Thursday, October 13, 2016

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 84

WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

GUIDE

FALL

SAD burdens students as weather takes toll

‘Birth of a Nation’ reveals tensions in slave cinema Film fails to develop women, overcome industry obstacles facing black storytelling By DANIEL WAYLAND STAFF WRITER

“Birth of a Nation,” the story of Nat Turner’s 1831 slave revolt, opened in theaters Friday. But films like “Birth of a Nation” don’t just open: They explode into the collective cultural consciousness, leaving in their wake a tide of think pieces on the hazards of engaging with America’s troubled past on screen. White cinematic narratives enjoy the privilege of being judged primarily on their artistic merit. Films on slavery are not entitled to such equitable criticism: They are pressured to adhere to the utmost degree of historical verisimilitude, illuminate the varied panoply of black experiences and pander to an overwhelmingly white box office. These asymmetrical expectations construct a perverse incentive system, one of Hollywood’s pernicious mechanisms

Solutions to seasonal affective disorder, subset of depression, include light therapy, self-care

disenfranchising black storytellers that often become visible only when bubbling over into controversies like #OscarsSoWhite. With “Birth of a Nation,” director Nate Parker wades into this cultural morass. Turner, a Virginian slave and preacher christened as a prophet by many in his community, led an 1831 slave rebellion against plantation owners, resulting in the deaths of more than 60 whites and prompting an incredibly violent response against Southern slaves. Often depicted as a religious extremist and murderer of women and children, Turner receives more generous characterization from Parker’s camera. Parker legitimizes Turner’s zealotry and paints him as a rebellious hero in the vein of “Braveheart,” making conscious » See CINEMA, page 3

By STEPHANIE REYES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As temperatures drop, workloads increase, and the days get shorter, many students experience seasonal affective disorder. Seasonal affective disorder is a subset of depression that occurs when the seasons change, wrote Jackie Twitchell, interim co-director of Counseling a n d Psychological Services, in an email to The Herald. While weather changes commonly affect the general population, SAD ex-

Fall recruitment comes to campus Students juggle school, interviews, application process for spots in tech, finance, consulting By JONATHAN DOUGLAS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

While the trees may be just starting to change color, fall recruiting is already well underway for many students, especially juniors and seniors. For those interested in internships or jobs in finance, consulting or technology, recruiting can begin as early as the first day of classes. Twenty years ago, fall recruiting was just coming into play, said Matthew Donato, director of the CareerLAB. Finance and consulting companies began to

ceeds normal levels of seasonal blues. “Students who experience SAD develop symptoms of depression which may include sadness, loss of motivation, fatigue, cognitive slowing, loss of interest in normal activities and malaise,” she wrote. “SAD may also include sleep difficulties, anxiety and overeating.” Loss of motivation is by far the most common symptom reported by students. Mar Weiss ’20 said she identifies with these symptoms, noting that her motivation to do work decreases as the fall semester progresses. “Because of the weather, you’re forced to stay inside and stay more isolated than usual. And I’m very extroverted, so it’s difficult for me,” she said. Students cited the decrease in drive connected with SAD as a factor that undermines their academic productivity. Twitchell agreed that like all forms of depression, SAD “tends to reduce motivation, energy and concentration — all of which affect a student’s ability to effectively complete work,” she wrote. Causes of SAD are inconclusive, but people who grow up in warmer » See DISORDER, page 4

Facilities works to heat rooms, reduce emissions

Facilities spends $10 million per year to heat all campus buildings

push their search for talented undergraduates earlier and earlier, seeking to fill full-time positions. Recently, increased competition among industries and a heavy demand for talent has shifted that timeline forward. Within the past three to five years, internships have become increasingly competitive for juniors. Companies are viewing internships as a way to lock up talent even earlier, creating more pressure for students interested in tech, finance and consulting, Donato said. » See JOB HUNT, page 8

By CALLAN BARASH-DAVID CONTRIBUTING WRITER

While the sudden arrival of fall has Brown students shivering, the Department of Facilities Management works to keep the student body warm and reduce

Brown’s environmental impact. Some students have voiced concerns about the temperature in their rooms. Pranav Nagalamadaka ’20, a Keeney Quadrangle resident, said that he has resorted to wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants to bed. Robert Williams ’18, who lives in Graduate Center, said that he tries to ignore the cold and spends “a lot of time hiding under (his) comforter.” But heat will soon be available in all dorms. “The system literally was just getting fired up to the initial stages last week,” said Christopher Powell, assistant vice president of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives. Facilities is tasked with heating all 240 of Brown’s buildings, including 49 residential buildings. Most of these buildings are heated by the central heating plant on the north end of » See HEAT, page 3

DOROTHY WINDHAM / HERALD

INSIDE

WEATHER

THURSDAY, OC TOBER 13, 2016

ARTS & CULTURE Jessica Valenti memoir ‘Sex Object’ depicts feminism in largely misogynistic world

ARTS & CULTURE ‘On Bowie’ presents colorful, cathartic biography of enigmatic musical icon

COMMENTARY Vilsan ’19: Students shouldn’t be judged for making practical, safe career choices

COMMENTARY Liang ’19: All awards warrant appreciation, investigation into true meaning of accolade

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how structural racism works

PAGE 2 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016 • PAGE 3

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» CINEMA, from page 1 framing choices like shaping the rebel’s vengeance in more audience-friendly terms. Indeed, in Parker’s narration, Turner commits only two acts of violence, the murders of his slave owner and of the man who raped his wife. These directorial choices are more than understandable — spotlighting black voices and heroism is necessary and important work. The mere fact that Parker succeeded in forcing open a cinematic space to tell Turner’s life story is symbolic, an empowering signal to fellow black auteurs that they, too, can engage in the work of un-silencing black voices in the telling of black history. But despite Parker’s attempts to force “Birth of a Nation” into the essential canon of slave cinema, his film fails to ascend to the heights of the genre’s recent paradigm-setters such as “12 Years a Slave.” “Birth of a Nation” borrows its title from D.W Griffith’s 1915 Ku Klux Klan propaganda film of the same name, and Parker’s choice to call upon that history reflects not only a reclaiming of slave cinema but also a bold declaration of his film’s intent to push the genre into uncharted waters. Yet “Birth of a Nation” is ultimately content to accept traditional tropes of slave cinema rather than work to challenge and undermine them as “12 Years a Slave” does. This fact is perhaps most concerning and recognizable in Parker’s representation (or lack thereof) of enslaved black women. Any analysis of this film would be remiss in ignoring the controversy surrounding the revelations of Parker’s involvement in an alleged rape in 1999 and the victim’s suicide in 2012. Entangled in a media firestorm while trying to promote his film, Parker has

» HEAT, from page 1 campus. The plant “heats about 4.5 million square feet of the campus, and it takes about a week or so to get up to temperature,” said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president of facilities management. “We usually (turn on the plant) at about the end of September.” Facilities sent out a schedule outlining when the heat will be on in each

often resorted to imploring audiences and critics to focus on the film. Parker’s comments demonstrate a troubling lack of understanding of his film’s subject material. The history of slavery is innately tied to a narrative of sexual violence, and any comprehensive dialogue involving one must include the other. Parker’s attitude is reflected in his film, particularly involving scenes of sexual violence against enslaved black women, which he employs as a cheap plot device to explain male vengeance. Parker depicts the gang rape of Turner’s wife and the forced prostitution of another slave at the hands of a white owner but problematically frames these scenes through the perspectives of the men peripherally affected while literally silencing the voices of the victims. Rape is not a justifiable plot device or an accessory to induce shock — ­ it is an act of violence that must be considered through the eyes of the victim and the ways in which it threatens and informs the victim’s agency. But the ultimate failure of “Birth of a Nation” does not lie in the various flaws of Parker’s vision. By no fault of its own, the film is forced into representing the same narrow form of black subjectivity that constricts the storytelling powers of “12 Years a Slave,” “Django Unchained” and much of slave cinema more broadly. “Birth of a Nation” centers its narrative on an exceptional black male hero who is an outsider to the slave system, often at the expense of representing the experience of the four million slaves ‘left behind’ and without considering profoundly other alternative forms of black representation. Hollywood demands uplifting stories from its slave films — demands

that privilege the journeys of male protagonists moving from enslavement to freedom. While certainly inspirational, the experiences of Turner or Solomon Northup of “12 Years a Slave” do not necessarily reflect the lived experiences of most slaves for whom actual freedom was but a fleeting and taunting illusion. For most slaves, rebellions and resistances existed on a much smaller scale. Their own ability to defy dehumanization by preserving identity and culture would make for a rare and illuminating perspective to tell. It is at this intersection of history and cinema that the latter often fails: History can tell non-linear stories unencumbered by feel-good arcs in a way that Hollywood cinema struggles to accomplish. Ultimately, if portrayals of slaves who did not obtain freedom are less common than portrayals of liberation, we have Hollywood and primarily white moviegoers, who have deemed such representations of black experience commercially unviable, to blame. Still, abandoning the broader spectrum of black subjectivity in favor of more dramatically heroic narratives neglects the varied ways black agency in the slavery-era South manifested itself. Parker concludes “Birth of a Nation” by zooming in on the face of a young slave boy watching Turner hang from a noose. As the camera draws nearer, the boy’s face transforms into that of a man wearing Union colors charging into battle in the Civil War. The linear implication is clear: Turner’s rebellion paved the way for future black resistance and freedom. It’s the type of stirring visual that drips of Hollywood conventionalism, but the scene reflects an unfortunate tendency

in slave cinema. In a recent Atlantic article, Vann Newkirk II argues that black history is too often relegated to a simplistic and inevitable march toward progress and liberation, when in reality black history is “both a celebration of how far black people have come in an ongoing struggle for equality and a reminder of

the near impossibility of that struggle.” Until we accept that inherent complexity, it will remain difficult for cinema to truly do the nuances within that history justice.

of the buildings Sept. 30, which stipulates that all buildings should have heat by the end of the month. In addition to making sure that the student body stays warm, facilities is tasked with reducing both the environmental and economic costs of heating so many buildings. “The residence halls represent about 25 percent of (the) total square footage of our campus, and they use 15 percent of

our total heating bill for the campus,” Maiorisi said. Of the roughly $10 million the University spends on heating the campus each year, about $1.5 million goes to heating dorms, he added. This cost has been reduced in recent years thanks to a $3 million project several years ago that put a thermostatic radiator valve — the white knob on dorm room heaters that regulates temperature — in every

dorm room. This project cut the cost of heating the dorms by about $400,000, Powell said. The project is part of a much larger goal to reduce the University’s carbon footprint to 42 percent of the 2007 level by 2020, Powell said. The University has already reduced its carbon footprint by 27 percent since 2007 despite adding about one million square feet in that same time period. Brown

emits about 53,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, Powell added. Students can help lower carbon emissions by being responsible when heating their rooms and regulating the temperature with valves. Instead of students opening the windows when their dorms are too hot, “the key is (to) use the windows when you want fresh air, but don’t use the windows as a thermostat,” Powell said.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“Birth of a Nation” tells the story of Nat Turner’s 1831 slave revolt. The film has come under scrutiny due to rape allegations against the director.

Daniel Wayland ’18 intends to write a thesis on slave history and cinema and can be reached at daniel_wayland@brown.edu.

Brown University Literary Arts Department presents readings by the inaugural Bonderman Professors of the Practice

CHIKA UNIGWE MÓNICA DE LA TORRE Thursday, 13 October 2016 at 7 pm McCormack Family Theater 70 Brown Street, Providence [use Fones Alley entrance]

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PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Valenti’s ‘Sex Object’ reflects on misogynistic experiences

» DISORDER, from page 1 climates are more likely to experience it, Twitchell said. Raven Carson’s ’17 transition from her year-long sunny days in California to cold, overcast days in Providence drastically impacted her first year. “It was my first year here, and I (had) never experienced snow or short days like this,” she said. Students who have lived on the East Coast for a while are often accustomed to the seasonal change and are therefore less likely to experience SAD. Even for those who are originally from tropical climates, SAD symptoms can decrease after the first year. “I haven’t had any issues since that first winter,” Carson said, adding that she did not seek professional help but, instead, rested often and stayed isolated until the spring. Twitchell detailed the various methods and tools available to help students cope with SAD. “Light therapy (phototherapy) along with psychotherapy and, in some cases, antidepressant medication can help students recover from SAD,” she wrote. Twitchell also offered general tips for dealing with depression as useful guidelines to cope with SAD, such as “eating well, sleeping normal hours,

New novel explores hypersexualized, anti-woman society, confusion of contemporary feminism By ELIZABETH TOLEDANO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ROLAND HIGH / HERALD

Loss of motivation, sadness, fatigue, sleeping difficulties, anxiety and overeating are among the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. exercising regularly, maintaining social contact (and) remaining active,” she wrote. Though the exact number of students who experience SAD is unknown, CAPS has increased its available resources to accommodate the increasing demand for support. Since students were waitlisted to receive light boxes

to help with SAD in previous years, CAPS increased its supply this year. Despite the increase in resources, most students turn to self-help and do not seek professional assistance. Weiss deals with SAD by relying on friends who experience similar symptoms. “We group ourselves up with a fire and hot chocolate,” she said.

BROWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Family Weekend Event All are invited for a talk and tour of the

Sidney E. Frank DIGITAL STUDIO

Jessica Valenti, author of “Sex Object,” is a “moderately attractive brunette right up until the moment she opens her mouth to speak … at which point she gets really ugly really fast.” Or so claims Daryl W., an anonymous online critic of her work who commented on her author photo on the “Honey Badger” Facebook page. Encountering misogyny like Daryl W.’s is not uncommon in Valenti’s life. In her memoir, Valenti recounts seemingly constant experiences with anti-woman prejudice and male entitlement. In a blur of anecdotes and reflection, she describes boyfriends who abused her emotionally, men who flashed her on subways and male teachers who invited her into their homes. “Sex Object,” a self-deprecating and comical testament to the confusion of contemporary feminism, contextualizes Valenti’s later work as a writer, public speaker and blogger. With a flashy yellow cover and the title “Sex Object,” Valenti seeks to elicit some sense of shock. Or, perhaps, she attempts to convey that the entirety of her being reduced to and labeled a “sex object” should not shock anyone in a hyper-sexualized, misogynistic society. While the book does discuss many of Valenti’s definitive sexual experiences, it does so in a very middle-school-diary sort of way. While this tactic does

effectively curb a certain degree of sexual explicitness — which is emphatically not the point of the book ­— it also casts a shadow of whiny melodrama on the entirety of the work. This makes for a quick, relatively straightforward read that dismisses nuance and instead relies heavily on straightforward content. Following no distinct chronology, the text proves almost cyclical in form, returning repeatedly to the same prominent experiences. Valenti devotes a significant portion of the text to discussing her two abortions and challenging pregnancy. The ambiguity of her feelings about abortion gives voice to an often silenced perspective. While the parenting section borders on becoming some sort of post-feminist mommy literature, her experience as a pot-smoking mom striving to balance freelance work and a difficult marriage resonates with women attempting to navigate contemporary parenthood alongside the complications of being human. Valenti’s latest book is very much a blogger’s memoir. Witty and conversational, she discusses her profound discomfort with the internalized sexism stemming from a lifetime of objectification — both Politico and the Atlantic, for example, published articles that discussed her breasts. At the end of the book, in perhaps the most shocking section, Valenti shares the harsh and often explicit comments on her work, revealing the profound reactions she has incited from her critics. Though Valenti may not approach any revolutionary insights for existing feminists, she fearlessly punctuates a topical discussion and grants the conversation an often absent element of humanity.

Rockefeller Library Saturday, October 22, 2016 • 10 am – 12 pm The Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship will showcase new technologies and examples of projects developed in collaboration with Brown faculty and students making use of computational text analysis, data visualization, and GIS.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Jessica Valenti, writer, public speaker and blogger, wrote “Sex Object” about her personal experiences as a woman facing misogyny.

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

ARTS & CULTURE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Abelardo Morell uses camera obscura to capture beauty in simplicity Photographer uses refined techniques to illuminate new ways of viewing ordinary objects By KAYLI WREN STAFF WRITER

Photographer Abelardo Morell, in a talk at the List Art Center Wednesday, introduced art as a way of experimenting with aesthetic techniques and looking at the world around us in new ways. Morell’s photography experiments with camera obscura and plays with novel perspectives. Morell’s passion for his art showed through when he spoke about camera obscura, a technique he has experimented with extensively over the course of his career. In this natural optical phenomenon, a small hole is made in the wall of a dark room to project an upside-down image of the outside world onto the walls of the room. “Think about this,” Morell urged his audience. “This image is created by a hole, not created by Microsoft.” This phenomenon could have existed thousands of years ago through cracks in caves, he added, calling it a “powerful reminder of the physics of the world.” With technological developments, Morell has been able to create camera obscura photographs that are colored, focused and right-side up. Digital technology also reduced the exposure time of his photographs from five hours to five minutes. This gave Morell a previously-impossible advantage in his photography to capture moments. Morell hopes viewers of his work will discover “that the world is really interesting,” he said. “And if you take time out, there are all kinds of ways to think and be. I’m convinced that that’s important.” In one piece, Morell used a tent camera to create the effect of camera obscura in outdoor settings. This technique involved a white tent that created the environment of a darkroom in order to make photographs that combined images of a landscape with the ground. Morell’s photographs in Big Bend National Park were a “hybrid of events,” he said. “The ground had something to say.” The process was enjoyable because it was a way to “revisit iconic pictures and make them my own,” Morell said. Morell’s identity as an artist has been shaped by his role as a husband and father, he said. Early in his career, having a child made him think about photographs in a different way. He began taking photos at different angles, such as shots of children’s blocks from the ground up. Photographing from the angles of a child was liberating, Morell said. From photographing the motifs of childhood, Morell progressed to water as a subject. It was a matter of “finding time to look at ordinary things,” he said, such as the movement of water out of a faucet. “Water can become all sorts of things. Water can become a lens,” he added. In a series titled “Flowers for Lisa,” Morell experimented with multiple bouquets combined into one photograph. He let the flowers wilt and sometimes sprayed them with white,

grey or black paint to create a “weird sense of continuity and death,” Morell said. Flowers represent themes of death, closeness, hope, sex and intimacy, Morell said, adding that dealing with flowers as an “emerging organism and an emerging consciousness” has been a part of his growth. Morell photographs ordinary objects in such a way to make them extraordinary, displaying their uniqueness or beauty in a new way. For example, he has taken dozens of photographs of books. “Friends would call me up and ask, ‘What are you up to,’ and I would say, ‘I’m photographing books,’ and there would be silence,” Morell said. But in fact, “if you just start looking,” he added, “there are endless things that you can do.” Morell’s talk was punctuated by his photographs displayed in a presentation: a book damaged by water, a page of “A Tale of Two Cities” lit from behind to view overlapping lines of text and one book inside another book that Morell dubbed “The Pregnant Book.” He should probably find the father one day, Morell joked. Morell was the photographic illustrator of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Dutton Children’s Books, and the novel itself became a subject of his illustrations. One photograph showed a cut-out of the White Rabbit ready to jump down the hole, which was drilled into the book itself. Throughout all of Morell’s works is the theme of experimentation, finding or creating new perspectives. Working in art galleries, Morell moved statues in front of other works of art to capture multiple mediums and pieces of art in one shot. “Curators didn’t like this,” Morell recalled, but he loved using what he coined “real-life photoshop.” Other projects of Morell’s include photographs of money, including one shot of 50 million dollars, and paper constructions. Morell strove “to reveal the underside of things, the beneathness of things” when photographing constructions he created

ANITA SHEIH / HERALD

Abelardo Morell discussed his technique of camera obscura in List Art Center Oct. 12. Morell mixes media to create unexpected perspectives that challenge viewers to think of the world in different ways. from clippings of books and illustrations. “Art isn’t about what I see; it’s all about what the camera sees,” Morell said. As photographers, “we have the task of sandwiching the 3D into the 2D,” he added. His work is about space and altering perspectives and angles. “His process is definitely really interesting,” said Matt Barbarino,

RISD ’18. “I’m digesting it right now.” Another student said it was liberating to see an artist who moves across the boundaries of different artistic mediums. She described how there can be pressure as an artist to remain constrained within one medium, and listening to Morell helped dispel that confining notion for her. Morell’s work has met great success and been collected and shown

in over 70 galleries, institutions and museums both internationally and across the United States. “I really appreciate how honest and down to earth he is,” said Ingrid Zippe ’18, a student in the visual art honors program. “He doesn’t blow up art in a way that is overly critical. I feel like he’s past the existential questioning stage. He’s just a human being.”

“The singing is precise and fluid, immaculate and alive” Alex Ross, The New Yorker

BLUE HERON October 16 · 4 PM Missa Ecce ancilla domini The fourth concert in the ensemble's ground breaking Ockeghem@600 project to perform the complete works of Johannes Ockeghem. Directed by Scott Metcalfe.

S. Stephen's Church Low Student price: $10.00 ~~~~~~~ For advance tickets and more information:

blueheron.org / (617) 960-7956

NEWS BROWN FALL 2015

Subway

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Administrators discuss diversity in curriculum, pedagogy Diversity taskforce recommends DPLL revision, inclusivity training for faculty By ROSE SHEEHAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Besenia Rodriguez ’00, senior associate dean for curriculum and a member of the Task Force on Diversity in the Curriculum, discussed the taskforce’s recommendations to help departments address issues of diversity and inclusion at the Undergraduate Council of Students’ general body meeting Wednesday. Liza Cariaga-Lo, vice president for academic development, diversity and inclusion and co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Oversight Board, also addressed the recently released Departmental Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans. The taskforce, which includes faculty members, undergraduates and the dean of the College, has issued six major recommendations, including the re-categorization of Diverse Perspectives in Liberal Learning courses under another designation, Rodriguez said. She added that the College Curriculum Council, which has oversight over curriculum designations, has not yet approved the taskforce’s proposal to use Race, Power and Privilege as the new course categorization. “The reason for highlighting race in particular, the taskforce felt, was that it’s often the category that is silenced,” Rodriguez said. The taskforce decided to change the current categorization after it discovered that, despite not knowing much about the DPLL designation, “most students really wanted to take more courses on questions of privilege, questions of power — more social categories, like sexuality and class and gender and race,” Rodriguez added. By training Meiklejohns and faculty advisors in the meanings and purpose of the new course designation, the taskforce hopes to “signal the institution’s commitment to increasing the number of those courses,” Rodriguez said. Once the CCC has discussed the taskforce’s proposal, the broader campus community will be asked to comment, and then a vote will take place within the CCC, she added. The courses falling under the new designation will be subjected to a more rigorous evaluation process and asked to comply with more specific criteria, Rodriguez said. “One of the critiques of the current system is that there was criteria, but it was so broad,” she added. “Even if it’s a much smaller number of courses, it might be a much more valuable tool.” Though the taskforce considered recommending a diversity course requirement, it decided not to as it would be against “the spirit of Brown,” Rodriguez said. “We should provide as many opportunities as possible, but students should be able to follow their own interests and find ways of learning around these questions that are related to their concentrations,”

she added. Other recommendations made by the taskforce include introducing more “introductory (and) survey” courses that focus on “pressing themes” relating to diversity and inclusion, Rodriguez said. These classes may be interdisciplinary courses taught by more than one professor, and they should be equipped with teaching assistants who are “trained around inclusive pedagogy” and able to facilitate difficult and challenging conversations, she added. The taskforce also recommended more support and training in inclusive pedagogy from the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning for faculty members “who want to push the boundaries of their knowledge to be better teachers,” Rodriguez said. She added that, because of traditional training, faculty members can sometimes be “fearful about opening up an area of discussion in their classes that they may not feel like they are experts in or feel comfortable even facilitating.” Cariaga-Lo said that many DDIAPs feature inclusive pedagogy training and that the DIOB hopes to eventually develop a systematic training program and set of resources. “We need to build resources, but we also need to build the capacity to be able to offer up these trainings,” she added. “As we continue to build those resources, there will be more and more demand.” Cariaga-Lo cited programs proposed by smaller departments with fewer students of color as a way in which the study and discussion of diversity and inclusion can be extended to all curricula. Certain study abroad and research programs can facilitate “more nuanced conversations and discussions around issues of diversity and inclusion,” Cariaga-Lo said. She added that internships and interdisciplinary conversations have also been suggested as a means of expanding the reach of education in diversity and inclusion. Later in the meeting, Alex Nibley ’19 and Michael Kaplan ’19, representatives of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, also spoke to the council about their club’s objectives. The club — part of a national organization that focuses primarily on harm reduction and safety as opposed to drug prohibition — is focused on expanding its Spring Weekend water station, Nibley said. Kaplan added that the group hopes to implement changes in orientation programs that address drug and alcohol use. The rhetoric on substances used during first-year orientation “is not clear. It doesn’t lead to the best practices. It doesn’t actually lead to safety,” he said. The club also wants to continue to run an anonymous drug testing service in the period leading up to Spring Weekend, Nibley said. “For students purchasing drugs from illegal vendors, this service ensures that you’re going to have a safe experience and something bad isn’t going to happen that’s unexpected,” Kaplan added.

www.browndailyherald.com

NAOMY PEDROZA / HERALD

Michael Kaplan ’19 and Alex Nibley ’19, representatives of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, proposed expanding the water station and continuing the anonymous drug testing service for Spring Weekend.

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PAGE 8 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016

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» JOB HUNT, from page 1 CareerLAB has even instituted guidelines for employers to abide by, providing deadlines for offers and decreasing pressure on students. These measures have become increasingly important, especially as employers begin to recruit more aggressively. Internships are beneficial for students because they expose them to industries and real-world work while giving them a sense of the company culture, Donato said. But the process of applying can be extremely stressful, especially when balancing shopping period and extracurriculars at the beginning of the semester, said Stella Huang ’17, who is in the process of looking for a fulltime consulting job. As senior year begins, students interested in tech, finance and consulting often skip classes to go to interviews at company offices, causing many students to fall behind, Huang said. While professors are usually understanding, there is still an expectation that work will be completed on time, she added. Many companies have application processes with multiple steps. When applying to Bain and Company, students must submit a resume and then complete two rounds of interviews — one on campus and one off campus, said Nate Jackson, the associate consulting recruiting program manager at Bain. Each company looks for different types of applicants who will contribute to its team. For example, Bain stresses the importance of an individual’s drive

ALAN SHAN / HERALD

With industry competition pushing the recruiting schedule earlier each year, students have scrambled to complete applications, travel for interviews and keep up with school work. CareerLAB has instituted guidelines for employers in an attempt to lessen the burden on students. and passion, Jackson said. Yiwei Zhao ’16, an associate at Keystone Strategy, emphasized the fit within the company culture. Zhao said that there is no single factor Keystone looks for in an applicant, but rather

there are multiple factors that reveal an applicant’s potential — including but not limited to grade point average, extracurricular activities and personality. Keeping track of everything during the application process can be

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difficult, said Julia Wu ’17, president of Women in Business. Spreadsheets and meticulous notes are helpful to keep track of companies and contacts, she added. Additionally, conferences and networking events were essential to her and other students. The Brown alumni network was helpful for Zhao in the application process, especially because alums know which classes and clubs are difficult and time intensive, she added. Huang also said that alums were helpful in providing information about a company as well as connections to individuals working for other companies. While fall recruiting has become increasingly common in tech, finance and consulting, only 37 percent of students employed from the Class of 2015 found jobs in these areas, according to CareerLAB’s website. Most students who wish to work in other industries are not recruited until later in the year. But students interested in other

industries should not slack off during this time period, Donato said. Students should view this time as a period to improve their resumes and cover letters and begin networking, he added. Underclassmen should begin thinking about their future in this time as well, Donato said. Information sessions and booths at career fairs are great resources for those interested in learning more about certain industries and companies. Additionally, Projects 2019 and 2020, catered to sophomores and first-years, respectively, hold several events throughout the fall to get students thinking about future internships and make them aware of the services CareerLAB offers. Though fall recruiting may be a stressful time, many emphasized the importance of finding a job or internship that is genuinely interesting. “If you can do something that means a lot to you, that’s really meaningful,” Wu said. “You can have a really good story to tell.”

TODAY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016 • PAGE 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

a l l t h e way l a n d u p

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

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

BLUE ROOM

Quesadillas

Turkey Chili, Fire Roasted Veggie Chicken Kadhai

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Chicken Vegetable Soup, Sliced Baked Ham on a Kaiser Roll, Apple and Oat Squares

Pirate Ship Pork Loin, Cannellini Bean Ragout, Baked Chicken, Brazilian Chocolate Cake

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Noodle Bowl Bar, BBQ Beef Sandwich, Cheese Tortellini, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Macaroni Pasta, Tofu Parmesan, Red Flannel Hash, BBQ Navy Pea Beans, Buttermilk Corn Bread

sudoku

SAM BERUBE / HERALD

The sun sets over Wayland Arch Wednesday afternoon. As the weather cools and the leaves turn, students begin to enjoy the fall foliage emerging across campus despite the chill. RELEASE DATE– Monday, February 25, 2013

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

ACROSS 1 Apt. parts, in ads 4 Talking head 10 Big name in ATMs 13 Charged particles 15 Black-and-blue mark, e.g. 16 Suffix for pay 17 Soft hit that barely makes it over the infield 19 Cranberrygrowing area 20 Africa’s Sierra __ 21 Fed. retirement org. 22 “T” on a test, usually 23 Like dodos and dinosaurs 26 Foray 28 Archaeological agedetermination process 31 Texting units: Abbr. 34 Rowboat mover 35 Wish granter 36 “How was __ know?” 37 Abrasions 40 Sinus doc 41 Not exactly robust 43 Simpsons neighbor Flanders 44 Makes really angry 45 Completely absorbed 49 Lawyer’s customer 50 Accessory often carried with a wallet 54 Merle Haggard’s “__ From Muskogee” 55 N.J. neighbor 57 Lightened 58 Libertarian politician Paul 59 Sign in a limo that aptly concludes the sequence formed by the last words of 17-, 28and 45-Across 62 Mystery novelist Grafton 63 Houston team 64 Statistician’s input 65 NHL tiebreakers 66 Tinkers (with) 67 Figs.

46 Ultimate DOWN 33 Touchdowns 1 The Good Book application require crossing 2 Pricey watch with 47 Big bomb trials them a gold crown logo 37 Leonard __: Roy 48 Binoculars user 3 Nose-in-the-air 51 Made in China, Rogers’s birth type say name 4 “Nova” airer 52 Look after 38 Mountain top 5 Ocean State sch. 39 Advantage 53 Icelandic sagas 6 Convent dwellers 42 Nastase of 54 Estimator’s words 7 Starts to eat with 56 P.O. box inserts tennis gusto 59 Printer problem 44 Security 8 Manhattan is one 60 Stooge with bangs checkpoint 9 Golf ball’s perch 61 Pack animal request 10 Choice you don’t have to think ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: about 11 Metaphorical state of elation 12 Violent anger 14 Former (and likely future) Seattle NBA team 18 ’90s Cabinet member Federico 22 Lug 24 Gator’s kin 25 Skier’s way up 27 Glad __: party clothes 29 Long-armed primate 30 Comprehends 31 Tick off 32 Went down swinging 02/25/13 xwordeditor@aol.com

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

“Art isn’t about what I see, it’s all about what the camera sees.” — Abelardo Morell, photographer

See photography on page 5. CORRECTION An article from Wednesday’s Herald (“Cold brew coffee from Califia Farms expands dining options,” Oct. 12) and its headline stated that Califia Farms’ products are organic. In fact, they are not. The Herald regrets the error.

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Brown Bag Concert 12:00 P.M. Sayles Hall Auditorium

How Bitcoin Enables a Machine-Payable Web 4:00 P.M. Hillel Auditorium

SACNAS Fall Kick-Off 4:30 P.M. BCSC, Formal Lounge One

SPEC Presents: Fall Fest 8:00 P.M. Lincoln Field

TOMORROW What Does It Take To Start Your Own Company 12:00 P.M. Salomon Center, Room 203

Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter 12:30 P.M. Rites and Reason Theater

SAC Meet & Mingle 5:00 P.M. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, Multipurpose Room

Oktoberfest 7:30 P.M. Alumnae Hall Auditorium Lobby

COMMENTARY PAGE 10 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL

Remove barriers to early graduation

The requirement that students must complete or pay for eight semesters of college is classist and contradicts the supposedly fundamentally Brown tenet of allowing students to be the architects of their own educations. Brown’s requirement of taking 30 courses seems reasonable enough, allowing for at least some academic exploration as well as the completion of a concentration or two. Most students take a four- or five-course workload each semester. This means completing the 30-course requirement would usually take about eight semesters but could take as few as six semesters. Students may petition to graduate in seven semesters, but the requirements are daunting — they must have received As in two-thirds of their classes and taken at least 14 classes, including at least two at the 1000-level, in disciplines outside their concentration. They must also prove that they have a higher educational or employment offer “that would otherwise be lost or denied if they do not accelerate their graduation,” according to the accelerated graduation website. Obviously, these requirements are not placed on students choosing to graduate in the traditional eight semesters. Perhaps most striking about the conditions for early graduation is the payment requirement. The website specifies that “students who are approved for accelerated graduation by the Committee on Academic Standing must still meet Brown’s eight-semester enrollment requirement by paying the tuition charge for the eighth semester.” In other words, you can jump through the necessary hoops to leave early, but you’ll still have to pay up. To add insult to injury, students are not eligible for financial aid during the semesters they skip. Therefore, if a student on full financial aid needs to graduate early in order to avoid the opportunity cost of an eighth semester at Brown, they are required to pay full tuition for any semesters they are not on campus. The University’s commitment to meeting 100 percent of students’ demonstrated financial need does mitigate the damage stringent early-graduation requirements could do. But plenty of students and their families still shoulder a significant financial burden to go here. This is especially common among middle-class students who do not receive a great deal of financial aid. The payment requirement effectively punishes cash-strapped students whose financial situations require them to work. Taking an extra year to earn a degree of equal merit and hiring appeal is a luxury that some students cannot afford. If students want to put in the work to take more than four courses per semester for two or more semesters in order to graduate early and possibly start earning a salary earlier, why would Brown punish them for doing so? Beyond the payment condition, one could claim that the eight-semester requirement prevents students from overcommitting. But this “in loco parentis” gesture interferes with the choice of when and how to complete one’s education — an intensely personal decision unique to each individual economic and life situation. In keeping with its commitment to student autonomy, Brown should repeal its eight-semester requirement, or at least stop charging students who are approved for earlier graduation. The administration has no place dictating or punishing the timeline that students choose to follow in completing their educations.

K I M B E R LY S A LT Z

comics A Horse of Any Other Name | Zach Silberberg

Ampersand | Wasita Mahaphanit

Editorials are written by The Herald’s 126th editorial board: Emma Jerzyk ’17, Joseph Zappa ’17, Andrew Flax ’17 and Caroline Kelly ’17.

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COMMENTARY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016 • PAGE 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Economy justifies professional compromise FABIANA VILSAN STAFF COLUMNIST

In an economic climate where no job or investment feels safe, more and more college graduates and wide-eyed employees-to-be are choosing seemingly safe professions in finance, putting up their true aspirations as collateral on their impending loans. At a place like Brown, we tend to shame those who temporarily sideline their ideals in favor of financial security. As I walked into information and networking sessions for the big names on Wall Street this fall, I was often met with a room brimming with students, many of whom were wary of the future rather than excited about the promise of working on the Street. As Brown students, we often encounter the cliche: Follow your dreams. Yet, as graduation inches closer and closer, it seems even those seemingly least like-

ly to pursue finance are lured into info sessions with the promise of a friendly checking account statement and a predictable career path. It is certainly worth mentioning that some of the Brown students seated in investment banking info sessions are there because they are

Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, studied history at Harvard. In addition, many twentysomethings are under immense pressure to pay off student loans or wean themselves off of their parents’ paychecks. Many students initially look for a job in the finance sector in or-

sacrifice in exchange for long-term stability may be the right move. Janet Yellen’s ’67 latest description of the current climate as one of “considerable uncertainty” undoubtedly resonated with many Americans. It seemed to reflect what’s been on everyone’s mind in these info sessions:

Janet Yellen’s ’67 latest description of the current climate as one of “considerable uncertainty” undoubtedly resonated with many Americans. It seemed to reflect what’s been on everyone’s mind in info sessions for jobs in finance: Right now is not the right time to be taking a leap of faith.

truly drawn to the profession. Students from all backgrounds, including those completely unrelated to economics or finance, are welcomed and often employed by the biggest names in the business. Indeed, the CEO and chairman of Goldman

der to jump-start their post-graduation earnings, promising themselves that they will return to their professions of choice and that finance is simply the right move for now. Indeed, the state of the global economy suggests that short-term

Right now is not the right time to be taking a leap of faith. According to Harvard professor of economics Lawrence Katz, it is becoming increasingly difficult for college graduates to find jobs that pay well. Science, technology, engi-

neering and mathematics graduates have more of a safety belt when it comes to job prospects, but for anyone — even those heading out into the job market with Ivy League degrees — a stable income is not a guarantee. The truth of the matter is that the economic climate today is generally more accepting of students completing occupation-specific majors and looking to enter the corporate or vocational worlds. Some students may find themselves pushed into industries that they never pictured themselves in as a result of personal and family finances. The tradeoff is inevitable. So before you judge those who may choose this stability over pursuing passions, consider the very real possibility that you, too, could be making professional compromises in a year or two. Left feeling safe and sorry still leaves you able to pay the bills.

Fabiana Vilsan ’19 can be reached at fabiana_vilsan@brown.edu.

Nobel hypocrisy? MARK LIANG staff columnist

To anyone who has been living under a rock recently or has been blessed with a class schedule that doesn’t lead into Barus and Holley, let me fill you in on what’s happened: Our own Professor of Physics J. Michael Kosterlitz recently won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. It’s a big deal. A BIG DEAL. Of course, why it’s a big deal changes depending on whom you ask. Some people have told me it’s because he’s only Brown’s eighth Nobel laureate, placing him in the upper echelons of exclusivity. Others point to his groundbreaking and exemplary work in condensed matter physics, specifically in twodimensional phase transitions. One kid just rolled his eyes at me when I asked and said, “Dude, it’s like, THE Nobel Prize.” Indeed. The Nobel Prize is a lot like the Oscars, except with a bit more science and a lot more Swedes. Started by Alfred Nobel, of dynamite fame, the award is considered by many as the pinnacle of scientific achievement. The average $1.2 million payout certainly doesn’t hurt either. So really, why do the headlines pick up on this brand of prestige while glossing over others? Roughly 625 scientists — again most-

ly Swedes — get together and decide what is and is not laudable. There’s a somewhat open nomination process, but decisions mostly happen behind closed doors. Rules surrounding the recognition are also arbitrary; a Nobel Prize cannot be awarded posthumously, which leads to mass panic if a winner happens to kick the bucket too early (as has happened a few times).

prestige without even considering the implications behind such recognition. The Nobel Prize, for one reason or another, carries with it an incredible and disproportionate legacy. Youyou Tu won the 2015 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine for her work in fighting malaria with foundations in Traditional Chinese Medicine, opening up dialogue on non-Western channels of treatment.

It is, for risk of sounding like a cynic, critical to analyze the political and socioeconomic spheres that shape awards and how we treat them because doing so improves our own understanding of the work. What about Provost Richard Locke P’17, who won the inaugural Progress Medal and promised to contribute to endowed scholarships at Brown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology? There’s Lauren Redniss ’96, whose MacArthur “genius” grant wasn’t even publicized by News from Brown. (To Redniss: I’ve got a copy of “Radioactive.” I sobbed. Hard.) My problem is not with the incredibly talented people whose discoveries arguably justify the accolades and funds they win. My problem is with people who honor these awards at face value, celebrating their

The 2008 prize in the same category was given to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, effectively ending a decades-long debate on who had truly discovered HIV in the heart of the AIDS epidemic. The prize sways public opinion, rather than the other way around. It gets the final say. The Nobel Prize has become capital in and of itself, as the name carries a value perhaps even greater than the cash award. That’s perhaps partially why public opinion celebrated Kosterlitz’s achivement with a front-page story in The Herald, a News from Brown feature,

a champagne toast and even a campus-wide email from President Christina Paxson P’19 herself. Never mind that the man of honor was outside the country at the time. It is, for risk of sounding like a cynic, critical to analyze the political and socioeconomic spheres that shape awards and how we treat them because doing so improves our own understanding of the work. I realize how quintessentially Brown that sounds, but it’s true. People should critique President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize for being received so early in his presidential career. Even now, people should be asking why the Nobel Prize committee decided to award Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos this year’s Peace Prize when his nation had days before voted against a potentially historic peace deal. That’s why I’m glad there’s a picture next to Kosterlitz’s giant face in the lobby of Barus and Holley that tries to explain his work, even though most of us will go through into the next age of quantum computing without fully understanding his significant contributions. To be fair, it is pretty complicated. I’m still not sure I understand the physics even with the sailboat and bagel analogies made to explain it. But I’m happy they tried. Isn’t that the real point of awards?

Mark Liang ’19 can be reached at mark_liang@brown.edu.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

In defense of Locke’s plan

The erstwhile writer’s perspective in yesterday’s Herald op-ed (“Weinstein ’17: Brown decides to chase its ‘peers,’” Oct. 12) is appreciated but fails to convince of the faults of a financial prescription that focuses on enhancing Brown’s relatively meager endowment, undertaking construction initiatives that will advance Brown’s academic and social infrastructure and expand its research resources to provide not only necessary societal advancements but also to generate funding that would not otherwise be available. It is not a matter of chasing Brown’s “peer institutions” as much as facing the fiscal realities of sustaining a prominent university in order to allow it to continue its role as, primarily, an undergraduate institution — one needing to provide itself with those facilities enabling it to maintain its position as one of the more attractive universities to attend, at which to teach and at which to administer. Comparisons within an applicable cohort are always necessary to establish standards that have been proven to be effective in establishing functioning and successful institutions. Provost Richard Locke’s P’17 prescription is sound and necessary to allow Brown to maintain its identity as an undergraduate-focused university (not college) that possesses the wherewithal to provide educations that can assure meaningful undergraduate and graduate experiences. Kevin A. Seaman ’69

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016

Book examines David Bowie’s life, career New biography,‘On Bowie,’ documents rare creativity of one of music’s most enduring figures

Best of BLOG BY ANEEQAH NAEEM

By ALEXANDRA RUSSELL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Good books to curl up with indoors during fall

“The world will always be full of David Bowie.” In his latest book, Rolling Stone contributor Rob Sheffield chronicles the colorful artistic ventures and personal life of the elusive cultural icon. “On Bowie” is a heartfelt tribute to one of the writer’s personal heroes, extending beyond the realm of traditional autobiography to include personal anecdotes that flavor the interpretation of the man known to many as Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and the Thin White Duke. By chronicling the different stages of Bowie’s career, Sheffield begins to tease out a narrative that has remained enigmatic to many, both in and outside of the music industry. Sheffield strikes a particularly powerful chord with his individual assessments of various Bowie songs. His descriptions of tracks like “Fame,” “Young Americans” and “Heroes” not only illustrate the stylistic changes that Bowie adopted during different time periods but also map out their influence on popular culture. Sheffield establishes a connection between the personal and the public, exploring the idea that our interpretations of music transform constantly with time; as we grow older, our visions of the world change, including our perceptions of art and beauty. Sheffield argues that Bowie was not only able to identify this phenomenon, perhaps most notably in the 1977 track “Sound And Vision,” but also fully embodied and embraced it, “trying on different personalities” to alter his experiences of different environments. One of the most interesting interpretative moves Sheffield makes is using Bowie’s legacy to deepen our understanding of contemporary music and our appreciation of artists like Kanye West and Lana Del Rey. This is a worthy perspective, but it reveals some of the flaws in the writer’s argument — Bowie is certainly not the only musical teacher that future generations can learn from. Both here and at other points in the book, Sheffield tends to make oversimplified and dramatic exaggerations regarding Bowie’s influence, which seem to be slightly over-reaching attempts to justify his personal sadness at the artist’s passing. In this way, “On Bowie,” while vivid and entertaining, can appear to be too much of a writer’s cathartic struggle to mourn a lost hero. The book’s short chapter format complements Bowie’s shifts in musical phase and aesthetic and lends itself to a fast rhythm. But this can sometimes compromise the level of detail and explanation that is offered and contributes to a generally rushed feeling. For example, Sheffield only touches upon Bowie’s relationship with his former wife Angie and fails to explore how this may have influenced his creative output. This typically works to Sheffield’s advantage due to the sheer familiarity of a great deal of information about Bowie. The lesser known

It’s here: fall. The leaves have started throwing shades of orange, red and yellow across the Main Green. With the cold settling in, a flurry of sweaters, hot chocolate and warm boots has spread across campus. And, most tellingly, the Pumpkin Spice Latte has arrived in Starbucks. Now that the cooler weather is finally starting to creep in, more people will find themselves spending time indoors. The indoors can offer a lack of activities. But fret not because there’s always one reliable thing you can turn to when you have a few hours on a Sunday afternoon: a book. Here are a few books you can dive into during those cold fall days.

COURTESY OF MARISA BETTENCOURT

Rolling Stone contributor Rob Sheffield gives a compelling analysis of the musical evolution of David Bowie following the artist’s death in January. facts and stories, such as his friendship with the guitarist Slash’s mother, deserve further exploration. Ultimately, “On Bowie” is a fitting personal tribute to one of the world’s most enduring and influential artists. Sheffield radiates a gentle warmth in his writing, treating Bowie with a compassion that seeks to understand his few points of contact with the world as it is known to the listeners, observers and admirers of the musician. By documenting and exploring

the shifts in Bowie’s career, Sheffield begins to personalize the theme of constant change, helping to make sense of Bowie’s slippery nature and what it teaches us about our own lives. He best captures Bowie’s puzzling charm by describing a conversation with the Daily Express in 1976. When asked about his opinions on his quiet former persona David Jones, Bowie simply stated, “I still like him if I could only get in touch with him. We’ve been apart for a long time.”

#1: “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini Set in the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan during one of the most chaotic times in the country’s history, “The Kite Runner” is an utterly engaging and emotional read. You’ll find yourself whisked away into the world of Amir, a character who is relatable — if unlikable and prone to making questionable decisions. The story is replete with secondary characters who are incredibly well developed facing the most haunting of times of their lives, which will make you empathize with and question them as they face increasingly high stakes and morally fraught scenarios. It’s a beautiful tale of friendship, hardship and a decision to never give up that will be sure to challenge you from start to finish. #2: “Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo If you’re looking for something a bit more out of this world, try picking up this fantasy novel set in the gritty town of Ketterdam — an imagined city built on the tenets of trade and wealth. You’ll find yourself reading about a crew of six unscrupulous characters — all undeniably unique — tied together for one mission: break into the most impenetrable compound in the country and pull off a deadly heist. With fascinating characters that blur the line between good and evil, action scenes that will leave you reeling and witty banter that will make you laugh out loud, “Six of Crows” is an engrossing and fantastic read for those chilly fall evenings. #3: “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs With Halloween quickly approaching, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is the perfect book to pick up if you want to delve into a spooky, haunting realm. Set in an abandoned home where the children were perhaps just a little extraordinary, this book gives off that creepy vibe that fits in so perfectly with this time of year. It’s also illustrated with some fascinating photography to accentuate the scary aura of the book. It’s also going to be released as a movie in theaters soon, so now’s the perfect time to read the book before you watch the movie.