Tuesday, April 23, 2019

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019

VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 53

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CS department grapples with Expenses, stereotypes complicate intl. student life collaboration policy, diversity U. increases resources for Some find community in CS department, others feel alienated, isolated by department policies By PEDER SCHAEFER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

This is the second of two stories examining the workings of the University’s largest concentration — the computer science department — its value and its challenges. Like many computer science students, Chelsey Serrano ’22 is finishing up a two-part CS intro sequence with help from close friends, who struggle together through late nights and stressful deadlines. But, as a first-generation and female student, Serrano more often than not finds herself in the minority; data shows that in 2018, close to 30 percent of CS degrees were awarded to women and 12 percent to historically underrepresented groups on campus — lagging behind the increasingly diverse demographics of the student body. As the computer science community

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

works to become more inclusive to underrepresented groups, its policies can make it difficult at times for all students to feel at home in the department. The sometimes severely strict no-collaboration policy, paired with a growing want for equal representation in CS, can create obstacles to a fully welcoming community. The increasing presence of affinity groups allows for students from underrepresented groups to find a place in the community, but some students say there is still more to be done. While no one student or voice can be representative of the experiences of everyone in the University’s largest department, stories from CS students illuminate both a sense of camaraderie and obstacles that can hinder a sense of belonging. Collaboration policy makes CS intimidating The strict no-collaboration policy existing in some of the intro sequences within the department is an area of contention among students and faculty. The policy, which varies from class to class, can prevent students from working together on specific coding projects — ranging from just exams and quizzes to all projects » See CS, page 4

low-income international students who encounter stereotypes, barriers By TRISHA THACKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

This is the first of two stories in a series titled, “Far from Home: Navigating Brown,” which explores the experiences of international students at the University. For some students, coming to the University means traveling a few hours away from family to receive an Ivy League education. For others, choosing Brown means living a hemisphere away from home in a foreign and challenging environment. The latter experience rings especially true for many low-income international students, who often arrive on campus facing broad cultural differences, limited financial means and an unfamiliar social setting. “When I was a first-year, I struggled a lot with a language barrier and the lack of an international community,” said Beatriz Silveira Arruda ’19, an international student from Brazil and a member of the International Leadership Advisory Board. While these students still face unique challenges when they arrive on campus,

SIMONE ZHAO / HERALD

the University has expanded resources over the past few years to support lowincome international students. Confronting and challenging stereotypes After arriving to College Hill, some international students say that they have

Former associate dean and director of SEAS steps down Catherine Axe ’87 moves to inaugural position to promote accessibility at Johns Hopkins University By SPENCER SCHULTZ SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Former Associate Dean and Director of Student and Employee Accessibility Services Catherine Axe ’87 left the University in March to “pursue a wonderful leadership opportunity” at Johns Hopkins University as its inaugural executive director of student disability services, wrote Eric Estes, the vice president for campus life in an email to The Herald. Her departure follows 15 years of service at the University and the notice of resignation that she gave in January. Since Axe’s departure, Desirae Mix and Jonathan Corey, assistant directors of SEAS, have managed the office’s dayto-day operations, wrote Vanessa Britto MSc ’96, the assistant vice president for campus life and executive director of health and wellness, in an email to The Herald. The University is actively searching for a new director to permanently fill Axe’s role, a process which began in February, Britto wrote. Britto, who is chairing the search, said that the University is considering

INSIDE

grappled with the stereotype of the “typical” international student — someone who hails from a cosmopolitan and wealthy background. “The first thing is to recognize that the (low-income international student) population exists on campus,” said Divya » See INTL, page 3

109 seniors elected to Phi Beta Kappa Three elections determine induction into U. chapter of academic honors society By CATE RYAN SCIENCE AND RESEARCH EDITOR

REBECCA HO / HERALD

Associate Dean and Director Catherine Axe ‘87 formerly led Student and Employee Accessibility Services, which provides accommodations for members of the University community. both internal and external candidates for the role. Britto hopes to invite candidates for on-campus interviews soon, with the goal of naming the new director by the end of the semester. The new

director will “plan to transition to campus in the early summer,” she wrote. After accepting her new position at Johns Hopkins in January, Axe, along with the SEAS team and Britto,

developed a transition plan to delegate Axe’s former responsibilities among other administrators within SEAS “in ways that made sense,” Britto wrote. » See SEAS, page 2

One hundred and nine seniors were elected to the University’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on April 22, wrote Chapter Administrator Mary Jo Foley in an e-mail to The Herald. Phi Beta Kappa is the “oldest and most prestigious academic honors organization” in the United States, Foley wrote. The University’s Chapter is the seventh oldest in the nation. Students are elected to the organization on the basis of exceptional academic performance, based on the strength of their course load and grades, according to the election procedures posted on the University’s » See PHI BETA KAPPA, page 2

WEATHER

TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE Eight student storytellers perform personal narratives in Spring StorySlam

NEWS Rep Tulsi Gabbard speaks to students about the cost of war, 2020 presidential campaign

COMMENTARY Kramer ’20: Open curriculum allows for exploration and personal challenge in academics

ARTS & CULTURE Natalie Mering, also known as Weyes Blood, releases new album titled ‘Titanic Rising’

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Spring StorySlam features eight powerful senior storytellers StorySlams offer students platform to workshop, perform, share lived experiences with others

a fake hostage drill during her time interning at a US embassy. Paul explained that she became interested in StorySlams after attending and enjoying poetry slams. “What drew me to poetry slams in the first place — and now StorySlams — is the way (that) hearing people’s stories makes you feel

and experience things that you never have. … There’s a really cool sense of trust and community that exists in a space like that,” Paul said. In the week leading up to the event, the participants spend an hour every day workshopping their stories with the other performers, which Paul said

was one of the most rewarding parts of participating in the StorySlam. Perrotta noted that this process, like many other collaborative projects, reinforced the opinion that an outside voice is more valuable than self-evaluation. “Whenever people make a suggestion to you, they’re just probably right. …

They probably know if something’s not funny,” Perrotta said. Abby Neill ’19, one of the event’s coordinators, described the goal of StorySlams: “In creating a platform to share a multitude of stories from different experiences, it widens people’s perspectives and worldviews.” She explained that she liked the way StorySlams mix together performance and real life. Neill also said that many people audition for slams as part of their “bucket list” before they leave the University. “I basically always hear that (attendees) would want to go to another StorySlam,” Perrotta said. “When I think about all of the people I know, they all have one story, at least, of something really weird,” he continued. Brown University Storytellers puts on two or three StorySlams every year, according to Neill. Students audition with stories from their lives, and the coordinators choose who will participate in the slam based on performance ability and the quality of the story itself. Out of the 25 students who auditioned this spring, eight were chosen to perform. Neill noted that only two of the performers in this StorySlam had participated in slams in the past, which she appreciated about this year’s cohort. “There are some people who are naturally good storytellers, and then there are some who need a little bit of coaching — but clearly the emotion is there, and their experience is so visceral or real that it makes a good story too. I wouldn’t say there’s a formula,” Neill said.

experiences, to respond to requests in a timely fashion and to maintain professionalism all the while,” Britto wrote. “It has been very impressive.” Axe joined Johns Hopkins as their first executive director for Student Disability Services March 11. After examining their disability services, Johns Hopkins developed “a new model of service delivery to suit their multicampus needs,” Britto wrote. Axe was hired for an inaugural position created under this new model of disability services, she added. In her new role, Axe will be responsible for working with “disability coordinators,” managing student accommodations and raising awareness around disability issues within the university’s community, according to a press release from Johns Hopkins. Though SEAS will miss Axe “as a colleague and as a friend,” the University is “very fortunate to have a deep, talented and diverse pool of qualified applicants” applying for Axe’s former position, Britto wrote. “Selecting the right person for the position is our priority. I am confident that we will be able to do that,” she added.

» PHI BETA KAPPA, from page 1

Emilia Ann Halvorsen ’19 Malik Shehryar Hasan ’19 Calder Allen Hoover ’19 Anna Faith Hundert ’19 Victoria T. Huynh ’19 Alexander Anand Iyer ’19 Saanya Jain ’19, former post- magazine editor-in-chief Jesse Leigh Kass ’19 Julia Rachel Kirschenbaum ’19 Jia Wen Koh ’19 Michael Harrison Lata ’19 Ian Amlie Lefond ’19 Evan A. Lehmann ’19 Natalie Blaine Lerner ’19 Christopher John Lingelbach ’19 Yean Luk ’19 Sophie Grace MacFarlane ’19 Adam Jacob Malkin ’19 Benjamin Max Martel ’19 Rachel Marie McMahon ’19 Noa Meerschwam ’19 Lily Louise Meyersohn ’19 Emily Mae Miller ’19, Herald Opinions editor Yuko Miyawaki ’19 Meredith Conway Morran ’19 Meghan Francis T. Mozea ’19 Gabriela R. Naigeborin ’19 Abigail Morgan Neill ’19 Ann Marie Nicholson ’19 Sarah Claire Niehaus ’19 Isabel Marie Paolini ’19 Colby Bradford Parsons ’19 Timothy Donald Peltier ’19 Andy T. Pham ’19 Mauricio Bier Pinto ’19 Joshua Dylan Pirl ’19 Daniel Conrad Plaisance ’19 Shuowei Qin ’19 Keith Harrison Radler ’19 Mira Ruth Reichman ’19 Rachel Victoria Risoleo ’19 Madison Amanda Rivlin ’19, former

Senior Editor of The Herald’s 128th Editorial Board Julia Rock ’19 Micah Loren Rosen ’19 Julia Hava Banks Rosenfeld ’19 Sukanya Roy ’19 Sabrina Maariyah Saeed ’19 Sachin Sastri ’19 Iladro Lee Sauls ’19 Aileen Seo ’19 Jingpeng Shao ’19 Margaret Aila Germain Shea ’19 Rose Bailey Sheehan ’19, former Herald reporter Ethan Andrew Shire ’19 Michael Laurino Shorris ’19 Emily Jessica Siff ’19 Alexandra Lauren Skidmore ’19, former Managing Editor of The Herald’s 128th Editorial Board Lucas Gregory Smolcic Larson ’19 Ari Lewis Snider ’19 Jonathan S. Spiegel ’19 Ian Max Stevenson ’19 Timothy Albert Sudijono ’19 Hannah Jacqueline Szapary ’19 Davis Hartley Rosselot Tantillo ’19 Anabel Lee Tassoni ’19 Madeleine Rose Thompson ’19 Zoe Thomas Verni ’19 Marianne Emma W. Verrone ’19 Joanna Marie Walsh ’19 Mackenzie Ann Walter ’19 Drew Todd Wendel ’19 Erin Rawson West ’19 Abraham Lothrop Westbrook ’19 Claire Bernadine N. Wibisono ’19 Benjamin Marc Winston ’19 Jeremy Lee Wolin ’19 Angela Yang ’19 Aaron Bi Zhang ’19 Vanessa Jingjing Zhang ’19 Tiffany Anne Zhao ’19 Zachary Robert Ward Ziebell ’19

By GRAYSON LEE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Eight seniors performed dramatic tellings of their own true stories in this year’s Spring StorySlam, an event hosted by the Brown University Storytellers club. The show featured narratives with a mix of comedic and serious topics — including the turmoil of forbidden love, a lockbox filled with the memories of a deceased family member and a friend’s sleepwalking, snake food eating uncle, among others. Luke Perrotta ’19 spoke about his strange interactions with Brown Faculty Club guests while working as the resident Easter Bunny and Santa Claus impersonator. He explained that he had never participated in a StorySlam before, but he had experience in stage and film acting. When asked about the show’s impressive audience turn out, Perrotta said, “As far as art goes on this campus and the dependability of good art, stories rate better than most because people really know how to tell a (true) story, … and that’s more reliable than hoping that somebody can invent a fiction.” In one of the slam’s comedic narratives, Carly Paul ’19 performed a story about her experience participating in

ARTS & CULTURE

» SEAS, from page 1 Previously, Axe was responsible for ensuring equity and inclusion on campus, overseeing SEAS and setting departmental goals for the University’s accessibility, according to the director of accessibility services job description. Because SEAS handles accessibility requests for the housing lottery during the spring semester, this time of year has been especially busy for the office in Axe’s absence, Britto wrote. “With the added responsibilities that each team member has during this period of transition they are much busier — it has not been easy,” she added. Collaborative efforts, however, have allowed SEAS to undertake the increased volume of work during this period of transition, Britto wrote. “From my perspective, while the department has always prided itself on being collaborative, I think it is fair to say that they would describe themselves as even more collaborative over the past several weeks.” Despite Axe’s departure during a period of high demand, “there is a strong commitment that each SEAS member has to not compromise students’

VICTORIA YIN / HERALD

Sarah Marion ’19 (above) was one of the eight performers in this year’s Spring StorySlam, hosted by the Brown University Storytellers. The event aimed to provide community and a space for students to share their stories.

STUDENT RESEARCHERS SOUGHT

Alum author seeks research assistants for book about Brown. Should be sociable and outgoing.

Pay approximately $40/hour Send resume to: Richard Montauk rmontauk@aol.com

website. Rhode Island Alpha holds three elections each year: one in February to elect juniors, one in April to elect seniors and another in May to elect seniors who transferred to the University as juniors. Current seniors who were elected as juniors served as electors for the rest of their class. No more than one-sixth of any graduating class may be elected to the organization. Ellen Betty Baker ’19 Nicole N. Bencie ’19 Eli Binder ’19 Jackson Tanner Brook ’19, former Herald reporter Aidan Glezen Calvelli ’19, Herald staff columnist Elizabeth Ruth Carlson ’19 Abraar Zaffir Chaudhry ’19 Tracy L. Chin ’19 Eojin Choi ’19 Samantha Willa Chomsky ’19 Alison Laure Cleary ’19 Christine Kendall Collins ’19 Nathaniel Randolph Conrad ’19 Iris Ainsley Cronin ’19 Heather Diane Davis ’19 Adam Joseph DeHovitz ’19 Charles Fanghui Deng ’19 Kathryn Grace Duckworth ’19 Jenny Andrine M. Evang ’19 Adam Hunt Fertig ’19 Claire McMahon Fishman ’19 Nicole Marie Fleming ’19 Julian Gau ’19 Sophia Michelle Giglio ’19 Rachel Lily Gold ’19 David Charles Golden ’19 Zachary Matthew Goldstein ’19 Kyra Chan Goldstein ’19

NEWS

TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Rep. Gabbard talks presidential campaign, focus on cost of war Hawaii Rep. shares foreign policy ideas, 2020 aspirations during U. event By JACKSON TRUESDALE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Monday evening, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-HI, named the cost of war as the focus of her bid for the White House in 2020. Gabbard told the audience at an event hosted by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs that as president, she would work to end American regime-change wars and what she called “the New Cold War,” referencing tensions with nuclear powers like North Korea. She would redirect funds from the military to domestic infrastructure projects. “We need to decide whether we want to continue as a country to be the world’s police — intervening in one foreign country after another, toppling one dictator after another — or focus on taking care of our people and rebuilding our own communities,” Gabbard said. “We cannot afford to do both.” Though election season is faroff and the field of candidates is increasingly crowded, Gabbard seems hopeful, telling The Herald that she possesses a unique set of experiences “that nobody else has.” Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard

» INTL, from page 1 Mehta ’18, the International Student Career Coordinator. People often struggle to see beyond the preconceived image that all international students are wealthy, she added. “I would say that most of my international friends — who I met as mentors in (the International Mentorship Program) — are either middle class or low income,” said Eleni Gkini ’21, an international student from Greece. Gkini, who is on full financial aid, said that she struggles with the pressure of people assuming that she is wealthy. The International Mentorship Program is a peer-support program for incoming international students and manages orientation for international students, according to the Global Brown Center’s website. Students can also face pressure to assimilate into the predominantly American culture on campus. The transition into the American education system can be demanding for international students, particularly if they did not attend an international or American high school in their home country. “I didn’t go to an American school, I went to a Greek school, so I’m unfamiliar with a few of the concepts and topics” presented in classes, Gkini said. The price of Brown Currently, “there are 129 international students receiving University need-based scholarships, with an average scholarship of $58,904,” said James Tilton, the dean of Financial Aid. This represents 15 percent of the international student population and costs approximately 7.8 million dollars, making up six percent of

for 16 years, deployed twice to the Middle East and served on the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees in Congress for six years. In 2002, Gabbard was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at 21 years old, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to a U.S. state legislature. Gabbard’s platform is especially motivated by a false alarm in January 2018, when her constituents in Hawaii received a broadcast on their local TV, radio and cell phones warning: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” The governor of Hawaii, David Ige, later told CNN, “An employee pushed the wrong button.” Gabbard believes the U.S. government might avoid global nuclear conflict by refraining from overthrowing foreign regimes. “As tensions continue to increase, as we find ourselves in the place that we are, the prospect of nuclear war is not a question of if it will happen — it’s a question of when, if we continue down this path,” Gabbard said. “It doesn’t have to be this way. … That’s why I’m running for president.” In a brief onstage interview, Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs Stephen Kinzer asked the congresswoman about the state of her campaign. He addressed Gabbard’s unconventional approach to foreign policy and her scarce presence in the media compared to other presidential candidates. “Do you think there’s a

the total financial aid budget, he added. These students make up two percent of the undergraduate student population. Low-income international students often face distinct financial challenges compared to domestic students. “Low-income international students face varied financial pressures besides the cost of attendance, such as travel costs, scholarship tax and taxes on research awards, costs related to extracurricular activities and commencement and costs related to room and board when school is not in session,” wrote Asabe Poloma, assistant dean for international students, in an email to The Herald. For many of these students, purchasing winter clothing and textbooks can be a significant financial burden, Silveira De Arruda said. In addition, navigating the University’s system to receive financial aid can be a complicated process. Barring truly exceptional circumstances, international students who do not apply for financial aid when they enter the University cannot re-apply during their time on College Hill, Silveira De Arruda said. But a student’s financial situation can change while in college, and even international students who do not receive financial aid may struggle financially to pay the University’s tuition, she added. “There are students on financial aid, external scholarships and fellowships from their (home country) governments.” And for students from countries with depreciating currencies, Brown’s tuition has become three to four times more expensive, Silveira De Arruda said. Many low-income international students must rely on external donors, and if the donors discontinue their support, it becomes

LEON JIA/ HERALD

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard discussed the cost of war during her talk Monday evening. The event was part of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy Watson Distinguished Speaker Series. connection between those two facts?” Kinzer asked, to the audience’s laughter and applause. “Unfortunately, yes,” Gabbard replied. “It is not only those in the foreign policy establishment, it is not only those in the military-industrial complex, but it is also many in the media who continue to perpetuate these same failed policies and who seek to squash the voices of those of us who are challenging … the status quo with the truth.” In a question-and-answer session, Ella Kilpatrick Kotner ’19, an organizer of the Sunrise Movement and one

of Gabbard’s constituents, brought up the issue of climate change and the Green New Deal, which Gabbard has not endorsed. “Now that there is a resolution on the table, you’ve refused to support it,” Kotner said. While Kotner acknowledged Gabbard’s “Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act,” which would transition electricity and most transportation systems in the United States to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035, she said, “We need you to cosponsor the Green New Deal.” In response, Gabbard said a major concern of hers was that “nuclear

power is not mentioned in the resolution as an option that we will not consider.” Other members of the audience were unsure of the practicality of Gabbard’s proposals. “I’m a little skeptical how she’s actually going to get the reallocation of armed military budget to social services done,” said Lucas Fried ’21. Gabbard’s visit, organized with help from Vivek Pandit ’20 and Kinzer, was part of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy Watson Distinguished Speaker Series.

increasingly difficult for students to pay full tuition. Over the past two years, the University has looked into the different circumstances that low-income international students face in their home countries to address changing costs of attendance, Tilton said. If a student did not initially apply to receive financial aid, “there is a process for very extreme circumstances for students to appeal the decision and that would be reviewed by me and the Dean of the College, and we would make the decision whether the students could apply for financial aid or not,” he added. Along with cost barriers within the University, low-income international students can also face challenges building a career outside of their home country, particularly if they pursue careers in fields outside of finance, consulting and tech, Mehta wrote in a follow up message to The Herald. Finding paid internships is more difficult and “meeting the costs of living in places like New York City or Washington DC is incredibly challenging (and) … may affect a student’s ability to build their social capital in the U.S.,” she added. It can also be more difficult for lowincome international students to leverage contacts to find internships, as they often lack a broad network of contacts in the U.S., Mehta said. Although the University has some human resources to help low-income international students find internships, the financial resources dedicated to helping students find opportunities are relatively limited, she added.

support for resources that aid international students academically and professionally. For instance, through the Dean of the College’s office, Poloma and Mehta now offer “identity-based advising” tailored to international students’ varying backgrounds, Mehta said. In addition, the International@Brown Canvas page started featuring listings from Kaplan this year for free GRE, MCAT and LSAT resources and links to the Brown Student Agencies website that provides subsidized Kaplan books. Christina Bonnel, the program director of the Global Brown Center, has also given students consistent support, providing career and financial advice and occasionally referring students to a Certified Public Accountant to assist with taxes, Gkini said. To help international students who cannot travel home during breaks, the University launched the “Break Gaps Program” under the direction of Dean Vernicia Elie. The program “provides all international undergraduate students who need financial assistance with winter and spring break housing and meals when school is not in session,” Poloma wrote in an email to The Herald. Additionally, income-eligible international students can apply for “Emergency Gap Funds” to cover costs related to curricular and extra-curricular opportunities. These funds can be used to purchase necessities like winter clothing, Gkini said. The University also provides airport transportation for first-year international students who are either on financial aid or are traveling alone, Bonnel said.

For Silveira De Arruda, the experience of being alone in the United States without a cell phone would have been less stressful if a shuttle system existed during her first year at Brown. The shuttles were “definitely something I would have used,” she added. The University also provides direct financial support to low-income international students through loans and grants.“In response to international students sometimes having difficulty borrowing, we have set up a loan program on campus that they can apply (for) through the Office of Financial Aid,” Tilton said. These loans match interest rates paid by domestic students for federal loans, he added. Although the University offers a number of resources for low income international students, many people are unaware that the support exists, Gkini said. “A lot of international students aren’t used to having so many resources and usually try to figure out things for themselves,” she added. To that end, the University should focus on making these resources more visible so that students in need are aware of them, said Jose Soria ’19, a student from Spain and a member of the International Student Advisory Board. Along with a lack of visibility, some of low income international students are dissuaded from taking advantage available funding due to stigmas around asking for help, Gkini said. In order to improve access, the University could do more to de-stigmatize the use of resources, she added.

Increasing resources for international students The University has bolstered its

» See INTL, page 8

NEWS

PAGE 4 • TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019

» CS, from page 1 in the course. The intent of the policies, as described in many syllabi, is to ensure that students learn on their own, but many who have taken the classes said that the collaboration policy is isolating and makes it difficult to meet people in the department. Two students, Serrano and Donnie Sahyouni ’21, said that they choose to take the CS 17/CS 18 intro sequence because there was more of a focus on pair projects, as opposed to the CS 15/16 sequence, which has a stricter no collaboration policy. The text of the policy explains that the course does not have any exams or quizzes to test individual mastery, and so it depends entirely on project and homework grades for evaluation. This makes the policy especially important to ensure individual learning, according to the text of the policy. Marlene Goetz ’21, who took CS 15 and 16, similarly said that the collaboration policy made finding a community within the department more difficult during her first year. “In CS 15 and 16, I was less engaged with other students in the class because I was usually working alone,” she added. Professors can enforce a no-collaboration policy through a software called Measurement of Software Similarity, or MOSS. The software cross-checks the code of students on assignments and spots similarities in coding strings, according to Deputy Dean of the College Christopher Dennis, who works on academic code cases. He said that of the 54 people found guilty of violating the academic code in the 2017-18 academic year, the last year for which data is available, 22 violations were in computer science classes. “I think it’s strict, and MOSS is relentless,” Dennis said about the no-collaboration policy. “CS students need to be careful.” He mentioned that in most cases he has seen, students have been aware that they violated the code, thanks to improvements in education about the specifics of the policy in classes like CS 15. “The department’s overall outlook on collaboration is toxic and counterproductive,” said Jack Wrenn GS, a PhD candidate within the department who studies computer science education. “There’s a bevy of evidence showing that the best way to learn something is to teach others about it, and the collaboration policy here effectively silences that opportunity.

It instills among students a state of terror where the students following the policy actively avoid doing things that would help them learn, and they live in a state of great stress.” But while students may be prevented from collaborating with each other, they rely heavily on partnerships, learning and collaboration with Teaching Assistants in the department, The Herald previously reported. The collaboration policy also encourages students to turn to TAs for help, support and partnerships. Wrenn added that there are examples of classes within the department that have been able to completely incorporate partner projects into the curriculum without sacrificing the integrity of the course, naming CSCI 1570: “The Design and Analysis of Algorithms” taught in previous years by Assistant Professor of Computer Science Paul Valiant. “There’s a lot of ideological discussion around the collaboration policy. Some faculty are really for it and others not so much,” said Financial and Outreach Coordinator Laura Dobler, an administrator in the department who works on diversity initiatives. “There’s a lot of active discussion around how might the collaboration policy be affecting students feelings of belonging and feelings of isolation in the department.” Dobler also emphasized the greater effect the collaboration policy can have on underrepresented groups in computer science, who might find the environment in CS classes all the more intimidating due to strict guidelines about working with others. “We need to identify more comprehensive ways to really work on that retention issue and that initial shock coming into these intro sequences, with massive classes and the collaboration policy,” Dobler said, adding that it might help students if professors were more transparent about what is and is not a violation of the policy. Associate Professor of Computer Science Tom Doeppner stressed the potential benefits of a strict no-collaboration policy, highlighting the importance of individual work in student learning. “It’s felt for (some CS) course(s) that doing work on your own is extremely important … It’s sometimes a fine line between discussing the big ideas and getting into the project,” he said. Department Aims to be More Welcoming to Underrepresented

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Groups Since Dobler joined the CS department in January 2016, she has seen a major shift in the way faculty look at issues of diversity and inclusion. “When I first started here the biggest thing that I heard from students is that they felt as though the faculty were not listening to them,” Dobler said. “And I can say that I’ve seen the culture shift in the past three years, whereby instead of folks being defensive, I think this department in particular really embraces change.” According to the department website, half of new incoming PhD candidates in 2019 are women — a new high for the department. In the past few years, affinity groups within the department have grown, working to facilitate a welcoming community for underrepresented computer science students. Women in Computer Science works to increase the participation of women in the field, offering a mentorship program and organizing events throughout the semester. Students in the department can also look to Mosaic+ for support, which is a student-run organization within the department focused on making underrepresented minority students feel welcome in the CS community. Mosaic+ currently has 40 to 50 core members and a GroupMe of over 100 current students and recent alums. The group, formed in 2015, runs a peer mentorship program and a summer program for about 15 rising first-years that helps underrepresented students adjust to the department. “I think the biggest thing we value is community,” said Stephanie Alvarado ’20, one of Mosaic+’s co-coordinators. “That’s what we try and build, and as our community members come forward with things (or) places they feel could use some more support, we try and accommodate that.” “It really humanizes the whole CS experience, from it being isolating to having a space with people who are more familiar,” Serrano said of the group. “I think it shows that they got through it and I can get through it too.” Mosaic+ also runs events throughout the semester, such as Technical Tuesdays and Whiteboard Wednesdays, that help students with coding job interview preparation and assist students who are applying for TA positions within the department. Alvarado added that Mosaic+ has been successful in making TA staff within the department more diverse.

“One reason I decided to pick CS over engineering at the end of my first year was because I felt that the CS department had a stronger community in Mosaic+,” said Brantley Leapheart ’21. He said he had taken computer science and engineering tracks concurrently in his first year. “I had a lot of friends through the transition program who were doing engineering and CS, but I felt like Mosaic+ was providing a better support group in the department,” he added. Alvarado stressed that faculty have been very supportive of Mosaic+, helping the group find extra space after the current Mosaic+ room in the Center for Information Technology became too small and responding to any requests. She said a next step would be to try and make the department’s faculty more diverse. “We’ve made quite a difference in TA staffs, and think that it would be good if we could make a difference in the faculty, so that students can see people in academia who look like them and are from similar backgrounds,” she said. Aside from student run groups, the department has also added student advocates — among the recent additions are positions focused on health and wellness, diversity and inclusion and outreach. Ten students work on diversity and inclusion, four students on health and wellness and one student, Bilal Lafta ’20, on outreach with community organizations in Providence. Lafta is working to create a web page that will centralize all of the department’s outreach initiatives with local schools and partners, while diversity advocates act as

sounding boards and connect students to resources on campus. While computer science is becoming more welcoming, Dobler said that there is still room for progress. “I don’t think we’re there yet,” she said. “There’s still a lot of issues from a climate perspective here. I think there’s some inconsistency among some of our policies and practices among classes that can be hard to navigate.” Dobler mentioned that the large class sizes and intimidating policies around collaboration carry the threat of inducing imposter syndrome in underrepresented students without prior CS experience. Imposter syndrome, Dobler said, is the feeling “that you’re going to be exposed as a fraud or feeling that you’re not going to measure up to other students.” Doeppner also said that there were not enough available computers on campus for low-income students to complete projects, increasing the stress and burden on those who cannot afford a laptop. While the department works to address feelings of stress and isolation, underrepresentation and its policy on collaboration, students and faculty alike emphasize the strong community and camaraderie within the department. “There’s a very definite sense of community and people tend to know each other,” Doeppner said. “Somebody might be your TA in one class and peer in another class. … With increased size … there’s still the case that it’s a strong community, just a much larger community than we had before.”

HANNA RASHIDI / HERALD

TODAY

TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019 • PAGE 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

125 wat e r m a n s t .

menu SATELLITE DINING ANDREWS COMMONS

Pizza: Spinach & Feta, Lamb Tagine Baked Pasta Grinder, Pho Bar, MYO Salad, Curry Bar JOSIAH’S

BLUE ROOM

French Toast Bar, MYO Grilled Cheese, Build Your Own Burger

Chicken Mushroom Xacuti, Vegetable Mango Curry

DINING HALLS SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH

DINNER

Siberian Style Grain Bowl, Lentil Soup, Tequila Lime Coconut Bar, Chocolate Cannoli

Buttermilk Corn Bread, Roasted Button Mushroom, Huli Huli Chicken, Cumin Spiced Cabbage

VERNEY-WOOLLEY LUNCH

DINNER

Roasted Tomato Soup, Ratatouille Spiral, Chinese Style Chicken Wings, Hamburgers

Red Cannellini Scampi and Roasted Broccoli, Mashed Red Bliss Potatoes with Garlic

sudoku

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 28, 2013

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

ACROSS 1 Send with an email 7 With 22-, 37- or 48-Across, familiar line 14 It has its charms 15 Password accompaniment 17 Mail for King Arthur 18 “Pull it together” 19 Fed. management and support agency 21 Fabric 22 See 7-Across 29 Ken and Lena of Hollywood 30 Tell-all account 31 Mosquito-borne fever 33 Islet 34 Preschool downtime 37 See 7-Across 41 Disapproving sound 42 Ballpark fig. 43 Two-__ 44 Shrill laugh 47 Bookkeeper’s deduction 48 See 7-Across 50 Literature Nobelist __ Bashevis Singer 52 __ Lanka 53 Words often said with a fist pump 57 Easy pill to swallow 62 Where a shopping list may be jotted down 63 Word of exasperation 64 Probable response to 7-/22-, 7-/37- or 7-/48-Across 65 Saved DOWN 1 Gardner of “The Killers” 2 NYY opponent, on scoreboards 3 Cat on the prowl 4 Excitement

5 Forks over reluctantly 6 __ trade 7 An O may symbolize one 8 Odessa-to-Austin dir. 9 To this point 10 Leaflike parts 11 “Life of Pi” director 12 Unseen “Red” character in “Peanuts” 13 Give off 16 N.T. book 20 “All bets __ off” 22 Buffalo Bill and the Wyoming city named for him 23 Kitchen spreads 24 Frigid forecast word 25 Tech sch. grad 26 “Bingo!” 27 Andy’s TV son 28 Pics 32 To-be, in politics 34 Capone associate 35 Words after crack or fry 36 1996 role for Madonna or Jonathan Pryce

38 Sets a price of 39 Adjust, as to a new situation 40 Prey for a Hauskatze 44 Alpine dwelling 45 Battery not included, perhaps 46 Aurora, to the Greeks 48 Refrain from claiming

49 Prods 50 Like Vivaldi’s “Spring” 51 Joined the choir 54 Scooby-__ 55 Tape speed unit: Abbr. 56 Hanoi holiday 58 John of London 59 Nasty mutt 60 Birthday candle number 61 Prof’s deg.

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

REBECCA HO / HERALD

A new angle on an old building reveals a taste of the capital of the Ocean State’s rich architectural history, accompanied by blooming spring blossoms celebrating the rainy coming of spring.

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

“When I think about all of the people I know, they all have one story, at least, of something really weird.” — Luke Perrotta ’19, performer in Spring StorySlam

See storyslam on page 2.

xwordeditor@aol.com

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Hip Hop Lecture Series: Austin Martin ’17 1:00 P.M. 85 Waterman St., Room 130

Contemplative Music of South Asia 7:00 P.M. List Art Center

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club 7:30 P.M. Watson CIT

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Airbrush Hats Event 12:00 P.M. Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center

Copyright in the Academy 2:00 P.M. Rockefeller Library

Hyperborea: Fragments of Greek Cosmography 5:30 P.M. Rhode Island Hall

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019

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RÉMY POISSON / HERALD

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

It’s time to look beyond celebrity admissions scandals JOHANNA BANDLER op-ed contributor The Granoff dinner was an embarrassment for the University, and it is undeniably immoral that the uber-rich, like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, can pay or cheat their way into elite institutions and receive special benefits once admitted. Indeed, these events are representative of deep injustices in our education system, threatening the most fundamental values of our so-called meritocracy. But, I don’t want to talk about exclusive dinners reminiscent of Gossip Girl episodes or photoshopped athletes anymore. In the context of revelations about wealth’s influence on college campuses, the richest of the rich are painted as the root of all evils. Following these scandals, many Brown students have pointed to Loughlin, Huffman and Granoff and exclaimed: “they’re the problem here.” While it’s easy to see where Loughlin and Granoff went wrong, it’s harder — and arguably more important — to understand how many Brown students contribute to the very inequitable structures we claim to protest. Over half of Brown students come from families who earn over $200,000 a year, and 70 percent of students have annual family incomes over $110,000, placing them in the top five percent or at minimum in the upper-middle class income bracket. But most of us didn’t

make the Granoff list, so we can’t be the problem, right? It is a little more complicated than that. Richard Reeves writes in a New York Times article, “the rhetoric of ‘we are the 99 percent’ has in fact been dangerously self-serving, allowing people with healthy six-figure incomes to convince themselves that they are somehow in the same economic boat as ordinary Americans, and that it is just the so-called super rich who are to blame for inequality.” Brown has revealed to me the

tims of inequity. It’s an easy trap to fall into — one that I admittedly have myself. Just a few weeks ago, I was reflecting on my own college application process and thought, “​it must have been nice for the photoshopped ‘athletes’ to avoid that stress.” ​When my housing group ended up near the bottom of the lottery list, I complained to friends about how preferential treatment for housing was allegedly given to students who attended the Granoff dinner.​Finally, I comforted myself with the fact that at least I wasn’t

ing the school year and instead focus on my academics and extracurriculars. I had guidance counselors who knew me, and I have family and friends who’d been through similar college processes and could provide advice. The list goes on. We’ve come to frame inequality at Brown and beyond as only a problem of the ultra-wealthy. And while Huffman and Loughlin play an egregious role in this story, inequality cannot be dismantled unless upper-middle class families also recognize their complicity

By pointing only at the super rich, we create a façade of a level playing field for the rest of us. unique ability of upper-middle class students to leverage their socioeconomic privilege — highlighting their status in some circumstances while claiming victimhood in others. Many of thoes students paid for test-prep, hired private college admissions counselors and enjoyed other privileges that stem from having a certain level of wealth when navigating the college admissions process. Some even capitalized on legacy status. Once at Brown, financial security, connections to well-educated family members who know how to succeed in this environment and privileged K-12 educations only continue to make life easier. But when scandals surface, these very students can see themselves as vic-

buying my way into college or cheating the system as Loughlin did. But then I stopped myself. In perseverating on the ​huge ​legs up of those that bribed their ways into college, I ignored my own smaller, but nonetheless present, leg up in this game of academia. My family had the resources to move to a community with strong public schools and pay for SAT tutoring. I was lucky enough to spend a year studying abroad in France as a junior in high school — which likely looked good on my college application — and my family proofread draft after draft of college supplements. While I worked summer jobs, my financial situation allowed me not to work dur-

in a system that stratifies wealth. When we discuss the myth of meritocracy, Granoff dinners and celebrity scandals should not be our go-to anecdotes. The story of many Brown students does enough to illustrate this very point; ultimately, the status quo is maintained not only by the richest families but also by those of us who reap the rewards of an unjust system while pretending we are not the problem. By pointing only at the super rich, we create a façade of a level playing field for the rest of us. By solely claiming victimhood, we disrespect and minimize the struggles of those who were not given the same leg up. Let’s not let this façade serve as a barrier to real change.

It’s time for us to recognize that upper-middle class families are beneficiaries and not victims of inequality. We should not pat ourselves on the back because we didn’t pay millions of dollars to get here, and exclusion from the Granoff dinners doesn’t make us the “good guys.” So next time we relieve our guilt by liking a Dear Blueno post that rails against the one-percent, let’s ask ourselves whether our behavior is truly progressive or whether our anger exists only within the pre-existing structures of wealth distribution. Reeves writes, “For Americans to solve the problem of their deepening class divisions, we will have to start by admitting their existence and our complicity in maintaining them. We need to raise our consciousness about class. And yes, I am looking at you.” Be furious with a University administration that caters to the ultra-wealthy. Fight against the most egregious of plutocrats. But at the end of the day, it’s imperative to recognize that real solutions involve pushing for systemic change. And systemic change means it’s time to start giving up some of the privileges that only reinforce hierarchies.

Johanna Bandler ’22 can be reached at johanna_bandler@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

In response to “Brown should be harder” ANNA B. KRAMER staff columnist Last week, I read a column in The Herald titled “Brown is hard. It should be harder,” which advocated for intensified grading practices on campus. The argument was premised on the belief that too many students skate by, taking classes that do not require much work; they are enabled to have it all, including a high GPA and a robust list of extracurriculars. I respectfully disagree with this argument. For the subset of students who load up on the classes that “allow (them) to skate by without much sustained effort,” this decision is not without cost. I therefore hesitate to call it “unfair” that some students graduate with high GPAs simply for taking the easy route — their costs exist, even if they do not show up on a transcript. Our education is only as good as we make it. Students who take classes that are easy for them may receive higher grades than they otherwise would with a more challenging course load, but they are simultaneously hurting themselves by not pushing themselves intellectually. In my opinion, that’s just their loss. These students will walk away from Brown with less knowledge, and knowledge ultimately does much more for us in life than our college GPA. I’m all for rewarding — or somehow recognizing — students who opt to take challenging courses. This already happens in some capacity; most employers and graduate schools take into account the types of classes students take, not merely their grades. I just do not believe that doing away with low work load classes altogether is

the answer, particularly since defining one class as less demanding or challenging than another is a subjective matter. At every university, some classes will require less work than others, and ultimately the people at Brown who take advantage of this fact constitute the definite minority of the student body. Most people I meet at Brown strive to challenge themselves academically and take engaging courses, as Brown attracts particularly self-motivated applicants and is extremely selective in the students it accepts. This stems back to Brown’s open curriculum, which compels students to create schedules that

school for you. When it comes to students who “do it all,” maintaining both rigorous extracurriculars and high GPAs, I caution in Calvelli’s advocacy for more of a trade-off between the two. Without an exceptional academic record, our odds of getting in to Brown would have been slim. We grew up in an environment where this concrete, external measure of our success and intelligence seemed to define who we were as students. It is a bit naive to imply that once in college, students should simply choose their extracurriculars over their GPA if that is “where they think their time is

So if you personally believe that grades should carry significant weight, maybe Brown is not the school for you. are best-suited for their own needs. The academic freedom allows students to make their time here a unique and individual learning experience. The goal is for students to be focused on what they are doing and not on the work of others. This is underscored by the fact that Brown does not use grade deflation. One student’s course load and academic performance does not affect another’s, and there is often no limit to the number of As professors can give out. A more concerted effort to regulate courses insinuates a comparison between students’ academic performances and therefore directly undermines Brown’s educational framework and open curriculum. Brown is a school focused on learning, not grades. We don’t even calculate GPA. So if you personally believe that grades should carry significant weight, maybe Brown is not the

best spent.” The desire to maintain a high GPA has been ingrained in us for years. If forced into a tradeoff between academics and extracurriculars, many students would always choose their academics, as we have been conditioned to be extrinsically motivated by grades. I know I would. If academics were significantly more difficult at Brown, I would devote more of my limited time to them, and I likely would not be writing for The Herald, working a student job or doing any other extracurriculars. Ultimately, a decrease in extracurricular activity is to both the University’s and students’ detriment. In a job setting, you don’t get grades. You don’t get a gold star every time you correctly complete a financial model or diagnose a patient. There is far less external validation from superi-

ors in the professional world. Extracurriculars in college therefore serve as a crucial supplement to our time spent on coursework. In the absence of grades, extracurriculars teach students to be intrinsically motivated, and they exist for students to explore interests that can be nurtured into a future career. Further, they offer invaluable experience with leadership, project management and collaboration, which better equips students to feel comfortable in such environments after graduation. This is not to say that class is not important or that we should do away with grades. Obviously we come to Brown first and foremost to further our academic education, and grades are necessary for applications to graduate programs and jobs. Extracurriculars simply teach us more about the ways we can and should feel motivated aside from grades, as well as the ways we can move toward a workplace mentality. If classes were harder, I worry our collective emphasis on extracurriculars would diminish, making us worse off as a student body. Ultimately, Brown’s open curriculum promotes learning in all forms and gives us the freedom to make choices in how we pursue our education. This freedom teaches students to challenge themselves in a way that goes far deeper than a number on a transcript.

Anna B. Kramer ’20 can be reached at anna_kramer@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY APRIL 23, 2019

Artist Weyes Blood releases new album ‘Titanic Rising’ Musician Natalie Mering’s 2019 release delivers nostalgia, futurism in dream-like pop ballads By KATHERINE OK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Under her artist name Weyes Blood, Natalie Mering released her new album “Titanic Rising” April 5, unveiling an ethereal, surreal drama that eulogizes modern existential anxiety. On “Everyday,” one of the album’s stand-out singles, Mering assures us that “true love is making a comeback.” This sighing call to the ideal of true love epitomizes the record’s nostalgia for a more idealistic past. But despite indulging in these sentimental, 70’s pop-like lyrics, Weyes Blood never teeters on anything mawkish or syrupy. She brings an undercurrent of unease and experimentation to her pop references. With this, Mering’s new album recalls a synthesizer-filled, Karen Carpenter-esque sound that enhances her ability to create majestic, surreal drama. “Titanic Rising” is Mering’s fourth studio album and follows her 2016 release “Front Row Seat to Earth.” Her moniker “Weyes Blood” is taken from American author Flannery O’Connor’s first novel “Wise Blood,” which details a World War II veteran’s crisis of faith. O’Connor’s Southern Gothic novel is primarily occupied with the themes of redemption, isolation and American existentialism — all subjects tied into Weyes Blood’s darkly folkish sound. Mering’s record holds a sense of the past that makes it feel like a family vinyl tucked away in an attic box. On the song “Andromeda,” Mering uses a combination of synthesizers, slide guitar and flawless vibrato to bring forth an impossibly beautiful ballad that feels almost too good for 2019. The song meditates, however, on the modern tragedy of love. “Love is calling / It’s time to let it through / Find a love that will make you / I dare you to try.”

ARTS & CULTURE

» INTL, from page 3 Building Community As a relatively small group on campus, some low-income international students said they struggled to find a sense of community when they first arrived at Brown. As a result, students have often had to invest time and effort to build one, a task that has progressively grown easier with increased support from the University. Many low income international students can now find community through IMP, but that trend is a new development, Silveira De Arruda said. Three years ago, IMP lacked an infrastructure to allow students to meet each other in a meaningful way. “As an IMP mentor, we threw one of the events with a budget of $25,” she said. The program’s infrastructure has grown over time. Based on 2017 numbers, there were 280 students who participated in the 2017 international student’s orientation, according to the Global Brown Center’s website.

COURTESY OF JUSTIN HIGUCHI

Weyes Blood derives her stage name from Flannery O’Connor’s novel ‘Wise Blood,’ which touches on themes of isolation and existentialism that also appear in Mering’s music. Mering’s newest release addresses personal tragedy and postmodern anxieties, including love and climate change. To listeners, the song evokes a Tinder-plagued world that complicates “love” as a concept but simplifies human interactions. On Mering’s Bandcamp site, she wrote that “Andromeda plays on a few themes (mythology, astronomy, technology), and is ultimately a love song about finding something longlasting in an ever-changing world full of distractions (and) unrealistic expectations.” With her simultaneously medieval and 70’s rock style, Mering submerges her listeners in an ageless sound.

Though Silveira De Arruda struggled with social and financial barriers when she first arrived on campus, her experience has “really improved with the (international student) lounge and the Global Brown Center events.” The growth of programs like IMP and the creation of departments like the Global Brown Center, which opened in 2017, reflect the University’s shift to allocate more resources to support international students socially and financially. Alongside increased advising opportunities, the University has also offered to cover individual loans and external costs that accompany being a student at Brown. Although there is still work to be done to provide the most inclusive atomosphere possible for low-income international students, the University has made significant progress towards this goal, Silveira De Arruda said. “Brown doesn’t even look like the same place since I arrived.”

The music video for “Everyday” also reflects Mering’s self-aware indulgence in vintage sounds, which she combines with the theme of futuristic uncertainty. Reminiscent of horror films like “Friday the 13th” and “The Shining,” the campy video follows Weyes Blood as she violently turns on couples in the forest. Mering explained in an interview with Pitchfork magazine: “The song was so upbeat, with this restless … feeling about dating. In our culture, the amount of people that get together through social media and Tinder — it almost seemed a bit like a

slasher film quality of love.” As much as “Titanic Rising” addresses personal tragedy, Mering’s album primarily focuses on postmodern existential anxieties. In the interview, Mering related the album’s title with climate change. “I want people to think about the reality of what’s going on but also to feel a sense of belonging and hope and purpose. … I’m speaking to anybody who feels overwhelmed by the sheer mass of all these problems.” The title recalls the Titanic as an icon for nature’s rule over humanity — but Mering still maintains a sense of

hope in her interpretation of the disaster. “It’s such a big, beautiful, grandiose story about the hubris of man,” Mering said of the Titanic. “To me that was so poignant… to what’s going on now.” While themes of environmental destruction and loneliness seep through Mering’s hymns, “Titanic Rising” isn’t nihilist in any way. Its early 20th century sounds, in combination with a spaced-out lushness, gives listeners a sense of hope, at least for the music world. And even if the world is facing an apocalyptic doom, perhaps “true love is making a comeback.”