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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 23
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For local Syrians, home difficult to recognize Rhode Islanders with Syrian roots remember childhood abroad, worry about family left behind By KATE TALERICO NEWS EDITOR
This story is the second in a three-part series about Syrians in Providence and at Brown. MARIANNA MCMURDOCK / HERALD
Emmy-winning actress Viola Davis spoke in Salomon Center yesterday in an event sponsored by the Brown Lecture Board. She said coming to Brown was a “dream come true” after growing up in Central Falls, RI.
Viola Davis brings crowd to tears Award-winning actress recounts ‘epic’ life journey from hometown of Central Falls, RI By SHIRA BUCHSBAUM SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Students rushed the stage as Viola Davis left Salomon Center after her presentation, sponsored by the Brown Lecture Board, Monday evening. The
excitement and emotion of her words hung in the air. Davis’s speech elicited laughter, cheers, applause, snaps, murmurs of assent and three standing ovations. Over 2,000 students entered the ticket lottery for the event, one of the biggest responses in recent years, said Allie Schaefer ’17, vice president of campus relations for Brown Lecture Board. In recounting her path from the modest beginnings of a Central Falls,
Slave shackle display speaks to U. history Exhibit at John Hay Library also includes texts, artifacts from abolition movement By AILEEN SEO STAFF WRITER
The John Hay Library is displaying a pair of slave shackles, on loan from the International Slavery Museum, in a glass case at the entrance of the first-floor reading room. The iron shackles are a type that were used on board slave ships during the brutal journey across the Atlantic Ocean from the west coast of Africa to the Americas, wrote Anna Ruchalska, collecting cultures project curator for the ISM, in an email to The Herald. The shackles were used to restrain and imprison Africans below decks in the ship’s hold, where cargo is traditionally stored. “The shackles are a reminder of the history of the transatlantic slave trade and also a way to think about the ways in which we have to confront that
INSIDE
history,” said Anthony Bogues, professor of Africana studies and director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. “To look at the shackles is not an easy thing, and they make people think very hard about the past and the present.” The shackles came to Brown from a partnership between the CSSJ and the ISM in the Global Curatorial Project, a project looking at how exhibitions concerning the history and memory of slavery can be understood publicly, Bogues said. The shackles speak to a history that the center seeks to confront, especially in relation to Brown’s history and role in the transatlantic slave trade, as revealed in the 2006 report from the University’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, he added. The report found that some of the money used to found and fund the University came from the slave trade. The shackles are displayed separately from the textual accounts and the antislavery collection box, a box that was used to collect money for the » See EXHIBIT, page 4
RI home through her education and into a Hollywood career, Davis said that her life thus far has played out like an epic journey. Despite achieving success, Davis has still struggled to find herself at points in her career. She has long searched for what she called a “sweet elixir” — the key to her success that she can convey to people also hoping to escape an “ordinary” world. At age 50, having become the first » See DAVIS, page 2
SYRIANS IN PROVIDENCE A crowd of anti-regime protesters started to gather around the Sunni Al-Fawaz Mosque in Al-Raqqah, Syria. Yazen Alani ’18 watched from his bedroom window as the group swelled. Years before, his great-grandfather helped construct the mosque. Protesters yelled chants critical of President Bashar Al-Assad. Syrian police forces arrived, but their attempts to quell the crowd were unsuccessful. The officers fled the scene. Alani was witnessing the start of the civilian uprising that became the Syrian civil war. Alani has not been back to Syria since that trip in 2011. That year marked the last time he was able to see the family and friends he grew up with
during the summers he spent there between school years in Rhode Island. “It feels like you don’t have a home anymore,” Alani said. Growing up Syrian Even as a young child, Alani sensed the effects of Assad’s autocratic rule. He remembers driving with his uncle in Syria. In a plaza stood a statue of Assad with his brother, Bassel Al-Assad, who was expected to assume the role of commander-in-chief before he died in a car accident. “Is he a good president?” Alani asked his uncle. Nervously, his uncle responded, “Yeah, yeah — he’s good.” Alani pressed further, asking him what the president had done for his country. “He keeps peace with our neighbors. He keeps Syria safe,” Alani recalled his uncle saying. Dissatisfied with his uncle’s answer, Alani later brought the same question to his mother. She got angry. “Don’t say anything about that,” she said. When Alani’s family returned to the United States, his father told him the leaders of Syria were dictators. “If you say anything against them, you could get killed,” his father told him. » See SYRIANS, page 3
A more physical ‘Midsummer Night’ Sock and Buskin challenges typical whiteness in reimagined Shakespeare staple By GABRIELLA REYES STAFF WRITER
From March 3 to 13, Sock and Buskin will present Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the Stuart Theatre. The immersive production features steampunk costuming and on-stage audience seating, where the audience quickly becomes part of the set. Sock and Buskin chose to perform “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” after it was pitched to the group by Marcus Gardley, assistant professor of theatre arts and performance studies, said Nika Salazar ’16. She is the chair of the Sock and Buskin board and plays the character Peaseblossom in the production. The group held several rounds of interviews to find a director, ultimately choosing Kira Hawkridge, artistic director of OUT LOUD Theatre in Providence. “I think Kira’s really amazing. She’s totally different from anyone I’ve ever worked with at Brown,” Salazar said, adding that Hawkridge “works from
SAM BERUBE / HERALD
The Shakespearean classic “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — produced by Sock and Buskin — will run in the Stuart Theatre between March 3 and 13. the outside in” and has performers way to create a physical language that perfect the movement of scenes before is easier for people to share with the incorporating dialogue in rehearsals. audience,” Hawkridge said. “All of our “As someone who’s not only a performer performances contain this physical menbut also a director, it’s been a really in- tality and the body creating relationships valuable experience to work with her,” from that mentality — the bodies’ space, Salazar said. how they interact with each other, how Salazar noted that as director, they interact with the audience and the Hawkridge emphasizes physicality, an audience interacts with them.” artistic perspective carried over from “The setup is really about creating her work at OUT LOUD Theatre. spaces with bodies,” Salazar said, adding “All of my works stem from this that the set is purposefully minimalist. idea of bringing what’s happening inHawridge added that she and set ternally to the surface and finding a » See MIDSUMMER, page 4
WEATHER
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
NEWS Three junior engineering faculty members win National Science Foundation funds for research
ARTS & CULTURE World-renowned guest organist Hans-Ola Ericsson performs niche repertoire in recital
COMMENTARY Mitra ’17: Regardless of Super Tuesday results, Trump has done irreversible damage
COMMENTARY Secondo ’16: In Apple-FBI conflict, last remaining sense of privacy at stake
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» DAVIS, from page 1 black woman to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, she’s found the elixir. It’s simple: “If you are not living a life bigger than yourself, then you’re not living a life at all.” For Davis, living a life bigger than herself amounts to the work she does as an actress, producer and advocate. Davis founded her production company JuVee Productions with her husband in 2009. The company produces films, shows and web series with non-mainstream narratives. During the question-and-answer session, Catherine Nacier ’19 asked: “Do you think that … actors and artists of color are required to be activists … because of their race?” “In my fantasy, I feel like everyone is required to be an activist,” Davis said, noting that widespread marginalization should concern all people. But for people of color, especially, Davis noted, “Your road is so difficult that you have to do something bigger than yourself to get in there,” adding that, “Wherever there’s a deficit, you gotta be an activist.” Throughout her work, Davis has emphasized her humanity, which has guided her portrayal of Annalise Keating, the criminal defense lawyer on Shonda Rhimes’s hit show “How to Get Away with Murder.” Davis brought the audience back with her to a one-room sharecropper’s home in South Carolina with no toilet or running water. It was 1965, and the midwife was late, so
Davis’s grandmother delivered her. Her parents moved her “chocolate family” to “Central Falls, of all places,” landing the family in an apartment in a condemned building, she said. The plaster on the walls peeled, there were rats — big rats — but no plumbing and no telephone. Davis recounted how the mayor of Central Falls called the home a gift to Davis’s family. Davis wondered, “What, exactly, are you giving us?” It was during her childhood in Central Falls that Davis began running — this time, literally — from a group of schoolboys who would chase her after school daily. They’d throw bricks and sticks at her, calling out to her and crying, “We want to kill you, you ugly, black nigger.” But, Davis said, “I kind of settled into that life” — a life with an alcoholic father beating her mother every day, socks so tattered only the ankle piece was intact and daily torment from abusive classmates. For a long time, she thought that her circumstances “defined who (she) was,” she said. “But you know, you’re not your scars,” she added. When she mentioned her hometown of Central Falls at the beginning of the lecture, Davis said coming to Brown is “a dream come true.” “I want to say that my name is Viola Davis, and I am a hero.” The audience went wild. “When I say ‘hero,’ I don’t mean someone with a cape or a lasso. … I mean someone who has overcome adversity and weathered the storms.”
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD And weather the storms she did. Her mother recommended taking a crocheting needle and stabbing the boys instead of running from them — she did just that, and they quit bothering her. But the running kickstarted something inside of her: a feeling that there was more to life. Davis’s sister confirmed this by encouraging her to think about what she wanted out of life — a tall order for a six-year-old. Those thoughts, along with watching Cicely Tyson on television, transformed Davis. She began dreaming of being an actress, which she credits with catapulting her out of the ordinary world into which she was born. After studying on a scholarship at the Young People’s School for the Performing Arts, which she travelled to by bus for five-and-a-half hours round trip on school days, Davis attended Rhode Island College and earned a degree in theater. Next, she had three goals: get a boyfriend (“he was a real crappy one, too,” she noted), travel and become a professional actress. In choosing a school to attend, Davis said she played eenie meenie minie mo and picked the Juilliard School, which drew roaring laughter from the audience. In her endless work, she “mastered the technique of drive,” Davis said. A period of deep hurt followed her initial success, Davis said — an imposter syndrome of sorts. “There was something about (me) that still believed I was the ugly, black nigger, and I’m ashamed to say that,”
Davis told a silent crowd. With her therapist’s help, she learned to love herself. As an actress on “How to Get Away with Murder,” Davis uses Keating as a wielder of truth, breaking through the barriers surrounding what roles women of color can play and how those roles can be portrayed. Madison White ’18 questioned how Davis combats the critique that Rhimes’ show “popularly repackag(es) the image of the angry black woman.” Davis replied, “You know, I knew that question was going to come up tonight,” sipping her water. Challenging the preconception that there’s something wrong with being angry, Davis pointed again to the importance of celebrating women’s visions in the form of intricate, unstructured
characters like Keating. In her aims to change the landscape of film and television, Davis refuses to be structured, she said. “The most powerful thing you can do in art and narrative is to tell the truth,” she replied to a student’s question about reconciling her rage and pain with working to open up more opportunities for women of color. And that is the beauty of being an actor, she added. “We are instruments of change. We are the only profession in the world that celebrates what it means to be human.” Davis said she advocates that change by portraying complex characters filled with emotion and life, not characters who people — particularly people in positions of power — expect her to play.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • PAGE 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
COURESTY OF HASAN ALSAWAF
Hasan Alsawaf immigrated from Syria over two decades ago, settling in Chicago and delivering pizza to put himself through college. Now a dentist in Greenville, RI, he worries about family members still living in Syria.
COURTESY OF HASAN ALSAWAF
KATE TALERICO / HERALD
Hasan Alsawaf, above with his family, calls relatives in Syria once a week, learning sometimes that the government has shut off their electricity.
Yazen Alani ’18, whose parents were born in Syria, witnessed the beginning of the Syrian Civil War back in 2011 while spending the summer there. Since the war broke out five years ago, he has not been able to return.
» SYRIANS, from page 1
One was accused of passing out pamphlets, the other for looking “suspicious” because of his “long hair.” The former nephew was imprisoned for six months. “They have considered moving, but how? Where?” Alsawaf said. He added that emigration from the state has become increasingly difficult, as families need money and access to visas to leave. He has not been back to see his family since 2009. “You always have a homesick feeling, but once you go back, then you start to see the difference,” Alsawaf said. On his last visit, he traveled through several poor villages in Syria and observed the “extreme income inequality” between Syria’s impoverished and wealthy neighborhoods. The disparity was something “you would never even see in America,” Alsawaf said. “I saw that this country was ready for a revolution.” While Alsawaf ’s family in Syria must continually take steps to protect themselves within the nation, some of Alani’s family has been forced to seek safety beyond its borders. Many of Alani’s family members who previously lived in Syria left for Turkey in 2013, displaced by the war. Last summer, Alani’s grandmother moved to Rhode Island to live with his family permanently. Still, other families are stuck inside Syria’s borders. “My relatives are stubborn,” Alani
Hasan Alsawaf is a dentist from Greenville, RI who ran for the state senate. He immigrated to the United States from Damascus over 20 years ago, drawn by America’s spirit of ingenuity and the principle of free speech. Alsawaf ’s family also discouraged him from speaking about politics in public from the time he was young. Alsawaf said he felt like a third of the nation’s people worked as government security agents. “People said that there were ears in the walls,” he said. “You can’t trust anybody.” Those who spoke out against Assad’s regime could be “kidnapped and jailed.” When he was eight years old, Alsawaf watched as Bassel Al-Assad’s men lifted up women’s burkas, saying they were searching for followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, he said. The government flooded its citizens with anti-American and anti-Israeli propaganda. “Just like how in the United States, we pledge to the flag, we had to pledge that our enemies were imperial America and Zionist Israel,” Alsawaf said. “You repeat it because you don’t know what it means,” he said. “In order for a dictator to stay in power, there has to be a foreign enemy.” By the time he was a teenager, Alsawaf began questioning the regime. “I was outspoken, but you can’t be
outspoken there. That’s a suicide mission,” he said. Alsawaf moved to the United States with $200. He worked in Chicago and then in Wisconsin delivering pizza, eventually earning enough to put himself through college. He now has a family in Greenville, RI, but lately thoughts of his family back home have been on his mind. Leaving family behind Alsawaf makes weekly calls to his family in Syria. They remain in the country’s capital, Damascus. Assad has “created a bubble” in the city — a bubble that Alsawaf ’s sister and mother stay safely inside. Those who revolted against Assad’s government “are mostly poor,” Alsawaf said. Assad carpet-bombed the surrounding areas of Damascus where those people reside, and his family reports back that the city is surrounded by land mines. Checkpoints block entrances in and out of the city. The government often shuts off his family’s electricity, and they struggle to keep up with the increasing expenses. “Yet people are still going to nightclubs,” Alsawaf said. “People learn to live through hardships.” Still, his family has to be more careful than ever these days. “There is no law,” Alsawaf said. Two of Alsawaf ’s nephews have been arrested and beaten, he said.
said. “They don’t want to leave, … or they can’t leave.” Alani often wonders what has become of the neighborhood kids with whom he used to play during summers past. He doesn’t know whether they have food or are still with their families. “These were kids I used to hang out with a lot, he said. “I don’t know what’s going on with them now.” Past, present, future Many Americans first heard news about Syria in 2011, when protesters began demanding Assad’s resignation, which led to the country’s civil war. But before Syria was caught in violent uprisings and the government’s response, it was Alani’s playground. In Syria, “we played around the street until late at night,” Alani said. Yet in Providence, his mother worried about him wandering too far from home. Alani said he felt comfortable within the perimeter of his home town, with its “small-town feel.” In the street or at cafes, people often asked him what family he was from and mentioned a relative of his whom they knew. Alani now sees the same streets he used to play games in as a kid in news coverage of the Syrian civil war. ISIS captured Al-Raqqah in 2013 and named it the organization’s unofficial capital. “The pictures on the news are
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pictures of places I used to run around as a kid,” Alani said. “I’m waiting on that day when I’ll be able to see my old house, to walk the streets I used to walk.” When Alani grew up in the United States, friends and acquaintances frequently asked him where his family was from. Back then, his response of Syria might earn a few nods of recognition or, more regularly, a blank stare. Now, the country’s name is tearing across daily headlines and playing a pivotal role in presidential debates. “It’s hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel — to see some group who could govern the nation and bring the country back,” he said. The news of the seemingly endless fighting among different groups in his home country has worn Alani out. The conflict sometimes fails to resonate with his family as well, he said. “Because of all these foreign fighters coming in on every side, most Syrians feel like it’s not even their country — or their conflict,” Alani said. But Alani is doing what he can to support his family’s country. On campus, Alani represents the Muslim Student Association in the interfaith coalition to support Syrian refugees. “I have a naive dream of somehow going back and helping out in a really intense and focused way,” Alani said. “But I will probably spend the rest of my life over here.”
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Three U. professors win » MIDSUMMER, $500,000 each in funding Junior faculty members score funding to support grad students, research energy, matter movement By JULIANNE CENTER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Three junior faculty members in the School of Engineering have received the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Awards of approximately $500,000 over the course of five years. Franklin Goldsmith, David Henann and Andrew Peterson, all assistant professors of engineering, will join the nearly one third of current University faculty members in the School of Engineering who have won the award. Founded in 1995, the program provides promising junior faculty members the opportunity to pursue “outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations,” according to the NSF website. To apply for the award, junior faculty members completed 15-page original research project proposals in July that specifically laid out the plans for their next five years of research and included the goals and broader impacts of the project in the context of a 30-year career, Goldsmith said. “It has to be the A-plus paper — otherwise there’s no point in writing it,” Peterson said, referring to the high selectivity of the award, which was open to all untenured faculty members from all around the country. Goldsmith’s proposal centered on the question: “If you could have any fuel, what should that fuel be? What is the ideal transportation fuel?” To answer this question, Goldsmith researches “the connection between the molecular structure of a fuel molecule and how it behaves in an engine” in the hopes of developing cleaner, more efficient fuels for transportation. Goldsmith hopes to use his new funding to improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines by creating a transition fuel that will “buy time until a more sustainable technology emerges,” he said. “I think the global climate change and how we generate energy is going to be one of the most critical problems in the 21st century,” Goldsmith added. Peterson also received his award for his research oriented around
fuel cells. He focused on combining research from computer science and quantum mechanics to describe proton transfers and surface reactions that will help scientists better understand clean energy storage and conversion, he said. Described as “half theoretical work and half experimental,” Peterson’s research aims to “understand these reactions that take place in solar fuels and in fuel cells” by atomically constructing a simulation of the material on a computer and predicting the reactions that will take place, he said. Henann won his award for research on creating predictive models and mathematical descriptions for the movement and deformation of granule materials such as sand and powder, he said. Granules “behave differently than other types of matter” because they have unique capabilities of acting as a solid, liquid or gas. Their unpredictability makes it hard for pharmaceutical companies and those in other industries to understand their movement and engineer manufacturing processes around them, Hennan said. Current models are limited because they fail to express the unique real-world circumstances, such as different grain sizes in granule materials and their tendency to sort themselves by size when subjected to a force, Hennan said. Given the confusion about granules, his research is a “natural problem to go into,” Hennan said. “It has the potential to be able to make a big contribution both intellectually and with some sort of useful engineering tool,” he added. The award-winning professors each plan to use the $500,000 grant to pay graduate students to assist them on their research. “To be able to take one student and shepherd him or her through their entire graduate time on a single grant on what I consider an important topic is great,” Goldsmith said. “The research topics we do are always so specific that they almost get to be esoteric to someone who doesn’t specialize in them,” Peterson said regarding the confusion and specificity of the engineering projects researched by professors. But the flexibility and visibility that the award provides give the researchers “a little extra space to explore ideas that will hopefully jump off into additional fruitful projects,” Hennan said.
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
After winning National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, Assistant Professors of Engineering Goldsmith, Henann and Peterson will be able to support graduate students to assist them on diverse research projects.
from page 1
designer Sara Ossana placed the audience on stage to “create this environmental energy in which the proximity of the physicality is also in play.” Jaclyn Licht ’16, who plays Hermia in the show, said that the show’s production is grounded in “building an ensemble, a strong community of actors and a strong connection between all the characters themselves.” Conor Sweeney ’18, who plays the character Demetrius, noted the production’s emphasis on diversity as
well as physicality. Sweeney chose to audition after an information session with Hawkridge. “I was inspired by the idea of a diverse group of bodies and identities coming together, telling this old story and making it more relevant to today,” he said. “I wanted to be part of that story in any way I could.” Sweeney noted that the production’s casting is a unique aspect of the show. “Kira worked really hard to debunk gender roles, especially in the fairies,” he said. “The script is very much gendered male for them,
and Kira cast female-identified and gender-nonconforming people in these roles.” Sweeney added that several cast members are people of color, challenging the presumed whiteness of these characters and the characters in all of Shakespeare’s works. “‘Midsummer’ has been done a thousand times, so there’s this question of why we’re still doing it,” he said. “I feel like we’re celebrating a diverse body of identities to demonstrate how this is a work that can still be relevant in today’s society.”
» EXHIBIT, from page 1 abolitionist cause. The shackles sit in a singular display case in the exhibit “Vestiges of the Transatlantic Slave Trade” because “they stand on their own and speak for themselves,” said Christopher Geissler, director of the Hay and Special Collections. They provide a material point of reference rather than just a textual one, he added. Student groups from local elementary and high schools have visited the library to see the exhibit, said Holly Snyder, a curator for the University’s American historical collections for the Hay. “No one was overly shocked, but most had questions, and they wanted to know more about how the shackles were used,” Snyder said. “Understanding how it was used puts it into perspective, and that’s why it’s such an important object.” The antislavery collection box is displayed adjacent to the shackles to contrast the freedom offered by the
ALEJANDRO SUBIOTTO / HERALD
Slave shackles currently on display at the John Hay Library speak to the history of the transatlantic slave trade, as well as to the University’s past. abolitionist box and the confinement implied by the shackles, Bogues said. It is important to make the violence of the slave trade visible through the preservation of material objects, he added. Bogues urged students to think about the past and the significance
of the shackles and abolitionist box in today’s world. “The past is not just the past. It is not a distant shadow that we don’t pay attention to. The past is very much a part of what we are today,” he said. The exhibit will be on display until March 13.
TODAY
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • PAGE 5
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RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich ACROSS 1 Human rights advocate Jagger 7 Leaves in a big hurry 15 Seductive quality 16 Having the capacity for learning 17 *Whom Charlotte saved, in an E.B. White classic 18 *“Animal Farm” tyrant 19 Reason-based faith 20 Self-regard 21 One-__ jack 22 QB’s gains 23 *GEICO spokescritter who squeals, “Wee wee wee!” 27 Variety 28 More pert 33 Mets’ old stadium 36 Singer Yoko 38 “Ninotchka” star Greta 39 *“Toy Story” toy bank 40 *Stutterer in Looney Tunes sign-offs 43 *Unlikely title shepherd in a 1995 film 44 Reputed UFO pilot 46 “Golly!” 47 “Great Taste...__ Filling”: Miller Lite slogan 48 Carter’s vice president 51 Suffix with novel 53 *40-Across’ gal 55 __ Grande 58 Burn slightly 62 Latin art 63 Doggie 65 With 67-Across, annual March 1 event celebrated in the answers to starred clues 67 See 65-Across 68 Biological order including eightarmed creatures 69 Waiting one’s turn 70 Catching-up query 71 FBI operatives
DOWN 1 Ribald 2 Perjurer’s confession 3 “Silent Night” words before calm and bright 4 Used-up pencils 5 Really bad 6 __ Lingus 7 Take more Time? 8 Maxims 9 Domelike building top 10 Earth-friendly prefix 11 Mall event 12 Do as told 13 Arctic chunk 14 Provide (for oneself) 24 Per unit 25 Strange: Pref. 26 Tote 27 Domesticated 29 Pay television 30 “Dies __”: Latin hymn 31 Flows back 32 Some reddish deer 33 Bedding accessory 34 Saintly glow 35 Key with one sharp: Abbr.
37 Nonprofit URL ending 41 Really eager 42 Bigfoot kin 45 Rest of the afternoon 49 Use as support 50 Online investment service 52 Music studio activity 54 Amer. attorney’s study
55 “The Thinker” sculptor 56 Words of refusal 57 “I remember now!” 58 Skiing surface 59 Per unit 60 “__ girl!” 61 Real hoot 64 Gawk at 66 Photo __: media events 67 Actress Zadora
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
SAM BERUBE / HERALD
The East Side’s Christian Science Church sits below a partly cloudy sky as an unseasonably warm day comes to a close.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“This beast isn’t for everyone.” — Hans-Ola Ericsson, world-renowned organist
See ericsson on page 8.
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Conversation with Clay Risen, New York Times 1:00 P.M. Maxcy Hall
Jeanne Dielman Film Screening 6:00 P.M. List Art Building, Room 120
Tech Talk with Ellen Lord, CEO of Textron 6:30 P.M. Barus and Holley, Room 166
Super Tuesday Watch Party 6:30 P.M. Metcalf Auditorium
TOMORROW Zika Virus Panel 12:00 P.M. Joukowsky Forum
Info Session: Brown Summer in Bologna 4:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, Room 440
Argentine Tango Class 5:00 P.M. Grad Center Lounge
Reproductive Freedom Teach-In and Social Hour 6:30 P.M. Rhode Island College
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
R O L A N D H IG H
comic ENGNS Life | Nathan Amin ’19
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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Apple should protect consumer privacy REID SECONDO staff columnist Having grown up during the technology boom of the past two decades, we tech-savvy millennials see the use of personal devices and daily technologies as natural extensions of ourselves. Our virtual profiles and online activities project who we are into cyberspace. We swipe, scroll and surf through interfaces and apps with ease, trusting complex programs and algorithms to let us know where we are going, what we want to buy or how we are feeling — often with more accuracy and precision than our own capabilities. It seems our faith in technology is absolute, born out of our innate comfort with its use and presence and reaffirmed by constant innovation to make our lives easier. Interestingly, this trust has been transferred to the companies that produce such modern marvels. Their dazzling products, innovative spirit and stellar returns have fostered an image of unstoppable market domination and capitalist might. But they are also the most aggres-
sively invasive collectors of personal metadata, and we are okay with that. Rather than feel like a hostage to the likes of a Facebook or Google, we relish the endless vortex of technological consumer culture by surrendering our dollars and data without much considered thought. Our collective Stockholm Syndrome has allowed the tech titans to cultivate
collection of information was conducted by the entity fundamentally created to protect our lives, freedoms and real happiness. Edward Snowden’s leak of the U.S. government’s Internet surveillance through the National Security Administration’s bulk data collection programs sent shockwaves around the world. The post-9/11 intelligence paradigm
NSA continues to collect data to the sour dismay of countless citizens. So whom do we trust more to protect our privacy and provide greater social benefit: our democratic government or for-profit corporations? Data collection is a double-edged sword, and no matter how it swings, we are always sliced into pieces beyond our control.
By using any of this technology, we are essentially entering into a social contract with Silicon Valley.
an intimate cult of personality to which we entrust our personal data like a sacrificial offering to some benevolent force. In exchange, we receive protection of privacy and a showering of countless products and services. By using any of this technology, we are essentially entering into a social contract with Silicon Valley. But oddly enough, we became vehemently outraged when such
once unquestionably imperative to national security was framed as a monstrous Big Brother. Its tentacles reached far beyond simple phone records and Internet time stamps, spying on foreign heads of state and coercing U.S. tech and media companies into supposedly cooperative partnerships. Demands for reform came from individuals, corporations and nations around the world, yet the
With the return of terrorism to the forefront of national consciousness, the government’s battle for data control is now pitted against one of the world’s most valuable companies. Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has made significant advances in product and data security, with the shift to complete encryption in iOS 8 in 2014. Whether viewed as a means to leverage new consumer trust through
a marketing ploy or demonstrate a libertarian commitment to the privacy of its customers in the wake of the Snowden disclosures, this move gives Apple the ability not to comply with the FBI to unlock Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone. Apple has provided the phone’s accessible information to the authorities, but it stands against providing a brute force “back-door” overriding program to all the information. Providing the U.S. government with such a means to infiltrate the phone would open the door to all phones. It would beckon the issuing of warrants from other nations, friend and foe, and tempt hackers to infiltrate what is now widely perceived as the impenetrable Apple security system. Looking past the economic implications of conceding, once again on the chopping block is the protection of our privacy. If Apple complies, the sword will deliver a swift blow to our technological trust and perhaps sever the few remaining senses of protected privacy in this digital age.
Reid Secondo ’16 can be reached at reid_secondo@brown.edu.
The Trump effect MILI MITRA staff columnist When Donald Trump first began running for President, I was sure he had an ulterior motive: I assumed his campaign was a year-long publicity stunt for the next season of “The Apprentice.” After all, how could anyone take a Trump campaign seriously, even Trump himself? But as the election cycle heats up and the world becomes more and more like a real-life Onion article, we are forced to confront a spectacularly horrifying vision of the future: Donald Trump as president, living in the White House — or shall we call it Trump House? — and flying around the world in Trump Force One. Yikes. Despite early predictions that “Trump fever” would fade after a few months, it looks like he is here to stay. So how has he managed to wrench so many votes from his contenders? As Herald Opinions Editor Lainie Rowland ’17 discussed in her column earlier this month, it isn’t just his brashness that appeals to the American public. Yes, people are voting for Trump because he is bombastic and aggressive — so different from the career politicians who are responsible for the breakdown in Congress. But people are also voting for him
because they, at least in part, identify with his ideology. Or lack thereof. Trump isn’t known for his clear-cut policy stances or steadfast beliefs. In fact, he has taken so many U-turns in his public career that Stephen Colbert was able to produce a hilarious sketch of Trump debating himself. He isn’t a true conservative by any stretch of the imagination, nor does he have a coherent vision for the country. A Trump presidency would be
offensive and irrational fears, the Trump campaign provides a platform for the insensitive and intolerant. After all, we are talking about the man who single-handedly popularized the phrase “build a wall.” Trump has used hate speech as a political tool, and its effects are reverberating across the country. Since his remarks against Mexicans and Muslims, there has been a deluge of racist incidents in colleges, airports and communities all over the United
The aftershocks of Trump’s campaign strategy will be felt for years. It takes a lot more than simple defeat to erase 18 months of racial and religious provocation. something akin to a black hole. Who knows what it will spew out? So it is now natural to be preoccupied with the prospect of Trump actually winning. We have told ourselves he can’t be more than a three-minute (going on one-year) wonder and that the furor would die down eventually. But while we have laughed off the chances of a Trump triumph, we have overlooked the damage his campaign has already caused. By pandering to some of the public’s most
States . Minorities are beginning to feel increasingly unsafe and targeted — with good reason. Rhode Island is not an exception to the rule. Last week, several politicians including former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-MI, hosted an ill-informed press conference at the Statehouse against the relocation of Syrian refugees to the state. Their xenophobic rhetoric and unnecessary fear-mongering bear a striking similarity to many of Trump’s campaign speeches — with the minor caveat that they didn’t in-
tersperse their diatribes with phrases like “I’ll make a deal” or “I have $10 billion.” Regardless, both shared many of the same principles and taglines. Trump’s campaign platform has only legitimized these radical, anti-immigrant elements and given them a voice at a national level. The aftershocks of Trump’s campaign strategy will be felt for years. It takes a lot more than simple defeat to erase 18 months of racial and religious provocation. Just take a look across the Atlantic to Europe. Marine Le Pen may not have won last year’s elections in France, but her anti-immigrant ideas have gained long-term visibility. United Kingdom Independence Party might not be seen as a real political threat, but its nationwide campaign has had a lasting impact on racial tolerance in the United Kingdom. In the same way, Trump isn’t just a threat to national harmony if he somehow manages to win. He’s already done enough damage. Today is Super Tuesday. Tonight we will have a better sense of how the rest of the year will play out. But whatever the outcome tomorrow, or even in November, it is too late to reverse the impact of the Trump campaign. The entire country is already reeling from the “Trump effect.”
Mili Mitra ’18 can be reached at mili_mitra@brown.edu.
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ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Awad MFA’14 pens coming-of-age narrative ‘13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl’ centers on woman’s struggle with eating disorders By JACLYN TORRES ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
COURTESY OF HANS-OLA ERICSSON
Hans-Ola Ericsson, a renowned organist and composer, played in Sayles Hall Friday in a concert organized by University organist Mark Steinbach.
Ericsson tackles ‘beast’ at organ recital U. organist invites composer Hans-Ola Ericsson to perform ‘niche’ post-avant-garde selection By MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The University welcomed Hans-Ola Ericsson, world-renowned organist and professor of organ and church music at McGill University, to perform as the featured artist in the annual E.J. Lownes Memorial Organ Recital in Sayles Hall Friday. Ericsson performed a repertoire of works from Jean-Philippe Rameau, Arne Mellnäs, Yves Rechsteiner and Olivier Messiaen. Ericsson specializes in Messiaen’s movements, as he has studied alongside the composer and personally recorded Messiaen’s complete works. “I play good music, music that I believe in. Perhaps not the standard selection, but I’m more interested in the content rather than the surface,” Ericsson told The Herald prior to his performance. Ericsson’s extensive organ experience has allowed him to experiment and draw inspiration from both the classics and 20th century compositions. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson has always been interested in pursuing music as a career, he said. “I could never avoid it. It just happened.” Ericsson began playing the organ at just 10 years old, attending music and choir school in Stockholm as a child. “Those were the happiest moments in my life,” Ericsson said. “To be a student is the greatest thing I have ever experienced.” He continued to study in Stockholm and Freiberg, Germany and later worked with many composers including the Italian avant-garde composer Luigi Nono, American music theorist and composer John Cage and Messiaen. Ericsson began his teaching career as professor at the School of Music in Piteå and has taught at the Schulich School of Music at McGill
University since 2011. Ericsson said that sometimes he wishes he had more time to compose, but he enjoys life as a professor. “To work with students is a very nice way to stay alert. You have to keep up to their references, when it comes to the simple fact of communication,” Ericsson said. This desire to communicate with his students mirrors his approach to connecting with each organ. “No organ is like another. You must match the music to the instrument or squeeze it to the last drop. This is especially a big challenge,” Ericsson said. The organ is “a completely engaging instrument because you are using both hands and feet,” added Mark Steinbach, university organist, instrument curator and lecturer in music. “This beast isn’t for everyone.” Beyond his familiarity with and expertise on Messiaen, Ericsson is known for his post-avant-garde style, which is the main reason Steinbach invited him to play at the recital. “I knew Ericsson specialized in new and esoteric 20th century music,” Steinbach said. He first heard Ericsson’s unique style 15 years ago at an organ festival in the Netherlands, where Ericsson performed a piece that incorporated electronic music and was accompanied by a light show. “I contacted him to do the concert last summer. We found a date and made it happen,” Steinbach said. Along with members of the Department of Music and the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life, many students were excited to hear Ericsson play. “It’s always good to be able to interact with the people at the top of their field,” said Devon Carter ’19. “Ericsson is a very talented new music organist. It’s a very niche field, but he is an incredible musician.” Ericsson found Brown distinctive, just like his own genre of music. He noted the charming Providence architecture and the unique nature of the community.
Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating: These are topics Americans have a hard time discussing; these words evade conversation. But the reality is that people suffer from these disorders, particularly within American culture. The media puts such a strong emphasis on the body that one’s entire essence of selfhood can feel defined by a number on a scale. Core values often fall by the wayside when measuring oneself against others. Mona Awad MFA’14 offers an authentic perception of body image in her latest book “13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.” Her bold narrative of body-obsessed culture follows protagonist Elizabeth through her high school years into her early thirties as she battles with her weight and self-acceptance. Awad’s candor is refreshingly real. She does not pretend body image becomes easier to grasp with age and maturity. She provides those haunting thoughts that creep into the mind and refuse to back down from commanding the consciousness. Every vulnerability, every sin emerges to the surface rapidly and refuses to budge. Elizabeth’s struggle to conform to unrealistic body image standards causes her immense pain, harm and resentment. She cannot hold a peaceful, healthy relationship because she does not value herself enough to foster these relationships with others. Elizabeth is ultimately alone in her battle to conquer her weight, constantly grasping to reach an undefined goal. Her loneliness provides further fuel for self-loathing and pushes her body to extremes. At her lowest points, Elizabeth is either gorging herself on fatty, greasy foods or starving herself for days on end while over-exercising with intense treadmill and cycling workouts. In this way, Awad’s “13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl” enlivens the vicious cycle of some body
COURTESY OF BROWN BOOKSTORE
In her new novel, Mona Awad MFA’14 presents a character who struggles with life-long body image issues, happiness and eating disorders. image struggles: the transition from fat to thin to fat. The reader understands that there is no concrete definition of happiness for Elizabeth. People often think a lower number on the scale correlates with a sunnier disposition and a brighter life, but irreversibly, this only creates more anxiety and a phobia of becoming fat once pounds have been shed. One misstep, and everything is lost. Throughout the entirety of the book, Elizabeth fears losing all semblance of control, and it is this fear that ultimately drives away those closest to her. Awad understands what it means to grow up in a culture more interested in a number than a quality. But the book also documents the genuine, up-and-down human experience of a young female teenager maturing into a middle-aged woman. Elizabeth has moments of brilliance, moments of beauty and fleeting encounters of unambiguous and endearing connection. From the first pages, the complex character sees through others’ deceit and corrupt behavior.
Her rebellious and sometimes unorthodox personality rounds her out as a relatable teenager working to figure out where she stands in the world. As she grows older, she does not lose her authenticity, nor does she grow out of her hamartia. She climbs into adulthood with the notion of long-term change and goal-setting. Elizabeth begins to figure life out in the sense that romance is no longer an abstract term, and stability becomes more pronounced in her daily routine. Awad sagely leaves the novel with one message: No one can escape the deeply personal. Every struggle that goes bone-deep will always be a struggle. No matter how much one person changes, there is no amount of outrunning or suppression that will magically fix the matters one most wants to ignore. Awad writes of embracing every idiosyncracy and every flaw. She urges the reader to remember that the compilation of one’s existence is not just a number on a scale. Rather, it is the intangibles and the invisible, indescribable sentiments that make up the self and add up to one’s self-worth.