feet and the engineering building over 90,000 square feet — so the designs must take this into consideration, he added. The applied math building’s design must also be more sensitive to the surrounding neighborhood than that of the engineering building, Maiorisi said, given its proximity to neighboring homes. “While they both may end up looking like modern buildings, they both need to accomplish different things in terms of where they are.”
hired at least one recent graduate in the 2013-2014 academic year, while 97 percent of employers are expected to do so this academic year, according to the study, which surveyed 5,700 employers across different sectors. While the study focused on bachelor’s degree recipients, its implications are more widespread and could affect students pursuing other degrees. Forty percent of employers seeking candidates with master’s degrees and PhDs will also increase their hiring of recent graduates this year, according to the study. Amspacher said he thinks the surge of tech employers on campus this year is consistent with the study’s finding that hiring in the information services sector is reporting 51 percent growth from 2013-14 — higher than industries such as finance and insurance, which are seeing only 31 percent growth. The study indicated that growth was an important aspect in hiring for 66 percent of employers. “Companies cannot grow further without hiring more people,” said Philip Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. Turnover is also a significant factor in this growth, because as employees change jobs they open up positions for recent graduates, Gardner said. Though the results of the study are promising, CareerLAB is “always optimistic about the prospects of Brown graduates” because the school has had a strong record of employment in the past, Amspacher said. Sixty-five percent of the class of 2013 reported being employed last spring, while 22 percent indicated they were pursuing graduate and professional studies and 6 percent indicated they were seeking employment, he said, citing data from BrownConnect. These results have remained relatively stable for the past five years, he added. “But good or bad news does not change student behavior,” Gardner said, noting that many current seniors will likely wait until the last minute to prepare for entering the job market. Despite the increase in job prospects, seniors who start searching for employment after spring break this year will find it challenging to secure a job, he said. “Even though the needle is swung in favor of the student, this isn’t a free pass,” he added. The surveyed employers indicated they have seen this lack of preparation from many students with “lackluster resumes and slipshod cover letters,” according to the study. The employers also reported that many of these students had naive expectations about starting salaries and working conditions. University career centers such as CareerLAB should form relationships and help students connect with a wide range of employers, especially alums, Gardner said. CareerLAB can help students navigate the process of “targeting their employers and telling their story through application materials,” Amspacher said. CareerLAB urges students to take advantage of this increase in employer demand, he added. Though the study is reason for the class of 2015 to rejoice, Gardner said, it is unclear if this year is an indicator of strong future job growth or simply a one-time occurrence.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
Magazine names Providence ‘America’s Favorite City’ Travel and Leisure praises the city’s bakeries, diners and ‘geeky’ culture in annual rankings By SARAH NOVICOFF CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Travel and Leisure Magazine named Providence “America’s Favorite City” in its annual rankings, which were compiled from the results of a 50,000vote online survey about 38 cities across the country and are included in the magazine’s November issue. Providence also ranked first in three subcategories — geeky people, diners and bakeries — and the city also placed highly in many other areas, including art scene, pizza, hip/ cool people, food trucks, gay-friendly vacation destination and theater. The poll asked respondents to rank cities in up to 67 categories on a scale from
one to five, according to Travel and Leisure’s website. “I think they see what a lot of visitors and conventioneers and residents see — they see a city that’s manageable and accessible and friendly, that has a really high quality of life,” said Brian Hodge, communications and social media manager for the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau. “They experience these amenities and restaurants and cultural and art attractions on a very convenient scale.” Due to the combined efforts of many city departments, Providence has “been on a roll with these rankings these last four years,” said Lynne McCormack, director of Art, Culture
and Tourism for Providence. The city was ranked “The Country’s Best Small City” by Architectural Digest in May and first in the “Food/Drink/Restaurant” category by Travel and Leisure in 2012, as well as a “Notable Culinary Destination” in the small domestic city category by Saveur Magazine for the past two years. The city was also featured in a recent Wall Street Journal spread titled “The Perfect Long Weekend in Providence.” “We have an amazing creative community and that includes our restaurant scene, our arts scene and our beautiful architecture,” McCormack said. “I think (tourists are) surprised by how interesting the place is. They come not expecting much, and they get here and are really impressed by what they see and what they experience.”
The city’s tourism numbers have increased steadily in the last four years, as have meal tax revenues — funds that go directly to the city from a two percent tax on all restaurant meals and beverages, McCormack said. McCormack said she expects those numbers to continue to increase as Rhode Island and the country as a whole continue to rebound from the recession and hopes these rankings increase Providence’s share of the national growth. “It’s only helpful to be in those publications. Both travelers and meeting and event planners are readers of Travel and Leisure Magazine,” Hodge said. “That certainly helps our efforts with marketing.” In an article accompanying the ranking online titled “5 Reasons to Visit Providence Now,” Travel and
Leisure writer Nikki Ekstein mentions the city’s “hip” downtown, “grownup” bars and “New England charm.” In particular, Ekstein calls the new Dean hotel “a cool place to stay” and commends two restaurants, North and Birch, for adding to the city’s “legitimate culinary capital” status. For bakeries and diners, categories in which Providence was ranked first, McCormack recommends Seven Stars and Haven Brothers — the country’s oldest diner — respectively. “We’re very small in terms of our size, but we’ve got nationally recognized youth organizations, Tony award-winning theater, a museum that is the second-largest collection in universities across the country, so you’re experiencing this arts and culture that you don’t experience normally in such a small town,” McCormack said.
Violence flares up in Chad Brown development Terry Robinson shot dead after attending hearing for murder suspect Justice Andrade By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
ORLANDO LUIS PARDO LAZO / HERALD
After learning about the death of a childhood friend, Jorge Elorza decided to move back to Providence and enter local politics, he said. “That night, I realized I wasn’t doing anything to support my own community.”
» ELORZA, from page 1 Elorza told The Herald that his decision to devote his life to public service was far from carefully plotted. At 21, Elorza was beginning his career at a Wall Street accounting firm, when he receieved a late-night phone call from his father, who explained that one of Elorza’s best childhood friends had been murdered in the West End, the Providence neighborhood where Elorza grew up. “I hung up (the phone), and for a while, I just cried for my friend,” Elorza said. “That night, I realized I wasn’t doing anything to support my own community.” The tragedy motivated Elorza to move back to Providence and devote his life to public service. Growing up in Providence, Elorza experienced firsthand the poverty and discrimination faced by the immigrant populations across the country, he said. Elorza’s parents are Guatemalan immigrants who worked in factories to keep the family afloat. As a child, Elorza said he helped his father prepare for his English and citizenship classes. “All those lessons I’ve learned throughout my life, they’ve helped me not just understand what people are saying, but understand where they are coming from,” he added. If he is elected he will strive to ensure that people feel safe and
comfortable calling the police “regardless of whether they have documents or not,” he said. He is a supporter of driver’s licenses for immigrants and wants to continue to cultivate resources to help undocumented immigrants gain access to public universities. Though he hasn’t held a position in elected office or managed a business the size of Providence, Elorza said he has the kind of experience that matters and offers “leadership that citizens throughout the city can identify with.” Elorza’s first TV commercial aired last week, a late move by most campaign standards and in comparison to Cianci, whose face has occupied screentime since September. Elorza’s campaign focused on a communityoriented approach through outreach efforts like door-knocking and phone calls, Elorza said. Elorza said he has been fortunate to experience both sides of society’s coin — the side belonging to the working class and the side of the university and business elite. After high school, Elorza pursued higher education at the Community College of Rhode Island, University of Rhode Island and eventually Harvard Law School. He has worked as an auditor on Wall Street, a lawyer and a Providence Housing Court judge, where he “fought all the biggest banks” to hold them accountable for abandoned properties, he said. Elorza was also a law professor at
Roger Williams University School of Law, where he co-founded the Latino Policy Institute — an organization that conducts research about Rhode Island’s minority communities. A passion for teaching has motivated Elorza to prioritze fixing Providence Public Schools, he said, referring to the system he personally experienced. “If I am remembered for one thing, I want to be remembered as the mayor who turned around the schools,” he added. Elorza’s plans for education reform include bringing community organizations into school buildings to develop full-service community schools. English classes for parents run by these community organizations could take place in school buildings at night and be synchronized with the lessons children receive during the day, “so parents can help their children with their homework,” he said. He also hopes to give teachers more autonomy over their curriculum by eliminating roadblocks that limit their freedom, such as the lengthy procedures teachers must complete in order to switch textbooks, he added After Elorza won the primary, he “got all of about three and a half hours of sleep and was right back into it the next day,” he said. If he wins the general election, Elorza said he will celebrate with a much-deserved nap.
A fatal shooting last Wednesday in the North End’s Chad Brown housing development revived memories of the neighborhood’s history of gun violence. Terry Robinson, a 22-year-old Providence resident, was fatally shot after attending the arraignment hearing of Justice Andrade, a suspect in the murder investigation of a young man killed in the area in July. Delacey Andrade, Justice’s 21-year-old brother, was wounded in the incident, though he was in “good condition” at Rhode Island Hospital the day after the shooting, the Providence Journal reported. Justice Andrade pleaded not guilty in the July 19 murder of 20-year-old Ty-shon Perry, who had grown up in the area around Chad Brown. The Journal reported that Robinson and Delacey Andrade sat together with Andrade’s mother at the hearing. Robinson — who suffered non-fatal wounds from a different shooting outside the Fete Club in Olneyville Sept. 28 — was killed at approximately 11:45 a.m. as he and Delacey Andrade exited a vehicle, the Journal reported. “There’s always an immediate sense of disbelief ” whenever a shooting claims the life of a young person, said Paul Tavares, executive director of the Providence Housing Authority. Given that Robinson was killed almost immediately after attending the arraignment in court, Tavares said the murder might have been a retaliatory measure and could have taken place anywhere in Providence. “The victims of these shootings are not residents” of the development, he added. Though the Providence Police Department’s public housing police unit has helped to minimize gang-related violence in the area, Tavares said the city is working to enhance methods, including street lighting and security
cameras, to minimize the frequency of violent incidents. “What might have been resolved with fists is now resolved with guns,” Tavares said. “An incident like this is totally illogical. … It’s tragic, senseless violence.” Though gang violence might not be uncommon in large cities, incidents like the Chad Brown shooting “shouldn’t be expected,” said Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, a local organization focused on reducing gang violence. Gross said he thinks a variety of factors, including the work of the Providence Police and the Providence Housing Authority, have “really made a difference” in improving the safety of the Chad Brown development. But “we can do a lot more,” he said. In 1995, the institute implemented Operation Ceasefire, a program to support people at high risk of becoming victims of gun violence and improve targeted enforcement to deter gun violence and gang activity, Gross said. The institute has street workers who respond to hundreds of violent incidents every year by following up with families of victims and providing resources for gun violence victims post-hospitalization after a shooting. The organization has also collaborated with Project Safe Neighborhood, a national program aimed at reducing gun violence and gang crime by identifying smaller groups of offenders at higher risk of getting involved in violent crime, Gross said. Last week’s Chad Brown shooting illustrates that a disproportionate number of young people are involved in cases of gun violence, Gross said. By promoting preventative measures, such as ensuring that safe recreational centers are available for youth and improving employment programs to target opportunities for young people, Gross said there is a lot that can be done to help reduce violence. “You need very few young people to generate a majority of the violence,” he said, adding that outreach to this small group of individuals could make a big difference in reducing violence.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
East Side Creamery and Diner to close Nov. 21 As owners Paula and Dodd Francis prepare for Florida move, three offers for diner come in By ELIZABETH CONWAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“I don’t have any more. We’re all out,” Dodd Francis repeated to yet another customer. A handwritten “out of order” sign was taped to the frozen yogurt machine. Several cardboard boxes on the nearest shelf bore black Sharpie letters reading “send back.” These little red flags were the only indicators of impending change at East Side Creamery and Diner. In three weeks, the Fox Point neighborhood favorite will close its doors. Current owners Paula and Dodd Francis poured their “hearts and souls” into the restaurant, Paula said. East Side Creamery and Diner was originally set to close permanently last Friday, but the restaurant will reopen with limited hours Nov. 3 through 21 after the couple takes a brief trip to Florida, where they plan to relocate later this year. Three potential buyers have approached Paula and Dodd, though no final decisions have been made, Paula said.
» LEARNING, from page 1 converts students’ talents into valuable assets, said Maureen Kenner, special education teacher at Vartan Gregorian Elementary School and faculty coordinator for Eye to Eye’s Brown chapter. Working in special education for 35 years allows her to appreciate how Eye to Eye fostered an organic, creative environment for students, she said. After Flink graduated, word about Eye to Eye spread and new chapters began to erupt at other schools. In response to this growth, he quit his job at the Brown Admission Office to build a unified Eye to Eye community, he told The Herald. With Eye to Eye’s rapid expansion to 56 chapters, which collectively mentor thousands of students, the program’s hopes have likewise grown. Though mentoring remains the core of Eye to Eye’s
The connections the couple established in the community were evident as loyal patrons filtered in and out on the day of closing, some on the verge of tears. The notice on the door indicating a 5 p.m. Friday closing did not stop people from rushing in around quarter past five. The owners made no efforts to push people out. “We’ve been told that we were a great asset to the neighborhood and to the area,” Paula said. The decision to move came suddenly, she explained, though the couple had always planned to retire to Florida, where Dodd lived for 12 years. After they relocate, they might consider opening up a new shop in Florida, she added. Walking through the diner door, it is nearly impossible not to be seized by sensations of home — tile floors, small wooden tables with chairs, Halloween decor and the smells of home cooking wafting from the kitchen. Behind the counter stands Paula, a softspoken, pleasant-mannered, middleaged woman dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, a simple pendant hanging around her neck. Her husband bustles around the kitchen, his long silvery hair tied back in a ponytail and his white apron bearing no proof of many hours spent cooking. The ping of a hotel concierge bell sounds over the chatter of diners,
SOYOON KIM / HERALD
signaling to Paula that the food is ready as a dish slides through the window. A minute later, Paula presses the bell with the latest order for Dodd to whip up. Inside the diner, the city disappears and gives way to a neighborhood eatery with a small-town vibe, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the fictional Luke’s Diner in the television show “Gilmore Girls.” Dodd always dreamed of owning a little restaurant, he said. When the opportunity to purchase East Side Creamery arose three years ago, Paula and her husband leapt at the chance. It was mainly an ice cream shop at the time, offering a limited sandwich menu, but the two envisioned more — a diner with breakfast and an expanded menu — so they changed the name to East Side Creamery and Diner to account for the greater ambition. “We wanted everyone to know it wasn’t just an ice cream shop, it was diner style — burgers, sandwiches, grinders,” Paula said with a thick Rhode Island accent, emphasized as she pronounced “grindahhhhr.” The couple invested their “life savings” into the endeavor, she said, and soon the diner became a neighborhood favorite. Paula quit her job of 17 years as a junior accountant, and with help from family members, the diner took off. No outside employees were ever hired. But even after the shop changed hands, the creamery maintained much of its original appearance. Paula said they added their own flair — “decorative plants and little cake plates,” enhancing the homey appearance and adding color and cheer. The couple also added pictures of their most celebrated dishes to the walls. They continued sourcing their ice cream from the original supplier, Bliss Bros. Dairy, a local dairy in Attleboro, Mass. “Their ice cream is one of the best I’ve ever had,” Paula said. The shop featured popular flavors such as Graham Central Station, Moose Tracks and Salted Caramel Pretzel that the former Creamery owners had also served, in addition to 24 flavors of soft-serve ice cream. The menu expanded organically, incorporating popular daily specials and local favorites like Allie’s Donuts. The couple also made sure to support the local community, obtaining all of their ingredients locally, Paula said, including beer from Maderia
program, Flink said he ultimately aims to change the entire culture surrounding learning disabilities, creating a “coalition of young people who can say that (they) deserve to be taught in the best possible way.” Because each mentor has also struggled with his or her learning disability, the mentor understands the challenges that their mentee currently faces. “If you’re dyslexic, you know exactly what this kid needs because you’ve actually been there,” Flink told The Herald. Madeleine Slater ’17, a mentor at Brown’s chapter of Eye to Eye, said she did not realize she had a learning disability until she was 12 years old. Though she did well in school, she had to invest much more time to read and understand material than her peers did. Upon learning of her disability, Slater said she was able to qualify for extra time on tests, which
drastically improved her ability to do well in school. “I want kids to know that they have just as much power as everyone else,” Slater said. “It’s a great way for me to explore the role (my learning disability) occupies in my own life, but also other students’ lives, said Cassidy Wald ’17, co-head of Eye to Eye at Brown. Talking to her mentee, who she said brims with energy and a love of learning, reminds her to reflect on her own experiences that are easily forgotten in the thick of her busy schedule. Over the years, Eye to Eye’s curriculum has evolved through the ideas of student groups across different campuses, Flink said. Today, the program focuses on the personal relationships between young students and their mentors, and encourages the mentees to cultivate a powerful self-image. “They need to find a language to describe how they learn,
JOSE ROCHA / HERALD
Though owners Paula and Dodd Francis originally planned to close East Side Creamery and Diner Friday, it will reopen for part of November. Liquors and meat from Gano Street’s Central Meat Market. They also cultivated a relationship with other restaurants in the area, like Ugly American, a burger joint that used to be across the street, and Bee’s Thai Cuisine. “We would have that kind of relationship where we would help each other out whenever somebody needed something,” Paula said. “It’s quite the little neighborhood sharing back-and-forth.” The diner also received unwavering support from its loyal customers — students and countless neighborhood families that the shop’s owners grew to know over the years. “I’ve come to know them by their sandwich orders,” Paula said jokingly. The afternoon of the formal closing brought customers old and new, some rookies wanting to experience the diner for the first time and others wishing to fulfill a final nostalgic memory of their favorite eatery. “I just happened to walk by and see the closing sign,” said Julia Deng ’17, adding that she then convinced four friends to go with her. “It’s great ice cream and a really cozy environment,” she said. Zach Korol-Gold ’15 and Tarek Shoukri ’15 are seasoned customers at East Side Creamery and Diner. The two said they live just down the block on Williams Street, and they frequented the diner routinely freshman year. to describe what tools they need to overcome weaknesses.” Rather than treating learning disabilities as disorders that need fixing, Eye to Eye instead seeks to celebrate them as distinctive traits. “It’s not the most well-understood phenomenon,” Wald said. For example, other students sometimes comment on how “lucky” she is to receive extra time on tests and assignments. Eye to Eye, she said, has taught her to embrace her dyslexia. “It’s kind of taboo to talk about it,” Slater said. “Most people don’t even know I have a learning disability.” Slater said students of all learning styles should push through their discomfort in discussing it. By spreading awareness about learning disabilities, Eye to Eye aims to promote a more open culture of self-acceptance. “It’s part of who I am,” Slater said.
“We used to come here in the midst of winter to get ice cream every weekend, which made our friends laugh because they all thought it was way too cold for ice cream,” Shoukri said. They happened upon it after an evening at Ugly American, and Shoukri said he visited the diner most weekend mornings to purchase donuts. Lifelong Fox Point resident Susan Cabral said she has been coming to the diner with her daughter Gianni and the rest of her family since its inception. “We would eat here almost every day.” “It’s the best restaurant on this whole block and I’m sad because other people may buy it, but it’s never going to be the same,” she said. “I could cry, I am so sad.” And while most reacted with sadness, 14-year-old Aaron Gomes, another local patron, said, “I’m mad. That’s it — just mad.” But the somber expression in his wide eyes betrayed his disappointment. “I’ve been coming here for three years after school, and I come to eat dinner on weekends sometimes with my dad, brother and sister.” Nov. 21 will mark the final closing, Paula said. “We take a lot of pride in our food and our service, and it has been a hell of a ride. It is sad to say goodbye,” she said.
today 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
menu
mind on design
SATELLITE DINING JOSIAH’S
Gourmet Tacos BLUE ROOM Chicken Saag, Avial Coconut Vegetable Curry Soups: Organic Butternut Squash, Turkey Sausage and Kale, Beef with Bean Chili ANDREWS COMMONS Pizzas: Bacon Chicken Ranch, Spicy Five Cheese and Garlic, BBQ Bam Bam
DINING HALLS LUNCH
SHARPE REFECTORY
Pizza Supper Pie, Sloppy Joe Sandwich, Butternut Squash Cannelloni, Italian Green Beans
DINNER
Vegan Chow Mein With Tofu, Vegetables in Agave Ginger Sauce, Beef Stir Fry
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
Liz’s Great Vegan Veggie Soup, Cajun Spiced Chicken Sandwich, Macaroni and Cheese, Brownies
Mexican Cornbread Casserole, Honey Citrus Pork Saute, Carrot Casserole, Baked Potatoes
sudoku
RYAN WALSH / HERALD
The Rhode Island School of Design’s department of furniture design experiments with new materials and technology to create pieces that fit into the aesthetics of a modern lifestyle.
comics Moving Parts | Odie ’17 RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle crossword Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Plant owner: Abbr. 4 Quieted (down) 10 Novelist Clancy 13 Go it alone 14 Starting squads 15 Commotion 16 *Tailor’s fabric marker 18 Fortysomething, e.g. 19 Parts of stairs 20 Paving supply 21 “Suits” actress Torres 22 Oft-blessed outburst 23 *Like a job that doesn’t cause ulcers 25 Nonstick kitchen brand 26 Pro offering IRA advice 28 Netherworld 29 Uppity one 31 Chapter in a geology text, maybe 33 Finished first 34 *Anna Sewell novel narrated by a horse 38 Early hrs. 39 Misspell or misspeak 40 Woodshop tools 43 “NCIS” actor Joe 46 Personal connections 48 Extinct emu-like bird 49 *Icon in billpaying software 53 Top-selling Toyota 55 __ Hashanah 56 “Bambi” doe 57 Runway figures 58 “What was __ do?” 59 “Remember what I said!” ... and a hint to what can follow each part of the answers to starred clues 61 Jazz genre 62 Layered rock 63 Pull up stakes, to Realtors 64 USCG rank
65 Hardly boastful 66 Dreyer’s partner in ice cream
30 Boil briefly, as asparagus 32 Honest __ 33 Tip off 35 Out of control 36 Composer Satie 37 Whined 41 Urbane 42 States as fact 43 Book copier of yore 44 Particle of light 45 __ Fables
47 Garbage vessel 50 Bingo relative 51 No right __: road sign 52 Jack of “The Texas Rangers” 54 Really love 57 Computer game title island 59 Studio with a lion mascot 60 Submissions to an ed.
DOWN 1 Tribesman in a Cooper title 2 Apparently spontaneous public gathering 3 Logger’s contest 4 Spending limits 5 Completed the course? 6 Slowly, to Mozart ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 7 Colorful parrot 8 Mideast leaders 9 High-speed www connection 10 Rolled up to the jetway 11 Danish birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen 12 Marshy tract 13 Torn-off paper pieces 17 McDonald’s founder Ray 21 Research funding sources 23 Carefree diversion 24 “__ shalt not ...” 27 Push-up targets, briefly 10/28/14 xwordeditor@aol.com
Cat Ears | Najatee’ McNeil ’17
calendar TODAY 2:30 P.M. LISA ROBERTSON POETRY READING
As a part of the Writers on Writing Series, poet Lisa Robertson will read selections from her work. McCormack Family Theater
TOMORROW 12 P.M. HISTORY OF SEX WORKERS’ STRUGGLE FOR RIGHTS
Melinda Chateuvert will discuss her new book “Sex Workers Unite: A History of the Movement from Stonewall to Slutwalk.” Sarah Doyle Women’s Center
4:30 P.M. CREDIT, CREDIT CARDS, CREDIT SCORES
This lecture, sponsored by the Get Your Bearings program, will teach students what credit is, how to to build it and how to optimize use of it. Building for Environmental Research and Teaching 130
4 P.M. THE REDEMPTIVE SELF: HOW GENERATIVE ADULTS NARRATE THEIR LIVES
Dan McAdams, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, will discuss his paper evaluating outcomes of generativity on adult life. Metcalf Auditorium
6 P.M. GREAT PUMPKIN HUNT
By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke ©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/28/14
In this hunt for 100 pumpkins scattered throughout the Campus Center, students will win prizes for each pumpkin they find. The student who finds the “great pumpkin” will win a Microsoft Surface. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center
7 P.M. SOME SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND WAVES
Composer Alvin Lucier will present as part of the music department’s Graduate Student Colloquium Series. J. Walter Wilson 301
6 commentary
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
EDITORIAL
The open curriculum’s limits Some first-years come to college with a feeling of utmost certainty regarding their futures. They want to be doctors or history professors after college and follow relatively set paths to attain their goals. Others are far more open to exploring the myriad options Brown has to offer. Brown’s open curriculum encourages a liberal-learning approach that establishes a broad knowledge base focusing on modes of thought — three based on language and four on numbers. While we are allowed to craft our own intellectual pathways among these modes of thought, we must remain open to opinions, opportunities and experiences that come our way. The open curriculum has evolved. In addition to the two primary requirements — completing 30 courses and a concentration — we now need to satisfy two writing requirements: one at the start of our time at Brown and one in semesters five through seven. This requirement seeks to demonstrate an evolution in how we explore our thoughts and reason arguments. While some students practically satisfy these requirements unconsciously, others are not as comfortable with them. But this brings up a larger question of if and how the open curriculum should be qualified. If writing is essential to good learning, then what about mathematics? The word “math” alone has inspired dread and despair in students across the world who slogged through high school precalculus with no intention of revisiting such topics. Brown’s lack of math requirement offers a vehicle out. But one can argue that while all disciplinary studies require some level of reasoning, none do so to the extent of math. Math serves as the basis of logic and the best way for students to learn through rigorous reasoning. Should the University be comfortable knowing some students walk out the Van Wickle Gates without improving math skills beyond the high school level? Perhaps certain concentrations that equip students with vital skills intimidate potential enrollees at the expense of their development. The open curriculum testifies to Eleanor Roosevelt’s maxim that “with freedom comes responsibility.” For students entering college with little or no idea of what to pursue, the array of choices can be overwhelming. Brown has a comprehensive advising team and robust academic support system, but there is an entire host of other factors to consider. For example, some prioritize the “practicality” of a concentration over the “passion” they feel for a subject. One often hears the phrase “your major (or concentration) doesn’t define you”; the skill set you develop, the concepts you’re exposed to, the projects you’ve completed are instead more reflective of the kind of individual you are. So take the opportunities provided by the open curriculum to develop new skills, expose yourself to new concepts and complete challenging projects. Still, these more abstract endeavors might not be understood outside the context of a liberal arts education. There’s a deep sense of insecurity that can be associated with letting go of certainty, and one can’t help but think: What am I going to do now? Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Alexander Kaplan ’15 and James Rattner ’15, and its members, Natasha Bluth ’15, Manuel Contreras ’16, Baxter DiFabrizio ’15, Manuel Monti-Nussbaum ’15, Katherine Pollock ’16 and Himani Sood ’15. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“An incident like this is totally illogical. … It’s tragic, senseless violence.” — Paul Tavares, executive director of the Providence Housing Authority
See violence on page 3.
A N G E L IA WA N G
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Phi Psi condemns sexual violence Dear Brown community, On Friday, the Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, along with the rest of the Brown community, received an email from Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, and Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy. The email stated that “the Office of Student Life and the Department of Public Safety have received reports from two students that on Friday, October 17, 2014 they suspect that they were given alcoholic punch containing a date rape drug at a party at a fraternity in Sears House.” As we all quickly grasped, Phi Kappa Psi is the only fraternity in Sears House. This news took us by complete surprise, triggering a variety of emotions. First and foremost, we were all shocked by the circumstances of the allegations. Sexual assault and the use of illegal date-rape drugs number among the most heinous of crimes. We are confident that in no way did any member of Phi Kappa Psi engage in or perpetrate such atrocious and criminal behavior. There have been no accusations or charges of sexual assault brought against any member of the fraternity, and no information has been shared regarding an investigation. To the extent of our understanding, Phi Kappa Psi has been suspended for hosting an unregistered event with alcohol present. We, the Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, would like to state that we in no way condone, allow or affiliate with the use of any manifestation of violence, especially gender-based
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and sexual violence, but rather universally and unequivocally condemn them and their use in anything related to our fraternity. As a Brotherhood, we are committed to ending these specific forms of violence in our communities, particularly the Greek community. We would like to express our utmost sympathy and respect for the survivors of this reprehensible series of events, and our solidarity in combating these forms of violence on our campus. As distressing as these allegations are to us, we recognize that the personal stress and anxiety experienced by those survivors of assault dwarfs our own, and we hope to do as much as we can to ameliorate the difficulties of all parties moving forward. We respect the University’s commitment to protecting our community and pledge to give our complete cooperation to the ongoing investigation. Additionally, we are working within the Greek community and with relevant administrators to develop more comprehensive policy regarding the prevention and handling of these crises. We desire to see justice done and do our best to ensure no other member of our community suffers in this way again. Once again, if you were at the event or anyone you know of may have any clarifying information that would help expedite the investigation of this serious offense, please be sure to contact the Department of Public Safety, specifically Sgt. John Carvalho, at 401-863-3322.
Respectfully yours, The Brothers of Phi Kappa Psi
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commentary 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
Which direction will our HBO (GO) go? IAN KENYON opinions columnist
If you are at all like me, you enjoy getting into bed with Bill Maher once a week. Let me rephrase that: You enjoy getting into bed to watch some “Real Time with Bill Maher.” For me it is a regular habit, a hobby perhaps, but nevertheless a comforting routine brought to fruition by piggybacking off a dear friend’s HBO GO account. “Piggybacking” — or simply borrowing — is when people use a friend’s product or service largely because of an inability, or disinclination, to pay for it on their own. HBO has been a tireless constant in my trajectory through higher education, and undoubtedly the chief catalyst in my steadfast desire to procrastinate at least a total of three days a week. However, news has emerged in the last week that could change my relationship with HBO. HBO, which is owned by Time Warner Inc., has announced that in the early half of 2015, the company will launch a stand-alone streaming service, unsurprisingly modeled after successful media purveyors Netflix and Hulu. HBO, which has to date required a cable subscription (unless you had a generous neighbor and several yards of
cable cord to spare), typically remained out of reach for many households that failed to stretch their entertainment budget far enough. The advent of HBO GO, allowing HBO subscribers to choose from a cornucopia of television treasures on demand, slightly pierced the curtain dividing basic cable subscribers like me from those who could obtain a first-class experience (wellwritten content that’s on demand). Let’s be honest, there are probably more Brunonians who piggyback onto a friend or family member’s HBO GO account than there are Brunonians who actually pay for the subscription.
ing for a good documentary, or you just want to hear Lewis Black tell it like it is. Yet this seismic shift for HBO has already begun to attract criticism. To nobody’s surprise, cable provider Comcast essentially said, “Good luck with that Internet thing!” A spokesman for Cox Communications — my personal provider — dodged the announcement and reiterated that its broadband infrastructure will still be the system providing content at the end of the day. On the other hand, just one day following the HBO announcement, CBS rode the coattails and an-
NBC News clip, my MacBook and I were immediately drowning in a parade of the latest pharmaceutical commercials or GPS-synchronized political ads. It is maddening. It is typical of most media consumption. However, commercials have never reached the realm of HBO. HBO still remains one of the few sacred ad-free havens left in this world, reminiscent of the days of an ad-free Facebook experience. This is not a Halloween scare, but simply a question of where we devout HBO GO loyalists stand. Comcast Executive Vice President Stephen Burke point-
This is not a Halloween scare, but simply a question of where we devout HBO GO loyalists stand. Even Time Warner’s CEO made the comment in 2013 that this phenomenon wasn’t necessarily a bad thing — going so far as to comment that the mass pirating of “Game of Thrones” was more beneficial for the series than any Emmy. HBO’s announcement has the potential to change this easy access we have come to take for granted. This breakthrough in sans-cable streaming will touch us all, whether you and your date are looking to catch one of the latest movies to leave theaters, you want to engage in a major binge session of “Girls,” you are look-
nounced they too would be launching a stand-alone streaming service available to subscribers at a point in the near future. This is the point where I wonder aloud about which direction our valued HBO GO will go. If you are like me, prolonged exposure to services such as HBO GO and Netflix — on which I also piggyback a subscription — has rendered you highly impatient with any sort of marketing effort. The few times I have attempted to follow up on a good “Saturday Night Live” skit or even just attempted to view an
ed out in an interview that the transition HBO seeks will require a degree of “cannibalization” of already existing customers in the name of bringing new customers into the fold. Will the target burnt-out cable customers looking to disengage from their monthly bill? Or will this new service come in a different form — perhaps changing HBO GO from a cable subscription companion to an additional subscription feature? If my friend’s parents suddenly have to pay an extra fee for HBO GO on top of their excessive cable bill, will they pay that excess?
If they don’t, the show’s over for me, and for everyone else currently piggybacking. Granted, paying a fair market rate for an HBO GO subscription is not the end of the world. At one point, I paid for Netflix before discovering the joy of piggybacking. We all attend Brown to perhaps afford such luxuries in the future. But in paying for a product, one also holds expectations of that product’s guarantee of benefit. Still wary from Netflix’s 2013 disappointment, in which thousands of titles were pulled due to licensing expirations, I will always consider Netflix second-rate. I applaud HBO’s decision to enter stand-alone streaming, but I fear for it at the same time. I do not have all the facts, but I, like so many others, have come to find a special place in life for HBO GO. But what subscription fees will we all face? Will there be advertisements? Will the same titles remain? My fellow columnist Sam Hillestad ’15 wrote in a Herald column last Tuesday lashing 257 Thayer (“257 Thayer — elitist enclave”) that Brown students “don’t need an HBO subscription.” We don’t need HBO, but we have it — and we certainly want to keep it.
Ian Kenyon GS is an MPA candidate and HBO GO loyalist. He can be reached at ian_kenyon@brown.edu when he is not watching something on HBO.
Let’s go back to basic reportage MEGAN GRAPENGETERRUDNICK opinions columnist
Where do you get news that you trust? Technological innovation is begging us to reconsider where we get our news, how it is conveyed and how we perceive it. Most news channels have their slants and biases, relieving us of certain interpretations while encouraging others and painting the news in a certain light. The news these days is decided purely from a marketing standpoint, not from the actual occurrences of which the public should be aware. This has been the growing cry from many news readers who prefer receiving their news in the traditional, impartial way — sans drama and hyperbole. This past week, this complaint was placed on center stage with the coverage of the shooting at the Canadian parliament building. Scott Bixby, social media editor for the Daily Beast, tweeted a revealing juxtaposition of two photos. They were both screenshots of the home pages of national news networks concerning precisely the same incident, but the portrayals were wildly different. The headline of the Canadian network CBC News reads “Live: Soldier dies after Parliament Hill attack, gunman also shot dead.” On the other hand, America’s CNN displays the headline in a bold, overbearingly large print: “Breaking news: TERRIFIED CAPITAL” with the subheading “Soldier killed at Ottawa memorial.” We can start with the irony that Canada’s news is a calmer demonstration of dispassionate reportage though that country is bearing the
brunt of this crisis. The U.S. media is making itself look like a histrionic teenager who dramatizes and advertises every little occurrence, regardless of proximity. Journalist Mark Joyella calls the U.S. media out on this in a piece for Mediabistro’s TVNewser site; he says that while watching the CBC coverage of the incident, he could only think of how “un-American” the segment came off. Joyella touches upon certain faults in American coverage when he explains that while watching Canadian news, he “never heard a second of dramatic music, never saw a full-screen wipe with a catchy graphic like TERROR ON PAR-
This says just a bit about the disproportionate manner in which U.S. news is reported today. As Zack Beauchamp wrote on Vox, “it is possible to cover these stories in a way that acknowledges their danger without over-hyping it.” The majority of Americans should not be considering ISIS a vital threat, when experts say it isn’t really that imminent. I’d attribute this to overly embellished reportage that plays on an element of pathos. How does this hyperbolic reporting affect us as viewers? For one thing, we might be strongly inspired to wear a full hazmat suit through an airport in Virginia, because, yes, that happened
What is it that gives marketing precedence over hard journalism?
LIAMENT HILL, and never, ever heard (Peter) Mansbridge or any of the CBC’s reporters dip even a toe into the waters of self-promotion.” It is saddening that we, American viewers, have become so accustomed to the glorified marketing ploys that we call news that it is noticeable when a foreign reporter is sporting a calm demeanor while being honest about having unsubstantiated information. Nick Martin, associate editor for Talking Points Memo, tweeted a photo of an actual Fox News poll asking what the greatest threat to the United States is right now. The results? 50 percent ISIS. 27 percent Ebola. 18 percent ISIS and Ebola.
the other day. Or we might be more convinced that day 47 of the hunt for a Malaysian airplane is more monumental than a piece of news that is fresh and actually news. It is this intense bias present in today’s news that has led to a loss of trust. The more the media builds things up, the less we are inclined to believe it to be accurate. A Daily Source. org piece cites a statistic revealing that “a poll by USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup found only 36 percent of Americans believe news organizations get the facts straight, compared with 54 percent in mid-1989.” This may be a result of the increasing tendency of reporters to play up a story to sell papers. In addition, with the
prominence of Twitter as a news source, many ideas, possibly contradictory ones, are circulating faster than traditional news reports. Twitter has been a fairly reliable news source despite the fact that it is merely a medium. For it to serve as a trustworthy vehicle for releasing information, one must follow accounts that are reputable. During the Boston Marathon bombings, the Boston Police Department communicated with the public solely through Twitter by tweeting urgent updates. This was the most efficient way to spread the word and with accuracy since it was coming directly from the BPD’s Twitter account. Instances like this are evidence that Twitter is surpassing news networks in trustworthiness and timeliness. On the other hand, Twitter was responsible for facilitating the spreading of entirely false information about some individuals after the bombings. While this mode of social networking has been widely viewed as a means to receive truthful news, this inconsistency calls that perception into question, as it simply provides grounds for the public’s diminishing trust in most news sources. So what happened to good old-fashioned raw news reporting for the sake of informing the public of important occurrences? Why has everything even remotely manipulatable turned into a spectacle? What is it that gives marketing precedence over hard journalism? We do not really know where our news comes from. It could be Twitter or it could be Canadian coverage, but it isn’t American news, unless it can get away from the flamboyance.
Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick ’17 can be reached at megan_grapengeter-rudnick@brown.edu.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
THE
BROWN DAILY HERALD arts & culture Difficult women collide with serious money in ‘She’ Exhibit stages competing visions of the female body in David Winton Bell Gallery By ANDREW SMYTH STAFF WRITER
The first satisfying feature of “She” — the group exhibition with the ambitious subtitle of “picturing women at the turn of the 21st century” — is its not having been called “Her.” The nominative pronoun seems to promise a feminist inflection, a show that will deliver to us women as subjects rather than objects. Pieces in the exhibition’s lineup, which can currently be viewed at List Art Center’s David Winton Bell Gallery, substantiate this expectation. The display includes, for instance, a photograph by Cindy Sherman, an oil painting by Jenny Saville and a sculpture by Rebecca Warren. These are artists whose practices have foregrounded, and then subverted, the problem of representing female bodies in visual culture. They have grappled rigorously with the history and politics of imaging women, both in and beyond art. With various working methods and in original emotional registers, they have generated radical images of what a woman might be. They have engaged in a familiar, and important, conversation. But hold up. Other names on the list, and indeed the objects that represent them in the gallery, kind of ignore that discourse, no? In some cases they seem to actively contest it. Take, for instance, the show’s first image: a John Currin painting titled “Entertaining Mr. Acker Bilk.” Currin is a painter whose women consistently assume erotic, subservient and pornographic positions. He’s an artist who seems not only to perpetuate
REVIEW
RHEA STARK / HERALD
“She” addresses methods of representing women’s bodies and explores women’s status as artists in the 21st century, while also raising questions about collectors’ motives. these masculinist postures, but also to derive from them a measure of delight. Mr. Bilk’s anonymous companion in the portrait at the Bell Gallery, for instance, crouches quite literally in his shadow, baring her breasts and patting his thigh. Our polite excursion into second- and third-wave feminism has been derailed upon arrival. The complicated juxtapositions resulting from these competing narratives are as cunning as they are suggestive. Jo-Ann Conklin, director of the Bell Gallery and the show’s curator, has packed a dramatic assortment of arguments into the small gallery. Consider the American artist Lisa Yuskavage, whose work, “Night,” is included in the show and who sees Playboy spreads through to their logical conclusion by painting women with patently absurd bust and hip dimensions. Her appropriation of pornographic images traffics in objectified women, sure, but certainly it should also be read as skewering Currin’s vision. Another interesting territory highlighted in the show is the way the featured
artists process and manipulate art history. “Filth,” for instance, a fascinating work by British artist Glenn Brown, reimagines the coqquetish maiden from a Fragonard portrait as a slimy, sinewy ghoul. Hinting at the violence inflicted in such images of women, he reworks the ribbon around her neck into a gaping wound. But Jeff Koons, by plopping a reflective garden ornament onto his sculpture, “Gazing Ball (Ariadne),” invites no such critique. In the same series, he gives mailboxes and snowmen — inanimate objects — the same treatment he does the female body. “She” also interrogates the intersection of feminity and race. The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, represented in the exhibition by an arresting self-portrait, fell into obscurity for several decades after her initial entry into the New York art world due, in no small part, to her status as an Asian woman. In some ways, her polka-dots supply a feminist alternative to the polka-dots of the comic book pinups from the work of, say, Roy Lichtenstein. The British artist Chris Ofili poses the question more directly by titling his
portrait of a black woman “Orgena,” which spells “a negro” backwards. Images of the female body, it follows, are not only about the female body: They’re also about power. While “She” is a show about women, it also tells a story about money. That is, if these artists are major figures in contemporary art history, their works have sold for major figures in the contemporary art market. They are represented commercially by blue-chip gallerists like David Zwirner, Larry Gagosian and Matthew Marks. They have received substantial critical attention, and they have been awarded with blockbuster retrospectives at big-league New York institutions — Sherman at the Museum of Modern Art, Koons at the Whitney Museum of American Art and, fresh off the press this month, Ofili at the New Museum. Narrowing the field to artists whose brands have acquired a certain cache raises some important questions about the criteria by which artists acquire celebrity associations. Currin and Saville, for example, both show with Gagosian; the way they
represent women does not seem to have impacted their financial viability. But, in terms of money, what’s really startling is that all of these objects are on loan from the private collection of a single anonymous donor. We’re obviously talking about someone with extraordinary assets, but are left to wonder what his or her motives may be for purchasing so many contradictions. An unusually critical eye with a genuine interest in organizing museum-quality surveys about gender in contemporary art? Maybe. But a sinister, more likely alternative is that the original acquisitions were as banal as they were strategic — a corporate mogul or a hedge fund manager wandering merrily through Chelsea, someone who knows what’s at stake in this economy of prestige. But that is someone else’s dissertation topic. However they got there, the works on loan at the Bell are perfectly worthy of our attention, and in some cases, our celebration. One exciting outcome of the show’s framing is its potential to activate new questions about female artists. Saville’s handling of the female nude is interesting, but so is her incredibly nuanced treatment of surface, light and color. Proceed to Kusama’s magnetic handling of patterns and texture or Warren’s joyful investigation of bodies in motion. We are encouraged to examine the questions women artists ask about their status as women artists, yes. But we’re also called to ask better and more sophisticated questions — the same questions, that is, that we would ask of their male peers. And then, with an equal resolve, to ask the men what we would ask the women. In staging these evocative combinations, the curator has eschewed the easy answers. “She” is a dense, brainy collection of connections and incongruities. Here at the intersection of gender and contemporary art, there are many urgencies at stake.
Food truck festival rolls onto College Hill for Family Weekend Festival aims to increase awareness of Brown University Oncology Research Group By GABRIELLA REYES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Smells of food — predominantly tacos — wafted through the air as students and their families lined up for nourishment from a diverse array of food trucks at the Brown University Oncology Research Group Food Truck Festival Saturday afternoon. In attendance were Mijos Tacos, Citizen Wing, O’Crepe and the Salad Man and Juice Bar Food Truck, which took over the walk outside the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Local Providence band the Chicago Robbery kicked off the event with a performance at noon, blasting covers of Beatles songs and other hope-themed tunes and exhorting attendees to donate to support cancer research. Lizzie Davis ’15 and Michael Weinstein ’15 performed as well. The Food Truck Festival incorporated itself into Family Weekend — students and visitors alike clustered around tall tables adorned with pink that were set up for the event and sat on the grassy
Granoff steps, while other passers-by simply took it all in. Attendees enjoyed the festive but relaxed atmosphere. “It’s a gorgeous day, the music reminds me of when I was in college and people are comfortable,” said Elizabeth Eden, a parent in attendance. The Food Truck Festival celebrated the 20th anniversary of BrUOG, which focuses on innovative clinical trials and works to develop new treatments for lung, brain, breast, prostate and gastrointestinal cancers. “BrUOG’s trials are unique because they are investigator-initiated — conceptualized by practicing physicians, not by pharmaceutical companies,” said Kristen Mitchell, clinical research coordinator for BrUOG. “As such, these trials represent an incredibly important sector of cancer research.” Despite it’s 20-year-long presence at the University, the group does not have a very visible campus presence, she said. BrUOG’s anniversary provides it with an opportunity for exposure through this celebration. “We want to allow students to participate in what we do and how we do it. We’ve been around for 20 years and done some pretty amazing things, so we need to come home and get more acclimated to our community and get our community more acclimated to us,”
Mitchell said. Derek Shay ’16, the group’s sole intern and organizer of the event, said “I wanted something that was really accessible to all age groups and different communities within Brown and Providence, so I thought food trucks were a great way because food always brings people together.” “Part of the reason we made the decision to do this over Family Weekend was that we wanted to involve not only the students but also the greater community, including parents and faculty,” Mitchell added. In the past, BrUOG has sponsored a walk-a-thon in the spring to raise money for cancer research, an event that will occur again this year. But this is the first time the group has sponsored a fall fundraiser, and the festival marks the first food truck-focused event for the group, Shay said, adding that he hopes the festival will become an annual event organized by future interns. Russell Spellman, CEO of the Salad Man and Juice Bar, said the event was “a good idea,” because it allowed him to contribute to a cause as well as exposing his truck to a wider audience. “Brown students like to eat healthy, so our food matches up with them very well: fresh juices and smoothies, salads, rice bowls,” Spellman said.
COURTESY OF DEREK SHAY
The food truck festival, which was scheduled to correspond with Family Weekend, featured food and musical selections tailored for campus. The festival’s soundtrack was also tailored to the campus community. Shay approached Justin DeMars, the singer of the Chicago Robbery, to ask his band to perform. The Chicago Robbery has an expansive repertoire and tailors each performance to the audience at hand, DeMars said. The music could not be too solemn because people were supposed to have a good time, he said, so the band performed songs such as “This Is Why We Fight” by The Decembrists. DeMars connected the song’s message to the struggle cancer patients face daily.
“Jay (the band’s guitarist) and I like to pick one or two charities a year to work with, and I think that the work the Oncology Research Group does is super important. Developing early-stage treatment is hopefully one way to combat horrible disease,” DeMars said, adding that he has personal investment in the fight against cancer. “I lost my dad to cancer 25 years ago. I have friends that fight it, that have fought long and are currently still fighting,” he said. “There’s every reason in the world to do it, and there’s not one reason not to.”