Friday, January 31, 2019

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

VOLUME CLV, ISSUE 8

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Students express concerns in UCS fall poll Students polled on financial aid, transparency, university political stances

USHA BHALLA / HERALD

tions that remain similar to previous years.

2,670 students — 37.9 percent of the undergraduate student body — answered questions on the poll, marking an increase in respondents from previous years. In 2018, 12.8 percent of undergraduates took the poll, and 27.6 percent responded in 2017.

While UCS hears student concerns through various channels, the poll provides data to present to University administrators, said UCS member Ricky Zhong ’23, who led the 2019 Fall Poll.

Daly ’20 breaks U. record in 5000-meter race

BY AMELIA SPALTER STAFF WRITER

Drugs, war inextricably tied, Watson panel says

BY AANCHAL SHETH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SPORTS

Senior’s 14:00.31 time at Boston University beats previous record of 14:07.60 set in 2005

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Professor Peter Andreas explains how, through war, six drugs gained popularity

JACK BORRIS SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Undergraduate Council of Students shared the results of its annual Fall Poll today in an email sent to all undergraduate students. Financial burdens, mental health issues and increased control of the University’s gift acceptance and investment policies emerged as the highest priorities, according to the poll results.

The poll is administered every fall to collect data about student opinions on a wide range of campus issues, said UCS President William Zhou ’20. UCS uses the results to propose initiatives and spark dialogue with University officials in their efforts to advocate for student needs, he added.

“The thing that’s really powerful about the poll is how it quantifies student voice and serves as a benchmark to see how campus climate is evolving,” Zhou said.

The poll asks both “topical questions” relevant to current discussions happening on campus and a set of ques-

BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM

himself as a team leader, placing fifth overall at the Ivy League Outdoor Track & Field Championships and setting a new personal best mile time of 4:06.28 in his junior season. Daly is leaving no stone unturned as he continues setting records into his senior spring. For his record-breaking weekend, Daly has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

“Even though we could make a logical argument for why students want this or that policy, it’s much more helpful for us to show a poll where the student body is on our side,” he added.

Unlike previous polls, this year, a UCS committee was formed to develop poll questions, and UCS leadership planned from the start to release the results to the student body in a single document, Zhou added.

In response to a question asking students to prioritize how the Univer-

SEE POLL BACK

New solar panels power RIPTA buses

eNow panels harness green energy to prolong battery life, reduce state costs

BY JULIA GROSSMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER Thirty-three buses from the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority system have been equipped with solar panels from the Warwick-based company eNow. The panels serve to power the buses’ batteries and to prolong battery life, according to RIPTA Director of Public Affairs Barbara Polichetti.

During fall 2019, RIPTA received 33 buses outfitted with solar panels from transit company Gillig, according to Polichetti.

The panels extend “the life of the buses’ batteries by two to three years,” said Guy Shaffer, chief marketing officer for eNow. “Instead of replacing (the batteries) every year, we’re going to get two to three times as much out of the same battery.”

Not only will the panels reduce costs for the physical battery replacements, but they will also save

Herald: What is your favorite event to compete in?

Daly: I think the 3000-meter, specifically at our conference meet. Our conference meet is two days and the 3000-meter is the only final on the first day, so it’s the only event that scores on the first day. I always end up running it. The track is always packed and it’s always an exciting race.

News

News

Commentary

Graduate Student Council seeks greater support from CareerLAB. Page 2

Comment period for new sustainability plan to open soon.

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Federman ’23: Trump’s peace plan ignores Palestinian perspective.

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SEE AOTW PAGE 2

SEE WATSON 9

METRO

Cameron Daly ’20 broke the University record for the 5000-meter track and field event at the Boston University Terrier Invitational and Columbia Challenge this weekend. His time of 14:00.31 beat the 15-year-old record by over seven seconds and his own personal best by over nine seconds. Before coming to Brown, Daly ran cross country and track and field for Inter-Lakes High School in Meredith, New Hampshire, where he was a New Hampshire State Cross Country Champion. In his rookie season, Daly set a personal record of 24:22.3 in the 8-kilometer race at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, and as a sophomore he competed in the NCAA Pre-National Invitational. Daly continued to excel after establishing

Do you have any remaining goals for your track and field career now that you’ve broken the 5000-meter record?

I’m running two events at our upcoming indoor championship, the 3k

Six drugs — cocaine, tobacco, opium, amphetamines, alcohol and caffeine.

In “Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs,” Peter Andreas, professor of international studies and political science and professor of international and public affairs, details how these six drugs have sparked, fueled and been popularized by war for hundreds of years.

Andreas spoke on his recently launched book at the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs Thursday. “War made drugs and drugs made war,” Andreas told The Herald.

Andreas explored the relationship between drugs and war through a“five-dimensional approach,” he said. The first dimension explores “war while on drugs,” which includes the use of drugs during wartime to cope with stressful situations and

celebrate victories, Andreas said.

The second consists of “war through drugs,” entailing the use of drugs as a weapon of war. Another example is funding wars through alcohol, tobacco, cocaine and opium revenue.

The third dimension deals with “war for drugs,” which addresses conflict motivated by desire for access to or control of drug markets. The fourth dimension, “war against drugs,” uses military and strategic resources to fight drugs, an approach that began with President Nixon declaring war on drugs in 1971.

The final dimension is “drugs after war,” which covers the change in consumer outcomes and preferences because of war. Andreas questioned why the United States is a coffee-drinking nation rather than a tea-drinking one. “Because we won the American Revolution, when the Brits went on to tea, we went on to coffee. … The very taste that we take for granted is actually the result of war,” Andreas explained during the discussion. Panelist C.J. Chivers, a writer for the New York Times and combat veteran, also spoke to this

DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

This RIPTA bus features new concealed solar panels provided by eNow, meant to prolong battery life on buses by multiple years. time, effort and expenses for road calls and jump-starting buses. “The solar panels for the RITPA buses are designed to help reduce jump-starts and road service due to weak or dead batteries,” Shaffer said. “When a bus doesn’t start because the batteries are too weak to turn over the engine, … RIPTA (has) to send one of their trucks out to jump-start it.” These benefits will help RIPTA reduce such costs.

The solar panels themselves are

attached on top of the buses, so “you wouldn’t even know they were on there,” Polichetti said. In fact, the panels are only as thick as a few credit cards stacked together and are extremely light, she added. Additionally, the RIPTA bus yard is outside, making utilizing sunlight simple.

The buses still run on diesel fuel and the use of this technology “will not really affect our emissions,” said

SEE RIPTA PAGE 2

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Graduate Student Council looks to CareerLAB for professional support Graduate School Strategic Initiative advocates for improved advising, funding

BY JACK WALKER SENIOR STAFF WRITER In a draft of the Graduate School Strategic Initiative released earlier this month, the Graduate Student Council proposed several changes to bolster career support for graduate students, many of which require collaboration with the CareerLAB. The GSSI is a set of goals the GSC would like to achieve within the next five years. GSC Chair of Nominations for the 2019 term Rebecca Thorsness, who wrote the GSSI section on career development, said the GSSI seeks to promote continued advocacy despite turnover of the executive board and people who are part of the graduate board council.

One of the central proposals of the GSSI’s advising and career development section is improving the current advising program, particularly for students pursuing non-academic careers.

“We’re at an academic institution, so everyone’s advisor chose a career in academia. There is more support for those students because … your advisor knows what it took for them to get a faculty job,” Thorsness said.

“We do have targeted resources for graduate students, as their needs tend to be different than undergrad students,” said Bev Ehrich, associate director for graduate student programs and services in the CareerLAB. “We work with students ... to figure out how (their) skills apply to career fam-

REBECCA HO/HERALD

Graduate students are advocating for support from CareerLAB, including better career advising for students not intending to go into academia and funding to attend conferences. ilies, to industries … so they can be successful, even in a non-academic job market.”

Another issue addressed by the GSSI was the need for greater funding devoted to graduate students traveling to conferences, which represents “a really important way to get feedback on your research and to meet people who might want to hire you one day,” Thorsness added.

Despite the programming already offered to graduate students through the CareerLAB, limited resources present a continuing problem.

“I think it’s a scale issue,” said CareerLAB Director Matt Donato. “It would be a real benefit to graduate students to have a more proactive approach, but we just aren’t staffed enough to do that right now.”

The CareerLAB has just one gradu-

ate counselor compared to “three and a half, four people for undergraduates,” Donato said. “So you know there’s definitely more resources and more support that is targeted to undergraduate students, which I think long term is going to be a problem if we can’t address that.”

Thorsness also highlighted resources as an issue. Ehrich “has worked really hard to try to meet grad student

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RIPTA FROM PAGE 1

the first day and the 5k the next day. I want to contribute to our team there … and hopefully help us place high.

That’s where my sights are set at the moment.

Polichetti. “This technology is used elsewhere in the transportation industry … for cutting down on idling, (but) our vehicles in general just don’t idle that long.”

But Shaffer pointed out that the solar panels will lower emissions during bus breakdowns, as a driver might let a bus idle for minutes or even hours to charge its batteries.

The project was primarily funded by a grant from the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation through the Renewable Energy Fund, according to Polichetti. The renewable energy grant paid $42,800 of the total cost of $64,800. “We are very appreciative of that grant,” Polichetti said.

Shaffer also added that “the solar system pays for itself in a matter of a couple of years, by reducing the replacement costs of the batteries and the road service and the labor for jump-starting.” eNow has other fleets of tractor-trailers with “hundreds” of vehicles equipped with emission-reducing solar panels, but emission reduction is not the main goal of their collaboration with RIPTA, said Shaffer.

Currently, RIPTA “works closely with the state and is very in tune with the state’s commitment to combat climate change,” Polichetti said.

In a tweet, Governor Gina Raimondo stated that “equipping our RIPTA buses with solar systems is proof that smart investments in renewable en-

Do you have any pre-race routines, rituals or superstitions?

No, unfortunately not. I used to in high school, but then I started to worry that I wouldn’t have time for them or wouldn’t be able to do (them). I do eat cinnamon sugar pop-tarts, but that’s usually about it.

Where do you like to run when you’re not on the track?

I mostly run on Blackstone Boulevard, down Lloyd Avenue. I’m from New Hampshire, where it’s really hilly, so I just like running (on Blackstone Boulevard) because it’s flat.

What songs do you listen to most when you run?

Actually, country music. Unexpected — but when I’m running, even when I’m driving, I can’t listen to anything that’s too intense or it will affect what I’m doing. I need to listen to country music to stay calm. I didn’t even like country music until I started running, but now I need it, or I run too fast.

How will track and field factor into your life after graduation?

I’m definitely going to take a break for a little while. I’ll definitely run so I don’t gain a bunch of weight, and I

COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS

Cameron Daly ’20 previously has competed at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational and the Ivy League Outdoor Track & Field Championships. might try and run longer distances after I take a little break. A lot of my old teammates still run — one of them actually just qualified for the Olympic trials in the marathon, and another is really close as well, which is cool.

I have a job at a construction company in Raleigh, North Carolina. I’m working for a general contractor as a project engineer, so I’ll be taking a break from running once I get down there.

What’s next after Brown personally and professionally?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

needs, but they’re so varied, and there are a lot of grad students and only one (Ehrich).”

Thorsness stressed the importance of communication between the CareerLAB and the GSC, which could serve as “a good conduit for both distributing information about opportunities and then really getting feedback from grad students about what kind of opportunities they want.”

ergy benefit both the environment and the economy. I look forward to continuing to make RI a leader in clean energy.”

RIPTA has been working and testing buses with eNow for the past two to three years, and “this is the first time a public transit has gone through with (our) testing process … to confirm the value of solar … and then implement it on a group of buses,” said Shaffer.

Gillig has also never implemented a project like this before, “so we’re really cutting-edge here,” Shaffer said.

In the future, RIPTA would like to order more buses equipped with solar panels. While it “usually takes about a year to fulfill a bus order,” said Polichetti, “our goal, as we move forward with future bus procurements, is to retire older vehicles that don’t have these (solar panels) and to have the newer vehicles come with these equipped. That’s something our CEO is committed to and he’s looking into how to make that happen.”

In This Issue

Successive Shifts in Self ROBERT CAPRON 5

Home, For Now

DANIELLE EMERSON 4

The Bumbling Fool’s Guide to London

NAOMI KIM 3

Moving On Up

ANNA HARVEY 2

ALISA CAIRA 5

The Art of the Book

postCover by Gaby Treviño

JAN 31

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VOL 24 —

ISSUE 13

FEATURE

Moving On Up

Looking for post-grad advice in a 56-year-old docuseries

BY ANNA HARVEY ILLUSTRATED BY CECILIA CAO

"

W

hen I grow up, I want to...learn about the moon and all that.” This is Nick, a seven-year-old from the Yorkshire Dales, who only minutes earlier was shown clomping in a comically tall pair of rainboots toward the one-room schoolhouse that provides the interior for this shot. Nick is the only child in his village (except for his younger brothers), and much of the camera’s time with him is spent panning over the rolling hills and imposing cliffs that he explores in place of playgrounds. This landscape dwarfs Nick’s body, and yet he walks on, resolute. Little does he know, in 21 years, he would be a nuclear physicist.

The Up series began in 1964 when director Paul Almond and 22-year-old researcher Michael Apted scoured English schools looking for children from disparate backgrounds. Inspired by the Jesuit maxim “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man,” their initial documentary, Seven Up!, set out to suggest that children’s socioeconomic backgrounds would predetermine their paths in life. Almond left the project after the first episode,

but Apted, harboring his own directorial ambitions, decided to continue following the same 14 subjects every seven years and filming updates from their lives.

The most recent installment, whose participants are now 63 years old, aired in June 2019 on British television and is now in some American theaters.

I watched the back catalog over winter break, initially hoping for an interesting sociological study of the country I had recently spent a year living in.

What I got instead was a meandering meditation on what it means to live a good life.

A good life is something I have been thinking about a lot recently. I am about to graduate college. I have applied to a few graduate programs, a smattering of jobs. I have mostly been whipping myself into a froth worrying about how to pursue the most ethical path in life while also making enough to pay rent. I have envisioned a vague sort of future with a family of my own and at least one pet. I cannot decide if I want to live in the city or the country, but I know I want a house whose walls are lined with books, one that calms me when I walk in. I say all of this to say that I don’t know—at least concretely—what I want

out of my life. So I watched other people live theirs.

Apted’s pool is admittedly narrow. A mere four of his 14 interviewees are women, and the cohort includes only one person of color. All appear to be straight, or are at least shown in heterosexual partnerships if they don’t remain single. Yet there remains something profound to be gained from sneaking a peek into someone’s life every seven years. We see marriage and divorce, birth and death, hardship and happiness. The series spans Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, Tony Blair’s New Labour, and the 2008 financial crash, exploring their resultant impacts on people’s livelihoods. The series does not deny that structural factors impact the way we move through the world—those most severely affected by the crash, for example, are the working-class interviewees. But the Up series is more than a straightforward longitudinal study. It invites us to contemplate the ins and outs of human life and, ultimately, to recognize that we are, each of us, full of something greater than the statistics which scaffold our experiences.

Humans are remarkably resilient, I thought while watching, and this is largely due to our relationships with one another. Neil, who at seven declared his ambition to be an astronaut (“or if I can’t be an astronaut, I think I’ll be a coach driver”) was homeless at 28 due to a persistent “nervous complaint.” Bruce, a former boarding school boy and fellow participant in the program, took Neil in sometime during the interval between 35 Up and 42 Up. At 42, Neil appeared to be back on his feet, and had been elected as a city councilor to the London borough of Hackney. When Bruce married a fellow teacher shortly before the filming of 42 Up, Neil gave a reading at the wedding. I think about the weddings whose invitations will soon flood my mailbox, wherever I’m living. I think about my friends here, that one day soon we’re not all going to live together, and that we may never live together again. I think about our future spouses and children, and how I

Letter from the Editor Bowls

Dear Readers, Congratulations on making it through your first full week of classes! In the frenzy that is shopping period, I hope you are letting yourself enjoy the air of leniency that comes with these two weeks, as superficial as it may be. I know that I am, what with dropping my morning classes, hosting dinners, and fully devoting myself to new roles in the groups I love, post- being one of them.

In line with the many changes at the beginning of a semester, post- is also welcoming some new old faces to lead our editorial family. I am ever so grateful to have Liza Edwards-Levin, Nicole Fegan, Griffin Plaag, and Caitlin McCartney as this semester’s Managing Editors, and Moe Sattar as our Copy Chief. No matter the changes, with a team like this, post- is marching full speed ahead, bringing you the same meaningful, funny, and personal content you’ve come to love.

Kicking off our first issue of 2020, our Features section has a soon-to-be-graduating writer reflecting on her future alongside Up, a British docuseries. In Narrative, our writers ruminate on the places they have been, one describing a trip to London while abroad,

2! POST–

and the other finding common points between her homes at Brown and in New Mexico. And finally, in Arts & Culture, one writer invites you to think about the value of classes that allow you to explore your creative side, while another encourages you to observe your humanity as he does with the help of TV shows High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and Succession.

I wish you all the best in figuring out your schedules during this hectic time. During it all, remember to take ample breaks with a copy of post- to bring some peace to your busy days.

1. Puppy Bowl 2. Mixing bowls (the nesting kind) 3. Bowl cut 4. Bowling for Soup 5. Acai bowls 6. Bowler Hat Guy, from Meet the Robinsons 7. Bowling ball 8. Ken Burns’s The Dust Bowl

Amanda Ngo Editor-in-Chief

9. Panera Bread’s bread bowl 10. Super Bowl

want them to know each other like I have known their mothers. I hope we all land where we want to, but I also hope that if we don’t, we’ll have the strength to pick each other back up.

The strangest episode for me to watch was the third, 21 Up, because I am now 21, if only for a few more weeks. Suzy, smoking sardonically in an armchair, is confident that she does not like children and does not want to marry. Having witnessed her parents’ divorce, she feels cynical about the whole process: “I think it kills what love is; it just seems to go wrong.” At 28, though, she is married with two young boys and muses that it has made her a much happier person. At 56, she is still married to the same man.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Neil is highly critical of his upbringing in the church. From the London flat he is squatting in, he tells Apted that he was taught “if one was to survive in the world, one had to believe in God,” yet finds himself leaning toward agnosticism.

It’s hard to imagine that by his forties he will have embraced his faith and become a lay minister. Our perceptions of the world and our place in it can change dramatically; what we hold as pillars of our identities now may crumble in seven years. Like Neil says when asked what he thought of himself being “all bright and perky” at age seven: “It’s hard to believe I was ever like that, but there’s the evidence” on video.

I likely wouldn’t have been picked as a participant at age seven—I was so painfully shy. I wanted to be a veterinarian so badly I woke up at six every Saturday to watch the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

I was brave enough to write to Sesame Street to correct Elmo’s grammar that same year, though. I probably wouldn’t do either now, but under the right circumstances, I can still imagine myself doing both.

These 21-year-olds seemed more set in their ways than their 56-year-old counterparts, which made me wonder just how much I will have let go by 56 that I hold to be true now. Perhaps then I will have weathered enough change to learn that I can’t stop it from happening, no matter how steadfastly I will everything to stay the same.

I recognize that I am dealing in platitudes.

Relationships are important. Change is inevitable.

These are not the most electric sentences, but their meanings are clear. Platitudes are maligned because they are so often repeated, but they are repeated so much because, in some fundamental way, they are true. Sometimes the best way to say something is also the easiest.

Here is another: We are the authors of our own stories. We cannot know everything about anyone else, and making assumptions does no one any good.

In one of the most powerful moments of the entire series, Jackie, one of three women from London’s East End, criticizes Apted for his treatment of their stories. Aged 49, Jackie recalls a scene from 21 Up in which Apted asks her and her friend Lynn whether they feel like they’d dated enough men before getting married. “I thought that was an insulting question, and I got very angry, and we actually had to stop filming because of it,” she tells Apted in 49 Up before pointing out that the upper-class boys would never have been asked that type of question. “This is your idea of what you want to do, and how you see us, and

that’s how you portray us,” Jackie says. Indeed, for the rest of the interview at 21, she can be seen staring steely-eyed at the floor.

It is tempting to look at a child and hunt for hints of their future. It is exciting when such predictions work out. And yet, what we hope for others more truthfully reflects what we hope for ourselves.

We may devote ourselves to something for decades only for it not to work out. This terrifies me. But as the Up series demonstrates, in some instances, unforeseen obstacles can divert us toward a path that turns out to be rewarding in its own right.

Nick immigrated to the United States to do nuclear fusion research, only to fail time and again before he was forced to abandon the project altogether. Yet he has retained a post as an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin since the early 1980s, and scenes of him in front of a blackboard show undergraduates laughing at his jokes as he gestures wildly and smiles, clearly full of passion for his profession. Before becoming a London cabbie, Tony dreamt of being a jockey and apprenticed at a stable at age 14. He rode in just three races before realizing he lacked the skills of his competitors, but still calls his race with famous jockey Lester Piggott one of the proudest moments of his life. I hope one day I can learn to let go with as much grace.

“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged,” Virginia Woolf once wrote. Rather, it is “a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.” There is much to be learned from this sentiment (yes, more than the fact that I’m writing an English thesis). The Up series has reminded me to notice the light my gig lamps cast, to recognize how much brighter it gets when I stop trying to put them in order. I’m trying to trust that I, too, am wrapped in an envelope of possibility, even if it’s too transparent for me to fully see just yet. Seven years from now, 28-year-old me is cringing at these metaphors. In another universe, 56 years from now, a 63-year-old woman is laughing at both of us.

The Bumbling Fool's Guide to London

The Ryanair of Logistics, the Ritz of Memories

BY NAOMI KIM ILLUSTRATED BY CAROL DEMICK

For Elaine and Paddington Bear, as promised It will help if you are already studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland, because then you and your friend can book last-minute $29 Ryanair flights to London after freaking out at how expensive getting to Budapest is now.

Then you can complain about Ryanair, ride Ryanair, and subsequently swear you’ll never ride Ryanair again (although let’s face it: Ryanair, famed Irish budget airline, is part of the experience). Don’t forget to book a place in a hostel! If you want the full bumbling fool’s experience, you can even stay at a slightly sketchy hostel a good ways out of the city center—perhaps in Elephant and Castle?

If you pay a bit extra, you can get a room for just the two of you.

Of course, your flight out of Dublin will be at the ungodly hour of 6:30 a.m., and neither of you will have any concrete plans about how to spend the two days in London. When you get to the airport, you two will stand in the wrong line until finally noticing that the signs are actually for British Airways, not Ryanair. You are already proving yourself to be the Ryanair of travelers.

Congratulations!

Once in London (Stansted Airport—not Heathrow— because you flew Ryanair, remember?), you’ll step off the plane into thick fog with a Brexit-induced confusion about whether or not your Irish SIM card works in the U.K. the same way it works in other EU countries. Don’t worry about that for now. Find one of the kiosks for the airport coach into the London city center, fumble through the fog to a bus stop, and settle in for a long ride to Victoria Station.

“Everyone! Shh, listen, this is called ASMR.” “My human contact has shrunk to, like, Sylvia Plath levels.”

JANUARY 31 , 2020!3

NARRATIVE Once you’re there, you and your friend can immediately trot off toward Buckingham Palace. On the way, you can stop by a very English tea shop where you try samples, chat with the quirky saleslady, and each buy a somewhat expensive tin of biscuits—otherwise known as cookies to us uncultured North Americans.

You will, of course, make your way through that tin of biscuits pretty quickly—just as quickly as you’ll make your way through London’s streets—out of your desire to see as much as possible. At Buckingham Palace, you’ll find that you have somehow arrived just in time to watch parts of the changing of the guard. You’ll have to push and squeeze by the gathered tourists to peek through the gates at gray-clad men marching in place. Leave the crowds behind for a walk in nearby St. James’s Park, where you can gawp at the strange birds and eat even more biscuits.

Wander in the gray drizzly weather to see major tourist stops. Find yourself a red telephone booth. Realize that everything is under construction and that Big Ben is currently nothing but a tower of scaffolding. Visit the Waterstones bookstore in Trafalgar Square—there’s a whole Harry Potter corner!—and then start heading to your faraway hostel because you’d like to get there before dark. Which is, of course, round abouts of 5 p.m.

Your hostel will definitely look a little bit...scrappy.

When you open the door to your room, you’ll find yourself in something resembling a bunker—a very dimly lit, very small space with a spartan bunk bed pushed against the one narrow window. Laugh hysterically at how absurd this is. Also, note the useless outlet somehow placed above the bathroom door. Laugh some more. You’ve managed to find the Ryanair of hostels.

But it won’t be too bad. There are lights by each bed, embedded into the wall, and they have a warm glow that creates a campfire ambiance. You and your friend can lie side by side in the narrow bottom bed to watch (and talk through) half of Paddington 2 on your phone because, naturally, there’s no wifi. You can even make shadow puppets on the wall to add to that summer camp feeling.

The hostel will grow on you, but the next morning, all the running water on every floor will stop working for a solid 15 minutes.

The one good thing about staying so far out of the city center is that you’ll end up seeing parts of London that tourists don’t usually see, and you’ll stumble upon treasures like Borough Market before other tourists inevitably discover it. Go by the Tower of London (you already got a glimpse of the interior last night in Paddington 2) and the Tower Bridge. Head off to the Charles Dickens Museum in the rain. Round out the day with another long walk to King’s Cross. On your way back to the hostel, you can take some pictures in front of Shakespeare’s Globe and stop by Borough Market once more. (Bumbling fool pro-tip: If you are ever unsure of which direction the cars are going to come from, have your friend look right while you look left as you both run wildly across the street.)

Back at the hostel, finish Paddington 2. Go to bed assuming transportation to Stansted will be just fine (it won’t be).

The next morning you will discover that the hostel is too far out of the city center for taxis to be available at 5 a.m. Full of agitation and nervousness, walk in the dark and the rain to a bus stop. A division of labor is highly recommended for such a situation—your friend should have Google Maps open to navigate, and you should be prepared to dial 999, the U.K. emergency number.

Realize again that you two are definitely the Ryanair of travelers. Realize it once more when you try to get on the bus without the Oyster Cards required for London’s public transit. The driver may take pity on you for being such fools, in which case: Hallelujah, you are saved!

Get off at the Liverpool Underground Station, dash to buy tickets for the Stansted Express, and cut it close at Stansted to make your flight back to Dublin.

Finally, let out that breath you’ve been holding the entire trip—and laugh. Turns out that bumbling about is a surefire way to make the very best memories.

Home, For Now

home in uppercase and lowercase

BY DANIELLE EMERSON ILLUSTRATED BYJULIE SHARPE

Is home where we come together?

Does it exist in quiet moments, the tips of the sunset?

In the number of stars I can’t count on my hands?

Maybe along the edges of our noses, inhaling smoke from the dying embers of cheii’s fireplace?

The January night I returned to Brown, these questions flickered in my head. Walking across brick sidewalks is a stark contrast to running along dirt roads.

The cold, wet wind of Providence stuck to my face, unlike the wind back in New Mexico, which brushes lightly over my nose. The moment my suitcase hit the hard, cobbled floor of Faunce Arch, my mind instantly began comparing everything at Brown to everything back in Shiprock, New Mexico.

Home in New Mexico simmers under late night conversations, full of hushed laughter, casting shadows along dirt floors and broken tree branches.

Home in New Mexico speaks over the silence, howling like the wind through harvested cornfields and steaming hot chocolate.

Home in New Mexico sings out of shimasani’s beaten radio, spilling Diné bizaad around the kitchen table, sweetening her morning coffee.

Home in New Mexico warms my fingertips, slips down to my toes, silk on my tongue and firm between my teeth.

Home in New Mexico grows with each birthday, watching as chizhíí siblings slowly tower over

grandparents and aunties.

Home in New Mexico slips into my hair, tangling as I toss and turn in bed. My younger sisters attempting to steal from the cloud of pleasant dreams over my head.

Home is the place lost between my fingers, caught beyond the Providence skyline, over miles and miles of stolen land.

But even as I ponder what I’ve left behind, I also see the value in what I’m returning to. Brown’s campus is quiet for the first few days back—returning a week before the start of spring semester leaves me with no friends to talk to. Though Brown can seem incomparable to Home, there are people here who make it a home of its own. A home for now, if you will. So much of my first year was spent looking for people who sparked a feeling of familiarity, who left space for others to breathe while in their presence. This was and continues to be important to me, especially as I attempt to navigate a place filled to the brim with unfamiliar emotions and pathways. And, though the search continues, I’m proud to say I’ve found a lovely handful of people who make Brown a bit more homey—people who see me as more than just another student in the crowd. Yes, I still compare everything to Home with a capital “H,” but there is still goodness scattered in a home with a lowercase “h.” home at Brown is sitting outside with friends on a sunny day, listening to music, and feeling the grass through our shirts. home at Brown is late night trips to Jo’s for fries and orange soda, tying back messy hair, and slipping on coats over baggy pajamas. home at Brown is shared smiles over wooden tables, asking one another to pass the salt and pepper, because the Ratty food has absolutely no seasoning. home at Brown is up four flights of stairs, buried in worn out couches, illuminated by frayed paper lamps, and smelling like dried oil paintings. home at Brown is quiet study sessions, each person breathing in their own unique way, living in space.

Returning to Brown is always difficult. But as I enter the spring semester of my sophomore year, I remember how I've turned this place into a home with a lowercase "h."

The home I’ve found and helped make. The home where I’ve had hard conversations and watched as my friends and I have grown from each other’s advice. The pieces of home I’ve found in my roommate, my housemates, my community partner, and the lovely members of Natives at Brown. For them, I’m ever grateful. They all make up my home, for now. And while Brown and New Mexico carry so many distinct differences, I find in them a bittersweet handful of similarities. Home in uppercase and home in lowercase are still composed of the same four letters, even when it doesn't feel like it.

Home is instantly recognizing comforting smells lingering in the air, whether it’s burning firewood or rain on brick sidewalks.

Home is seeing familiar faces, smiles lining lips and arms open to embrace—family and friends gathered `round tables and couches.

Home is a warm feeling near the bottom of your stomach, full tummies from kitchen meals and melted strawberry ice cream for dessert.

Home is laughter spilling out the corner of your lips and filling your face to the brim of your ears, aching stomachs bringing tears to your eyes.

Home is understanding each other, opening doors for difficult conversations and whispering I’m here for you at 3 a.m.

Home is knowing you’re gonna be okay tomorrow, because you’ve got people to count on today, both at Brown and in New Mexico.

Home isn’t so much a place as it is a set of feelings.

This is my thanks to everyone both at Brown and back in New Mexico for making me feel at home with you.

Ahéhee’.

4!POST–

ARTS & CULTURE

Successive Shifts in Self

finding balance in our television

BY ROBERT CAPRON ILLUSTRATED BY RÉMY POISSON

Ah, winter break. The most wonderful time of the year: binge season. Why should I traverse the world or expand my self-knowledge when I can simply lounge in bed with quality entertainment?

Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, even Crackle— with the age of streaming wars sweeping down upon us, there’s more content to watch than ever before. For this aspiring actor and screenwriter, that means it’s way easier to find the “good shit” to learn from. Whatever that means.

Yes, you read that right: Having made the highly dubious choice to pursue a career in filmmaking, what I watch must matter, even in my free time.

Now at first glance, this is all a movie obsessive could ask for. Spend twelve hours a day taking in television! It’s research! But this cure-all excuse for endless basement binge sessions can only work for so long; what happens when your program of choice has a name like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series? You read that right, Wildcat; this show is real—and a serious challenge to my self-imposed viewing standards. It’s addictive as hell. Will Ricky and Nini end up together, or will that asshole EJ (seriously, f*ck that kid, no offense to real EJ’s) keep meddling? Will Gina get over her crazy ambitions and allow herself a genuine connection with the cute skateboarding boy? Why can’t every goddamn person in this television program just tell each other how they feel and get it over with?!!?

Eventually, the resurfacing of the film nerd mentality that shamelessly judges your content choices becomes pretty much inevitable. Yes, while that uber-pretentious film crit living in your head couldn’t possibly prevent you from loving that stupendous Lucas Grabeel cameo, you’ll nevertheless be left with a continuous nagging feeling that says you’re wasting precious time. That the wildly entertaining, yet inarguably…“silly” content at hand is somehow a step down from the more “prestige” material you were taught to study and emulate. Can I learn from the likes of Parasite and also unironically love HSM:TM:TS? Will I ever get used to that insanely elaborate acronym?

I’ll admit, I’ve always been a perfectionist. The desire and drive to be better—no, the best—regardless of the effect on my mental health, has guided my every move since I acted in Diary of a Wimpy Kid and thought what’s next? The odd distinction of already being in my future career quickly instilled a sense of fear within me, one that told me I could never rest upon my laurels. My dreams were my reality, and I had to keep the ball rolling. New projects, new victories, new validation were necessary. And now, 10 years later, as graduation looms like a cloud above my head, the question of future endeavors— and the knowledge that success is most assuredly not guaranteed—continues to chip away at my anxiety-addled brain. Which is probably why the mad dash world of HBO’s Succession has won me over in a heartbeat.

Succession is about bad people. Every morally contemptible (yet oddly sympathetic) member of the Roy clan shares a singular goal: to claim the power wielded by their aging family patriarch for themselves. The patriarch himself adores this “game”—he wants his successor to inherit his empire not through mere bloodline, but by crushing

his legacy and earning the title through their own maneuvers. They’re a fictional family based on the Murdochs, afforded nearly every luxury known to humankind and in possession of the power to destroy hundreds—if not thousands—of lives with the snap of a finger. I watch them eat caviar as I wipe Goldfish crumbs off my graphic tee of the day and worry that I forgot to empty the dishwasher. Clearly, our lifestyles are vastly similar. Though I’ll avoid spoilers, it goes without saying these one-percenters of the one-percenters have cracked a few eggs to stay on top. I’m lucky to make someone crack a smile with a joke.

But what is it the Roys want, exactly? To simply quench their thirst for power? Of course we can sympathize with these characters to some degree; that’s the magic of film and television, after all.

Through stories, we can identify and sympathize with people who live lifestyles leagues beyond anything we have ever known. And the Roys are not like the average civilian, morally or fiscally. Part of what makes this show so successful is its uncanny ability to render privileged monsters relatable.

Each of the Roy kids has undoubtedly been warped by the cruelty and neglect of their callous, nearomnipotent father. He regards their affection as little more than a weakness, emotionally and verbally abuses them constantly, and gaslights them with flickers of genuine connection to twist the knife even further. Yet time and time again, the choices of the characters and the way the show presents them affirm that what we are watching—the precarious negotiations, the anxiety-riddled breakdowns, the merciless abandonment of familial loyalty for legacy—is completely and utterly hilarious. There’s a constant sense of irony at play, one that hurls itself to the forefront with every exaggerated zoom into a character’s wide-eyed horror. And the irony is that, simply put, every character is making the conscious choice to play this stupid little game. They have all the money, all the influence, and all the toys they could ever need, regardless of the “title” dangled over their heads by their father. The Roys are the absolute definition of “success” in every way except the one that counts: happiness. We can’t help but laugh at their horrendous choices; they have so much, and yet so little of what makes life worthwhile.

It is this polarity—the conscious refusal of happiness in pursuit of something “more”—that illustrates the cost of ambition. And as weird as this may sound, I am so glad I live in a world where I can watch Succession and High School Musical:The Musical: The Series in tandem. For HSM:TM:TS (I will never get tired of this acronym) is—and I mean this—a spiritual sister to Succession. Ricky, Nini, and a host of other people you have no knowledge of whatsoever need to get over their shit and confess that they wanna belt pop songs at each other with

decidedly less grace than Troy and Gabriella. But they don’t. Because they see other things standing in the way: the quest to be the lead, the quest to be seen as “cool,” the quest to live up to Troy and Gabriella in the first place (an impossible task, to be sure).

In other words, they engage in a conscious refusal of what would make them happiest in pursuit of something more. Are the stakes lower? Sure. But the message is the same. And in both cases, you can only laugh at the decidedly human chaos running before your eyes.

And honestly? I love HSM:TM:TS. I love it because it’s so unabashedly silly. I love it because it loves its own corporate rendition of high school life and knows you think it’s ridiculous. And I love it even if it is hot garbage. It puts a big ol’ smile on my face. Isn’t that half the reason I want to work in this industry in the first place? I could dress up my own work with the prestige style Succession employs. Hopefully, it’d be just as funny. But as I continue my journey forward in the months to come, I’ll remember that the wannabe Troy within me is just as valid. It’s possible to have your head in the game, but your heart in the song. Who says they’re mutually exclusive?

The Art of the Book

or, a defense of non-essential coursework

BY ALISA CAIRA ILLUSTRATED BY RUIHONG JIANG

Who knows anything about necessity? Not me.

Imagine this: It’s last semester, and this campus is your oyster. You feel like you’ve really figured some stuff out since freshman year—what you want to concentrate in, who your friends are, how to manage time, and so on. You’re abundantly ready for—scare quotes—the rest of your life. Yet, before you settle down, get on LinkedIn, and really thrust yourself into pre-professional floundering, you realize that you’re so set in your life path that you can take a whole semester to just “do whatever!”

How incredible!

I, for one, don’t have to imagine it: Last semester, I decided I was going to take courses purely because they interested me, without allowing the constraints of what might be practical to my education define my experience. I ended up with the impressively ridiculous enrollment of Art of the Book, Photography Foundations, Artist in the Archives, and Beginning German. Needless to say, my mom was thrilled to see the important practical skills my tuition money was paying for. She was even more thrilled with the cost of my triple digit, online JANUARY 31 , 2020!5

ARTS&CULTURE German textbook.

I distinctly remember speaking on the phone with her last shopping period as I hesitantly discussed the idea of these classes with her, trying my best to answer questions about why any of these courses were "necessary" to my education and why buying these resources was advantageous. At the time, I didn’t know how to explain to her that they weren’t necessary at all. I didn’t have the words to convince her that things that were pleasurable and new deserved as much space as the necessities.

I think I have those words now, or I hope I do.

If I didn’t know what mattered beyond necessity at this point, I would consider last semester a legitimate waste. Luckily, though, I believe I was able to discover the ways in which art and cultural skills deserve respect and footing within a University-sized lake of requirements and academic expectations. Moving forward, my LinkedIn page might grow a bit scattered, but I know that I am better equipped to navigate the world because of the new ways I engaged with courses last semester.

After all, my decision to take these courses was based entirely on sparks of interest I had while shopping them. These were the classes that made me feel like I was actually reaching into worlds of knowledge I had never interacted with before. I didn’t know German, or film photography, or how to make paper, or any of the other niche things I found myself looking into. All I knew was that I wanted to know. For some reason that my mom would never agree with, that felt like enough.

And it was enough. Every day, I walked into classrooms to be educated on things in their simplest, foundational forms. With the knowledge level of a middle schooler, I had to learn how to load film into the camera I was given for class. Perhaps more like an elementary schooler, I learned to fold pieces of paper into books. I learned the foundations of how to tell stories, how to spread them across pages.

All of these experiences sound silly, and to some extent they were. My classes were filled with humor and community: groups of people collectively knowing they probably should have learned these things by now. As a community, we would spend late nights in the studio, working on our specific visions and watching each other grow as artists. Were these relationships conventionally necessary to my education? Absolutely not. Did I leave filled with inspiration, new friendships, and more encouraged creativity? Of course. You tell me if the lack of necessity made those experiences useless.

Ultimately, these relationships weren’t even the most satisfying part of my more artistic and whimsical classes. The most gratifying element was my ability to alter my foundational knowledge in a

way I often struggled to in my "necessary" classes.

I wasn’t learning the most advanced concepts or reading the hardest texts. I was expanding the simplest base of what I knew how to do in ways that, still, are not "necessary," but are endlessly helpful and productive.

In my Art of the Book class, for example, I was able to fundamentally change the way I interact with the medium of the book; I was able to take a form of art I see and interact with all the time and learn how to engage with it more deeply. By doing that, I not only had an enjoyable and engaging experience, but was also able to apply that niche knowledge in other unexpected areas. I ended up using my bookmaking knowledge toward my final project in a separate class because, let’s be real—once you know how to sew a book by hand, why wouldn’t you put that to use?

In my photography class, I developed a portfolio that I’m now able to put out into the world if I so please. In Artist in the Archives, I learned real skills about how to apply for grants and fellowships that no theoretical class had ever taught me. Needless to say, my German class made me feel equipped to communicate and survive in another country.

Ultimately, these lessons felt more important to me than the “necessary,” pointed knowledge I’m used to receiving in classes for my concentration. I might have been able to graduate Brown without them,

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amanda Ngo

“The top description of 'adulting' on Urban Dictionary includes the phrase: 'to carry out one or more of the duties and responsibilities expected of fully developed individuals.' I figured that being on hold with Verizon definitely counted.”

- Caroline Ribet, “my year of adulting,” 2.1.19

“If you ever manage to find a table at Coffee Exchange, located just a few blocks west of The Shop, I suggest you buy yourself a lotto scratcher.”

- Daniella Balarezo, “browntown beans & brews,” 2.2.18

FEATURE Managing Editor Liza Edwards-Levin Section Editor Erin Walden Staff Writer Anna Harvey NARRATIVE Managing Editor Nicole Fegan Section Editor Michelle Liu

but I would never have had the chance to expand my narrow educational experience.

Now, terrifyingly, my college game plan is a bit off track, and my resume is only getting odder.

I’m starting to think about what would happen if I explored more visual art or took my German into a study abroad program. I’m starting to think about all the new ways I could exist in the world, all the new forms of knowledge that I could keep acquiring to bring me there. The thought of going back to required courses is looking a lot bleaker, but on this semester’s phone call with my mom, I think I have a better idea of how I’ll justify my waning academic course load.

These aren’t skills that are necessary to one path.

They’re skills that open up opportunities to choose between many paths while also exploring new ones.

Perhaps more radically, they are the classes that have brought me joy and reminded me what it feels like to learn subjects—artistic and creative subjects—that most colleges don’t bother giving a shot and that most students don’t have a chance to explore. If you haven’t leapt out of your pool of prerequisites yet, now might be the time to try before the real world, shockingly, sweeps away so many of our possibilities for exploration. Don't hold back because they don't seem essential; college is all about expanding your cultural knowledge, and those strange courses—the ones that allow you to explore—might be the ones you end up remembering most.

Staff Writers Kaitlan Bui Siena Capone Danielle Emerson Naomi Kim Anneliese Mair Kahini Metha

LIFESTYLE Managing Editor Caitlin McCartney

ARTS & CULTURE Managing Editor Griffin Plaag

COPY Copy Chief Moe Sattar

Section Editor Maddy McGrath

SOCIAL MEDIA Head Editor Paola Solano

Staff Writers Rob Capron David Kleinman

Staff Writers Eashan Das Lauren Toneatto

HEAD ILLUSTRATOR Gaby Treviño

Want to be involved?

Email: amanda_ngo@brown.edu!

6!POST–

LAYOUT Co-Chiefs Amy Choi Nina Yuchi Designers Joanne Han Steve Ju Iris Xie WEB MASTER Jeff Demanche

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

9

UNIVERSITY NEWS

U. releases draft of sustainability plan for feedback Plan calls to reduce emissions, red meat consumption, looks at stormwater reduction

BY CAELYN PENDER SENIOR STAFF WRITER The Office of the Provost released a draft of the new University sustainability plan to students, staff and faculty for review on Dec. 10.

This new plan, which has been in development for the past year, is the University’s response to “accelerating climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss,” Assistant Provost for Sustainability Stephen Porder wrote in the draft’s cover letter.

The plan focuses on five main sustainability challenges — greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient pollution, water impacts, biodiversity loss and human health impacts — and sets a goal for each. The University also hopes to “expand upon its already diverse range of educational opportunities,” according to the plan.

The first objective of the sustainability plan is to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent by 2025 and achieve net zero emissions by 2040. The University has already begun taking action to achieve this goal, The Herald previously reported.

The University also hopes to achieve a 15 percent reduction of its nutrient pollution — such as nitrogen and phosphorus — by 2025 and a 25 percent reduction by 2030. As the largest portion of the University’s nutrient pollution comes from food purchases, the plan proposes to transition to more plant-based meals and reduce red meat consumption by 25 percent by 2025, as well as to focus on minimizing nutrient

loss in campus food production and transportation.

The drafted plan’s third objective is to determine whether stormwater reduction would yield “major environmental benefits,” as “stormwater greatly increases the amount of water that needs treatment,” according to the plan. If the Office of Sustainability finds such steps to be beneficial, the University plans to decrease its use of pesticides and fertilizers. When drafting the plan, emphasis was placed on issues specific to Rhode Island, such as reducing pollution in Narragansett Bay caused by stormwater runoff, said Leah VanWey, dean of the School of Professional Studies and professor of environment and society and sociology.

The University also plans to reduce purchases of materials that negatively impact biodiversity, such as tropical hardwoods and palm oil. In addition, the University intends to increase educational offerings about biodiversity on campus.

The final goal outlined in the draft of the sustainability plan is to safeguard human health, focusing on making campus buildings more resilient against moisture, flooding and mold.

The University also plans to make a “red list” of harmful materials, the purchase of which would be highly discouraged.

The sustainability plan started when the administration assessed which environmental issues were most pressing, Porder said. Working with Jessica Berry, director of the Office of Sustainability, Porder consulted with experts across the University. When researching other universities’ sustainability plans, Porder found flaws that he hoped to avoid by choosing goals that would have the most impact with the funding they require.

The biggest challenge for Porder was deciding which environmental initiatives would utilize funding effectively,

SUMMER ZHANG / HERALD

and before drafting the plan, the University had to make value judgements for which issues to focus on. “Sustainability means so much that it basically means nothing,” Porder said.

The University wants to get feedback from the rest of the campus community because choosing sustainability goals “is a community decision,” Porder said.

He hopes that opening the plan up to student feedback not only allows people to introduce new topics that they think should be included, but also allows them to propose ways in which the University can tackle those issues. The plan “is meant to embody our values, (as) opposed to just the science,” Porder said.

The comment period is open for feedback from students, staff and faculty until March 15. Comments can be made through an online form located on the Office of the Provost’s website, and through forums that Porder is planning.

A committee of University faculty, staff and students will then revise the plan based on the feedback received during

the comment period. The committee is currently being finalized and the members will be made public once they confirm their participation, Porder said.

Amanda Lynch, the director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, believes “the draft is a really good start, but we’ve got a long way to go before we can operationalize it.”

Lynch thinks that the University has done a good job in “developing bold targets,” but feels that the plan is missing a framework of decision-making to help it move forward. She suggested that a course-like setup, in which faculty and students meet weekly to discuss the plan as well as assigned readings, could be a beneficial strategy to keep progress on track.

Anna Zuckerman ’21, president of Scientists for a Sustainable World, is “overall happy that the report exists” and that the University “is doing something.” She would have liked to see more of an “emphasis on education and outreach to the student body”

because “all of us are going to have to make drastic lifestyle changes” in order to increase sustainability. Zuckerman has submitted her comments to the University.

Ben Gross ’20.5, a member of Climate Action Now, thinks that the plan reflects “a set of values towards the environment that are not completely reflective of a view that I would consider sustainable.” He said that he would like the plan to focus more on how it impacts the health of the Providence community, as opposed to just the University community. Gross also plans to submit his comments to the University, and has already spoken with Porder about some of his thoughts.

Though there will be no advisory committee overseeing the execution of the sustainability plan, everything will be “codified and tracked,” Porder said. If implemented, the sustainability plan will be reevaluated every five years to ensure it aligns with changing priorities. “This is a living document,” Porder added.

MEAL PLAN

changes

STEP ONE:

Choose a Meal Plan.

VIEW OPTIONS AT BROWN.EDU/FOOD

REMINDER:

T DAY THE LASEA L PLAN

TO MAKE M EDNESDAY, CHANGES IS W

FEB. 5!

• You can ADD a new Meal Plan at any time during the year • You can make one CHANGE per semester. The deadline for spring semester changes is Wednesday, Feb. 5 • Meal Plan CANCELLATIONS are not available during the spring

STEP TWO:

Let us help!

EMAIL DINING_SERVICES@BROWN.EDU OR CALL 863-3343 WITH QUESTIONS

LEON JIANG / HERALD

A panel at the Watson Institute discussed Professor Peter Andreas’ book, “Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs,” and the five dimensions of war and drugs, such as “war while on drugs.”

WATSON FROM PAGE 1 aspect of Andreas’ research, noting that prescribed drugs are deeply concerning for veterans after war, who receive limited or no counseling on the proper use of pharmaceuticals.

Andreas began his research for “Killer High” seven years ago. When he initially began writing, Andreas had a “bias towards thinking it’s about cocaine and heroin.” But Andreas was surprised by the importance of legal drugs. “It was

pretty eye-opening to discover how important caffeine and alcohol and tobacco have been historically,” he added.

Andreas also said that the word “coffee” was mentioned more times in soldiers’ diaries than the words “gun,” “cannon” or “rifle.” Despite Andreas’ research on the harm drugs have caused, he has an addiction of his own. “Caffeine is my drug of choice.”

Andreas wanted to find the “sweet spot” between writing good scholarship and accessible reading material

for non-specialists. Panelist Angelica Duran-Martinez PhD’13, associate professor of political science at University of Massachusetts Lowell, said that the topics were presented so accessibly that she has assigned this book as a reading for her students. Chivers also held up his copy of Andreas’ book, which had handwritten notes scrawled over the pages. “When I get to the end of the book and I’ve used up two ink pens, it’s probably a sign that it’s a hell of a book,” he said.

Read Join

• Changes may be made in person weekdays from 9:00AM to 4:00PM at the main Brown Dining office located at 144 Thayer Street (Sharpe Refectory).

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Race, the Classics, and Democratic Theory - (POLS 1825G/CLAS 1825)

Why do so?

Friday 3:00 - 5:30 Page-Robinson 402 NOTE: Meeting time can be changed after Week 2 meeting Instructor: Ferris Lupino ferris_lupino@brown.edu Counts for WRIT and DIAP credit

Many black political thinkers turn to ancient cultural narratives and concepts to arm contemporary struggles. Many of these very same concepts have been used to justify anti-black assumptions. To ponder this puzzle, this course will explore a series of black ‘classical receptions’ in which authors —including W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin—take up key classical concepts and enrich and extend them in their critiques of the US racial order.

We will discuss this approach as well as the broader implications it has for democratic theory.

REGISTER NOW!!

10

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

Trump’s so-called peace plan for Israel and Palestine hinders progress ZACHARY FEDERMAN ’23 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR It took me only a few weeks on Brown’s campus to realize something notable about the political culture here — that one cannot escape becoming involved in the contentious and ongoing conversation about Israel and Palestine.

This conversation waxes and wanes, surging through bi-weekly stampedes of inflammatory Dear Blueno posts, as well as the occasional op-ed or student group event. But right now, whether one prioritizes Palestinian rights, Israeli security, Jewish nationhood, anti-Zionism or the plethora of other issues at hand — this is a devastating moment for anyone who maintains a stake in the Israel-Palestine conflict or cares about the security of the region and its inhabitants.

This past Tuesday, Donald Trump finally released the political portion of his “peace plan,” geared toward solving the Israel-Palestine conflict, three years after it was first promised. I’ll get straight to the point — this proposal does nothing in the name of peace. It is a plan that supports annexation and entrenches the Israeli occupation; it is a cruel affront to Palestinian sovereignty encoded in a feigned pursuit of social justice and regional peace.

Despite the claim that the proposal presents a vision of two viable states — one for Israelis and one for Palestinians — what this plan outlines is a vision of Palestinian statehood that is nothing short of offensive. The proposal greenlights Israeli annexation of all settlements in the West Bank and much of the Jordan Valley.

It also places nearly complete jurisdiction of municipal Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, while underscoring that Palestinians will have no autonomy over their borders and water sources.

Though Trump presented the proposal as a starting point for future negotiations, the 180page outline leaves little room for discussion and was produced without any consultation of

Palestinian parties whatsoever. Communications between the Trump administration and Palestinian leaders ceased after the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Jared Kushner and his team seemed to write this plan fully aware that the Palestinian Authority would never accept it, on account of its unreasonable demand. This grants Israel the approval to proceed with annexation regardless of a Palestinian response — a pre-dictated outcome, evidenced by the moves Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already made

While this request has, as of Wednesday, been postponed — a vote had been planned for Sunday — it is clear that Netanyahu will not hesitate to march quickly down Trump’s outlined path toward annexation. Continuing down this road would likely mean greater Palestinian suffering and disenfranchisement.

Another crucial part of this conversation is the relevant time and context in which this proposal has been released. Netanyahu has been indicted for corruption charges as he gears up for the third Israeli election in less than a year

“It is a plan that supports annexation and entrenches the Israeli occupation; it is a cruel affront to Palestinian sovereignty encoded in a feigned pursuit of social justice and regional peace.”

toward annexation since the plan’s release.

The proposal thus results in a map of Palestine corroded by ribbons of Israeli control, a Palestine that resembles more closely a national park within Israeli borders than a state of its own. American foreign policy has long upheld the illegality of unilateral annexation, maintaining that any solution to this conflict requires the existence of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state. Trump’s plan is devastating in part because it counters decades of American precedent that have maintained at least a partial commitment to holding Israel to the standards of international law.

Netanyahu promised to move forward with the plan immediately after its release on Tuesday by requesting the cabinet’s approval to annex 30 percent of the West Bank’s territory.

on March 2. At the same time, Trump faces impeachment while campaigning for reelection at the end of this year. This plan comes at a time when both leaders are in desperate need of political distraction — and particularly in the case of Netanyahu, it could be a game-changer. The Israeli prime minister’s ability to form a government and gain the upper hand over opponent Benny Gantz based on the last election, could depend on only a few thousands of voters, who may be easily swayed by the prospect of progress for an exhausted conflict.

Clearly, this is a devastating development for Palestinians, Israelis and Americans alike.

But the plan’s release only cements the need for an American progressive response that is loud and powerful. Just a few weeks ago, Congress passed House Resolution 326, reiterating

the condemnation and illegality of unilateral annexation. The majority of American Jews and Israelis do not support annexation.

This shows that resistance is primed and possible.

One crucial avenue for change appears in a campaign led by J Street U, the student arm of a national organization that bolsters political support for the two-state solution and commitment to Palestinian rights and democracy in Israel. Over the past few months, J Street U chapters across the country have been campaigning to change the Democratic National Committee’s platform on Israel to explicitly condemn the occupation and unilateral annexation. Chapters have been working with other progressive student groups and securing endorsements from College Democrats of America in support of this effort, which has been covered previously by The Herald, in another op-ed written by J Street U Brown leaders. The push for this policy change has never come at a more important time, when peace prospects are at their bleakest and violent annexation appears to be right around the corner.

We are coming of age in a frightening political era, both domestically and abroad. In reading this piece, you have done the important work of becoming part of the conversation.

When we join campus groups, support student campaigns and stay informed and aware, we create a culture that resists violent action and misdirection. This is a critical form of resistance. So, I am encouraged by the seeming omnipresence of Israel-Palestine discourse on Brown’s campus, a discourse I anticipate will grow, transform and ultimately counter dangerous advancements such as the one dominating headlines this past week.

Zachary Federman ’23, co-president of J Street U Brown, can be reached at zachary_federman@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

C O R R E CT I O N A previous version of this article stated that the coup was a “CIA operation led by President Franklin Roosevelt.” In fact, the operation was led by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Herald regrets the error.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | COMMENTARY

11

Who will win the Super Bowl?

GEORGE KLEIN ’20 SPORTS COLUMNIST The early rounds of the 2020 NFL Playoffs were marked by upsets of the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens, but the season’s final game will still be played between two powerhouses — the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Combined, the two teams recorded 25 regular season wins and only seven losses, adding four victories in the playoffs.

Both squads have looked dominant at times, overpowering their opponents, but only one team can win. So who will emerge with the coveted Lombardi trophy?

The most exciting matchup will be Kansas City’s offense against San Francisco’s defense.

The Chiefs have perhaps the best player in the entire league, Patrick Mahomes, at quarterback — a star who has the potential to take over any game. Led by Mahomes, the speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill and the physical tight end Travis Kelce, Kansas City can score points in bunches, an ability that the team has relied upon throughout the playoffs. The Chiefs have fallen behind significantly in both of their postseason wins, notably trailing by 24 points against the Houston Texans in the second quarter before storming back to take the lead by halftime.

After scoring 86 points through two playoff games, Kansas City will come into the Super Bowl confident in its ability to demoralize opposing defenses.

But while Kansas City has been able to score quickly and escape losses, Mahomes and company cannot afford to get off to a slow start against San Francisco. It will be much harder to pull off another run of spectacular offense while facing the 49ers’ stout defense. San Fran-

cisco ranked second in the entire league in total yards allowed and first overall in passing yards allowed. Cornerback Richard Sherman looms large for the Niners — he has been able to lock down opposing receivers throughout the playoffs, making it dangerous to throw in his direction. Watch out for the Niners’ sensa-

nate a playoff game like Mahomes. The 49ers instead rely heavily on their rushing attack — they have been feeding breakout star running back Raheem Mostert throughout this postseason. The 27-year-old had an incredible performance in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers, rushing for a

Ultimately, on paper, the 49ers seem like a slightly stronger team. They perform consistently well in every phase of the game, while the Chiefs have more major deficiencies, such as their rushing defense, to address.

tional rookie Nick Bosa, a defensive end who can make things even trickier for Mahomes, having already recorded three sacks in the postseason. Kansas City will have to stay focused early on and not allow the 49er defense to pick up momentum, or the game could be over quickly.

Conversely, San Francisco’s offense might be a question mark against Kansas City. The Chiefs have been much more effective at clamping down in the red zone than the 49ers, allowing a touchdown on 52 percent of red zone possessions compared to 61 percent for San Francisco.To make matters more difficult, San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is a solid game manager, but he can’t domi-

ridiculous 220 yards and four touchdowns.

Don’t forget about star tight end George Kittle, who excels at both blocking for runners and receiving passes. Still, the 49ers could be in major trouble if they face an early deficit, for it remains to be seen whether Garoppolo is the kind of quarterback that can lead a playoff comeback.

Kansas City, on the other hand, must enter the game with a solid plan on defense because the team has had trouble containing the run throughout this season, allowing 128.2 rushing yards per game, the seventh-worst in the NFL. The 49ers have shown that they will not hesitate to run the ball over and over again when successful — after all, San Francisco only had

Garoppolo attempt eight passes for a total of 77 yards in the team’s NFC Championship win.

The Chiefs cannot let San Francisco run over them and chew up clock. The health of defensive tackle Chris Jones will prove critical to those efforts. The 25-year-old Jones accumulated nine sacks in 13 games during the regular season, but missed the Divisional round against the Texans due to a calf injury. He played in the AFC Championship and has participated in practice fully this week, but the Chiefs will need him to play well and help take control of the line of scrimmage.

The opening minutes of the Super Bowl will be crucial for both teams. We’ve seen in past years how no deficit seemed too large for the New England Patriots to overcome, but neither Kansas City nor San Francisco can come close to matching that sort of confidence.

Both teams are unproven on the NFL’s biggest stage. Kansas City will have trouble scoring in bunches against San Francisco’s defense, and questions remain about Garoppolo’s ability to produce when it matters most. Ultimately, on paper, the 49ers seem like a slightly stronger team. They perform consistently well in every phase of the game, while the Chiefs have more major deficiencies, such as their rushing defense. But when Mahomes has the ball in his hands, anything seems possible for Kansas City.

This game should be a close battle all the way to the end.

Prediction: 49ers 30, Chiefs 27

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.

12

POLL FROM PAGE 1 sity could “support its students financially,” 68.7 percent of respondents chose reducing the cost of textbooks and course materials and 64.4 percent put increasing funds for summer jobs and internships, the two most popular options presented.

Students also emphasized the importance of mental health issues more than they have in previous years, Zhong said. In a question asking about how much progress respondents feel the University has made regarding mental health support on campus, 30 percent of respondents felt that the University had made progress increasing mental health training opportunities. But more students felt that the University had regressed in transparency on CAPS services changes than in any other metric.

“Students definitely seem more open to using mental health resources than in the past,” Zhong said.

Additionally, 26.6 percent of respondents expressed a desire for UCS to take political stances on world events.

“Given the nature of sometimes contentious political current events, we want to make sure that students can feel supported regardless of their political leaning,” Zhou said.

Throughout the poll, students expressed a desire for greater transparency from the University on multiple fronts. About 62.8 percent of poll respondents believe the University should end preference in admissions for legacy applicants, while 69 percent of those who still support legacy priority admissions said that they wanted the process to be more transparent.

Further, 73.8 percent of respondents wanted students to have more decision-making power in the University’s gift acceptance and endowment investment policies. Respondents favored committees, online feedback forms and community forums as possible solutions.

UCS has already started using the data from the Fall Poll to propose initiatives to serve the interests of the student body, Zhou said.

Regarding campus health issues, Zhou said that UCS is dedicated to addressing student concerns about tap water quality in University residence halls. Approximately 59.1 percent of respondents said that they were either “somewhat” or “very uncomfortable” with drinking their dorm tap water.

“We are getting in conversations with (the Department of Facilities Management and the Division of Campus Life) to make sure that water sanitary information becomes more accessible and it’s easier for students to get water to drink,” he said.

The poll results also “helped advocate for the continuation of the (airport) shuttle program over Thanksgiving,” Zhou added. The program, which was first offered fall 2018, gave free rides to T.F. Green Airport and Boston Logan International Airport for over 200 students in the fall, according to Zhou.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD | NEWS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

METRO

Sunrise Members confront state house speaker

NAOMY PEDROZA / HERALD

Student protesters, who work to promote environmental justice and stop the climate crisis, decided to interrupt Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello (D-Cranston) during a fundraiser. The protesters sang and hold up banners with statements opposing climate change.

Protestors oppose Speaker Matiello’s commentary on climate crisis

BY KATIE CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER At the Crowne Plaza in Warwick, Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello (D-Cranston) was holding a fundraiser when a group of students from the Sunrise Movement Providence started to sing.

The student protesters, who work to promote environmental justice and stop the climate crisis, decided to interrupt the Democratic state representative’s event following comments he made earlier this month about climate change, according to a Sunrise Providence press release.

“There’s nothing Rhode Island can do to address climate change in

a way that’s real or impactful … all you can do is harm your economy and not improve your climate unless the entire nation joins in,” Mattiello told the Boston Globe at their Legislative Kickoff Panel Jan.15.

After singing and holding up banners with statements opposing climate change, staff and security asked the protesters to leave. The Herald did not enter the fundraiser but was also asked to leave the hotel before the protest began.

“We are just appalled by Mattiello’s recent comments about the climate crisis and thinking that Rhode Island can’t do anything about it,” Emma Bouton ’20, Sunrise Providence actions lead and co-hub coordinator, told The Herald.

Speaker Mattiello could not be reached for comment by press time.

Attendees of the fundraiser had mixed reactions to Mattiello’s climate comments.

“I think he’s exactly right. I think he’s spot on, in fact. Climate change is a global issue. … Rhode Island’s carbon

footprint is so fractional that it almost doesn’t even register,” said Jonathan Shaer, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association and fundraiser attendee.

“I don’t know how to take that. … I haven’t really thought about the climate change issue with him, and I’d have to do a little more sitting on it,” said Vice President of the Rhode Island State Association of Firefighters Scott Robinson.

In addition to his remarks about climate change, Mattiello has also been under fire for requesting an audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority while one of his friends dealt with a personnel issue there, according to WRPI. Protesters believe his comments set a bad example.

“If that’s what they’re hearing from their leaders, people start to think that (climate change) is an impossible crisis, even though the reality is we have

the technology, we’re just lacking the political will to implement it. It’s just confusing and disheartening to people, and we need our leaders to step up,” Bouton said.

Despite being one of the most powerful leaders in Rhode Island’s Democratic Party, Mattiello has a history of conflict with University students over the more conservative parts of his platform, The Herald previously reported.

Students from groups Thoughts Prayers Action and Brown Progressive Action Committee canvassed against Mattiello when he ran for reelection in 2018.

Sunrise members, who have fought for top Democrats to reject fossil fuel money, were arrested last month after calling on Gov. Gina Raimondo to take the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.

“What tonight makes clear to us is that Speaker Mattiello has chosen his wealthy donors — including numerous fossil fuel executives — over our futures,” Bouton wrote in the Sunrise Providence press release.