SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 60
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SciLi revamp brings new resource centers School officials, researchers Centers now located clash over R.I. school choice on refurbished floors of library include First-Gen, Writing, Sheridan
Segregative effects, efficacy of funding allocation among concerns in ongoing debate
By KASTURI PANANJADY SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Replete with colorful walls, classrooms and coffee machines, the upper levels of the Sciences Library are a far cry from the stacks of yesteryear. As students will discover during the SciLi Open House Sept. 19, floors five through nine have been renovated and are now home to campus resources, administrative departments and research projects. Floor 10 will follow suit shortly. Some of the offices to relocate to the SciLi include the Writing Center, First-Generation College and LowIncome Center, English Language Center, CIS Instructional Technology Group and the Language Resource Center, the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning and the Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative. The relocation of offices allows for greater collaboration between resources and departments to help address a student or faculty member’s concerns holistically, said Steven Lavallee, head of the Friedman Study Center and SciLi building manager. “When I heard about this, I remember thinking, ‘What is this
By GWEN EVERETT SENIOR STAFF WRITER
LAUREN ARATANI / HERALD
hodgepodge of departments?’” Lavellee said, adding that his perspective has since evolved. For instance, surrounding the First-Gen and LowIncome Center with academic support on the fifth floor and financial advising services on the sixth floor may ease the transition to college life for many, he said.
Lavallee also identified room for collaboration between the Rhode Island Innovative Policy Lab and the Brown University Social Science Experimental Laboratory, both of which are currently based on the ninth floor. The Data Science Initiative will be taking the place of RIIPL, » See SCILI, page 2
As parents send their children off to school and policymakers gear up for the new fiscal year, the debate over the quality of primary and secondary education in Rhode Island is taking center stage once again. One of the more controversial facets of the discussion is whether families opt for charter or private schools over the traditional public school system. “We should empower parents in any way we can,” said Deacon Stephen Raymond, director of operations at St. Patrick Academy, a private Catholic school in Providence. “Parents are the primary educators of students, not the state.” If a public school district is failing, parents should be empowered to make a better educational decision for their child, he added. But critics of non-public options assert that school choice can have segregative effects. A 2002 study from the University of Santa Clara and the Joint Center for Poverty Research found that white students were more likely to
enroll in private schools if they lived in racially diverse school districts. Some argue that Rhode Island policies further complicate this problem. While some states provide voucher programs to families struggling with the price tag of sending their children to private schools, Rhode Island provides tax credits to businesses that sponsor scholarships to private schools instead, as The Herald previously reported. Still, not all non-public schools are havens for the wealthy. Raymond said that St. Patrick Academy, just one example of a private school in a local neighborhood, does not function as a way for privileged students to escape the Providence school district. Rather, two-thirds of the school’s students receive free or reduced lunches, and “nearly 100 percent of our students receive financial aid.” Opting out of the public school system altogether is not the only way that parents exercise school choice — deciding where to purchase a home can have segregative effects on the public school system as well, said Matthew Chingos, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a public policy think tank. Charter schools can break this cycle, providing students living in » See EDUCATION, page 2
Entrepreneurship flourishes at second Summer B-Lab Student ventures include apps to help the homeless, automated clothing designed for the elderly By ALEX SKIDMORE SENIOR STAFF WRITER
This summer, 38 students split into 16 teams flocked to the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts to participate in the Summer Breakthrough Lab, a program for entrepreneurship, said Jason Harry, associate professor of the practice of engineering. In the program, which launched last year, participants met with mentors, attended educational sessions and developed their ventures over an eight-week period. This year, the program was relatively selective, as over 100 students representing 40 ventures applied, and only about a third were accepted, Harry said. Student ventures ranged from Technologies Against Assault, which aimed to incorporate biotechnology
INSIDE
into rape kits to aid victims of sexual assault, to Doodle Buns, which produced “artisanal buns made with a special flour mix on the outside, with creative and delicious fillings on the inside,” according to the program’s website. “From an operational standpoint, (B-Lab) was a huge success,” Harry said. Students used B-Lab to explore projects based on their passions. For example, Brittany Cohen ’17.5, along with Amily He, a master’s student at the Rhode Island School of Design, created Kinetic Clothing — a clothing line designed with automatic closures meant to help the elderly dress themselves, Cohen said. The idea stemmed from Cohen’s interests in fashion and sustainability and He’s passion for helping the elderly, Cohen added. Other students participated in BLab to expand upon existing projects. Michelle Peterson ’18 and Eric Bai ’15.5 MD ’20 used B-Lab to refine their three-year-old project called » See B-LAB, page 4
ELI WHITE / HERALD
The Rhode Island Seafood Festival will return to India Point Park for its sixth year, drawing crowds to try local eats and drinks. Sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the event seeks to raise awareness.
Seafood festival returns to India Point Park Festival features local cuisine, draws attention to suicide prevention in Rhode Island By JENNIFER SHOOK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
On Saturday and Sunday, Providence residents and outsiders alike can stop
by India Point Park to enjoy food, drinks and music at the Rhode Island Seafood Festival. Over 50 sponsors and vendors will gather this weekend for the event, now in its sixth year. The event was founded by current event operations manager TJ McNulty and two of his friends. After seeing a similar event in Putnam, Connecticut, the trio decided to create one for
Providence, thinking that a seafood festival seemed more appropriate for a seaside city like Providence than landlocked Putnam. While McNulty said the first year of the festival was admittedly “rough” for the three first-time festival planners, the festival has grown in size and scope over the past few years — from a single-day event attended » See FESTIVAL, page 2
WEATHER
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
ARTS & CULTURE Pasta Beach combines beach aesthetic, classic Italian food in new addition to Wayland Square
ARTS & CULTURE Rhode Island resident, RISD grad fall short in ‘The Sea of Trees,’ remain committed to filmmaking
COMMENTARY Esemplare ’18: Voting for preferred, not ideal candidate is informed citizens’ duty
COMMENTARY Friedman ’19: Freshman year teaches time management, helps students find true passions
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» FESTIVAL, from page 1 by 500 people to a two-day event with an expected turnout of over 5,000 people. This year, the festival is sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which plans to use the event to help advertise two upcoming “Out of the Darkness Community Walks” to help raise money and awareness for suicide prevention. The first of these community walks in Rhode Island will take place Sept. 17 in Warwick and the second Oct. 22 in Pawtucket. “There’s a stigma around talking about suicide which is counterproductive to what we’re trying to do. If someone’s struggling we want them to be able to feel like that they can get help that they need,” said Justin Alves, co-chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “We’re trying to tie it to a public event that has a positive, other note to it, so it gets people
» SCILI, from page 1 and RIIPL will move to the 10th floor as it nears completion, Lavallee said, adding that a shared interest in data analysis could unite researchers from all three departments. Some office spaces may also be rented out for student use in the evenings once individual departments settle on their hours of operation, Lavallee said. Some changes followed students complaints. The Computer Science Master’s Lab, temporarily housed alongside the Quiet Study Room on the fourth floor, now has its own space on the eighth floor, and the Friedman Center has received new bathrooms. The University has reduced SciLi staffing hours but will be attentive to student feedback in measuring the success of the change, said University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi.
talking about suicide prevention and mental health.” This year, the festival has tried to bring in a more diverse range of food and drink options — from pizza to hot dogs to its conventional staple of seafood, McNulty said. Many vendors and sponsors, like TwoTen Oyster Bar based out of South Kingston, Rhode Island, return to the event year after year, drawn to its “fun, local” atmosphere, wrote Brianna Cain, marketing coordinator for TwoTen Oyster Bar, in an email to The Herald. It’s the “right kind of atmosphere to get a taste of everything (Rhode Island) has to offer,” Cain wrote. McNulty said he wants to continue planning the event for as long as possible, but hopes if the workload becomes too overwhelming, the festival will continue in the hands of another planner. People’s enthusiasm for the festival makes the hard work in the planning stages worth it, he said. Tickets for the festival will be $5 and can be purchased both days it takes place. The number of full-time employees at the Friedman Center has also dropped from 4.5 to 2.5, though the staff members leaving the Friedman Center have found equivalent or more senior positions at the Rockefeller Library and the John Hay Library with identical or better salaries. “The guarantee was that no staff member would lose his or her job and see a cut in their salary or status,” Hemmasi said. This staff redistribution also reflects the changing responsibilities of employees at the SciLi and those at the Rock and the Hay, Hemmasi said. Some collections and services — such as the DVD collection and print reserves — have been moved to the Rock from the SciLi, she said. The renovations mark the culmination of five years of planning, following recommendations for space reallocation issued by the Library Space Planning Committee in 2011.
» EDUCATION, from page 1 neighborhoods with scant funding an opportunity to attend a better-funded school. But charter schools, too, are not isolated from the neighborhoods in which they arise: For example, a 2011 study published by Arizona State University found that charter schools are more likely to pop up outside of predominantly black neighborhoods. In Rhode Island, the discussion on charter schools remains contentious. Charter schools serve a small fraction of students, said Barry Ricci, superintendent of the Chariho School District in southern Rhode Island. Charter schools yield the same educational results as public schools, but with a multi-million dollar price tag, he said, adding that he had heard anecdotal evidence of charter schools leading to racial segregation. It is the responsibility of educators to lift “all students to higher levels of achievement,” Ricci said. The funding that goes to charter schools could be better put toward investment in public school development, supplying funds for, among other assets, high-quality instructors who can foster greater academic accountability in students, he said. “I don’t think we can afford free choice, and free choice isn’t helping all kids.”
ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 • PAGE 3
Pasta Beach combines Italian cuisine, American summer Newest addition to Wayland Square offers classic, peculiar dishes in rustic, nautical aesthetic By MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Nestled between the many home goods stores, bistros and coffee shops in Wayland Square lies the neighborhood’s newest resident: Pasta Beach. The third installment of the chain, which boasts locations in Newport and Boston, opened just weeks ago Aug. 18. Already the restaurant attracts many culinary cognoscenti native to Providence and the surrounding communities to its semi-open-air environment. A unique addition to Providence’s rich Italian gastronomic history, Pasta Beach beckons to both pasta lovers and those nostalgic for the Ocean State’s seaside sights. Upon entering, the decor tickles the hungry diner’s memory with thoughts of Carolina beach shag dancing, early 20th century bathing suits, beach tents and the words to classic Beach Boys tunes like “Good Vibrations” and “Kokomo.” Walls are striped yellow and white, grass skirtlike decorations adorn the furniture and bright colors add a summery feel to the restaurant’s nautical yet rustic aesthetic. Music ranges from Van Morrison and Redbone to AC/DC and even Adele. Neither bold nor overwhelming, the theme provides a novel complement to the more classic dishes that typify traditional Italian cuisine. Similar to the ambience, the dining experience itself was comprised of both distinct and classic elements. The bruschetta, no doubt a classic antipasto dish, was the star appetizer (and possibly the
best dish offered by the restaurant). The lightly toasted bread stayed true to the original cultural intent of the dish: to make use of stale leftovers. Diced tomatoes seasoned with basil, salt and oregano delightfully accompanied the toast’s crunchy texture. Following the antipasti course, many of the primi pasta dishes rightfully captured the attention of diners. The popular tagliatelle alla bolognese elegantly balances thin, al dente noodles with a dark, hearty bolognese sauce. Though listed as a “classic meat sauce,” the almost cliche nature of the dish fails to encapsulate each distinct, delectable mouthful. The spaghetti al pomodoro e basilico, the yardstick against which to measure the authenticity and status of any Italian restaurant, had a light delectability any chef should hope for. In contrast, the gnocci al pesto genovese fell short, as the bland basil pesto sauce and green beans lacked characteristic bite and failed to do each gnocco justice. Though its namesake reflects its self-professed pasta prowess, the Beach’s pizza dishes deserve some recognition. The restaurant’s woodburning stove lends itself to producing an airy yet flavorfully charred crust for each pie. The margherita pie, though a run-of-the-mill menu option, captured the essence of simple Italian cooking. The presence of mozzarella did not overpower but rather complemented the light tomato base as the basil added a simple but necessary garnish. For the more adventurous eater, the capricciosa pizza, a tomato-based pizza made with mozzarella, ham, artichokes, champignon mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, capers and basil, offers a hearty yet tasteful option for the Beach diner. Though the meal incorporates certain
MADISON RIVLIN / HERALD
Pasta Beach offers various dishes with unique, unorthodox ingredients. Pictured above, the panzanella salad incorporates a tuna element, somewhat atypical of a classic version of this dish. ingredients strikingly atypical of a unorthodox ingredients continued in Despite certain quirky ingredient capricciosa pie and authentic Italian the panzanella salad, a bread salad that choices, the menu is well rounded, as cooking, such as pepperoni, the dish typifies light, summery Tuscan cooking. the restaurant offers options for the emulates the “capricious” trait for While some chefs choose to include more health-conscious Beach diner. which the pizza is named, as the fla- tuna just as Pasta Beach did, it tasted Salads like the tre sapori, pollo and vors meld together with the help of a incongruous and ill-fitting, as it grossly gamberi, and whole-wheat pasta oplight tomato-based sauce. smothered the more dainty flavors of tions are nutritious and fairly priced The trend of unwisely including basil and tomato. alternatives.
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» B-LAB, from page 1 TextUp, a communication software meant to aid case managers at agencies that serve the homeless, Peterson said. Bai came up with the idea for TextUp after interning in Kenya with a company that created text messagebased software and wanted to incorporate that technology to solve problems in the United States, she added. Another team composed of Skander Jabbes MD ’16, Nikhil Arora MD
’16 GS and Idil Oksuz MD ’16 developed Artistery, an app that provides users with a database of works in museums and art galleries from around the world. Users can connect their smartphones to high-definition displays — such as televisions or digital frames — to project different canvases of art. “We want to change the way people interact with art,” Jabbes said. The team developed the app after receiving an assignment for a class in
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD the Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, a fifthyear master’s program that combines business with engineering. As part of the assignment, the group had to combine organic LED technology with art to create a project. The students lauded the mentorship aspect of the program, as teams had access to lawyers, investors and other professionals with entrepreneurship experience. Around 50 mentors provided approximately 400
hours of support, Harry said. “The answer was always there,” Jabbes said. “The people at B-Lab eliminated our roadblocks.” Besides mentorship, students were also provided with a stipend that allowed them to commit fully to the program without having to get part-time jobs, a benefit the students especially appreciated, Peterson said. After the eight weeks, teams were left with different prospects for their ventures. The creators of TextUp hope to license their software as an official nonprofit, expand into Massachusetts and pilot version 2.5 of their software this fall, Peterson said. The team at Artistery has started a crowdfunding
page to procure support for its app, Jabbes said. On the other hand, the path forward is less clear for Kinetic Clothing. Though the team arrived at B-Lab with a concrete concept, after speaking with people who serve the elderly, they realized the automatic closures may seem too futuristic, Cohen said. After pursuing different ideas throughout the summer — such as clothing that shifts by itself so the elderly, who are often sedentary, can avoid bedsores — Cohen will not be pursuing her B-Lab Project. B-Lab “ended up being a great challenge. It made me aware of how research works and how to explore different ideas,” she said.
COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
Summer B-Lab concluded with a presentation of student ventures. Not all projects succeeded, but students appreciated the research opportunities.
TODAY
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 • PAGE 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
menu
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SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS
Pizza: Na’cho, Spicy Five Cheese and Garlic, BBQ Bam Bam Make-Your-Own Pasta JOSIAH’S
BLUE ROOM
Quesadillas
Beef Chili, Hearty Country Vegetable, Broccoli and Cheddar
DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH
DINNER
Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Toasted Ravioli, Roasted Tofu Freekah Saute, Frosted Cupcakes
Build-Your-Own Nacho Bar, Grilled Latin Spiced Pork Chops, Cream Cheese Brownies
VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH
DINNER
Vegetable Cream of Mushroom Soup, Shaved Steak Sandwich, Frosted Cupcakes
Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini, Shells with Broccoli, Cajun Apple Cake
sudoku
crossword ELI WHITE / HERALD
As the contained chaos that is shopping period begins, students gathered in the CIT for a computer science town hall meeting to kick off the semester.
Q U O T E O F T H E D AY
“The truth is, it doesn’t hurt me too much career-wise.” — Chris Sparling, screenwriter of “The Sea of Trees”
See rhode island filmmaker on back.
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Orientation Yoga 12:00 P.M. Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle
Brown University Orchestra Open House 5:30 P.M. Alumnae Hall Auditorium
Wellness At Brown!: Prostate Cancer 12:00 P.M. Petteruti Lounge
2016 Fall Activities Far 7:00 P.M. OMAC Indoor Track
TOMORROW Looking Through the Eye of the Heart 10:00 A.M. Petteruti Lounge
Dance Orientation 2016 6:00 P.M. Ashamu Dance Studio
Innovate on the Hill Picnic! 4:00 P.M. Main Green
WBRU Info Session 6:00 P.M. Wilson Hall 102
COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
On Blueno To the Editor: I’m writing because I want to speak my mind about a recent issue sparking debate on this campus. We are lucky to have many guests here at Brown this semester, and as a community we must strive to give them the warmest welcome possible. In many cases, I think we succeed. However, I have heard one guest ridiculed innumerable times, and I think this has to stop. Lamp/Bear has every right to be here, and should be treated as such! Too many times I’ve seen the metallic bear insulted right to his face! People have claimed he is too big, too hard, not really art or even something spawned from their
most surreal nightmares. While the bear manages to keep a big, glowing — albeit ominous — smile on his face, I know it hurts him deep inside his cavernous heart. While he may not be Bruno, he is our Blueno! And we need to start treating him like that. This is a call to action for members of this community to give our unnerving friend the love, fear and respect he deserves. So if you see him sitting alone on a quiet night, his light casting shadows in both your mind and heart, and his coal-black button eyes pierce yours from across the quad, maybe go up and introduce yourself. You might even be shopping some of the same classes. Travis Williams ’20
R O L A N D H IG H
comic A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg
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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 • PAGE 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Civic duty and cowardice NICK ESEMPLARE staff columnist
There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a historic election season. There is, of course, the unorthodox candidacy of Donald Trump and the similarly groundbreaking story of Hillary Clinton as the first woman nominated by a major party. But beyond these talking points, the upcoming election is an interesting one because it features two historically unpopular candidates. Many will point to this fact in dismay, seeing it as a symptom of a deeply flawed political system, and they may be correct. I am not interested in discussing this election’s candidates, nor in adding another voice to the tired conversation about the current state of American democracy. But I do think that trying times often reveal characteristics in ourselves that may otherwise go unnoticed, and this election is no different. Commentators argue over how and why we arrived at this unusual point in our electoral history, but I am more interested in what the absurdity of the current election reveals about the American people. Namely, this political climate has revealed a counterintuitive level of se-
lectivity that compels people to stay home in November despite the dramatic differences between the two candidates. These voters doubtless existed before this election, but I would posit that the current political landscape has brought more people into this disillusioned camp than ever before. The argument is quite simple, and equally foolish: Why vote
you support a candidate, you are always picking the person you agree with more. Expecting candidates to align perfectly with your own viewpoints is unrealistic, and only voting for candidates you support absolutely, as opposed to relatively, is foolish and even dangerous in a representative democracy. This election in particular represents the clash of two drastically different visions for
derstand the rationale. In a country where 129.1 million votes were cast in the last election, it is hard to feel as if a single vote can make a difference, especially for residents in nonswing states. While I plan on voting this November, I feel the futility of my own ballot. It is also unfair to criticize those who will not vote because they are politically uninformed. Some see the maintenance
This political climate has revealed a counter-intuitive level of selectivity that compels people to stay home in November despite the dramatic differences between the two candidates.
for a candidate you don’t want to be president? The counterargument to this sentiment is obvious: because representative democracy wasn’t designed for you to cast only votes you feel strongly about. Voting is and always has been about preferences. It is counterproductive to be opposed to voting for the “lesser of two evils” when, in reality, this is all an election ever is; regardless of how strongly
America, and if you are a politically informed American citizen, it is virtually impossible not to prefer one candidate over the other. To be clear, I am not passionately opposed to eligible voters staying home in November on all grounds. Voter turnout in American presidential elections is on the lower end of established democracies, but while some decry low voter turnout as an affront to civic duty, I can un-
of a political sensibility to be a part of one’s civic duty. But while I agree that a more informed citizenry would benefit the nation as a whole, it will never be in the country’s best interest to increase turnout of uninformed voters, and I have no real qualm with this bloc of the American electorate staying home this November. But to informed voters, who under normal circumstances would
vote in a presidential election, I am less forgiving. For all the talk of civic duty in this country, it is this group’s actions that most thoroughly disrespect our nation’s political system. To avoid voting simply because of a lack of strong support for a candidate is self-defeating, and citizens who do so bear a particularly snobbish relationship with American democracy. These are the citizens who take democracy for granted — those who expect democracy to produce for them a candidate of their liking, who refrain from voting if they aren’t excited enough about it. To say that America stands at a crossroads sounds a bit dramatic, but in a sense this is true of every election. If you are a politically informed citizen, staying home in November because you aren’t excited about either candidate is a cowardly evasion of your civic duty, a cop-out that threatens the strength of American democracy and the future of our nation. In a pivotal national election, I am disappointed that many of my fellow citizens and students would rather stay home to voice their dissatisfaction with the choices democracy has given us than play a role in the selection of the next president.
Nick Esemplare ’18 can be reached at nicholas_esemplare@brown.edu.
Facing freshman fears ANDREW FRIEDMAN staff columnist Three weeks ago, I signed up to offer advice and tips to my advisor’s incoming first-year advisees over an hour-long meeting. In preparation for the discussion, he sent me a couple of New York Times articles: one about how one’s perception of their own intelligence can have a dramatic effect on GPA and the other a compendium of advice for incoming college freshmen written by college students from across the country. The process of reading and reflecting upon these articles caused my own dormant memories and takeaways from freshman year to resurface. Last year, I was a bit too fatalistic about the whole college experience. Every detail of the first week of school was extrapolated to the point of meaninglessness, and it seemed as though every occurrence would have dire consequences for the next four years. Within two weeks of the beginning of class, my peers seemed to have already settled into their extracurricular activities and integrated club events into their weekly schedule. In an effort to make up lost ground, I began writing at The Herald, signed up for shifts at the Underground Coffee Shop and joined the email lists of the Korean-American Student Association, the Hapa Club, Model United Nations, Running Club, Brown Debate Club, the Environmental Studies Departmental Undergraduate Group and History DUG. The act of checking my email at night became such a stress-inducing process that I usually avoided it. To this day, I still have 2,063 unread emails sitting in my Brown inbox
thanks to my sign-up frenzy. Eventually I unsubscribed from the unwanted email lists. Ironically, I only started attending club meetings with my friends after I unsubscribed. It turns out that discovering clubs in real life is better than discovering them online. That experience taught me that I only have time in my week and patience with Gmail for three, maybe four activities outside of class and that the process of rapid one-upping ex-
for high school tests and college midterms — one cannot simply pull an all-nighter without prior studying and expect to do well on a midterm at Brown. To my chagrin, I had to learn this lesson twice; I spent the majority of both semesters last year recovering from poor grades on first midterms. Last spring, I received a C on my mathematical microeconomics midterm after spending a scant three hours unconfidently solving practice problems out of
I recall suggesting to him that night that I drop out of Brown, move back to Dallas and get a job as a waiter or barista while attending community college because this whole Ivy League school thing was not going to work out for me.
tracurricular involvement is self-defeating. Ultimately, I only attended club meetings and put in effort for activities that I genuinely enjoyed, and the process of discovering how I actually liked spending my time took much longer than a month. The slow-and-steady method of signing up for clubs and activities isn’t the only thing that eluded me last year. Only once my second semester midterms had rolled around did I truly understand the difference between studying
the book the night before. When I received my grade at the end of the class, my first reaction was that I had mistakenly picked up someone else’s answer booklet. The real horror of the situation set in when I verified my name on the front cover. Panicking, I called my dad during every free moment I had for the rest of the day. I recall suggesting to him that night that I drop out of Brown, move back to Dallas and get a job as a waiter or barista while attending community college because this whole Ivy League
school thing was not going to work out for me. I eventually learned that I needed at least four days to legitimately study for a Brown midterm and that I needed to plan out my studying weeks in advance. I learned that a train trip to New York the weekend before a midterm is not a great idea and that I should get a tutor for any class in which I know I am struggling. But what really forced me to adopt better study habits was joining the men’s crew team last spring. Ironically, the added obstacle of three-hour practices six days a week made free study time valuable to me in a way nothing had before. I began creating and abiding by study calendars, which proved indispensable in organizing my time during reading week. Looking back through the college advice articles published in the Times, my experience with activities closely parallels that of Shivani Dixit, University of Chicago ’17, who said, “remember that everyone has unique talents, and you have four years to cultivate yours.” My experience with midterms can be summarized by Justine Goode, Oberlin College ’16, who said, “your grade in one class does not define you.” It seems that the college experience doesn’t vary from place to place as much as I initially thought; my friends from other universities and I have come away from our first year with largely the same conclusions. Though part of success at Brown lies in the details (like knowing which days the Ratty serves Asian food, so you can go to the VDub instead), another part of success lies in understanding that you will struggle your first year, but eventually you will find your way. It just takes time.
Andrew Friedman ’19 can be reached at andrew_friedman@brown.edu.
ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016
R.I. screenwriter discusses shortcomings of latest film Chris Sparling perseveres through lackluster reception of recent release, ‘The Sea of Trees’ By ROLAND HIGH SENIOR STAFF WRITER
This summer, screenwriter and coproducer Chris Sparling, a Rhode Island native, and director Gus Van Sant RISD ’74, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, released “The Sea of Trees,” a film with all the trappings of a blockbuster. Starring Naomi Watts and Matthew McConaughey, it had a reported budget of $25 million. But the movie flopped: It brought in just $2,894 in the first week after its release. Sparling recently rose to prominence with his screenplay for “Buried,” a 2010 thriller set entirely inside the coffin of a man desperately phoning for help. The film, which Sparling says “broke open” his career, was well received by most critics, with Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian calling it a “chokingly effective scare story.” Stephen Holden, a longtime critic for the New York Times, took a rather different view, one that would foreshadow the reception of Sparling’s latest film. “‘Buried’ is a horror movie with
delusions of moral grandeur,” Holden rumbles at the outset of his review, going on to say of one scene: “with that gimmick, the movie sacrifices its last shred of integrity.” The derision of Holden and likeminded critics seemed to roll off Sparling, who went on to write the screenplay for “The Sea of Trees,” which was selected for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It came as a surprise, then, when it was booed and laughed at during the Cannes critics’ screening. The Times’ Jeannette Catsoulis wrote with less venomous flourish than Holden, but she didn’t hold any punches: McConaughey’s character “soon sinks completely into a soggy swamp of platitudes.” But at the film festival, McConaughey seemed unfazed. “It’s hands down an exceptional script,” he told Variety. “It moved me.” For his part, Sparling said the star power behind the film might have worsened the backlash: “There were certain expectations because of the people involved.” He also said he sees a small difference between the tone of his screenplay and the film. “What I wrote was a darker and grittier story … more of a survival story,” he said, though he acknowledged that “when something
goes from script to screen, it usually undergoes major structural changes.” “I wanted it to be something that everyone could enjoy,” he added. “I’m disappointed that it didn’t connect in the way that … we hoped it would.” Despite the disappointment, Sparling said there was much to be thankful for. “I’m really happy the movie came out. I’m proud of the movie. … I’m proud of what it became,” he said. Sparling recently made light of the Times review — which accused him of “bearing most of the blame” for the film’s shortcomings — and remains as committed as ever to his profession. “The truth is it doesn’t hurt me too much career-wise,” he said. Sparling has both written and directed another thriller, “Mercy,” which was bought by Netflix and features Tom Lipinski ’04 as one of four brothers under attack as they visit their dying mother. As the father of two young children, Sparling is happiest at home in Rhode Island, and on the lookout for projects to make here. “I have two kids, so selfishly I would like to make whatever my next project is here,” he said. Besides, he added, working in Rhode Island has its perks. “When I’m in (Los Angeles), I end up … taking meetings, stuff that is just part of the job,” he said. “But when I’m here I’m able to treat it like a nine-to-five.”
COURTESY OF A24 FILMS
Despite a poor box office showing of “The Sea of Trees,” screenwriter Chris Sparling remains dedicated to his craft, he said.
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