February 15, 2018

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Thursday February 15, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 9

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NJ maintains ban on gas self-service BEYOND THE BUBBLE

ON CAMPUS

CLAIRE THORNTON :: PRINCETONIAN HEAD NEWS EDITOR

Members of Real Food Co-op eating Asian-Style vegan black bean burgers on Feb. 14

Co-op enrollment increases Since 2017, the number of University food co-ops — dining options in which students buy groceries, cook in small teams, and have evening meals together as a group — has increased. There are currently five University-recognized co-ops: 2 Dickinson Street (2D), Brown, International Food (IFC), Scully Co-op, and Real Food, as well as one unrecognized co-op, Pink House.

With the addition of Scully Co-op in September 2017, the total spots available in co-ops increased by 37 percent. The opening of Pink House

further increased the number of open spaces.

2D, a vegetarian and vegan co-op founded in the fall of 1977, is the largest co-op on campus, attracting 48 to 50 students each semester. Dues of $600, paid upfront every semester, allow students to rotate cooking seven dinners each week and brunch on the weekends.

Brown, founded in 1994, has 30 students, approximately 15 juniors and 15 seniors. Dues are slightly cheaper than 2D’s, at $500 per semester, which includes dinner every night, Sunday brunch, and access to the kitchen 24/7 for breakfast and lunch. Since 15 to 20 percent of Brown

OBITUARY

ON CAMPUS

By Isabel Ting New Jersey is the only remaining state where it is illegal for customers to pump their own gas.

By Sarah W. Hirschfield and Allie Spensley Associate News Editors

New Jersey is now the last state in the nation in which drivers are not allowed to pump their own gasoline around the clock.

The state’s self-service gas station ban dates back to 1949, when the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act was passed due to concerns about the safety of consumers pumping petroleum themselves.

While other states initially had similar laws, by the late 1970s Oregon and New Jersey were the only states not to revoke the ban. In January, Oregon overturned its law, leaving the Garden State as the sole holdover.

The Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act has faced a number of legal challenges over the decades but to no avail.

Recently, state senators introduced new legislation that would allow selfservice. Former governor Chris Christie made selfservice one of his campaign comprises, only to backtrack after facing public disapproval, according to the New York Times.

Ashley Koning, the director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said that pollsters have long found heavy opposition to self-pumping in New Jersey, especially among subgroups such as women and the elderly.

“Pumping your own gas is definitely an unpopular opinion in New Jersey. It’s kind of a third rail of Garden State politics where it’s just too controversial to even touch,” Koning said. “Any politician coming out in favor of it would probably be doing a big disservice to themselves.”

Declan J. O’Scanlon, a New Jersey assemblyman and incumbent state senator, is one of the few New Jersey politicians who supports self-service. In a New York Times article, he stated that he regularly breaks the law in New Jersey to pump his own gas.

In Opinion

According to a poll of New Jersey adults from the Eagleton Center, 72 percent of respondents prefer to have their gas pumped for them, while 20 percent preferred to pump gas themselves. In addition, 84 percent of women preferred full service compared to 59 percent of men.

In an article about gasoline stations in New Jersey and Oregon, Monmouth University economics professor Robert Scott III found that selfservice bans can benefit the elderly and disabled, and reduce the instances of drivers stealing gas, or “gas-and-dash.”

When Oregon revoked their ban on self-service in January, many drivers were left confused or angry over the policy change.

“It was utter chaos. No one knew what the hell they were doing,” said Mason Cox ’20, from Albany, Oregon.

The internet and media tended to ridicule Oregonians’ reactions to the new law; one article in Forbes Magazine ran under the headline “Oregon’s Freak-Out Over Pumping Your Own Gas Shows Why Many Dumb Regulations Still Exist.” However, Koning explained that the law banning self-service in New Jersey is not taken lightly by voters and the industries involved.

“As much as we joke about and have fun and play with the issue, it’s a really big, important, contentious issue,” she said.

Koning, who is from New Jersey, said that the long dedication to fullservice makes New Jersey unique compared to other states.

“It’s a source of pride for New Jersey and it’s definitely one of the things Jersey is known for,” she said.

“It gives a lot of people jobs who otherwise wouldn’t have [them] and it helps our economy in that way and makes it easier and faster,” added Taylor Mills ‘20, from Lawrence Township, NJ.

Contributing columnist Aparna Shankar raises caution against the teaching of positive psychology and Elizabeth Cobb ‘99 criticizes Professor Rouse. PAGE 4

Assistant News editor

Remembering Prof. Anne Treisman

members are vegetarian, Brown is conscious about keeping the meals at least partially vegetarian.

IFC, founded in 2009, expects its 20 members to pay $500 in dues each semester. Since three of the current members are vegetarians, IFC is also conscious of preparing vegetarian dishes, which are often also gluten-free and vegan. Gluten-free rice is served nearly every day.

Real Food, founded in the fall of 2014, has 24 students, and its dues are $200 per semester. Vegetarian meals are served four to five nights a week, since a large portion of members are vegetarians See CO-OP page 2

By Audrey Spensley Associate News Editors

Anne Treisman, a prominent figure in the field of cognitive studies, was known for her work on visual attention, object perception, and memory. Treisman, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, died on Feb. 9 due to a stroke following an extended illness. She was 82 years old.

Treisman taught at the University from 1993 to 2010. Her work examined the complex processes by which our brains turn information into meaningful objects. Treisman’s work has appeared in over 80 academic articles, and her papers on attention have collectively been cited more than 8,300 times.

In 1980, Treisman and colleague Garry Gelade co-authored an influential article establishing their feature integration theory, which proposes that the brain first automatically registers the features of an object before processing the object as an integrated whole.

Brought up in Kent, England, Treisman began her academic career at the University of Cambridge, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in medieval lanSee TREISMAN page 2

IMAGE COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Bolden was the first African-American to head NASA on a permenent basis, and piloted Space Shuttle Columbia.

NASA Administrator discusses space exploration

By Nick Shashkini Contributor

Former NASA administrator Charles F. Bolden gave an open lecture about human space exploration.

Bolden, the first permanent African American administrator at NASA, discussed both his experience at the agency and the future of space travel and research.

“I’m a little intimidat-

Today on Campus 12:30 p.m.: Toby Kiers presents Plant-Microbial Symbioses and Environmental Change. Guyot Hall, Room 10

ed to uphold the legacy of previous speakers,” said Bolden as he began his presentation. The 12th NASA administrator then kicked off by discussing the possibility of intelligent life existing elsewhere in the universe, a question which, according to Bolden, concerns us all.

Although the cutting edge of space exploration See NASA page 2

WEATHER

IMAGE COURTESY OF PEXELS.COM

HIGH

63˚

LOW

55˚

Cloudy chance of rain:

10 percent

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The Daily Princetonian

Thursday February 15, 2018

Five U.-recognized co-ops see two percent increase in members CO-OP

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and vegans.

Scully Co-op has 35 members and costs $650 per semester. Meals are varied but always include vegetarian options.

Members receive seven dinners, two weekend brunches, and 24-hour access to the kitchen and groceries.

Pink House, which is affiliated with Forbes Residential College, accommodates 10 students who live in the house.

Members of Pink House’s food co-op did not respond to the Prince’s inquiries about the total number of co-op members beyond the 10 members who live in the house.

Former administrator Bolden: We come to work because we love it NASA

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was the talk’s central topic, Bolden’s discussion of the power of space travel and science to inspire and unite people across the world also resonated with the audience.

He recalled images of people across the world watching the Apollo 11 moon landing and told stories of Soviet scientists congratulating their American counterparts in official state journals.

Bolden also suggested that the 2012 Curiosity Rover landing on Mars had a similar impact on the world. He spoke in glowing terms about the International Space Station, suggesting that the project should be considered for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Afterwards, he elaborated on NASA’s direction for the next half century.

He discussed President Obama’s plan for humanity to “advance into the solar system - this time to stay.” According to him, the plan is to reach Mars by 2030 by working with “more nontraditional partners around the world,” including commercial companies. He

touted the agency’s financial stability as well as the upcoming launch of the James Webb Telescope, slated for 2019.

Finally, he offered his take on the future of the world, claiming to be optimistic humanity’s future. He cited technological improvements, such as advancements in aviation, which will allow for much faster travel. Bolden is confident of the world’s ability to handle climate change and pollution, mentioning current advances in water purification and “green” aviation.

A graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School, Bolden was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980 and first f lew in 1986. He has spent over 680 hours in space, and is a veteran of four space missions. After his career as astronaut, he was nominated by Obama as the 12th administrator of NASA in 2009. He resigned on January 19, 2017 as per precedent.

The lecture, entitled “Humanity’s Exploration: A Conversation with Charlie Bolden,” was a part of the Gilbert Lecture Series.

It took place in the Lewis Auditorium at Robertson Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 4:30 p.m.

Psych professor published 80 academic articles TREISMAN Continued from page 1

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guages and literature.

However, when she was offered a postgraduate fellowship to study French poetry, she asked if she could use the fellowship money for a second undergraduate degree in psychology instead.

It was a decision which soon altered her career and life.

“My French supervisors were horrified,” stated Treisman in an autobiographical text. “I remember one of them saying, “‘But that’s all about rats in mazes!’ I said I thought that rats could be interesting, and my request was granted.”

Treisman went on to conduct graduate research at the University of Oxford, earning her Ph.D. in 1962 for a thesis titled “Selective Attention and Speech Perception.” She held teaching positions at Oxford, the University of British Columbia, and UC Berkeley, before joining the University faculty in 1993.

“At the end of the 20th century, psychology was becoming more and more influenced by and integrated with neuroscience,” wrote Treisman, who advocated for the University to buy a MRI machine.

During her seventeen-year career at the University, she also contributed to the development

of the program in cognitive science.

In 2015, an anonymous donor contributed a $10 million gift to the University for the creation of the Daniel Kahneman and Anne Treisman Center for Behavioral Science and Public Policy. Kahneman, Treisman’s husband, was also the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, and a professor of psychology and public affairs, emeritus.

“A great scientist has left us.

We are very sad at Anne Treisman’s passing,” stated University public policy professor Betsy Levy Paluck in a tweet which included a photo of Treisman receiving the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest scientific honor, from President Barack Obama in 2013.

In an interview, Treisman stated that the one book all psychologists should read is cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker’s “How the Mind Works.” Pinker tweeted about Treisman’s passing on Feb. 11.

“Cognitive scientists are mourning the passing of one of our greatest, Anne Treisman, a brilliant researcher in vision and attention, and a kind and generous human being,” he wrote.

Treisman is survived by her husband, Kahneman; her children, Jessica, Daniel, Stephen and Deborah; and four granddaughters.

Thursday February 15, 2018

The Daily Princetonian

USG Speed Dating: Students meet the new and returning USG team

page 3

LAZARENA LAZAROVA :: STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of the incoming and outgoing USG teams meet their peers at an inaugural “speed-dating” Valentine’s Day event yesterday. “USG is trying very hard this year to increase transparency with regard to meetings, projects, initiatives, and progress,” said Class of 2020 Senator Kade McCorvy. “This was a great opportunity to get to know the people we’re representing, and hopefully shed some light on the inner workings of Student Government.” McCorvy also serves on the Transparency Task Force.

L O N E LY H E A R T S

MARCIA BROWN :: PRINCETONIAN EDITOR IN CHIEF

Spotted at Brown Dormitory: A lonely squirrel searches for its valentine.

Thursday February 15, 2018

Opinion

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Letter to the Editor: A Challenge to Rouse

P

rofessor Lawrence Rosen’s course ANT 342: Anthropology of Law is the reason I majored in anthropology. He commanded the attention of 200 students as if the class were a five-person seminar. Twenty years later, I still remember the examples he used in class and how excited I felt to have found an intellectual home at the University.

This weekend, a few Princeton friends and I discussed Rosen’s recent use of the n-word in class. We agreed that it is never acceptable for a white person to say this word. One friend observed that, if Rosen’s goal was to ignite debate, he accomplished his goal the first time students reacted to his demonstration of hate speech.

Why did he repeat the slur and why did the students walk out?

Did Rosen adequately acknowledge the power differential between himself and the students? Did he recognize that only a handful of students in the room could understand, could really feel the punch of his words? An anthropologist is required to acknowledge their own position and to put their own power into context.

If students felt disrespected strongly enough to walk out,

was Rosen adhering to this anthropological tenet?

Chair of the Department of Anthropology Carolyn Rouse defends Rosen, saying that his words served a pedagogical purpose. But there is valuable nuance missing from her defense. Professor Rosen’s intent was pedagogical, but his words were experienced by the students as hate speech. Their reactions were not based on a political point of view. They were based on lived experience. Students didn’t feel safe enough to learn from him so, by definition, Rosen’s actions did not educate.

It’s OK to say he made a mistake. It’s possible, even admirable, to defend a person without defending their actions.

I’ve known professor Rosen for twenty years. He’s a wonderful teacher who cares about his students. Young people would be lucky to learn from him, as they have for the past forty years.

Rouse reports that students in previous years didn’t object to Rosen’s use of the word, and she attributes the recent reaction to the current political climate. The current president did bring racism to the fore, but he also kindled resistance.

We don’t know what students

were feeling in previous years.

Maybe they felt just as angry or uncomfortable but didn’t speak up.

Rouse treats the walk-out as a missed opportunity for the students who left. But I believe the real missed opportunity is for the students who stayed. To frame walking out as “not trusting the process” is to make the classroom the colonial center.

Wouldn’t it be more interesting to ask why the remaining students stayed? If a student felt no discomfort from the slur, or found their discomfort tolerable enough to stay, that reveals a degree of privilege. Students who remained in the lecture missed the opportunity to join their fellow students outside the classroom, to be curious about the histories and lived experiences that make this one word so intolerable.

Professor Rouse defends Rosen’s incendiary actions as a flash point for learning to debate legal questions. But expecting the dissenting students to dispassionately debate amid hate speech is tantamount to silencing their experience. Personal experiences inform legal judgments. For example, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ’76 brings to the bench a first-hand understanding of

prejudice. Empathy makes her a more effective judge. Many of Rosen’s students will become lawyers, some of them judges.

Few of them will have endured prejudice. How valuable it would be if these students became anthropologists of their own lives, curious to understand the experiences of others and cultivate empathy.

Reading Rouse’s defense reminded me of a familiar feeling I had at Princeton. Under the guise of intellectual debate, professors and students often made arguments from a privileged vantage point without adequately discussing, or even acknowledging, that other perspectives were right there in the room. It never struck me as intellectual to speak from a privileged perspective. It just felt provincial. This feeling contributed to my experience of “otherness” at Princeton.

The Department of Anthropology was a safe haven, a place that celebrated and engaged dissenting voices. Has that changed?

—Elizabeth Cobb ’99 Elizabeth Cobb is an alumnus of the Class of 1999. She can be reached at lizcobb@alumni.princeton.edu.

vol. cxlii

editor-in-chief

Marcia Brown ’19 business manager

Ryan Gizzie ’19

BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 Kathleen Crown William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Kathleen Kiely ’77 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Lisa Belkin ‘82 Francesca Barber trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73

142ND MANAGING BOARD

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managing editors Isabel Hsu ’19 Claire Lee ’19

Sophia Gavrilenko ’19 ..................................................

head news editors Claire Thornton ’19 Jeff Zymeri ’20 associate news editors Allie Spensley ’20 Audrey Spensley ’20 Ariel Chen ‘20 associate news and film editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 head opinion editor Emily Erdos ’19 associate opinion editors Samuel Parsons ’19 Jon Ort ’21

Aparna Shankar

contributing columnist

T

he notorious Yale psychology course, PSYC 157: Psychology and the Good Life, has swelled to sizes previously unheard of at the college, beating its own record from earlier in the year with 1,147 attendees at most recent count. PSYC 157, not yet blessed with the kind of snappy name Princeton students would undoubtedly have given it (think “Stars for Stoners,“ or, my personal favorite, “Bridges”). But the Yale course promises “psychological insights into how to live a better life and build a better world,“ as well as “scientifically-validated strategies for becoming happier.”

These are lofty claims that raise obvious questions: what kind of psychological insight makes life better?

How is science claiming to cure happiness? Although valid, these are questions that neatly sidestep the underlying quandary that this course, like most other manifestations of positive psychology, truly raises.

What does “better” mean?

What makes one really “happier?” These are questions humanity has grappled with for the better part of its existence, and while I staunchly believe that the answers shall someday be unearthed, I am skeptical that the site of this discovery will be in a lecture hall with nearly 1,200 people.

An obvious barrier, for instance, is the sheer number of students enrolled.

P/D/F-ing Happiness

The lectures themselves are held in Woolsey Hall, built to accommodate the entire class for performances like symphonies, which more commonly attract such large audiences. It requires 24 teaching fellows, drawn from places like Yale’s own graduate schools due to the lack of resources within the psychology department.

This class size creates impersonality that permeates among the course staff and its students, reducing values as deeply personal as self-care and happiness to a traditional lecture giveand-take affair. A lecturer, even one as seemingly loved as professor Laurie Santos, is now empowered to dictate what happiness looks like for about a quarter of the University. The course is designed ostensibly to hand students the reins to their own lives, to center the authority for this selfimprovement with the students themselves. However, the class size prevents the kind of individual interaction that it perhaps requires.

The syllabus itself, replete with studies from various psychological journals selected to offer scientific reasoning for quotidian student life changes, has also been critiqued. Many view the materials as selfevident, even banal instructions, and I agree. We are all aware, despite the occasional dissenting scientific study, that general opinions skew towards the dictate that seven to eight hours of sleep nightly are optimal.

Or, similarly, that while the

lack of wealth is an undeniable obstacle, money itself cannot buy you happiness.

The problem with most campuses like Yale, and indeed Princeton, is a deeply embedded workaholic culture that prevents students from making time for self-care.

Activities that are deemed neither productive nor essential, like exercise, reading for pleasure, or sleep fall by the wayside — even if we know they’re good for us.

This fact is evidenced by the Yale course itself; one of the reasons it seems ideal is because, if self-care was part of my coursework, I would be more inclined (and less guilt-ridden) to pay attention to it. And truly, with assignments like clocking seven hours of sleep at least three nights a week, the course seems to recognize and accommodate this.

The fact that happiness is the subject of a course at Yale has yielded several perhaps humorous situations, contradictory to the ethos of the class. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, professor Santos joked about giving students D’s during one lecture. By the end of the day, the professor found herself inundated with emails and phone calls from students, college deans, and even the odd irate parent seeking clarification for the misunderstood joke. This ironic situation, comical as it may be, reiterates just how much students grapple with achievement anxiety – but also illustrates why a class is not the ideal method of dealing with this. To her credit, professor Santos has

head sports editors David Xin ’19 Chris Murphy ’20 associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Jack Graham ’20

encouraged her students to take the class on a Pass/D/ Fail basis, emphasizing that she intends it to be a holistic experience, not the high pressure affair associated with most other college courses. But even this advice, if heeded, ignores the inherent fallacy in reducing “the good life” to a midterm, a couple of research papers, and five in-class quizzes; it is a near impossible as well as inefficient proposition to indoctrinate a quarter of a university into contentment all together, especially on a graded basis.

Let us, as a counterpart school, take this phenomenon not as an example to be followed, but recognize the cry for help it truly is.

College students are unhappy, or at the very least, not living what they view as “the good life.” Cognizant of the fallacies in approaching happiness as academics, the new phenomenon of positive psychology in colleges must be approached cautiously. Along the same vein as Professor Santos’s encouragement to approach the course on a non-graded basis, it is my belief that they ought to be neither required, nor graded. As with every other resource for mental health available on campus (from Counseling and Psychological Services to peer helplines), it is important for such a subjective and sensitive topic to be as individualized as possible. Professors and students have the liberty to explore such fields and thus I would not recommend Yale to cancel this course. However, to

head street editor Jianing Zhao ’20 associate street editors Danielle Hoffman ’20 Lyric Perot ’20 digital operations managerSarah Bowen ’20 associate chief copy editors Marina Latif ’19 Arthur Mateos ’19 Head design editor Rachel Brill ’19 cartoons editor Tashi Treadway ’19 head photo editor Risa Gelles-Watnick ’21

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caution ourselves against creating more stress in the name of its removal, it is an easy and substantial fix to make the class a compulsory P/D/F, especially if ever implemented here at Princeton. The pursuit of knowledge should not be notoriously debilitating (as it is today) and riddled with unhappiness. This course, a new trend on the long list of resources available to college students battling unhappiness, can be a valuable one if only a few tweaks are made.

Aparna Shankar is a firstyear from New Delhi, India.

She can be reached at as78@ princeton.edu.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday February 15, 2018

STREET EDITORS: JIANING ZHAO, DANIELLE HOFFMAN, LYRIC PEROT

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Entries

PAGES DESIGNED BY WILL RANDALL & DIANA TANG

Pathological Color

Heather Grace Contributor ‘18

As a senior in the visual arts department, one of my three courses this spring is VIS 326: Pathological Color, taught by Professor Welling. The course allows students to experiment with color technologies in digital photography, and in our first seminar meeting we examined works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Ben Shahn, and Corita Kent that used psychedelic color in photographic and silk screen processes.

In preparing for the first as-

signment, students spent time tinkering with Photoshop to experiment with the effects of altered color channels and other adjustment layers. Since my Photoshop skills leave much to be desired, I jumped on the opportunity to mess around a bit, learning the ropes as I brightened, posterized, and paint-filled to my heart’s content. In the interest of readying some mock-ups for my senior thesis exhibition poster (to be completed soon…hopefully), I took images of some works hanging in my studio and played around with them in Photoshop. Can you say, “Pathological Thesis?”

Images courtesy of Heather Grace

Cabinet of Curiosities As sophomore art history concentrators in the Department of Art & Archaeology, Sarah Cho ’18 and Sarah Rapoport ’18 saw a need for more opportunities for undergraduate students to publish work in their field. As current seniors in the department, the two Sarahs have successfully assembled a team of undergraduate students across multiple academic departments, as well as graduate students Annemarie Iker, Suzie Herman, and Mostafa Heddaya to advise the journal.

Titled “Kunstkammer,” a German word for “cabinet of curiosities,” the journal

is meant to showcase work in the realm of art criticism and historical writing, as well as fine art submissions from a variety of academic institutions.

On Sunday evening, team members met for the first time to discuss the look and layout of the journal, which will publish its first issue this spring. The deadline to submit both written and visual works has been extended to Monday, February 19, 2018 at 5pm EST. Submission guidelines can be found at kunstkammer.princeton. edu/submit.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday February 15, 2018

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ART ON MY AGENDA

FRI 2/16

SAT 2/17

SUN 2/18

THEATER INTIME’S STOP KISS” @ 8PM

THEATER INTIME’S STOP KISS” @ 8PM

THEATER INTIME’S STOP KISS” @ 2PM

LEWIS CENTER’S “NEXT TO NORMAL” MUSICAL @8PM

TRIPLE 8 DANCE COMPANY’S “MOONLIT” @6:30 AND 9PM

MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE AND ARCH & ARROW “OPEN MIC NIGHT” @7PM

TIPLE 8 DANCE COMPANY’S “MOONLIT” @9PM

Thoughts Every Princetonian Has During the Second Week of Classes: Chisom Ilogu Contributor ‘21

Yes bleary-eyed, sleep deprived Princetonian, you read that title correctly. In this article, I mean, poorly-written introduction, I will make the argument that the second week of classes is undoubtedly more harrowing, life-draining, and all around trash than the first week of the semester. I mean think about it, during the first week, you’re still riding off the high from not really “doing” school for a little over a month, and you might be excited to see your friends again or maybe head over to good’ol Prospect Avenue. However, by the second week of classes you’re hungover and back to reading endless amounts of secondary sources. Don’t worry though, you’re not the only one going through it. Here are 10 thoughts every Princeton student has during the second week of the semester:

1.

So we’re really doing this? Six weeks straight, no breaks? Cool. Bet. (As a freshman, I feel this one in my chest; if I thought fall semester was bad, spring is going to be The Struggle)

2.

3.

I said I wouldn’t do (insert vice here) again but like...

How many classes is it academically and socially acceptable to drop? As in, can I still graduate?

4.

5.

6.

7.

Is it too early to start wearing pajamas to class?

(While watching the madness that is Bicker) Have ya’ll always been this weird?

You know, I don’t love many things in this life of sin, but God bless Late Meal.

It’s okay to “take a break” from those New Year’s resolutions; I have a lot on my plate right now. *watches another episode of The Bachelor*

8.

9.

10.

I’m always tired. Again.

So that’s getting PDF-ed

Only eleven more weeks to go!

Godspeed, fellow Princetonians!

LEWIS CENTER’S “NEXT TO NORMAL” MUSICAL @8PM

TUES 2/20

THE LEWIS CENTER’S “MEDIA ARTS EXHIBITION”

10

MON 2/19

LEWIS CENTER’S “NEXT TO NORMAL” MUSICAL @8PM

WED 2/21

MASTER CLASS SERIES’ “MASTERCLASS WITH CHO-LIANG LIN, VIOLIN” @7:30

THURS 2/22 THEATER INTIME’S “STOP KISS” @8PM

Theater Intime’s Regina Zeng The Street interviews the director of Theater Intime’s newest production and her first full length play, “Stop Kiss”

Lydia Gompper Contributor ‘21

Behind every work of theater on this campus, there’s somebody calling the shots.

Someone who reigns over every creative detail from the moment the curtains open to the final bow. The puppetmaster, the head honcho, the “let’s run that scene one more time” guy — the director.

Being a director is an intense experience, and doing it for the first time can be beyond intimidating. The Daily Princetonian got in touch with Regina Zeng ’18, director of Theatre Intime’s upcoming production of “Stop Kiss,“ to find out how she approached her first time directing a fulllength play.

Daily Princetonian: This is your first time directing a full play. How has the process differed from smaller directing projects you’ve worked on?

Regina Zeng: I think what is most different about directing a bigger project is that there are more moving elements to work with, such as transitions and set design that needs to be Image courtesy of Theater Intime figured out, so I end up spend“Stop Kiss” is Theater Intime’s newest production -- Take a look at “Art on my Agenda” for showtimes! ing much more time on the technical elements of the show as opposed to just focusing on from it for an acting class my seeking your ideal Callie and a few months, it was really imthe acting, which I was able to freshman year, and I knew that Sara? portant that the set and cosdo with smaller projects. if I ever had a chance to direct RZ: During auditions and tumes ref lect that transition a full show, I would want to do callbacks, I made sure to have throughout the play. There are DP: How would you describe “Stop Kiss.” the actors read from a diverse many small moving pieces so your personal directing style? set of sides representing vary- collecting and organizing evRZ: I would say that my diDP: “Stop Kiss” is a show ing emotional states through- erything took a lot of time and recting style is largely col- that tackles some heavy top- out the play so that I could energy. laborative. I invite input and ics. How did that affect your get an adequate sense of the opinions from the actors about approach to directing? actors’ range before making DP: Can you share a fun betheir characters’ motivations, RZ: Since “Stop Kiss” tack- any decisions. Chemistry was hind-the-scenes memory from tactics, etc. Sometimes, an ac- les some pretty heavy topics, also an important factor, so I the rehearsal process? tor will point out a detail from I definitely made sure my ac- paired the actors up multiple RZ: In one particular scene, the script that I had complete- tors were aware of those dur- times to see them read with there is a long moment of sily overlooked, so I have really ing the rehearsal process and each other. lence that begins the scene, enjoyed working alongside my had conversations with them but a lot happens during that actors as much as possible. about the topics so that we did DP: What has been the great- moment of silence. I spent them justice. est difficulty you’ve run into about half an hour rehearsing DP: Why did you choose while directing “Stop Kiss”? those 30 seconds with the two “Stop Kiss” as your full-length DP: “Stop Kiss” rests heavRZ: I think the greatest dif- actors and by the end, we were directorial debut? ily on the shoulders of its two ficulty has been coordinating all laughing and exhausted, RZ: I just really fell in love female leads. How did you ap- set design and costuming. Be- but I think the scene turned with the play when I did a scene proach the casting process, cause this play takes place over out pretty nicely.

Q&A: Santiago Aguirre

Last Minute Shopping

Contributor ‘18

The semester is just a week in, and while some of us might be done shopping for courses, there are always those who need a bit more time. In order to help and give you better idea as to what interesting courses people are taking this semester, I went around and asked people what course was their favorite so far and what led them to try it out. As a follow up, I also asked them what they think of the class a week into the semester.

Olivia Rhodes ’19: History of Blues and Rock & Roll (MUS 264) I chose this course because all of my friends were taking it, and I took a previous music class with the same professor which ended up being really interesting. So far it is too early to tell whether I would love it, but the music we’ve listened to so far seem great.

Lena Dubitsy ‘18: Sustainable Design (ENE202) I picked this course for my certificate but the subject matter seemed really appealing.

The course focuses on global environmental issues and includes a project on environmental initiatives on campus.

It is a good introductory class which makes it accessible to a lot of people with different backgrounds. In addition, the work load is pretty light.

Michael Prablek ’19: Civil Liberties (POL316) A friend of mine was taking this course, and I didn’t want to go to the other politics course I was enrolled in. The class is broadcast online for free, but the professor doesn’t really write anything down which is frustrating at times.

Tom Robbins ’18: Experimental Music (MUS 313) The course was taught by a professor that I like and one of the instructors is a member of Sopercussion. We’ve only had class once, but it was pretty cool. There were a lot of

hands-on assignments where we made music in class.

Susana Belt ’19: Kiddie Lit (ENG 385) It is a fun course where I can read Dr. Seuss and have it actually count for a grade; I also get to read and analyze several childhood classics and fairytales. It also seemed like a good way to get insight into what childhood means in our culture. The course is phenomenal, on the first day we watched the trailer for Peter Rabbit. The professor is also very passionate about the course which is always a plus.

Sarah Mathew ’19: ASL (LIN 205) I’ve always had an interest in sign language. ASL is pretty similar to spoken English, but the way words are conveyed and expressed in it is extremely interesting. The class is a lot of work since we are technically learning a whole new language. The course is taught by a deaf professor. We have an interpreter for lectures but precepts are taught without

one.

Rushy Panchal ’19: Advanced Systems (COS 518) I’m taking this class because I am interested in Systems and and want to take a class that explores some of the literature on the subject in a more relaxed manner than an undergrad course. The class so far is really good, even though it meets at 9:00 am. The course has mostly dealt with reading articles and discussing them which has made for an enjoyable class.

Conor O’Brien ’19: Language, Power and Identity (FRE 319) I took this course because it is crosslisted as both French and Linguistics, and it fulfills my last distribution requirement. The reviews were also pretty good. So far the class has been really good. It is interesting to learn how specific languages in certain areas in France, and to some extent in the world, are actively discouraged.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday February 15, 2017

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Entering a Career: Q&A with Dr. Corina Tarnita from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Carolyne Davidson Contributor ‘21

Dr. Corina Tarnita is a professor and mathematical biologist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I was fortunate enough to have her last fall as my professor for the freshman seminar FRS 191: The Equations of Life.

I recently met with her to ask some questions about her background and career.

Daily Princetonian: How would you define mathematical biology?

Corina Tarnita: I would say it’s the use of mathematical tools to explore questions in biology. In my work, I use relatively simple models to try to get at the principles of biological organization.

DP: How did you end up as a mathematical biologist?

CT: I was a math undergrad and then I started my Ph.D. at Harvard in pure math, but at some point I started to feel less happy doing math. I worked in a field that I loved and thought was ideal for me: algebraic geometry. But at some point during my first year of grad school, the problems started to feel so abstract that I felt like I had no intuition about them anymore. My adviser thought I was burnt out, so he advised me to go to the math library and pick out a book that didn’t have to do with any of the math I had done so far. I happened to pick this one book with a colorful cover and the title “Evolutionary Dynamics: The Equations of Life.” It was an amazing book; I couldn’t put it down. Then I realized that the guy who wrote it was a professor at Harvard, and I went to do a project with him for six months. I enjoyed working on the project, but I kept wondering, “Is this fun just because it’s a break and it’s about learning a new use for math, or is it the thing that I’m going to be passionate about forever?” Towards the end of the six months, I started to realize that I was waking up every morning excited to ask questions in this new field. I realized this was it; I switched fields and never looked back.

Image courtesy of Dennis Liu Tarnita with an antelope in Mozambique.

DP: How did you end up at Princeton?

CT: In 2009 I started to work with the naturalist E. O. Wilson on a model to explain the evolution of the complex social behavior seen in ants, known as eusociality. It was the first time that I had interacted closely with an empirical biologist, and the extraordinary stories he was telling made me realize that I really wanted to be a biologist. At around the same time I met Rob Pringle, now my colleague in EEB at Princeton.

We started to work on a model of species interactions inspired by his work in Africa, but he felt that the questions I kept asking him were too abstract and would never have come up had I actually known the system. So he and I went to Kenya to see the system first hand, and that was an extraordinary and life-changing experience. I immediately felt an incredible connection with this beautiful place and an urge to understand it. A year later, as my fellowship at Harvard was winding down and I was trying to decide what kind of departments I should apply to, I met my now-colleague Simon Levin at a conference. Knowing that he also had a Ph.D. in math but was a theoretical ecologist, I asked him how to make the decision. His answer was a question: “What kind of scientists would you like to interact with every day?”

I suddenly felt clarity that it was biologists, because hearing about their work and their systems had always been the biggest source of creativity for me.

He then said, “Well, since that’s the answer, you should know that we’re advertising an open position at Princeton; why don’t you apply for it?” So I applied,

Image courtesy of Rob Pringle Tarnita with a rhino in Kenya.

and that’s how I got here.

DP: What courses do you teach?

CT: When I got to Princeton, I wanted to design a course to which I could bring my mathematical perspective but without assuming a priori that the students would simply take for granted that math is a useful approach to biology. So the point of the course [EEB 325] — which subsequently inspired a freshman seminar [FRS 191] — was basically to provide a sampler of problems across fields from evolution to ecology to behavior and disease, where modeling has been a useful tool. The course had three goals: first, to provide the motivation for why math can be useful in biology; sec-

ond, to give students a sense of how to pose a question for which a mathematical model might be useful; and third, to give them the tools to construct and analyze some basic models. I love teaching in general, but I enjoyed teaching the freshman seminar the most: the small group, the very diverse backgrounds and interests, and the completely uninhibited and playful creativity of freshmen made for a very fun and rewarding teaching experience. Getting to know every single student and their interests made teaching feel much more organic; I could tailor the bulk of my examples based on their questions and reactions.

DP: What are you working

on at the moment?

CT: One of the projects that I’m finalizing right now goes back to my first encounter with E. O. Wilson. Back then, we predicted that the only way for eusociality to evolve was if some social benefits would already arise in very small groups. At the time it was hard to test this idea, but recent advances in tracking technology are making it possible. Together with collaborators at Rockefeller University, my graduate student Chris Tokita and I are looking at a very simple ant species, which allows us to study really small groups and track every single ant. We’re finding that cooperatives of six to seven ants are sufficient to yield a significant boost in

their fitness. So, nine years later, it seems that we might have a nice confirmation of our original theoretical predictions.

DP: What do you love most about Princeton?

CT: Aside from the fantastic students and colleagues, one of the things I love most about Princeton is the ease with which intra- and interdepartmental connections and collaborations can form. I’m endlessly amazed at how collaborative and interdisciplinary everyone is here and how well-structured the University is to allow and foster such interdisciplinary collaboration.

That’s the ideal environment for someone like me.

Dr. Tarnita is a testament to the fact that times of academic frustration can be dramatically beneficial towards finding a true passion or career path. Princeton is lucky to have this brilliant and energetic faculty member and I’m excited to see what she will achieve in the future.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday February 15, 2017

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For the Wandering Soul: A Walk Through Princeton’s Entry(ways)

in the process of coming to monstrous head, and this is noun an end | McCosh on the way to Late meal? Late meal? Late your ritual dance—your life Contributor ‘21 (of a migrating bird) the ac- Friend, from East Pyne meal? The mantra pulses as f lashes by in its twelve-year tion of passing through a place people sweep in and out like increments, the dragon always en route to its final destinaYou’ve passed by this statue a tide. A gray door rolls up, reappears, the rat predictable entrē (ˈ /) tion | East Pyne staircase many times without seeing the quesadilla bar comes to in its attentiveness. Here there it correctly—the black glossy life. You trek up the stairs and is only memory of the entry, dialect After you walk in circles at- figures lingering in your pe- brace yourself for a cold wind. you cannot remember how to a passage between buildings tempting to find your advi- ripheral, what appears to be a The weight of the synergy of leave. | Dohm Alley on Nassau sor’s office, you are at a loss man kneeling defenseless be- man is like a magnet pulling trying to exit the third f loor. fore the other and his sword— the door out of Level 1 shut. (stā j/) When night has fallen and The diamond pane on your the moment of death frozen, Don’t leave, don’t leave, don’t you are scuttling down Nassau right warps the small square or perhaps replaying over and leave. noun in the direction of home, you courtyard outside, and on over in its infinite milliseca particular phase | Entry to notice a little archway (some- the left, you almost miss the ond, or perhaps this isn’t death (pə fôrm/) rˈ Louis A. Simpson Level A that times strung with Christmas nondescript door next to the at all, but a moment of ascensnakes through a little garden lights, blinking gently) between nondescript fire alarm la- sion (or thankfulness). And in verb Starbucks and the Old World belled ‘stairs’. You descend your line of vision, twin archentertain an audience, typThe garden reminds you of apparel shop and you decide the most palatial landing— es materialize like a medieval ically by acting, singing, or what it is like to look at a blank to venture the world beyond, the staircase full of corners fast-food chain logo or portals dancing on stage | Woodrow space and seek to fill it. You the dark alleyway of urban yet simultaneously angle-less for two loved ones or two bal- Wilson Statues Outside Whit- have never seen more effort exmyth and under-legend. You in the cloudy warmth of the ancing dancers timid to rise man erted to aestheticize this small are greeted by poems by poets light. This would be a passage up and become what they are. corner of the earth. A hop and of the old, all their “thees” and to Narnia, you think, in the You are overtaken by Diony- a skip down brick steps, past “thous” pressed in plastic lami- spacious corridor you could (präˌ ˈ ses,ˈ ses/) prōˌ sian madness and f lee to the spindly plants that used to nation and dangling before you picture a character of imagimountains outside Whitman blush with white f lowers. The in invitation. Beside you, the nation descending the steps noun where the heads of twelve ani- garden is dead now but will quaint stillness of fake decor with you. a systematic series of mech- mals stand like patient observ- come alive in the spring. One moss and a discarded sculpture anized or chemical operations ers in the night. You enter the day you’ll be walking by and of a naked woman. pasiNG/) (ˈ that are performed in order to circle and the eyes never leave the old spiky bush will be torn produce or manufacture some- you. Around and around you away with fresh stinky earth pasij/) (ˈ adjective thing | Frist A-Level whirl as you gaze up at each in its place.

Allison Huang

en·try

stage

per·form

proc·ess

pas·sage

pass·ing

Journal Entries Anoushka Mariwala Contributor ‘21

I recently began to journal, a decision that was motivated in part by the horror that accompanied the end of my first se-

mester (where did four months even go?) and the borderline, mostly-for-dramatic-effect existential crisis that occurred soon after, but also in an effort to become a better writer.

When my editors informed me that the theme of this week’s Street issue was ‘entry,’ my

one-track mind and a strange rendition of the Baader-Meinhof effect immediately associated the word with journaling.

Unashamedly, I reveled in the honeymoon phase of my newly discovered activity (and conveniently chose to forget the plethora of discarded diaries of

Images courtesy of Anoushka Mariwala

arbitrary childhood memories).

This interest was only amplified by the contents of my class ‘Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace: Writing as Fighting,’ where Professor Vinitsky discussed the role of diaries, their functionality, purpose, limitations, and everevolving role in our lives.

Inspired by this discussion and my own coinciding effort to journal, I wanted to know what my peers thought of this activity too. A 158-responsestrong survey soon showed me that a large proportion of undergraduates had had similar experiences with journaling.

Over half the participants indicated that they had attempted to form a journaling habit, but had given up. They cited forgetting about the journal or not having enough time as the two predominant reasons for their ultimate rejection of the activity. What I found interesting was that over threefourths of the participants preferred to handwrite journals, while most others preferred some combination of writing and typing. The frequency of writing, I found, was concentrated between daily and weekly. Most people also chose to use their diaries to recount events, vent, and stay accountable for their actions, while a small minority also use diaries for religious reasons and to process events.

‘I journalled a lot when I was in elementary school, but I would always stop because I would forget to fill it up.

Just during this past break, as a resolution going into sec-

ond semester to be more selfaware, I restarted this habit. I find it helpful when I’m trying to figure out what to do about a difficult situation because a lot of times, my thoughts make more sense on paper than they do in my head,’ says Carina Lewandowski ’21, one of the participants who reached out to speak with me.

Unsurprisingly, most responders who have not started journaling yet cite time constraints and a lack of knowledge regarding how, or what, to write. For example, Ben Fasciano ’21 commented, ‘I hate writing, and I used to feel like spending time writing down thoughts would just stress me out more. However, Carina is a real inspiration in this regard, since she’s given me some great advice on journaling!’

To those who are struggling, I advise (given my classicallydramatized, but microscopically-limited experience): write about your day, your dreams, your prayers or your travels. Write of ideas and of hopes, write of gratitude and progress. Write to know yourself, by answering a daily question, scrapbooking, or sketching. Write to stay curious, creative, and engaged with the world around you.

Few say it better than Jack London: “Keep a notebook.

Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that f lutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter. And lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.”