Tuesday, October 16, 2018

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 82

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New orchestra director talks Teju Cole’s photos cross disciplinary lines background, future projects New York Times photo Mark Seto discusses working with student musicians, upcoming U. concert season

By LIYAAN MASKATI SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Last May, the Department of Music announced that Mark Seto would serve as the new director of the Brown University Orchestra effective July 1. Prior to this appointment, Seto was an associate professor of music and director of the Connecticut College Orchestra.

He also holds the position of Artistic Director and Conductor of The Chelsea Symphony in New York City.

Herald: Let’s start with your musical background and experiences.

Seto: These days, I wear two hats in terms of what I do as a musician. I am a conductor, and I am also a musicologist. In terms of what I’m doing here at Brown, I’m directing the orchestra, but I’m also teaching academic courses.

This semester, I’m teaching a course in

Baroque and Classical music and next semester I’ll be teaching an introductory theory course.

What attracted you to Brown?

I was really excited to have the opportunity to come here because I could wear both of those hats as a performer and also as a scholar and an academic.

It’s weird to find that at an institution of Brown’s caliber because usually the bigger the institution is, the more specialized people get. Having the chance to do both was really special.

How has your experience working with the orchestra been thus far?

It’s been fantastic. The musicians have all been really terrific, incredibly talented, intellectually curious — everything one could ask for.

What is the orchestra currently working on?

We’re getting ready for a concert coming up on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22. That program will feature two pieces of music: a piece called Sinfonía India » See SETO, page 3

columnist blends photography, text in latest book “Blind Spot”

By SABRINA CHEN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Teju Cole, New York Times Magazine photography columnist and professor of the practice of creative writing at Harvard, spoke to an almost fully packed Salomon 101 Monday night. In the one-hour lecture, titled “Breaking Form,” Cole read excerpts and showed photographs from his book, “Blind Spot.” He also talked through some of his critiques from “On Photography,” his column at the New York Times Magazine.

Cole acknowledged that his work crosses a variety of subjects, from art and photography to politics and writing. He first displayed “Blind Spot,” a photobook that shows “what words might have to say to pictures.” The book contains 150 photographs with texts that represent “voice overs” adjacent to the visual work, Cole said.

Students and other members of the Providence community experienced » See COLE, page 3

LILLY NGUYEN / HERALD

A packed Salomon Center heard photography critic Teju Cole discuss photos he has critiqued for the New York Times Magazine.

Course explores intersection of art, medicine Hay Library invites class of

2021 to explore collections

Illustration course aims to help future physicians explain medical concepts to patients

Family weekend events hope to encourage student engagement with wideranging collections

By RAHMA IBRAHIM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As a practicing physician, Francois Luks, professor of surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology at the Alpert Medical School, regularly used drawings to illustrate complicated medical concepts to his patients. After noticing his talents, a medical student approached him and asked him to teach a course on the intersection of drawing and the medical practice.

Today, Luks and his co-teacher Emily Slapin, a teacher with the Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education Program, offer PLME 0400: “Introduction to Medical Illustration,” a course that teaches the history of drawing in the field and focuses on how to draw important medical concepts. The course is offered to medical students as well as undergraduates.

Previous seminars and workshops » See COURSE, page 2

INSIDE

By REBECCA WOLFSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF FRANCOIS LUKS

Francois Luks’ course has inspired similar offerings around the country in the small but growing discipline of medical illustration.

The John Hay Library held an open house for sophomores in the Lownes Room this past Friday. The room featured a variety of items drawn from the Hay’s major collections to showcase the manifold subject interests attended to by the library. “(We based) the display on items appraised on ‘Antiques Roadshow,’” said Ann Dodge, the reader services librarian. “We went through their archives (to see) what we have that they appraised. It turned out to be a beautiful cross-section of the collections.”

Some of the items displayed at the open house include a daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe, early texts from the Church of Latter Day Saints, poems by Phillis Wheatley, selected comics and more.

“There’s an absurd amount of wild

stuff, like a color book; someone wanted a visual guide to every single color and you flip through and see the rainbow, which is so cool,” said Shira Buchsbaum ’19 who serves as the special collections assistant for the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays and is a former Herald reporter.

The Hay opted to deliberately gear this open house toward sophomores.

“First-years at this time are still getting settled and aren’t necessarily thinking about long-term research projects in the future,” Buchsbaum said. “Juniors and seniors may have already taken up research, so sophomore year is a prime time to catch students who are already settled at Brown and may be looking for more academically-oriented projects but aren’t quite sure where to start.”

Additionally, students who attended the Hay’s open house during Senior Week have expressed certain regret.

“One of the comments we always hear was ‘I wish I had known about all this cool stuff when I was still a student,’” Dodge said. “We’ve been trying to find ways to bring in more first-years and » See HAY, page 3

WEATHER

TUESDAY, OC TOBER 16, 2018

ARTS & CULTURE Panel composed of graduate students, professors discusses film “Crazy Rich Asians”

ARTS & CULTURE UK indie rock band, Slowdive, celebrates 25th anniversary of seminal album, “Souvlaki”

COMMENTARY Locke P’18: SUGSE, AFT must respect Pre-Election agreement before unionization vote

COMMENTARY Friedman ‘19: New luxury apartment building satisfactory, but not perfect housing option

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NEWS

PAGE 2 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» COURSE, from page 1 focused on the intersection of medicine and humanities, but none focused exclusively on medical illustration. The concept of a medical illustration course is a novel one to many; there are only four accredited medical illustration programs in the United States. When Luks presented the course concept to the Association of Medical Illustrators, an organization that brings together experts in the field, many audience members were inspired by his talk and sought to start their own courses. At the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, for example, medical illustrators had hoped to develop a similar course but hadn’t yet started. Following Luks’ presentation, they plan to initiate a related concept at their institution.

Since its conception, the course has evolved to provide students with greater exposure to the field of medical illustration. Originally, the course was offered as a workshop but was eventually expanded into a preclinical elective for first- and second-year medical students. Hoping to expand the class even further, Luks contacted administrators at RISD and eventually partnered with Slapin, who focuses on the drawing aspects of the course.

Together, the two have lengthened the course to a full semester and allowed PLME students and other undergraduates the chance to enroll starting last year.

By offering the course to undergraduates, Luks and Slapin are trying to open up students’ minds to other careers. For medical students, the course is intended to develop their nonverbal communication and analytical skills as prospective physicians. “Big words often don’t work, and drawing helps a lot,” Luks said.

Often there are barriers between a physician and a patient in terms of education level, language and other factors, and being able to draw can

COURTESY OF FRANCOIS LUKS

improve communication. Additionally, developing drawing skills pushes a person to pick out the most important concepts and analyze topics from different angles, Luks said. Luks dubs this way of thinking as the “Ikea model”: concise, simplistic drawings that can be understood by people regardless of background, similar to the way that Ikea instructions are easy to follow, he described.

While Luks and Slapin developed

a passion for art early on, they emphasize that confidence in one’s drawing abilities is not important for enrollment. In fact, only approximately “half of students enrolled in the course have had any art education,” Luks said. The students are given individual feedback on their drawings and generally improve their drawing skills by the end of the course.

This fall, the course has had students spend half of class time at RISD

studios with models, “so it was more hands-on, which I think rounds the course out a bit,” Slapin said. The hands-on experience helps students grasp the material better, she added.

Students are thankful for the course and have responded to surveys positively. Sophia Sung ’19, who previously took the course, said that she decided to enroll “to learn more about the intersection of art and medicine while getting the opportunity to

reconnect with art.” She now wants to continue delving into the field of medical illustration by applying concepts she learned to her future work. Juliana Kim ’20, also a previous student, said the course “made me realize that … my two interests (in art and science) did not necessarily conflict. It was an incredible experience, uniting my scientific and artistic side in such a physical way.”

COURTESY OF FRANCOIS LUKS

COURTESY OF FRANCOIS LUKS

COURTESY OF FRANCOIS LUKS

NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018 • PAGE 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

» COLE, from page 1 the book visually and auditorily as he literally “voiced over” his photographs that were displayed in a slideshow. The texts varied in length, cadance and origin. For one photo, Cole hummed a song on stage and for another, he even inserted a line from poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

He noted that in his writing process, he tries to find “three or four far-fetched things that have relationships with each other.”

The title “Blind Spot” refers to when Cole had papillophlebitis — otherwise known as big blind spot syndrome—which obstructed his vision. The problem was fixed, but ever since, he said his photography has become calmer.

After presenting on the book, Cole described his work as a photography critic. It takes Cole two weeks to write a critique, a process he labels

as “exhausting.” He showed the audience various photographs he has reviewed, including one of a West African woman with a caption of “‘Je veux être seule,’’ meaning “I want to be alone” in English. In his review for the Times, he wrote that the caption suggests the woman “has decided her own image.”

Santiago Wilson Heredia ’22 came to the talk because “as an aspiring writer, I was curious to see if I could learn something to help improve my own writing,” he said.

The talk was presented by The Department of Visual Art and supported by the Department of Africana Studies, Brown Arts Initiative, Cogut Institute for the Humanities, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Program in Literary Arts, Department of Modern Culture and Media and the Mollie D. Manneville Lectureship Fund, according to its Facebook page.

» HAY, from page 1 sophomores to get them to feel like the collections in the Hay are for them.”

The items appeal to a broad range of interests.

“I’m interested in conducting research at some point, and I thought it would be a good idea to familiarize myself with the objects that Brown has,” said Rohan Dalvi ’21. “I’m interested in history and find primary sources from past ages really interesting to look at.”

As part of Family Weekend, the Hay is hosting an event similar to the open house Friday, Oct. 19 called “You Saw It on Antiques Roadshow,” which will run from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Lownes Room on the second floor. The Hay usually conducts an event for Family Weekend, and this year they plan to display selected comics that are also displayed on “Antiques Roadshow.” Six comics will

be displayed, two from each of the following series: “Black Panther,” “X-Men” and “Icon.”

“We are promoting these (comics) because they’re not only really interesting, but they’re promoting women of color,” said Jordan Jancosek, special collections survey librarian and curator for the comic book collection. “We are currently expanding the collection to include comics that are more representative of the world around us — more people of color, women, LGBTQ+ community, New England and Providence comics too.”

The John Hay Comic Book Collection comprises roughly 60,000 comics and is free and open to the public.

“If you’re interested in the material, there is definitely some unexpected stuff (at the Hay) and even if you’re not, then you might discover something that you find interesting,” Dalvi said. “It might

lead you down some path, so it’s always good to explore new things.”

“The Hay is a really special place (though it) can come off as intimidating and imposing,” Buchsbaum said. “I really encourage students to come inside and request materials even if you aren’t necessarily pursuing a research project; anything you can think of, we probably have a book or game or figurine or something related to it, and you can request it and look at it and feel invigorated that Brown has access to it.”

The Hay maintains a variety of programming, complementing “You Saw It on Antiques Roadshow” with such exhibits as “The Poetry of Science: Dante’s Comedy and the Crafting of a Cosmos” and “The Brown Bear: A History” as well as “Blooming in the Noise of the Whirlwind: Women Poets from the Harris Collection,” which will open Oct. 22 and be on display at the Hay until Dec. 17.

MAX DEKLE / HERALD

Mark Seto will lead the orchestra’s first concert of the semester Oct 21. and 22. He comes to the University from Connecticut College.

» SETO, from page 1

by Carlos Chávez — an early 20th century Mexican composer — and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. It’s a study in contrast because the pieces come out of very different cultural traditions, but what attracted me to the pairing was that both of the works juxtapose folklore and traditional elements with bracing modernity. They also have this incredible range of capturing human experience from the deepest sorrow to unbridled exuberance.

Last year the orchestra faced several challenges in terms of the conductor being relieved of his duties due to general dissatisfaction. Have these disruptions affected you in any way?

I can’t speak directly to how things were prior to when I came here. What I can say is that there’s been a real sense of excitement of being able to start a new chapter in the orchestra’s history. We have an incredibly large and talented cohort of first year students. To be able to write this new chapter with a lot of students who are new to Brown is really exciting.

What is your vision for the orchestra?

I think any orchestra, and particularly an orchestra that is embedded in a university community, is a space that can really bring together different constituencies. On the one hand, it’s a place where people who are already involved with music can find a place to work together, … but it’s also a space where we can bring together other parts

of campus. One of my aspirations is to engage in some form of collaboration with other departments or programs and partnerships with other organizations in the Providence and the wider community. I think that an orchestra, by virtue of its scale and the breadth of what you can do with it, is perfectly situated to do that kind of work.

Is there an event planned for the orchestra that you are particularly looking forward to?

In the spring we are going to be working with a Syrian clarinetist and composer named Kinan Azmeh, who has performed with the Silkroad Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma. He’s going to be working with a number of different groups on campus, but we’re going to be performing his clarinet concerto — which is actually still in the process of being written. It will be the East Coast premiere of the concerto because he’s doing the first concerts in February with the Seattle Symphony and then he’s coming to Providence and we’ll be performing it the next month, which is exciting.

What are a few fun facts about you?

My claim to pop culture fame is that I was actually on screen in the first season of “Mozart in the Jungle.” The orchestra that I worked with in New York provided a lot of the on-screen orchestra for that show. I was only in the first season because I happened to be on sabbatical that semester, but it’s fun to be able to say I was a part of that.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

REBECCA WOLFSON / HERALD

The John Hay Comic Book Collection includes roughly 60,000 comics viewable by request and is currently expanding its offerings. Six comics will be displayed during Family Weekend.

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ARTS & CULTURE PAGE 4 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

University panel discusses film “Crazy Rich Asians”

COURTESY OF MTV INTERNATIONAL

Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Gemma Chan (left to right, above) starred in the film “Crazy Rich Asians,” which was the subject of a University panel last week. Professors and graduate students discussed how wealth, class and ethnicity were depicted in the film, a romantic comedy that has sparked discussion since its release.

Professors, graduate students talk racial, social representations featured in the film

By DIVYA MANIAR SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The film “Crazy Rich Asians” has sparked discussions since its release. In efforts to create a space for open dialogue on how the film impacts and portrays both Asian American and wider Asian communities, the South East Asian Studies Initiative, Brown University Merlions, the East Asian Studies Departmental Undergraduate Group and Ethnic Studies DUG co-sponsored a panel and critical discussion forum held last Thursday in List Auditorium. Panelists included a selection of professors and graduate students.

“The movie raised a lot of points of discussion for students and the public at large about the role of South East Asia, media images of Asians and (media portrayals of) Asian Americans,” said

Quinton Huang ’19, senior advisor at SEASI and an organizer of the event.

“It’s a very meaningful discussion for people to have.”

Visiting Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies Ellie Choi opened the panel with a “postcolonial, transnational read” of the film and critiqued the work’s skewed portrayal of class. As the title suggests, “Crazy Rich Asians” generally depicts the “very, very wealthy,” she said.

Associate Professor of American Studies Robert Lee also commented on the film’s emphasis on wealth. There was a “vacuousness in the ostentatious abundance” portrayed in the movie, Lee said. He also brought up the issue of how the film’s genre should be perceived: “It’s not a documentary, not a drama. … It’s a basic rom-com,” he said.

In a similar vein, graduate student panelist Mark Tseng-Putterman GS, a doctoral student in American Studies, said there were “impossible standards placed on ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’” especially with regard to representation, as there is more pressure for the film to be representative of the Asian American

experience because of how rarely these stories are portrayed in Hollywood. “We feel deprived and must fight to tell our own stories,” he said.

“That pressure and that expectation have been partially generated by the marketing strategy of the film itself,” Tseng-Putterman said. He continued to criticize the formation of a “movement” around the film, and asked “what it means, in this moment of political crisis for so many immigrant and refugee communities, that the most visible Asian American movement has been to funnel money into the pockets of Warner Brothers.”

Ruby Thiagarajan GS, graduate student in Public Humanities, brought a Singaporean perspective to the panel.

She said that the film resonated with Asian Americans’ “desire to see themselves as characters that can exist outside of their race.” She questioned why a movie about the Asian American experience had to be told in Asia.

“Asian Americans exist in America, but it seems like the … entertainment industry doesn’t let them get past their

Asianness,” she said.

She brought up “the differences between thinking about Asian audiences and Asian American audiences,” and stated that her experience watching the movie in Singapore was very different than what it would have been watching it in the United States. She highlighted various “missteps” that take place during the film and focused on the issue of the “fabrication of Chineseness” in Singapore. Scenes like the folding of dumplings in the Young household and gambling in mah-jong parlours “would make sense to a Chinese-diasporic imagination, but is not really based on the reality of Singapore.”

This depiction of Singapore raises questions about representation. “If this film is billed as a success for Asian representation in Hollywood, what does it mean if Asian representation means (only) Asian American representation?”

Thiagarajan asked the audience. “Singapore joins a long list of countries that have been grossly misrepresented by Hollywood,” she added.

Audience questions both supported

and challenged the opinions of the panelists. An audience member spoke about the lack of South and Southeast Asian representation in the movie. Despite the fact that Singapore is a multiethnic state, the film lacked ethnic diversity. “I’m a Singaporean Indian and Singapore is not completely Chinese,” Thiagarajan said in response to this point. “I do think that it’s an important question to ask. … The little Indian and South Asian representation you do get in the movie is incredibly racist,” she continued. Other questions posed by audience members grappled with racial representation, the biases of the media industry at large and the capitalist ideas embedded in the film’s narrative.

At the event, attendees stayed after to ask questions, speak to the panelists and engage in conversations among themselves. “This discussion isn’t limited to this panel, but is something we will all continue,” Huang said.

Huang hopes that more events like this will be held through the sponsoring DUGs and student initiatives. “Students want to have these discussions,” he said.

TODAY

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018 • PAGE 5

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Little figurines lined up against a shop’s window off of College St. peer out eagerly in anticipation of families and friends arriving on campus next weekend for the University’s Family Weekend.

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

“It was an incredible experience, uniting my scientific and artistic side in such a physical way.”

— Juliana Kim ‘20

See course on PAGE 1.

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Study Abroad 101 Information Session 12:00 P.M. Page-Robinson, 440

Graduate Student WalkIn Hours 3:00 P.M. CareerLAB, 1st Floor

The Swedish Program Information Session 4:00 P.M. Page-Robinson, 440

How to Find and Fund an Internship Workshop 6:00 P.M. CareerLAB, 1st Floor

TOMORROW Unfinished Business: Civil Rights Movement 10:00 A.M. Nightingale-Brown House

Passport Day at the OIP 1:00 P.M. Page-Robinson, 411

GLISP Information Session 3:00 P.M. Page-Robinson, 440

Macro Seminar - Tarek Hassan 4:00 P.M. Robinson Hall, 301

COMMENTARY PAGE 6 • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018

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COMMENTARY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018 • PAGE 7

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SUGSE, AFT: Live up to the Pre-Election Agreement RICHARD LOCKE op-ed contributor Truth. Respect. Fairness. A climate that supports the free exchange of ideas without fear of harassment or intimidation. These are the University’s values. It is precisely these values that have guided the University’s actions since the August 2016 National Labor Relations Board decision granting graduate students at private colleges and universities who serve as teaching or research assistants the right to decide whether or not to unionize. And so I am deeply concerned to hear members of our community share accounts of being pressured and harassed during a time of important conversation about graduate student unionization.

Though the University’s primary relationship with graduate students is as students — this is how we admit, recruit and train them — we have been consistent in our compliance with the NLRB ruling and have supported the right of graduate students to make this important decision for themselves. The University student group Stand Up for Graduate Student Employees and the American Federation of Teachers are leading the unionization effort, and we have worked directly with them to advance

the goal of student choice and to reduce the polarization that we have seen on other campuses.

Our values of truth, respect, fairness and free choice have shaped the June 21, 2018 University-Union Conduct Rules Pre-Election Agreement.

Among the stipulations in the agreement is a commitment to mutual respect and prohibitions against harass-

and thus I am disappointed to share that we have received multiple reports from students complaining of harassment by representatives of SUGSE and AFT. The graduate students who wrote complained of union organizers making blatantly false claims and employing tactics of harassment and intimidation. One student wrote to express concerns about “the aggres-

tempted to misconstrue the contents of a document they had asked me to sign. I was unhappy with the way this was handled and felt tricked.” There were other reports, but those students have not given me permission to share their accounts because they fear reprisal.

While some of this behavior can be expected over the course of a

Graduate students deserve to know the facts as they deliberate whether or not to form a union, and they also deserve the respect to make this important decision free of intimidation and harassment.

ing or intimidating behavior by either University or union representatives.

We also created an online form for students to report any incidents of University or union member conduct that may violate these community standards. We want students to feel fully supported and to know the facts as they prepare for a vote.

Every member of our community has a role in upholding these values,

sive approach used by SUGSE representatives to persuade graduate students to vote in favor of unionization,” noting that his fellow students had been “peer-pressured into signing a commitment card and taking a photo of them showing words of support for unionization.” Another wrote that he was “misled by student union representatives and national chapter union representatives this summer; they at-

normal unionization campaign, the whole purpose of our Pre-Election Agreement was to prevent precisely this type of behavior — these violations of our community standards.

We have communicated our concerns to SUGSE and AFT and have taken action to exclude from campus one particular AFT organizer whose egregious behavior was reported more than once.

These tactics by SUGSE and AFT are unnecessary and unacceptable.

Graduate students deserve to know the facts as they deliberate whether or not to form a union, and they also deserve the respect to make this important decision free of intimidation and harassment. The University remains committed to doing everything possible to ensure that members of the community, and in particular eligible graduate students, are informed about issues related to graduate student unionization and can discuss and debate these issues openly.

Students are empowered on our campus to take action, and we encourage graduate students to know the details of our faculty conduct guidelines and Pre-Election Agreement, as well as to use the incident report form available on the resources section of the Be Informed website to report any concerns related to University or union member conduct. Let’s all recommit to upholding our shared values as we head toward an election that will determine whether or not graduate students join a union.

Provost Richard Locke P’18 can be reached richard_locke@ brown.edu. Please send responses to this op-ed to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

Edge College Hill is not perfect — just pragmatic ANDREW FRIEDMAN staff columnist

If you’re a sophomore or a junior, you’re probably already in the process of looking for a place to live next year. The current state of apartment hunting in Providence is reminiscent of the recruiting cycle — it happens earlier and earlier every year, and chances are that all of your friends signed last week. It’s time for you to pick up the pieces, but all of your options are overpriced and involve walls with peeling paint. Luckily, there is Edge College Hill II, that new luxury apartment tower going up near the Rhode Island School of Design — if you’re breaking the bank on this apartment, it might as well be worth it, right?

Well, according to multiple prominent local advocacy groups, two city councilors-elect and an incumbent city councilwoman, by doing so, you would be implicated in a morally degenerate operation that prioritizes rich students over low-income residents. Wow, having principles sucks sometimes, doesn’t it? Guess the stuffy, reclaimed attic unit with no windows just won your housing lottery, whether you like it or not.

Forgive my sarcasm, but I believe the scenario I described is somewhat accurate. Student housing is a perennial problem for multiple parties — the University, the City of Providence, community groups and, of course, students. For the University (specifically, the Office of Residential Life), student housing is a lose-lose situation. The University is required to provide housing, yet doing so is unprofitable and a frequent point of criticism — taking the proverbial dump on ResLife has been a rite of passage for

Herald opinions writers for a while. The City of Providence attempts to balance multiple interests, such as providing affordable housing as dictated by its Comprehensive Plan, providing legal housing for students, promoting investment in the city and making money from taxes. It’s hard to satisfy one interest without compromising another. Community groups, namely Direct Action for Rights and Equality, want city funds to be repurposed for low-income housing. And students want a nice place to live that doesn’t break the bank. The city, whose regulations determine what actually happens, is stuck between a rock and a hard place, and its decision to provide Edge College Hill’s developers a tax break

student housing or new Brown and RISD student housing buildings that are exempt from property taxes — the City Council’s decision doesn’t seem so bad. If anything, the Edge apartments may siphon business from the 257 Thayer complex and similar offerings in the area, lowering the overall price for student housing by introducing competitive new supply. The city clearly has a lot to gain from the deal.

What the city has to lose is its reputation, which is currently being challenged by DARE. In a letter written to the City Council after the tax agreement vote, DARE criticized the city for diverting funds from public works (such as repairs to roadways and schools, recreational pro-

The $40,000 collected per year from the current parking lot cannot compare with the millions the city will gain per year from the Edge building. does not deserve the criticism it has received.

The Providence City Council recently approved a tax agreement that saves the developer of the 163-unit apartment building $19 million over 20 years. Evidently, the city council decided to solve the city investment, student housing and tax revenue problems at the expense of the affordable housing one. Its logic makes sense. According to City Council Majority Leader, John Igliozzi, the building’s tax revenue — even with the tax agreement — far exceeds the $40,000 per year the city was receiving from the parking lot currently there. In all seriousness, the developers would likely not have constructed Edge College Hill II without a tax incentive. Given the alternatives the city faced — likely, overcrowded

grams) and negotiating a bad deal with the developers, and instead suggests that City Council implement “real” affordable housing, inclusionary zoning laws and local hiring. This criticism is flawed because it is near-sighted. First of all, by negotiating a deal with the developers, the city acquired a new source of revenue that it will then be able to repurpose for public works.

The $40,000 collected per year from the current parking lot — though it may not “take resources away from our communities” — cannot compare with the millions the city will gain per year from the Edge building. Why have less money when you can have more? It’s not like this approach to development in the city is without precedent: The Providence Place Mall is still reaping the

benefits of a 30-year property tax abatement negotiated after its construction. It seems that a 20year agreement is simply the going rate.

On the other hand, the letter’s policy suggestions are compelling, and this building will probably introduce gentrification-related problems.

The city currently does not have an inclusionary zoning clause in its zoning ordinance despite professing its commitment to affordable housing at multiple points in its current Comprehensive Plan. The building may also raise overall prices in the Canal Street area to a level that will price-out some existing residents, an equity issue that the city will have a tough time addressing. Either it will have to intervene through rent control or public housing — both of which fail often since landlords and the government have little financial incentive to maintain their properties, and public housing often isolates its residents financially and socially. Though nonprofit intervention could also remediate the problem, the city has little control over deciding whether an altruist ultimately intervenes. Providence may not have the right answer here, but I don’t think any U.S. city does either.

In short, the city is doing the best it can with the tools at its disposal. Though the current solution isn’t perfect, it is the best one out a short list of options. Students should not have to feel bad about themselves for choosing to live in Edge, and the city should not feel bad for allowing it to happen either.

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

ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018

Slowdive’s “Souvlaki” celebrates 25 years of influence on indie rock Etheral sonics remain height of shoegaze, influence continues despite initial criticism

By KATHERINE OK STAFF WRITER

English indie band Slowdive celebrates the 25th anniversary of their seminal 1993 LP “Souvlaki” this year. The shoegaze project — comprising Rachel Goswel, Neil Halstead, Simon Scott, Nick Chaplin and Christian Savill — released “Souvlaki” on the coattails of their 1991 debut “Just For a Day,” which only anticipated the autumnal, leveling sonics of “Souvlaki” that have since become indelibly embedded in listeners’ minds and shoegaze bands’ soundscapes. Twenty-five years later, the album still dreamily haunts audiences.

It’s difficult to not praise Slowdive’s ability to weave narcotic compositions of droning guitar riffs, far away vocals

and swirling melodies. In the dreamy realm of shoegaze, what canonical band My Bloody Valentine bleeds, Slowdive melts and evaporates. Rachel Goswell’s hazy, drifting vocals layering on top of Neil Halstead’s drowned voice in “40 Days” envelops the audience in the midst of sweeping guitar reverb. And in “Alison,” the album’s opening track, Slowdive instills in listeners a sense of evanescent beauty and simultaneous loss with introspective, wavering lyrics and noise: Halstead somberly sings “Alison, I said we’re sinking / But you laugh and tell me it’s just fine / I guess she’s out there somewhere.” These escapist words and sounds are enough to enchant any weepy, angst-ridden teenager looking out the window on public transportation — it’s just a fact.

And despite the album’s penchant to charm indie kids all over the world, “Souvlaki” is still considered the crown jewel and bastion of the dream-pop, shoegaze genre by any music fan or critic. Inspired by David Bowie’s “Low,” Aphex Twin and Joy Division, and

partially produced by musical legend Brian Eno, Slowdive’s second release is deeply beloved for its timeless quality, which evokes the universality of pure, unadultered emotion. Magazines and publications like Pitchfork, Paste and AllMusic now unequivocally name “Souvlaki” as a definitive statement in music — not just shoegaze, but history.

But “Souvlaki” was not always well received by critics. This initial pushback — and subsequent critical reapprisal — are parts of the album’s history that are deeply ingrained into the album’s legacy and mythos. Upon the album’s release in 1993, Melody Maker writer Dave Simpson commented, “I would rather drown choking in a bath full of porridge than ever listen to it again,” and Slowdive, as well as shoegaze broadly construed, failed to compete with American grunge and Britpop, leading to the band being dropped by their label in 1995 after their third release. In the 90s, Slowdive represented a foggy, lush voice in a sea of hook-andmelody, and they quickly fell out of the

music scene after refusing to create a pop album.

Something happened, though, and Slowdive’s “Souvlaki” grew to become a superstar revival of 90s shoegaze. Featured in many retrospective reviews, the album quickly gained critical acclaim and a cult following, and it’s easy to understand why. As in most cases of critical reapprisal, the exact causes informing critics’ revised embrace of Slowdive remain indeterminate. The momentum generated by more positive revisionist reviews published after Slowdive’s breakup could simply be a product of capricious music reviewers, whose role is constantly guided by a certain arbitrariness. At any rate, it’s clear from YouTube lyrics videos collated by sixteen-year-olds with 90’s retroactive nostalgia that Slowdive has taken hold of the popular consciousness, with bands like M83, Deafheaven and countless others still echoing Slowdive’s dream-pop wall of sound.

One of the words most frequently associated with Slowdive is “dream,”

as evidenced by the dream-pop genre commonly conflated with the band.

There is something so unnatural, yet natural, in the band’s presentation of ethereal noise. “Souvlaki Space Station” is beautifully impressionistic in its experimental riffs and vague vocals; it flourishes and blossoms in a way that cannot be described except as “dream-like,” to the chagrin of critics who chastize the dream-pop’s genre’s lazy evasiveness. Tracks like “Dagger” and “When the Sun Hits” dually wield a dangerous sense of melodic optimism with soundscapes of melancholy, demonstrating Slowdive’s sinister yet celestial ability to concoct toppling atmospheres.

“Souvlaki” is the album upon a hill, blending a perfect combination of pop and shoegaze. Slowdive perfected shoegaze’s scope and capacity for pop sensitivity without the usual saccharine quality. It presents sound without edge, it’s hypnotic, it takes its time. Twentyfive years later, “Souvlaki” can continue to dizzy us in a sublime, lucid dream.