Tuesday, November 12, 2018

SINCE 1891

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 100

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Late poet C.D. Wright Former president of Mexico delivers talk Zedillo criticizes honored in annual lecture Ernesto recent U.S. trade policy, Poet and scholar Susan Stewart lauds esteemed career, poetic works of former U. professor

By ANNABELLE WOODWARD SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Last Thursday, distinguished poet and Professor in the Humanities at Princeton Susan Stewart hosted the second annual C.D. Wright Lecture, an event that honors the memory of poet C.D. Wright, a professor of literary arts who passed away unexpectedly in 2016. The lecture, titled “Snow Nobody Has Walked On: C.D. Wright and the Paradigm of Birth,” examined the interrelations of maternity, knowledge production and imprisonment — all themes pervading Wright’s work. Stewart also honed in on the significance of Wright’s rural Arkansas upbringing and how her poems allowed her readers to be “insiders” in “a mythic world of tractors and cars sunk in reservoirs, where people continue to believe in the transforming power of words.”

Stewart, who grew up in rural Pennsylvania, was first introduced to

Wright’s poetry when she was gifted a copy of Wright’s “Room Rented by a Single Woman” by a colleague in the 1980s. She was instantly transfixed by Wright’s capacity to accurately describe the “existential lives of women and men within a vast network of social forces,” Stewart said. “Her work was the pure fiction of everyday life.”

Among numerous other distinctions, Wright was a MacArthur Fellow in 2004, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former State Poet of Rhode Island. She published over a dozen books of poetry in her lifetime, including the notable “One Big Self: An Investigation,” a collaborative project with photographer Deborah Luster inspired by testimonies of people incarcerated in Louisiana prisons. She became a member of Brown’s Literary Arts faculty in 1983 and was “widely beloved,” according to her husband, Professor Emeritus of Literary Arts and Comparative Literature Forrest Gander, who spoke before the lecture.

“It’s strange not to see her out there” in the crowd, he added.

In her talk, Stewart focused on » See POET, page 4

immigration rhetoric in Ogden Lecture

By COLLEEN CRONIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As Former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo spoke on globalism and contemporary politics as part of the 89th Ogden Lecture series in Salomon Hall Monday night, he explained that “this episode of American mercantilism can hardly have a happy ending simply because it has been launched on many wrong premises.” Zedillo served in Mexico’s highest office from 1994 until 2000 and is currently the director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

Entitled “Challenging the Challengers of Globalization,” Zedillo’s talk focused on how international trade and diplomacy can foster prosperity for all and allow for rapid growth, particularly in developing countries.

During his speech, Zedillo addressed many concerns associated with globalization, and explained how it factored into the economic crisis of 2008. Zedillo argued that “global macroeconomic imbalances” had a strong

influence in the crisis, pointing to economic disparity between Germany and some of its southern European counterparts, including Greece. To remedy this state of affairs, there is a “need for more, not less macro policy coordination.”

Zedillo also discussed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was signed by former President Bill Clinton while Zedillo was in office. Previously, Zedillo has criticized

NAFTA negotiations under President Trump and the recent formation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Zedillo stated that the U.S. tended to “demand unreasonably, negotiate aggressively, make any deal, declare victory and move on,” through these trade talks. Commending Canada and Mexico for “attaching very clearly to some principles,” Zedillo told The Herald that » See ZEDILLO, page 3

COLLEEN CRONIN / HERALD

Former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo (left) and President Christina Paxson P’19 (right) solicited questions from audience members.

R.I. elected officials talk future of Dem. Party Visiting artist aims to show

‘ray of hope’ in paintings

Following midterms, R.I. senators, representatives share priorities for next legislative term

Carole Freeman’s portraits celebrate lesser-known heroes, serve as ‘antidote’ to political landscape

By ALEX REICE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After the midterm elections turned the House of Representatives blue, Rhode Island’s Democratic Congressmen say they are hopeful that their party is positioned for success in 2020. Recently re-elected officials Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse D-R.I., Rep. David Cicilline ’83 D-R.I. and Rep. Jim Langevin D-R.I. in addition to Sen. Jack Reed D-R.I., who was not up for re-election Nov. 6, spoke to The Herald about their hopes for the future of the country and the Democratic Party.

“We had extraordinary candidates running for Congress all across the country, and I think Democrats, including me, ran on a very specific agenda that really focused on the issues that are important to the American people,” Cicilline said.

Among the most pressing issues for Rhode Island’s elected officials is affordable healthcare. Whitehouse plans to prioritize healthcare by changing the

INSIDE

By JANGO MCCORMICK CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF U.S. GOVERNMENT

Rep. David Cicilline, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Jack Reed and Rep. Jim Langevin (from top left, clockwise) discussed the results of the midterms. industry’s incentives — rewarding doctors for having healthy patients rather

than for the number of procedures they » See POLITICS, page 3

Carole Freeman, an internationally recognized contemporary figurative painter, spoke about her work and process in the List Art Building Wednesday evening. Accompanied by visuals of her paintings, Freeman reflected upon her development as an artist from childhood to the present.

During her talk, she emphasized her most recent exhibition, “Unsung,” which is a series of portraits of lesserknown figures and “unsung” heroes whom Freeman sought to commemorate.

Freeman’s past work has drawn on a wide range of inspirations and includes portrait series with themes including celebrities, residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Freeman’s friends on Facebook.

In introducing Freeman’s presentation, Professor of Visual Art Leslie Bostrom described the focus of “Unsung” as “portraits of heroes” and “people who Carole thought had fought the lonely fight.” Represented among these figures are a variety of backgrounds and vocational pursuits, but Bostrom added that the subjects all share an ability to “move a populace to think in a different way.”

During her conversation, Freeman provided context about her practice as an artist and the story behind each portrait. In the process of choosing and researching potential subjects for the 24 pieces that make up “Unsung,” Freeman said that she realized the candidates reflected current political and social issues in the United States.

“I then knew what I wanted the show to be,” Freeman said. “A ray of hope in the current mess.”

Freeman was vocal about the political interests of her art but noted that while she wanted to “respond to current events,” she was not interested in documenting the present state of » See FREEMAN, page 2

WEATHER

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018

ARTS & CULTURE Antoine Jacobsohn, director of the kitchen garden at the Palace of Versailles, discusses sustainability

SCIENCE & RESEARCH U. researchers find way to enhance metals like copper, gold using nanotwin boundaries

COMMENTARY Miller ’19: House Democrats must avoid stalling legislation with excess investigations

COMMENTARY Steinman ’19: Democrats lack unifying message, must solidify strategies to rein in Trump

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ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 2 • TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Lecturer talks balancing history, modernity at Potager du Roi

COURTESY OF PAOLO COSTA BALDI

In his talk Friday, Jacobsohn detailed the challenges of maintaining the historical heritage of the Potager du Roi and simultaneously implementing sustainable gardening practices.

Director of kitchen garden at Palace of Versailles discusses restoration, sustainable practices, ecology

By ELISE RYAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Antoine Jacobsohn drew a crowd of students and Providence community members out of the rain and into the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts for his lecture “Sustainable Gardening” Friday. As director of the Potager du Roi — the kitchen garden at the Palace of Versailles — Jacobsohn “has written and edited extensively on the history of French agriculture, on fruits and vegetables in France and on contemporary movements that advocate gardening with, and not against, nature,” said Professor of Literary Arts Cole Swensen in her introduction to the event.

Jacobsohn began the talk by surveying his audience, holding up a small brown package. “Anyone here like lemongrass?” he asked, hands raising as he walked around the auditorium. He passed an audience member the lemongrass packet, another a package of sage and one a bar of chocolate infused with rose and apples — all products

» FREEMAN, from page 1 politics or presenting a protest. Instead, Freeman said she sought to “create an antidote — something beautiful with a positive message.”

While the inspiration behind the exhibit roots itself in contemporary politics, the works span multiple historical eras. Subjects include activist Sylvia Ray Rivera, writer nd abolitionist Frederick Douglass, broadcast journalist Amy Goodman and 9/11 first responder Mohammad Salman Hamdani, among others. Freeman said that the breadth

from the Potager du Roi. “If you go to a garden, the best thing you can offer is things from the garden,” he said.

Jacobsohn then proceeded to discuss the kitchen garden itself — its identity as both a historic and contemporary space and how this presents challenges for its caretakers.

Promoted to director in 2007, Jacobsohn has since emphasized the garden’s significance as an educational space. “The important part is it’s really inserted in the urban fabric; the other important part is it has become a school. In some sense, I would argue, it has always been a school,” Jacobsohn said, noting that Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie, who created the Potager du Roi in the late 17th century for King Louis XIV, focused on the garden’s power to educate. In his writings, de la Quintinie even included descriptions of teaching King Louis XIV to prune trees. “Essentially (de la Quintinie) is saying that the garden serves as a place to teach,” Jacobsohn explained. In this spirit, the garden has been home to

of her focus posed some problems in the painting process as reference photographs were often limited and of varying quality or color scheme.

Nonetheless, Freeman painted each subject in full color in accordance with a desire for the portraits to appear “jewel-like” and to maintain “a look of immediacy and freshness.”

The portraits in “Unsung” share something of a family resemblance and were described in Bostrom’s introduction as being painted in an “exquisitely quiet way.” Each portrait contains a figure surrounded by space, a composition that gives the

Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage, the French National School of Landscape Architecture, since 1995.

The garden is known for its pruned fruit trees, grown and woven on terraces so that their branches form intricate shapes, archways and pathways.

“Gardens for me are always experiments,” Jacobsohn said, noting how these practices have been maintained with both historic and modern techniques.

However, in trying to balance contemporary relevance and historical significance, the garden has faced structural and ecological challenges: a wall that crumbled in 2014 has not yet been repaired, terraces where fruit trees once grew now hang empty, paths have turned green with vegetation and underground storage facilities have become dangerous.

The garden has also undergone significant improvements to its structure.

Gardeners have learned how to use different heights to allow for many levels of production, relied on more renewable energy to power electric and manual gardening vehicles and stopped using fertilizers, Jacobsohn

said.

Jacobsohn emphasized that any new restoration efforts must be mindful of the Potager du Roi’s heritage. “We can’t just do things new because we want to do it new,” he said, adding, “Versailles is not just about a person, it’s about a relationship to time, it’s about a relationship to history, it’s about what France is trying to be today.”

Further, Jacobsohn explained that agricultural sustainability efforts should build off of existing ecological relationships in the garden. “For me the agro-ecological approach is simply to say we have to find a way of producing with, rather than against.” He noted that gardeners have to consider more than just the produce itself: with potatoes come potato beetles, with apples come codling moths. “It’s not about excluding, it’s about finding some way of including,” Jacobsohn said. To this end, the Potager du Roi gardeners have learned to harness the hunger of earwigs — an omnivorous insect — to protect their vegetables from aphids.

This balance allows for sustainable, fruitful production, which speaks to

the garden’s primary purpose. “The universal value of the Potager du Roi is how it combines being a beautiful space and producing,” Jacobsohn said.

Products from the garden are sold every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning.

“What we’re doing at the Potager du Roi, is trying to make our world a campus. A space where you produce, you teach, … and teaching goes beyond only those who you’re supposed to be teaching,” Jacobsohn said. In order to engage the broader community, the garden hosts theatrical performances, art shows and harvest festivals along with its weekly markets.

The talk concluded the series of four events, “Paysagisme: Art & Ecological Responsibility,” where speakers discussed paysagism — a French concept of landscape architecture, sustainability and aesthetics — as well as sustainable gardening and Land Art. The series was co-sponsored by the French Embassy through the French Center for Excellence at the Cogut Institute, the Brown Arts initiative and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.

pieces what Freeman referred to as a “humbling” effect. In the exhibition itself, the 12-by-9 inch paintings are hung side-by-side in simple white frames.

Anna Steinberg ’19 came to the lecture after meeting with Freeman for a class in the visual art department. While Steinberg noted that her own work is quite different from Freeman’s, she said that “every artist is trying to better the world in some way” and added that Freeman is one example of how artists can achieve this goal.

Carole Freeman’s exhibition includes paintings of 24 individuals, each of which features a distinct background or vocation.

COURTESY OF CAROLE FREEMAN

NEWS

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018 • PAGE 3

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» POLITICS, from page 1 perform, he said.

The congressmen also said they are ramping up efforts to improve economic conditions for middle-class families in the state. Cicilline hopes Congress takes action “on a number of proposals to help raise incomes and really address the economic consolidation in this country,” he said. “People need to earn a living wage,” and “nobody should be working 40 hours a week and living below the poverty level,” Langevin added.

Rhode Island representatives and senators alike expressed the importance of bipartisanship in addressing the issues most important to them. With the Senate and the presidency still in Republican hands, the only way to pass legislation in Congress is to work together “wherever possible,” Langevin said, adding that there is potential for bipartisan cooperation when it comes to infrastructure.

Trump campaigned on a $1 trillion dollar infrastructure package, but getting that through Congress is something that will take both Democrats and Republicans, Langevin added.

While they plan to work across the aisle in Congress, Rhode Island’s elected officials see the election results as a sign of Americans’ dissatisfaction with Washington’s current Republican leadership.

“There are a number of issues where I think the Democrats better reflect the concerns and wishes of the American public,” Whitehouse said. Americans are “voting for change, and they’re voting for Democrats,” Langevin said.

The Democratic majority in the House will also likely focus on checking the presidency, Cicilline said. “We’re going to be able to conduct real oversight,” he added. Democrats’ success sends a signal that Americans want to see “real accountability in Washington,”

» ZEDILLO, from page 1 the new deal was not a good one, but was “not as destructive as it could have been.” Renaming the treaty was “childish” and “regrettable,” Zedillo told The Herald, not because the United States’ name is first, but because “free trade” was left out of its title.

Despite vigorous support for globalization, Zedillo acknowledged the potential negative impacts it can have foreconomies, such as wealth inequality . “It is well established that as any economic phenomenon in part driven by markets and competition, globalization has downsides notwithstanding its significant upsides,” Zedillo told The Herald. “Those downsides are magnified by some people, by demagogues and populists, to blame all problems existing in a society on foreign forces. … It is basically a political expedient.”

Zedillo explained that though growth has been slower in richer, more developed countries, the United States has still benefited greatly from global trade and investment today and in the past.

In addition to discussing global economic issues, Zedillo spoke to The Herald about the lack of global thinking present incurrent U.S. policy toward migration, explaining that a large part of the problem is that it is “still considered a unilateral issue.” Zedillo said that he was frustrated that the United States withdrew from international migration talks facilitated by the United Nations

Reed said.

“Once there’s another power sector in Washington that he has to deal with, I think that the conversation will move much towards the middle,” Whitehouse said.

Rhode Island’s congressmen are also concerned about Trump’s recent firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In place of Sessions, Trump selected Matthew Whitaker as interim Attorney General, circumventing the normal line of succession which calls on the Deputy Attorney General to serve. “Why would you bring in somebody who isn’t in the ordinary line of succession and has not been confirmed by the Senate, unless you have some ulterior motive?” Whitehouse said. If it were just an ordinary president, “there’s nothing to get too excited about,” he added.

Now that the midterms are over, the Democrats voted into office are ready to show their constituents that they can accomplish real change. According to Langevin, Democrats have been running on an economic message prioritizing the working and middle class for years, and with newfound control of the House, “hopefully that is the message that we can deliver on. … We have two years before the next election to earn our message with the bills that we pass and the work that we do,” Whitehouse said, emphasizing the importance of running on policy rather than relying on political messaging to win over voters.

In preparation for a competitive presidential election in 2020, Cicilline sees issues centered around lowering healthcare costs, protecting retirement security and ensuring economic security for all as “the heart and soul of the Democratic Party,” he said. “I have no doubt that we’re going to have a very strong candidate to run against Trump, if he’s a candidate in 2020,” he added.

this past year.

Following the lecture, Zedillo took questions from students and President Christina Paxson P’19, who moderated the talk.

Jimena Terrazas Lozano ’19.5, who identified herself as a Mexican citizen with indigenous ancestry, asked Zedillo about clashes between the government and indigenous people who didn’t agree with his “neoliberal” policies toward NAFTA during his administration. She stated that the conflict resulted in the mass killings of indigenous people and asked how Zedillo tried to balance his economic policies and human rights.

Zedillo said that during his administration he tried to expand economic growth through the resources Mexico had, while also increasing social expenditures, especially for indigenous people, while he was in office.

“I knew that I didn’t agree with Zedillo’s policies, but I came because I believe in the power of listening and understanding,” Lozano told The Herald. “During his administration, the Mexican government really prioritized economic growth over minorities’ well being.”

Alexandra Martinez ’22 said the question-and-answer session helped define who Zedillo was during his presidency and humanized him. She explained she attended the event “to get to know a little bit about my heritage, his presidency and learn a little bit more about globalization.”

French novelist examines literature’s power

JACKSON TRUESDALE / HERALD

Édouard Louis’ autobiographical works aim to challenge his readers to reject complacency regarding social, economic and political issues, though the author only engages in politics to fight against personal persecution.

26-year-old writer explains “confrontational” novels, role of shame in galvanizing social change

By JACKSON TRUESDALE STAFF WRITER

“I want to use literature in order to spread shame on the world,” Édouard Louis said at a talk hosted by the Department of French Studies at Rochambeau House last Wednesday.

In his lecture, the 26-year-old French writer discussed what literature can do to create social change and how critics have reacted to his books.

“Shame should be that feeling that precedes each work written. Shame can be a tool to build another world, a better world,” Louis said. He charged writers with the task of asking themselves: “Who is not here, and who is placed and removed so far from my eyes that I can’t think of her or him as absent?”

For Louis, writing autobiographical novels enabled him to “drag our bodies as far as possible from absence.” By authoring “confrontational literature,” Louis said he hopes to find “a literary form that would prevent the readers from turning their head, from laughing.”

In his first novel, “The End of Eddy,” a bestseller translated into multiple languages, Louis recounts growing up as a

gay man within a poor, working-class family in the predominantly homophobic blue-collar village of Hallencourt in northern France. Garth Greenwell called “The End of Eddy” “an instance of what is sometimes called autofiction” in a review for the New Yorker. In his second novel, “History of Violence,” Louis details the trauma of being sexually assaulted at gunpoint and coping with the subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder. His third novel, “Who Killed My Father,” expected next year, attacks France’s class system and indifference toward the working class.

“He’s been inspired by mostly nonFrench writers, which makes him special. His favorites so far have been Toni Morrison, William Faulkner and a French favorite, Marguerite Duras,” said Sophie Brunau-Zaragoza GS, a secondyear graduate student in the Department of French Studies and Louis’ friend from high school.

In his lecture, Louis spoke of JeanPaul Sartre’s twentieth-century notion that the writer’s choice to focus on one issue “(unveils) a certain reality and not the other,” so that the reader faces a choice “to do something, or to do nothing.” But today, in the twenty-first century, this is not enough for Louis.

“Our society makes so many strategies, so many ways of not being confronted to reality,” that people can ignore any discomfort, he said. “People around

us are constantly turning their head in order not to be challenged by what is being unveiled by the writer, the artist or the activist.”

According to Louis, some literary critics have discounted the power of his novels, either for “exaggerating” or for simply being literature. “Exaggeration is one of the historically most efficient tools of conservatism against reality,” Louis said. “As they would say … ‘Let’s not talk about what he’s saying. Let’s talk about literature. Let’s not talk about homophobia, racism, male domination.’”

But with regard to the style and content of his novels, Louis tries to illuminate this problem of social complacency.

Louis admits he doesn’t like politics. “I hate it,” he said, adding that he is only political because of those who act against him. “They are political against me, against what I am, against what I represent.”

Professor of French Studies and Comparative Literature David Wills praised Louis for his “force of language” and his ability to “(find) a fresh message” to address frequently discussed issues like sexual identity and socioeconomic class. “I often think, if I were a writer, where would I start?” Wills said. “He just wrote what was most obvious to him, about this experience, and it resonated so extraordinarily.”

Louis will leave campus next Thursday after a two-week visit.

NEWS

PAGE 4 • TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Researchers explore method to make metals stronger U. study finds that use of nanotwin boundaries enhances metals such as copper, gold

By CHRIS SCHUTTE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As research in engineering leads to advancements in design, technology and methods, scientists strive to strengthen materials. University researchers recently analyzed the benefits of gradient nanotwin boundaries — tiny linear divisions with identical structures on either side — in certain metals, such as copper.

The main areas studied were the overall strength of the copper and its ability to stretch. As a metal becomes stronger, it cannot be stretched as much. This “trade-off has been a long-standing dilemma in materials science,” wrote Zhiwei Ma, postdoctoral research associate, in an email to The Herald. “We were looking to find a way of enhancing the strength of steel at no ductility trade-off.” In the metals with gradient nanotwin boundaries, however, this trade-off was rarely seen, Ma added.

“It becomes essential to understand how the micro, nanostructure controls the property of metals,” said Huajian Gao, professor of engineering and co-lead researcher of the study.

The symmetry of nanotwin boundaries enhances the metal’s properties and further impedes dislocation.

“They are one of the most perfect grain boundaries,” Gao said. These nanotwin boundaries reinforce the metal and increase its overall strength, he added.

Nanotwin boundaries are one form of grain boundaries, which are

COURTESY OF HUAJIAN GAO

Gradient nanotwin boundaries — tiny linear divisions with identical structures on either side — strengthen the structure of certain metals, which allows for improved performance in machines and offers potential applications in the production of cars and handheld devices. divisions within the nanostructure is one of the most important materials alloys, which comprise equal parts hopeful to see their use in a wide of a metal that reinforce it, Gao said. in engineering,” Gao said. of five or more metals, as opposed to range of products. “We still have to These boundaries only form in certain In addition to the introduction of traditional alloys with a majority com- understand them first. We have to metals, such as copper and gold, and twin boundaries, the use of a graded position of one metal, Ma said. This develop road maps to figure out how reinforce natural atomic defects that texture from coarse to dense, or vice equal distribution allows for easier to go from here to there,” Gao said. As slowly pass through the metal, he add- versa, lessens the weakness of a uni- manipulation of the alloy’s properties knowledge of the field increases, these ed. The slowing of this process without form nanostructure. This creates a to match a given metal, Gao added. alloys and material science methods stopping it entirely is crucial; if these more diverse inner working of the Specifically, steel alloys can benefit could be used in handheld technoldefects are impeded altogether, the metal, further strengthening it, Ma from these nanostructures to enhance ogy, aerospace engineering and car metal becomes brittle and weak, but said. “We’re trying to mimic nature,” performance in axles in machines and manufacturing, Gao said. “Maybe in if the defects pass through with ease, Gao said, alluding to the wide variety transmissions systems in a number of the next decade or two we’ll see a lot the metal will wear down. of organic materials, such as bone industries, Ma said. of breakthroughs in material technolResearchers strive for this ideal and wood.

While it may take a few years to ogy, … (but) now we’re just trying to zone to optimize metals. “Metal is used The team hopes to see similar ap- understand the full scope of the ways understand from a basic science point as a structural material everywhere; it plications with the use of high entropy nanotwins can affect metals, Gao is of view how it all works,” he added.

» POET, from page 1

Brown University Community Council

Wright’s preoccupation with childbirth, a subject that she believes was “rarely ever accounted for” in poetry before Wright began to wrestle with it. According to Stewart, Wright’s work prompted readers to consider

themselves “not only as mortals, but as natals” capable of “creating a second birth for (themselves) and giving birth to new knowledge with thought and speech,” Stewart said.

Noelle Cook ’21 found this part of the lecture exceptionally powerful. “She talked about a lot of different ideas that

Tuesday, November 13, 2018 4 – 5:30 p.m.

Updates from the Office of Admission Engagement & Commercial Venturing

Meetings are open to members of the Brown community.

Meeting will be held in the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, Kasper Multipurpose Room To learn more about the Community Council visit: brown.edu/go/council

COURTESY OF DENISE APPLEWHITE

In her lecture last Wednesday, Stewart commented on interrelated themes in Wright’s works, which include childbirth, maternity and knowledge.

connected in ways I hadn’t thought of before. Physical birth and the birth of knowledge is this perpetual, ongoing cycle,” Cook said.

Though Wright ran in the lofty inner circles of the upper-crust literary world, she remained intensely loyal to her native Ozark Mountains. She referred to herself as “the poet / of shadow work and towns with quarter-inch / phone books, of failed / roadside zoos / … Of satellite dishes” in her poem “Our Dust,” which appeared in The Paris Review in 1988.

After her death, the Los Angeles Times ran a tribute to Wright, calling her “one of the great ones” and praising “her insistence that poetry, and society, should become, not a hierarchy or a star system or a way to exalt a singular self, but a way to be generous … to let everybody come in.”

Stewart admired Wright’s fierce generosity and her democratic spirit that was a function of growing up in “a precarious, peripheral place.”

“In a poetry culture that for better or worse is often funded and shaped by legacies of wealth and parental connections, she was — like me — a countrywoman,” Stewart said. “She never turned away from the dictions and cadences of her native place, or the obligations of such testimony.”

TODAY

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018 • PAGE 5

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sudoku DANIELLE EMERSON / HERALD

The Main Green was dotted with U.S. flags Monday in celebration of Veterans Day. The University’s Veterans Day celebrations featured remarks by President Christina Paxson P ’19 and Alexandrea Pimentel ’18.5.

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

“Her work was the pure fiction of everyday life.”

— Professor in the Humanities at Princeton Susan Stewart

See poet on front. crossword

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Lyft Information Session 6:00 P.M. CareerLab, 1st floor

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DSI Colloquia: DeDe Paul 4:00 P.M. CIT, 241

Fall Study Break at Sarah Doyle Center 7:00 P.M. Sarah Doyle Women’s Center

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018 • PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The burden of winning a House majority EMILY MILLER opinions editor Democrats achieved a resounding victory in the 2018 midterm elections, which will allow them to seat enough party members to assume control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January.

These seats should provide a powerful check on President Trump and Republicans, whose control of both the House and the Senate had allowed them to advance their own legislative agenda.

Now Democrats will again have a voice in governing, but the party is at a crossroads on how to use this power effectively and responsibly in an increasingly polarized and erratic political climate.

Some Democrats have already made plans for how they believe the next two years should look — inundating Trump and executive branch officials with House hearings, investigations and subpoenas. Yes, there is a wide range of alarming possibilities for potential investigations that could even lay the groundwork for impeachment — Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, his violation of election laws, his refusal to make public his tax returns and his disaffinity for the truth quickly come to mind.

These investigations could have positive consequences — bringing to light unknowns about Trump and his stalwarts, squaring public opinion with reality, re-enforcing the rule of law and halting and potentially punishing any illegal practices

by Trump and those in his administration. Yet I believe Democratic leaders of the House should exercise extreme caution when bringing about House investigations or utilizing other tactics which may stymie legislative progress. It is manifest that an onslaught of investigations will lead to the hardening of party divisions and the creation of fodder for Republicans to censure Democrats.

It is not the proper function of either political party to cause stagnation. For the good of the United States, the new House should assume the moral

high ground, avoid indulgent retribution and instead act constructively.

Most pertinently, the House mechanisms for accountability do not promise Democrats’ desired outcome but would further exacerbate partisanship in and beyond Washington. To begin, the subpoena of executive branch officials — ordering someone to attend a House Committee hearing or produce information — is the beginning of an arduous process with no guarantees. A president can specifically assert “executive privilege” and refuse to comply with the subpoena on national security grounds. Others without such sweeping privilege can simply refuse to comply, which begins a long legal battle rather than a swift avenue of recourse. Congress can have the House Sergeant At Arms physically arrest the offender, put them on trial in front of the House and detain them in a quaint jail on the Capitol property. But this is not the goal, and while this idea may seem tempting, it has today become taboo and politically lamentable to resort to such an extreme measure. The House may also attempt to enforce the subpoena in the federal courts under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. This may seem like a victory. However, defense tactics will be geared toward tying up cases while awaiting the expiration of House members’ two-year terms in the hopes of a more favorable House climate or an agenda shifted away from investigations. If the lower courts rule that

the subpoena is enforceable, the case could even go to the U.S. Supreme Court, whose current conservative majority might expand the executive branch’s immunity from congressional oversight.

And time goes on.

All the while, Trump will be able to stoke the fire against Democrats. He has already attacked the idea of investigations, tweeting, “If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!” While Trump does not have a complete grasp of the capabilities of the executive branch, he can utilize his veto power to make it harder for the House to pass legislation. He will demonize Democrats in the eyes of his supporters by crying “witch hunt.” A drawn-out process will only give Trump years of material to make Democrats look like weak power-grabbers and pull those tired of politics into his camp. Again, news cycle after news cycle will be focused on Trump, while meaningful legislative change, if attained at all, will be buried in the back sections.

Lastly, Trump, never an ideologue, has proved himself a capricious politician willing to switch opinions or radically alter his alliances at the drop of a hat. He has already made a nod to passing bipartisan legislation on a number of common

Emily Miller ’19 can be reached at emily_ miller@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and other op-eds to opinions@ browndailyherald.com.

The Blue Wave needs an agenda CLARE STEINMAN opinions editor With the Democrats’ long-expected reclamation of the House of Representatives last week, President Trump and his allies certainly anticipate the beginning of a fierce Democratic backlash. Why else fire former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who in the president’s own depiction has failed to adequately “protect” him and his family from the Mueller investigation, the day after the midterm elections? And yet despite the White House’s own defensive maneuvers, the supposed threat, both to Trump himself and to the Republican movement as a whole, could well be overblown. All indications from Nancy Pelosi, the expected new Speaker of the House, suggest the party will meet Republicans in a center that has shifted dramatically to the right. When compared to the rise of the Tea Party in 2010, the incoming Democrats lack a unifying message and strategy to provide the first meaningful checks on Trumpism since 2016. They need to find one, and soon.

Why? California is burning, voter suppression is widespread, journalists are being demonized, mass shootings turn places of joy and community into war zones and Trump’s authoritarian, xeno-

grounds — health care, pharmaceutical drug prices, trade, the environment and infrastructure. Passage of these bills would be valuable to the country, not just to Democrats looking to make progressive change in an increasingly deadlocked Congress.

However, with Trump taking a “warlike posture” stoked by House investigations, he will view Democrats as the enemy he must destroy rather than a potential ally. This could be a missed opportunity for Democrats who could put their distaste aside to make a meaningful impact on citizens’ lives.

I do not think we should ignore past and future woes and potential crimes committed by Trump and his ilk. At the same time, I do not believe House investigations are the way to unite our country or effectively hold Trump accountable.

Democrats need to think about the consequences of inundating an erratic and already-challenged president with congressional investigations. Who knows what he might do or fail to do? Tit for tat is not a reason, nor is juicy news. The only legitimate reason is producing benefits that exceed the costs.

The cost of overwhelming the administration with investigations will be high. The process is cumbersome and the result is by no means settled. But it is assured that time and energy of every legislator on both sides of the aisle will be coopted for at least the next two years. The Trump knot of illogic and lack of productivity will continue and many Democrats will be painted with the same brush. This is an opportunity for Democrats to show that they recognize their responsibility; that they are focused on the future of the United States and not just their political affiliation or political self-interest; that they know how and why the American system works and will make it do so again. The country is watching.

SUMMER ZHANG

phobic populism continues to isolate the United States from its closest allies. And that’s just in the week since the midterm elections. If elected Democrats can’t find a cause to rally around, whether from that list or from any of the myriad breakdowns our political institutions and our planet are suffering, Trump and his allies really can get away with anything. If they need help picking, let me offer two: the dual degradations of our political system and our climate, both of which are in dire need of rescue.

It’s now time for Democrats to turn up the heat on this fundamentally abnormal presidency.

Moderates elected by slim margins in conservative states may protest that their base will object to their involvement in petty politicking, but Trump’s recent actions — the firing of Sessions, his disregard for veterans and the American role in international leadership, his treatment of journalists and attempts to subvert the voting process — represent violations of the Constitution and of core American values. “Moderates” who can’t get behind rebukes of actions like these aren’t really moderates; remember that it was not so long ago that Sena-

tor Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) said there would be “holy hell to pay” for the firing of Sessions. Standing up to Trump when it comes to the norms of law and governance — which, yes, may involve impeachment if his actions come to that — should be the first thing disparate Democrats can agree on.

While reining in Trump’s worst excesses may be Democrats’ best chance to unite and build a firewall, it is not a substitute for positive action, particularly not on issues where time is of the essence.

Climate change has progressed to a point where waiting for the next president to come into power is no longer a viable solution. Things have changed since 2010, when concerted action by right-wing groups made support for climate legislation, particularly the cap-and-trade bill that was on the floor at the time, an effective death sentence for moderate Republicans and vulnerable Democrats.

Today, far more Americans (unfortunately, more and more each day) have had personal experiences with climate change or have family members who have. The percentage of Americans who support more government action on climate change is at its highest since 2006, before it became a politicized

issue in the form it is today, and a majority support environmental legislation even at the expense of economic growth. The political (and economic, thanks to the falling price of renewable energy) costs of fighting climate change are lower than they have been in over a decade, while the costs of inaction climb every day. With time running out, Democrats should make as much noise as possible on this existential issue.

It has never been more important for Democrats to zero in on an agenda with the modicum of power they now possess. The two issues presented here are the two for which inaction would bear the gravest consequences, for which future generations will look back and wonder why we didn’t do more when we had the chance. Of course, there are other causes where life is on the line: health care, gun violence, police brutality and economic inequality, just to name a few. But these two stand alone in the threats they pose not just to our own country but to the rest of the world. American leadership has dissolved, as the world saw this weekend from a rainy battlefield in France, memorializing the same war that catapulted our nation into global leadership in the first place. Democrats have a chance to salvage the values of our nation, but only with a clear-minded attitude of focus, determination and a willingness to fight hard. Their responsibility on this matter cannot be overstated, and history will remember if they choose capitulation over change.

Clare Steinman ’19 can be reached at clare_steinman@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@ browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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