Friday, September 13, 2019

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

VOLUME CLIV, ISSUE 8

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

METRO

U. to coordinate with RIDE as state takes over PVD schools Unprecedented takeover reaction to scathing review of Providence schools

BY CLARA GUTMAN ARGEMÍ SENIOR STAFF WRITER In light of a blistering review that persuaded the Rhode Island Department of Education to take control of the Providence Public School District this fall, the University will coordinate with RIDE and begin a new chapter in its longstanding involvement in the district.

The Providence public schools’ pendent review conducted by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Educational Policy May 2019, The Herald previously reported. The report described school conditions so deplorable that it had the “review team in tears,” according to the Boston Globe.

The takeover process will proceed after an administrative hearing scheduled for this morning at the University’s School of Professional Studies.

Twelve years before this unprecedented R.I. state takeover, the University promised to raise $10 million for a PPSD endowment. Since then, the University has raised only $1.9 million, the Boston Globe reported. However, the University invests far more in PPSD each year than the endowment would have generated annually for the district had the fundraising reached

its $10 million goal, wrote Director of News and Editorial Development Brian Clark in an email to The Herald.

said that the University will support the strategy developed by RIDE Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, who is in charge of the state’s management of PPSD. The University plans to develop its own response by the end of the fall semester.

“This is an opportunity to take a step back, think about how we can collaborate very closely with the commissioner and develop a plan,”

BY KAYLA GUO SENIOR STAFF WRITER The University hired Dara Kwayera Imani Bayer ’08 this summer to serve as its inaugural Transformative Justice Program Coordinator, where she will oversee projects that aim to address violence and instances of harm through accountability and healing rather than punitive or legal measures.

Camila Pelsinger ’20, who is a transformative justice student coordinator, spearheaded a year of advocacy that culminated in Bayer’s hiring. Bayer will serve in a two-year the Provost.

$177,000

Scholarships to Summer Programs College Scholarships

$615,000 $50,000

Direct Support (Salaries and Materials)

Bayer said.

Bayer will work closely with Marc Peters, assistant director for community dialogue and campus engagement, on the Community Dialogue Project, which aims to “help students foster intentional community and lives,” and “cultivate student capacity to heal, process and learn through storytelling, dialogue and transformative processes,” according to its mission statement.

JUSTICE, BACK

Peter Cohen reveals MIT knew Media Lab received Epstein donations

Peter Cohen, a fundraising director for the University placed on leave last Sunday, wrote in a statement to The Herald that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s central administration had complete knowledge of and authorized policies that allowed the Media

Cohen, who previously served as the Director of Development and Strategy at the Media Lab, was recently implicated in helping to secure money from Epstein for the Media Lab, the New Yorker reported last Friday. Epstein,

crimes involving minors “Notwithstanding my personal discomfort regarding Mr. Epstein and his involvement with MIT, I did not believe I was in a position to change

EDUCATION, PAGE 2

The foundational principles of the transformative justice model “come from indigenous teachings,” which say that “we are interconnected, that everyone has a space and that when harm happens it’s because there is something that needs to be repaired as opposed to something that needs

MIT admin. authorized donations from Epstein

BY CELIA HACK UNIVERSITY NEWS EDITOR

A campus task force is working to develop the University’s strategy in supporting the state takeover, Clark wrote. The University “is committed to developing actions based on close conversations with the commissioner and others in the community to learn what is substantively going to create the best and lasting solutions,” Clark wrote.

As the University formulates an nenberg Institute for School Reform has hired a new education coordinator, Soljane Martinez, who will act as a liaison between the University and PPSD. In 2018, the University’s Annenberg Institute shifted its mission away from focusing on community-based educational outreach to research.

U. hires transformative justice program coordinator harm prevention

Brown University donates a total of $842,000 to public schools in Providence every year.

Brown’s role in the takeover

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Bayer ’08 to support non-punitive methods

Breakdown of Contributions to Providence Public Schools

UNIVERSITY NEWS

EPSTEIN, BACK

USHA BHALLA / HERALD

SPORTS

Butler ’21 wins season’s first XC race individual victory of collegiate career, Brown women take second

BY RYAN HANDEL SENIOR STAFF WRITER Hannah Butler ’21 started her chez Souther Invitational at a time of

career. Previously, her best collegiate hopes to parlay this week’s success into a breakout junior year.

Butler also led a strong team performance from the women’s cross country team, as they took second place in a versity of Maine and the University of

CROSS COUNTRY, PAGE 9

ANDREW DING / HERALD

Hannah Butler ’21 was one of three Brown women to place in the top four in the Maribel Sanchez Southern Invitational cross country race.

News

Arts and Culture

Commentary

TODAY

TOMORROW

Hillel hires director Joshua Bolton, who hopes to enhance

Performance artist Taylor Mac gives artist-in-residence lecture Page 9

Flynn ’20.5: Psychedelic drugs should be decriminalized Page 11

69 / 48

75 / 64

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

UNIVERSITY NEWS

New Hillel director looks to change how students view Judaism on campus Rabbi Bolton hopes to increase campus outreach, engage community at large

BY DANIEL GOLDBERG SENIOR STAFF WRITER “I want to inspire big, Jewish thinking,” said Rabbi Joshua Bolton, the newly RISD Hillel. In his new role, Bolton is looking to build Hillel up as an outreach center for students that engages with both Jewish and non-Jewish community members.

Before coming to the University this past summer, Bolton spent eight years at Penn where he directed the Jewish Renaissance Project, which sought to engage with Penn’s campus community at large and “create platforms for students to engage with Jewish ideas through the prism of their own lived Dan Ehrenkrantz who was appointed 2018.

Bolton chooses to work at universities because “there is something that is uniquely possible, and I think even sacred to the culture and cosmos of the university,” Bolton said. “There is a courageous engagement with difference.”

He hopes to translate his work at Penn to the University by continuing to emphasize the importance of community engagement.

“The idea that we could set up shop … and just wait for everyone to show up

EDUCATION FROM PAGE 1 When this shift occurred, Provost Richard Locke P’18 told The Herald that it to do capacity building for communities. What we do is research and teaching, and it’s through our research and the world.” This decision was met with concern from former staff members who saw value in the way the Institute shaped local schools, The Herald previously reported. continues to bring research to Brown that focuses on how school districts can better serve families, developing

she said.

That same year, the University suspended the elementary track of its Masters of Arts in Teaching program, a decision that was met with frustration by students and staff, The Herald previing bringing back the MAT program in light of the report, she told The Herald.

is over,” he said. Instead, Hillel members must go out into the community and meet students “both literally and ated a Greek life leadership seminar in which students from various fraternity and sorority houses could discuss tophouses in a period of multiculturalism and assimilation.”

“Students’ lives take place in their dorms, in their classes … and in virtual spaces. I think that any Jewish organization has to be able to speak to students in all those places,” he said.

Bolton also hopes to make Hillel a “platform for every Jewish — and really every student — at Brown” to engage tions that are fundamental to Judaism, he said.

Bolton acknowledged that Jewish people face a multitude of challenges questions of peoplehood, antisemitism, ambivalence and “how to interpret an ancient tradition into an idiom of our own period.” But more than that, Bolton faces to be in harnessing the “unbelievable creative, innovative and entrepreneurial talents of students” into addressing those questions, he added. culties as opportunities. “History has demonstrated that in moments of the most confounding challenge, the opportunities found in those challenges have been what has propelled Jewish life forward.”

the Boston Globe reported.

The shortfall between the University’s goal and actual funds raised reported by the Globe is accurate. But Clark wrote to The Herald that current overall University investments in PPSD full endowment would have created.

“Had the Fund reached $10 million, it would have generated about $450,000 to $500,000 a year, compared to the annually in the schools,” Clark wrote.

Clark estimated this $450,000 to $500,000 annual withdrawal using a payout rate of 4.5 to 5 percent, which is consistent with recent years’ payout rates for the University’s endowment.

The payout rate refers to the amount taken out of the Fund every year and invested in PPSD. For reference, the University’s operating budget pulled about 4.9 percent from its endowment tions across the country averaged similar payout rates for their 2017 endowments. In the Globe article, Mayor Jorge Elorza estimated that the Fund would have generated $600,000 per year had it reached $10 million, calculating from

COURTESY OF JOSHUA BOLTON

Rabbi Joshua Bolton was appointed executive director of Brown/RISD Hillel this past summer. In his role, Bolton hopes to engage Hillel with both Jewish and non-Jewish community members. wrote Claire Miller ’21, president of vision around what we’re supposed to on campus listening, learning and be doing at Hillel,” Mann said. “Just building relationships with students The Herald. “He allows me to drive our knowing that we’re going out to engage and staff. “I’ve been taking in the cam- agenda and always asks to make sure he as many students as possible … is really is providing the support that I need,” scooter just to see everything,” Bolton she added. Miller, along with two other Bolton “is at once a poet and a pragsaid. student leaders, served on the search matist,” wrote Rabbi Michelle DardashBolton has also begun working with committee that selected Bolton as the ti, associate University chaplain for the Hillel’s student leaders and staff on fall Jewish community, in an email to The programming, such as an upcoming Jordan Mann ’15, a program asso- Herald. “He comes to this work with an ciate at Hillel, is looking forward to ambitious vision, generous heart and years and transfer students. “I am so working under Bolton’s leadership. playful spirit, all of which make him a “It feels like there’s a greater sense of joy to work with.”

main source of its investments in PPSD when the Fund did not meet its $10 million objective. “We made an intentional choice to spend from Brown’s operating budget to ensure that we’re meeting our commitment,” Clark wrote, attributing this decision to the University’s senior leadership team “early in the presidency As of 2017, the University’s $840,000 annual investment in PPSD included $70,000 generated by the Fund. The vast majority of this investment is taken out of the University’s operating budget, Clark wrote to The Herald.

The majority of this investment, $615,000 or about 73 percent, pro-

for Providence students on campus,” such as Brown Elementary Afterschool Mentoring, the University chapter of the College Advising Corps and the Bonner Community Fellows Program, Clark wrote. About another 21 percent goes toward scholarships to summer programs, including Brown’s Summer High School.

The University still hopes to grow the original Fund to $10 million, Clark wrote.

Victor Morente, spokesperson for When asked what responsibility Brown has in assisting PPSD, she said, “We want to have strong schools here. … The students who are in the schools now are going to be our future employees … and students.”

University funding of PPSD In 2007 under President Ruth Simmons’ tenure, the University established and promised to fundraise for a $10 million endowment, the Fund for the Education of the Children of Providence. Twelve years later, it has only raised $1.9 million for this Fund,

The Herald that the University’s conamount the Fund would have generated had it reached its $10 million goal.

“The Mayor has worked closely with son to identify opportunities for Brown to support work within the PPSD,” he wrote, adding that “while the Fund for Education is a critical piece of Brown’s investment, the current allocation of impact of the Fund alone.”

The University chose to change the

Beyond Brown: The state takeover The R.I. Council on Elementary and Secondary Education authorized Commissioner Infante-Green to take over PPSD from city control July 23, The Herald previously reported. The Crowley Act, a 1997 law that authorizes RIDE to intervene in failing schools, allows the state to take control administratively while the city continues to fund the system.

Since late July, RIDE has conducted nine public forums with parents, students, teachers and school communities

perspectives,” said RIDE Communications Director Meg Geoghegan. The state’s immediate priorities are to appoint a new superintendent and conduct a budget analysis, she added. The interim superintendent, Frances Gallo,

cause the status quo is not working,” Morente wrote.

As the hearing takes shape, many community members are asking for a chance to be heard. The Rhode Is-

with a new superintendent who would report directly to Infante-Green. The

to RIDE on behalf of parents, students and youth organizations asking to be

analysis to budget necessary reforms

action” in Friday’s hearing. RIDE is reviewing the petition, and Commissioner Infante-Green will determine whether or not they can participate in the hearing this morning, according to Jennifer

in the report.

Geoghegan stressed that it’s still state’s intervention will look like. In the long run, RIDE intends to begin addressing the report’s challenges by making changes to Providence classroom culture. Geoghegan cited measures for increasing school safety, restricting in-classroom cell phone policy and days to include trainings in culturally responsive teaching.

Next steps An administrative hearing about the state’s interaction with PPSD is scheduled for today. The four parties that the commissioner authorized to speak — the mayor, the school board, the city council and the interim superdesire to participate in the hearing by the Sept. 4 deadline.

The school board and the mayor’s to how the state should proceed in the takeover. “PPSD sees the state’s intervention as an opportunity to create real, lasting change in our schools,” wrote Emily Martineau, director of public affairs at PPSD, in an email to The Herald.

Elorza wants the takeover to “prioritize robust community engagement” so that “everything is on the table, be-

of the Center for Justice.

The parents and students represented by the Center for Justice “have been clamoring for dramatic improvements to the Providence public schools for decades,” she told The Herald. “Their message is, ‘don’t do it without us.’”

— with reporting by Sophie Culpepper

In This Issue 4

Siena Capone

4

Kaitlan Bui

Sydney Lo

2

Secondhand Summer

Kànzhebàn

The Inside Scoop Griffin Plaag 5

How to Rent a Room Naomi kim 6

Witch's Brew

postCover by Rémy Poisson

SEPT 13

VOL 24

— ISSUE 1

FEATURE

The Inside Scoop

Flavors of the New Student Ice Cream Social

By Sydney Lo Illustrated by Ashley Hernandez

T

he final breaths of summer exhale through the still-unfinished construction sites and buildings of Brown University’s campus, a campus that, until 12 hours ago, held the quiet of an empty home—save the nightly Thayer Street bustle.

Now, just past 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, it hums with pop music and chatter. Undergraduate orientation has arrived, and with it, the New Student Ice Cream Social.

Enticed by the promise of free ice cream despite being well beyond my first year, I walk to it with some friends who have come back to Providence early. We meander down Thayer Street from our off-campus apartments, then cut through Ruth Simmons Quad.

Groups of staff and students clean up from the Parents and Families Welcome Reception under a white tent

in the middle of the green, rolling out tables and folding chairs. We smile and talk about our upcoming classes, our goals for the new semester, how we plan to spend our last year at Brown. Still, senior year seems intangible, impossibly distant. How could we be so close to the end of university when it feels as if we’ve only just arrived?

Three years ago, my family flew with me to Providence to move me into my first-year dorm.

We carried suitcases up flights of stairs, attended tours and welcome events, and raided Bed Bath & Beyond for shower flip-flops and pillows. Finally, we celebrated my budding higher education career and move—thousands of miles away from my hometown in Minnesota—with a goodbye dinner at Los Andes.

After that, I was left startlingly alone, listening to

Letter from the Editor Dear Readers, Welcome (back) to a whole new year of post-!

If you have been a devoted reader of this here editor’s note over the past year, you will perhaps notice that something is afoot. Why is this Jennifer person back despite bidding a tearful farewell on December 6, 2018, and what has she done with Anita?

Rest assured, no bloody coup has taken place. I, as it turns out, am simply unable to say goodbye to this publication, even after a solid eight-month international absence. At this point, I have outlived all but one other staff member (Hi, Celina!), and as such, feel like a wise old crone/unofficial publication historian. post- has grown so much since my first stint on staff three years ago. We have said our goodbyes to Nice Slice’s excellent vegan BBQ

Bad Dates

pizza and developed an unhealthy passion for Double Stuf and Birthday Cake Oreos; our website survived the minimalist blog aesthetic of 2018 and now possesses better typography than ever. Above all, our sections have evolved to bring you better content each year. Arts & Culture has shed the arbitrary judgments of review articles, Feature has solidified into a single cohesive headline piece, and Lifestyle was rebranded as Narrative before ultimately reappearing as its own section. That said, we respect tradition: post- will remain lowercase and purple, with Top 10, Overheard@Brown, and Hot post- Time Machine gracing our back page for countless issues to come.

We hope you follow my example and find yourself returning to post- over and over in the coming years. We’ll be here, bringing you food for thought and comfort every Friday.

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Happy new academic year,

Jennifer

Copy Editor and post- Godmother 2!post–

my new unit neighbors in the hall and looking over the orientation schedule. Only one event was left that Saturday: the New Student Ice Cream Social at 10:00 p.m.

The premise is simple: Incoming students flood the Main Green for free dessert. The orientation pamphlet for 2019 promotes the event—“Get ready to unwind and celebrate your first night at Brown with your fellow classmates under the stars on the College Green! Cool down from the summery weather and grab some free ice cream, then grab a spot on the College Green!” It’s an opportunity to meet peers and attempt to form friendships through the shared love of chocolate ice cream. You collect phone numbers. You ask and answer, “What do you plan on concentrating in?” over 20 times. You wonder

10.

The one where the guy invites you over…but invites his ex to keep you company while he works The double date with your best friend, who your partner’s jealous of The concert where your date gets angry if you refuse to let them put their arm around you despite the fact that it’s a thousand degrees The movie date where they show up 30 minutes late… not counting trailer time The date you didn’t realize was a date until six other people mysteriously “cancel” The first time meeting your date’s parents…and your date The double date where you realize you’re more attracted to your partner’s friend The one where your partner stares at you the entire time and says they “just like watching you do things” The date where you accidentally get locked in a lingerie shop together The one where your partner tells you they love you… even though you’ve only been seeing each other for two days

if the rest of university will be as overwhelming and exciting as this.

This year’s social is remarkably similar to the one my first year. Pretty strings of lights hang throughout the Main Green, creating a false sense of daylight despite the late hour. A sound system adorns the steps of Faunce, blaring pop music. The Orientation Welcoming Committee staff stands with matching shirts at several sprawling tables covered in large bins of ice cream, distributing scoops into paper bowls and refilling the syrup containers that are constantly running out. Two massive loose lines of students run from the tables all the way to the gates on George Street. Ice cream in hand, they form little conversation clumps in front of the steps and anywhere else there’s free space. A few energetic first-years run throughout the Green, spreading the word about some dorm party, trying to meet as many people as possible. There is laughter and loud voices and the feeling of pure optimism. These are students with their whole academic lives ahead of them and the community of Brown awaiting.

My friends take a place in line and promise me a scoop of mint chocolate chip. I take to moseying through the crowds, meeting new faces and hearing perspectives that remind me why I decided to study at Brown for three (going on four) years. I talk with Juliana Lederman, an incoming first-year from north of Boston, whose favorite flavor of ice cream is Oreo, a trend, much to my surprise, I’ll notice as the evening progresses. Apparently everyone just loves cookies and cream. On being asked what she’s most excited about, she answers, “I’m excited about the people. Everyone here seems really nice so far, and I’m just excited to meet as many new friends as possible.” She smiles and tells me that she’s already met a few incredible individuals, including her roommate from Switzerland who “can speak in both an American and a British accent, which is really cool.” I wholeheartedly agree.

Another first-year I meet is Emma McFall from South Carolina. We wait together in line for a bit.

She’s excited to be back to where her mother grew up—Rhode Island. She shares Juliana’s outlook on the student body, telling me, “Everyone I’ve met is just really nice and different . . . They’re all from fairly different places. I’ve met more people from different countries than ever before in my life in one day, and they all have hobbies that are so unique.” I share a similar experience: my first-year roommate was from Malaysia, my friend from Principles of Physiology was from France, and my calculus TA was from China, just to name a few examples. During my time here, I have met maybe two people within 200 miles of where I’m from. According to the Brown University website, the undergraduate student body represents 47 states and 63 nations, speaking 69 languages in total.

A few minutes later I meet an incoming student from Denmark. Adrian Flarup-Johansen is a new member of the crew team at Brown. He’s eager to start rowing and taking classes, particularly in Economics, his intended concentration. Midway

through our conversation, some friends, or at least friendly strangers, come up and chat with us about a get-together one of the sports houses is throwing.

He begins to give directions, but not before leaving me with a succinct answer to his opinion on the Ice Cream Social: “It’s a lot of fun. Meeting a lot of new people.”

On my way back to my friends, I run into Leonardo Brito, an incoming PLME student from Miami, Florida. He plans to concentrate in Neuroscience and play club rugby, although he’s never played the sport before. When I ask what his favorite ice cream flavor is, he pauses for a moment, then says, “That’s tough. It’s mostly caramel—to me it’s Dulce de Leche because I’m from Miami.

Sometimes it’s coconut, too.” Even though we’re about to eat ice cream, he’s grateful for Providence’s cooler weather compared to the muggy climate of Miami. I ask, almost automatically at this point, what he’s excited for this coming semester. He responds, “I think working with other people and getting a lot of different perspectives. Just because I feel like even though I live in Miami, and it’s very diverse, it doesn’t offer me the type of experience that I would get at a place like Brown, where all these different people are coming from all over the world, and they’re here to collaborate.”

Theresa Wagner is part of the first-year cohort of Bonner Fellows, a four-year community engagement fellowship of the Swearer Center, and has been on campus for more than a week already for its preorientation program. As I’ve been helping to run said program, we’ve met before, and I’m eager to catch up. She is from Pawtucket, not far from Brown. I ask what she’s most excited for, and she replies, “I’m very excited to take classes in subjects that I’ve never even thought of before.” This is a bit different than the answer I’ve been hearing about Brown’s diverse student body, but it holds the same spirit that all these new students seem to share. They’re thrilled to learn about people, subjects, and perspectives they’ve never had the opportunity to engage with.

It’s easy to disregard such intense positivity as naivety, or with a passing just-wait-until-yourfirst-midterm thought. Yes, they’re wide-eyed, but it’s really just so they can take in all these new experiences. That isn’t to say that studying at Brown has not made me jaded, but I’ve had time to get used to the phenomenon that is Brown education. The open curriculum has passed into the periphery, replaced with concentration and premedical requirements.

The overwhelmingly interesting members of our student body have settled into their different departments and student groups, only intersecting now and then. The people I was once so in awe of have become my peers.

I ask Theresa what she thinks of the people she’s met. She beams and explains, “Very friendly.

Everyone is so nice, and it’s really easy to talk to people. And I wasn’t sure it was going to be like that, so I am very pleasantly surprised.” I tell her how glad that makes me and realize I’d been holding my breath for an unhappier answer.

All those years back, I walked down Brown Street to the Ice Cream Social alone. I wasn’t sure where the people in my unit had gone, and my roommate didn’t want to go. I was also nervous, excessively so. This was a chance to make friends, to put myself out there and discover the idyllic college life, complete with a close friend group to go on adventures with. It was a list of tasks—a networking event, more than anything else.

I managed to find the correct line for ice cream after mistakenly waiting in one for toppings for several minutes and then standing around in a group of students I had thought composed the ice cream line.

Once I had my ice cream, I wasn’t sure what to do. I stood awkwardly to the side, hoping someone would come up to me and introduce themselves. After a bit I decided to try butting into some conversations, which only ended in forced smiles and a few moments of excruciating silence after I tried (unsuccessfully) to seem as funny, smart, and aloof as I could while I introduced myself. I did manage to talk for a while with some students and get some phone numbers, but after about 30 minutes of struggling with small talk, I hurried back to my dorm.

For a long time, I considered my go at the Ice Cream Social a failure. I was barely there, and the people I met ended up as vaguely familiar faces rather than lifelong friends. Part of the reason I returned my senior year was to right that wrong, to experience the ice cream social I had wanted all those years ago.

Now, however, I’m faced with an ending rather than a beginning. This will, assuming all goes well, be my final year as an undergraduate. I will graduate in the spring and move on to other parts of life that don’t revolve around the Main Green. As I chat with the members of the Class of 2023, I’m struck with how little this night has affected the rest of my academic career. I still made lifelong friends. I still found interesting extracurriculars. I still learned so much from all the wonderful students I met and all the classes I took.

Nevertheless, I know I missed out. I’m surprised by how easy it is to introduce myself to these firstyears when I don’t put the weight of my social success at Brown on the interaction, when I don’t focus on making myself seem cool and interesting, and when the people surrounding me are just students, sharing and supporting one another’s half-formed plans and passions.

I finally make my way back to my friends, who have saved my ice cream scoop for me as promised.

I wonder how much faster I would have found them if I’d just taken the event a little less seriously. Yes, this is everyone’s first big social event at Brown, but it won’t be their last. I wish I could tell my younger self to soak it all in, to listen to a couple stories from interesting peers and enjoy the silly tradition without thinking too hard.

I take a bite and think of Theresa’s opinion on the Ice Cream Social, which captures the event better than I can: “It’s much bigger than I expected, and the music is very nice, and I love ice cream, so it’s all very exciting.” I relish in the sweetness of it all, and hope all the students around me do the same.

“It’s going to be a strong, independent concentration who don’t need no employment opportunities.”

“This stranger invited me into his house… but I said yes, because he looked like a cowboy.”

september 13, 2019(3

NARRATIVE

kànzhebàn

How Summer Snuffed (Much of) My Perfectionism

by Kaitlan Bui Illustrated by Caroline Hu I have lived a significant chunk of my life as a careful, oftentimes stuffy perfectionist—getting annoyed when the picture frame is not perfectly aligned with the edge of the wall; writing a sentence only to erase it, write another one and erase that one too; calculating the exact, dollars-and-cents amount to Venmo my friend after a night at Vivi Bubble Tea. In response to such “dramatic” behaviors, my brother would regularly spout an exasperated “Just DO IT!” Though he probably meant it for comedic purposes more than anything else, I pondered his advice earnestly. Mr. LaBeouf’s motto was (at best) gripping, but really—why would anyone ever “just” do it when you could do it and do it right?

On a small scale, my perfectionism meant wasted time; I’d do rounds of extensive edits to caption a Facebook post. On a larger scale, my inner voice could be deafening. During high-school group projects, no matter how low-stakes, I found myself unable to resist monitoring each inch of progress. The final product had to be perfect…but sometimes even “perfect” didn’t cut it.

Very often, I hated myself for being this way.

I hated my perfectionism because more than just slathering the label of “finicky” onto my forehead, it affected my relationships in a way that made people— myself included—uncomfortable, unhappy. But I didn’t know how to deal with the problem. Somewhere in the maze of my mind, haphazardly crammed in a box labeled “Things I Know But Don’t Want to Admit,” my perfectionism surpassed the definition of a character trait. Despite how miserable it made me, it was a moral imperative. I felt a sense of duty to get things right, as if the level of my perfectionism and (over)planning defined the level of importance something had to me.

In other words, I was experiencing a dangerous chemical reaction. My perfectionism catalyzed overthinking catalyzed worry catalyzed hesitation, and the result was a crippling conglomeration of insecurity and micromanagement. I didn’t know how to let go. *** “Alligator, alligator, CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP!” I croaked for what seemed like the 257th time that day.

This was definitely not how I imagined my summer— making a fool out of myself daily in front of a horde of five-year-olds who barely understood me. But what else could I do to hold their attention when Chinese was their native tongue and English was mine? What else could I do when my arsenal consisted of a crate of Play-Doh and the Baby Shark song? Perhaps it sounds obvious to you that a five-year-old will only stop throwing his paper airplane when something of greater interest catches his eye, but the realization humbled me. After my summer working in China, I’m ready to argue that no amount of “training,” no curated resume, no Ivy League education properly prepares you for impersonating an angry alligator. At some point, you just kind of have to whip it out and comply.

“CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP!” they screamed back at me.

I began my job as a camp counselor in China with a paper schedule in one hand and a class flag (featuring Peppa Pig) in the other. By the third day, the schedule had been tossed. By the third week, the class flag was abandoned. My brain was deluged with 4!post–

allergy information, favorite colors, whose water bottle was whose, and the best strategies for stopping fights (“if you don’t listen to me, I will eat your egg tart”). Naturally, my perfectionism was punched in the face—and the chest and the stomach and the groin, for that matter. These five-year-olds simply did not care about arriving on time to Activity One or reading The Assigned Book. And by the second week in, I didn’t care either (I did, however, make sure we read The Giving Tree). Often, I didn’t even know what we would be doing until 20 seconds before I informed the kids themselves.

Creativity, improvisation, and patience were the key tools of success; perfectionism, logic, and overly careful consideration were not. So whenever my co-worker asked me, “How does some group time watching Mr. Bean sound?” I would immediately respond in the affirmative. *** After camp ended, I decided to travel around China with a close friend I had made in the chaos of the classroom. Another insult to my perfectionism— we didn’t necessarily have a plan. We missed our train because we took the wrong subway line, we didn’t do half of the things we originally brainstormed, we ate corn for lunch and Oreos for dinner, we lost $70 because a typhoon cancelled my train back to Beijing... and despite it all, we had so much fun.

If you had told me this story a year ago, it would have sounded like irresponsible, poorly executed traveling.

But I have since come to value the imperfections of a good adventure: not stressing about the particulars, paying for each other’s meals without conscientious calculation, using hand towels to dry off after cold showers. Not to mention that I was obligated to depend on my friend to plan, choose, and order because I barely understood the Chinese language. For once, I was put in a position where almost everything was out of my control: Perfectionism was simply not an option. I had to trust, I had to wait, I had to accept. And if I didn’t, it was only at the expense of my own happiness. So I chose again to respond in the affirmative. When I did, I felt a peace and a joy I hadn’t experienced before. This was really living to me, really learning, loving. *** One day, laughing over yet another story about a childhood crush, my friend asked me what I was going to do when I got back home. "N huí jiā y hòu d suàn zuò shén me?"

I thought back to my time that summer enacting an alligator. I remembered the 70 lost dollars and the canceled train and the impulsive street food purchases.

I replayed in my mind all the times that my plans had fallen to pieces and all the times that something even more beautiful had replaced them.

“I’ll play it by ear,” I said.

“Kànzhebàn,” my friend replied. “In Chinese, we say, kànzhebàn.”

As I repeated her Chinese, trying to get the pronunciation right, we turned the corner and stumbled across a stinky tofu stand. “Oho…” my friend began, and we slowly smiled at each other.

I laughed because we had just stuffed ourselves with dinner an hour before. Kànzhebàn, I thought, and

swung my arm around her shoulders.

“It’s on me.”

Secondhand Summer Making a New Self out of Old Stuff

By Siena Capone Illustrated by Ian Williams My mom and I stared at the blotch spanning across the knee of the pants, an orange sun rising in the middle of black-and-white gingham fabric.

The flared bottoms were supposed to render me a ’70s dancing daydream in the midst of a sweaty 2019 dorm-room party—or so I envisioned.

“It looks like she kneeled in spaghetti,” my mom said finally.

If that were the case, at least these stranger’s pants had paid their due to my Italian heritage. But at the time, this did not comfort me whatsoever. I was an expert in Depop by then, and when a seller claimed the item was in perfect condition, it was supposed to be just that—no enormous orange stains.

I had been cheated. Lied to. Left with nowhere to turn but a direct message, a process that made me break out in hives—much like when an adult suggests I should simply “tell the waiter my order is wrong.” Despite many years of arguing with my high-school classmates or telling off my eighthgrade teacher when he dress-coded me (what makes you think I’m still mad about that?), I hate negotiating when something came out not quite right.

Besides, such could be the case with an app that lets you buy stuff from total strangers. Depop allows you to sell anything in your closet that you don’t want or that belongs to an old self—not to say I’m ever selling my One Direction shirts—right out of your bedroom. It’s convenient and fun and environmentally friendly, shunning corporations that rely on unethical labor practices and dump their unsold products into landfills. Instead, you can rip them off by getting their shirts for 10 bucks from a 15-year-old kid who will subsequently spend it on a Hydroflask or their 53rd Brandy Melville tank top.

However, I have never found Depop to be anything other than an utter wonderland of vintage gems. It’s where I got my beloved “Hot ’70s Science Teacher Dress,” a miracle of weird purple geometric patterns that look vaguely bacterialike, along with my “Fruit-Themed Slot Machine Sweater,” which smelled of cigarette smoke but made me happy nonetheless, and my “’80s Sitcom Dreamy Older Brother Sweater,” which kept me cozy on my way to get my first Bajas burrito of the semester after winter break. These all fell into my hands from sellers far and wide, signaled by the same satisfying clunk of my mailbox lid that closed over the “Unusually Chic Farmhand’s Buttondown” my heart so much desired.

By midsummer, my Depop preference had blossomed into a full-blown obsession. There were soon enough floral dresses in my closet to make a meadow, each new installment in my patterned dress saga earning a judgemental eyebrow raise from my sister. I spent many a warm July night imploring some person in Philadelphia or Ashland or Queens to divulge their height. (It’s not weird. I

ARTS & CULTURE

needed to know if what looked like a breezy, villadwelling, Florentine woman’s sundress on them would look like a glorified rain poncho on my 5’5” self ). Interactions with total strangers became a staple in my life, little fragments of their worlds multiplying in my room like the bacteria pattern on that dress (nothing wrong with looking like a sexy amoeba, I say).

And with them came their stories—this is what I love even more than the self-expression or the eco-consciousness or the thrift that Depop allows.

I love stories more than anything in the world. And online thrifting was simply people-watching, just without arms filling the sleeves. People selling their ex’s band T-shirts or sweatshirts for schools they didn’t get into, people just trying to pay for college or their cat’s vet bills. Dropping little oneliners in their captions about having worn this when they fell in love, threw a surprise party, or ran away to another country to rent a small apartment and sit on a fire escape and dream. “only reason I’m not keeping it is because i wore it on valentine’s day with my ex haha.” “i had a rlly special night good memories in this dress and I wish the same for whoever buys it.” The stitches, little hyphens of memories in the seams, the what-ifs and the ever-afters.

When that item is in your hands, the story becomes yours to tell—a new beginning waiting in the confines of a bubble mailer. That was the kind of reclaimed magic I needed this past summer. My first year of college made me more of a stranger to myself than any scamming, pants-selling teenager in Oregon was, and I needed to know that it was possible to rediscover, to retell, to be something brand new even with the whole past behind me.

And so I set out sifting through the virtual racks to find, well, me. In Depop terms, I listed an “In Search Of” for myself. It wasn’t easy, and involved a lot of soul-searching. There was a dash of transcendental meditation (and more than a dash of extinguishing my skepticism about it), a bit of contemplating my purpose on rural Michigan dirt roads and buying a self-help book I never read (which was then used as a paperweight for angsty Taylor Swiftian poetry). I spent a solid amount of time in Florence trying to replace the creaky abandoned houses of my old feelings with archaic Italian cathedrals. But with time—and a willingness to give different selves a shot in the dressing room—the dichotomy of new-old in my life eventually came to mirror the one draped over

my clothes hangers. I was moving on from an old self and all of the things that held me down, but also stumbling upon the things I forgot about myself.

As I waded through Depop pages of forged Nike shoes and blouses full of holes not visible in the picture (buy it, they said; it adds “charm,” they said) to stumble across an "Ugly, Tourist Dad Shirt—But Make It a Dress," I remembered that I like to dress loud, to wear vibrant colors and funky dresses. That I’m not shy, and I love the sound of an orchestra tuning and cardinal birds and the way the sun looks bleary through Michigan trees. That I have places I want to go and stories I want to tell.

Every forgotten fact a vintage gem that had been waiting for me on the horizon like a spaghettisauce sunrise.

So when I packaged up my own pair of pants— also black and white, but sans orange stain—that someone had bought from me in August, that’s what a stranger in California was getting. I had kissed someone in the half-melted heart of March, stuffed my face with Blue State bagels in an essayinduced panic, and danced in my dusty dorm room by myself, all in these pants. I’ll never know what happens to them next.

I hope whoever wears them makes it a good story.

How to Rent a Room

On the Death of Indie Rock Icon David Berman

By Griffin Plaag Illustrated by Rémy Poisson Trigger Warning: Suicide, depression The afternoon that David Berman killed himself found me hastily throwing unfolded clothes into a duffel bag for a trip down to the Blue Ridge Mountains by way of Williamsburg, VA. The day before, I’d finally gotten around to putting an ear on the self-titled release from his newest band, Purple Mountains.

Later that day, I was rocketing down the 95 corridor, running through his lyrics in my head as though remembering a conversation with an old friend.

The poet and Silver Jews frontman has been an idol of mine for years now, exacting enormous influence on the music and poetry I write in my spare

time. Fueled by beer and a discontent with life under late capitalism, Berman’s brand of indie rock is quietly melancholic, masking its defeatism in slipshod doit-yourself musical compositions (often contributed by fellow indie rock luminaries Pavement) and the languorous comfort of his baritone voice. Rife with lyrics like, “in 1984, I was hospitalized for approaching perfection,” Berman’s compositions access a distinctive hopelessness while also offering up a wink and nudge. As a student struggling with the fact that, even armed with my Ivy League degree and supposedly above-average Ivy League intellect (reports vary on this one), it will be astronomically difficult to exact enough influence on the world to reverse or at least hard-left-turn its charted course for self-destruction, I was instantly enamored with what Berman had to say, held totally fast by his style of presentation.

My first Silver Jews song was an accident, randomly shuffled into a friend’s queue as we sat in his beat-up, late-90s Accord. The song was “Pretty Eyes,” the closing track on The Natural Bridge, and its bleak poesy instantly threw my world out of orbit. I’ll never forget the pins-and-needles sensation I felt when I first heard Berman drawl, “One of these days, these days will end.” Arriving home, I immediately listened to the entire album, ran back to my car, put it on again, and spent the rest of the day fruitlessly hopping from record store to record store in an attempt to find a press of it. From there I discovered favorites on his other records: “Trains Across the Sea” from Starlite Walker, “Random Rules” from American Water, and “Time Will Break the World” from Bright Flight—a song whose title alone I’ve turned over in my head at least once a day since first hearing it. In a way, Berman became a friend of mine, at a time in my life that I often found cruelly friendless, an artist whose voice, while known to others, felt entirely mine. Even learning that his poem “Self-Portrait at 28” was a favorite of a close friend couldn’t change this feeling. Berman’s words and ideas were so close to my heart that he felt like my conscience. For the first time in my life, I felt as though I were really seeing the world.

If you’ll permit me to whine selfishly for a moment about the untimely death of a real human being: Berman’s death took Berman away, but it also took his art with it. Music it had felt safe to live inside instantly lost its comfort. Instead, I felt a strange paralysis. A person whose life and mind and verse I had so venerated and attempted to emulate, a person I had thought for a long time might be the smartest person in the world, had reached the end without any more answers. His lyrics, which had once sounded so wise, now sounded like calls for help (“No, I don’t really want to die / I only want to die in your eyes” or “And since then it’s been a slow education / and you got that one idea again / the one about dying,” to say nothing of the content on the new Purple Mountains release, which reads unsettlingly like a parting message). When I first discovered his writing, I often felt as though Berman’s words were a kind of mirror to my soul, one reflecting a clearer image than the one I was able to see by myself. He was a person who had felt all the same things I felt, and continue to feel—the same doubts,

september 13, 2019(5

ARTS&CULTURE the same fears—but had managed to conquer all of that, or at least transfigure it into something beautiful.

Losing him marked the death of a prolific artist, yes, but it also felt to me like the death of an idol, a friend, and a part of me.

There was no fanfare on the day that Berman died. Scattered obits cropped up around the internet.

A few musically inclined friends sent me messages or posted goodbyes in forums. My mom thought he was “the guy from Talking Heads” (that’s how she put it). But for most of the world, David Berman passed on quietly, unknown to them, another body in an endless history of bodies. Berman’s restless lassitude stemmed, at times, from his frustration at how transitory our world is, how impermanent. It was hard to see him proved correct.

I grieved harder for David Berman than I have for anyone—family members and friends who have left me included. I’m still grieving. Imagine you were a priest and the Bible committed suicide. Imagine you were lost in a terrible labyrinth of corporate highrises, condo complexes, and “Jesus saves” billboards, and your only map decided to self-destruct. Then you might understand how I could possibly mourn a person I never met. I would also recommend listening to The Natural Bridge if you relate even slightly to any of the feelings of alienation and distress I’ve outlined here.

Speaking from experience, I think it’ll do you good. *** “I asked a painter,” Berman relays with a terrible sigh on “Random Rules,” “why the roads are colored black. He said, Steve, it’s because people leave, and no highway will bring them back.”

And on the drive to Williamsburg, where Berman was born, I stared dry-eyed at the yellow lines in the rearview, following their bending path to the vanishing point before the sun set pink and burning on David Berman’s final day.

Witch's Brew

How One Children's Book Cast a Lifelong Spell of Imagination

By Naomi Kim Illustrated by Faye Thomas How strange. Of all the books I have read, the one that leaps to the forefront of my mind today is one I last read 10 years ago—a book whose ending I can no longer quite recall, whose characters I can

a family for the cantankerous Old Witch—and maybe, just maybe, starting to change her for the better. Reality and imagination blur and blend, for there really is an Old Witch, who really has been “banquished” because of Amy and Clarissa. *** To the eight-year-old me, a voracious reader of fairy tales and fantasies, The Witch Family was one of the best finds in the library. It was the kind of book I sought out as a child for the pure joy of

no longer name confidently. The details have grown hazy over the years, but I can remember quite clearly how much I loved Eleanor Estes’s The Witch Family.

The Witch Family! What images does a title like that conjure? A group of witches gathered around a cauldron in some muggy swamp, their hut standing on its chicken legs nearby? Or maybe a Halloween revel, the silhouette of a coven black against the full moon, the sound of high-pitched cackling?

No; instead, the things that my memory calls forth are a lonely glass mountain, a young witch named Hannah, two ordinary little girls whose names I cannot remember, a baby witch whose claps produce sparks, a magical birthday party, a game played on broomsticks, an old grumpy witch who softens just a little as the much younger witches join her in a family of sorts, and a spelling bee(a bee who talks by spelling out all his words).

The Witch Family. What am I forgetting? What have I already forgotten? And why, despite all the intervening years, do I still carry memories of this book with me, tucked away in my heart? *** The Witch Family is actually grounded in a make-believe game, so the 1960 novel is very much an ode to childrens' imagination. In The Witch Family, six-year-old best friends Amy and Clarissa (whose names I have only very recently relearned) bring Old Witch to life in their minds and in their drawings. But Old Witch is no Glinda, so Amy and Clarissa “banquish” her—“banquish” being an inventive, six-year-old version of “banish”—to a glass mountain, where, bitter and grumpy, she lives all alone with her black cat. The two friends’ make-believe games are able to create certain changes in Old Witch’s world, and it is they who send along Little Witch and Teeny Witch, forming

“In 2011, Mariah Carey spent countless hours on the Home Shopping Network peddling her then-new collection of clothing, jewelry, and fragrances to an eager audience of millions of Middle Americans and probably Eminem.”

- Ryan Walsh, “ch-ch-changes”

“And I want to emulate the toddlers’ starry-eyed outlook instead of walking from dorm to Ratty to library like a zombie lurching along.”

- Naomi Kim, “Schooled”

6!post–

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Anita Sheih a FEATURE

NARRATIVE

Managing Editor Sydney Lo

Section Editors Liza Edwards-Levin Jasmine Ngai

Section Editor Sara Shapiro

9.15.16

9.14.18

reading an unfettered flight of fancy. Something that would feed my own imagination and the “let’s pretend” games I played so often with my little brother. Our living room became a witch’s dungeon, or a pirate ship, or a dark forest teeming with magic.

A thousand imaginary worlds rolled out like red carpets in all directions, and a thousand imaginary creatures and people—some cowardly, some brave, some heroes, some villains—walked with us through our adventures.

I see now that part of the appeal of The Witch Family, outside of its charming storyline and winsome characters, was its presentation of the incredible power of imagination. The novel affirmed and validated the make-believe games that were such a central part of my life then and now. Three years ago, as I began applying to college, I was surprised to find myself writing my personal essay about the “let’s pretend” games I played with my brother. The Witch Family and all my makebelieve worlds, though I thought I had left them behind, were actually an integral, though invisible, part of me. *** Imagination, especially when it comes to storytelling, is a daring practice, drawing on creativity and courage, calling us to look at the world with eyes wide open. We create worlds, both better and worse, to call attention to things that are not yet as they should be. We take the ordinary and extraordinary from our real lives and spin it into the fabric of our imagined landscapes to remind ourselves of the beauty we already experience. And I want to participate fully and deeply in this bold practice, as a reader and as a writer.

And so, because it reminds me that imagination has power, The Witch Family is a book I need and love now, too. I need it and love it because it reminds me that even the cranky crave genuine companionship.

I need it and love it because it reminds me that children’s books do matter—and that they go on mattering even after children have grown up. There is no such thing as “just” a children’s book.

ARTS & CULTURE Managing Editor Julian Towers Section Editors Nicole Fegan Griffin Plaag Staff Writer Rob Capron

Managing Editor Celina Sun

Staff Writers Danielle Emerson Naomi Kim Anneliese Mair COPY CHIEF Amanda Ngo

SOCIAL MEDIA Camila Pavon HEAD ILLUSTRATOR Rémy Poisson CO-LAYOUT CHIEFS Amy Choi Nina Yuchi Layout Designer Steve Ju WEB MASTER Jeff Demanche

Copy Editors Jennifer Osborne Mohima Sattar Want to be involved?

Email: anita_sheih@brown.edu!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

9

ARTS AND CULTURE

Taylor Mac pushes back on theater conventions Performance artist lectures on calamity, future of theater Thursday night

BY OLIVIA BURDETTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

judy said. “You get to share the fear, celebrate it even — it’s a little witchy spell.”

Mac compared the biggest “what’s gonna happen?” moment of judy’s art life — the opening of judy’s 24-hour show on Broadway in fall 2016 — to the intense “what’s gonna happen?” political moment the entire country

formance’s most memorable moment.

Calamity, judy says, is often “the art in the room.” During the Broadway show, an accidental spillage of dry ice created the element of surprise which Mac seeks in order to inspire feeling.

Mac has high hopes for the future of theatre, including a creative world with no auditions, no above-title credits and no more theaters named for wealthy

of the 2016 presidential election. Mac spent many years creating “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music” — the Broadway show — in which judy spends an hour performing songs from each of the 24 decades of U.S. history.

Mac had been performing parts of the piece for years in two-, three- and 12-hour sections, and judy garnered loyal fans who made a habit of attending Mac’s performances after they met close friends or even their spouses during the intensely interactive show.

Mac often asks audiences to slow dance with someone of their same gender, play beer pong or row a boat across an imaginary Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to create community.

All of these elements came together to achieve Mac’s vision of “falling apart … The work, when put together in its entirety, is about how communities build themselves as a result of being torn apart,” judy said.

Mac wants an element of disaster in every show, because when something goes wrong it can turn into the per-

donors.

“We’ll acknowledge the calamity without feeding it,” judy said. “We will instead transform calamity into communion, we’ll make a ritual of wonderment about what’s gonna happen.”

Audience member Caroline Sprague ’20.5 felt inspired by Mac’s message.

“There aren’t a lot of people who are speaking right now in ways that make me feel inspired and ready to work,”

Before Taylor Mac’s artist-in-residence lecture began at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts Thursday, photos from the artist’s storied career in theater podium. They showed bewildered audience members watching Mac dressed decked out in glittering tulle.

But when it was time for Mac to take

simple maroon sport coat and plaid Mac, a performance artist, actor, and playwright who has received a MacArfor a Pulitzer Prize in drama in 2017, what judy was going to do: “talk about the state of the world, girl.”

Judy spent much of the talk referring back to a central question: “What’s gonna happen?”

“No matter how many times you’ve gone on stage, there are nerves. So, you say to steel the nerves and lighten the mood, ‘what’s gonna happen?’”

CROSS COUNTRY FROM PAGE 1 Hartford. Bruno had three of the top tional weekend on the cross country course, Butler has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week. legiate victory! What do you think made the difference for you in winning Saturday’s race?

Butler: The summer of consistent training really made the difference for me. Also, having consistent training all in a while that had been the case for me. So, just being consistent, and I was

You won the race by pulling ahead in the second half — what gave you that late kick?

I kind of just felt comfortable at the pace we were running and decided to pull away about halfway through. I’ve never been much of a “kicker” in races, so it wasn’t really a kick but more of a gradual separation from the rest of the pack.

Do you think you are positioned for a breakout season and what did you do this past offseason that helped you improve?

I’m hoping to have a season that’s

I can be in position for good races. I improved by just being consistent and I have a lot of past and present teammates that have helped me and pushed me to be where I am today.

After getting off to such a great start to your season, what will you do to keep up that level of performance throughout the year?

Just trying to keep my training consistent and try to stay healthy, and try not to get too high or too low about any one training session or race. I try to keep it even-keeled and think of things in a big perspective.

As a junior, you’re starting to become one of the leaders on the cross country team. How are you taking on that role?

The whole junior class and senior class is trying to bring the team together for a lot of events outside of practice.

We have a really young team, so it’s reto know everyone, and that we bring and what we strive toward as a team. practice and out of practice.

What are your individual and team goals for this year?

As a team, we’re looking to come together every race and see what we

seen in a long time that made me feel energized again.”

Rhode Island Council for the HuFrancis called Mac’s talk a “manifesto for what could be, for how we could break down power structures and recreate community.”

Mac’s residency at the University will continue with a lecture Friday by Mac’s costume designer Machine Dazzle, a performance Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium downtown and a panel discussion Sunday.

COURTESY OF TRAVIS AMIEL

Dressed in drag, performance artist Taylor Mac gave an artist-inresidence lecture at the Granoff Center Thursday.

underclassmen that are in a position to make a huge impact which is really important. By the end of the season, we’re just trying to improve upon what we did last year. Individually, I’m hopIvy League Championship meet than last year. I placed pretty well last year, so that hopefully will be attainable.

Striving to really make an impact for my team at that meet is my main goal for the season.

Mentally, how do you keep up the pace throughout a long race? Do you have any interesting strategies?

Our sport, distance running, typically is very tough mentally, just because it requires you to be uncomfortable for a long time in training. You have to be really well-trained mentally to be successful. In order to do that, when it starts to hurt in training or a race, you just remind yourself that it’s supposed to hurt and that means you’re doing it right and you’re getting better. That’s usually what I tell myself when stuff starts to get hard — that it’s supposed to be hard and that makes it right, makes it good.

The women’s cross country team returns to the course Friday, Sept. 20 at the BC Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown Invitational.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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EDITORIAL

Process for receiving off-campus permission needs reform Throughout students’ time at Brown, great emphasis is placed on the housing process — and rightfully so. Underclassmen living on campus may worry about their dorm’s location, the quality of common spaces and bathrooms and the size of their room. For upperclassmen, the debate shifts to comparing on- and off-campus housing options. Where students live can seriously impact their physical, mental or emotional well-being, as recently covered by an article in the New York Times. But concerns over off-campus student housing are unnecessarily aggravated by systemic problems — including the off-campus lottery timeline Life must address.

The disconnect in timing between the off-campus lottery process and when stuare guaranteed off-campus permission and can therefore sign early, many rising juniors sign leases before the results of the lottery are announced, in an attempt to secure the most desirable housing. This situation can place students in a compromising position. ResLife is clear on its website: “Students who sign a lease before receiving off-campus permission may … be stuck with both an on-campus housing fee and an off-campus lease.” While every student can access this warning, the desire for the best off-campus houses can overwhelm the risks involved — namely getting stuck with the $9,420 on-campus housing cost and an irreversibly signed off-campus lease. This system severely disadvantages all but the wealthiest of Brown students, who are the only ones able to take this large of

spaces like kitchens. Some students placed in summer assignment were eventu— a near-impossible task, especially considering most students do not stay in Providence over the summer. The short time period means that students may sign leases for houses they have not seen and with landlords they have not met.

Melissa Flowers, the senior director of residential education and operations for ous housing management systems” and is “considering policy changes to elimits outdated housing system technology and rapidly implement policies to resolve the issues with the off-campus housing timeline and with the summer aschanges, improving communication and providing more transparency surrounding the housing lotteries. After all, students are the ones on the opposite side of source that ResLife should be eager to include in their decision-making process.

The high staff turnover that ResLife has seen over the past year surely leaves instability must also contribute to the chaotic housing process, we hope that the and long-term, consistent leadership.

The summer assignment process constitutes another major issue in the University’s housing system. This past summer, 160 students were placed in summer assignment: a dreaded limbo which leaves students unsure of where they will

Choosing where to live as a student is stressful enough. It does not need the ad-

position annually, ResLife does not confer more off-campus permissions during the original lottery process, according to an article by The Herald. As a result, some students not granted off-campus permission are forced to live on campus, while others who want to live in dorms are placed in temporary housing, as the case with 16 Brown students who are currently living in converted common

— Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board: its editors, Grace Layer ’20 and Krista Stapleford ’21, and its members, Jonathan Douglas ’20, Eduard Muñoz-Suñé ’20 and Riley Pestorius ’21. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

ResLife’s housing system.

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

11

We should decriminalize psychedelics -

BY JAMES FLYNN OPINIONS EDITOR Last week, Johns Hopkins Medicine launched the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. The Center, which is the second of its kind in the world to open, will study the mediand psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in magic mushroom or “shrooms.”

These substances have recently become the subject of a broad range of clinical research — what Michael Pollan, Harvard professor and the author of How to Change Your Mind, has coined “the modern renaissance of psychedelic research” — because of their astonishing promise as treatment for mental illnesses such as deFor years, psychedelic drugs have been classihighly addictive drugs with no medical benepressed the clinical and life-enhancing potential of these relatively harmless substances. ing psychedelics would open new avenues for future research and potentially improve the lives of many.

Psychedelics haven’t always been considered dangerous, and have actually played a role in many cultures since prehistory. Some researchers hypothesize that murals from as early as 6,000 years ago depict the use of psilocybin-containing mushrooms in religious rituals. For centuries, the Aztecs frequently used psychedelic mushrooms for divination and other cultural practices, until such practices were suppressed by Spanish Catholic missionaries.

Psychedelics did not enter Western culture until the creation of LSD in 1938, which al revolution, culminating in the 1960s hippie movement. Then, in 1971, the United Nations issued a recommendation that governments

ics can permanently alter one’s view of reality,

United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration had to approve of all controlled-substance research. According to an article in the

might work to treat a wide range of illnesses underscore the need for further research, which is stymied without decriminalization. A pair of 2016 studies at New York University and Johns

unfortunate outcome of the controls placed on

cancer patients, offer a clue. Patients diagnosed

into their mechanisms of action and potential supervised trip on shrooms, 80 percent of canand in many cases almost impossible.”

The criminalization of psychedelics was

reductions were still present at least seven

months after the trip. Many patients described, -

and a high potential for abuse. But according to to break through pernicious patterns of thought and felt a transcendent connection with the universe. One patient described his trip: “imagon 16 physical, psychological and social harms.

These included harm to users, such as health damage and dependence, and harm to others, such as crime and family breakdown. Mushrooms and LSD were found to be by far the safest drugs, whereas alcohol and heroin were found to be the most dangerous. Moreover, a

premise of psychedelic research is that this special group of molecules can give us access to other modes of consciousness that might offer itual or creative.” For centuries, humans have sought to cultivate altered states of consciousness through means that do not always require psychoactive chemicals, such as meditation.

But LSD and shrooms can provide glimpses of these states without having to spend years as a Buddhist monk.

United States to decriminalize psilocybin. Oakland, California soon followed. In 2020, California and Oregon will likely add initiatives to their ballots for the decriminalization of psilocybin. Similar movements are occurring in Canada and Australia. Even mainstream politicians -

“The decriminalization of psychedelics would open new avenues for future research and potentially improve the lives of many.”

unquestionably misinformed. Schedule 1 drugs

Pollan describes the altered states of conscious-

that looked like a blue-green chessboard; himself on a stretcher in front of a hospital; his parents, gazing at him with aching sadness as he reached out to them, suffused with childlike love.” Importantly, the researchers saw a corperience that the patients described and their

legal hurdles for scientists conducting psychedelic research.

Even while the future of psychedelic research and use seems promising, none of this is to say that these drugs go without a risk. The potential of a bad trip is real; people should be informed of the risk, and should understand the proper procedures for minimizing the risk.

The research, though promising, is also young, and important questions remain. But as long as there are legal and social barriers to this research, these questions will not be thoroughly answered. Decriminalization is the logical step to realizing psychedelics’ potential to improve lives.

researchers at Johns Hopkins found that, in Yet, individuals with mental illnesses are had “low abuse and no physical dependence poas a Schedule IV drug, a category that includes

using psychedelics. According to Johns Hopkins researcher Robert Jesse, psychedelics can potentially help healthy people too. Psychedel-

James Flynn ’20.5 can be reached at james_ flynn1@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald. com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Brown’s gift policy is rooted in ethics To the Editor: A recent guest column in The Herald, while well intentioned, incorrectly implied that Brown does not have a gift acceptance policy that is ethical. We want to assure the Brown community that the University does.

The Communications, Alumni the Corporation of Brown University has primary responsibility on behalf of the Corporation for oversight of the University’s fundraising policies.

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in assessing whether or not a gift is aligned with Brown’s core mission of education and research, as well as University values.

Although we periodically review our policies, the following principles remain consistent: Brown does not accept gifts if it’s evident the pro-

ceeds were obtained illicitly, and only accepts gifts that are aligned with Brown priorities and do not carry strings dictating educational or research decisions. son P’19 wrote in an op-ed in The Herald earlier this year, “We start from a place of respect for the legitimate business activities, political views and behaviors of donors, even if some members of our community disagree with them.” Our gift policy is ethical and supports the mission and values of the institution, including the freedom to disagree.

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12

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Brown Dems throw watch party for presidential debate of Salomon Center to watch candidates take debate stage

BY DYLAN CLARK METRO EDITOR When moderators introduced Andrew Yang ’96 during the third Democratic Presidential Debate last night, Salomon Center erupted into raucous cheers.

The Brown Democrats held a watch basement almost to capacity with students spilling onto the stairs as they talked among themselves about past debates and the candidates on stage.

Out of the 20 candidates still in the race, only the top 10 in national polls were invited to take the stage in Houston. Candidates also had to acquire donations from at least 130,000 unique donors and poll at 2 percent in four

down,” echoed Angela Zhu ’23. Mullen supports Warren while Zhu “likes Other candidates included current Senators Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, former Housing Secretary Julian Castro and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, As the debate began, students were asked to keep cheers and boos to a min-

ed to have a crowd like this,” said Brown Dems President Zoë Mermelstein ’21.

Students cheered after Harris, Sanders, Klobuchar and Warren were introduced by moderators, while Biden received scattered applause and boos when he was introduced.

When the debate turned toward the topic of healthcare, the showdown between Warren, Biden and Sanders TIFFANY DING / HERALD

qualify for the debate.

A few students were particularly tween candidates, some of whom had yet to share the debate stage. “It’ll be good to see Elizabeth Warren go against Joe Biden,” said Ethan Mullen ’23, referring to the Massachusetts senator and former vice president, respectively.

Sanders and Warren defended their plans of Medicare for All. “At the end of the day, they’re not going to pass,” said Peter Neronha ’22, who supports Buttigieg and Biden. To pass massive legislative projects like Medicare for All, Democrats would have to get rid the door to a lot of dangerous things,” Neronha added.

As the debate turned toward talk

EPSTEIN FROM PAGE 1 MIT’s policies and practices,” Cohen wrote. He was hired by the University as the Director of Development for Computer and Data Science Initiatives in October 2018.

Cohen is currently on administrative leave and under University review, The Herald previously reported.

MIT did not reply to request for comment by press time. But in a public statement issued earlier today, L. Rafael Reif, MIT’s president, wrote that “senior members of the administration were aware of the gifts that the Media Lab received between 2013 and 2017 from Jeffrey Epstein’s foundations.” The institute also retained an independent involvement with its campus.

These developments follow a New Yorker article published last week that revealed that several staff members at the Media Lab, including Cohen, at-

JUSTICE, FROM PAGE 1 This semester, Bayer plans to roll out a yearlong Transformative Justice Practitioner program for a cohort of around 10 students. The cohort will work to better understand the nature of harm within their communities and replore how their communities envision justice and accountability, Bayer said.

In the spring, the students will begin an apprenticeship program guided by what they learned in the fall.

Training students to work within their communities is key because “for real transformation to happen, we have to work not just to change things outside of ourselves, but within ourselves,” she said.

While transformative justice is alpus, particularly in response to gen-

relationship with Epstein from 2013 to 2015. While MIT publicly listed Epstein

Cohen wrote to The Herald that he did not witness anything illegal while working at the Media Lab. He added that he did not solicit gifts from Epstein and did not have a personal relationship with him.

“My personal dealings with him were limited to a very few, brief interactions during my MIT tenure,” Cohen wrote.

Joi Ito, former director of the Media Lab, resigned from his position after the New Yorker article was published Saturto continue his work at the University.

“I very much hope to be able to reue my work in accordance with Brown University’s policies and values,” Cohen wrote.

der-based violence, Peters said students have noted a gap in University resources a non-punitive and more holistic approach.

Bayer was hired after a search process that followed a set of focus groups and informal conversations Pelsinger organized in fall 2018, when she was serving as vice president for the Undergraduate Council of Students.

Those focus groups and conversations and their capacity to introduce more community-based mechanisms of conPelsinger ran for UCS vice president in spring 2018 “with the distinct goal of wanting to create alternative systems of healing and accountability for those in harm,” she wrote in a Feb. 5 op-ed upon her resignation.

The Brown Democrats hosted a watch party for the third Democratic Presidential Debate last night in the Salomon Center. Of the 20 candidates in the race, the top 10 in national polls participated in the debate. of gun violence and racial inequality, Booker brought the room to cheers when he promised to pass a bill on reparations.

The Brown Dems have been planning this watch party since before the school year began, Mermelstein said.

Apart from giving students the opportunity to view the debates with their

peers, “we want our members to be informed and have access to all information,” Mermelstein said. The large turnout was a good sign because the we’re going to take back the White House,” she added.

The Brown Dems hope to use the momentum from the event to increase

engagement with the organization.

“We’re taking steps to make sure there to get engaged and come to events,” Mermelstein said. The group will begin conducting additional training for phone banking, advocacy lobbying and other strategies to further the Democratic legislative agenda.

125 Years of quality, daily journalism www.browndailyherald.com/donate Pelsinger said she hopes that Bayer’s periencing harm and “from needing to live with the guilt that because they didn’t report something … someone else is being harmed,” Pelsinger said.

“I really see this new position as a way of opening up dialogue about the harm that is happening in our communities … and how we can hold each other accountable … and how we can prevent harm from happening in the future.” ist at other universities and deal with issues of violence and harm, the focus group found that those frameworks did

Bayer’s “way of embodying the values of the work in every aspect of her work and life,” Peters said.

Pelsinger also noted Bayer’s “magical way of communicating transformative justice in a way that was accessible to people who were not even aware of transformative justice beforehand,” she said. “That’s such a wonderful skill to have and I think we really valued that.”

In addition, “we really liked that

community,” Lee said.

Previously, Bayer worked as a humanities teacher and in a restorative justice role in Boston Public Schools.

As an undergraduate, Bayer remembers “coming into my consciousness,” in part by participating in activism on campus that urged police accountability and University transparency.

Bayer acknowledged that while transformative justice is a community-based practice, “educational institutions are here to support the development of young people.”

“The kinds of changes we will want aren’t going to be given to us by institutions necessarily, they’re going to be created through the self-activity of people coming together and organizing themselves and being in a relationship with each other.”

would thrive at the University. Pelsinger then worked with Peters and former UCS President Shanzé Tahir ’19 to draft a proposal for a new type of position, which she presented to Provost Richard Locke P’18 at the end of the fall semester.

“UCS was the organization that gave us the platform to have these conversations and also to meet with administrators,” Pelsinger said.

A search committee was created pilot position. The committee included Peters, Pelsinger, UCS Chief of Staff Melissa Lee ’20, Assistant Director for the Brown Center for Students of Color Olivia McNeill and Student Success Program Coordinator for the Undocumented, First-Generation College and Low-Income Student Center Renata Mauriz ’17.

The search committee was struck by

COURTESY OF DARA BAYER

Dara Bayer ’08 is serving as the University’s inaugural transformative justice program coordinator.