SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 72
WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
Gubernatorial candidates face off in debate Grad students struggle
with off-campus housing Students call for U.subsidized housing due to high rent, poor conditions, uncooperative landlords By JACOB LOCKWOOD SENIOR STAFF WRITER
ANDREW BAKER / HERALD
Former State House Deputy Minority Leader Joe Trillo (I), Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung (R) debated at Roger Williams University Thursday night. Three more independents are also in the race.
Raimondo, Fung, Trillo clash on economy, environment, health care ahead of Nov. 6 election By JACK BROOK STAFF WRITER
In the first televised debate of the gubernatorial election, incumbent Democrat
Gov. Gina Raimondo went head-tohead with Republican nominee Allan Fung and independent candidate Joe Trillo at Roger Williams University Sept. 27. Target 12 reporter Tim White and Eyewitness News reporter Ted Nesi moderated the tense, hour-long debate that aired on WPRI, questioning candidates on issues such as gun control, proposed tax cuts and economic
growth. The debate was hosted by Danielle North, anchor for Eyewitness News This Morning. Raimondo faced tough questions on Unified Health Infrastructure Project, her controversial computerized health care and benefits program, and the PawSox’s decision to move to Worcester, Massachusetts. She touted her policies promoting small business » See DEBATE, page 2
The ceiling leaks. In some areas, the floor is caving in. The house was not cleaned before Erica Meszaros GS moved in with her spouse, and her landlord ignores requests for maintenance and repairs. “I’ve been renting for a decade now — a number of different apartments in a number of different states — and I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Meszaros said. Housing problems like these are not uncommon, according to multiple graduate students who spoke to The Herald. Many students’ basements are damp and moldy. Decades-old appliances and heating systems fail to meet their needs. Unsecured entryways make their houses easy targets for break-ins. And, in many cases, uncooperative landlords refuse to pay to keep their properties livable
for renters. These are just a few of the challenges graduate students face while living off campus, said Sophie Brunau GS, chair of international advocacy on the Graduate Student Council. On top of these conditions, rent in Providence is high, Brunau said, and viable options for many students are few and far between. Some students — especially international students — face abuse from their landlords, said Shayna Kessel, associate dean of master’s education and interim associate dean for international graduate students. “We have landlords threatening to deport international students for making a complaint about water coming through a ceiling,” Kessel said. “If students weren’t international, (landlords) couldn’t make these kind of threats. They couldn’t say and write — and they will often put this in writing — really racist and abusive language.” Even though visas protect international students from deportation, the threat remains alarming, Brunau said. “I’ve met people whose landlords » See HOUSING, page 3
Raimondo, Fung face four Chow ’20 nets double overtime game-winner Chow scores golden goal third-party challengers in final minute of game, Independent candidates struggle to gain media attention, receive inconsistent treatment By DYLAN MAJSIAK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
In the 2018 Rhode Island gubernatorial race, four third-party candidates are challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Gina Raimondo and her Republican opponent Cranston Mayor Allan Fung. A recent survey by WPRI/RWU found that 20 percent of R.I. voters are either backing an independent candidate or undecided. Independents have run successful campaigns in the past 30 to 40 years, said Richard Arenberg, visiting professor of the practice of political science, citing Lincoln Chafee’s win in the 2010 R.I. gubernatorial race. “Third-party candidates can be very influential in the outcome of an election,” Arenberg said. Even in cases when independent runs are not successful, the votes garnered by these candidates can have a direct effect on who is elected, he added. Moderate Party candidate Bill Gilbert claims that his party’s 2014 bid — which
received 21.4 percent of all votes — propelled Raimondo into office. The Moderate Party — which aims to retain 5 percent of voters in the R.I. election — leans conservative in its emphasis on small government but has a libertarian approach to social issues. The Moderates leave these issues up to individual candidates rather than having a particular party standard, Gilbert said. Unlike the Republican party, for example, Gilbert believes in the need for a “safety net” that provides government assistance to those most vulnerable in society. The party was officially recognized in 2009 and is the only political party on voting ballots in Rhode Island besides the Democratic and Republican parties. “I’m trying to affect politics and win,” Gilbert said. “But I’ll settle for affecting the political game by trying to present credible, honest and issue-driven dialogue.” He added that third-party candidates can raise issues that are not being discussed by the nominees of major parties. However, gaining such exposure can itself be a challenge. Independent candidate Luis-Daniel Muñoz — who is advocating for lower taxes, trade school » See ELECTION, page 2
Bruno defeats nationally ranked rival URI 1-0 By ALEX SMOLAR SENIOR STAFF WRITER
As of last weekend, the University of Rhode Island men’s soccer team had not given up a goal in six games or lost a contest all season. That is, until Brown midfielder Matthew Chow ’20 came along. Saturday night, Chow knocked in a golden goal game-winner in the final minute of double overtime to send the Bears to a crucial 1-0 victory against the Ocean State rival. Entering the matchup, the Rams were ranked 23rd in the country and boasted an impressive defense. Chow, a junior from Vancouver, Canada, earned Second Team All-Ivy honors in both his freshman and sophomore campaigns. This season, he is tied for second on the team in goals scored. For his outstanding performance against URI, Chow has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.
Chow: It felt great actually. It felt good to be the team that beat them. They were unbeaten for six games and hadn’t allowed a goal. It was actually a really good team effort. We grinded through the first couple of halves and then OT. And with one minute left, I scored the goal and everything came into place.
Herald: Congratulations on scoring the game-winner! What was going through your head while you were playing against such a highly ranked team in overtime?
How did you feel when you scored the goal? Just excitement and adrenaline. Everyone came down and we celebrated in the corner. It was a great atmosphere.
HANA ESTES / HERALD
The Bear’s matchup against URI ended in victory. URI had not conceded a goal in six games or lost a contest all season.
PIA MILEAF-PATEL / HERALD
Register to vote in R.I. The statewide election is on November 6. The deadline to register is October 7. For more information, visit vote.sos.ri.gov.
When did you first get into playing soccer? It was at the age of four or five. I played with my little community team in Vancouver. When did you start to consider the possibility of playing college soccer? (From) when I was very young — I was part of the (Major League Soccer) team the (Vancouver) Whitecaps. They had a little youth academy, and I was a » See AOTW, page 3
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» DEBATE, from page 1 investment and school safety through gun control reform, as well as her willingness to stand up against the policies of the Trump administration. Cranston Mayor Fung refused to disavow the Trump administration explicitly, though he opposed its policy of separating immigrant families. Fung criticized Raimondo for her failure to keep the PawSox in Pawtucket and difficulties in implementing UHIP. He repeatedly charged that she was an “insider” influenced by corporate donations. When asked about his own track record, Fung acknowledged responsibility for his role in a case of corruption in the Cranston police department in 2015. Fung told the audience that, if elected, he would focus on “common sense” polices such as implementing stronger work requirements for ablebodied adults on welfare. Trillo, a former R.I. State House deputy minority leader and ardent Trump supporter, highlighted his selffunded campaign and ability to fight — without partisan allegiances — on behalf of taxpayers against lobbyists. He attacked the proposed Burrillville natural gas power plant and promised that public tax dollars would be spent more efficiently under his administration. Trillo, who is trailing considerably in the polls, took fire from the moderators for not actively opposing Raimondo’s UHIP initiative in the past. “What I hope happened tonight is that voters got a chance to see where candidates stand,” White told The Herald. “That’s the purpose of these debates — to try and cut through the noise and get to the signal of what people are
saying.” Raimondo and Fung refused to participate in pre-primary debates in order to “coast through the primary,” which was a “disservice to voters,” White added. Raimondo led Fung 43-36 percent points with a 4.8 percent margin of error in a WPRI/RWU poll conducted earlier this month. In the same poll, Trillo came in at 7 percent. There are three more independent candidates in the gubernatorial race — Bill Gilbert, Luis-Daniel Muñoz and Anne Armstrong, none of whom were invited to participate in the debate. Here’s where Raimondo, Fung and Trillo stood on some key issues: The economy “When I began, Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rate in the country,” Raimondo said. “Today, we are at the lowest unemployment rate we’ve had in 20 years, … and last year, Rhode Island had the highest wage growth in the country.” Raimondo asserted that her economic policy — built on investments in small business and infrastructure through programs like Rebuild RI — has created thousands of jobs. White pressed Fung on whether his tax plan would require cuts from social services and education sectors. In response, Fung promised to root out fraud in state government and reshape Rhode Island commerce by ending the “culture of corporate welfare” that he accused Raimondo of nurturing. Raimondo stated that her economic policies have not been influenced by campaign donations. Trillo proposed reducing taxes for Rhode Islanders. To balance the books,
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Trillo said he would “go through every state department with a scalpel” to reduce inefficiencies. His experience in construction would help him avoid wasting tax dollars on development, he said. PawSox Both Fung and Trillo criticized Raimondo and the State House for not doing more to keep the PawSox in Rhode Island. “It’s a failure of leadership on all parts,” Fung said. “They all should have been at the table. That’s what I would have done.” Raimondo said she lamented the loss of the team as much as anyone and that she had done all she could do in putting together a deal the team said they would accept. Instead, she blamed the legislature for taking “a year and a half ” to act on her proposed deal as the PawSox found a more attractive offer. “I won’t rest until McCoy (Stadium) is full,” she said, referring to the PawSox’s old stadium in Pawtucket. Renewables and climate action To varying degrees, all candidates consider protecting the environment a priority, pointing to renewable energy as a potential way to meet the challenges of climate change. “We need to move as fast as we can toward 100 percent renewables,” Raimondo said. Under her term, Raimondo added that she oversaw the creation of an offshore wind farm. Raimondo has previously endorsed the polarizing $1 billion Burrillville natural gas power plant, which is in the midst of a legal dispute with the Conservation Law Foundation.
Fung also said he supported renewable energy but that it “can’t be forced down people’s throats.” He highlighted Cranston’s solar project developments as evidence of his successful environmental policies. Fung is against the Burrillville plant, as he "support(s) local control" and claims that the town’s residents oppose the plan. Trillo hesitated in his support of renewable energy, endorsing it with some qualifications. “I would only support it if the rate to the tax payers is going to be very competitive with what it is right now for fossil fuel,” he said. “If the rate is higher and the impact on our fishing industry is too great, then I can’t support it.” School safety and gun control All candidates agreed on the need to create safe school environments for children in light of recent national and local school shootings, but they differed on which policies would create safer schools. Raimondo is vocal in her support of gun control and has pushed for bans on military-style weapons and high capacity magazines. However, she defended her position against putting metal detectors in schools. “Schools shouldn’t look like prisons,” Raimondo said. Fung championed a plan to put additional security guards and retired police officers on school campuses to increase safety. “Unlike the governor, I don’t believe in having a piece of paper saying no guns in school — that’s not going to stop criminal acts,” Fung said, referring to Raimondo’s “red flag” executive order enacted earlier this year to remove guns from individuals deemed a threat to public safety.
Trillo pushed for teachers to receive special concealed carry permits to prevent school shootings and stressed that guns are not the only way to cause violence in a school, listing bombs and knives as potential dangers. “There’s a fallacy out there that guns are the problems,” Trillo said. “If there is a shooter in a school and I’m a teacher and I have a gun and I know how to use it, I’ll take the person out.” Health care The moderators pressed Raimondo on UHIP, a computer system intended to integrate social services and health care for hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders. UHIP has been plagued by technical issues and has cost the state approximately half a billion dollars. “UHIP has had its share of struggles, but we have turned the corner,” Raimondo said. “Having said that, mistakes were made, which I own.” The other two candidates remained firmly against UHIP. “I’m not sure if UHIP is ever going to be fixed,” Fung said. “On day one, I will pull the plug.” Trillo said that he fought against UHIP and has tried to protect taxpayer dollars from being wasted. Kavanaugh Confirmation Every candidate agreed that the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should be paused following the testimony yesterday by Christine Blasey Ford, who alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her. All candidates stated they believe the claims warrant an independent investigation.
»ELECTION, from page 1
YILAN GAO / HERALD
programs and education and health care reform — believes several R.I. media organizations purposely excluded him from news coverage. For example, Muñoz said WPRI’s criteria for choosing candidates to cover and participate in debates has been inconsistent. While WPRI continues to report on Gilbert and independent candidate Joe Trillo, who previously served as a state representative, he was not “given the same opportunity,” Muñoz added. Muñoz’s campaign held a silent protest in Bristol last night — right outside of the WPRI and Roger Williams University debate that only Raimondo, Fung and Trillo participated in. “The media, in making decisions about who they are going to let into debates, … can have a great deal of influence” on an election, Arenberg said. “If the third-party candidate is excluded from a debate, for example, it makes it all that much harder to be taken seriously.” Independent candidate Anne Armstrong of the Compassion Party believes that the state should implement rankedchoice voting, which was most recently implemented for state-level elections in Maine. Armstrong also advocates for a plan called reGenerative Funding, which aims to fund social services, and is a proponent of the health and economic benefits of cannabis. Trillo could not be reached for comment. Trillo is focused on eliminating what he considers wasteful public spending. In Thursday night’s gubernatorial debate, he said he wants to reduce taxes and “shed the image of (Rhode Island as) a sanctuary state.” He insisted that he was “in this race to win it.”
Issue
In This
Childhood Wildwood
Naomi Kim 3
Another False Alarm
Andrew Liu 2 Holly Zheng 4
Interlocked by Five Rings Pia Mileaf-Patel 5
Feeling
That Chengdu Griffin Plaag 6
We Are Marshall?
postCover by Rémy Poisson
SEPT 28
VOL 22 —
ISSUE 3
FEATURES
Another False Alarm
Vaccination and Sensationalism By Andrew Liu Illustrated by molly young
W
Letter from the Editor
hy the confusion? Even in the information era, with massive advancements in public health, there is still lingering public speculation about whether vaccines in young children might lead to autism. The measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR), which protects against three of the most fatal diseases for children, is still met with rumor and rejection by wary parents. For years, my only information on the subject came from scattered news headlines, bold tweets by prominent spokespeople, and the smug ridicule of anti-vaxxers by big media outlets, the kinds that specialize in supersizing tweets to fit entire screens. Looking back, I’m ashamed to have been part of the problem. I took no action to support vaccines, assuming the controversy was just another “tinfoil hat” theory that would quickly be silenced. In reality, it was a delicate topic with serious implications. Vaccines hold a key to the well-being of young children—a sacred, unconditional responsibility. In defaming vaccines, one of the most effective protections against child mortality, anti-vaccination efforts I feel most homesick at this time of the
have disgraced science. Through investigating this history of vaccine delegitimization, I learned more about this very real and very harmful cultural trend. In 1998, British doctor Andrew Wakefield and several of his colleagues published a study in The Lancet, one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals. They investigated 12 children with autism, eight of whom had developed gastrointestinal problems one month after receiving their MMR vaccines. Wakefield hypothesized that the vaccine had led to inflammation in the intestine, causing a “leaky gut.” According to his theory, peptides that are usually contained in intestine leak into the bloodstream and flow to the brain. Wakefield urged hesitation in administering the vaccine, stating that it was a “moral issue.” A frenzy arose among the media and parents of young children, and medical councils immediately convened out of fear that the greatest medical bombshell of the decade had been uncovered. Vaccination rates began declining, shrinking from almost 100 percent of U.K. toddlers in the mid-1990s to only 70 percent
five years after the Wakefield paper. Measles cases grew from just 56 in 1998 to 1,370 in 2008. In 2006, for the first time in over a decade, a child died from measles. But the Wakefield study abounded in flaws and severely lacked scientific discipline. In the United Kingdom, around 50,000 children per month received the MMR vaccine, and Wakefield drew his hypothesis from just eight, which he eventually expanded to a still-meager 39. Furthermore, there was no control group selected for the study, which meant that no variables were isolated and the results couldn’t be compared with children that didn’t have autism. No peptides were ever detected entering the bloodstream near the brain, and even if there had been, the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine does not have intestinal inflammation as a side effect. Perhaps the ultimate fault of the study is that MMR vaccines are administered when a child is a toddler, and in the majority of cases, autism is also detected in a child’s toddler years. Thus, this makes one easy prey to the classic logical fallacy: correlation without causation.
your eyes, pretend). Just heed the advice of
year, when fall announces its presence with
our contributor for Features, and get your flu
overcast skies, chilly mornings, and an endless
shot*—the sniffles will not improve your mood.
Top Ten Duels
drizzle. It doesn’t help that the darker, shorter days coincide with the first round of papers and
*Some people believe that flu vaccines “don’t
midterms—this past week, I’ve often neglected
work”; I feel obligated to tell these people that the
to feed myself. Scavenging for food in my empty
1.
The Ratty vs. The Rodent
composition of the flu shot is selected at least six
2.
Tomato vs. To-mah-to
fridge in a chilly dorm room, I long for the
months in advance. You might think a lot changes
warmth of home and the smell of my mother’s
in your life in six months, but believe me, viruses
3.
Capitalism vs. Communism
cooking.
change a lot faster than you do. Some years, a virus
4.
Naruto vs. Sasuke
5.
Brown students vs. existential despair
6.
Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr
7.
Napoleon vs. the Russian winter
8.
Old Taylor vs. New Taylor
9.
Team Edward vs. Team Jacob
10.
Samsung vs. Apple
Our writers for Narrative seem to feel
comes out of nowhere, chews up and spits out the one
the same way, reminiscing about their local
the CDC picked as the biggest threat, and that’s too
communities and simpler childhood days
bad. Other years, the flu scientists are right, and less
spent in the woods. A&C suggests some ways
people get sick. So go get one—it can only help you.
to turn our dreary surroundings into a source of comfort: listen to a new band with some
Love and pumpkins,
friends, or journey to Pawtucket for familiar
Jennifer
foods your mother isn’t here to cook for you (of course, it won’t be the same, but close
2!post–
EDITOR - IN - CHIEF OF POST -
NARRATIVE As a result of these flaws, Wakefield’s results mobilized numerous corrective studies. The British Medical Journal published a series of articles exposing the Wakefield studies as a fraud, revealing how Wakefield and his colleagues cherrypicked facts from the data, at times even outright falsifying them. In 2002, a seven-year study by Kreeston M. and colleagues on 537,303 children who received the MMR vaccine detected no correlation to autism. Furthermore, a later study between Taylor L. and Swerdfeger A. compiled the results of 10 previous studies of over 1.25 million total children in an attempt to detect a link between the vaccine and autism—to no avail. Wakefield’s study was eventually retracted from The Lancet and will likely go down as one of the biggest medical frauds in history. But despite being squashed in the medical community, Wakefield’s hypothesis has not been rejected by society and still echoes in the ears of countless families today. When it comes to a parent’s will to safeguard their child, the slightest paranoia can move mountains in their decisionmaking. This is worsened by both our president’s tweets about his suspicions of vaccines as well as media outlets' propagation and subsequent immortalization of such tweets on televisions nationwide. In today’s information age, nothing can die.
disease reaching their brain, which is true of mumps and rubella as well. These are observations rooted in years of medical study with data supplied by too many tragic cases of infants who were not as lucky as children today. From 2000 to 2016, the MMR vaccine prevented an estimated 20.4 million measles cases from occuring. For Wakefield’s fraudulent anti-vaxx stance to sustain such meteoric impact, it truly speaks to how far we’ve strayed towards speculation and how much we love to stir the pot. Nevertheless, I can understand the lingering appeal of Wakefield’s study in today’s world. For example, I’m willing to bet that I have also fallen for the tricks of smart alecks, postulating sensational claims from limited information more times than I can count. In today’s society, we have an inexplicable fascination with connecting dots and fashioning new ones—out of thin air if we have to. We love novelty and conspiracies, milking them for all they’re worth. At times we are capable of pushing this phenomenon to nauseating heights, as the health of toddlers simply become chips on the table. The Wakefields and sensationalists of the world have no right to generate such claims, and yet so many people still consume, believe, and propagate them. In today’s information age, people float the word “truth” everywhere, to the point where it
Vaccines hold a key to maintaining the well-being of young children—a sacred, unconditional responsibility. In defaming vaccines, one of the most effective protections against child mortality, anti-vaccination efforts have disgraced science. It is tremendously problematic how disease can be politicized and used as fodder for sensationalism. It was not too long ago that the Ebola outbreak was on the front page of every news column. Yet within weeks, the media outlets seemed to lose their appetite and move on. The large spike in coverage of the disease heightened public concern that the United States had been infected, and it even fueled resentment against U.S. citizens on the frontlines helping to contain the disease for fear that they would bring it back. For weeks, headlines focused on the first two infected American volunteers, who were both eventually cured by an experimental serum. But the possibility of distributing this potential cure in the quarantine region was barely mentioned. Today, as another Ebola outbreak begins in the Congo, it seems as if the media has lost all interest in the topic. As of August this year, a measles outbreak in the United States has reached 107 individuals, the majority of whom did not have vaccinations. The disease erupts with a fever and spreads into a rash that reaches the hands and feet. But the real danger of measles lies in what else it can lead to. With no effective antiviral treatment available, those infected must wait it out against complications such as pneumonia or brain-swelling. If a young child is infected, they are at a real risk of the
has lost meaning. Any flawed argument can be substantiated with false or misleading data; thus, it only takes stubbornness to win one. We have lost what it means to have grace, and forgotten that the ability to admit and concede is its own virtue; it is now the screamers and dogged-minded that rule the spotlight, and as a result we are a country of escalation rather than compromise. In an era with such an extraordinary volume of conflicting information, high standards of accuracy and integrity are more necessary than ever. In order for science to remain a bastion of objectivity and dignity, flawed works like the Wakefield study should not even be considered by reputable journals. In addition, readers should be wary of dramatic headlines or exaggerated claims that lack supporting data, no matter where they are published. Journal publications and the media have enormous reach, and if used correctly, can do tremendous good. One of journalism’s most noble qualities is its ability to speak truth to power, its ability to hold people accountable to their words and monitor those who might abuse their influence. It is a frightening thing, then, to imagine who will check the journalists if their standards decline. Today, when the effects of sensationalism can impact the livelihood of children, the responsibility falls on each of us to keep a level head.
Childhood Wildwood
A World of Pure Imagination
E
By Naomi Kim illustrated by Monika Hedman
ight years old: I’m a tree climber. I wish for a storybook treehouse in a backyard, where I can keep a tin box full of interesting rocks and dried autumn leaves. But we live in an apartment complex in East Tennessee. No real backyard, no treehouse. Instead, I’ve got a plot of mulch with three trees where the sidewalk ends. In spring, they burst into white flowers that give way to little round fruits, warm brown and flecked with gold. The air fills with the loud chorus of cicadas. My brother and I find on the tree trunks the dried, hollow husks of the skins the cicadas have shed. We christened this place Three Tree Island, but when we pull ourselves up into the lower branches, the trees become witches’ lairs, complete with libraries. Just as good—maybe better—than any treehouse. We pore through imaginary spell books, climb invisible staircases, and stir unseen cauldrons. But our world of pure imagination has no borders, and it extends far beyond these three trees. Far off on the other side of the apartment complex, beyond the last row of apartments, is a park. Gazebo, monkey bars, swings—a regular jungle of plastic and concrete and red-colored mulch. But the playground can’t compare to the woods all around it. My brother and I scamper down the paved path winding into the forest. The woods welcome us by letting us glimpse its secrets. It’s here that I see my first owl, my first real, wild owl, and I understand the word tawny and the feeling awe as it swivels its head around to watch us sneak by. It’s here that I see a raccoon slinking silver-colored into the shadows; a huge river rat swimming in the creek with its wet brown fur plastered close to its body; a snake lying long, black, and ominous on the sidewalk.
But it was never about what I could see that made the park the incredible place it was for me. It was about the unseen things, the things those woods could become in my imagination. And we aren’t mere sidewalk spectators—we take off into the grass. Here, life explodes through the soil. We bound from the purple violets to the crimson snake berries, from shadows to sunlight. Queen Anne’s lace blows gently in the wind, and
“A conductor is just a polished DJ, no?” “Nom nom, boys!!” “Sometime I feel like my life is a simulation.” SEPTEMBER 28, 2018!3
NARRATIVE
Interlocked by Five Rings Remembering the 2008 Olympics by Holly Zheng Illustrated By Stephanie Wu
A
the fragrance of honeysuckle is strong and sweet. We stop to pluck honeysuckle blossoms from wild jumbles of leaves and vines and pull out the stamens to draw forth those drops of sweet nectar. We even dare to try what we think is wild persimmon, and the strange, tart taste of it dries up my mouth and leaves me grimacing. By the creek, farther down the pathway, is a bramble of wild blackberries. Sometimes they’re sour and unripe, tinged red, other times fat and bursting with sweetness, a deep purple-black. My brother and I wade in the shallow currents of the creek to splash the cold water at each other. The creek bed is lined with pebbles of various shades of brown and amber, shiny and slick in the water. But the real secret heart of the woods is across the bridge and a sharp turn to the right. There, my brother and I step onto a thin, near invisible ribbon of a dirt trail, which follows the ever-widening, ever-deepening creek. This dirt path, like the other hidden paths we’ve stumbled upon, has overgrown shrubs and skinny branches barring the way. Several of the wiry vines are lined with sharp thorns, and we have to be careful not to get pricked. Down from the bank is a slanted rock jutting up out of the water. We jump down to it—our boat—and we grab a long stick to serve as our oar. Underwater, small fish dart through darkcolored plants with feathery, furry leaves that we dubbed as "monsters." Farther down the dirt path is something of a small-scale peninsula, a paradise wrestled from a tangle of thick green moss and rich earth and strong roots that flirt with the creek, tucked away from the main sidewalk—our own world. Here, everything is magic. This is a world of wizards and witches, fairies and fauns, and so magic runs in the veins of the leaves, in the tree sap, in the creek’s current—in us, the ones who dreamed it to life. *** That was years ago. The truth is that now, this place I adored is no longer the same for me. A few years ago, when my family and I happened to be back in Tennessee, we visited our old apartment. The three trees of Three Tree Island had been cut down, leaving behind nothing but a desolate barrenness. No white flowers, no fruit. No witches’ library, no cauldrons. As for the park, the creek was narrow, the hidden trails not so hidden or thrilling, the grass overgrown and neglected. There is a certain sadness in finding that 4!post–
the places you loved as a child have changed. I suppose, though, that the park was always like that in reality. But it was never about what I could see that made the park the incredible place it was for me. It was about the unseen, the things those woods could become in my imagination. As I’ve gotten older, my eyesight has gotten worse, as is expected. My glasses have gotten thicker and my vision blurrier as the real world shifts into focus. But another kind of vision has been fading away, almost unnoticed—the ability to see beyond mere reality. The ability to look at the park and see the fairyland it hid in its ordinariness. I would love to regain that vision. To see again the magic stirring in every little thing. I know that no fairy will wave a magic wand and no hobgoblin will spit into my eyes to restore the second sight of childhood. I know what that park looks like to a rational young adult—what it looks like in actuality. But a wise fox once said that one only sees clearly with the heart, not with the eyes. And in my heart, I still see and treasure what my 8-year-old self saw and treasured: a magical wonderland, an island with three trees and a witch’s library, a creek of marvels, secret dirt paths, a boat, and waving water plants called monsters. I close my eyes, and childhood tastes like precious droplets of honeysuckle nectar and wild blackberries, feels like cold creek water, sounds like laughter and running feet, and looks like magic wrought out of grass and moss and snake berries.
few days after this past August 8, I was on my way to attend a conference at the National Convention Center inside Beijing’s Olympic Village. While riding the No. 8 subway line, I passed the Olympic Green station. As the car decelerated, the recorded message from the overhead speakers reminded passengers to get off if they wanted to go to the National Stadium (“Bird’s Nest”), the Aquatics Center (“Water Cube”), or other athletic facilities built specifically for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As I moved to let people near me shuffle across the crowded car to the door, I realized the special occasion being celebrated that week: the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Olympics. One stop later, I got off the subway to go to the convention center. As I ascended the escalator to arrive at the ground level, the view of the Bird’s Nest slowly emerged in the distance. The intersecting metal rods that shaped the Nest’s exterior were surreal in the misty air. The humidity silenced everything, brewing a sweetness that rose from the wet pavement and dew-covered lawn. Even the wind was too lazy to move. This silence felt out of place near this breathtaking stadium that brightened the dark night ten years ago. Those footprint-shaped fireworks from the Olympics’ opening ceremony seemed to dance once again in front of me like the lingering afterthoughts that slowly crawl into my mind some sleepy mornings, reminding me of the scattered memories of a distant, fading dream. My sole visit to the Bird’s Nest was during a trip with my elementary school a few days after the Games began. I can’t remember what games we watched that day—probably a few track events, painfully boring for 9-year-olds—but I do recall walking to my grandpa’s house earlier that summer. It was a breezy afternoon around mid-June. After a strong gust of wind hit my face, I saw my grandpa outside his neighborhood’s gate, striding to grab a big sun umbrella that had nearly been knocked over. He straightened his T-shirt and took off his green cap, one I had never seen before. A few other people, all similar in age and in the same white and green cotton shirt, helped him reset the umbrella.
ARTS&CULTURE An elderly lady in the group flapped a bamboo fan for herself, delivering a joke that induced a wave of laughter among those near her. Before I witnessed this scene, I didn’t know that my grandpa had become a community volunteer for the Olympics—helping confused pedestrians with directions. However, I wasn’t surprised. Grandpa’s restlessness made it impossible for him to merely be a spectator during the Games. He joined the many retired people who had the leisure and passion to contribute to the ongoing festivities. The city must have felt the same restless urge. Public clocks that counted down to the opening ceremony and volunteer tents, where smiling multilingual university students handed out maps, mushroomed throughout the city. Everyone was learning English—taxi drivers, eatery owners, newspaper vendors—and the lyrics of the Olympics theme song, “You and Me,” were usually the first sentences people learned after Sarah Brightman mesmerized the stadium with her moving rendition during the opening ceremony. When I visited my grandparents this past August, I pointed at the ceramic plate on the top rung of my grandpa’s bookshelf. In hopes of starting a conversation, I asked a question the answer to which I already knew: “Grandpa, what’s that?” All that I got in response was a low-pitched chuckle that painfully snuck out of his throat. Grandpa had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for over a year, barely recognizing me when I entered his room. That maroon plate with gold and white patterns was his souvenir from volunteering during the Olympics, but now it was simply another object whose significance was too abstract and distant for him to recall. Many details surrounding the Olympics have settled into the background of people’s memories, quieter than the silence I heard standing next to the Bird’s Nest on that misty morning this past August. For me, the connections that appeared and strengthened among people during the Olympic month still linger. After an unexpected snow storm swept southern China and a devastating earthquake shattered the Sichuan Province earlier in 2008, the August Olympics gave many people across the nation an opportunity to heal and feel optimistic. The pride that flowed through my community during this event has remained with me, constantly pulling me back into its warmth. After moving to a boarding high school in the U.S., even without realizing, I sought as many opportunities as possible to be involved in hosting sports events. I basked in the brainstorming sessions with my classmates during those long nights of organizing the Special Olympics soccer tournament held at my high school. Likewise, my brief conversations with the athletes at the Boston Marathon registration site were the highlight of my day. Even away from home and long after the heat of the Olympics, I was able to relive the connections forged between people at similar events—ones as strong as the links between the five Olympic rings. Beijing’s restless energy will return in four years, with the city guides and the countdown clocks and the English-learning waves. In 2022, Beijing will become the first city to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The Bird’s Nest will once again light up the dark night, this time with a touch of winter festivities. I hope to go back to Beijing for the Winter Olympics right before I graduate from Brown. I might even volunteer, sporting a T-shirt similar to my grandpa’s and sitting in a tent by the street, fondly remembering the scenes surrounding me and hoping the city does, too.
That Chengdu Feeling Providence's Chinatown is in Pawtucket
I
By Pia Mileaf-Patel illustrated by Katya Labowe-Stoll
If you are in Providence and haven’t made the light trek to Chengdu Taste, you should tonight. Somebody must know somebody with a car. Or I can drive you in my hot new sports car: my grandparents’ Subaru. Except the poke place and the ramen shop that specialize in just one thing, College Hill, is home to Chinese restaurants that are also a touch Korean, and often carry sushi. See: PF Chang’s and Shanghai on Thayer (RIP). Regional Indian food has yet to hit PVD, but there are new spots opening up that fight this notion of pan-cuisine. On Wickenden street, you’ll find Jahunger, a Uyghur restaurant—the northwest region of China with a Muslim cooking influence on the food. Their hand-pulled noodles are mixed with braised lamb and spiked with cumin and other aromatics. Raisins and yogurt complement a rice dish there, making something that sits between a biryani and beef fried rice. Right across the street, Chong Qing House opened up in the space formerly occupied by Tokyo, a Japanese place with Chinese-American specialties on the menu. The Tokyo letterhead is still on the awning, but inside, you’ll find sauteed pea shoots and mouth-numbing dan dan noodles. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with creating a (discombobulated) menu of dishes that everyone enjoys, but if you are seeking out more traditional, regional Chinese food in Providence, now’s the time. There’s always been Chengdu, though. The OG and best Rhode Island Chinese restaurant, Chengdu Taste, is a tiny, pink and red lit restaurant in Pawtucket that specializes in Szechuan food, often featuring frog legs or crawfish on their specials menu. You’ll run into professors, restaurant owners, and all food-loving people in the just-about-25-seat restaurant. There’s often a line of people picking up food to go as well. I first found out about Chengdu Taste via word of mouth after complaining about missing Ma Po Tofu from the Szechuan place across the
LIFESTYLE
street from my parents’ apartment in New York. At Chengdu, Ma Po Tofu is a menu highlight, prepared authentically and spicily with big slices of scallion and none of the added extra stuff like diced carrots they throw in at other PVD spots. The Szechuan peppercorn-spiked sauce envelops silky tofu pieces. The things you won’t find on most Chinese menus are the things you should go for. First thing on the table at Chengdu is always their mouthtingling pickled vegetables. It’s hard to not kill these off in under a minute—the flavor is complex and addictive. Order the greens alongside. Sauteed water spinach, pea shoots, Chinese broccoli, or whatever. The special is made with whole, softcooked garlic cloves and just a ladle full of chicken broth. You can add anything to your table. The meat, seafood, and vegetables are equally thoughtful and the Szechuan flavors meld on your plate. I recommend the fish stew. Slices of tender white fish and cooked but still crisp cabbage bathe in a rich red sauce, flecked with orange chili oil and doused with spices and chili flakes. Even the rice you eat with it is better than other rice. I’m not sure how to describe why, but you’ll know when you eat it. There’s also a dish of stir-fried sliced beef and shishito peppers. It seems simple on the surface, but packs flavors you wouldn’t expect. The peppers are hotter than usual and julienned into slivers that match the size of the tender, salty meat that is still pink in the middle, even though the slices are about as wide as linguine. Dan dan noodles come chewy and seemingly undressed, but when you toss the dish into the fatty, tangy sauce of ground pork and Szechuan peppercorn, it turns into this mouth-numbing treat. You can’t help but go back for another bite, out of curiosity, joy, and surprise. Additionally, you can order frog legs if that’s your thing, and my friend swears by the prawns. I’m convinced that anything on this menu will be delicious. Order with your own whims and tastes. If you love Chinese food, you can’t go wrong here. Restaurant Info: Chengdu Taste Address: 701 Main St., Pawtucket, RI 02860 Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Cost: $30 a person (if you’re prone to over-ordering like I am) SEPTEMBER 28, 2018!5
ARTS&CULTURE
We Are Marshall? Reckoning with Cat Power's Wanderer Tour by Griffin Plaag Illustrated By Brenda Rodriguez
I
t’s damned if you don’t and it’s damned if you do,” opines Chan Marshall, frontwoman of indie group Cat Power, over an achingly beautiful electric guitar line and the faint buzz of snare on her classic 1998 album, Moon Pix. Propped in my bed scrolling through concert websites and looking at tickets for Marshall’s upcoming Wanderer Tour, I can’t help but feel similarly. For the better part of the last several years, if somebody had asked me to go to a Cat Power concert with them, I would have agreed without a second’s hesitation. Now, with Marshall set to make an appearance at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston on October 5, I’m in an uncertain position. To go or not to go? Chan Marshall, by my reckoning, is one of the great artists of her generation. Her music, produced since 1995 under the pseudonym Cat Power, consistently tugs at the heartstrings in a way that’s neither exploitative nor trite; ensconced in hazy, crepuscular melancholy, Marshall’s tunes resonate bone-deep with lyrics which communicate a hauntingly universal sadness despite their enigmatic simplicity. “Hate” (which was recently featured in the award-winning Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale) nestles in me at my lowest lows. “Good Woman” strikingly captures the stages of a toxic, decaying relationship. “Metal Heart,” the track quoted above, has seen me through many a desolate evening, and Moon Pix sounds like the magnolia bushes near my father’s old house and the streaks of mauve in the summer sky. Marshall’s collective works are, to me, whole and complete, rife with self-loathing malaise and proud assertions of female empowerment (sort of an acoustic SleaterKinney, at times, especially on blistering tracks like “He War”) in the same turn. The problem, though, is that while Cat Power’s recorded music often strikes me as near-perfect, her recent concerts have been far from that mark. This isn’t to say that Marshall can’t still sing and play the way she used to; by all accounts her dusky laments sound as beautiful as they always have—when she can get them out, that is. My web-surfing has unearthed reviews of concerts dating from early 2016 all the way into this year that describe a hollow version of Marshall, often arriving late to her shows or not arriving at all, tinkering pedantically with her sound equipment to produce minute tonal differences imperceptible to everyone in the building except her, and cutting off songs or entire appearances prematurely to apologize for being such a terrible performer before “shuffling off stage” without further explanation. When Marshall is in good form, her concerts are hailed as breathtaking, but more
recently they’ve been described as “idiosyncratic and often uncomfortable,” with reviewers noting that “it hurts when she skips lines...and trails off forlornly” and that her shows create a “claustrophobic mood.” I would never presume to complain about or cast judgment on Marshall’s recent difficulties on stage. We all go through lengthy periods of self-doubt and struggle, and Marshall is as entitled to hers as anybody else. Her struggles with substance abuse and depression, in addition to a rare stress-induced medical condition called angioedema, have affected her for most of her life, and I have nothing but sympathy for her situation. But these reports definitely complicate the decision of whether to go see her. Do I miss a golden opportunity to witness a woman whose work I revere, or do I go to Boston this October knowing that an experience I’ve anticipated for so long might ultimately turn out to be bathetic and disheartening? One of the most resonant things about Marshall’s work for me, as a student artist, is that the confessional simplicity of her compositions makes a musical future seem achievable. She, among others (including the astounding Julien Baker), has been an incredibly important figure in my fledgling musical career, an act that inspires hope in me despite its misanthropy. As a self-taught performer without much classical training, I’ve found her ability to musically capture many modes of the human condition and her emphasis on mood and tone as opposed to technical prowess enormously influential upon my songwriting. That Marshall holds this special place in my heart raises another question
“Michelangelo had a massive ego and did not take criticism lightly; a popular anecdote tells of how he painted one of his critics into The Last Judgment and crested him with a pair of donkey ears.” —Amanda Ngo, Dispelling Michelangelo 9.28.17
“Some time later, I heard that my house had gained a new member- a large, fluffy 53” plush bear from Costco that my brother had taken to calling Leon #2.” —Leon Lei, Alone at Home 9.28.17
6!post–
which vexes me even more than the first: Does knowing that a woman of such vision and talent experiences the same self-doubt that I do make the world feel more conquerable? Or would seeing a paragon of my artistic inspiration break down emotionally on stage break me too?
Does knowing that a woman of such vision and talent experiences the same selfdoubt that I do make the world feel more conquerable? Though they remain largely unresolved, these questions have led to a good deal of self-reflection about what it means to be an artist and, in a larger sense, a human being. Here is a woman, one I idolize as a goddess, who has publicly expressed that her entire collection of work is worthless. What this incongruity represents to me remains nebulous and vague, but what I think I can say confidently is that if Chan Marshall questions herself and her work after all she’s done and all she’s been through, it’s okay for all of us to do that, too. Perhaps there’s something positive to be taken from an unattended concert after all. And Chan, whether I end up at your show or not— you are so much better than you think you are. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 • PAGE 3
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» HOUSING, from page 1 threatened their visa status,” she added. “What do you do? You’re a PhD student. You have to teach. This is your first year in another country. You’re here for six years, you’re hoping. It’s your whole career and life on the balance, and you really don’t have the time to deal with this.” Though Brunau, an international student from France, has not faced threats to her visa status, she has dealt with a number of prejudiced landlords. “One landlord made me really uncomfortable about being international,” she said. “He just picked up on my nationality when I sent him my details, and he went on a whole racist rant about French politics and immigration in France.” Students of color may experience even more offensive interactions with landlords, Brunau added. Not all housing options are unsatisfactory, however. Sayan Samanta GS, a PhD student from India, has lived in the same place since he first came to Providence three years ago. He has faced few problems with his house, and his landlord has always been highly accommodating and responsive to requests for repairs. “I turned out to be really lucky,” Samanta said. “But generally, houses in Providence suck.” Though Samanta arranged his housing with little difficulty, the process of finding housing remains daunting for most graduate students, he said. “Imagine the situation — especially for international students — you’re coming from so many miles away and you have nobody around. It’s a completely new place. You
» AOTW, from page 1 part of that youth academy growing up all the way until the age of 17 or 16. Why Brown? It’s an Ivy League school, of course. Academics really matter, so that was a big part of it. Also, when coach showed me around and talked about his philosophy in soccer, I was really impressed with that. That ultimately was the deciding factor. Do you have any pre-game rituals? I tie my laces … in a lot of knots. I’m a Catholic, so I pray at times. What has been the highlight of your soccer career so far? (In) my sophomore year, I had a pretty good game against Penn. I scored
would be anxious.” Since most graduate students don’t live near Providence before coming to the University, they rely on online sources to find housing, Kessel said. The University posts listings of some off-campus housing options on its auxiliary housing website, but the list is short, the prices are high and some of the landlords are abusive, Brunau said. As a result, most students find housing through other sources like Craigslist, Facebook and graduate student message boards, Kessel added. Meszaros estimated that she had conversations with over 20 landlords while searching for housing options this past summer. Coming to Providence with a spouse and three cats, few listings met her needs. Further, most landlords refused to rent apartments to her without meeting in person. “I couldn’t pay to come out here and see an apartment, so what initially seems like a number of options gets limited pretty quickly,” she said. While good housing options — like Samanta’s — are available online, finding housing on sites like Craigslist can be risky for students who cannot easily visit their apartment before moving to Providence, Samanta said. “Finding a place is easy,” he said. “Trusting the place that you’ve found — that’s the tricky part.” This past summer, Sophie Don GS fell victim to a housing scam while arranging to rent an apartment posted on Craigslist. The listing matched a legitimate apartment complex on Angell Street, she said, and she maintained contact with an individual posing as a landlord for over two months. But Don discovered she had not been paying rent to the building’s
a goal to get us to OT, but ultimately we lost that game. But I thought that goal was a pretty good moment.
landlord when she tried to visit the apartment in July. “I got there and nobody showed up,” she said. “It was a very expensive learning experience.” Though she said the University cannot be expected to vet landlords for students, Don feels that graduate students could use more support in finding housing. “There are so many people who are coming here temporarily to do their degree and then heading out of Providence to go back into the workforce,” Don said. “It’s challenging to find a place that isn’t looking to take advantage of folks that are just moving for a couple years.” In light of these issues with off-campus housing, many graduate students have called on the University to provide them with apartment-style housing options. “There is a real need for more oncampus housing,” Kessel said. Exploring the possibility for graduate student housing is one of the GSC’s top priorities this year, and the Graduate School has been receptive to the idea, Brunau said. Housing provided by the University would be safer, more affordable and better maintained than many current off-campus options, she explained. In addition, the need to compete with University-subsidized housing options would give landlords a greater incentive to keep their properties up-todate, she added. Meszaros and Don agreed that University-subsidized apartments would alleviate much of the stress associated with finding housing. Even Samanta, who has no complaints about his current living situation, said he would prefer to live in housing provided by the University if
DAPHNE ZHAO / HERALD
given the option. GSC hopes to receive more information about the University’s plans to address the issue of graduate student housing by the end of next semester, Brunau said. But she acknowledged that University-subsidized housing options are an expensive and distant goal. In the meantime, many graduate students will continue to encounter the same problems with housing that they currently face. “If you’ve got a stipend, if you’ve got
a teaching assistantship from the school, then your job is to be a student. Your job is to take your studies seriously,” Meszaros said. “If you are trying to deep clean your apartment and fix the floor and stop the ceiling from leaking, it eats into that. If you’re worried about where you’re going to be sleeping at night, if you’re worried about where you live and whether (the house is) going to stay standing, that worry eats into time that should be better spent reading and thinking and writing.”
SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING
What are your team and personal goals for the season? Team goals (are) definitely to win the Ivy League and get a ring. This is my third year, and we haven’t gotten a ring yet. But my goal every season is to win the Ivy League and get a ring and enter the NCAA tournament. Personally, there are a lot of specific goals. Just playing true to myself and what I believe. … Statistically, maybe try to score more than eight goals. The Bears will return to action when they host Columbia at StevensonPincince Field Saturday at 7:05 p.m. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
This Film is Rated R
FREE ADMISSION WITH STUDENT ID Monday, October 1 7:00 PM
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COMMENTARY PAGE 4 • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Do we need six figures to pay the bills?
Editorial highlights significance of honoring Page, Robinson
To the Editor: In a Herald op-ed published yesterday, Alexa Clark ’19 wrote that “perhaps, at the age of 21, (Aidan Calvelli ’19) is able to prioritize a job’s fit for his ‘individuality’ over its ability to pay his bills. However, this is not the case for all of us. I took a job in consulting because I have to support myself when I graduate, and so my salary matters to me.” Many Brown students will have to support themselves when they graduate, but supporting oneself doesn’t require an $80,000-plus annual income (plus health insurance and benefits). There are students at Brown who need to support family members, attend to debts, etc. who might require such an annual income, and
that seems like a very good reason to accept a job with such a high annual income. I don’t think Calvelli was suggesting that people who accept consulting jobs to help themselves and their families enter more financially stable situations are “greedy.” This seems like an unfair reading of his op-ed. However, it is naive to suggest that a Bain and Company salary is required to pay one’s bills at the age of 22. The median income for an American family of four is about $60,000 per year. This is the reminder of reality that we need. How can we expect American families to get by on $60,000 while insisting that we need nearly six figures to pay the bills? Julia Rock ’19
To the Editor: The Herald’s editorial on the renaming of the J. Walter Wilson building to honor some of the earliest people of color at Brown and Pembroke was very thoughtful, respectful and encouraging. I appreciate the weight that your editorial can wield with members of Brown’s present community — from current students or alums and all others — to succinctly inform and influence what could be a flippant or callous response without that context. You had me at the second sentence, because that has been the challenge throughout the decades: to convince those who don’t get it that inclusiveness will enhance, not diminish, the education, experiences
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and success of the institution and its community. As a proud member of the Class of 1975 and active alum, I am very pleased with Brown’s move to help keep the contributions of Inman Page, class of 1877, and Ethel Robinson, class of 1905, from once again lapsing into lost history. Just as importantly, it is an example of Brown putting its actions where its rhetoric lies. And we were told that the beloved Professor James Walter Wilson’s memory will not be lost or erased with the honoring of PageRobinson, which is also representative of the Brown community that I am glad to support and champion.
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COMMENTARY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 • PAGE 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
JUMP bikes are a boon for public transport — for some ANDREW FRIEDMAN STAFF COLUMNIST On Monday night, I test drove a JUMP bike on a journey from Wayland Square’s Starbucks to the Rockefeller Library. The bike shattered my expectations, especially after the electric pedal-assist kicked in and made the hill up Angell Street seem like an airport runway. I would classify the experience akin to riding an electric chariot, and the bike feels like a moped at top speeds (around 20 mph). Long gone are the days of walking into class sweaty after a strenuous morning ride. It seems that JUMP bikes are here to stay, which I think is great. Where other cities have failed, Providence has succeeded in its implementation of bike-sharing, but despite JUMP’s success, the lack of equity in distribution of bikes deserves redress. JUMP bikes arrived in Providence this September during a turbulent time for the bike-share and electric scooter rental industry. Docked bike-sharing is an established concept in big cities like London and New York, which rolled out their Santander Cycles and Citi Bike programs in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Now, “dockless” bike-sharing, which allows parking of bikes any-
where outside the public right-ofway, has achieved unprecedented scale in an increasing number of cities. As of 2017, “five major dockless bike-share companies reported operating in approximately 25 American cities,” according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. As of August 2018, Bird, an electric scooter company with a similar business model, reported operations in over 60 U.S. cities.
neurs take note: Scooter numbers are now capped at 300, companies must pay the city $1 per day per scooter and the density of scooters may not exceed 100 per square mile. Despite creating barriers for unannounced scooter arrivals, Providence officials still believed in the public utility of shared e-vehicles. Providence smartly learned from the mistakes of bigger cities, whose urban landscapes became eco-
rate plan for low-income riders, allowing them one hour of ride time per day for a year for $5. The JUMP project in Providence received public assistance as well; it was funded by Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant money that was reallocated from the failed streetcar initiative. The project also receives $200,000 annually from D.C. nonprofit PeopleForBikes. So far, the bikes have been a
Where other cities have failed, Providence has succeeded in its implementation of bike sharing, but despite JUMP’s success, the lack of equity in distribution of bikes deserves redress.
Providence got its first taste of the transportation “sharing” economy this past summer, when Bird scooters appeared without warning in July. However, Bird’s sudden invasion of Providence’s streets was over as soon as it started, as its scooters vanished just a month later after extensive reactionary regulation, possibly to the disappointment of next year’s Brown pre-college students. Emerging electric scooter entrepre-
nomic battlegrounds between warring bike companies. Many companies left behind bike graveyards when they retreated from reactive and prohibitively expensive regulation in cities like Dallas, whose bike population decreased by about 16,500 this year. Providence avoided this by awarding JUMP an exclusive five-year contract in 2017. The city partnered with Lifespan and Tufts Health Plan to sponsor a reduced
huge success, especially for Mayor Jorge Elorza, who tactfully released a statement addressing not only affordability, but also the environment and public health: “The JUMP bike-share program offers Providence residents and visitors an affordable, eco-friendly and healthy way to explore or commute.” However, for all of JUMP’s success, I think Elorza and the city need to address systematic flaws.
Specifically, the distribution of bike docking stations is unfairly skewed toward the College Hill neighborhood. Low-income neighborhoods such as Washington Park and Olneyville, whose residents are most likely to use JUMP bikes to get to work, have few docking stations. I understand that College Hill rides present the best opportunity for JUMP (which is now owned by Uber) to make money, but considering that the program receives significant funding from nonprofits and the government, it is incumbent on either the company or the city to address the geographic disparity in service. By granting JUMP exclusive rights to the city, Providence successfully avoided the infighting that doomed the bike-sharing programs of many other American cities. However, a challenge remains: Providence needs to leverage the deal with JUMP to better serve the constituents whom the program stands to help the most.
Andrew Friedman ’19 can be reached at andrew_friedman@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Changing the culture of consulting recruitment starts with us SAANYA JAIN
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR As someone who too has wondered if I was a sellout for interviewing (and ultimately accepting) an offer at a consulting firm last fall, I was excited to read the columns written by Aidan Calvelli ’19 and Ruth Foster ’19 this week. What Foster in particular objects to is the exploitation of seniors’ uncertainty, a notion no one can disagree with on the surface. I argue that banning or otherwise relying on Brown or consulting firms to change the recruiting process misses the fact that recruiting is a two-way street: Companies provide the demand, but we, the talent, make up the supply. By focusing on one side of the issue tree, we deny agency to the supply side. Banning or changing how consulting companies recruit is not feasible, and, I argue, not even necessarily desirable. Firstly, Brown can’t afford to — nor should it think it right to — choose for students what careers they should pursue (see Alexa Clark’s ’19 opinion for an incisive analysis of why). Secondly, I applaud consulting firms for making an effort to reach every type of applicant, regardless of concentration, which most industries don’t — I met people with backgrounds in everything from zoology to oceanography this summer who otherwise wouldn’t have discovered a career they find fulfilling. Thirdly, the omnipresent nature of consulting firms is more perception, a function of their extensive marketing and recruiting efforts, than reality. Only 11 percent of Brown graduates last year ended up in consulting — and only a fraction of them end up at
the firms that Calvelli or Foster might consider particularly egregious. Finally, Calvelli deplores the fact that the number of graduating seniors entering consulting is higher than the number of “people working in environment and sustainability, community service and development, government and public policy and the arts.” This in fact is primarily a demand problem and not a supply one — consulting may be a more popular entry-level choice, but
vor of junior-year recruiting). Exploitation is an issue when people who would otherwise not be interested in consulting at all feel pressured to go to information sessions and apply to consulting firms. Let’s change the potential supply of consultants to people who don’t feel pressured to pursue consulting if it’s not for them. From my experience, the people who know why they want to enter consulting are the ones
If we demand more from our employers, if we stand up for ourselves and our skills, and, most of all, if we support each other without judgement, we can change the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that surrounds the recruiting process.
the majority of consultants leave the industry after two to three years and some enter the exact fields Calvelli extols after having gained the skills and the network to enter them. I do not deny that recruiting in general creates an unhealthy atmosphere of stress around campus. However, the right way to deal with that stress is not by removing these firms from campus but addressing the root cause of seniors’ uncertainty: a lack of knowledge of career options and feelings of insecurity during recruiting. (I know exactly how emotionally draining the latter is as a survi-
who, more often than not, end up with offers. By the time candidates get to the final rounds, they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why this career would be a good fit. When I accepted an offer last year, they hadn’t exploited what Foster might term my “uncertainty,” but were in fact rewarding my certainty. Instead of banning these firms entirely, let’s change what kind of space we give them in our discussions on campus. Why can’t we take the spirit with which we approach academics and apply it to life after Brown? Why shouldn’t people be allowed to “shop” employ-
ers just as they shop classes? What kinds of jobs we choose and how we talk about them is something we have under our control, as individuals, as friends, as a campus. If we demand more from our employers, if we stand up for ourselves and our skills, and, most of all, if we support each other without judgment, we can change the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that surrounds the recruiting process. If we amplify other voices, other choices, other decisions, we can change which career paths are the most commonly discussed, and more importantly, socially rewarded. We can circulate information for the more informal recruiting processes: share spreadsheets on exciting non-traditional paths, advise on how to network, invite alums we look up to. Working to create access to the kinds of opportunities we wish we had is what we as Brown students do best. We may be victims of Friedrich Engels’ “false consciousness,” but we don’t escape that trap by banning a company or even an entire industry. We can create a community, even if it’s limited to College Hill, that can have open conversations about what kinds of work are and aren’t valuable for each of our personal hopes — but that can’t happen by tearing each other’s choices down. Finding a job is a difficult enough process as it is. Let’s not make it harder for one another.
Saanya Jain ’19 can be reached at the moral high ground at saanya_jain@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and opeds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
It’s time to sack the new roughing the passer rule GEORGE KLEIN SPORTS COLUMNIST Monday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should have been notable only for excitement and competitiveness. The Buccaneers, led by Ryan Fitzpatrick, rallied from a twenty point deficit, falling just short in a 30-27 Pittsburgh win. But the game had long since been derailed by the NFL’s new roughing the passer rule. When Tampa Bay’s Jason Pierre-Paul lightly tapped quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the head, Roethlisberger hurled himself down to the ground with a Neymar-worthy flop, a symbol of all that has gone wrong with the league this season. The uproar that followed drowned out any conversation about the game’s result. The NFL needs to fix itself and undo its previous mistakes, or the entire year could similarly go off the rails. Before the season, the NFL made it a “point of emphasis” for referees to enforce a rule that states defenders cannot land on the quarterback with their full body weight. The Competition Committee planned to have the Officiating Department “emphasize that the defender is responsible
to avoid landing on the quarterback when taking him to the ground.” The problem? Try running at an object, tackling it, then not landing on it with any body weight. It’s almost impossible, and it’s certainly not a reasonable expectation. The rule has already had a major impact on the season. Clay Matthews was unfairly penalized for roughing
the rule. Houston Texans’ defensive end J.J. Watt tweeted that “Roughing the Passer calls are absolutely out of control.” The 49ers’ cornerback Richard Sherman, in response to a tweet that said “(what) happened to the league we all love,” added simply, “Wish I knew.” The rule has also been the direct cause of one serious injury already.
point of getting to the quarterback if you’re not allowed to touch him? The very nature of the game is different. If the rule does not change, quarterbacks should flop whenever a defensive player stands in their vicinity to draw a call. Far more troubling, why wouldn’t a pass rusher choose to disregard the rules completely and destroy a quarterback with a vicious,
We’re stuck with a version of football that’s less fun to watch and as dangerous as ever.
the passer twice in two weeks. The first penalty played a big role in what became a tie between Green Bay and Minnesota, costing the Packers the win. The second was an even more egregious call. Matthews sacked Alex Smith while trying desperately to shift his body weight and not land on the quarterback. His effort was met with yet another 15-yard penalty. What happens when a major playoff game is won or lost due to this rule? What if it loses a team the Super Bowl? Players have spoken out against
Miami’s William Hayes tore his ACL while trying to avoid landing on the Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr. Instead, he awkwardly contorted himself, twisting his limbs, and is now out for the season. A rule designed to protect against injuries led to one. It clearly doesn’t work as intended. “I wish the guy would have just landed on me instead of tearing his ACL,” Carr later said. All the roughing the passer penalties significantly drag down the value of a defensive line. What’s the
dangerous hit, if it carries the same penalty as merely tapping them on the helmet? The Competition Committee met Wednesday night on a conference call to discuss all the roughing the passer penalties. But I’m not overly optimistic about what came out of that meeting. NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent announced that “the committee determined there would be no changes to the point of emphasis approved this spring or to the rule.” With that
in mind, I find it likely that problems with the rule will continue until next offseason (albeit not at the current rate), when the NFL can quietly correct its mistakes and not have to admit defeat. The problems we have seen this season are indicative of the current crisis facing the NFL. How exactly do you make an incredibly violent game like football safer in the first place? But here, the NFL has prioritized the safety of quarterbacks over the safety of everyone else. There is nothing safe about a huge defensive player twisting and turning himself in unnatural motions to avoid a normal tackle. If the NFL really wants to make sacks safe, they should put flags on quarterbacks and have it done flagfootball style. At least that way, a completely changed game would be safer in reality. Instead, we’re stuck with a version of football that’s less fun to watch and as dangerous as ever. Let’s hope the NFL makes the right decision before this season is lost.
George Klein ’20 can be reached at george_klein@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.