Tuesday, November 18, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 112

since 1891

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Taking a closer look at concentration advising

OH, DEERE!

Under New Curriculum, U. continues to struggle with student-adviser ratios across some departments

By MARINA RENTON SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Ira Magaziner ’69 and Elliot Maxwell ’68, architects of the open curriculum, recommended in 1967 that the University place “increased importance” on academic counseling to support “the student’s freedom to determine the course of his education,” as part of the MagazinerMaxwell Report, which outlines the basis of Brown’s New Curriculum.

Before the University transitioned to the open curriculum, Magaziner and Maxwell laid out the problems with the academic advising system at the time.

“Because at present the majority of departments have only one or two concentration advisers for large numbers of concentrators, many concentrators feel that this system provides too little individual attention,” they wrote of concentration advising.

“To prevent the duplication of the present overloading of some faculty advisers, there would have to be some limit as to the number of students who could have the same concentration adviser,” they continued.

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

Sister development companies Lincoln and Phoenix bought parcel 28 of the former I-195 land to build a six-story, suite-style apartment complex targeted at students. See story, page 3.

Almost 50 years later, the University is still grappling with the question of how to provide adequate support for students in popular concentrations. “In a school with an open curriculum, excellent advising is essential,” said Dean of the College Maud Mandel, who assumed her position July 1 with the stated goal of improving concentration advising, The Herald reported at the time.

Today, undergraduates choose between 79 concentration options, declaring their choices during their fourth semesters. Declaring a concentration requires meeting with a concentration adviser in the student’s chosen field, but the structure of advising varies by department, Mandel said.

For the class of 2014, economics was the most popular concentration choice, with 194 concentrators sharing just six advisers, according to the Office of Institutional Research and the Department of Economics. But in less popular programs — including chemical physics, geology - physics/mathematics and South Asian studies — the program’s one adviser was matched with just one student for last » See ADVISING, page 2

Performance explores inequality in criminal justice system Number of offseason, out-ofstate tourists doubles in R.I.

Everett Theatre Company performs ‘The Freedom Project’ after two years of research, study

By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE

Conferences, conventions and culinary awards attract visitors, increase economic activity

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Paper brings the reality of the prison experiences portrayed in “The Freedom Project” to life. An actor wearing a paper mask and cloak falls to the ground as he is pummeled by paper rocks. His attire resembles the clothing and head covering in a well-publicized photo of a prisoner tortured at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Another actor playing a teacher ponders the failures of the public school system while carrying a large crumpled piece of paper on her back — an embodiment of the burden standardized testing places on her at-risk students.

The Everett Theatre Company performed “The Freedom Project” last Saturday, delivering the culmination of two years of research and interviews to a packed Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

The piece incorporates elements of theater, media, dance and poetry to explore mass incarceration in America. The performance synthesizes personal experiences, statistics and

By ALIZA REISNER STAFF WRITER

The number of out-of-state visitors to Rhode Island will double this year during what is typically the off-season period from Nov. 8 to Dec. 7, largely due to a mix of large conferences and leisure travel, Providence Business News reported last week.

This month, off-peak conventions and large events booked in Rhode Island account for nearly 20,000 reserved hotel room nights, a huge increase from the 8,465 contracted hotel room nights last year during the similar time frame of Nov. 1 to Dec. 7, PBN reported.

Besides the uptick in tourism due to large events and conventions in the state, Kristen Adamo, the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau’s vice president of marketing and communications, said she attributes » See TOURISM, page 3

METRO

COURTESY OF EVERETT THEATRE COMPANY

The current showing of “The Freedom Project” is the culmination of two years of research and interviews of people affected by inequality in the criminal justice system. academic research to expose racial and socioeconomic inequalities in the criminal justice system.

“I want the real world, the stories of the people we interviewed, to connect with the world of the paper,” said

Aaron Jungels, who directs and acts in “The Freedom Project.” “The paper, what it’s standing for, is open-ended.”

The audience’s potentially diverse responses to the paper reflect this principle. To some audience

Arts & Culture

members, the paper could represent the massive amount of paperwork and bureaucracy involved in mass incarceration. Still other scenes focused the audience’s attention on the » See INEQUALITY, page 3

Commentary

In Conversation: Chris Duffy ’09, co-founder of Starla and Sons, sits down with The Herald

Review: Wickenden’s Taste of India pales in comparison to Thayer’s Kabob and Curry

Al-Salem ’17: Don’t stereotype international students on campus

Hillestad ’15: Brown Hookups distorts sexuality on campus, taking advantage of students

PAGE 4

PAGE 8

PAGE 7

PAGE 7

weather

inside

ARTS & CULTURE

t o d ay

tomorrow

35 / 22

33 / 27

2 university news » ADVISING, from page 1 year’s graduating class, according to the DOC office.

“There are kinds of advising at Brown that we do well,” Mandel said. “The question is: How do we do it better, and how do we do more of it?”

Mandel said that, through conversations with students thus far this semester, she has identified two areas in which concentration advising needs improvement: sophomore advising before the concentration declaration deadline and “whole-student advising” after a sophomore declares a concentration.

Shared responsibility Throughout her eight-year tenure, Mandel’s predecessor, former Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, spearheaded reforms to the first-year advising program, which Mandel said has improved as a result of increased investment in the “whole student.” The dean of the College office aims to “get our advisers to think about our students not just as students but as people who are going through this Brown experience and who have extracurriculars and financial pressures and jobs,” she added.

Concentration advising, on the other hand, hasn’t universally adopted the focus on the whole student, Mandel said, adding that this is a source of criticism of the program, which also suffers from advisers having too many advisees or going on leave.

While “departments control advising in their own units,” Mandel said, the dean of the College office tries “to give them support and help them in their job.”

Focal Point — a project spearheaded

by the dean of the College office — provides an overview of concentration options to students, including information on concentration requirements, advisers and the number of students choosing the concentration in recent years. Associate Dean of the College for Upperclass Studies Besenia Rodriguez ’00 coordinates Focal Point with concentration advisers to ensure “a good baseline of information” is available, said Peggy Chang ’91, director of the Curricular Resource Center.

“When you’ve been at the University as long as I have, I am aware — in a way that current Brown students aren’t — how much better advising is than it used to be,” Mandel said. “To me it looks much improved, yet I’m aware from talking with students that it’s not quite where they want it to be.”

Large caseloads For the class of 2014, economics and biological sciences had the largest number of students enrolled and were the only two concentrations with over 150 students. Both departments continue to struggle with the task of offering personal advising services to hundreds of students across class years utilizing a limited number of faculty advisers.

Prospective economics concentrators choose their preferred adviser. Lecturer in Economics Sylvia Kuo said she has close to 90 advisees. She said she attributes her larger caseload to having been an adviser for a number of years, and to the fact that she teaches large lecture courses.

As an adviser, Kuo said she believes her role is to recommend courses within the department, give internship or graduate school advice and suggest courses outside of the economics department.

Kuo said economics is a very practical option for students to pursue but that she “end(s) up suggesting other classes that they should take because I believe in the liberal arts education at Brown.”

While first-years and sophomores are required to meet with their adviser at least once a semester in order to obtain a pin number that enables them to pre-register for classes, juniors and seniors are able register without a pin number, so advising meetings are not mandatory.

“When they come in to do the declaration, I have to meet with them or else I won’t sign off, because I think I owe them at least that,” Kuo said. “And then it’s sort of up to people to come in.” Kuo’s approach is consistent with department guidelines for concentration advising — prospective concentrators “have to make some kind of contact,” she added.

The economics department is always trying to make “minor improvements” to concentration advising, Kuo said. For example, last year the economics website was redesigned. Kuo noted that before the redesign she found herself repeating the same information to advisees but can now “can focus on the stuff that’s more where my comparative advantage would be. … I feel like that one change has made a huge difference.”

Concentrations under the umbrella category of “biological sciences” — including the Sc.B. and A.B. degrees in biology and health and human biology — drew 188 students from the class of 2014, according to the OIR. On average, faculty concentration advisers in biological sciences advise around 10 students, said Katherine Smith, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and associate dean of biology undergraduate

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

education.

In 2014, the office changed its approach to organization in concentration advising. Sophomores interested in concentrating in biological sciences first set up a meeting with one of the four academic advisers in the Office of Biology Undergraduate Education. At the meeting, the conversation covers “who they are, their interests, where they’re coming from, what they’re hoping to do at Brown in biology and maybe what they’re interested in long term,” Smith said. This conversation helps students narrow down which concentration track they’re likely to choose, and they work with the adviser to map a rough course plan.

Students are also matched with an official concentration adviser who ideally has a similar personality type or similar interests, Smith said. “That’s the start of what we hope will be a long and productive relationship where the adviser really gets to know the student and vice versa.”

“Biology is big, and so we really want to do right by the students and the advisers who take the time to get to know them all and pair them up in what we perceive is the most meaningful way,” Smith said. And the four advisers in the Office of Biology Undergraduate Education are always around in a pinch. “We have this core group of four people that literally are always available to students to meet or talk to that day, and I feel like that works beautifully and it’s a testament to these three people I work with that are truly dedicated to students,” she said.

Still, a large and broad field comes with its challenges, Smith said, noting that it can be difficult to keep the five departments within biological sciences up to speed on curricular changes, like when a course stops being offered.

The office is “trying to find a way to encourage students and sometimes the faculty to be better about regular versus last-minute advising,” she said. “One of the things we see regularly in this office is there’s a deadline for something, … and there’s always a group of people who waited to the last minute to fix the problem.”

‘Like a family’ Students who choose to concentrate in smaller departments face a lower student-adviser ratio, meaning they often receive a more personalized advising experience.

Mandel has served as a concentration adviser for both history and Judaic studies concentrators. A smaller concentration, Judaic studies had just two concentrators in the class of 2014.

“What’s great about a small program is your students … can be very well cared for,” she said. “I can’t speak to other programs, but in ours, those who wanted it got a lot of faculty face time.”

“Of course there’s a disadvantage in a small department, which is it’s hard to do curricular programming around the concentration,” she added. With more students, “there would be more of a cohort for doing things” like scheduling concentrator-only courses.

“After they declare the concentration, we are in touch — we see each other constantly because it’s a small department,” said Cristina Abbona-Sneider MA’99 PhD’04, senior lecturer and concentration adviser in Italian studies. There are five seniors concentrating in Italian studies this year, she said, adding that most students declare the concentration after returning from studying abroad through the Brown in Bologna program.

“I love to be able to get to know my advisees on a personal level,” she said.

“It’s like a family.”

Abbona-Sneider “really takes the time to go above and beyond, and I think that’s because there are so few concentrators,” said Kanika Gandhi ’15. “For me, she’s like my life adviser and my concentration adviser.”

Gandhi, like many Italian studies concentrators, is double concentrating, and her other chosen field is public policy, which had 16 concentrators in the class of 2014. While she refers to Italian studies faculty members by their first names, Gandhi’s relationship to public policy faculty members is more formal.

“I think that formality is kind of nice in its own way,” she said. “In terms of support academically, I get equal from both, definitely.”

Redefining resources For concentrations with relatively high enrollments, the number of faculty members interested in advising simply will not allow for student-adviser ratios to reach levels seen in smaller concentrations in the near future.

Departmental undergraduate groups can sometimes serve as supplementary advising tools that add “a nice social advising piece to the formal Brown professorial advising relationship” within departments, Mandel said.

This year there are 54 operating DUGs, some of which take concentration advising very seriously, Chang said.

The Biology DUG typically holds three to four events each semester, said Sera Kim ’15, one of the Biology DUG leaders, adding that some of the events take on an advising role. This semester, the DUG held an event to help freshmen and sophomores “choose a concentration pathway within biology,” he said. The DUG also put on a resume workshop for juniors and seniors in conjunction with CareerLAB. The group has held events to give advice for pre-registration.

“I think (the DUG’s role) is giving students — especially freshmen and sophomores — perspectives from the students … because it’s a very different perspective” from what students will receive in their formal advising with professors, Kim said. “And also because the Biology DUG is so huge, one of our goals is to create a community.”

Kim is concentrating in biochemistry, and she said she credits talking with upperclassmen and getting a sense of their experiences in biology as the “most influential” factor in her concentration decision.

“I’ve provided a lot of support to people just by having informal conversations,” said Gandhi, the Italian Studies DUG leader. As a DUG leader, Gandhi said, “you have to have that respect and appreciate what the faculty needs from you and what the students need.”

Balancing exploration with decisionmaking for sophomores was a theme that came out of a focus group led by the Matched Advising Program for Sophomores, Chang said. “It seems like a big theme freshman year is exploring.

Sophomore year it seems like a total reversal: Choose! Make a decision!” she said. “So how do you balance that messaging better?”

She also noted that sophomores wished for more of a timeline for the year, as well as information on “what are the experiences that sophomores should be seeking?”

“We’re working hard on thinking through all of these issues at the moment,” Mandel added. “And I’m hoping that over the course of my first year in this job we can begin to get a better handle on what some of these issues are, so we can take progressive steps.”

metro 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Commission approves first I-195 land proposal

Lincoln, Phoenix property companies plan six-story, suite-style apartment near Med School

By ALEXANDER BLUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

At an I-195 Redevelopment District meeting Monday night, the commission voted to approve a purchase sales agreement for a proposal to build a six-story suite-style apartment complex on parcel 28 of the LINK — land in the Jewelry District previously occupied by I-195.

The apartment complex, proposed by sister property companies Lincoln and Phoenix, is slated to be built just blocks away from Alpert Medical School and one block away from Johnson and Wales University buildings, according to the LINK website.

Purchase sales agreements are contracts usually used for finalizing sales transactions, especially those involving real estate and business assets.

“It’s the first one approved,” said Dyana Koelsch, president of DK Communications and media contact

» INEQUALITY, from page 1 racial undertones of mass incarceration, evidence by the disproportionate number of people of color in prison compared to those who are white.

“The Freedom Project” remains a work in progress, though it was performed on campus over the weekend.

The show will premiere in March 2015 and tour until December 2017.

“We want to start as many different conversations as we can across the country,” Jungels said.

Jungels said the cast of “The Freedom Project” has conducted about 20 interviews, in addition to extensive literature and documentary research. The performers have also helped create and shape the direction of the piece over the course of its rehearsal. Most of the stories incorporated belong to Providence locals and the performers themselves, many of whom were also incarcerated or have family members and friends who have been imprisoned.

The performance features several notably poignant moments, including one scene exploring a woman’s gang involvement. Her face is projected on paper held up by another performer as she describes a life defined by “baggy clothes and Timberland boots.” In another sequence, a man struggles to convince a judge not to deport a family member.

“I may be killed because my gang color affiliation is the color of my skin,” said Christopher Johnson ’17, a “Freedom Project” performer and a member of Brown’s WORD! spoken-word poetry group, as he gave testimony about his experiences as a man of color.

One story “was so raw and powerful that we barely edited it,” Jungels

for the LINK, adding that the complex was “the only (proposal) that was up for approval” Monday night. She said the building will target students and is proposed to accommodate 500 residents, with the first floor of the building being set aside for retail and commercial space.

“We’re excited to have a national, highly reputable developer investing deeply here in Providence,” said Colin Kane, chairman of the commission. By approving the purchase sales agreement, the commission is allowing the developer to move forward with the proposal, though it will still need to work with the city before breaking ground on the project.

If everything proceeds as proposed, construction will begin this summer, with the goal of completing the project by 2017, Koelsch said.

Parcel 28 — one of the 21 available LINK parcels, three of which are parks — is in the heart of the Jewelry District and bound by Friendship Street, Richmond Street, Clifford Street and Chestnut Street.

It is 54,540 square feet, which is the average size of a parcel, according to the LINK’s website. Not including

parks, the smallest parcel is 2,345 square feet and the largest is 115,363 square feet.

Chestnut Street is part of a proposed streetcar route, a project that remains in the planning process while funding concerns are being addressed.

Though Providence received a $13 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in September, that grant will only finance 11 percent of the project’s estimated $117.8 million cost, The Herald previously reported.

According to the Phoenix Property Company’s website, the Dallas-based group focuses mainly on commercial, student living and multifamily building projects, with sites in 14 states around the country and in the District of Columbia. This project will be its first in Rhode Island and New England, more broadly. Lincoln Property Company — the country’s third largest property manager — manages over 140,000 apartment units, across 31 states, with two units located in Rhode Island towns, Cumberland and Slatersville.

said. The monologue the audience heard on stage repeated “almost verbatim” the interview of one Providence local, Caitlin Patenaude, who struggled with drug addiction and prison life.

The people who shared their stories “want to change the system,” Jungels said. “They are happy that we are giving a venue for their stories to have an impact on changing public opinion.”

Two of the women who were interviewed for the project were present at Saturday’s performance. It was their first time seeing their stories translated on stage, Jungels added.

Youth and teachers at the Everett Theatre Company live many of the problems addressed in “The Freedom Project,” Jungels said, adding that the company offers free classes for lowincome youth in Providence. Many of these individuals have experienced gang involvement, have been raised by incarcerated parents or have encountered racial profiling, life events they then translate to the Everett stage.

“The Freedom Project” also draws from Freedom Cafes, a series of public forums with short performances and presentations that aim to spark discussion about mass incarceration.

About seven forums have been held so far, Jungels said, adding that Trisha Rose, professor of Africana Studies, gave a presentation at one of the gatherings. The Cafe not only provides Jungels and his team a place to try out potential performance material, but the forums also inspire new material for “The Freedom Project.”

One public school teacher’s shared experiences inspired a scene where an actor carries a large piece of crumpled paper and delivers a monologue about the struggles of teaching at-risk

children due to the weaknesses of the public school system.

Jungels said he hopes to hold Freedom Cafes in cities throughout “The Freedom Project” tour over the next three years, adding that this might contribute further to the material explored in the performance.

“The Freedom Project” also encourages collaboration with the audience. During Saturday’s show, randomly selected audience members threw paper rocks, held pieces of paper for visual projections and interacted with bubbles — clustered together to look like clouds — expelled from a machine that the actors then dispersed into the theater.

The production also employs multimedia to project interview subjects onto white paper against a cloudy dark blue background. In one sequence, a woman’s face appears against a backdrop of cinder blocks, feet and paper pouring from her mouth through a gap in the cinder blocks, as she asks a stream of insensitive questions.

“I like the contrast of heavy and light,” Jungels said, referring to his agile use of materials ranging from bubbles to concrete. He said the materials were chosen with consideration of both the “metaphorical possibilities” and the harsh realities of prison life.

There is an increasing preponderance of discussion about mass incarceration across the country, Jungels said, adding that he hopes “The Freedom Project” will tap into that conversation.

Though it is primarily founded on the experiences of Providence locals, Jungels said “The Freedom Project” will resonate across America, because “through the specific, things become universal.”

» TOURISM, from page 1 the rise in tourism to the increase in national media attention on Providence.

“We were just named America’s favorite city in the Travel and Leisure poll that just came out in November,” she said.

This national attention is in part due to culinary awards and other recognitions that have “translated into people coming and wanting to experience Providence themselves,” she added.

Saveur Magazine named Providence one of the best small cities in the United States for its restaurant industry in September.

Tourism can be divided into two categories: leisure travel and meetings, conventions and sporting events, Adamo said.

There are dozens of events each month in the Rhode Island Convention Center and the Dunkin Donuts Center that can each draw anywhere between 500 and 4,000 people, said Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of the convention and visitors bureau.

Rhode Island has had “robust meeting and convention calendars,” Adamo said. These include two events this weekend, an Irish Dance Teachers Association of New England event — which is expected to have 2,000 guests — and the 2014 Market America Convention, with approximately 4,000 attendees.

Some of the sporting events common during this season include large hockey and cheerleading tournaments that “bring thousands of people and are scheduled in the dead of winter when normally we wouldn’t have that hotel occupancy,” Adamo added.

Providence and Newport are the leading tourist destinations in the state, Sheridan said. “Newport obviously seasonally is the leader in the summertime, and Providence is more of a year-round leader because our business is more consistent over 12 months.”

The biggest draws in Providence for leisure tourism are restaurants, historical sites, performing arts events, colleges and universities and Waterfire, Sheridan said.

The number of tourists is calculated

by looking at the number of hotel occupants on a monthly basis and examining how full hotels are and how the average nightly rates change, Adamo said.

Tourism supports approximately 50,000 jobs in Rhode Island. The industry brings in about $3 billion to the state in direct spending each year, Sheridan said.

And given Rhode Island’s 7.6 percent unemployment rate in September — significantly higher than the national rate of 5.9 percent, the tourism industry has the potential to boost the economy and create jobs because of its “ripple effect,” Adamo said.

Visitors come to spend money at restaurants, museums, hotels and events like Waterfire, she said. But there are also more subtle ways visitors support local industries, such as funds for transportation, printing companies that make brochures for convention events and construction companies contracted to expand hotels to accommodate visitors.

“Any time an industry flourishes, there are certainly more jobs to be had,” she added.

Other major industries in the state include health care and education.

Tourism is the third-highest revenuegenerating industry for Rhode Island, Sheridan said.

Tourism is particularly important to Providence and Rhode Island as a whole because the jobs it creates are permanent and cannot be taken across state lines as they might be in other industries, Adamo added.

“We’ve seen significant tourism increases,” Sheridan said of the visitors bureau. These tourist increases have led to a 5 percent increase in overall revenue from 2013-14, she added.

The day after Gov.-elect Gina Raimondo was elected, she vowed to stay committed to her campaign plan to boost tourism in Rhode Island, the Providence Journal reported.

“We are successful already, and we’ve seen great growth trends in tourism in Rhode Island over the past few years,” Sheridan said. “Any additional support we gain at the state level will only make us even more successful.”

4 arts & culture

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

IN CONVERSATION

‘The sheer amount of characters on campus is unbelievable’ For Starla and Sons founder Chris Duffy ’09, ‘Expert’ podcasts offer a new outlet for comedy

By ELIZABETH CONWAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Comedy was always a favorite hobby for Chris Duffy ’09, a co-founder of the campus comedy group Starla and Sons, which specializes in longform improvisation. A former Herald writer, Duffy initially aspired to be a journalist. When that fell through, he pursued teaching.

Today he lives and breathes to crack jokes at stand-up and improv shows across the country. Duffy brought his humor back to campus Sunday in Salomon 101, where he hosted a live taping of “You’re the Expert,” a podcast he created that pits professional comedians against leading scientific researchers.

Prior to the show, Duffy talked to The Herald about the origins of his comedy career and the sea urchin sex that launched the idea for his popular podcast.

Herald: You’re the founder of Starla and Sons. Describe how it all began.

Duffy: At the time, there was just Improvidence doing improv. And this guy, Will Guzzardi — who was in my year, and interestingly enough, is now a professional politician — before he was a politician, he was making things up for a long time, playing make-believe. He put all these cryptic ads up around campus that said things like “Interested in long-form improvisation?”

It ended up being literally the best thing that happened to me in college.

It was life-changing. We did our first show in a tiny little lecture room in Wilson and just packed it completely full with our friends. And it was really fun. Eventually it became a real thing.

The whole thing is really bizarre — that I got together with five of my friends, and played make-believe for four years, and now people continue to do that. It’s a classic Brown twist: I was studying to be a serious journalist. This was just a silly thing where I would pretend to be a talking dog, or Satan on the moon, or an astronaut whose head is a foot, and all of these stupid characters.

RYAN WALSH / HERALD

Chris Duffy ’09 returned to campus this weekend to live-tape a podcast for his show, “You’re the Expert,” which pits comedians against researchers.

The Thanksgiving-themed episode featured Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Tom Roberts, who studies turkeys running on treadmills.

How did you come up with the idea for “You’re the Expert?” How did it all begin?

I was teaching fifth grade in innercity Boston, and while I was teaching, I would do improv, and it was really fun. But I kept feeling like there’s 100 people hearing me talk, and what are they going to leave with? They were going to be like, oh man, that guy has some great stories about being a babysitter, and nothing much else.

And at the same time, I was always meeting these people who were grad students at Harvard or MIT. And they were doing this amazing work that no one knew about. I went to a barbecue and met someone whose whole life, he’s studied the way sea urchins mate.

So this guys spends his whole life, all day every day, watching two spiky balls have sex with each other. It’s crazy, people should know about that.

So it kind of perfectly meshed — here were these people who had all of these things that people don’t often know about, and I have an audience but I

don’t think I am really talking about something that is worth talking about.

So I came up with the idea to have comedians try and guess what a professor or scientist studies, and then interview them about their work and why it’s important. And we have talked to people about the craziest, most amazing things because of this.

We interviewed the head of Harvard’s comparative lactation lab, who milks all different mammals, and then compares their breast milk. He’s so crazy and actually comes up with all of these really important findings that are helping babies and the way that we think about medical care. And he’s done that by literally milking zebras and cows, monkeys, bats.

What is the most difficult part about stand-up comedy? What is your least favorite part, or the most challenging aspect?

I think the hardest part about stand-up comedy is that there is no other art form where when it goes

badly, people go, “That’s not even an art form.” If you go to a movie, and people don’t like the movie, people don’t say, “That was so bad, that wasn’t even a movie.” So comedy is subjective in a way where people feel it personally, and you can tell because it’s a group experience. So if you don’t get laughs, that’s it — it didn’t go well.

Comedy is so binary — there are either laughs or no laughs, good or bad.

And that’s part of what I love about it, is that it’s so honest.

What is your favorite part of comedy? What is most exciting or thrilling?

Definitely getting to travel and meet new people all over the country. Getting to go to a new place that you’ve never been to, and to make someone laugh with something you say — that is just magic. That is crazy, insane magic. It shouldn’t exist in the world, and I’m so glad that it does.

I did a show in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and people were so (appreciative), saying, “Thank you for coming to Hattiesburg. Thank you for even coming to Mississippi at all.”

Which do you prefer, stand-up comedy or improv?

It’s hard to answer that, because a thing that I love about stand-up is that if my mom is going to come, I know it won’t embarrass me. I’ll plan to say things that I’ll be fine saying in front of her.

But the thing that I love about improv is that I never know what is going to happen. So the downside to that is that sometimes my mom will come, and I think, “Oh no, I will never be able to look you in the eye again.”

But also, I think, “Wow, I didn’t even know that there was that side of me.”

And it’s awesome that I can discover something new every time. I love that stand-up is polished, and I love that with improv, I am constantly

surprised by myself.

What can you tell me about the live show at Brown?

It was a Thanksgiving-themed episode, and this expert is so unreal. The professor’s name is Tom Roberts, and he has studied the way turkeys run.

He has a lab at Brown where he has a treadmill that he has taught turkeys to run on, and he videotapes them in high definition while running, and then studies how their bodies move as they run. It is so awesome.

If you have never seen a video of a turkey running on a treadmill, your life is not complete. I didn’t realize my life had a hole in it until I saw this video, and I needed this. It was something I always needed and never knew.

How has Brown prepared you for the world of comedy?

Here’s the thing that I think is true about Brown that as I’ve gone into the real world I’ve found is really applicable. At Brown, you really have to fake your way and create everything.

It’s like, what do you want your classes to be? Make up a curriculum. Make up a concentration. You can invent all of this stuff. And at the time, I was thinking that this does not seem like how the real world works. But I’ve realized in the real world that this is what everyone does every day. Brown really prepared me for that. The sheer amount of characters on campus is unbelievable.

What if you hadn’t gone to Brown?

Do you believe you would have still chosen comedy? Is it something you were destined for?

Oh, it definitely would have gone differently. I probably would’ve been hit by a bus.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

today 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

menu

g i m m e s h e lt e r

SATELLITE DINING JOSIAH’S Turkey Dinner BLUE ROOM Chicken Saag and Avial Coconut Vegetable Curry Soups: Organic Butternut Squash, Turkey Sausage and Kale, Three Bean Chili ANDREWS COMMONS Pizzas: Bacon Chicken Ranch, Spicy Five Cheese and Garlic, BBQ Bam Bam

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH DINNER Pasta e Fagioli, Sesame Chicken Macaroni and Cheese with Wings, Basque Salad, Grilled Avocado and Tomato, Bourbon Italian Chicken, Butterscotch BBQ Chicken, Caramel Chip Bars Cupcakes VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH DINNER Chicken Noodle Soup, Vegan Steak and Pepper Fajitas, Lentil Soup, Onion Rings, Sticky Sauteed Zucchini and Onions, Rice, Oreo Chocolate Chip Fudge Macaroni Shells, Apple Oatmeal Bar Crisp

sudoku

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich ACROSS 1 Italian scooter 6 Weird 11 “This is so frustrating!”

14 Sharon of Israel 15 Old-timey “Yikes!”

16 Coventry bathroom 17 Like a fajita pan 19 Perrier, to Pierre 20 Casual Friday top 21 FAO Schwarz specialty 22 Turn away 24 __ vivant 25 Tiny bit 27 Daisy-plucking words 33 Farm or home ending 34 Troubles 35 “Now __ me down to sleep ...”

37 James of “The Godfather” 38 Count Chocula wear 39 Turn on a pivot 40 Start of many Internet addresses 41 Actor Thicke 42 “I can take __!”

43 To the point 46 Bonny girl 47 Owned 48 Hangout for some 38-Down 51 Word spoken while pointing 53 Short change?

56 Month after avril 57 Not a likely chance, and, literally, a hidden feature of 17-, 27- and 43Across 61 Pre-holiday time 62 Part of USNA 63 “Keen!”

64 Twin of Bert Bobbsey 65 Picket fence parts 66 Barbershop band?

DOWN 1 Like outer space 2 Weird-sounding lake 3 Clothing label number 4 Candy in a collectible dispenser 5 With everything accounted for 6 Choosing word 7 Omelet base 8 Cheering syllable 9 Binding words 10 Real __ 11 Delight 12 Crowd cacophony 13 Defeat decisively 18 Prefix with sphere 23 Disappeared 24 Skinny sort 25 Hawaii component 26 Siberian city 27 Box score numbers 28 Moor 29 Luxurious homes 30 Online finance company 31 Stan’s partner 32 Gibe

33 UCLA or USC 36 To this point 38 Some strays 42 Rouses from bed 44 Synthetic fibers 45 In pumps, say 48 “So be it!”

49 Volcano output 50 Burden for some debtors 51 Future atty.’s exam

52 Many Manets 53 Blacken on the grill 54 Four-legged Emerald City visitor 55 Halt 58 “Friendly Skies” co.

59 New Deal energy prog.

60 Put in rollers

RYAN WALSH / HERALD

East Side Transit tunnel offered travelers shelter from sporadic, torrential downpours Monday. Despite a damp start, the sun is forecasted to shine for the remainder of the week.

comic Cat Ears | Najatee’ McNeil ’17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

calendar

11/18/14

TODAY 4 P.M. JANUS FORUM SAFE SPACE

6 P.M. DOCTORS READING RACE

If students feel uncomfortable at any tme during the Janus Forum debate on sexual assault, they can visit BWell’s Safe Space, where sexual assault peer educators, women’s peer counselors and BWell staff can offer emotional support. Salomon 203

A medical student and professors of medical science and health services, policy and practice will present their research and perpectives on how race influences doctorpatient relations. MacMillan 117

4:30 P.M. JANUS LECTURE: ‘HOW SHOULD COLLEGES HANDLE SEXUAL ASSAULT?’

The Janus Forum will host a debate with visiting speakers Wendy McElroy and Jessica Valenti, who will discuss their opinions on campus rape culture, due process and whether

By Marti DuGuay-Carpenter ©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

11/18/14

TOMORROW

6 P.M. MEDIA AND THE PORTRAYAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE

colleges are failing victims or perpetrators. Salomon 101

The Commuity Health Advocacy Program will offer a free screening of “Contagion,” followed by a discussion with Richard Bungiro, lecturer in molecular microbiology and immunology. Metcalf Auditorium

4:30 P.M. THE RESEARCH ON RAPE CULTURE

7:30 P.M. SHAG PRESENTS ‘SEX + TECH’

Lindsay Orchowski, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, will present research on the sociocultural dynamics of sexual assault. BERT 130

How does sex factor into the information age? The workshop will discuss dating apps, safety tips for online dating and what privacy entails online. Faunce Memorial Room

6 commentary

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

EDITORIAL

Janus Forum and the freedom of expression Echoes of last fall’s Ray Kelly incident continue to reverberate on campus, most recently manifesting themselves in the controversy surrounding today’s Janus Forum debate, “How Should Colleges Handle Sexual Assault?” The upcoming forum has come to be defined by one of the speakers: Wendy McElroy, a controversial and vocal dissenter of the pervasiveness of rape culture on college campuses. Last Friday, President Christina Paxson authored a campus-wide email contesting McElroy’s opinion and outlined the creation of an alternative event at a concurrent time — a presentation led by Lindsay Orchowski, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, entitled “The Research on Rape Culture.”

Addressing the issue of sexual assault undoubtedly stands as a top priority for the University and though the events will be recorded, forcing students to choose between attending these two events effectively marginalizes the importance of unfiltered dialogue and discussion, a point ironically underscored by the administration in its criticism of the hindered Ray Kelly lecture.

We endorse that the Orchowski event be moved to a different time or repeated so students may attend both events and gain an academic understanding of the extent and potential solutions to sexual assault on college campuses.

Though we very much acknowledge the pressing importance of confronting sexual assault on campus and the underlying sensitivity of the issue, this most recent administrative action calls into question the role and character of dialogue on campus. The Janus Forum — which has facilitated several controversial, yet equitable debates in recent years — underscored this same concern in an opinion column in Monday’s Herald titled, “In response to President Paxson’s most recent email.” “When students are forced to choose, events no longer serve to ‘provide the community with more research and facts about these important issues,’ as Paxson hoped for in her email,” the Forum wrote. We worry that the double-booking comes out of the administration’s attempt to head off a disruption similar to the one which occurred at the Ray Kelly lecture.

Additionally, Paxson’s plan seems to contradict her response to the Kelly event regarding free speech. In the words of Paxson in her campus-wide response to the Ray Kelly incident, “Brown has sound policies that promote and preserve freedom of expression, even when the ideas being expressed may be abhorrent.” Though the character of the Ray Kelly lecture may have indeed dealt with an issue not explicitly present on campus (i.e. the stop-and-frisk policy of the New York Police Department), this underlying tenet of free expression cannot merely adapt to the topic of discussion, regardless of its ultimate degree of sensitivity or attention.

So to send a message that would endorse freedom of expression on campus, the University need only to escort disruptive individuals out of the event and let it progress. This would show that the University standards of free speech and respect apply to discussing this issue.

By effectively double-booking students interested in sexual assault reform, Paxson both undercut the inherent structure and importance of the topical debate and, even more significantly, contradicted both her own stated precedent and the University’s commitment to free speech. Sexual assault is very much a pressing issue on campus and must be addressed as such. That the University has a different stance than McElroy is a learning opportunity, and students should have the option to both hear why the University takes the stance it does and compare it to McElroy’s position. In addition, as a community, we must ensure that the ability to freely discuss the issue — regardless of opinion and stance — will be supported and facilitated, not dampened.

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.

Note: Rattner, a member of the Janus Forum, recused himself from the writing and editing of this editorial.

K I M B E R LY S A LT Z

C L A R I F I C AT I O N Information in an article in Monday’s Herald (“Janus Forum sexual assault event sparks controversy,” Nov. 17) changed after press time. A lecture Tuesday entitled “Research on Rape Culture,” which was created as a simultaneous alternative to a planned Janus Forum debate over sexual assault on college campuses, will take place in the Building for Environmental Research and Teaching 130, not Wilson 102.

CORRECTIONS Due to an editing error, an article in Monday’s Herald (“Peacocks prove no match for men’s basketball in season opener,” Nov. 17) incorrectly stated that Marvin Dominique had six points on a 4-of-15 from the floor in Friday’s men’s basketball game. In fact, he had six points on a 3-of-12 from the floor. The Herald regrets the error.

Due to an editing error, an article in Monday’s Herald (“Rally aims to fuel library workers’ negotiations,” Nov. 17) misstated the class year of Karen McAninch, business agent for the library workers’ union. She is a former member of the class of 1974, not a 1994 graduate. The Herald regrets the error.

Due to an editing error, an article in Monday’s Herald (“Four U. studies under federal investigation,” Nov. 17) misattributed a piece of information. The fact that most of the social sciences grants that the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology plans to examine support social sciences research outside the United States comes from a publicly available list of grants on Science Direct, not the committee’s website. The Herald regrets the error.

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

“So this guy spends his whole life, all day every day, watching two spiky balls have sex with each other.”

— Chris Duff ’09

See comedy on page 4.

Editorial Leadership

Sections

Visuals & Production

Business

Editor-in-Chief Eli Okun

Arts & Culture Editor EmmaJean Holley

Managing Editors Mathias Heller Sona Mkrttchian

Features Editors Phoebe Draper Sabrina Imbler

Design Editors Brisa Bodell Einat Brenner Mie Morikubo Assistant: Carlie Peters

General Managers Jennifer Aitken Nicole Shimer

Senior Editors Maddie Berg Katherine Cusumano Kate Nussenbaum

Metro Editors Mariya Bashkatova Kate Kiernan Molly Schulson

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

Science & Research Editors Isobel Heck Sarah Perelman Sports Editors Caleb Miller Dante O’Connell University News Editors Kiki Barnes Michael Dubin Maxine Joselow Tonya Riley

Photo Editors Head: David Deckey Brittany Comunale Samuel Kase Sydney Mondry Arjun Narayen Tom Sullivan

Directors Sales: Winnie Shao Finance: Sarah Levine Finance: Sameer Sarkar Alumni Relations: Alison Pruzan Business Dev.: Melody Cao

facebook.com/browndailyherald

Location: 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. www.browndailyherald.com

@the_herald

Editorial contact: 401-351-3372 herald@browndailyherald.com

browndailyherald.com

Business contact: 401-351-3260 gm@browndailyherald.com

Office Manager Shawn Reilly

Corrections: The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

Web Producers Harsha Yeddanapudy Abdullah Yousufi

Sales Managers Regional: Edward Clifford Regional: Sarah Pariser Regional: Ananya Shukla Regional: Jessica Urrutia Student Group: Moniyka Sachar

Commentary: The editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

Copy Desk Chief Claire Postman Assistant: Madeline DiGiovanni

Finance Managers Collections: Jacqueline Finkelsztein Collections: Joshua Tartell Operations: Jessica O’Dell

Illustrations Editor Angelia Wang

Alumni Relations Manager Engagement: Sarah Park

Graphics Editor Avery Crits-Christoph

Business Dev. Manager Project Leader: Kaden Lee

Letters to the Editor: Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

Advertising: The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement and once during Orientation by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily.

Copyright 2014 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Postmaster: Please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906.

commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Debunking the international stigma SARA AL-SALEM opinions columnist

As someone who has to travel 26 hours to go home, I have experience as an “international student” at Brown. While I definitely do not speak for the international community here, it’s time someone addressed the stereotype on campus that international students are exclusive, elitist and “rich.”

These are all adjectives that I have heard about international students from different people during my time here. Sometimes it’s a long rant about Buxton House — cool parties but elitist internationals — and sometimes, it’s a catty complaint that international kids only hang out with other international kids. Most of the time it’s wildly stereotypical and homogenizing.

When international students are spoken about as one entity, it completely blurs the fact that Brown admits international students from over 90 different countries with hundreds of different backgrounds.

As an International Mentoring Program mentor this year, I have further come to understand just how different every student is from one another, regardless of citizenship.

Some students have never been to America before, while others are

American and only spent their last two years abroad. For some, this is their first time away from their family. For others, boarding school away from home was a way of life.

The levels of “international” within the very small community are so varying that I cannot wrap my head around the idea that we all act the same way.

And here’s where, again, I can-

leave a culture behind. This culture doesn’t only encompass traditional aspects — it is a way of life. The different social norms and mannerisms in America take time to learn and master, and every day requires effort to be away from home and comfort.

I once had a coworker who unintentionally demonstrated the struggle of international students. She

evaluate how those students’ comfort in a foreign place is bothering the reader. If you had the chance to speak in your preferred language in a place where there are very few who do, wouldn’t you?

If this kind of empathy were employed when international exclusiveness is mentioned, I would hope much of the negative stigma around international students would light-

The levels of “international” within the very small community are so varying that I cannot wrap my head around the idea that we all act the same way.

not speak for the entire community when I call for a little compassion and empathy. If you ever find yourself upset by the fact that some international students find solace in others they relate to, try uprooting all you have ever known and living in a completely different environment for four years.

While most college students can relate to leaving friends and family behind, it is especially hard for some international students to

was baffled by the fact that I could be so far away from home for so long when her experience with a semester abroad was intense enough.

I don’t think most students on campus realize that going to college in America is not just “the college experience” — for me, this is my “studying abroad,” and it’s longer than a semester or year.

So if the complaint is that some international students seem exclusive, I would like the reader to

en. But unfortunately, most would still think those students are rich.

Those ridiculous stereotypes don’t account for all the international students who can’t go back home for winter break, let alone Thanksgiving break. They also don’t acknowledge that international students can only work on-campus jobs because of their international status in America, thus limiting their options greatly.

So when someone jokes bitterly

that all international students are rich, I’d like to see them deal with the Office of International Students and Scholars and figure out a foreign tax system just to survive.

Remember that these students literally represent the rest of the world, and it is wild to assume they are all from the same socioeconomic class.

There are some of us, like me, who have to travel a long way to get back to our families, and there are others who take a short five-hour flight. We deal with entering an environment that isn’t totally familiar to us. Our communities like IMP, Brown International Organization, Brown International Scholarship Committee and Buxton shouldn’t be scowled at with stereotypes when they are some of the only spaces here that understand us and accept our different backgrounds.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to the fact that international students aren’t a single body. The one thing that is true is that the stigma around international students is exiling and uncompassionate. I hope in the future we evaluate how much it takes to be an international student before making grandiose statements.

Sara Al-Salem ’17 can be reached at sara_al-salem@brown.edu.

Why Brown Hookups feels wrong SAM HILLESTAD opinions columnist

I wasn’t the only one excited when Brown Hookups burst onto the scene. It seemed very “Brown” — countercultural, sexually liberating and forward-looking. My curiosity was piqued. Like many of my peers, I quickly friended Brown Hookups on Facebook, eagerly awaiting where this new development would go. But it’s been nothing but downhill from there, as I’ve slowly come to realize that Brown Hookups feels deeply wrong.

The feeling was hazy at first, but it bothered me like an itch I couldn’t quite scratch.

After I mulled over Brown Hookups and discussed it with my friends, I’m finally starting to understand what’s so off-putting about Brown Hookups.

First and foremost, the fact that the page’s facilitators have opted to remain anonymous is unnerving. This isn’t some playful Facebook group like Brown Confessions. This is a site dedicated to getting Brown students to meet up, presumably for sex. And for reasons that remain mysterious, the people organizing these hookups hide behind the anonymous veil of social media. That feels wrong.

And if that wasn’t enough to evoke misgivings, then maybe the way they’ve used social media is. Brown Hookups has two Facebook groups, a Facebook community and company page on Facebook, as well as accounts on Instagram and Tumblr. All of those accounts post a constant stream of banal and unwanted nonsense.

Their most detestable posts are when the

anonymous facilitators declare the most desirable man and woman each week. These are the people most requested for hookups. They post them every Monday, and every Monday I cringe. These individuals are put on display as mannequins for the Brown community to gawk at. Brown Hookups is not-so-subtly telling you who you should be like — or more accurately — who you should look like.

This is not some positive message of open sexuality. It isn’t even a neutral message. There is a distinct harm to the way Brown Hookups is distorting sexuality on campus. They are reducing members of the Brown community to

concern that the party will be unsafe — full of predators who will assume being drunk at a hookup party counts as consent. After all, the party has been built around the idea of meeting your hookups. Add in drugs and alcohol and it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

The reactionary efforts by Brown Hookups to make the party seem secure are woefully inadequate. Their response consists of vague Facebook posts assuring us that the event will have security or reminding us that “Drinking is not a crime. Rape is.” And what few posts they make on safety are usually accompanied with blatant self-promotion. Brown Hookups

There is a distinct harm to the way Brown Hookups is distorting sexuality on campus.

They are reducing members of the Brown community to their sex appeal and nothing else.

their sex appeal and nothing else.

And their upcoming launch party looks to be just as harmful. The party has been advertised ceaselessly by their social media. One actual post on my Facebook newsfeed read “Brown Hookups and Brown Hookups shared Brown Hookups’ event,” with one like and one comment, both by Brown Hookups. I’m not alone when I say, “please stop.” We’ve all heard about your party by now, and for most of us, we’re not convinced.

The party oozes filth and reeks of danger.

Many Brown students have rightly expressed

seems to be content with lax security so long as their event is widely attended. And if their Facebook event is any indication, it won’t be.

It’s almost like safety was an afterthought for them.

Finally, the immediate monetization of Brown Hookups is troubling. Very shortly after Brown Hookups was announced, it was made clear that the facilitators had their eyes on profit. Making money on arranging sexual encounters seems inherently wrong. And the specific method of monetization — small one-time money transfers rather than ad-

vertisements or a paid app — makes Brown Hookups seem like little more than a cash grab. The owners want to make money with their idea while they still can.

There are plenty of apps, like Tinder, that offer the same service, but for free and with better features. While not without its faults, apps like Tinder serve the same function without resorting to dubious micro-transactions.

By now, you may think I’m against the very idea of Brown Hookups, but I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with a hookups app. I’m all for a service that facilitates hookups between Brown students.

Brown Hookups is not a bad idea, but the way it’s been carried out is both embarrassing and disgusting. It could have been transparent, but instead the founders decided to hide their identities. It could have carried a positive message, but instead Brown Hookups’ social media twisted the original idea into something grotesque and harmful. It could have been free, but instead they wanted to take advantage of Brown students.

Brown Hookups was a good idea. It was built on a solid foundation. But everything Brown Hookups has done since its inception has been terribly misguided. They’ve systematically bombarded social media with unwanted advertisements mixed in with their disturbing take on sexuality, all to build buzz for a sleazy and unsafe party for a cash-grab app. This doesn’t just feel wrong. It is wrong.

Sam Hillestad ’15 has been paid off by Tinder to denounce its competitors. He can be reached at samuel_hillestad@brown.edu.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD arts & culture Little Pictures Show’s size constraints make for unbounded creativity In 110th annual show, works with 16-by-16-inch size limit attract diverse audience

By ALEKSANDRA LIFSHITS STAFF WRITER

When the doors opened, the walls of the Providence Art Club were fully masked behind experiments in feathers, local landscapes and threedimensional still lifes. But 10 minutes into Sunday’s opening reception of the 110th Annual Little Pictures Show and Sale, entire sections of the wall had been stripped bare — and the clientele was not the wealthy, artcollecting crowd one might expect.

The country’s oldest Little Pictures Show packed professional art into small and affordable packages, attracting amateurs, early holiday shoppers and casual visitors alike.

Though the exhibition has changed over the past century — expanding from including only small paintings to also accepting diminutive photography, sculptures, collages and jewelry — the size constraints have remained an essential part of the tradition, said Michael Rose, the gallery coordinator at the Providence Art Club. The 16-by-16-inch size limit goes hand in hand with a more “reasonable” cost, he added, with the maximum pricetag capped at $300.

Jervit Tan, a visitor from New York who attended the opening, pointed out that the size restriction makes the art more fascinating, as artists must creatively work within the given parameters.

But artists don’t necessarily see the size restriction as a unfavorable constraint. Some, like Craig Masten, regularly paint smaller pieces that would qualify for the show. “Small paintings work well with the outdoors, because

RYAN WALSH / HERALD

With one wrong stroke on the paintings’ small surfaces, “a bush can accidentally become a tree,” said Craig Masten, an artist who participated in the Little Pictures Show. But while size constraints challenge artists, they offer positives for visitors, such as reasonable prices. you can finish a painting in one day before the light changes,” Masten said, adding that smaller size doesn’t necessarily imply an easier process, as with one wrong stroke, “a bush can accidentally become a tree.”

While this aesthetic twist draws some to the show, others find the main appeal in the prices of the works, which are similarly small.

“The show makes art accessible,” said Julia Geynisman, as exhibition-goer.

Though many of the buyers at the exhibition searched for holiday

presents, some were art collectors.

Ron Vierstra, who has a growing collection of many of the featured Little Pictures artists, comes to the show every year because he is able to recognize many of the landscapes depicted in the paintings.

Other visitors feel similarly, as Lee Chabot, one of the artists, has noted.

He brings many local, Rhode Island paintings because they get the most attention, he said, describing his artwork as “a walk through Providence” that compares the city’s landscape to

that of European cities.

The show provides the artists — who range in age from 24 to 93 — an opportunity to experiment, Rose said.

With a small sample of art, they can test out a new concept with the public, he added.

“Last year at the show, I tried something new, and it was a complete flop,” said artist Linda Dewing. After failing to sell any pieces last year, she said she pushed to find a more popular style and, this year, created artwork using bird feathers.

Frederick Nowosielski, one of few sculptors, said the show allowed him to experiment by stepping away from two-dimensional art for the first time.

Though Nowosielski “mixed it up,” he used the same recurring character of his previous work as inspiration for his new sculptures.

As new works fill the empty spaces left by customer purchases, the selection of little pictures will evolve, providing constant change for visitors.

Little Pictures is on exhibit through Dec. 23.

REVIEW

Taste of India fails to match Kabob and Curry quality With dishes lacking traditional complex flavors, the restauant does naan warrant the trip down the hill

By EBEN BLAKE STAFF WRITER

The temptation to draw a comparison with local icon Kabob and Curry

threatens to color perceptions of any other Indian food on College Hill, and in visiting Taste of India on Wickenden Street, it’s hard not to judge the

restaurant solely in relation to Sunday mornings in the Blue Room. While Kabob and Curry may not be the best model for Indian cuisine, the sheer volume of its presence on campus sets it as the standard.

Unfortunately, Taste of India does not live up to the bar set by its Thayer Street counterpart. Though its dishes are satisfactory for the most part, none are exceptional enough to warrant a stand-alone trip to the restaurant.

The dining room has an inviting

but small interior with deep red walls decorated with ornate golden patterns, which create a warm and pleasant — if ultimately unoriginal and mundane — atmosphere.

A starting order of mango lassis arrive at the table sweeter than they are savory, appealing more as a smoothie than the traditional yogurtbased drink.

But in contrast, the garlic and cilantro naan bread demonstrates a perfect blend of crispness, warmth and dough.

It retains a significant garlic flavor without falling being overwhelming, as garlic all too often is.

The butter chicken is rich and filling, though it lacks a depth of flavor. Barbecued and then cooked in a tandoor, the chicken is served in a tomato and honey sauce.

At its best, the dish traditionally offers a complex array of flavors, wandering between spicy, savory and sweet, with judiciously employed spices subtly playing off each other in every bite. Taste of India’s butter chicken, in contrast, seems monotone — none of its constituent parts emerge from among the melee of the rest. Overall, it is a fairly average rendition.

Madras chicken, on the other

hand, is appropriately spicy, and it couples well with the mango lassi.

Made with hot and spicy curry and accented with chilies and mustard seeds, the consistency seems almost granular, with an unappealing texture. Still, the dish maintains a wider breadth of flavor than the butter chicken.

If you happen to be on Wickenden and strongly desire Indian food, especially the kind that has been thoroughly Americanized and simplified to its most rudimentary parts, then visit Taste of India. But outside of those circumstances, you’re better off staying on Thayer.

www.browndailyherald.com