Thursday, October 6, 2016

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 80

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

Blum ’16 wins regional Undergraduate Award Award-winning paper proposes effective use of agricultural biotechnologies

By BELLA ROBERTS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

HUAYU OUYANG / HERALD

Providence’s caffeine scene gets a jolt from coffee connoisseurs Sam Lancaster and Audrey Finocchiaro, owners of The Nitro Cart. The pair infuses a cold brew with nitrogen for a unique iced coffee experience.

The Nitro Cart serves up innovative java Pop-up coffee cart entrepreneurs give average cup of joe icy, molecular twist

By MADISON RIVLIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Revolutionizing the java scene in Providence, pop-up coffee stand The Nitro Cart fuels natives’ caffeine addictions

with an artisanal, nitrogen-infused cup of joe. Appearing on street corners all over Rhode Island, The Nitro Cart specializes in cold-brewed, pure nitrogen-infused iced coffee.

Beginning as a passion for finding niche, hole-in-the-wall coffee shops during their time in New York City, owners Audrey Finocchiaro and Sam Lancaster’s relatively casual interest

ARTS & CULTURE

Researchers find formaldehyde harms proteins, not just DNA U. researcher discovers potential explanation for formaldehyde’s neurotoxic effects in co-led study

By KAYLI WREN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Formaldehyde, a known toxicant and carcinogen, is more harmful than previously believed, according to a study co-authored by Anatoly Zhitkovich, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School. The study, published Sept. 14 in the American Journal of Pathology, suggests that formaldehyde damages proteins as well as DNA, a finding that has serious implications for human health.

The study was originally designed to explore how formaldehyde damages DNA because formaldehyde has long been known to cause cell

INSIDE

damage, DNA damage and cancer.

But during the study, “coincidental findings” led the authors to believe that formaldehyde harms cells in a second way by significantly damaging proteins, wrote Caitlin McCarthy, a co-author of the study, in an email to The Herald.

The findings were “exciting,” McCarthy wrote, because this is the first study to show formaldehyde’s effects on proteins.

When the researchers were studying the effects of formaldehyde on DNA, they noticed that the levels of an anticancer protein, p53, unexpectedly began to decrease as the doses of formeldahyde increased. This suggested that formaldehyde was somehow preventing the anticancer protein from protecting the cell properly, and that was the first sign of possible protein damage, Zhitkovich said.

The researchers evaluated the » See FORMALDEHYDE, page 2

in coffee evolved into a desire to create. “I always wanted to do something with coffee, and I was really into the smallness of carts, and we decided to combine the two,” Finocchiaro said.

Finocchiaro and Lancaster’s concept was hurriedly made a reality in May of 2016. Living in Jamestown, Rhode Island, the pair began researching potential opportunities to publicly present The Nitro Cart. Quickly » See COFFEE, page 2

Alexander Blum ’16, a former Herald metro editor, became the first Brown student to be recognized by the international academic program the Undergraduate Awards, winning honors in the United States and Canada region. Blum won in the earth and environmental sciences category for his paper “Rational Misconception: Agricultural Biotechnology,” which argues that the optimal use of agricultural technologies requires input from all relevant parties.

The award-winning paper was originally written as a final assignment for an international relations class, INTL 1803I: “Richard Holbrooke (’62, a former Herald editorin-chief ) and the Rise and Fall of American Power.” The course was taught by David Rohde ’90, national security investigations editor at Reuters and then-senior fellow in international and public affairs. The paper prompt was to write a guide to a major foreign policy challenge the United States faces. Blum, a biochemistry concentrator, used his

prior scientific knowledge to write a white paper on the appropriate usages of agricultural biotechnology.

One of Holbrooke’s guiding principles taught in the class was that all people are rational actors and should be treated as such even when their perceptions and guiding values differ from those of other individuals.

Blum then applied that concept to the field of agricultural biotechnology.

“One of the paper’s central themes is that a thoughtful, well-informed conversation that respects folks on both sides of the debate is crucial,” he said. Though biotechnology is a hotly debated topic, there are people “on both sides that make valid points and whose opinions need to be respected,” he added.

“As well as being very authoritative on science,” Rohde said, Blum “did a great job of digging out facts and also airing the criticisms.” Blum’s paper incorporated his existing knowledge to make his argument, and the white paper was “just a slam dunk in terms of how clearly and cogently it was written,” Rohde added.

After he turned the assignment in for the course, Blum was encouraged to submit his paper to the Undergraduate Awards when he attended an informational session with Associate Dean for Undergraduate Research and Inclusive Science Oludurotimi » See BLUM, page 2

‘1 percent’ explores class, wealth divide Showcase at Taubman seeks to ignite conversation on global privilege, inequality

By CONNOR SULLIVAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“1 percent,” the latest curated exhibit by artist and senior Time Magazine photo editor Myles Little, explores class privilege on a global scale. The installation has been on display in the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy since Sept. 12 and will be until Dec. 21.

To create “1 percent,” Little collected a set of images by various photographers that broadly examine issues of class, starkly juxtaposing depictions of wealth with representations of poverty.

Functioning as a modern analogue to Jacob Riis’s “How the Other Half Lives,” a seminal series of photographs » See 1 PERCENT, page 3

ARTS & CULTURE

GUS REED / HERALD

“1 percent,” a photography exhibit by Time Magazine editor Myles Little, represents a modern equivalent to Jacob Riis’s “How the Other Half Lives.”

WEATHER

THURSDAY, OC TOBER 6, 2016

ARTS & CULTURE Brown Theater Collective brings together various theater groups, fosters community

NEWS UCS discusses possible lowincome student activities fund, centralized activities calender

COMMENTARY Friedman ’19: Describing assignments as easy feeds academic inferiority complex

COMMENTARY Krishnamurthy ’19: Usage of terms like ‘problematic’ oversimplifies complex problems

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Brown Theatre Collective unites thespian groups across campus BTC aims to connect members of campus theater community, increase accessibility

By JENNIFER SHOOK STAFF WRITER

Founded last year, the Brown Theatre Collective is looking forward to its first full year as a campus group that brings together actors, directors, artists and students passionate about theater. The group’s three founders, Naiyah Ambros ’17, Marina Hyson ’18 and Danielle Perelman ’17, a former Herald pho-

» COFFEE, from page 1 learning of a sheep-shearing event held at Watson Farm, The Nitro Cart owners decided to test out their business proposal on the attendees. “We had nothing ready, just the idea,” Lancaster said. “But in 10 days, Sam and I figured out how to brew nitro coffee,” Finocchiaro said.

As a newly established business with a staff of four, The Nitro Cart received no outside funding or grant money to get off the ground, Lancaster

tographer, were inspired to form the collective after realizing just how difficult it is to get involved in the theater community at Brown.

“It’s really hard to break in (to the Brown theatre community). Everything’s really confusing,” Ambros said.

“There’s nowhere you can go to just find out about theater.”

The Brown Theatre Collective’s goal was to make the theater community more accessible to outsiders looking to get in, as well as to streamline communication among theater groups at Brown.

After drafting a group constitution, Ambros, Hyson and Perelman brought

their idea to Brown’s numerous theater groups, all of whom agreed to be member groups and communicate with the BTC through an assigned liaison.

Because BTC aims to be more accessible than traditional Brown theater boards, the collective does not elect a president, relying on the leadership of a core group of members who divide duties up among themselves.

“We’re not a board in any way. We really are a collective,” Ambros said.

At weekly meetings, the group discusses large-scale problems the campus theater community faces. The group also plans to host workshops and series like the “Last Call: Theatre Edition,”

which Sarah Cooke ’17 put together last year. Cooke, then a junior, interviewed seniors and asked them to share information about their experiences in Brown theater to be used as a resource for future students.

The collective also curates a website that Perelman and Ambros said they hope will help students interested in participating in productions find shows suitable for them.

While Perelman, Ambros and Hyson founded and currently lead the group, they hope they can reduce their involvement to focus more on their leadership positions on the Musical Forum Board to allow space for less involved

but interested members of the Brown theater community to participate.

“The whole goal is for there not to be three figureheads,” Perelman said. “For people not on boards, this is a place for them to have an active role in the theater community.”

As the collective grows, the founders hope to create more of a community for Brown theater, bringing together individual groups and allowing more crossover for members of various groups.

Perelman added that the group aims to make theatre less about “different communities all occupying a similar space and rather one community with a lot of different avenues.”

said. “We bootstrapped everything on our own and have tried to find the cheapest and most efficient way to make coffee,” Finocchiaro said.

The pair resorted only to familial aid, as Finocchiaro’s father and uncle built the cart and provided an industrial kitchen for brewing the coffee.

To make the java itself, The Nitro Cart begins with beans from Rhode Island’s own TLC Coffee Roasters, which are brewed in cold water for 24 hours.

The benefit to a cold brew is that it “allows the water to extract more flavor

and caffeine from the coffee beans and takes away the normal acidity of regular coffee that results when you brew beans in hot water,” Finocchiaro said.

“A cold brew pour is similar to a Guinness beer in that it pours with a cascade and gives the drink a smooth and creamy texture without adding any dairy,” she added.

After the cold brew, the coffee is infused with pure nitrogen. “Usually people drink it black, which is awesome, though some people add coconut milk.”

“It’s so smooth — the first time I had it I was blown away,” said George Gray, employee at The Nitro Cart and friend of Lancaster’s.

Since the sheep-shearing event, The Nitro Cart has continued to cater private parties and weddings, participate in farmers’ markets and frequent the streets of Providence, Lancaster said.

“Though we are affected by the weather, a regular brick-and-mortar couldn’t just pop up next to Brown — we get to get in the face of the consumer,” Finocchiaro said.

“The atmosphere that they create around the cart — people love it. It looks cool to have it on the side of the street,” Gray said.

Though the startup has no headquarters, the Cart has begun to collaborate with local businesses and restaurants to offer products on tap and broaden the Nitro Cart consumer base. “What we are hoping to do for this year is possibly bring on two or three more carts come spring, and we would love to have four restaurants serving our coffee,” Finocchiaro said.

» FORMALDEHYDE, from page 1

COURTESY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY

Alexander Blum ’16 was awarded regional honors from the prestigious Undergraduate Awards for a paper he wrote on agricultural biotechnology.

» BLUM, from page 1 Adetunji in February. “It was not written with the awards in mind. In terms of the writing process, it was a standard research paper,” Blum said.

Blum’s research continues to affect his current work at Gandhiji Prem Nivas, a Hansen’s disease center.

“Living here has confirmed my argument in the sense that I still

believe and really do feel that these technologies can do a lot of good, especially for the poor,” Blum said, adding that it is “not a black-andwhite issue, either.”

Rohde was “thrilled” that Blum was able to apply his research because “there are huge advances occurring in science and technology, and we should be applying them to the great challenges of our time,” he said.

severity of the protein damage by examining how many proteins the cell kills because the proteins could not be repaired, Zhitkovich said. The study found that there were “massive amounts” of polyubiquitination, or an extremely large build-up of damaged proteins that had been marked for destruction, he added.

The study showed that formaldehyde acts as a “heat shock mimic.” It triggers the same biological response as heat and causes the proteins to misfold and mutate. The results “open a window in some previously unrecognized form of injury to cells,” Zhitkovich said.

The study is “significant because it has direct links to human health and well-being,” McCarthy wrote. “People can suffer occupational exposure to formaldehyde, and it is used in many manufactured products.”

His team thinks the data provides an explanation for the neurotoxic effects of formaldehyde, Zhitkovich added. High doses of formaldehyde have been known to cause Parkinson’s disease, eyesight damage and other diseases that stem from nerve damage, but the reason was unknown. The study’s results suggest that the formaldehyde-caused injury to proteins engenders the neurotoxic effects.

“Accumulation of large volumes of protein damage is one of the trademarks of many neurodegenerative diseases,” McCarthy wrote.

A relevant question now is whether the formaldehyde that humans naturally produce could have harmful long-term effects, Zhitkovich said. It is possible that this internal source of formaldehyde would significantly damage DNA and proteins, which would contribute to age-related health problems as cells age and unrepaired damages accumulate over a lifetime, he added.

This study should influence people to “minimize their exposure” to formaldehyde, McCarthy wrote.

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

Anatoly Zhitkovich, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, co-authored a study on the newfound harmful effects of formaldehyde.

But the chemical is used in many common items such as new carpets, paints, household and cosmetic products and new mobile home building materials, according to the researchers. The study might lead to “new regulations that limit the use of formaldehyde in these products,” wrote Sara Ortega-Atienza, lead author of the study, in an email to The Herald.

It can be “scary” to consider the significant effects of formaldehyde from cigarette smoke, indoor offices and especially in occupational

settings, Zhitkovich said. People who smoke cigarettes or are professionally exposed to formaldehyde, such as embalmers, are at a significantly higher risk for cancer, he added.

People who are professionally exposed to formaldehyde should be careful to use their companies’ protective equipment properly, McCarthy wrote. “Industries that use formaldehyde in their manufacturing should considering switching to less harmful alternatives,” McCarthy added.

NEWS

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

NAOMY PEDROZA / HERALD

Members of all four committees of the Undergraduate Council of Students met Wednesday evening. Among other issues, committees discussed extending hours for the John Hay Library, providing gender-inclusive bathrooms in laboratory buildings and developing a centralized student activities calendar in hopes of elucidating extracurricular options for first-years.

UCS discusses potential committee-based initiatives Council discusses possible student activities fund, comprehensive activities calendar, Facilities app

By ROSE SHEEHAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Members of the Undergraduate Council of Students discussed possible future initiatives, including the creation of an activities fund for low-income students and a consolidated student activities calendar, at the general body meeting Wednesday night. The council brainstormed projects for each of its four committees: Student Activities, Campus Life, Academic Affairs and Student Wellness.

The Student Activities committee is “responsible for categorizing new student groups on campus and making sure that existing student groups are in the right

» 1 PERCENT, from page 1 that illustrated disparities in wealth in the late 19th century, “1 percent” joins an elaborate tradition of photographic commentary on economic inequalities.

Still, Little remains unique in his approach. “I explicitly borrowed the language of privilege to critique privilege,” he said.

The medium-print photographs’ posh aesthetic sensibilities were an intentional choice by Little, who asserted that the polished photos carry a sort of “dull, calm and considered power” that serves to both attract an upper-class demographic and censure that demographic’s indifference to issues of class.

The editor further plays on these contrasts by juxtaposing photos of the lower classes and those of the eponymous 1 percent. Little said some of the images speak for dissonant instances of “the powerless cheerleading for those in power,” such as Nina Berman’s photograph depicting a group of Southerners at a church, listening to preachings about Jesus’s commitment to riches. Other photographs spotlight international incongruities in wealth, like the exhibit’s portrayal of the maids in a Kenyan manor.

Little hopes “1 percent” will contribute to dialogue on equal opportunity and America’s priorities as a fair government and culture. “I don’t think this will completely rectify inequalities,” he said. “But it should spark a conversation.”

categorizations,” said committee chair Naveen Srinivasan ’19. Student Activities is working to create a fund to allow low-income students to apply for money to pay club dues, Srinivasan said. UCS hopes to complete the project in the next few months, he added.

“A lot of student groups have semester or yearly dues … and some of these dues can be pretty exorbitant,” Srinivasan said. “So we don’t want that fee to be prohibitive for any students.

We don’t want any students not being able to participate in something they love doing just because they don’t have the money.”

Funds will be distributed to student groups directly in cash, instead of through the bursar’s office, to avoid problems with taxation, said UCS President Viet Nguyen ’17.

The Student Activities committee wants to create a centralized student

activities calendar, an idea that was conceived at the meeting, Srinivasan said. “Essentially, you could go into a calendar online, and you could select your interests,” he added. Students interested in theater, for example, could see all of the theater groups on campus that were having meetings, rehearsals or performances in a given week, he said.

The Student Activities committee also hopes to better publicize to freshmen which clubs have applications due over the summer and to update Bearsync, a site that provides the contact information of club leaders, Srinivasan said.

The Campus Life committee “focuses on housing, dining, sustainability and safety,” said committee chair Kudrat Wadhwa ’19. Suggestions for initiatives included obtaining more efficient hand dryers as well as paper towels in freshman dorms and providing allergen information at campus eateries other than

dining halls, she added.

Wadhwa also said that her committee may work to replace plastic utensils in eateries such as Andrews Commons and the Blue Room with bamboo utensils and get more water dispensers installed in residence halls, she added.

During the discussion, several students described having difficulties contacting Facilities Management. The Campus Life committee could create an app to improve communication with Facilities, Nguyen said. “Calling is a hassle for busy college students,” he said. “So how can we streamline that process?”

The Academic Affairs committee “is involved with academics, advising and anything that has to do with the classroom,” said UCS Vice President Tim Ittner ’18. The committee is chaired by Charlotte Merzbacher ’19, he added.

Academic Affairs discussed extending the hours of the John Hay Library

and providing gender-inclusive restrooms in laboratory buildings. “At this point, on campus, it’s very hard to be a trans student and a STEM student,” Ittner said. Appointments Chair Gabrielle Alcala ’19 also suggested that Academic Affairs facilitate increased contact between undergraduate DUGs and students who have not yet declared concentrations.

Britt Edelen ’19 chairs the Student Wellness committee, “which focuses on Title IX and CAPS and a little bit of accessibility services,” he said. The committee hopes to improve diversity within CAPS, make Title IX information more available and expand consent training, Edelen added.

Student Wellness should also consider working to provide Title IX training to UCS members so that the council can bring this knowledge to the project of improving Title IX awareness on campus, Alcala said.

Little also said that Brown provides the perfect setting for such a discourse on class.

“It’s a huge honor to have this exhibit at Brown,” Little said, recognizing

the virtues of the student body’s socioeconomic diversity here. “People of all economic strata need to pay attention to this,” he added.

Little has not seen Brown’s

installation for himself yet, but he spoke about the value of displaying “1 percent” in a public, working space like the Taubman Center, where it will enjoy increased exposure. “It’s nice to

escape the photography bubble where people are explicitly interested in art,” Little said. “You’re sort of just preaching to the choir when your work is being exhibited at art galleries.”

ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016

Science & Research Roundup

BY MATTHEW BROWNSWORD, NEWS EDITOR

Brain blast A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience and co-authored

by Dima Amso, associate professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, found that infants use the prefrontal cortex in learning, according to a University press release. Researchers previously thought that the PFC was not developed enough for children to use during infancy.

The researchers used a bilingual example to test their hypothesis because associating different languages with different people is a regular test for PFC function in adults. After listening to two different people describe the same object with two different nonsensical words, infants who used their PFCs were able to identify the “language” used by a third person who emulated one of the two previous speakers.

Amso said that the research could change how scientists approach the field of neurodevelopment. Because the study found that infants are able to access their PFCs at an early age, children’s brains should be regarded as constantly changing and capable of reacting to key challenges that they face.

Species on species on species Lake Malawi experienced incredible environmental change over a period of 800,000 years that led to dramatic diversification within the cichlid population, according to a study authored by Sarah Ivory, visiting scholar in Earth, environmental and planetary sciences. The cichlid species was able to diversify expeditiously because the lake underwent marked deep-water phases, which resulted in the creation of more shoreline habitats that were conducive to “assortative mating,” Ivory said.

Right now, the lake is home to hundreds of varieties of the species.

The cichlids were chosen as a subject of study because they model the evolutionary process well, according to Ivory. Because of the number of differing species present in Lake Malawi, the cichlids show the development in diversity over a long period of time. Ivory used her observations to tie the diversification of the cichlids to 800,000 years of environmental changes within the lake.

Anthropology in the digital age Students partnered with Parker VanValkenburgh, assistant professor of anthropology, to develop the Proyecto Arqueológico Zaña Colonial Ceramics app in order to streamline the data collection processes for archaeological excavations, according to a University press release.

VanValkenburgh made three trips, collecting tens of thousands of small ceramic sherds in Peruvian reducciones, or colonial settlements.

When combined, the massive amounts of collected pottery could tell a historical narrative.

But the sheer size of the collection created an obstacle in data cataloguing — 80,000 sherds of pottery could not be processed in a timely manner. VanValkenburgh worked with Chiara Repetti-Ludlow ’18, Jackson Crook ’17, Luiza Silva ’18 and Jake Gardner ’18 to create PAZC before testing the app in Peru. According to VanValkenburgh, the module increased the “efficiency of data entry by about 20 percent.” The new module format was more “engaging” than the previous system, the larger research team found.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Alum talks career, novel on sexual assault Walker ’89, author of ‘All is Not Forgotten,’ discusses feminism, value of getting Brown education

By AMY WANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Upon graduating from Brown, Wendy Walker ’89 had no intention of becoming an author. Walker left Brown with a degree in political science and economics and planned to enter investment banking after college. Literary arts did not seem to figure into her future.

Yet fast-forward to the present day, and Walker’s third novel, a psychological thriller entitled “All is Not Forgotten,” currently has a film adaptation underway — starring none other than Hollywood megastar Reese Witherspoon.

How does one go from investment banking to professional writing? The short answer: It’s not straightforward.

After spending two years working for Goldman Sachs, Walker decided that a career in investment banking was not what she wanted, and she went on to obtain a law degree from Georgetown University. Before long, she was a practicing lawyer — and then, suddenly, a housewife.

“I met my future husband and ended up in New York,” Walker said. “One thing led to another, and I was married and with a baby out in the suburbs in Connecticut.” It was during this time that Walker, in order to smooth the transition to a homemaking lifestyle, decided to pick up the pen. “I just had this idea that, ‘Well, why can’t I do it?’” she said.

Though Walker only took one creative writing course as an undergraduate, studying at Brown prepared her for the literary world in many other ways.

Her friends in college went on to pursue wildly different professions that were “totally outside the box.” This would later inspire her to take a professional plunge of her own and experiment with writing.

The influence of the liberal arts education she received at Brown cannot be overestimated. “The open curriculum, in my mind, is one of the greatest things about Brown,” Walker said. “I think that it really gave me the confidence to be creative,” she said. “It just gives you this sense that you can do something you

COURTESY OF BILL MILES

Wendy Walker’s ’89 latest thriller delves into issues of justice and sexual assult, a topic that has made ner novels hit home with college students. haven’t done before. And if you come up with a character or a plot or a story, you can make it work.”

The belief that “you can make anything work” pushed Walker through early manuscript rejections and the relative anonymity of her first two published novels. Instead of quitting, she kept writing and refining. “I started deconstructing the novels that I liked, studying them and trying to figure out what it was (people liked) about them,” she said. Eventually, her work paid off; earlier this year, she found out Reese Witherspoon wanted to adapt her novel into a feature film.

Nonetheless, “All is Not Forgotten” is not purely entertainment oriented.

The novel explores a variety of complex themes: memory and trauma, morality and justice, power and powerlessness.

The plot centers on a case of sexual assault in suburban Connecticut — a teenage girl, Jenny Kramer, is raped at a local party by an unknown perpetrator.

A memory-altering drug, which Jenny consumes a few hours after the assault, complicates the case. The story follows Jenny, her family and their suburban community as they deal with the aftermath of the attack and attempt to get justice.

Sexual assault is and has always been a widespread issue on college campuses, and Walker has found that college-aged women are often drawn to “All is Not Forgotten” because of the way it addresses this topic.

“The issues I find a lot of women want to talk about at events … is this whole topic of memory and sexual

assault,” Walker said. Due to the importance and complexity of the subject matter, Walker spent a long time researching for her novel. She found that a lot of emotional trauma inherent in cases of sexual assault can result from “the feeling of not being heard, of being rendered powerless.”

“This process of getting justice can’t erase this, but it gives something back,” Walker said. “Getting justice plays into the recovery process and the ability to move on.”

Through this novel, Walker hopes that readers will “really think about the issues that are raised with these new treatments for trauma and sexual assault … (and) give thought to what it actually means to go through something like that.”

Walker’s fiction targets female audiences, and “All is Not Forgotten” is no exception. Walker traces her “femalecentered stories” to feminist roots developed during her time at Brown. “I became a very vocal feminist there,” she said, participating in events like Take Back the Night, a march intended to support survivors of sexual violence.

Despite the heavy topics she writes about, Walker is happy with her job.

She likened the writing process to that of building a house: Both are hard work, but ultimately incredibly rewarding.

“When I’m printing out the draft, … that moment, to me, is really satisfying,” she said. And of course, she hopes her own story will prove inspiring: “I think this journey, and the ability to kind of reinvent yourself, is something I would like to share with younger women.”

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TODAY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

last light

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Na’cho Pizza, Spicy Five Cheese and Garlic, BBQ Bam Bam Make-Your-Own Pasta JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Make-Your-Own Quesadillas

Turkey Chili, Fire Roasted Veggie Chicken Artichoke Florentine

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Watercress Potage, Fire Braised Chicken Thighs with a Bulkie Roll, Cream Cheese Brownies

Watercress Potage, Jambalaya, Shrimp Macaroni Casserole, Washington Apple Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Italian Sausage Soup, Potato Skins, Shaved Steak Sandwich, Cream Cheese Brownies

Chicken Saute with Mustard Sauce, Roast Turkey with Sauce, Bread Stuffing, Squash Rolls

sudoku

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

The last rays of sunlight before dark illuminate campus on a brisk Wednesday evening. Dedicated in 1921, the Soldiers Memorial Gate honors Brown students who died serving their country in the First World War.

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

“A cold brew pour is similar to a Guinness beer in that it RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle c rNorris o s sandwJoyce o rNichols d Lewis Edited by Rich

ACROSS 1 Medical amts.

4 Be accountable (for) 10 Remove, as coupons 14 Ernst collaborator 15 Electronic music genre 16 Spherical opening?

17 Titanic compartment on the lowest level 19 “All __”: 1931 tune 20 Height: Pref.

21 Lord’s Prayer opener 22 Arterial trunk 24 __ León: Monterrey’s state 26 Setup of a sort 29 Okay 31 Okay 32 Project, with “out” 33 Mediterranean capital 36 Farm female 37 Drive-in offering, and what 17-, 26-, 50- or 60Across has, in more ways than one 41 1% of a cool mil 42 Lethargic 43 Stein filler 44 Poet’s contraction 46 Discography entries 50 Country kitchen design option 54 Wash softly against 55 Words after “What a coincidence!”

56 Muppet friend of Elmo 58 Poet’s preposition 59 Italian carmaker 60 Verify 63 “Poppycock!”

64 Find, as a frequency 65 Whopper, e.g.

66 Very dark

67 It has its ups and downs 68 Family guy

35 Tabloid subj.

36 Spa treatment 37 Aspect of paranoia 38 Person in the know 39 Therapists’ org.

40 Cultivate 41 Smidge 44 Unit of resistance 45 Official orders 47 Defended, as family honor

48 Brady Bunch girl 49 Fed the fire 51 Cartoonist Guisewite or her title character 52 Depleted layer 53 Blooms for lovers 57 “¿Cómo __?”

59 Justice Dept. division 61 Wish one hadn’t 62 Udder woman?

DOWN 1 Poolside structure 2 Springtime bloomer 3 Tapering tops 4 Wore (away) 5 Fiery emperor?

6 Clean with effort 7 Fingerprint ridge ANSWER TO PREVIOUS 8 Ambient music pioneer Brian 9 Parmesan alternative 10 A minor, for one 11 Didn’t quite close 12 Childish 13 Slapstick prop 18 Film Volkswagen with “53” painted on it 23 Singular 25 Mark on an otherwise perfect record?

27 Place in the earth 28 Hot time in France 30 Dawn-dusk link 34 Like the ’80s xwordeditor@aol.com look, now

pours with a cascade and gives the drink a smooth and

”

creamy texture without adding any dairy.

— Audrey Finocchiaro, owner of Nitro Coffee Cart

See coffee on page 1.

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Espresso Tasting 12:00 P.M. The Underground

BURP Neck/Back Massages 1:00 P.M. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, Memorial Lounge

Pinot Noir Food and Beverage Pairing 5:00 P.M. Brown Faculty Club

Project 2020: CollegeCon 6:00 P.M. CareerLAB

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TOMORROW WGAP Seminar Series Dr. Stefano Bloch 12:00 P.M. Giddings House, Room 212

Project PETS: Animals on the Main Green 12:30 P.M. Main Green

Tea with the Alpha Delta Phi Society 4:00 P.M. Goddard House

Change for Change Performance 7:00 P.M. Salomon Center, Room 101

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

K I M B E R LY S A LT Z

comics A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg

Ampersand | Wasita Mahaphanit

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Self-doubt at the ‘chill’ Ivy

ANDREW FRIEDMAN staff columnist I found myself in the Sciences Library last Tuesday night staging an all-too-familiar last-ditch effort to complete my differential equations problem set the night before it was due. I was staring at code in Python, a program in which I still feel incompetent, feeling resigned to the possibility that I wouldn’t finish it before 2:00 a.m., if at all. Then one of my classmates approached me and asked me if I had started the homework for the next week yet.

When I asked him for help on this week’s problems, he replied, “Oh, number four? Yeah that one’s easy, you’ll get it eventually,” withholding any further advice. Somehow, I doubted him; if it were easy, why would I be asking? Needless to say, I spent the next four hours figuring out how to troubleshoot my numerous coding errors in Python while my friend’s comment lingered in the back of my mind.

Mathematical computing isn’t easy. Neither are most academic en-

deavors at Brown. And that’s kind of the point. If attending a school like Brown were a cakewalk, our education would not be nearly as valuable as it is. But I regrettably notice that many of my classmates choose to put on a facade when it comes to being candid about the difficulty of their academic pursuits. Whenever I hear that a certain exam or homework as-

“easy.” But I suspect that in reality, my feelings are much more common than I once thought, as much of Brown’s curriculum is designed specifically to challenge the students who found standard secondary-level coursework unchallenging.

The problem is that few people at Brown are brave enough to confirm my suspicions. For some reason, I

tunate inferiority complex among Brown students that compels us to desperately understate the difficulty of our assignments. But in doing so, we unintentionally create a disconnect between the realm of social normalcy and reality that reaps negative consequences for our collective sanity and for our education.

The social conformity that com-

The social conformity that compels students to claim that homework is easy is precisely the same force that compels students to withhold important questions in lecture.

signment was “easy” (when in actuality, I found it very difficult), I am inevitably overcome by feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. Like many students on campus, I, as someone with lofty academic and professional goals, feel — perhaps irrationally — as though I should not find most of my schoolwork particularly challenging, especially those assignments that my friends have labeled

find that when one person labels something “easy,” everyone else feels strongly compelled by peer pressure to express the same sentiments. This academic peer pressure is especially powerful among Brown students because of our paradoxical reputation — on Youtube and among the general public — as “laid-back Ivy League” students. This inaccurate perception precipitates a unique and unfor-

pels students to claim that homework is easy is precisely the same force that compels students to withhold important questions in lecture.

I have certainly abstained from asking clarifying questions in class because I feared that by asking, I would take class time away from students who appeared to have found the material easier to understand. Struggling to formulate an articulate ques-

tion, I wondered if I hadn’t even understood the material well enough to take up class time with a request for clarification. While it is true that one should refrain from asking too many questions during lecture, it is also true that the vast majority of students withhold perfectly legitimate questions for fear of appearing unintelligent or unprepared.

In high school I found that the expression “easy” had a significant amount of descriptive power, but at Brown I find the same word overly simplistic. Understating the complexity of a midterm or homework assignment by calling it “easy” is usually a sly, less easily perceived method of academic intimidation that most people can get away with. It is an artificial way of elevating one’s intellectual status. We have to question the value of putting on an easy-going facade in the face of seemingly insurmountable academic challenges.

The act of covering up our struggles is inefficient and selfish; by doing so, we artificially insulate ourselves and isolate each other.

Andrew Friedman ’19 can be reached at andrew_friedman@brown.edu.

Problematizing the path of least resistance ANUJ KRISHNAMURTHY staff columnist Every time I hear the word problematic, a little part of my soul breaks away and dissolves into nothingness. Believe me, I’m no hater ­— I dislike problems just as much as the next guy. But there is something particularly infuriating about that term and how recklessly those on the left deploy it to advance their causes. Rather than facilitating rigorous analyses of important issues, words like problematic often serve as the starting point of a convenient route to the moral high ground, an easy means of rejecting entrenched narratives and challenging long-standing traditions without entangling the user in the messy business of actually doing something about them.

Indeed, it’s more than a little disappointing to see the language of social justice ­— theoretically devoted not only to the enumeration of problems, but also to their evisceration — become the preferred tool of armchair activists, so eager to diagnose societal ills, yet so inconsistent in devising serious treatments for them.

It is obviously critical to identify a problem before we begin to repair it. But the work of progress is not merely glorious defiance; it often requires the attenuation of our own convictions and the self-awareness to navigate — not neglect — the subtleties of complicated issues.

If used as I describe it above, problematization is less a world-serving practice than it is a self-

serving one: a way to indulge our own designs of service, of making a contribution, without meaningfully confronting tough truths or forging compromise. In the end, no single motto or op-ed — I’m guilty of this too — will ever be enough.

The folly of problematization becomes fully apparent with regard to discourse on the IsraelPalestine conflict. At Brown and at lots of other postsecondary institutions, it’s in vogue to de-

posed to address the conflict is bafflingly inappropriate and demonstrative of a strangely selective conception of history. I fail to see how criminalizing any financial association with the people of Israel — as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement suggests — will make daily life better for ordinary Palestinians. Furthermore, that these actions against people with ties to Jewish organizations — even if remote — are widely entertained in leftist circles indicates a

It is obviously critical to identify a problem before we begin to repair it. But the work of progress is not merely glorious defiance; it often requires the attenuation of our own convictions and the self-awareness to navigate — not neglect — the subtleties of complicated issues.

scribe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as a resurrection of apartheid, as a deliberate program of genocidal evil. Sure, what’s happening in this part of the world is worthy of criticism. Israel is responsible for perpetrating various abuses, and it’s reasonable for peace-minded college students to demand enduring stability in the region.

On the other hand, while this diagnosis is fair, one of the solutions most frequently pro-

callous disregard for the fact that Israelis, too, have been the targets of terror, and that Jews more broadly have been victims of some of history’s worst atrocities.

In the long run, sloganeering, denouncing, tweeting — and the insufficiently thought-out solutions they amplify — are all painless answers to painful conundrums. Do these strategies actually solve anything? Are the geopolitical nuances of the Israel-Palestine conflict elu-

cidated? Do disparate communities discover common ground, a source of unity, and come to together to find a fix? No. None of these things happen. In fact, the exact opposite occurs: Israel is portrayed as a racist state with no legitimate existential claim; Jews around the world, and on our campus, feel marginalized in the face of uncontrolled, myopic passions; Palestinians experience no measurable gains in their standard of living; nothing gets done.

In other words, problematizing is constructive — it is an invaluable precursor to change and a central foundation of social justice. But problematization must be followed by actionable solutions, and those solutions must be rigorously fashioned, with significant attention paid to how their details will play out in reality and affect various stakeholders. After all, the ultimate aim of defining something as problematic is not simply to make a viral statement, but to rally people with diverse aspirations and competing interests to act in solidarity, for the common good. The main problem with the current vocabulary of problematization, then, is that it cultivates radical discourse on broad, nebulous subjects like oppression and inequality and then fails to channel that radical spirit toward pragmatic and thoughtful breakthroughs. Unfortunately, the real problems of the 21st century can’t just be dissected with broad strokes of passion; reality is always more granular.

Anuj Krishnamurthy ’19 can be reached at anuj_krishnamurthy@brown.edu.

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NEWS

how structural racism works

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016

Industrialized Punishment A lecture and discussion by

Ruth Wilson Gilmore Director, Center for Place, Culture, and Politics and Professor of Geography in Earth and Environmental Sciences, City University of New York

Moderated by Tricia Rose Director, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and “How Structural Racism Works” Project, Chancellor’s Professor of Africana Studies

October 13, 2016 l 6:00 pm Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Martinos Auditorium 154 Angell Street, Providence, RI Doors open at 5:30 pm. Reception to follow.

To watch past How Structural Racism Works lectures, visit http://bit.do/HSRWseries

For more information on How Structural Racism Works, please visit www.brown.edu/race.

Co-Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and CSREA. To request special services, accommodations or assistance for this event, please contact the University Event & Conference Services Office at universityevents@brown.edu or 401-863-3100.