Street March 27, 2014

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday March 27, 2014

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Being First Part One

Street staff writer Jennifer Shyue takes an in-depth look at some personal experiences of first generation college students at Princeton

For this two-part series, Street spoke to five first-generation college students about their experiences at Princeton. In addition to being first-generation, some of the students are also first-generation Americans; others are not. One is not American at all. They hail from places as close as Brooklyn, N.Y. to as far as Espartinas, Spain. Their majors range from psychology to operations research and financial engineering, and they dream of everything from reforming education policy to traveling into space.

I

n a few months time, Chad Horner ’14 will achieve a milestone that his parents never did: He will graduate from college.

At Chad Horner’s high school in West Milford, N.J., where he spent his entire childhood, most students were not considering schools like Princeton. Horner, however, began thinking about applying to schools like Princeton after taking the SAT during his junior year of high school.

“I took my SAT scores, and I was like, ‘Oh, I did well!’ I looked on collegeboard. com and looked at where the ranges are for the good schools, and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I should apply to these schools,” he said. Neither of his parents could give him advice grounded in much experience, but Horner said that he learned a lot from reading the admissions counseling blog College Confidential.

“My parents were totally supportive through the whole thing and helped out any way they could; it’s just none of us had really any idea how it worked,” he said.

First-generation college students like Horner have comprised about 10 to 13 percent of each freshman class in the past few years, according to Vice President for Campus Life Cynthia Cherrey. Most recently, 12.9 percent of the Class of 2017 is first-generation, compared to 11.5 percent of the Class of 2016 and 9.4 percent of the Class of 2015, according to Associate Dean of the College Diane McKay. While their first-generation status isn’t necessarily something that arises often in conversation, these students’ testimonies provide a window into the “diversity of the college experience,” a phrase often used to denote one criteria or another, be it ethnic, financial or something else.

However, the reality is that diversity is often found at the cross section of different identifiers; each individual brings a unique mix of background, experiences and values to contribute to the overall diversity that the University champions as a priority on campus.

Horner arrived at Princeton excited to study engineering. His freshman year, however, was a challenge.

“I really didn’t know what was coming,” he said. “I was like, ‘I love math and phys-

ics,’ and then I just got killed. It took me a while to just adjust. It was just harder than I was used to.”

Nevertheless, Horner noted that school got easier, and that he values the perspective his freshman year gave him.

“I’m kind of happy that I had to sort of work through that,” he said. “Some people here have a very sheltered view of the world, and don’t really realize that it’s not normal to go to a high school and have someone in the middle of your class go to Notre Dame or some really good school.”

Horner also lacked experience with finding internships, but he credits his friends with teaching him about the process. In fact, he got his first internship the summer after his sophomore year, after the father of a friend invited him to interview at Bank of America.

“I didn’t really know how anything in finance worked until I got here. But luckily, the friends I made did. That helped a lot,” he said. He later added, “I think I’ve learned more from my fellow students than I have from professors in class.”

Horner will be working at PIMCO, an investment firm, after graduation. He enjoys the energy of New York City, his future home, and does not see himself returning to live in West Milford.

“People who come out of Princeton are the names you hear about in the news.

They’re the people who run the big companies and countries,” he said. “I was never unhappy [in West Milford]. I just didn’t realize there’s other stuff out there,” he added.

Guillermo Cabalga still has a few more years ahead of him to achieve the same milestone as Horner: to be the first in his family to graduate from college. But his path to Princeton was different, as he has already lived all over the world.

His family currently lives in Espartinas, a city in the province of Seville, Spain. Before arriving at Princeton, Cabalga spent his last two years of high school at the United World College of Hong Kong, one of a number of international UWC schools that routinely send students to schools

Being First continues on S2

Percentage of firstgeneration college students enrolled at Princeton

Class of 2015

9.4

Class of 2016

11.5

Class of 2017

12.9

Source: Diane McKay, Associate Dean of the College

Disclosed percentages of admitted first-generation students in the Ivies

Princeton ’17

13.9

Brown ’17

17.5

Cornell ’17

11.0

Darthmouth ’17

11.3

U Penn ’17

12.0

Source: The Washington Post and theivycoach.com

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday March 27, 2014

page s2

‘Being First’: continued from page 1

Matthew Blackburn ’14

Chad Horner ’14

like Princeton. He also completed a scuba diving course in Malaysia and volunteered in Cambodia during the gap year he took between graduating from UWC and matriculating to Princeton.

His UWC education prepared him well for the rigors of Princeton’s academics, he said. He does not believe that being first-generation has been the source of any struggles, though he noted that the cultural differences between Europe and the United States are greater than he had expected.

“I have my own aspirations and pride without any relation to that fact [of being first-generation]. I’m proud to be here, and I have aspirations to go further, but I don’t really think it relates to that,” he said. “I need to get accustomed to America, in general,” he noted later.

His parents, both from Spain, were college-aged shortly after the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, when the Spanish education system was still in flux, Cabalga said.

His father attended university for two years before dropping out to work.

“If we really want to look at it from a bigger scale, it is likely that my parents really raised me in order to be able to attend university because they didn’t get to,” he said. “And it’s because of that effort that I managed to get not only that scholarship [to UWC] but get in here as well.

Matthew Blackburn ’14 also learned the importance of taking advantage of opportunities and striving for excellence

Guillermo Cabalga ’17 PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATTHEW BLACKBURN, CHAD HORNER AND GUILLERMO CABALGA

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from his parents.

“They definitely were a key force in pushing me along and having the vision that I didn’t have when I was younger,” he said.

One of the opportunities they pushed him toward was Prep for Prep, a program for students of color in New York City. Every year, Prep for Prep rigorously prepares a contingent of students for placement in the city’s independent schools. Like most Prep students, Blackburn began the program in the fifth grade.

“I remember the big thing was that I did not want to do it at all. I was like, ‘Summer school? I do well in school. I don’t want to go to summer school,” Blackburn recalled. “[My parents] were the ones who [said], ‘Oh, this program sounds really cool. You should definitely do this program.”

In middle school and high school, Blackburn commuted from his home in Canarsie, Brooklyn to Collegiate School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Despite his initial resistance, Blackburn is grateful for what Prep for Prep has given him.

“With these kinds of programs, you start to see what you can get. I remember before, even to go to a college like this, I never would’ve thought of it — not because I wasn’t qualified. It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s not where people like me go,” he said.

“Those are the kind of goals that you don’t see or things that you don’t think you can achieve until people tell you, so I appreciate being in that environment.”

Like Cabalga, Blackburn said that being a first-generation college student has not played

a significant role in his life.

He noted that, in hindsight, the transition from public school to independent school was “crazy,” but it also prepared him for the transition from high school to Princeton.

Blackburn is an ecology and evolutionary biology major and hopes to pursue a career as a book editor.

“I’m a first-generation college student, but also first gen-

“Those are the kind of goals that you don’t see or things that you don’t think you can achieve until people tell you, so I appreciate being in that environment.”

Matthew Blackburn ’14

eration to go to a private school like Collegiate,” he said. “Looking back, it’s more like, ‘Whoa, that was a lot to go through to get over here.”

Each student’s path to Princeton was a different one, just as each Princeton experience is a different one. To generalize the experience of a group, such as “first-generation students,” inevitably diminishes the diversity the University wishes to create. It is the interweaving of individual experiences — and their known and unknown commonalities — that constitute true diversity.

“Being First” concludes next week with accounts from Shawon Jackson ’15 and Ana Maldonado ’16.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday March 27, 2014

MARCH WINTER WOES GRACE LIN Senior Writer

Y

ou feel a tepid blanket of morning light gently tickle the surface of your cracked, moistureless skin, and you shudder, vigorously, underneath your covers. You rise like a sleeping giant, stretching out the battered limbs that have weathered meng shots and repeated falls on icy pathways to pull back the blinds from your window. It’s snowing.

A RGGGGLR LR LR LGHHHHHH. It’s been a long winter.

Like every academic year before it, this one started off fine — great, actually. You were one of many eagerly anticipating the first snowfall of the season. When those pure virgin flakes eventually fell, you immediately updated your Facebook status and created a minute-long, multi-shot Snapchat story, each picture captioned with an elated “Snowwww!!!”

The endless snowfall brought you great joy – your Instagram game finally gained some momentum, and you actually gained two new followers. Win. You sang songs from “Frozen” when it was snowing, when it wasn’t snowing, in the shower, while working out and even in the corner of Tower that one time. The underlying despair of the ensuing tundra lay dormant in your unconscious mind. Sure, you kept hearing the phrase “polar vortex” but, to be honest, you never really knew what that meant. In fact, it sounded pretty cool. Thoughts of spring were buried deep under a

magical layer of snow — Mother Nature was just doing her thing.

Besides, who were you to question a snow day?

As holiday after holiday passed, the freezing temperatures began to lose their appeal. Sure, Christmas and New Year’s kind of depend on chilly weather to create that cozy, “Baby, it’s cold outside” vibe but as you began to leave behind your holiday spirit, you also started to question the point of winter. Other than providing a backdrop for hot chocolate, a purpose for fuzzy holiday sweaters and a reason to construct a cocoon of warm blankets, what else could the cold be good for?

Whether or not you’re from meteorologically-confused New Jersey or perpetually sunny California, everyone knows that winter is only supposed to be temporary.

It’s like that middle school goth phase you pretend never happened regardless of the lingering evidence on Facebook — it was fun for a while, but at some point, it had to stop. After all, the snow certainly didn’t help on Valentine’s Day, when the fact that you’re probably going to die alone only seemed more apparent in the negative 10 degree wind chill.

That night you realized that the cold really did bother you [anyway], and you began to have nightmares of this cursed winter enduring eternally. You essentially forgot what warmth (and perhaps, love itself) felt like, and you started to fear that you were turning into both a physical and figurative block of ice. The defini-

LIN KING :: ASSOCIATE STREET EDITOR

tion of “pants” stretched to its limit, as you became comfortable walking around campus in oversized hoodies paired with multiple layers of pajama bottoms. It didn’t really matter all that much anyway, since you camped out in McGraw for so long that you started to wonder whether you should be paying rent. Whether it was the random 70-degree day or that time you accidentally set your phone’s weather location to Honolulu, you were given hope that winter would end time and time again. But time and time again, this hope was stolen from you too soon.

But have faith for the end is near. Signs of an oncoming spring surge all around us. Once you rouse your mind and body from their deep hibernation, you, too, will see them. Temperatures are climbing ever so slowly; the snow is melting instead of piling up outside our doors. Just look at those tiny, green buds on the trees by the Woody Woo fountain — you can be sure those will turn into beautiful, white flowers sometime soon. You can even sense the newfound, sexuallycharged energy of the squirrels that frolic around Prospect Garden. Or, just internalize the fact that it’s almost April, so it should be 80 degrees, no excuses.

Indeed, spring is fast approaching, and it’s time to gradually exchange our comfy sweatpants and Ugg[ly] boots for flowery sundresses and salmon shorts. Yes, you will soon be forced to actually care about your appearance again, which means there are only a few weeks left of eating ice cream under the covers or taking the elevator to your second-floor room. But, for now, let’s simply enjoy the last few weeks of this hellish season filled with frost, taking comfort in the fact that the warmth of spring waits just around the corner.

And no, I don’t want to build a goddamned snowman.

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BRICK BY BRICK

Lewis Library HARRISON BLACKMAN Staff Writer

I

n the shadow of Fine Hall’s imposing tower lies a curious steel-sheathed building, which in 2008 marked the beginning of a dynamic new space at Princeton.

Besides having an iconic, abstract modern design, the Lewis Library also challenges the idea of what a library should be — but not without controversy.

Named after principal donor and University trustee Peter B. Lewis ’55 who passed away last November, Lewis Library was designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, known for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

“Princeton and Frank Gehry came together at a time that worked for both of them,” University Architect Ron McCoy GS ’80 said. “Gehry came to Princeton when he had a mature sense to make a successful building technically.”

Lewis Library is connected underground to the natural sciences complex, which is composed of McDonnell, Fine and Jadwin Halls. The library itself houses materials from different fields, such as a map and a Geographic Information Systems facility, as well as collections on astrophysics, chemistry and neuroscience.

Despite the extensive collection of books stored in Fine and on the lower levels of Lewis, many students observe that there aren’t many books in the major reading areas. According to Gehry Design Partner Craig Webb ’74, the building “was envisioned as a library looking to the future. As books become less

important in the digital world and in the sciences specifically … this library was seen more as a study space.” In addition, the library was also meant to be a collaborative space, “where science students and faculty would meet and work, where scientists from different disciplines would have chance encounters.”

The new conception of a library as a collaborative, interdisciplinary space challenges the traditional library’s function of being a repository for books. For Princeton historian W. Barksdale Maynard ’88, Lewis Library is “a glorified conference facility where you meet people and bring your laptop.” This observation points to a larger shift in information technology: In an era when most sources can be accessed online or through shared library collections, such as the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium, are libraries even necessary for academic institutions?

“All organizations change … based on the needs of the people who need the information,” Assistant University Librarian Patricia Gaspari-Bridges said. “A library continues to serve these needs.”

Exemplifying the desire to provide collaborative study spaces is the Treehouse reading room, located on the second floor of the library. According to Webb, the space was originally intended to be a map room, but was designed to become a study space after the majority of the map collection became digitized. “We originally called it

the ‘Turtle’ because of its shape,” Webb said. “Once the steel frame was up, it became clear that the surrounding trees created the ambience of the room. The name followed.”

Although the Treehouse offers a unique study space, its large footprint comes at the expense of the general intuitiveness of the library’s layout. “The slightly most inconvenient part of it is to walk in the main front door and then have to descend to the floor below [and walk back upstairs again],” Gaspari-Bridges said.

The ascension into the Treehouse also requires walking up a nondescript fire stair, instead of a public stair inside of the main building. McCoy explains that this phenomenon is a result of the small floor plate, which would not have been able to accommodate a large study space if a dramatic, public stair was used. In addition, the main stair that descends from the front door was intended to create a diagonal pathway that reflected other walkways on campus. “It’s a tradeoff between preserving as much space as possible for readers,” McCoy said.

The upper two floors of Firestone Library have been remodeled with the emphasis of collaborative space in mind, while still retaining Princeton’s core repository for books. However, this isn’t to say that all libraries will follow the Lewis model.

“There are lots of different libraries for different uses,” McCoy said. “[Lewis Library presents] a fantastic opportunity for a place of learning.”

ASK THE SEXPERT

COURTESY OF PRINCETON.EDU

This week, she discusses emergency contraceptives.

Dear Sexpert,

Dear Curious,

What you have heard is correct — there are indeed several different emergency contraceptives that can prevent pregnancy in the case of unprotected intercourse or if protection fails. Options for emergency contraception include two different types of pills — sold under the brand names Plan B and ella — as well as a copper intrauterine device called ParaGard.

All three of these are available on campus through Sexual Health and Wellness Services at University Health Services, but a physician’s prescription is required for ella and ParaGard. In addition, you can purchase Plan B, which is also sold under a few other generic brand names, over-the-counter at any pharmacy.

Both ella and Plan B work by inhibiting or delaying ovulation, although by different mechanisms.

Plan B contains a drug called levonorgestrel, an ingredient also found in birth control pills. Levonorgestrel mimics the female hor-

cies. Since both Plan B and ella work by inhibiting ovulation, neither of these drugs is terribly effective if ovulation has already occurred. However, ParaGard can still protect from an unwanted pregnancy even if an egg has been released.

Finally, remember that emergency contraceptives are indeed for emergencies, and that using regular forms of birth control is the best way to protect you or your partner from unwanted pregnancies. Barrier methods such as condoms and dental dams can reduce your risk of sexually transmitted infections.

I hope this answers some of your questions about the different forms of emergency contraceptives that are out there.

As usual, if you have any other questions about emergency contraceptives or any other sexual health issues, don’t hesitate to write to the Sexpert, ask one of your neighborhood Peer Health Advisers or get in contact with the staff at SHAW!

THREADS

— Curious about Contraceptives

mone progesterone,which inhibits ovulation at high levels. In order to be most effective, Plan B should be taken as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse. Although its effectiveness diminishes over time, Plan B is still recommended up to 72 hours after intercourse.

Ella contains the drug ulipristal acetate, which primarily acts on progesterone receptors on the ovaries to delay ovulation. Ella is slightly more effective than Plan B, and although its effectiveness also decreases over time, ella can still be somewhat effective up to five days after unprotected intercourse. For women with a body mass index over 25, the risk of an accidental pregnancy has been shown to be greater with Plan B than with ella, so it is recommended that these women take ella or use ParaGard.

Unlike Plan B and ella, ParaGard works not by blocking ovulation but by impairing sperm function and preventing fertilization, and also potentially by preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg. In general, IUDs are used as regular contraceptives, but ParaGard is also effective as an emergency contraceptive, even when implanted up to five days after unprotected intercourse.

As an emergency contraceptive, ParaGard is much more effective than either of the two pills; studies have shown that it can prevent 99 percent of possible pregnan-

weekly glimpse at campus fashion

Can you tell me more about the different types of emergency contraceptives that are out there?

I know about the morning-after pill, Plan B, but I’ve heard that there are a few others. Also, where can I get emergency contraceptives on campus, if needed?

— The Sexpert

Interested in Sexual Health? The Sexpert is always looking for members of the community to join the team of sexual health educators who, along with fact-checking from University health professionals, help write these columns.

Email sexpert@dailyprincetonian.com for more information and questions about sexual health. Don’t be shy!

KATIE BAUMAN :: STREET EDITOR

Name: Teri Tillman Year: 2016 Style summarized: Edgy Favorite animal: Red panda

Name: Hannah Srajer Year: 2017 Style summarized: Hobo prostitute Favorite animal: Fox

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday March 27, 2014

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Panel explores career options in Hollywood SETH MERKIN-MOROKOFF Associate Street Editor

T

his Saturday, alumni who have found success in the entertainment industry, as well as other industry professionals unaffiliated with the University, will arrive on campus to participate in a conference titled “Careers in Hollywood: Script to Screen & Everything in Between.”

The event, which is jointly sponsored

by Career Services and the Lewis Center for the Arts, will feature two panels: a creative panel from 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. moderated by creative writing lecturer Christina Lazaridi and a business panel facilitated by the director of the Lewis Center Michael Cadden, according to Abigail Racelis, the assistant director of the arts, nonprofit and public sector of Career Services. The panels will be followed by a networking social. As of Monday afternoon, 125 students had registered online to participate in the conference, which has a maximum cap of 200.

Married, screenwriting duo Marianne and Cormac Wibberley spearheaded the planning of the event by contacting Racelis last October, after their daughter Emily Wibberley ’14 participated in one of Career Services’ communication nights, according to Racelis.

“We realized that Princeton Career Services offered a lot of professional mixers for finance or engineering but was lacking in providing events for students seeking advice or internships in creative arts, like publishing or filmmaking,” the Wibberleys explained in a joint interview conducted via email. “While there is no clear path into becoming a writer or a filmmaker, there are paths, and we figured aspiring writers would benefit from talking to some working writers.”

According to the couple, the event expanded from the smaller casual mixer they originally envisioned to an organized conference after their colleague David Digilio ’96 joined them in the plan-

ning process.

“I know how far away Hollywood can feel to a Princeton student with zero industry connections. I think it’s important to get people on campus who have been put through the Hollywood wringer,” Digilio explained of his motivation to organize the event. “Princeton students are so used to finding ‘a track.’ But the truth is there are a number of different paths to careers in Hollywood, and I hope we can shed some light on the variety of opportunities waiting in L.A. and New York.”

Azza Cohen ’16, an aspiring documentary filmmaker who has helped to organize and market the film panel, said that the Wibberly’s contacted her after her frustration with the lack of visibility for careers in the arts at the University caused her to write an op-ed for the Daily Princetonian with Kemy Lin ’15 in January.

Azza Cohen is a contributing columnist for The Daily Princetonian.

“The outpouring of support that we got from publishing the article has really shown me that Princetonians are in the arts, as much as it’s atypical,” Cohen noted. “Princetonians are super successful in the arts, too. As someone who’s seriously pursuing it, that is really reassuring.”

Everyone involved in the planning of the event mentioned they hope that seeing successful alumni will reassure students with aspirations to work in film, while simultaneously expanding their network within the industry, a crucial tool according to Racelis.

“There’s a huge importance in understanding who your contacts are, who your networks are, how to utilize them in the best way possible and also how to collaborate. That’s why you see alums and industry executives coming to Princeton to share and help start that network,” Racelis explained. “What it simulates is essentially how the industry really does work in terms of sharing their story, brainstorming, collaborating, not be-

ing afraid to pitch your ideas to people.

Sometimes, that’s the scariest part of being a film writer: coming up with your idea and presenting it to people. The networking piece allows you to do that organically.”

In order to make the panel as accessible as possible, the participants launched a Twitter campaign on Monday afternoon that will continue through the panel. The social media component will allow students to receive advice and ask questions by using the hashtag Script2Screen, according to Racelis.

Digilio said he hopes that attending the panel will help students feel more connected to the film industry and empower them with some introductory knowledge of Hollywood, as the University’s alumni network within entertainment is not as strong as other colleges’ networks.

“The geographical distance is not as difficult to overcome as the simple networking hurdle that comes with Princeton being relatively underrepresented in the Hollywood ranks,” Digilio explained.

“Our alumni network is spread thin in

the large Los Angeles area, and that makes it hard to hold the type of mixer events or internship recruiting efforts that help other college graduates find their first jobs.”

On a more general scale, Cohen noted that she thought the conference will help spark more visibility of careers within the arts on campus, which demonstrates the growing support she hopes Career Services will continue pursue within more creative sectors.

“I think it’s going to set a precedent, not only for Career Services demonstrating its commitment to students who want to pursue the arts seriously, but also a precedent for students who want to pursue the arts to know that they are supported,” Cohen added. Although she noted that Career Services hasn’t offered significant attention to the arts in the past, Cohen said she believes the center “is going to show a new commitment to making more visible these opportunities, making more opportunities and furthering the publicized support for students who are interested in the creative arts.”

COURTESY OF CAREER SERVICES

Free T-shirts are given to the first 150 students to register at Frist Campus Center.

Senior Writer

“R

COURTESY OF PRINCETON CHINESE THEATER

Biyang Wang ‘14 as titular character Ruan Lingyu in PCT’s spring production.

Gu portrays Tang with a slick swagger befitting of this wealthy tea tycoon playboy, bringing a multifaceted character to the play’s set.

Chen portrays Ma Dage, an actor who is also a colleague and friend of Ruan. Ma introduces himself to the audience with exaggerated pretension, gaudily basking in his glory as a Chinese film star. Chen’s comic relief as Ma brings a degree of levity to an otherwise serious drama, but in select moments with Ruan his genu-

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ‘Ruan Lingyu’ Pros: Standout performances

from Gu, Chen and Hu

Cons: Subpar emotional impact;

themes not deeply explored

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ine concern of a close friend also shines through. Hu plays Ruan’s aging father, who worked as a household servant for a wealthy woman to help make ends meet for his family. Ruan’s death hits Hu’s character the hardest: The audience can feel the father’s devastation as Hu weeps inconsolably, completely devastated

by the circumstances surrounding his daughter’s humiliation and death. Hu’s commitment to his character makes this father’s love for his only child the most tender and palpable emotion portrayed by the cast of “Ruan Lingyu.”

“Ruan Lingyu” attempts to explore several themes, but it does not delve deeply enough into any of them. The play felt rushed, as if it had been abridged from a longer, more complete work. Several of the characters, such as Ruan’s directors and her mother-in-law, would have benefited from fuller, fleshier personalities rather than what felt like one-dimensional caricature sketches. The play touches upon Ruan’s status as a public figure: Shortly before her death, Ruan laments, “Everyone likes me, but no one loves me.”

In addition, “Ruan Lingyu” approaches the subject of an actor’s real personality contrasted with her stage persona. In contemporary China, a cruel insult was to deride someone as “an actor with a fake personality.” This epithet is applied to Ruan and causes her to question whether she is a good person. “Ruan Lingyu” touches on many weighty themes, that unfortunately cannot be profoundly explored in a two-hour play.

“Ruan Lingyu” is a very serious tragedy, dealing with one of the most unfortunate tales of early Chinese cinema.

PCT presents the subject adequately, but comes up short in delivering its full emotional impact.

HEADLINERS AND HEADSHAKERS articles you didn’t read this week DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF

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Say Cheez offers free grilled cheese for completed theses, providing best incentive since 1746

James Franco unveils latest project:

127 Hours of Selfies at Princeton

Signs of Spring

1 3 5 7 9

Five-degree rise in temperature.

2 4 6 8 10

Snow does not stick.

Less salt.

Booties instead of boots.

Occasional patches of blue sky.

Slight weight loss in squirrels.

Pastel gloves and floral scarves.

Ambiguous activity by the Woody Woo fountain?

Return of the townie skateboarders.

Thesis deadlines.

DANCE RAKS ODALISQUE PRESENTS ‘HABIBI’

OLIVER SUN the characters tell Ruan’s story through flashbacks. Biyang Wang ’14 plays the leading role in the tragic tale of the actress, a young woman from a poor upbringing who found herself thrust into the scrutiny of the public spotlight. Wang plays Ruan passably, but she lacks a certain conviction. When her first husband, the son of her father’s employer, begins to woo her, she appears aloof at first, but changes her mind when he presents her with a pair of earrings. Wang’s depiction of Ruan’s change of heart seems too forced and contrived to believe — leaving the audience unsure of whether Ruan ever truly loved him at all, especially once their marriage beings to unravel.

Veteran PCT actors Shiyao Gu ’14, Eddie Chen ’16 and Richard Hu ’16 offer the best performances of the play. Gu plays Ruan’s second lover, Tang Jishan, who found wealth and fame as a tea tycoon.

His courtship of Ruan feels more natural than that of her first husband. Tang first approaches the situation with grace and gilded promises, but his relationship with Ruan eventually deteriorates as well when he merely keeps her as a mistress and fails to marry her. It is noteworthy that polygamy was legal in 1930s China, the setting of the play, although the second wife had a lower social status than the first wife. Because of this, Ruan agreed to a relationship with Tang only if he would divorce his first wife and marry her instead — a promise he did not keep.

TOP TEN

CAMPUS PICKS

PCT’s ‘Ruan Lingyu’ addresses the dark side of fame uan Lingyu” is a play based on the true story of a Chinese silent film star of the same name who rocketed to fame, grew embroiled in scandal and committed suicide at the age of 24. Princeton Chinese Theatre presents this tragedy in the Class of 1970 Theatre in Whitman College, exploring themes of love, betrayal and the murky intersection between a celebrity’s public and private life, to mixed success.

The play opens with Ruan’s friends and her father loudly mourning her death, as

STREET’S

REUNIONS PLANNING COMMIT TEE ON SHORTAGE OF BEDS: ‘SHARING IS CARING’

U. researchers predict shitty N.J. weather will cut Class of 2018 matriculation by 83.7 percent

Princeton spring break: beaches, breakout trips and 112 pages of Babbage’s ‘On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures’

FRIST FILM/PERFORMANCE THEATRE Thursday and Friday, 8 p.m.

Saturday, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

They are rakstars. You know it. I know it. They know it. Princeton’s one and only belly dancing troupe is going to bring down the house in its annual spring show this weekend.

Featuring mesmerizing body rolls, anatomy-defying hip isolation, beautiful costumes and impressive balancing acts, “Habibi” has it all.

EVENT PSEC presents Karaoke Bar Lounge CAMPUS CLUB Thursday, 10 p.m.

Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” “Say it Ain’t So” by Weezer. Adele’s “Someone Like You.” Are you belting out these catchy lyrics yet? If not, there is something wrong with you. These are just a few of the most popular karaoke song requests. You better get your song choice down before Thursday because Princeton Student Events Committee is bringing the karaoke bar to you. With mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, virgin spritzers and all the karaoke you can handle, you best bring your A-game.

COMEDY ALL-NIGHTER WITH DAVID DREW: MARCH SHOW FRIST FILM/PERFORMANCE THEATRE Friday, 11:30 p.m.

Spring has arrived, and so has the AllNighter with David Drew Episode 5!

The show will feature interviews with theater professor Brian Herrera and Jeopardy winners Terry O’Shea ’16 and Pam Mueller GS. There will also be performances by Chris Beard ’14 and alumnus Clayton Raithel ’12. All-Nighter is the perfect way to ignore that work already piling up and take a deserved break. It’s almost been a whole week, ok?

You have to ease back into it.

THEATER THEATRE INTIME PRESENTS “VENUS IN FUR” HAMILTON MURRAY THEATER Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.

Theatre Intime brings you David Ive’s “Venus in Fur,” which was described by The New York Times as a “spooky sex comedy.” Directed by Julia Hammer ’15, the play consists of two characters — a director and an actress. It is a comedy but has a certain hypnotizing edge. The play follows the actress’s audition for a breakout part despite the obstacles and mishaps that pop up along the way. This production will be sensual, witty and completely entertaining.

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