T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
The Chronicle
XXXDAY, MONTH THURSDAY, MARCH XX,28, 2013 2013
ONE ONE HUNDRED HUNDRED AND AND EIGHTH EIGHTH YEAR, YEAR, ISSUE ISSUE 124 X
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Study points Duke admits at record low rate way to brain tumor drug by Julian Spector THE CHRONICLE
A genetic mutation that prevents cell death may hold the key to treating deadly brain tumors. The mutation affects the TERT promoter gene, which affects cell division, and is correlated strongly to certain types of brain tumor but not others, a team of Duke researchers found. The discovery, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday, offers a new metric for diagnosing the most common brain tumors and opens up new lines of research to understand the mechanism by which the mutation leads to cancerous tumor growth. “The discovery of TERT mutation provides the strongest genetic evidence explaining how cancer cells can live for such a long period of time,” co-author and pathology professor Dr. Hai Yan wrote in an email Tuesday. “It brings clarity in tumor classification and diagnosis to guide future personalized treatment.” The scientists found TERT mutations in 83 percent of adult glioblastomas studied, SEE GENE ON PAGE 4
CHRONICLE GRAPHIC BY JISOO YOON
For the Class of 2017, Duke admitted 9.9 percent of regular admissions applicants, the lowest acceptance rate in Duke’s history. There was also a record number of total applications this year—31,785. by Emma Baccellieri THE CHRONICLE
The months of waiting are over for the 29,200 regular decision applicants who sought a place in Duke’s Class of 2017. Wednesday afternoon, the Office of Un-
DUKE STUDENT GOVERNMENT
dergraduate Admissions informed 2,897 applicants of their acceptance, making the regular decision acceptance rate 9.9 percent. This year was the most competitive admissions cycle to date, with several hundred more applications than last year, ac-
cording to a Duke news release. Including early decision applicants, Duke received 31,785 applications. “From what I’ve seen, this is the best SEE ADMISSIONS ON PAGE 4
RECESS
Uni to submit approval Archive literary fest app for DKU next week hosts playwright Parks by Carleigh Stiehm THE CHRONICLE
Considerable progress is being made on the campus of Duke Kunshan University, Provost Peter Lange said at Wednesday evening’s Duke Student Government meeting.
Lange updated the Senate on DKU as that campus comes closer to finishing construction and opening to students. Next week, he will be submitting an establishment proposal to the city of Kunshan SEE DSG ON PAGE 5
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Provost Peter Lange talks about Duke Kunshan University at Wednesday’s DSG meeting.
Huntsman to come back to Duke, Page 3
by Kathy Zhou THE CHRONICLE
“Sometimes it hurts to bloom.” This is but one of a “million suggestions” that Suzan-Lori Parks has written down and will present to her audience at 6 p.m. tonight at the Duke Coffeehouse. Masterfully traversing and experimenting across mediums, Suzan-Lori Parks is a grantee of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant and the first black woman to Suzan Lori-Parks win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A playwright, teacher, screenwriter, essayist and novelist, her most renowned works are those in the theater, where she layers both time and space. Unlike film, the audience’s perspective is left uncontrolled, yet unlike the novel, a work of theater is not left entirely up to the imagination. Parks’s work is meant to be realized—physically, visu-
ONTHERECORD
“I’m not saying it’s easy not to worry. But those fears in your mind that you have made up are not real....” —Niva Taylor in ‘Futuritis.’ See column page 11
ally and aurally—by bringing her audience into the complexity and unsettlement that characterize her plays. “She’s important because she’s a person whose plays must be done in order to be understood,” says Jules Odendahl-James, resident dramaturg and a visiting lecturer in Theater Studies. “They really demand embodiment. She is playing with specific notions of rhythm, of silence, of gaps between speech. She gets into the physical nature of relationships, which makes her stand out as a particular kind of American playwright. She is interested in inviting us to consume uncomfortable things.” Parks brazenly commands a multitude of styles and new trajectories into history and storytelling. Notably, she worked on the film adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and she wrote the screenplay for Spike Lee’s Girl 6. SEE PARKS ON RECESS PAGE 8
3-D dance documentary comes to Triangle, Recess 3
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Environmental damage is Energy experts debate slow violence, expert says merits of clean energy by Lucy Hicks THE CHRONICLE
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Rob Nixon, an English profesor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks about violence caused by environmental change at the Nasher Museum of Art Wednesday. by Lizzy Kieffer THE CHRONICLE
Environmental theorist Rob Nixon argued in a talk Wednesday that destructive treatment of the environment constitutes a form of violence that gradually acts against the people who rely upon the land. Slow violence, defined as an understated violence with delayed repercussions, poses challenges to environmental action because its effects are hard to observe, said Nixon, Rachel Carson professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He delivered the talk “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor” as the 2013 John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Annual Distinguished Lecture at the Nasher Museum of Art. “One of the pressing challenges of our age is how to adjust our rapidly eroding attention spans to the slow erosion of the environment,” he said. He added that only sensationalized violence gains media attention, while less obvious violence, such as environmental violence, fails to make headlines. This has created multiple situations with lasting, harmful consequences.
Nixon cited the use of Agent Orange, an herbicide used for chemical warfare in Vietnam, and the insecticide DDT. “How in these circumstances can we convert [slow violence] into image and narrative disasters?” he asked. Nixon answered with an example of the Maldives, a micronation of islands in the Indian Ocean that is projected to be one of the first nation states to be completely submerged by water as a result of global climate change. To bring international attention to their situation, then-President of the Maldives Mohammed Nasheed held an underwater cabinet meeting where the ministers met in scuba gear to sign climate change legislation. He emphasized that slow violence often occurs at the expense of the poor or indigenous populations, as seen in the Niger Delta. The poorer indigenous population resisted foreign oil companies’ control over their homeland and related environmental exploitation of the land. SEE VIOLENCE ON PAGE 3
DukeJourneys
A bias against oil and nuclear energy as fuel sources is impeding industrial progress, said Alex Epstein, Trinity ’02, in a panel discussion Wednesday. Epstein, founder and director for the Center of Industrial Progress, and Thomas Eiden, a nuclear materials researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued the importance and efficiency of oil and nuclear energy in the modern day as well as the future. The talk sought to expose students to arguments opposing clean energy development. “Students need to hear a philosophic and scientific defense of oil and nuclear,” said Gary Hull, director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace, which organized the talk. Epstein outlined how oil is vital not only to transportation but also to fields such as agriculture, mining and medicine, which are not always central to conversations on energy. Oil has been central to many major improvements in vital parts of daily life, such as expanding food production, he added. “The function oil is filling is in fact a life-and-death function,” Epstein said. Efficiency and reliability often are not considered when discussing alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear power, he noted. An energy source may produce few carbon emissions, but still be a costly and ineffective means of producing power, Epstein added, using wind and solar energy as examples. Both Epstein and Eiden cited energy density—the amount of energy stored in a system—as one of the most significant metrics when considering energy efficiency. Nuclear energy exhibits high energy density, with one gram of uranium containing the energy in 600 barrels of oil. Governments have not supported nuclear energy because it is considered harmful, Epstein noted. He advocated decreasing regulations on nuclear and oil energy production which result in unnec-
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Gary Hull (right), director of the Duke Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace, introduces a panel of experts at a talk about clean energy. essarily high implementation costs. “There is a general fear of man-made substances or substances that we create,” he said. “The distinction to make is what is actually safe or what is actually dangerous based on the context.” Eiden added that although early forms of nuclear energy may have been hazardous, current nuclear technologies are quite safe in comparison to other combustible fuels such as coal or oil, which can cause spontaneous explosions. In contrast, emergencies at nuclear plants can be detected early and allow more time to defuse the situation. “Whatever the law is, it needs to be scientific—it can’t hold one technology to a different safety standard than another,” Epstein said. Although, current energy alternatives are not as effective as oil or nuclear, Epstein said he did not oppose the idea of using different forms of energy if they prove to be productive and economical. “The moral principle is that you have the right to use the best kind of energy at any given time,” he said. “Morally, you should use the best, and you should keep trying to make it better.”
A dinner series with members of the Duke community who have had significant global and/or civic experiences
Jody Williams Mac Jordan ’83 Thursday, April 4 6-8 p.m. Nasher Museum Space is limited Undergraduates only, please
President, Jordan Properties Made his hometown, Saxapahaw, N.C., a model of creative and inclusive community renewal, recently featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post
Nobel Laureate Chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
The Lillian Parker Wallace Lecture April 2, 2013 7 p.m. Jones Auditorium Free and Open to the Public Book Signing to Follow
Hear H ear aabout b o ut M Mac’s ac’s jjourney ourney .... .. IImagine magine yyour our oown wn Register at http://globaladvising.duke.edu
UNDERGRADUATE
GLOBAL ADVISING
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 | 3
Monkey behavior sheds light on human friendship by Tony Shan THE CHRONICLE
Monkeys have been known to possess many human-like qualities, but a Duke researcher’s findings suggest human friendship may actually be monkey-like. Lauren Brent, a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, studied cooperation and other social bonds in rhesus macaques, for seven years in Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. The monkeys were found to exhibit pro-social behaviors—voluntary acts meant to benefit another—such as friendship. Brent found that the act of friendship is prevalent within the species, and that the basis of these bonds in monkeys and humans may be genetic. “We’re finding this kind of pro-social behavior in many species, in non-human primates, but in other animals too,” Brent said. “The function that these friendships serve [in other animals] is actually very similar to what these social bonds do for us.” Although friendships among rhesus macaques do not last an entire lifetime as they can with humans, the monkeys do maintain long-term friendships, Brent said. This suggests that the foundation for these social bonds consists of something more profound than simply the benefit an individual could gain from another. “It’s just the desire for companionship,” Brent said. “It’s not like we’re still best friends with people we knew when we were five, but most friendships tend to be long-term, and that’s consistent in macaques as well.” She also found that sociability of individual macaques could be an inherited trait.
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Duke researchers have found that rhesus macaques exhibit signs of friendship similar to humans. By meticulously identifying the relationships between individuals to determine family trees, she was able to tell which monkeys were most well-connected, and who their parents or grandparents were. Analyses revealed genetic variation in the “sociability trait” significant enough to determine that friendship is an inherited trait, as the most sociable rhesus macaques were often the offspring of the most sociable adults. SEE FRIEND ON PAGE 6
Jon Huntsman to speak next week Jon Huntsman will be returning to Duke to deliver the second part of his Terry Sanford Distinguished lecture series next month. Hunstman, the United States ambassador to China and former Republican governor of Utah, will engage in a dialogue with Phil Bennett, Eugene C. Patterson professor of the practice of journalism and public policy, about U.S.-China relations in light of recent shifts in Chinese leadership and matters of intellectual property theft. The talk, “Today’s Changing Political Landscape: Foreign and Domestic,” will be held in Fleischman Commons at the Sanford School of Public Policy at 5p.m. on April 11 and will be free and open to the public. The Terry Sanford Distinguished lecture series, presented by the Sanford School, aims to facilitate addresses from SOPHIA DURAND/THE CHRONICLE the best contemporary minds in public policy. Huntsman delivered the first part of his Governor John Huntsman will speak at Duke for a two-part lecture series last September and second time this academic year April 11. was scheduled to give the second part in October, but had to reschedule the second Hurricane Sandy. part due to travel complications caused by —from staff reports
VIOLENCE from page 2 “We often go through our lives not really thinking,” said Erika Weinthal, associate professor of environmental policy and associate dean for international programs. “It’s what we do in our everyday life through our normal consumption that affects many other people along the way.”
Beth Perry, program director at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, said this was a significant talk for the Duke student body specifically. “When you think about what students go on to do after they leave Duke, I think [this] is an extremely important message for Duke students to hear simply because so many of them end up in a position of leadership,” she said.
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ADMISSIONS from page 1 class ever in some ways, but it’s still a class that we all recognize as very Duke,” said Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education. He noted that although the increased competition allowed the University to admit a class with better overall qualifications than in years past, the admissions office still strove to select a class of individuals who exhibit qualities that are quintessentially Duke, Nowicki said. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag also praised the class’s collective personality. “This class seems to have a real sense of energy, of enthusiasm and engagement.
GENE from page 1 making it more prevalent than any other kind of mutation in that tumor. This prevalence indicates the TERT mutation may play a key role in glioblastoma development, making it a promising target for drug development. Drugs have been sparse for brain tumors— when the FDA approved the drug Temodar in 2009, it was the first new chemotherapy for brain tumors in 20 years. The TERT promoter regulates the production of telomerase, the enzyme that controls growth of telomeres, the genetic caps on the end of chromosomes. As cells divide, telomeres progressively get shorter, and in the absence of telomerase, these cells would be signaled for cell death. In the cancers examined in the study, however, the TERT mutation produces higher rates of telomerase, which allows the uninhibited growth of cancer cells. “These cells would normally be signaled
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There’s a liveliness and spirit that comes through in their applications,” Guttentag wrote in an email early Thursday morning. “People on campus are really going to like this class, as individuals and as a group.” This year, more students than usual were admitted via binding early decision—44 percent of the Class of 2017 was accepted in December, as compared to 38 percent of both the Class of 2016 and Class of 2015. This change contributed to the competition for spaces among regular decision applicants. “This is the first time our regular decision admit rate ended up below 10 percent, and it made for some difficult choices,” Guttentag said in the release. “The accomplishments and personal qualities of the students applying for admission are just exceptional, and as pleased as I am for what it means for Duke,
I’m sorry that we don’t have room for more of these wonderful young women and men.” Nowicki said that although administrators cannot predict with certainty the percentage of accepted students who will choose to matriculate, the increase in early decisions acceptances will increase the yield. He added that even though the admitted classes have grown stronger over the past few years, the yield has remained relatively steady—a trend he attributes to the fact that more and more applicants are extremely qualified and have many top colleges competing for their attention. “I really don’t care how we compare to our competitors,” Nowicki said, referring to yield. “I care about admitting a great class of students with diverse interests and perspectives who will contribute to a vibrant, engag-
ing learning environment.” Admitted students were quick to express their excitement, flocking to the Official Duke University Admitted Class of 2017 group on Facebook and posting the news on websites such as College Confidential. “I had been preparing to see a ‘We regret to inform you...’ letter and shrieked when I realized I was actually accepted,” Ilana Weisman of Boca Raton, Fla., wrote in an email. “Most of my evening was spent laughing and crying after that—and I’m incredibly excited and still somewhat dazed that I actually got in.” Aiden Haney of Roswell, N.M., shared a similar story. “I know it’s really cliche, but I cried,” she said. “I feel so proud to be able to say, ‘Yes, I got in to Duke.’”
for cell death—as you age in cells telomeres get shorter,” said co-lead author Patrick Killela, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in pathology. “Normally the body would signal these cells to die. However, a way cells avoid this fate is to upregulate telomerase.... As long as it has the proper signals, cancer cells will divide ad infinitum.” The research came out of Yan’s lab at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, as a follow-up to a study published in January. The lab combines state of the art equipment for gene sequencing and a highly annotated collection of brain samples, which made it possible for the researchers to analyze 1,230 tumors including 60 varieties in approximately two months. Researchers at other schools contributed as well, including several from Johns Hopkins University. The data on the TERT mutation provides a new tool for differentiating which type of brain tumor a patient has. The currently available pathology tests are not always able to distinguish similar brain tumors, said Zachary
Reitman, a postdoctoral researcher in the Yan Lab. “There is a huge problem when a patient comes into the clinic and perhaps has had a seizure and an MRI showing a tumor— sometimes we have trouble telling them which type of tumor it is,” he said. “We can’t tell the patient for sure how aggressive we expect it to be, whether we expect them to have less than one-year survival or 10-year survival.” The new findings, combined with previous Yan Lab research on mutations of the IDH1 and 2 genes in brain tumors, suggest a way of differentiating the three most common brain tumors, Killela said. Glioblastomas, the most deadly brain tumors, are strongly correlated with TERT mutation but not with IDH mutations. Astrocytomas tend to have IDH gene mutations but not TERT mutations. Oligodendrogliomas are correlated with both TERT and IDH mutations. Successfully differentiating these tumors early on will give patients and doctors more
time to properly treat the tumor, and generate more accurate prognoses. Because the study establishes the TERT gene mutation as a consistent biomarker for certain cancerous tumors, future research will focus on how exactly the mutation contributes to cancer growth, Reitman said. The lab is already at work studying cell lines—human tumor cells grown in a petri dish—to explore the biological mechanism by which the mutation causes tumors to grow. “First we need a better understanding of just what this is doing,” Reitman said. “Then we could design a drug to counteract the effects of the mutation.” There is good precedent for the success of drugs that target a mutation associated with a tumor and thereby stop the tumor, Reitman added. This was the approach taken in developing the drug Gleevec to effectively combat chronic myelogenous leukemia. Research into the TERT mutation is still in early stages, but the researchers aim to eventually apply the knowledge to a similar drug.
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DSG from page 1 that will outline the plans that Duke intends to take after construction is completed. He said there has been some feedback from students concerned that DKU construction is depleting funds that could be allocated to the arts and sciences at Duke. “Undergraduate financial aid is costing us a lot of money and causing a squeeze in the arts and sciences funding, not DKU,” Lange said. “DKU is just a drop in the bucket.” He estimated that Duke will be required to pay about $5.5 million each year to keep DKU running. This small fraction of Duke’s total expected expenditures in the next five years, he noted. To date, the University has raised between $6 and 7 million dollars for DKU. “No top quality university pays for itself with tuition,” Lange said, adding that Duke will pay 50 percent of the operational costs of DKU, and the city of Kunshan will contribute the other 50 percent. Unlike Duke, DKU will not be need blind to the financial needs of its applicants, but Lange said the tuition rates will be “very sharply discounted” for Chinese students. He added that most of the buildings’ frameworks have been completed, and the campus is beginning to look a lot like the models. Currently, the construction contractors are focusing on completing the interiors of the main buildings. “We are not there yet, but when you see the campus coming out of the ground and the buildings in place, you can really see how the campus is going to emerge,” Lange said. Duke is setting the standards for the construction, but the city is paying for all of the costs. There have been some conflicts on the building standards, Lange said, citing a miscommunication between members of the construction team that resulted in the ceilings of a building being finished before the plumbing and electrical wiring had been installed. The Chinese construction workers had planned to compensate for the oversight by installing the ductwork below the ceiling. “That may have worked if everyone was my height, but there would be no way someone like Mason Plumlee would be able to walk through that room,” Lange said. Lange noted that despite differences of opinion on some work standards, the city of Kunshan and the Chinese government have been very supportive so far in the process of completing the campus. He added that Duke has been guaranteed full academic freedom on campus, but there are back-up policies that will be put in place if academic freedoms are interrupted. The campus has space for about 200 residential students, but when DKU first opens, there will not be fulltime undergraduate students. There will be programs for undergraduate students to spend a semester at DKU, and there will be full-time graduate students. Four to five years after the campus opens, DKU will begin offering its own undergraduate degrees, Lange said. There are many aspects of the academic experience at DKU that will differ from a student’s experience in Durham. For instance, students will only take two classes for seven weeks at a time, with the courses covering material twice as fast is typically done at Duke. “We want to try things out there and bring them back here,” Lange said. “China has a lot of student talent.” The curriculum at DKU will be taught exclusively in English. Applications will be accepted through the Duke Office of Admissions. In Other Business: Students studying in Lilly and Perkins Libraries will no longer have to worry about their electronics dying in the middle of a study session. Sophomore Brandon Sassouni, senator for services, presented legislation to use the DSG surplus fund to purchase a total of 50 computer chargers and 90 phone chargers. “Everyone has had a time when they wanted to go to the library to study, but they had to go back to their room instead because they needed a charger for their phone or computer or both,” Sassouni said. The chargers will be given barcodes and checked into the library system. Students can check out the chargers for the duration of their time in the library. If the chargers are stolen or damaged, they will be charged to the student’s bursar account. He added that the staffs of Lilly and Perkins fully support the legislation, which passed unanimously. Senator for Services Lavanya Sunder, a freshman, proposed legislation to encourage on-campus dining vendors to donate unsold foods to local charities. She added that there have been many requests for
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 | 5
excess on-campus food donation through the Fix My Campus program. Sunder created a petition to gauge the interest in the legislation, and it received over 560 signatures in one day. There has been “mixed luck” with vendors agreeing to participate in the donations, Sunder said. She added that if administrators supported the donations, it might result in more vendors participating. Under the Good Samaritan Laws in North Carolina, vendors cannot be held liable for any food that they donate. Sunder said that most of the unsold food on campus is thrown away when it is “perfectly safe to consume.” The legislation passed by unanimous consent. Beth Fox, director of the Academic Advising Center, announced that there will be changes in the undergraduate advising beginning with the Class of 2017. Previously, an undergraduate advisor was assigned an average of between 12 and 18 first year students. Fox said that beginning in the Fall, advisors will receive an average of 6 freshmen. She added that the Academic Advising Center is expanding the algorithm for how incoming students are
matched with undergraduate advisors. Previously, students filled out their three top academic interests to be matched with advisors. Now, there will be seven levels of compatibility to match students with advisors. Sophomore Joyce Lau was elected the chair of the Student Organization Finance Committee for the 2013-14 academic year by a Senate body vote. She was chosen over juniors Matthew Schorr and Jerome Utley. Lau said she was best suited for the role of SOFC chair because she is opinionated and has a breadth of experience in student groups on campus. She served as the treasurer of DSG this year. Executive Vice President Patrick Oathout, a junior, said he was “really underwhelmed” by all of the candidates. Oathout read a proposal to amend the process for selecting the Young Trustee Nominating Committee. “I understand the concern that DSG has too much influence on the process, and I think we should try to mitigate that,” Oathout said. The proposal will be discussed and debated at next week’s meeting.
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FRIEND from page 3
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Members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity participate in a probate on the Bryan Center plaza Wednesday night.
This evidence suggests that friendship could be an ancestral trait that was, perhaps, present in the common ancestor of all mammals. “Of course the argument can be made that it’s a novel trait that evolved independently many times, but if we look at it parsimoniously, [friendship is] most likely ancestral,” she said. Long-lasting friendships are known to come with health benefits, Brent said, noting that having a close social bond with other members of a group decreases stress and increases lifespan. Humans who surround themselves with friends are known to have less stress, which is correlated with better health. Brent said this has been seen when studying animals other than humans. “Those with friends show lower stress, which results in the release of fewer damaging immune cytokines,” she said. “We’ve found that could relate directly to longevity.” Similar to humans, rhesus macaques also exhibit aggression and competition. Brent noted that pro-social behavior is interrelated to these types of behavior, which are bound to emerge in larger groups with many social interactions. “Because you have competition with others in the group, you have to have friendships and alliances with certain members too,” Brent said. Although rhesus macaques are now known to exhibit friendship, humans are still known as the most cooperative species, Brent said. Michael Platt, director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, said humans are able to cooperate so well together because it is necessary for the human species to solve problems as a group. “We’ve been trying for millennia to deter-
mine what it is that makes us so cooperative,” Platt said. “Whether it’s culture, language or something else, we can be altruistic, and that suggests the capacity for early humans to form strong social bonds.” For Brent, studying monkeys not only reveals more about mankind’s evolutionary past, but also reveals how humans can be understood as animals. She noted that there is nothing to be gained from thinking that we are completely unrelated to these other species. “It quickly dispels the idea of something being more evolved than something else,” Brent said. “We’re all still evolving, so that’s the wrong way to think, and it’s something that we lose sight of.” Brian Hare, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology, also said there are still lessons we can learn from our primate relatives, even in things we already excel at, such as cooperation. Hare has studied the act of sharing in one of our most closely related species, the bonobo. He found that when given the option to share food with a friend or a total stranger, bonobos strongly prefer to share food with a stranger. This contrasts with humans, who prefer to share food with a friend, Hare said, adding that chimpanzees—another of the species most closely related to humans— would most likely eat everything without sharing a piece. “For bonobos, there’s no cost to sharing with a stranger, but there’s the potential benefit of making a new friend,” Hare noted. “That’s how they think: ‘Why would I want to share with this guy, he’s already my friend, so why not make a new friend?’” Even in terms of cooperation, there’s still room for improvement in the human species. “We’re like chimps. Xenophobic,” Hare said. “We should all try to be a little more like bonobos.”
Haitian Creole
(Kreyòl ayisyen) often called simply Creole or Kreyòl, is a language based largely on 18th Century French, some African languages, as well as languages such as Arawak, English, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Taino. It is spoken in Haiti, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Ivory Coast, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, parts of the United States, and Venezuela. Register Now: CREOLE 101: Elementary Creole I (FL), MTThF 10:15 - 11:15, (offered by Duke)
Duke/University of Virginia Consortium
Tibetan Creole
Tibetan
is a collection of dialects spoken by more than 8 million people across China, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan. Most Tibetic languages are written in an Indic script that helps unify the Tibetan-language area. Register Now: TIBETAN 101: Elementary Tibetan I (FL), MTWRF 9:00 - 9:50 (offered by UVA)
Duke/University of Virginia Consortium Duke and the University of Virginia are partnering to offer courses in languages not often taught in Western academic curriculum. Classes will be taught to students on both campuses through telepresence classrooms, and the courses will also count towards students’ foreign language degree requirement at both universities.
Duke/University of Virginia Consortium
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Wells steps Collins to leave for Northwestern Former player and up for close friend reflects Blue Devils by Andrew Beaton THE CHRONICLE
by Jackie Klauberg THE CHRONICLE
After missing last year’s NCAA tournament due to suspension, Blue Devil junior Chloe Wells came out to make the best of another shot at an NCAA title. When Duke trailed Oklahoma State by 13 at the half, Wells took it upon herself to step up and make a change. She did not want to see another season cut short; rather, she wanted to take care of the Cowgirls in order to advance to the Sweet 16 in Norfolk, Va. “Chloe [Wells had] a game-changing performance in all ways,” Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “She worked so hard on defense. I think at one point she stalled them and they stopped moving and there were a couple turnovers and things of that nature. I really thought Chloe was the engine to making it go.” Despite scoring just three points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half, Wells exploded in the second half, shooting 4-of8 from the floor and scoring 10 points. Wells also provided the Blue Devils with SEE W. BASKETBALL ON PAGE 8
Duke associate head coach Chris Collins told Jon Scheyer ‘let’s do this’ on two occasions. Both times, Scheyer did it. Moments like those are why Scheyer—who starred at Duke from 20062010—is so sure that Collins will succeed in his first head coaching gig. Collins will reportedly become the head coach at Northwestern, though he will stay at Duke for the rest of the season. Collins, a player at Duke from 19921996 and assistant coach since 2000, was the first Duke coach to recruit Scheyer. Both are natives of the Chicago suburb Northbrook, Ill. and Collins is a graduate of Scheyer’s high school, Glenbrook North. The pair bonded over playing the same teams in high school as Scheyer was on his way to breaking nearly all of the high school records that Collins set. Then as a junior, Scheyer made his unofficial visit to Duke, and Collins made his final pitch. “Towards the end he pulled me aside and said, ‘If you want to do this, let’s do this. Let’s get it done,’” Scheyer said. “It was funny because I was like, ‘Yeah, what am I waiting for? Let’s do this.’” Shortly after, Scheyer pledged his al-
SWIMMING & DIVING
ELYSIA SU/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
Associate head coach Chris Collins will remain at Duke for the rest of the season before coaching for Northwestern. legiance to the Blue Devils. Collins’ final challenge to Scheyer was during the 2010 NCAA Tournament. No. 1-seeded Duke advanced to the Sweet 16 despite a second-round performance in which Scheyer went 1-for-11 from the field, missing his final eight shots of the game. His funk continued into the Sweet 16 against Purdue, going into halftime
having missed all six of his field goal attempts as the Blue Devils led the fourthseeded Boilermakers by just one point. “At halftime he approached me and said, ‘Are we going to do this or are we going to do this?’” Scheyer said. “I was unsettled and trying to force it too much. SEE COLLINS ON PAGE 12
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Taking down Carolina Long, McCrory compete in NCAA’s by Nick Martin THE CHRONICLE
by Vaishnavi Krishnan THE CHRONICLE
CAROLINE RODRIGUEZ/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
Jordan Long will compete in the 1- and 3-meter springboard during the NCAA Championships.
For the first time in program history, two divers are competing in the NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend. After a long season in which every performance affects qualifying for the championship, senior Jordan Long and junior Nick McCrory will be the only Blue Devils at the meet. Having two divers attend this high intensity weekend is a first for Duke, and a testament to the growth and development that has occurred under the tutelage of diving head coach Drew Johansen. “Drew’s been one of the most successful coaches in the sport of diving, especially so quickly,” Long said. “He comes in here and builds a program up within four or five years. Even through my time, all the success he’s had in the program has grown tremendously. I think this is just another stepping stone to it becoming even greater and better. Having both of us go speaks to what the program is capable of.” The pair said they believe that the lack of new competition will help eliminate SEE DIVING ON PAGE 12
As if a matchup between two top-five teams was not enough, this week’s game between Duke and North Carolina pits last week’s ACC Offensive Player of the Week, Tar Heel Kara Cannizzaro, against No. 3 last week’s ACC DeUNC fensive Player of the vs. Week, Blue Devil No. 5 Kelsey Duryea. Duke Thursday night will see the collision THURSDAY, 7 p.m. of two lacrosse jugKoskinen Stadium gernauts as No. 3 North Carolina (91, 2-0 in the ACC) travels to Durham to take on No. 5 Duke (9-1, 2-1) for what will likely determine who will finish second in the ACC. After dropping their season opener to Florida, the Tarheels have won nine straight games, climbing the national rankings to the number three spot. Although they have yet to face No. 1 Maryland, North Carolina has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the ACC. In its nine victories, North Carolina has been winning handily, with a scoring margin of five goals. Senior midfielder and team captain Cannizzaro leads the Tarheels’ offensive
charge, already notching 27 goals on the season. North Carolina’s offense averages 11.8 goals per game behind Cannizzaro, who is the main catalyst and the only player on the Tarheels’ offense to score more than 20 goals this season. “It’s going to take a total team effort [to stop Cannizzaro],” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “She’s a great individual player. She generates a lot of offense for them [and] she’s got great speed in the midfield.” The Blue Devils’ sole loss came at the hands of No. 1 Maryland on Feb. 24. Since then, Duke has won five games in a row, including victories against No. 8 Georgetown, No. 10 Virginia and No. 15 Dartmouth. Offensively, senior attacker Makenzie Hommel and sophomore attacker Kerrin Maurer have anchored the offense by scoring 27 and 23 goals, respectively. While Cannizzaro has been able to match Hommel’s goal-production, both Hommel and Maurer have been able to do so more effectively. Cannizzaro has a shooting percentage of 45.8 while Hommel and Maurer boast 60.5 and 60, respectively. This type of efficiency allows their shots-on-goal percentage to be close to 20 percent better than Cannizzaro’s, forcing opponents to take their scoring SEE W. LACROSSE ON PAGE 12
8 | THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
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W. BASKETBALL from page 7 a spark of energy and hustle that rallied her teammates and propelled them to a comeback win. “I’m really proud of Chloe in particular because she was the catalyst and instigator of a lot of anticipation, which the team was able to feed off of,” McCallie said. When asked about the sluggish, uncharacteristic start her team had in the first half and the much improved second half, junior forward Haley Peters praised Wells’ instigative role in the turn of events for the Blue Devils. “We went away from things that we normally do very well and didn’t play together as well as we could,” Peters said. “The focus really shifted to defense. We are a talented team, and when we play defense we are very good.... I thought Chloe was just as important, if not more, than I was in that regard.” Wells nearly tripled her scoring average in the game against the Cowgirls. Prior to the game, the junior was averaging about five points per game on the season. Wells also saw much more action on both sides of the ball Tuesday night. Prior to this second-round game against Oklahoma State in which Wells played 25 minutes, she had been averaging 19.6 minutes per game. When freshman guard Alexis Jones got into foul trouble midway through the second half, Wells was forced into playing extra minutes. After watching the game from the bench for the first few minutes of play, Wells was able to get a grasp on the changes Duke needed to make to come back against the Cowgirls. When she entered the game, Wells went in levelheaded and with a new perspective on her team’s play. “I was thinking that we had to reverse the ball,” Wells said. “We usually shoot well when everybody gets a touch on the court. I think that we didn’t really have it in our minds to press to score, we just relaxed and waited for the right shot.” McCallie said she was inspired by Wells’ contributions off the bench and continued to encourage her confident play. “[McCallie] told me to keep going and to get a breather when I needed it,” Wells said. “I was playing so hard I was tired. She told me to keep playing hard
SOPHIA DURAND/THE CHRONICLE
Junior Chloe Wells was “the catalyst and instigator of a lot of anticipation” against Oklahoma State, Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. and the shots will eventually fall. She also told me to keep fighting on defense.” The Blue Devils head up to Virginia this weekend to take on Nebraska in the round of 16. Another “sweet” performance from Wells will bode extremely well for Duke. With junior point guard Chelsea Gray out of the lineup with a knee injury, Duke will look to Wells to fill the void left by the one of team’s leading scorers as the Blue Devils delve further into the tournament. “Our performance today is a testament to all that we’ve been through as a team,” Wells said. “Chelsea [Gray] has been hurt, I have been hurt, Richa [Jackson] as well. We just know how to fight as a team. When we go down everybody is still on the same page and I think [Tuesday] we showed that more than anything. Being here is the opportunity of a lifetime that I didn’t have last year so I feel really good.”
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Students with strong work ethics, are self-motivated, and exhibit leadership and excellent interpersonal skills should apply. Students will be sales representatives working for Summit Marketing. You will be a marketer for our client south of Philadelphia. You will be responsible for managing residential areas and promoting services through door-to-door sales. You will not use gimmicks, aggressiveness, or stereotypical door-to-door sales “tactics.” This is not magazine or vacuum sales. You will be representing a legitimate local business. April/May -- August Some flexibility of start and end date. $1000/month guaranteed, paid housing, and commissions. Typical earnings are $8,000-$14,000. -Call Lucas at 919-264-2674 or Email: lucas@sellwithsummit. com RESEARCH ASSISTANT NEEDED for Duke Clinical Research Study. Duties include physiological monitoring, data entry, and data processing. Bachelors degree required. Please send resume and cover letter to lauren.egger@duke.edu.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 | 9
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The Independent Daily at Duke University
The Chronicle
10 | THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
Support equality The debate surround- a whole. Furthermore, maring same-sex marriage riages occur with the biologgained a lot of attention ical goal of procreation— this week. On Tuesday and meaning that only one male Wednesday the Supreme one female unions should Court heard arguments in be recognized as marriage. Hollingsworth Others have v. Perry and argued that editorial United States the issue simv. Windsor—two different ply should not be before a cases involving same-sex federal court—it is a matter couples. Although official for the states. rulings on the cases will not We—like many other be out for some time, ten- supporters of same-sex marsions between those in sup- riage—disagree with these port of same-sex marriage arguments. First, we do not and those against it have believe that the definition reached a boiling point. of marriage will be harmed Opponents of same-sex by the inclusion of same-sex marriage argue that mar- couples. The argument that riage is between one man marriage is a union based and one woman and that on biological needs is also any other definition of mar- quite ludicrous—if this arriage would undermine the gument were to be followed sanctity of the institution as to its logical end then mar-
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I’m sure when you’re living under the poverty level and unable to move up, you know very well that the current economic system isn’t promoting your interest. And as for the “collective interest of the nation,” what on earth are you using as your metric to judge the nation’s best interest? —“This is a Dumb Article” commenting on the column “The prince and the pauper.”
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riages where a partner is sterile or the couple elects to not have children should also not be counted as marriages or allowed. We also challenge the argument that this is not an issue for the federal government to decide. Because spousal rights such as insurance coverage, next-of-kin status and survivor benefits are all tied into the federal definition of marriage, it is necessary for the federal government to be involved in the issue. The two cases before the Supreme Court have the potential to radically change how the United States acknowledges samesex marriages. In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the justices could vote to allow same-sex marriage in all 50 states, al-
low states to determine for themselves if same-sex marriage should be legal or not or simply rule that supporters of Proposition 8 lacked standing to appeal a lower court’s decision and not make a decision on samesex marriage. In United States v. Windsor, the court could rule to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which would allow couples that live in states allowing for same-sex marriage to receive federal spousal benefits. They could also rule to uphold DOMA in its current form, continuing to deny numerous benefits to these couples. If the court decided to rule in favor of same-sex marriage, it would certainly have effects in North Caro-
lina and at Duke—especially since a majority of voters in the state were in favor of Amendment One last year. Even if the court chooses a more neutral ruling that only influences a few states, it would have an impact— students from California or states that currently allow same-sex marriage would still be affected by the results. But a ruling allowing same-sex marriage across the country should not be seen as an end to discrimination against the LGBT community. Homelessness, mental health problems and employment discrimination continue to be problems that still need to be addressed. Even after this ends we must continue to support equality for all.
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ftentimes I feel as though the views of the Re- to fend for themselves in life is not true. publican Party are not properly characterized Third, Republicans recognize that there is growin Duke campus discourse. Today I’d like to ing inequality in U.S. society, and this bothers them. briefly summarize four oft-ignored perspectives on But where they differ with Democrats is that they do the Republican economic agenda, not fall head over heels for equality which isn’t as scary as it is usually porfor its own sake, nor do they think trayed in Duke campus debate. government is very good at bringFirst and foremost, the Repubing about the equality Democrats lican Party is not a party that only seek. While gross levels of income cares about rich people. Republicans inequality bother Republicans, what want everyone to have a good-paying concerns them much more is allevijob that provides for his or her famating inequalities in opportunity and ily. Many Republicans come from therefore enhancing economic modaniel strunk humble beginnings and humble backbility. With this in mind, Republicans grounds. Many were immigrants who questions not asked wholeheartedly support education came to this country with nothing but reform—seeing education as one of a dream. They know what it is to face hard times, and the best ways to enhance opportunity for all indiare not callous to the difficult circumstances in which viduals in American society, decrease inequality and many impoverished people find themselves. grow the economic pie for all. In short, Republicans do not differ with DemoFinally, Republicans are more concerned about crats at all in terms of empathy. Rather, they differ in the budget deficit and debt than most Democrats. their beliefs regarding the means by which to help This is because they see such spending as indebting the poorest among us. I think it’s safe to say Repub- future generations who will eventually have to pay licans have more faith in the power of free markets back this spending (read: us). This is why you continthan the Democratic Party. Republicans would ar- ue to hear Republicans bring up entitlement reform. gue that free markets, unencumbered by unneces- (“Reform” being the key word there. Despite what sary government regulation, allow for the greatest Democratic attack ads say, Republicans don’t want to growth in prosperity for all. end entitlements entirely.) For example, after adjustThat being said, you’ll notice I used the word “un- ing for inflation, a typical couple at retirement age necessary” in front of “government regulation” in will receive $387,000 in Medicare benefits compared the previous sentence. This brings me to my second to $122,000 they paid into the system. This is unsuspoint: Republicans believe that there are necessary tainable. Republicans disagree among themselves on roles for the government in the economy. They real- whether taxes should be raised to help solve the probize that what economists describe as “market failures” lem. But unlike many Democrats, almost all Repubexist. Though they might have more faith in the pow- licans wholeheartedly agree that increased taxes are er of free markets than Democrats, that doesn’t mean not the only answer to the problem. The group Third Republicans see free markets as perfect. Way recently showed that even if we enacted every Because of this, Republicans don’t believe that semi-plausible tax increase on the rich, the national a “rags to riches” expectation applies to everyone. debt would still double over the next three decades. They love to celebrate “rags to riches” stories, as they In short, if Republicans appear to be obsessed with believe these stories typify the very best of what capi- entitlement reform, that’s only because it is a trementalism has to offer. But for some people, no matter dous problem worth being concerned about. how hard they might work, a “rags to riches” story In closing, these are four points the Republican just isn’t in the cards. Republicans embrace diversity Party failed to communicate in 2012, but which will in talent that leads to diversity in wealth accumula- hopefully predominate Republican rhetoric in 2014 tion, but they also recognize that there is diversity in and 2016. It is also my hope they might work their way circumstance that on far too many occasions cuts off into campus debate that far too often unfairly typifies talent at its source. Republicans therefore believe a Republicans as being unsympathetic, uncaring or out role for government exists in supporting those who of touch with reality. On the contrary, Republicans en face unfortunate circumstances. If they support fewer masse are none of these things. government programs than Democrats, it’s simply because they see less market failure than Democrats do. Daniel Strunk is a Trinity junior. His column runs every But saying Republicans on the whole want everyone other Thursday.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013 | 11
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When the public sector does it better
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went to Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools for ham voters recently approved a quarter-cent increase in 13 years. From my perspective, my CMS education the sales tax to fund education programs. In theory, we was just as good as any other public or private K-12 could have also accomplished this goal if each Durham education. For that, I feel extremely lucky. My teach- resident wrote out a check to Durham-based nonprofits ers were bright and committed to their providing pre-K to low-income children, jobs. When I graduated I had my pick of but will Jill write out her check if she Ivy League schools or a full-ride at Duke, thinks that Jack won’t do the same? Tax and I felt prepared for all my first-year financing represents a covenant by comcoursework. I’m well aware there are munity members saying “we agree this X huge inequities between the best and is valuable, and so we will agree to share worst public schools. Nevertheless, in in the cost of creating X.” Taxation helps comparing my high school, Myers Park, us overcome collective action problems. where the per pupil expenditures come Once we’ve decided a service should elena botella in around $5,379, and Charlotte’s most be publicly financed, we then ask: Should successful private schools, where high a rebirth of wonder this service be performed by the governschool tuition exceeds $21,000, I can ment itself or should the government say quite simply that the tenured government bureau- contract it out? A key issue here is how “operationalizcrats at Myers Park are doing something right. But how able” a task is. Let’s say it costs a city $5 million to take could this possibly be? Haven’t we all learned that gov- out all the trash. If a company says they can do it for $4 ernment employees are scum, and all government or- million, very little risk is involved in offering them a conganizations bureaucratic nightmares? tract, because success or failure in trash-removal is easy Research confirms my anecdotal claim that the pri- to measure—we can explicitly list the steps that need to vate sector isn’t able to do a better job at educating be performed. Cost-savings in trash-removal will repreNorth Carolinian students than the public sector. Rob- sent procedural innovation and greater efficiency, and ert Bifulco and Helen Ladd from Duke’s Sanford School there won’t be much need to audit the trash-disposal of Public Policy found that when controlling for student company. Compare that to the for-profit prison indusfixed effects, North Carolinian students make smaller try. When a for-profit prison corporation “cuts costs” by achievement gains in charter schools than they would weakening rehabilitation and job training programs, our have in public schools. community suffers. If they end up using their profits to Conservatives purport with fervor that the private lobby for longer prison sentences, they will gain at the sector is always more efficient than the public sector, taxpayer expense. A for-profit prison operator, hospital but real world examples routinely violate this principle. or university has a stronger incentive to try to “game the Countries with single-payer healthcare spend a much system” than its public or non-profit counterparts. When smaller percentage of their GDP on healthcare and have genuine savings can be found, the corporate shareholdhealthier citizens than the United States. Meta-analysis ers, rather than taxpayers, will reap much of the benefits. of publicly-run and privately-run prisons shows that the We should be wary of privatizing any government service latter are not conclusively more cost-effective than the where what “success” means can’t be easily quantified former. Duke researchers have found that for-profit hos- and measured without a high risk of cheating. pitals charge Medicare more than their government-run A second class of examples is when coordination is counterparts, with little difference in patient outcomes. critical. If there were a snowstorm, would you rather These examples alone should give us pause and encour- have the government plow the roads, or have church age us to look for patterns in which the public sector groups and local nonprofits have to patch together a might outperform the private. plan? Sometimes, having a unified strategy works better The first question we ask is: When should something than piecemeal solutions. be paid for by tax dollars? Sometimes, it’s pretty clear that Humans respond to a profit motive, but we also rea valuable thing won’t be paid for unless citizens agree spond to altruism, community values, prestige and pride to each pay their fair share through taxation. As a simple in our work. The private sector is great at many things, example, before there was free, public K-12 education, but in key circumstances underperforms. In deciding lots of people just didn’t go to school, which was bad. An when to privatize and when to use government to solve appealing alternative would be to rely on philanthropy, problems, we should reject dogmatic thinking and begin rather than tax dollars, to solve a problem. This could with an agnostic look at evidence. potentially work if individuals increased their charitable donations when taxes are cut, but projections have preElena Botella is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every dicted that this isn’t necessarily the case. In 2011, Dur- Thursday. You can follow Elena on Twitter @elenabotella.
lettertotheeditor Response to “The R-word” Over the past few years, the amount of humor in the media drawn from extremely traumatic experiences such as rape and sexual assault has skyrocketed. It is shocking and disappointing that a writer for The Chronicle at Duke University has resorted to the same juvenile and insensitive techniques to entertain readers. The March 25 Monday, Monday column (“The Rword”) probably meant to satirically highlight some continual issues on campus. The manner in which this attempt was executed, however, was misguided, unclear and unprofessional. For instance, calling the 16 percent of freshman women who are sexually assaulted during the first six weeks of Duke “freshmeat” insults members of the Duke University community who must be supported and protected by the student body. There are absolutely no circumstances in which finding humor in rape is possible, let alone appropriate to publish in a well-respected University newspaper. Even though the piece does indirectly draw attention to some of the more outlandish belief systems regarding rape on campus, these grave issues nevertheless deserve to only be emphasized in a direct, sensitive and non-sarcastic manner.
Furthermore, “The R-word” undermines the integrity of Duke University and the measures it has taken in the past few years to protect female students against these serious issues they face. This piece is especially inappropriate in light of the high traffic of talented potential students and their parents who are visiting in these upcoming weeks who may not understand the satirical context of “Monday, Monday.” Brilliant female students should not be deterred from this incredible University because of Duke’s ingrained reputation, reaffirmed by this article, as a risky place to study. The University should welcome new women with a firm promise that this community will actively work to ensure their safety. The outrage at the Steubenville rape news coverage, the backlash against Seth McFarlane’s insensitive and sexist comments at the Oscars and the repercussions against Daniel Tosh on Tosh.0 as a result of rape jokes give a clear message to media outlets: People are angered by the light-hearted manner in which rape and sexual assault are being addressed. Jokes regarding rape, even though they are “just jokes,” are not funny. They will never be funny. Don’t publish them. Elizabeth Clark, Trinity ’13 President, Baldwin Scholars
Futuritis
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think about the future more than I would like to admit. And by “the future” I mean everything from what I’d like to eat for dinner to where my career will be in five years to how I’m going to afford new textbooks. I am all about planning and being prepared. I think ahead and take the necessary steps that I believe will lead me where I need to go—constantly designing and editing a blueprint of what my future world will look like. Often, it’s relaxing to think I can envision how my life will turn out. But there is definitely a fine line between being ready for what’s coming next and obsessing over it. And to be honest, I’m not always sure what side of that line I’m on. Like most people, I suffer niva taylor from futuritis. It’s the horthe next big thing rible, and often irrational, fear of what hasn’t even happened yet. It’s not being able to sleep because you have a big meeting in the morning. It’s thinking about all the emails you need to send while you’re in the shower. It’s stressing about what you’re going to do after class, before you even get dressed. Futuritis is the inability to stop worrying about or anticipating the future. It’s our failure to focus on what we are doing. In the now. The present. For example, right now as I write this column, I am actually thinking about how I’m going to finish my problem set due tomorrow, how I’m going to pass my bioelectricity test next week and when I’ll be able to go for a run this afternoon. It’s even more than just thinking. It’s worrying. Stressing. It’s a constant mental to-do list creating unnatural, and often unnecessary, uneasiness. So many of us are terrified of the future. As third graders, we were anxious about fourth grade. As high school graduates, we were nervous to go to college. As college seniors, we’re scared of the real world. And unfortunately this never ends. Soon we’ll be afraid of all our friends moving away and getting married and forgetting us. We’ll fear not having an impressive response to “what do you do for a living?” That our knees will become weaker than they used to be. That we won’t find someone to love forever. That summer internships will not turn into full time offers. I can spend countless hours projecting and perfecting my blueprint—finalizing a five-year plan, a 10-year plan or even a 60-year plan. I can even try to plan my day for tomorrow. But the truth is, a lot of the things I worry about never actually happen. Or at least they don’t turn out as I had predicted. And the bad things that do end up happening—which I should have worried about—I never saw coming. Still, we subject ourselves to the terrible personal torture that is futuritis, along with its side effects of stress and dissatisfaction. We become incapable of enjoying anything in the moment, and ultimately, feel unfulfilled. Think about the fundamental interview question: “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Think about what that even means. It indicates a discontent with the position you are presently applying for, and an expectation that you not only must desire to do something else in five years, but that you also should have a pretty clear idea of what that something else is, right now. I understand it’s great to be ambitious and have goals. I would love to eventually reach a destination in which I can sit back, kick my feet up and say, “This is exactly where I need to be. I am done planning for more.” But at the moment, I have no idea what that day looks like, so what’s so wrong with my answer being, “Let’s get through this internship first before I can even comprehend what infinity and beyond looks like”? We have trained ourselves to believe that if we do not worry about these things, if we do not plan out our futures, we will not be successful. But that is simply not true. Living in the moment does not mean standing still. Take, for example, this year’s Best Actress Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence. In a recent interview, she was asked if she worried she had peaked too soon in her career. Her response: “Well … now I am.” Lawrence’s personality is so refreshing because of how shocked she is to find her talent as widely appreciated as it is. She has a grasp on enjoying today without worrying about tomorrow, a perspective we could all benefit from. I’m not saying it’s easy to not worry. But those fears in your mind that you have made up are not real. The present moment is real. Niva Taylor is a Pratt junior. Her column runs every other Thursday.
12 | THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
DIVING from page 7 any surprises. Since the diving community is small and close-knit, many of the divers know each other. McCrory noted that he is excited to see Stanford’s Kristian Ipsen, a fellow Olympic team member, and dive against him this weekend. McCrory will look to notch his third national championship off of the platform and collect crowns in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard after taking a year away from college competition to train for the 2012 London Olympics, where he took home a bronze medal. The training only seemed to improve his performance, though, as he won the 1-meter and platform events at the Zone B Diving Championships earlier this month. He also added conference titles in all three events in the ACC tournament earlier this season, and became the most decorated diver in conference history. “I do know what to expect. NCAA’s is honestly one of my favorite meets to go to because it’s so high-energy with all the swimmers there. I like to watch those
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events, and there’s always a really loud, big crowd so it just makes it exciting,” McCrory said. “My mindset going into it is just to go and dive and have fun. My focus is still on springboard but I’m going to be looking to do my best on platform also.” Long is a different story, as he is a first-time competitor at the NCAA Championships. He will compete in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard events. Long finished the Zone B Diving Championships with a top performance on the 3-meter, collecting 724.40 points in two rounds. “It couldn’t have been more perfect. It feels like it was meant to be almost, especially because I knew freshmen year that it was a long shot to make NCAA’s,” Long said. “But each year, it’s just been that much closer to being a reality. And then going to that Zone meet and everything falling into place and everything paying off and making the one meet that I’ve always dreamed of making, I couldn’t honestly ask for a better way to end my whole career.”
W. LACROSSE from page 7 opportunities more seriously. Duke as a team has also scored 23 more goals on the season than the Tarheels. But it is the play of freshman goalkeeper Duryea that has kept the Blue Devils in the position to win late in the game. “It’s huge for us to have our solid defense return from last year and then have a crucial part in the cage with [Duryea],” Maurer said. Duryea was selected as last week’s ACC Defensive Player of the Week after notching a season-high 12 saves against Virginia. These types of performances have been crucial, as Duke has been in several tight games this season with three of its last five games decided by three goals or less. “On attack, it gives you the confidence that if you do have a turnover, she’s going to go down there and make the big save that will give us a spark,” Maurer said. Looking at past games between these two teams, Duryea will need to step up and have another solid performance if the Blue Devils hope to hold off the Tarheels. Last year saw a bizarre contest, with the Tarheels winning in an unusually low-scoring 4-2 game. “Both of us have had games where we’ve scored a lot of goals, we’ve been held in check, given up double-digit goals, not given up a lot of goals,” Kimel said. “History tells you that it’s likely going to be a close game.” If Duke can make it past North Carolina, the Blue Devils have a good chance to win out the rest of the regular season, with their only true test coming against No. 4 Northwestern. If Duke can stay perfect from Thursday night on, they will place second in the ACC and more than likely crack the top-three in the overall rankings. The game—held at Koskinen Stadium at 7 p.m.—is the last time that the Blue Devils will see their home field until they close out their season against Ohio State. “We always love playing on Koskinen,” Kimel said. “And the fact that it’s a night weekday game is pretty exciting for us.”
COLLINS from page 7 He calmed me down, but at the same time he got me angry. I’m best when I play angry.” An angry Scheyer scored 16 points in the second half, leading Duke to a 13-point victory. Scheyer averaged 19.3 points per game in the final three games of the NCAA Tournament as Duke won its fourth national championship. He is not the only Blue Devil to have been wooed by Collins, though the two are especially close because they share so much in common: hometown, high school, college and even awards. But Collins has consistently displayed an ability to recruit well within the Chicago area, where Northwestern is located in nearby Evanston. Collins was also the lead recruiter for Chicago-native Sean Dockery, who played at Duke from 2002-2006. “Nobody has recruited Chicago better than he has,” Scheyer said. Senior Mason Plumlee said Collins was the first Duke coach to recruit him, adding that he heard the news that Collins accepted the Northwestern job Wednesday afternoon from teammate Josh Hairston. Although head coach Mike Krzyzewski noted that the deal has not yet been made official, he had high praise for his former player and assistant. Collins also joined Krzyzewski as an assistant coach on the USA Olympic basketball teams in 2008 and 2012 that both won gold medals. “He’s been terrific—not good,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s got a great basketball mind.” Scheyer echoed that sentiment, noting that even though he is playing professional basketball in Spain, he still speaks with Collins at least every other day. Scheyer also remembered that there is one time when Collins had the last laugh—holding onto his high school-record 54 points in a game, though it was a close call. With Krzyzewski and Collins in attendance for one of Scheyer’s high school games, Glenbrook North trailed by 13 points with 1:24 left. Scheyer proceeded to score 21 in the next 75 seconds, giving him 52 for the game and bringing his team within two. But with nine seconds left, Scheyer made one last play to try and complete the comeback, only to foul out with nine seconds remaining, leaving him two points short of Collins’ record. “I was going to break his record in front of him,” Scheyer said. “[It was] a terrible foul call.”
Recess
volume 14 issue 24 march 28, 2013
(RE)PEAL
PINA 3D brings depth to heralded dance documentary
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ELIZA BRAY/THE CHRONICLE
the strokes
spring breakers engimatic director returns with vacation romp
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choreolab
indie heavy-hitters release 80s-inspired album
annual dance showcase features wide range of styles
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March 28, 2013
editor’sNOTE ality that bookends our artistic experiences, however brief or extensive they might be. Separating the two is difficult for me. Thinking about seeing a concert (in New York, in Atlanta, in Durham) will immediately be followed by thoughts of whether I can find someone to go with me and how I’m getting home. If I don’t know these two things, then unfortunately I won’t be going out that night. No, these are not fun thoughts. In fact, they almost always weigh down plans of going to see a movie, a performance or an exhibit opening. But I would never leave it up to chance just because I don’t want to deal with logistics or practicalities, which, depending on how you define art, can seem antithetical to immersive artistic experiences. But I don’t have to go to New York to be bogged down with these concerns. They’re right here at Duke as well. I can feel uneasy in any environment that doesn’t adequately provide the infrastructure to ensure my safety. I was a deejay at WXDU for a minute and a half my sophomore year. The deejay booth is tucked away in the Bivins Building on the periphery of East Campus; it’s an unassuming building, but so was the house in Amityville Horror, am I right? Unless you invite someone to sit in on your shift with you, you’re likely to be the only one in the building, a thought that can amplify every creak and make rustling leaves sound like hushed whispers coming from outside. Walks home at 2 a.m. after a graveyard shift are not a walk at all, but rather a walk-jog hybrid that I know is too familiar for too many people reading this. It’s at least several minutes before you reach the East Campus main quad. Maybe I gave into my anxieties too quickly, maybe I could have ridden them out, but I decided to quit deejaying that semester. our favorite things that rhyme with pina What was hardest for me Michaela Dwyer..........................................................................................pina. duh. about the whole experience is Holly Hilliard......................................................................................spektor, regina that I knew exactly what deejayKatie Zaborsky......................................................................................................trina ing in a comfortable commuTed Phillips.................................................................................................yekaterina nity space could be. The whole reason I applied to WXDU is Dan Fishman.......................................................................................anna karenina because, before I transferred Sophia Durand.................................................................................................athena to Duke as a sophomore, I Emma Loewe.....................................................................................laughing hyena was a deejay at the University of Georgia. By contrast, their Eliza Bray.............................................................................................george, regina station was housed in UGA’s
A
few New Yorker’s ago, I read a piece by Joseph Mitchell—a contributor to the magazine for over 50 years— entitled “Street Life,” a mesmerizing, lyrical account of both New York’s well-trodden neighborhoods and its forgotten crevices. “What I really like to do is wander aimlessly in the city,” he writes. “I like to walk the streets by day and by night.” As much as I admire Mitchell’s impulse to breathe the city in at all hours of the night, content to be an active observer while the city pulses around him, my first thought wasn’t, “I want to do that.” My first thought was, “I can’t do that.” Psychogeography—the act of wandering through an environment and tapping into that carefree yet thoughtful aimlessness—will never be a luxury I can have. At least at night. Looking like you have nowhere to be on an unfamiliar street in an urban space when it’s dark out is exactly what I’ve been taught not to do, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, especially any woman. All this said, I’m moving to New York after I graduate (God willing). For me, the city is the cultural and artistic heart of the world, and I want to be a part of what makes it beat so loudly. But unlike Mitchell, I will never get pleasure from floating through the Bronx at 2 a.m., even if there’s the potential to discover a new haunt or meet Don DeLillo or whatever. On the surface, concerns of personal safety may not seem like they have much to do with art, but that’s only if you don’t see artistic space as existing in a reality that can be ugly, unfair and dangerous. Art is nevertheless born out of this reality, and it’s this re-
[recesseditors]
equivalent of the Bryan Center, a busy, centralized area where deejays would spend as much time inside the booth as they would on the station’s sofas outside of it. I felt more at ease, better able to enjoy my time taking requests, digging through an overwhelming library of CDs and records and in general doing my job as a Purveyor of the Arts. The WXDU station is only a part of Duke’s disturbing campus planning trend to push several artistic spaces to the outskirts of campus. The Arts Annex has quickly become an important campus resource—if you know where to look for it. There is no campus bus that goes directly to the Center for Documentary Studies or the Hull Avenue dance studio, and the Duke Coffeehouse is a stone’s throw away from the invisible line that demarcates Duke from Durham. And as for Durham, unless you have a car or money for a taxi, The Pinhook, The Carolina Theatre and the Durham Performing Arts Center are that much more out of reach if you don’t feel comfortable walking there. God forbid your show goes past midnight, because then you can’t catch the Bull City Connector. If you think I’m overreacting or overly paranoid about my safety, I’m going to say it’s probably because you have the luxury of never having to feel this way, for whatever reason that might be. I don’t speak for all women, but I am speaking about a shared experience that many of us have every day. I know some men feel similarly and may not be as vocal about it. But reading Joseph Mitchell’s article only reminded me of how my access to the arts is limited by the reality that surrounds us, the reality that is funneled through statistics and brought to light through awareness campaigns. Feeling like I can’t enjoy and devote myself to the arts—both personally and professionally— as fully as I want and plan to only makes me more frustrated that I’m living under different constraints than my male counterparts. I’ve never been a fan of trying to separate the two to begin with, because my belief, one that I’ve held in my capacity as Arts Editor of Recess, is that the arts don’t exist on a higher plane than the one we live in. Every story I’ve pitched for Recess has been an attempt to bring performances, exhibits and plays into our lives in the only way I know how—through everyday decisions about what we want to experience, how we want to go about it and convincing our friends to tag along because we don’t want to go alone. —Katie Zaborsky
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In Durham, at Duke, a City Revealed. Light Sensitive Photographic Works from North Carolina Collections
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ABOVE: Richard Misrach, Submerged Gazebo, Salton Sea, California, 1984 (printed 1997). Chromogenic print, edition 5/10, 30 x 40 inches (76.2 x 101.6 cm). Collection of the Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ackland Fund, 2003.24. © Richard Misrach. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Marc Selwyn Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA; and Pace/McGill Gallery, New York, NY.
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Dance documentary Pina returns to Triangle in 3D by Ted Phillips THE CHRONICLE
This Friday, Wim Wenders’s 2011 film Pina will screen for free at 7:30 p.m. at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh. The screening, a joint effort between the Franklin Humanities Institute and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image, brings a rare opportunity to the Duke community to see an award-winning film in its original 3D format. The screening is the second installment in a two-part series on 3D cinema. Last Friday, 3D expert Barbara Klinger spoke about the current uses of 3D in mainstream cinema. While she doesn’t endorse the dichotomy, she described two perceived camps of 3D filmmaking: so-called ‘prestige’ directors and their kitschier, genre-based counterparts. Horror, action and sci-fi filmmakers who work in 3D tend to focus on what is known as negative parallax, with images projecting towards the audience. Axes, arrows or vomit flying at the viewers from the screen is the epitome of negative parallax. Positive parallax, however, is just the opposite, with 3D illusion creating depth behind the plane of the screen. Directors such as Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Wenders have shown us the subtler potential of 3D cinematography. Scorsese utilized the full range of positive and negative parallax in his 2011 film Hugo, but any negative parallax was tactful, deliberate and understated. While sci-fi films are known for “comin’-at-ya” 3D effects, Scott opted for a subtler, more artful touch in his 2012 space thriller Prometheus. He tapped into the sense of depth and expansiveness allowed by 3D, especially in wide-open exterior shots with big horizons, by employing positive parallax. So-called ‘prestige’ directors tend to utilize parallax in a way that makes you forget you are watching in 3D, furthering the sense of cinematic immersion. But it’s important to remember 3D is just one tool among many to create the illusion of depth on-screen. Markos Hadjioannou, Assistant Professor of Literature at Duke, led the efforts to bring Pina back to the Triangle after a short initial run last spring. He noted that “3D continues with the tradition of seeking depth,” a practice that goes back at least to the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles. Hadjioannou suggested that we not “view it as a huge technological breakthrough” but rather as another step in the development of modern cinematic technology. Pina is a prime example of what some consider to be high-brow 3D (again, a problematic distinction to draw). “Pina is a great example of a film that achieves a different use, or a more artistic use, of [3D] technology,” Hadjioannou said. By employing mostly positive parallax, Wenders focuses not on flinging props at the audience but instead on depth behind the subjects, members of the Tanzthe-
ater Wuppertal, a German dance troupe. The film excerpts choreography by Pina Bausch, a leading Tanztheater-style choreographer who died in 2009, as well as including interviews about her life. When Pina first came out, it was widely lauded, receiving uniformly positive reviews (a whopping 95% on Rotten Tomatoes) and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. Hank Okazaki, the program coordinator for Screen/Society, wrote in an email that he has been excited to see the film in 3D since he read Byron Woods’s review in the Independent Weekly, which claimed, “[Wenders] has figured out what 3D is for.” Okazaki also wrote, “I was disappointed when I learned that it would only be shown in Durham in 2D [during its initial release] and am delighted that we will now be able to see it in 3D, especially with the benefit of the insights brought out in Barbara Klinger’s talk last week.” Pina is more than just a shining example of artful 3D. It is also a significant documentary within the dance world. Bausch, a titan of 20th century dance, died two days before production began on Wenders’s long-planned film about her work. Her death led to a necessary shift in the themes of the film. What was initially a dance film choreographed by Bausch became a dedication to her memory and influence as well as a documentation of her choreography, doubly important given the inherent difficulty of recording modern dance. Pina, then, is an example of top-tier dance captured by a masterful filmmaker using budding cinematic techniques.
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spring breakers DIR. HARMONY KORINE MUSE PRODUCTIONS
If Jean-Luc Godard married Ke$ha, their progeny would make a film similar to Spring Breakers. To say it defies easy categorization is an understatement: this is easily the weirdest film to receive a wide release in recent memory. Filled with more topless women and alcohol than the imagination of a Jewish mother sending her first-born son to college, Spring Breakers works like gangbusters as an act of artistic provocation of the type found only in obscure galleries in Lower Chelsea. The plot, such as it is, follows four girls (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine) who desperately want to go on, uh, Spring Break. Unfortunately, they’re hard up for cash, so the latter three decide to rob a restaurant to fund their hedonistic dreams. The plan works, and their vaguely Floridian beach experience is delicious debauchery of the highest order. Until, of course, they get arrested. The film then takes a decidedly darker turn as self-described hustler/rapper/ bona-fide crazy person Alien (James Franco, who deserves all of the Oscars for this performance) bails them out and takes them in, showing them the dark underside of… SPRING BREAK. The plot, however, doesn’t adequately describe what this film is. This is a film that bombards you with scene after scene of exploitative shots of women while Skrillex blasts in the background. A film where James Franco wears silver grills on his teeth that would make Paul Wall shudder. A film where Gucci Mane actually (in real life) falls asleep during a graphic sex scene. Is this absurdity a selfconscious act of criticism, a depiction of modern excess designed to horrify or is it meant simply to titillate? The film never gives a clear answer, tempting a viewer’s basest impulse with one hand while begging for overwrought, complex explanations with the other. Director Harmony Korine’s sense of filmic reality and pacing are absolutely bonkers. Scenes drag on and on beyond anything approaching a human rhythm. Inane dialogue gets repeated so often that it becomes a hypnotic Gregorian chant: “Spring Break Forever” becomes the “shanti shanti shanti” of the Millenial generation. Much has been made of Korine’s decision to cast two former Disney stars (Gomez and Hudgens), and I think it works well even beyond the level of meta-narrative. Gomez, the innocent, Christian one, comes off as equal parts vulnerable and repulsive. You hate her for her obvious hypocrisy, tinged with a noticeable element of racism and classism, yet realize that she has indeed fallen in too deep. Hudgens, meanwhile, delivers the best performance of the four female leads, with a glint of something disturbingly evil under the surface. Of course, the dialogue here isn’t Shakespeare, Mamet or even Teletubbies, so one might question whether they are deserving of such plaudits. Still, SEE SPRING ON PAGE 8
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March 28, 2013
MFA|EDA exhibits thesis works by Adrienne Harreveld THE CHRONICLE
The mention of a “documentary arts” gallery brings to mind a few familiar elements: arranged photographs, maybe some small flat screens playing short films or a set of headphones accompanying an audio piece. More unexpected would be recreations of a Mormon teenage girl’s bedroom or a locker filled with a stripper’s glittery high heels and fake eyelashes. Duke’s MFA program in Experimental and Documentary Arts (MFA|EDA), whose inaugural graduating class will show their thesis works throughout Durham until Apr. 14 as part of MFA|EDA 2013, embraces the unexpected by making a home for—and often blending—both artistic paradigms. The two words that define the program, “experimental” and “documentary,” seem at first to be contradictory. Last Friday, at the exhibition opening at the Power Plant building in the American Tobacco Campus, onlookers tried to reconcile the program’s dual terminology, often wondering aloud, “How can something experimental be documentary?” MFA|EDA program director Tom Rankin opened his address to the audience by describing the graduates as “the top fifteen applicants that liked those two words.” After an hour or so of immersing in the Class of 2013’s work, it is apparent how the integration of experimental arts and various media lends itself to a more honest form of documentary and a more broad creative practice. Duke launched its MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts in 2010. It was a milestone accomplishment as both Duke’s premier MFA program and the world’s first-ever program in Experimental and Documentary Arts. The MFA advocates for creating works that “engage and interrogate the world we live in.” True to the program’s mission statement, the inaugural exhibition includes an engaging range of artistic media “from installation and performance to film and photography.” Each of the fifteen graduating students brings his or her own unique stories and builds off of each other’s inspiration. Their methods and subject matter are as diverse as their backgrounds: One student took five years off before starting her MFA, another makes her own cameras and another used her relationship with religion as inspiration for her project. And, as Rankin said, “this [exhibition] is only a sample of the amazing work these students have created in the past two years.” Lisa McCarty, a graduating student whose thesis work uses images from her handmade cameras, explained the program’s collaborative classroom process. Each week the students’ work
is workshopped and critiqued by the other students in the program. McCarty said this is a helpful exercise even if others know little about your particular art form. Those enrolled in the program receive the expert opinion of professors who double as practicing artists, as well as student feedback from a variety of artistic disciplines. Many, if not all, of the exhibited works demonstrate this integrated approach to art-making. Jolene Mok’s trio of HD Video installations— shipboard romance, SALGUOD SELYORB and I travel the ocean on your behalf—narrates the chronology of one man’s life via household knickknacks. McCarty’s Gelatin silver and LightJet prints, part of her thesis entitled MDCCCXXXIX, adorn much of the wall space in the gallery, while other pieces occupy more nontraditional spaces. Among the latter, Laurenn McCubbin’s Monument to the Risen project is disorienting upon approach. A passageway to another section of the gallery beckons viewers onward, albeit with warnings of adult themes. The room is dark with red overtones and loud music is playing; to the right are three red doors, and a screen telling the viewer to insert a dollar (yes, you actually have to insert a dollar). When you do, an interview with a female sex worker plays concurrently with a projection of porn videos featuring the same women. McCubbin’s work also includes a room that resembles the backstage of a strip club. Cheap glitter makeup is scattered everywhere, as well as crumpled-up crude notes. A series of lockers features video interviews of female sex workers, each discussing intimacy in her life in its various forms. Also in the locker are her shoes, a change of clothes, more makeup, a purse. The artist, present in her own work, ensures viewers that these are indeed their belongings. Walking out of the “backstage” gives way to a large projection of the women previously featured, now silently staring into the camera. McCubbin explains: “All the time the public stares at sex workers and now [I give] them the opportunity to stare back at you.” In accordance with her thesis work, McCubbin said that “the experimental takes you out of the passive realm and into the active realm.” But not everyone sees “experimental” this way, and rightly so. As McCarty said, “everyone has his or her own definition.” If this first graduating class’ work is any indication, Duke’s MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts will continue to provide and encourage platforms for alternative documentary that expand these definitions. The MFA|EDA 2013 thesis exhibitions will run at select times and locations until Apr. 14. See http://mfaeda2013.org for more information.
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March 28, 2013
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
the strokes COMEDOWN MACHINE RCA
The last time I remember caring about, much less liking, an album by The Strokes was during my middle school glory days. The Strokes were then lauded as the next big thing, perhaps even geniuses. Others tore them apart as being derivative, boring and untalented. And then, for better or for worse, the band’s presence on the international music scene almost completely faded. After 2003, The Strokes started to have internal problems. Hammond Jr.’s unidentified substance abuse problem played a role in the group’s lengthy hiatus, and Casablancas reached a new level of slackerism when he emailed in the lyrics used on Angles. Comedown Machine shows that the band has new signs of life. This isn’t to say that The Strokes sound like Is This It (2001) or Room on Fire (2003) again. Frankly, The Strokes seem a bit trendier, which already is an improvement over their semi-disastrous 2011 release, Angles. The 1980s throwback element of Comedown Machine launches beyond the vague New Wave analogies to which we are so accustomed from The Stokes. They incorporate the synthesized instrumentals that have been repopularized in the past few years. Even the album art for Comedown Machine alludes to the retro aesthetic of RCA Records when artists like Eurythmics, Rick Springfield and The Fixx called the label home. Surviving from The Strokes’s original sound are the filtered vocals and chugging guitar punctuated by moments of riff-laden climax. But what truly elevates Comedown Machine above all efforts since 2003’s Room on Fire is the band’s collective cohesion and effort. The vocal energy is back. On a few tracks, singer Julian Casablancas soars, escaping from his traditional distorted vocals. His range is tremendous, as evidenced on “One Way Trigger” when he reaches Mika-esque heights. On some tracks, like the opening “Tap Out,” funky bass lines and miniature guitar riffs mix well with light vocals. If you can imagine Cut Copy imitating Bowie and A-ha with a little bit of the Cars, you’ve nailed it. On some of the album’s more aggressive tracks, the band still seems upbeat, even with the return of Casablancas’s filtered vocals. “Partners in Crime” is decidedly danceable, and “50/50” is reminiscent of a classic punk hit ripped from the early ’80s. The synth-pop and ’80s rock embedded throughout Comedown Machine do little to elevate The Strokes to the genius level so many expected a decade ago. And perhaps it makes them more “mainstream,” a term many throw around when they dislike an artist’s new direction. But, after so much time, it’s safer to produce something accessible, motivated and likeable than to continue wandering in search of something elite. —Marie-Claire “MC” Bousquette
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March 28, 2013
All of the Above highlights women’s voices
by Lauren Feilich THE CHRONICLE
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of All of the Above, a theatrical production co-sponsored by Urgent Theater, Baldwin Scholars and Duke Student Government’s Student Organization Finance Committee (SOFC). The production consists of ten different monologues that were written and submitted by anonymous students. If it sounds like Me Too Monologues, that’s because it is— the formats of the shows are nearly identical. However, there is one essential difference with All of the Above: it is produced, directed, written and performed exclusively by women. Sophie Throsby, a co-director of the production, does not identify a specifically feminist angle within the show. “I suppose whatever your interpretation of feminism is, it could be feminist, or it could not be. Label-wise, it lies in showing the Duke community the Duke experience. I remember going
as a freshman and thinking, ‘Wow, people recognize the same kinds of things I do, people feel the same things I do.’ That’s a similar experience for a lot of people and where its main value lies,” said Throsby. The anonymous format works well here, bringing depth and complexity to the otherwise straightforward presentation of narratives. “[There is] the layer of the girl who wrote it, the layer of the feelings of the girls performing it, the feelings of the audience... a lot of people go into one specific individual performance, and that makes it very powerful,” said Throsby. The unique performance LAUREN HENSCHEL/THE CHRONICLE space, a black box theater in the East Duke Building has a capacity of 80 seats and provides another compelling layer to the show. As assistant producer Hannah Hayward explained, the seating is just above a stage that is not actually elevated from the ground. “We used Sheafer [Lab Theater] last year. We really like this space, though, because it’s so intimate. There’s no separation [between performers and audience], and with the all-black feel and the costumes, it feels very intimate,” said Hayward, a senior in her third year of involvement with All of the Above. This year, the monologues were distributed to performers only a few days before spring break. They had the week to memorize their pieces, and this past week has been their only opportunity for rehearsal. “It’s an incredibly quick turnaround but we’ve been working really hard,” said Carmi Medoff, one of the ten actors. Even the performers themselves, though unable to pin-
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point the authors of their specific monologues, can identify with these stories of the Duke undergraduate experience for women. The anonymity grants the narratives a sense of universality. “When I was reading the monologues for the first time, it was like I could swear someone read my mind when they wrote this. I can relate to at least half of the monologues, personally,” said Medoff. “It’s supposed to be a snapshot of what it’s like to be a girl at Duke.” “It’s interesting that for parts of each monologue, you kind of think, ‘I felt that way once or experienced something similar.’ It’s a safe space,” said Cesi Bosch, a sophomore and a Baldwin Scholar. Bosch is participating in All of the Above for her second year in a row. “This is something I want to be part of my life every year that I’m here,” said Bosch. “I joined on a whim because I always had an interest in acting and wanted to pursue it here. That’s when I fell in love with the message.” This year’s presentation of All of the Above is especially timely in light of recent dialogue about the lack of women’s visibility on campus. Though not affiliated with the Women’s Center, it coincides with the Center’s Rooted in Reality: Feminist Week 2013, a collection of organized conversations and celebrations of feminist identity. The production is an opportunity to keep the momentum going by furthering discussion and increasing visibility of female opinions and experiences. “I feel like there’s a stigma attached to the word [feminist],” said Athelia Paulli, a first-year performer in the show. “The first thing that comes to mind wouldn’t be ‘feminist show,’ but it’s a show about issues that women at Duke face with a feminist undertone simply because of the nature of the people writing the monologues.” Though not as diversity-oriented as Me Too Monologues, Throsby asserts that All of the Above maintains the same essential purpose. Said Throsby, “[It serves] to create a space to discuss issues topical to Duke’s campus. I think it’s about creating a healthy dialogue, ultimately.” All of the Above will premiere on tonight at 8 p.m. in 209 East Duke Building. It then runs Friday Mar. 29 at 8 p.m. and Sunday Mar. 31, at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Admission is free.
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Annual Choreolab showcases dance works by Madeleine Roberts THE CHRONICLE
Whether you’ve been a dancer at the Bolshoi or have only watched a couple episodes of Dancing with the Stars, this year’s Choreolab aims to expand, deepen and challenge your perceptions of dance, and especially dance at Duke. This weekend, Choreolab will feature pieces that the dance department has been working on throughout the semester. These range from student-choreographed work to the culminations of the four repertory classes in the department—a high-energy African dance, a dark jazz number, a renowned neoclassical ballet and guest choreographer Nathan Trice’s modern composition. Reflections, Choreolab’s sole ballet performance, was choreographed in the seventies by Gerald Arpino of the Joffrey Ballet and is set to Tchaikovsky’s cello piece Variations on a Rococo Theme. Before Arpino passed away in 2008, Julie Janus Walters, assistant professor of the practice, was a principal dancer under Arpino in Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and was able to secure the rights to Reflections for the showcase. “It’s a brilliant little fast-paced dance, and it’s always very exciting. The pace and musicality have something to do with that,” said senior Betsy Boxberger, one of the seven women in the piece. “Reflections” begins with all seven dancers on stage, and throughout the piece, each one performs a solo and a pas de deux, a duet with the piece’s only male dancer. With seven solos featured in the piece, Walters was able to guide dancers so that their solos would best showcase their individual abilities. The dancers learned the movements from two videos sent by the Joffrey Ballet, a challenging and unusual process compared to typical dance instruction. Usually, the choreography process is constantly evolving, with Walters creating and revising an original piece throughout the semester. But with Reflections, the choreography is fixed and, as dancer Rebecca Vernon noted, “everything is backwards,” meaning that if the dancer in the video moves to the left, you move to the right. Choreolab has been a semester-long process of 90-minute rehearsals twice a week. “One of the biggest challenges is finding the energy to perform at the best of your ability during every rehearsal,” junior Kelsey Allen wrote in an email, “and as Duke students, we are constantly tired and sleepdeprived.” Moreover, Allen said, “Arpino’s work is extremely challenging. It demands technical feats en pointe while maintaining a gracefulness that makes the piece extremely beautiful aesthetically.” Despite the heavy commitment, Allen said that “the biggest reward is seeing how each of [the students] has grown in not only our technical abilities, but performance qualities throughout the semester.” While dance enthusiasts will obviously understand the complexities and nuances of motion, Choreolab is just as accessible to newcomers. Vernon suggested audience members “look for shapes of the movement…shapes that we create in space and the feeling and fluidity of the movement.” Boxberger advises keeping an eye out for “how much the torsos move, as it is not classic to ballet…you don’t see flowery arms.” In addition to Reflections, seven other pieces will be featured in Choreolab, including the student-choreographed solo “Glen to Glen,” the African dance numbers “Orange Again” and “Jalidon,” as well as a piece that was created in “Performance and Technology,” a class taught by Thomas DeFrantz, professor of African American Studies, Dance and Theater Studies. DeFrantz is a first-time repertory choreographer for Choreolab. He and his students have been working on “a devised work” entitled are you still busy being mad at me? Defrantz wrote in an email that “the students developed the choreography and the stories that are at the heart of the work,” teasing that the intermission performance will involve robotic birds, which exemplifies the very interdisciplinary theme of his course. DeFrantz went on to say that this work “involves the audience in direct address—your presence helps us tell the story of the dance, and some of you will need to come onstage in order to finish the story.” Instructor Nina Wheeler choreographed the jazz work, Prima Facie, which features 16 student dancers. In addition, Professors Andrea E. Woods Valdes and Ava LaVonne Vinesett worked on the African dance pieces, and visiting professor Nathan Trice’s Road, Compass, Fuel explores how dancers interpret the life cycle. Trice has toured domestically and internationally with his company nathantrice/RITUALS and is an accomplished dancer, working with companies such as Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Forces of Nature Dance Theater,
among others. Choreolab also features original choreography and solo performances by Duke seniors Jamie Forrest and Sarah McCaffery, the latter of whom was selected to dance at the American College Dance Festival. With so many styles and abilities showcased through Choreolab, Vernon was apt in saying that this weekend will present “a broad spectrum of dance.” Choreolab runs Mar. 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. in Reynolds Industries Theater. Tickets are $5 for students and can be purchased at tickets.duke.edu.
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
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PARKS from News page 1 The American Play (1995) reenacts the story of a black man reenacting Lincoln. She weaves semi-recurring characters into her work—her magnum opus, Topdog/Underdog (2001), features two black brothers named Lincoln and Booth. At the beginning of her essay “Elements of Style,” Parks explains, “I want to examine what seems to me a real crisis in American dramatic literature. I’m hoping to form a sort of bulwark against an insidious, tame-looking, schmaltzladen mode of expression that threatens to cover us all...” Parks is forcing her audience to realize that there’s more than one way to write. This includes the words on the page, how things are ordered, the particular dynamics unique to each playwright and the need to be aware of such things. She is concerned with what language one must learn in order to know what this world says—what, says OdendahlJames, “makes [Parks’s plays] breathe.” Kathy Williams, director of UNC-Chapel Hill’s current undergraduate production of Parks’ 1996 play Venus, echoes the same feeling of captivation in Parks’ work. “She
deconstructs and reconstructs in new ways so that we can find the relevance in our lives. Her theatricality is refreshing. She’s not content to create the standard two-act tension for drama... There’s a sort of physical theatricality around the piece, and within her framework, there’s a lot of freedom.” If you can imagine, Venus is the story of Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman, a woman taken from South Africa to be put on display in Europe as an exhibit. Though Baartman is a lesser-known historical figure, Parks addresses Baartman’s utter exploitation and explores history’s impact on the present. Upon her death, Baartman was dissected and her preserved remains were left on display for well over a century. Parks begins with Baartman’s end, and proceeds, in a way, backwards in time. “The ending is no longer a dramatic tension,” explains Odendahl-James, who is working on the UNC production alongside Williams. “Parks is able to manipulate our sense of expectation. It’s not what happened, it’s why it happened. We don’t always get an answer, but there is an uncomfortable mystery set out for us. That’s where we start, and we’re invited to critique why things happen the way
PINA
March 28, 2013
they did.” Venus, like all of Parks’ work, is difficult. Williams describes the process of Venus’ production, which will open on Apr. 11: “It’s complex. It’s very layered. As a director, that translates to what I think is at the core of the piece, which is a fumbling into the unknown territory of being. It’s refreshing and terrifying and exciting... It is physical and it has a pulse, so when you put it on stage, it comes to life.” Suzan-Lori Parks turns art into life, and vice versa. Much of that is through her unconventional conveyance of meaning across divergent matter and medium. Her talk will carry that dynamic and productive frenzy: “It’s a performance; not a behind-the-podium kind of thing at all. I’ll give you a million suggestions in rapid succession. We’ll talk about the writing process, regardless of the kind of writing you do.” When asked about an audience composed largely of college students, Parks immediately replies, “It’s one of my favorite audiences. You’re still in the process of formulating and figuring it out... You guys are making soup and I’m going to add carrots,” she laughs. “Everyone’s just trying to feel okay about the choices they’re making. It’s not just about the art. It’s using art to talk about life. So there are a million suggestions.” I ask Parks for a suggestion. I can hear her scrambling through papers, looking for one to tell me today that she won’t read tomorrow. “Here’s one: Sometimes it hurts to bloom.” It’s a suggestion for spring. “That doesn’t mean to turn around in the other direction. It means to be okay with the process of growing, of being. Sometimes it hurts to bloom.” Parks will speak at the Duke Coffeehouse tonight at 6 p.m. Admission is free. UNC-Chapel Hill’s Venus will premiere Apr. 11. More information at http://drama.unc.edu
A SPECIAL 3D SCREENING Introduced by Prof. Markos Hadjioannou, Program in Literature
SPRING from page 3 for this movie, the casting works. This film also gives us James Franco in what is easily his most James Franco-esque performance of all time. Which is to say it’s absolutely insane. He delivers a mind-bending monologue about “All of his sh*t,” emphasizing seemingly random syllables to wondrous comedic effect. “I GOT scARface on rePEAT. SCARFACE ON REPEAT. Constant, Y’ALL!” Of course, Spring Breakers isn’t perfect. While its best sequences elicit a mix of laughter, guilt and something more insidious, not every impressionist compilation of images hits. When a film traffics in excess, sometimes being merely “too much” doesn’t work. Yet this isn’t meant to be a perfect film. It has scattered moments of Dada brilliance (watch out for the greatest Britney Spears sing-a-long in human history) while simultaneously packing in enough stupidity to make any such lofty critical pronouncements seem self-defeating. Ultimately, this review will seem foolish to a substantial chunk of the film’s audience who think this is idiocy of epic proportions, and that’s totally fine. But I think we ought to prefer a film that elicits such strong reactions than one that elicits none at all. After all, the possibility that Spring Breakers may be a profound contribution to the national discourse is more important than the alternative possibility that it’s an excuse for pervy men to see Disney starlets’ boobs.
(Wim Wenders, 2011, 103 min, Germany/France/UK, in English, German, French, Spanish, Croatian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean with English subtitles, Color, 3D DCP)
“One of the first non-Hollywood films to exploit the possibilities of 3D in a rigorous and progressive way. The 3D allows foreground and background choreography to interact and weave a textured, beguiling magic." -- The Telegraph PINA is a film for Pina Bausch by Wim Wenders. It is a feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer, who died in the summer of 2009. This first 3D screening of the film in the Triangle will be held at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences: 11 West Jones St. Raleigh, NC 27601 (http://naturalsciences.org) Limited space available - seating will be first come, first served! Duke faculty & students are encouraged to pre-register for reserved seating and free transportation at http://tinyurl.com/Pina3D-NC
—Harry Liberman
FRIDAY
MAR 29TH
7:30 PM NC MUSEUM OF
NATURAL SCIENCES Free Screening!
Sponsored by the Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI), the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), the Department of Theater Studies, the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS), the German Department, and the Office of the Dean of Humanities. With support from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.
http://ami.duke.edu/screensociety/schedule
Check next Thursday’s Recess for an interview with filmmaker Jessica Yu and coverage of this year’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival!