Wednesday, October 26, 2016

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 93

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‘After Spring’ depicts life in Jordan’s largest refugee camp Documentary shows Zaatari refugees plagued by unemployment, restlessness, suffering

By ROLAND HIGH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

“After Spring,” a documentary directed and produced by Ellen Martinez and Steph Ching and executive produced by Chris McShane and comedian-turned-filmmaker Jon Stewart, was screened Monday by the Ivy Film Festival and React to Film, an organization that works in partnership with the IFF to provide socially conscious films.

The film attempts to portray the lives of Syrians living inside Zaatari, a labyrinthine mass of tents in Jordan that has grown to house over 100,000 refugees. The paths that these Syrians have taken to get there are painful and often miraculous, and many have lived within the confines of the chain link perimeter fence since 2012. In fact, Zaatari is the fourth largest in Jordan.

Through the camera lens, viewers see an endless variety of occupations that refugees have established for themselves since the camp was first settled.

There are restaurants, wedding suppliers and pet shops. But even in their tents,

ARTS & CULTURE

LILLY NGUYEN / HERALD

Professor of Economics Jesse Shapiro explains his research quantifying the growing separation between liberal and conservative discourse from 1873 to 2009 as part of the Presidential Award Lecture Series.

Professor talks polarizing political language Jesse Shapiro uses text as quantitative data, discusses effects of polarizing speech

By ALEX SKIDMORE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Professor of Economics and recipient of the fall 2016 Presidential Faculty Award Jesse Shapiro delivered the Presidential Faculty Lecture titled “How to Talk like a Republican, and Other Lessons from

Using Text as Data” at the John Carter Brown Library Tuesday night.

Shapiro walked the audience through his recent research on increasing polarization in political speeches.

He and his coauthors ­— Matthew Gentzkow, professor of economics at Stanford University, and Matt Taddy, professor of econometrics and statistics at the University of Chicago — asked the question “has political speech become more partisan?” to guide their research, Shapiro said.

The Presidential Faculty Award is

meant to highlight “especially important and innovative” scholarship, said President Christina Paxson P’19. Given the “extraordinary public discourse — … if you call it discourse” — of this election cycle, this is a “timely talk,” she added.

To answer their question, the authors used an “urn model” to separate different phrases into “Democratic speak” and “Republican speak,” Shapiro said. For example, “estate tax” and “undocumented worker” are Democratic phrases placed into one urn » See SPEECHES, page 2

refugees can occasionally hear the harsh sounds of the Syrian conflict traveling over the desert border.

The film’s creators chose to follow solely two refugee families, along with a handful of camp officials and volunteers. There is an enormous sense of restlessness that touches each of the men, women and children in the film.

We are told one young child, born and raised in the camp, believes that the distant explosions are fireworks and wants to go see them. Someone selling caged birds claims that a bird “gives you a feeling of being alive.” According to one man interviewed in the film, 90 percent of the camp’s young men are unemployed. Though the settlement was intended to be temporary, life in Zaatari becomes more and more permanent as the Syrian conflict rages with no end in sight.

After the screening, a discussion took place featuring Carl Saab, associate professor of neuroscience and neurosurgery, Lisa DiCarlo, professor of sociology, and Rep. Aaron Regunberg ’12, D-Providence, as the three panelists.

Saab, who was born and raised in Lebanon, has conducted research on the stress and the neurodevelopment of children in several refugee camps, including Zaatari. Saab said that it was “hard to imagine” that those “spewing hatred and bigotry” against refugees » See REFUGEES, page 2

Haffenreffer honors Arctic Lecturer reveals art, science in magic Magician, author of archaeologist’s legacy Former U. professor’s work with indigenous Alaskans showcased in 60th anniversary exhibit

By ETHEL RENIA STAFF WRITER

The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology opened its newest exhibition Friday titled “Northern Horizons, Global Visions: J. Louis Giddings and the Invention of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.” This particular exhibition carries additional significance because this year marks the Haffenreffer’s 60th anniversary. The exhibition honors the memory of the late Giddings, whose time at the University proved instrumental in the creation of the anthropology department.

Giddings was a prominent arctic archaeologist whose fieldwork in Northwestern Alaska provided invaluable

ARTS & CULTURE

INSIDE

insight on the movement of ancient northern cultures and peoples. In the 1950s, Brown was considered a leader in arctic archaeology and Giddings’ work was considered the most cuttingedge research. Giddings was hired by the University in 1956 as an assistant professor of sociology and was named the first director of the Haffenreffer Museum of the American Indian, as the museum was called at the time. The museum provided an excellent foundation for interpreting Native American cultures. With Giddings’ ambitions at Brown to establish a department of anthropology, the Haffenreffer Museum later became a teaching museum for the department.

Though Giddings died of medical complications after a car accident in 1964 at the age of 55, his memory “lives on here at Brown,” said Robert Preucel, director of the Haffenreffer Museum and professor of anthropology. Indeed, Giddings House, where the Department of Anthropology is housed, was named after him in 1972, » See EXHIBIT, page 3

‘Fooling Houdini’ Alex Stone explains psychology, physics of illusions

By ELIZABETH TOLEDANO STAFF WRITER

Don Wilmeth stands near the stage.

His white hair is combed back in stark contrast with his dark suit, punctuating his countenance — a sort of intellectual tranquility reserved for retired professors. He smiles, imploring the shy audience to come toward the stage. A mumble ensues as the crowd drifts into the shadow of his charisma.

A professor emeritus of the theatre arts and performance studies department and curator of the Don Wilmeth Endowed Lectureship, Wilmeth works with the Friends of the Library to present an annual lecture on theater and entertainment. Monday, Alex Stone — professional writer praciticing magician — presented his studies,

ARTS & CULTURE

SARA RUNKEL / HERALD

Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Don Wilmeth introduces this year’s lecture featuring the work of magician Alex Stone. which examine the confluence of science and magic to reveal elements of human psychology.

Wilmeth, who said he found

Stone’s book “Fooling Houdini” both “erudite and dynamic,” sought Stone out as a speaker, hoping he » See MAGIC, page 3

WEATHER

WEDNESDAY, OC TOBER 26, 2016

ARTS & CULTURE Student Veterans, Commissioning Program screens episode of new Special Operations docuseries

ARTS & CULTURE In ‘Denial,’ Rachel Weisz gives over-the-top performance as professor in libel case

COMMENTARY Esemplare ’18: Students should prioritize leisure reading despite workload, modern distractions

COMMENTARY Johnson ’19: U. should encourage discussion of homesickness, provide resources for first-years

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PAGE 2 • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Arts & Culture Roundup

BY REBECCA ELLIS, ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

A Night with Clint Smith

Writer, poetry slam champion and teacher Clint Smith will be on campus Wednesday evening to read from his debut poetry collection, “Counting Descent.” In addition to writing for the New Yorker and the American Poetry Review, Smith has given two TED Talks, “The Danger of Silence” and “How to Raise a Black Son in America.” Smith comes to Brown as part of the Brown Education Department Fall 2016 Speaker Series and will be reading in Barus and Holley room 168 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Queer Alliance Movie Night

The Queer Alliance will be celebrating Intersex Awareness Day Wednesday evening with a screening of “Both.” The film, which draws from the experiences of the filmmaker, Lisset Barcellos, tells the story of an intersex stunt double who goes on a journey to discover her past. The film will be shown from 7 to 9 p.m. at the LGBTQ Resource Center, room 321, and will be followed by a discussion of the movie.

Reading: Novelist Alexandra Kleeman

Alexandra Kleeman will read from her work Thursday night as part of the Department of Literary Arts’ Contemporary Writers Reading Series.

Kleeman’s past work includes a short story collection “Imitations” and her debut novel “You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine,” which was heralded as “brilliant and disturbing” by the New York Times. Kleeman will read from her work from 7 to 8 p.m. in the McCormack Family Theater.

Dia D

The Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies will celebrate the birthday of Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade Friday with a breakfast at 9:30 a.m. where attendees will discuss “Máquina do mundo,” one of Drummond’s most widely acclaimed poems. The celebration will be followed by a “Drummond Open Mic” at 4 p.m. where students can listen to Drummond’s work over refreshments.

COURTESY OF ‘AFTER SPRING’

The Ivy Film Festival and React to Film screened a new documentary highlighting the struggles of Syrians living in a Jordan refugee camp and sparking conversation on the United States’ and Russia’s role in the conflict.

»REFUGEES , from page 1 would not be affected by watching the documentary.

DiCarlo said it was important to “pull the curtain back and show the depth of the suffering,” adding that the film encouraged audiences to “think about what it really takes to run a camp like that.”

Regunberg, meanwhile, said the film was “very effective,” adding that he hoped it would encourage more compassion in Rhode Island and increase

citizens’ willingness to shelter refugees.

“Even the ambitious numbers we’re talking about are a drop in the bucket,” he said.

As for the film’s shortcomings, Saab said he wanted students to ask why the camp was fenced in, a topic that was left unaddressed by the film. Saab also indicated that there was a broader context to the refugee crisis. “We all have to remember that this war’s fate is being decided by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov,” he said, referring to the fraught negotiations between Secretary of State

John Kerry and the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov.

Elizabeth Lippman ’17 and Paige Parsons ’18, outreach coordinators for the IFF, described the film as relevant and “very timely.”

“There’s a lot of academic energy at Brown to study and understand the conflict but, at large, it can seem like a very distant issue,” said Parsons. “There’s a lot of energy behind (the film), so we’re excited that it can be part of our own campus dialogue about this issue,” she added.

Politics meets Sketch Comedy and Side-Splitting Fiction Satirical election-related skits performed by The Skorts at 6 pm A reading from the hilarious and prescient short story, “A Political Fable” by Brown Professor Emeritus Robert Coover at 6:30 pm

Wednesday, 26 October 2016 Leung Family Gallery Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center 75 Waterman Street, Providence with webcast at www.brown.edu/web/livestream/

Taking this election to a logical extreme Sponsored by Literary Arts at Brown University

» SPEECHES, from page 1 whereas “death tax” and “illegal alien” are Republican phrases placed into a separate urn.

To identify and sort these partisan phrases, Shapiro used speeches from the Congressional Record from 1873 to 2009, which constitutes a “verbatim record of the congressional floors,” Shapiro said. “We used text as data.”

These distinctly partisan phrases have a profound effect on public opinion, Shapiro said. In one instance, Republican pollster Frank Luntz told Republican candidates in 2004 to advocate for social security reform using the phrase “personal retirement account” — which was favorable to two-thirds of Americans — instead of “private retirement account” — which was favorable to one-third of Americans — Shapiro said. Thus, Republican candidates used “personal retirement account” 184 times and “private retirement account” 48 times.

After using technology to quantitatively evaluate the words, the group of economists found that speech became partisan — identifiable as either Republican or Democratic — in the mid-1990s and has become “sharply and consistently” partisan since, Shapiro said.

The rise in partisanship can be attributed to the Republicans’ 1994

campaigning document “Contract with America,” which unified the language of local and federal politicians based on extensive public opinion polling, Shapiro said. At the time, Republican politicians were groomed to use “consistent messaging” in an effort take retake control of Congress, he added. Since then, both parties have adopted this methodology.

This partisan language “diffuses to the broader public” and “affects group identity” because it is harder to connect with groups who use different language, Shapiro said.

After the talk, one audience member asked if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump fits into a particular urn. The research does not capture the intricacies of a certain speaker but analyzes many speakers from a defined group, Shapiro said.

Another audience member asked if regional dialects have any effect on messaging. Though the model combines the words of many speakers and regions, further stratification is not currently possible, Shapiro said. “It is on my to-do list.”

In the last decade, different data sets have become available through enhanced technology — such as evaluating text quantitatively — which puts Shapiro “at the center” of the new research methods, said David Weil, professor of economics.

Letters, please! letters@browndailyherald.com

ARTS & CULTURE WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

HUAYU OUYANG / HERALD

An Alaskan Kobuk River birch-bark kayak is one of the artifacts on display in the exhibit “Northern Horizons, Global Visions: J. Louis Giddings and the Invention of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.” at the Haffenreffer Museum.

»EXHIBIT, from page 1 as was a 10,203-foot Alaskan peak in 1966.

In addition, the connection he forged with a local Alaskan community of Native Americans, the Iñupiats, lives on to this day. In fact, the association “might be the longest relationship between a research group and a community in all

» MAGIC, from page 1 might garner some attention to Brown’s “world class collection devoted to conjuring as a performing art.” Though his lecture series covers “intentionally ambiguous” topics, he has hosted two magicians as part of an eclectic group of 13 speakers all interested in performance — ranging from comics to historians.

The crowd, as if by magic, went silent at 7 p.m. Introductions followed introductions as dramatists joked in their jargon about the “punchlineable” aspects of experimental theater and magic. Eric Ehn, professor of TAPS, described Stone’s work as a fitting series of nerdy prose interspersed with “cultishness” and “pretensions to the divine,” punctuated by “bad jokes.”

As a child, Stone received a magic kit. But while many boyhood magicians have since abandoned their cards and wands, “I didn’t grow out of

of North America,” said Kevin Smith, deputy director and chief curator of the Haffenreffer Museum.

“By studying humanities of the past, we can gain a better understanding” of our place in the world, said Samuel Mencoff ’78, chancellor and former anthropology undergraduate student.

“The museum Giddings helped reinvent has about a million objects,” Smith

said. In “Northern Visions,” objects that were brought back from Alaska are exhibited in honor of Giddings’s work.

Some examples include the only known full-sized Alaskan Kobuk River birchbark kayak, snow goggles used by Native American hunters to shield their eyes from light and a large heirloom ladle spoon. This ladle was donated to the museum by a close Iñupiat friend of

Giddings’. The ladle bears the engravings of four generations of his family — given to the Haffenreffer as a testament to the bond Giddings formed with members of the Iñupiat community.

Giddings’ work in the artic lives on, Smith said. The 60th anniversary is not just a celebration of Giddings, “but of the continuity of the work being done here.”

The museum continues to fund research in various countries all around the world, though its strongest focus is on northern Native cultures. An example of the objects the museum possesses that were not exhibited on Friday are dog bones that contain ancient DNA and that are currently being studied to track the migration patterns of ancient northern peoples.

it,” he said. After studying at Harvard and receiving his master’s degree in physics from Columbia, he developed a unique way of combining his interests.

“Magic exploits a lot of cognitive gaps in our awareness,” he said. Informed by a series of distinct experiences, working both in scientific research and — until he was kicked out for revealing secrets — with the Society of American Magicians, his lecture catered to rational skeptics and artists alike.

Stone began his lecture with a simple card trick. In typical magic fashion, a young woman from the audience was left awed by his slight of hand. But the audience did not come for spectacle. The lecture quickly escalated to a discussion of whether magic is art. Stone recited a quote he credited to Juan Tamariz, his favorite magician: “Magic is not an art in and of itself but is contained within

all art.”

Raised by a “scientist skeptic atheist,” Stone recognized both the “childhood wonder and astonishment” inherent in magic and its contrasting depth.

Magic “reveals a great deal about

how the human brain works,” he said.

Stone’s conversation revealed the tactics of the mentalist and referenced physics as well as the underlying workings and magical applications of “cognitive illusion” and “inattention blindness” — phenomena reliant

on the brain’s biases.

Stone’s lecture revealed how magic, easily dismissible as an art or as a science, enforces the foundations of both.

Ultimately, he said, “being deceived can be fun.”

Alexandra Kleeman reads from her fiction Alexandra Kleeman is the author of the novel You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine, a NewYorkTimes Editors’ Choice and finalist for the NYPL’sYoung Lions award, and the short story collection Intimations. Her fiction and essays have appeared in the NewYorker, Harper's, Paris Review, Zoetrope,Tin House, VOGUE, and n+1. A graduate of the Brown undergraduate program in Literary Arts, she has done graduate work at UC Berkeley and Columbia University. She lives in Staten Island, and was the 2016 winner of the Bard Fiction Prize.

Thursday, 27 October 2016 at 7 pm McCormack Family Theater 70 Street, Providence [use Fones Alley entrance]

Sponsored by Literary Arts at Brown University

ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 4 • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

‘The Warfighters’ exposes civilians to reality of battlefield experience Student Veterans, Commissioning Program screens episode of new docuseries on Special Operations Forces

By STEPHANIE ZHANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Student Veterans and Commissioning Program hosted an advanced screening Oct. 24 of “The Warfighters,” a docuseries by executive producer Peter Berg that focuses on U.S. Special Operations Forces soldiers and their personal stories from the front lines.

The event consisted of a showing of “Objective Breton” — one of the eight episodes set to premiere on the History Channel on Veterans’ Day — followed by a Q&A with producers Mike Baumgarten and Ray Mendoza.

With detailed and realistic reconstructions of battle footage and the participation of over 90 veterans in the production of the series, “The Warfighters” focuses on authenticity and

intimacy. Born from roughly threehour-long unscripted interviews, each finished product is a 44-minute, artfully woven collage. A balance of personal narrative, moving testimony from parents and families of the deceased and vivid reconstructed footage of the operations, the documentary exposes the raw reality of being a special operations member. Each episode details their experiences, such as living in close quarters with other men, building complex interpersonal relationships within the platoon and being attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device.

The focus on intimate story-telling — rather than on tactics or heroic dramatization — speaks to the objective behind the project. “This is a human story. This is not about geopolitics;

this is not about national interest,” Baumgarten said. “The whole point of this is to give (the) human aspect — … our reflections, thoughts, feelings.”

The idea for the docuseries originated with the producers’ close relationships with their fellow veterans — friends who could not remember what had happened and constantly asked for their wartime stories to be retold. For their sakes, the producers decided to create this series as a testimony to their experiences during war.

Mendoza cited various challenges that they experienced in bringing the project to fruition, including pitching the idea to various entertainment networks, finding the market for this type of exposition and reaching out to their team members to participate.

One of the major challenges the producers found themselves battling was the entrenched, Hollywood-generated perception of soldiers and war

created by films such as “The Hurt Locker” or “American Sniper.” “The battle is keeping our vision … (in) an industry that doesn’t get that,” Baumgarten said.

In contrast to the commercially focused vision of success, the producers defined success for the project as their ability to bridge the gap of understanding between military personnel and civilians or families. Baumgarten saw “The Warfighters” as a means for those who found it difficult to articulate their wartime experiences and connect with their families. He called it “a frustrating thing, when you come home, and you don’t know how to tell your family about the last 10 years of your life. This show articulates it for them.”

Bryan Rippee ’17, a former special operations combat medic, spoke about the goal to close the civil-military divide. To veteran students, the experience of attending Brown post-combat

can be alienating and isolating, Rippee said.

“The experience that I had, between 18 and 22, it’s just so much different that … for the first couple years here, I felt very insulated from the culture.” He added that entering into a rigorous academic environment like Brown after having been outside of formalized education posed an additional hurdle.

It is for this reason that the Student Veterans and Commissioning Program aims to attract both veteran and non-veteran students to their arts and cultural events. “Any time there’s an avenue for discussion, where we can draw on our experiences as veterans, we’re game to do it,” Rippee said.

“If there’s a gap between student veterans and more traditional students at Brown, … the burden is on us to communicate our experiences and let people know.”

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

menu

s p r e a d i n g t h e wa r m t h

SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Honey Boo Boo, Mushroom’s Revenge, Sausage and Spicy Garlic Po’ Boys JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

Lasagna Bowls

Burrito Bowls Beef Chili, Broccoli and Cheddar

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

BBQ Chicken on a Bulkie Roll, BBQ Baked Beans, BBQ Corn, Cream Cheese Brownies

Chicken Pot Pie, Hunan Hot and Spicy Tofu Stir Fry, Roasted Root Vegetables, Pumpkin Pie

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Quinoa Stuffed Portobello, White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Shepherd’s Pie, Artichoke and Red Pepper Frittata, Glazed Baby Carrots, Banana Split Eclair

sudoku

crossword ANITA SHEIH / HERALD

Connect For Health and Hasbro Children’s Hospital help Providence families in need stay warm this winter.

With boxes located in Faunce basement and Swearer Center Lobby, donations will be accepted until Oct. 28.

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

“If there’s a gap between student veterans and more traditional students at Brown, … the burden is on us to communicate our experiences and let people know.

”

— Bryan Rippee ’17, former special operations combat medic

See warfighters on page 4. calendar TODAY

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October Blues Buffet 11:30 A.M. Brown Faculty Club

Yale Law School Information Session 12:00 P.M. CareerLAB

Artist Talk by Urs Fischer 5:00 P.M. Salomon Center, 101

Brown Adaptive Yoga 6:00 P.M. Brown/RISD Hillel

TOMORROW Indian Classical Dance Classes 8:00 A.M. International House

Midterm Strategies 12:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 203

Study Abroad in the UK 12:00 P.M. J. Walter Wilson, 440

Film Screening: Criminal Queers 8:00 P.M. Rhode Island Hall, 108

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

R O L A N D H IG H

comic The Fistbump Chronicles | Bryn Brunnstrom

P Branes and Bosons | Ricky Oliver

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COMMENTARY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Reading in the smartphone era NICHOLAS ESEMPLARE staff columnist

My whole life, I’ve been a reader.

From a young age I would get lost in books, reading for hours on end with no interruption. Without the incentive of essays or pop quizzes, I enjoyed reading for its own sake, favoring the escape of a good book over many more tangible pursuits.

And while the purity of my youthful hunger for words has been tested by the rigors of college life, I still find time to read.

As college-aged Americans in 2016, reading is more difficult than it has ever been; the challenge of settling down to read in the era of instant gratification can be immense.

In these times, to read for an extended period is to consistently forgo more immediate and accessible enjoyment. Even as an avid reader, the difficulty of reading in the smartphone era is something I experience every day. A text or notification is all it takes to keep me from losing myself in a book, and the availability of short and entertaining videos on Facebook and Twitter — seldom longer than 20 or 30 seconds each — reinforces the enormity of reading a novel cover to cover.

In addition, the rigors of college life can make reading (both recreational and academic) almost impossible. Reading a book once a week, as many humanities courses demand, can be a daunting task — a time commitment unjustified to many of my peers, who view the value of reading a book as only marginally greater than that of reading its counterpart on SparkNotes.

Reading requires discipline. In the disorienting and chaotic bustle of college life, time-consuming and solitary pursuits are often thrown by the wayside in favor of activities that pack a more efficient punch. It never quite feels like you have time to read a book, and if it’s not homework, it can feel like an odd use of limited free time. But the act of sitting down to start a book requires a self-con-

have shown that reading can reduce stress levels by as much as 68 percent and might even improve empathy.

But the most common reason to dismiss reading as a pastime is that it doesn’t easily align with our modern values. If we are to say that reading is still worthwhile, we must first admit that it cannot compete within the typical millennial value struc-

Books are not plot summaries, no more than lives are obituaries.

As an English major myself, not a week goes by that I don’t open a new book, and I think I’m better for it.

But mine is not a representative college experience. Interest in the humanities is deteriorating, and time spent reading is falling with it. And while we may well be witnessing an irreversible decline in the prevalence of literature, I cannot help but step in to provide a defense of my favorite pastime.

trol often lacking in our generation due to precisely the types of distractions that make reading hard. Having the ability to focus and avoid distractions in an era where distractions abound is more important than ever in academic, professional and even social life.

Furthermore, reading can provide a reprieve — however brief — from college lifestyles that can often be inordinately stressful. Studies

ture that champions efficiency and shuns solitude. Reading is not an efficient way to absorb information; reading a SparkNotes summary will always provide a quicker plot synopsis, a more obvious set of themes and symbols and an easier understanding of complex works. In addition, reading can be an isolating activity, and it is understandably difficult for students to engage in such an anti-social recreation in an era of

unprecedented connectivity.

If this is all we get from books, we would have started reading summaries long ago. But reading books is about living a story, not summarizing one. You wouldn’t read a SparkNotes version of your life in place of living. The blood and sinews of human experience are irreplaceable. To see online summaries as more efficient or Facebook videos as more gratifying than books is to define value as an ever reducible list, always capable of being more compact or streamlined. No, reading is and always has been about much more than that; books are not plot summaries, no more than lives are obituaries. You can understand all the events, all the symbols and themes. But if you never take the time to look closely, you may just miss the whole point.

I believe we can still find time to read. Whether it’s reading — and not SparkNoting — a book for class, or making time to read outside of school, I think we all know it can be done. As with anything, finding time to read isn’t about time at all, but priorities. It’s not always easy; nothing worthwhile ever is.

Nicholas Esemplare ’18 can be reached at nicholas_esemplare@brown. edu.

Hiding homesickness GRACE JOHNSON staff columnist What do I miss most about home? I miss the blue of the water and the pinks of the sky. I miss the gulps of air standing on a bluff, the midnight dips under the Big Dipper and the view of city lights through a beach fire’s haze. I miss tracing my toe on the lake’s surface while paddling along the shore, looking for tiny coves where I can munch on cheese and berries. I miss hearing folk music when walking past bars and the roundness of my favorite coffee shop’s mugs. I miss my dad’s hums and my mom’s laughs, and I miss the warm hugs of my blanket after a late-night plunge in the lake.

Homesickness comes in different forms. It can mean missing your house, mom, cat, city or country. Sometimes it’s simply missing that strong feeling of comfort and security. College — and all the other living adjustments that come with it — can involve more nostalgia than you might expect. The first few weeks on campus can be isolating when you are surrounded by people you don’t know, and it is extremely difficult to find the space to reflect alone and escape that detachment. This early form of homesickness — when you miss a sense of familiarity and an easy relationship with others — might subside, but the draw of home may never quite disappear.

The UCLA Higher Education Institute reports that 69 percent of college first-years experience homesickness in some shape or form.

Homesickness is obviously more ubiquitous than it appears, and it is quite likely that Brown has a similar statistic. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a space at Brown to honestly share these homesick feelings — especially in those early first-year days. Homesickness is not an easy

that freedom. Indifference is an expectation, and this can become inhibiting. The inability to express powerful emotions like homesickness adds another layer of tension to an already stressful academic atmosphere. With so many students likely experiencing these stressors, it is vital that we work to ameliorate them.

If we really want to foster an open, honest environment on campus, we need to make

First-year orientation should include and encourage open discussion on the subject of homesickness.

feeling to overcome, and this kind of relief doesn’t happen quickly. But simply talking to another person can help tremendously. There is something about the human connection that can break feelings of isolation; sharing your burden with others can be emotionally relieving.

Yet for many students, college means independence and self-sufficiency, and there is social pressure to embrace and run wild with

a collective effort to encourage transparency.

The best way is to achieve this is to individually encourage and begin dialogue with friends and acquaintances. To truly lessen the load of homesickness, we need to support each other, share our concerns comfortably and actively build new memories and relationships.

We can start by facilitating this awareness when new students first arrive at Brown.

First-year orientation should include and en-

courage open discussion on the subject of homesickness. For instance, my first-year residential peer leaders offered office hours for their residents and cited homesickness as a possible reason to stop by. But there should be more open doors, and there should be doors open wider. RPLs should specifically address homesickness throughout the year, setting a higher standard for what outreach on homesickness should look like. And there are other small-scale efforts that could provide comfort to those who feel the distance from home. Organizing dormitory events that celebrate different families’ traditions around holidays would simulate a familiar atmosphere and ultimately ease homesickness. I don’t go home for Thanksgiving, and any kind of space or event that recognized my distance from home would have reduced my wallowing feelings that first November.

Brown students come from all over the world. Our homes are unique, but many of us share similar feelings of gnawing longing when we think of home. Asking about people’s homes and opening ourselves up to vulnerable conversations about homesickness can help us understand our peers and solidify new friendships. We need to stop hiding from the reality of homesickness and lean on each other to truly turn Brown into a home.

Grace Johnson ’19 can be reached at grace_johnson@brown.edu.

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ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

Film depicting Holocaust denier’s libel suit lacks identity, sells history short Despite grandiose aims, ‘Denial’ fails to treat themes with subtlety, find chemistry between actors

By JUSTIN FERENZI STAFF WRITER

Few words carry such an immediately visceral cue for solemnity, mourning and remembrance as “Holocaust.” The knowledge of the horrors that took place at the hands of the Nazis during the Second World War is pervasive today; elementary school children read works such as “Night” or “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” The idea that somebody could deny the atrocities of the Holocaust is absurd and almost unsettling, but that ideology persists even today. The most poignant aspect of “Denial” is perhaps not the plot or the performances or the writing, but the dates that flash up at the bottom of the screen: 1995, 1998, 2000. The conflict does not take place in the confusion of 1945, but in the same year that “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was published.

“Denial” is the cinematic adaptation of “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier,” an autobiographical work by Deborah Lipstadt. The film details the court case Irving v. Penguin Books, in which David Irving, a historian played

by Timothy Spall, claims that Lipstadt, a Jewish professor at DeKalb University played by Rachel Weisz, libeled him as a Holocaust denier in a work of hers. Irving asserts that Lipstadt’s claims are unfounded because his revocation of the Holocaust was the natural conclusion he came to after examining historical evidence. Lipstadt retorts that Irving deliberately manipulated information to foster his claims.

The movie opens with Lipstadt giving a talk to a group of university students about the Holocaust, where she emphasizes that while she is happy to debate the how and why of the Holocaust, she refuses to argue with anyone who flat-out denies it. Lo and behold, Irving is in the back row, listening indignantly before interrupting to berate Lipstadt and offer $1,000 to anyone who can produce photographic evidence of the genocide.

The rest of the film details Lipstadt and her defense team’s preparation and execution of the libel suit. In the United Kingdom, where the case was filed, the burden of proof rests on

the defendant, so the pressure is on.

Lipstadt’s defense team consists of Anthony Julius, a wry and charming intellectual known for serving as Princess Diana’s divorce lawyer played by Andrew Scott; Richard Evans, a boozing, cigarette-smoking barrister with unconventional methods played by John Sessions; 23-year-old paralegal Laura, played by Caren Pistorius; and a handful of vaguely British, vaguely lawyerly supporting players. Irving chooses to press charges in trial by judge, not jury.

Suffice to say that the most interesting thing about the movie is the story it was based on. One is left with the unshakable suspicion that director Mick Jackson and writer David Hare got together and asked each other, “How can we do everything within our power to get Rachel Weisz an Oscar?” The answer they came up with was to surround Weisz with milquetoast and lesser-known performers for her to act at. She delivers long-winded and derivative speeches in a “Queens” accent (which for Weisz is something between Janice from “Friends” and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT) on the importance of having a voice, fighting for the truth and not backing down.

This would not be so terrible if she had chemistry with literally any of her supporting cast members.

Hare’s screenplay throws subtlety to the wind. “We need to hear your voice!” a reporter in a press gaggle repeatedly cries out to Lipstadt immediately following a scene in which she was informed that neither she nor any Holocaust survivors would be testifying. The greatest lines go to Sessions, who gives the best performance in the film — most likely because he is the only performer who does not take himself very seriously.

Jackson’s direction recalls the gold-tinged, sweeping, big-budget films of the late 90s, most notably “Shakespeare in Love” and “Titanic.”

The best moments come when Jackson allows the movie to breathe, as he does with naturalistic views of London or shaky, intimate shots of private conversations. For the most part, Denial employs grandiose cinematography to continually remind us that Lipstadt and her team are the heroes.

The majority of what is wrong with the film comes from its lack of a clear core identity. Is it a reflection on the intricacies and tragedies of the Holocaust, a condemnation of the English judicial system, a meditation on the

COURTESY OF ‘DENIAL’

“Denial” stars Rachel Weisz as Deborah Lipstadt, a professor accused of libel by a historian she called a Holocaust denier. The lack of chemistry between Weisz and the rest of the cast was a reason the film fell short. power of teamwork, a feminist look at two male-dominant fields or a lesson in pride and humility? In better hands it may have achieved all of the above, but here it falls flat.

The film’s greatest accomplishment is its refusal to allow Irving any slack.

Though it is revealed that neglect and abuse during his childhood in the

1940s caused him to find comfort in the demagoguery of Adolf Hitler, “Denial” paints him as pathetic rather than deserving of sympathy. The conclusion of the movie details the important precedent set by the case’s decision in favor of Lipstadt, which leads to a warm and fuzzy celebration followed by one final sappy edict from

the perpetually hammy Weisz.

“Denial” takes an interesting and historically crucial tale and turns it into a movie you’d fall asleep to on an airplane. The film is best described as Oscar-bait-bait, something that knows it probably won’t win all that many awards but needs you to know it could have if it had wanted to.