November 6, 2009 issue

The Chronicle 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

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 54

www.dukechronicle.com

DUKE vs. NORTH CAROLINA Panel explores Chapel Hill Saturday 3:30 p.m. ESPNU sustainability in Bowl bid up for grabs at Kenan corporate world •

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by Nicole Kyle The chronicle

Even the corporate world cannot escape the increasing demand for environmental sustainability.

A panel of five leading executives and energy experts discussed how to satisfy the demand for energy while considering mounting environmental concerns Thursday night in Geneen Auditorium in the first of a four-part series titled “The Future of Capitalism: Building a Sustainable Energy Future.”

A collaboration among the Fuqua School of Business, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm, the discussion focused on energy’s changing role in the private sector. Fuqua Dean Blair Sheppard explained the issues at stake.

“The answer to the energy problem is through the innovation of the market,” he said. “As for the panel, we looked for people in the middle of it, and who don’t agree on the answer. This is not meant to be polite—it’s meant to be real.”

The panel consisted of Tom Albanese, CEO of mining company Rio Tinto, Aubrey McClendon, Trinity ’81 and CEO of natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy, George McLendon, chairman of PTP Energy and dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Scott Nyquist, managing director of McKinsey’s Energy Practice and William Timmerman, Trinity ’68 and CEO of SCANA Energy.

Industry leaders are concerned about long-term issues like global warming. But many consumers are simply worried about paying their electric bills, Timmerman said.

“For most folks in NASCAR Nation, they don’t care about See sustainability on page 4

chase olivieri/Chronicle file photo

The Blue Devil defense will have its hands full with Shaun Draughn and the North Carolina offense in Saturday’s key ACC showdown.

by Matt Levenberg The chronicle

Unlike in the recent past, this weekend’s battle for the Victory Bell actually means something in the ACC—for both participants.

Duke and North Carolina enter Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. matchup at Kenan Stadium on emotional highs. The Tar Heels are coming off an upset of then-No. 14 Virginia Tech, while Duke has reeled off three straight conference wins.

A new feature of this year’s Tobacco Road rivalry game is that the contest isn’t the season finale. The last few

years, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils have faced off on the last day of the season, often with students out of town for Thanksgiving.

“This is the first time that it has not been the final game, and it probably adds more fuel to the fire with so much on the line for both teams,” head coach David Cutcliffe said.

And the parallels continue: The two teams have postseason hopes at this late stage in the year. A win in Chapel Hill would put the Blue Devils (5-3, 3-1 in the ACC) within one See football on page 8

Poet, Iraqi exile discusses censorship in Arab art

by Sony Rao

The chronicle

melissa yeo/The Chronicle

Award-winning Iraqi poet Dunya Mikhail reflects on her exile, which occurred under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Mikhail spoke as a part of DUU’s Major Speakers Series in the Bryan Center Thursday.

Duke hits the road to face No. 4 Wake Forest, Page 6

When she discovered her name was on Saddam Hussein’s list of enemies, Poet Dunya Mikhail realized artistic expression in a dictatorial regime came with consequences.

Part of the Duke University Union’s Major Speakers Series, Mikhail spoke about Arab art and censorship to about 50 people in the Bryan Center Thursday night. The Iraqi exile, who fled from Iraq in 1995, is the 2001 recipient for the United Nations Award for Freedom of Writing and a published author teaching Arabic in Michigan.

“Last year, we lacked a female voice in the speaker series, so we decided to sign Dunya Mikhail for this Fall’s series to diversify the speakers,” said junior Yi Zhang, chair of DUU’s Speakers Series.

Mikhail began by reading from one of her poems, “I was in a hurry,” relating it to her experience leaving Iraq in and

ONTHERECORD

“[Lauren Miler and Amie Survilla] are leaving this program far better than when they came in. I’m proud to have shared it with them.”

­—Field Hockey head coach Beth Bozman and her seniors. See story page 7

adjusting to life in the United States.

“I couldn’t write for that first year. I was trying to find my space,” she said.

“I later discovered that it was only when I started writing poetry that this space became a place. Poetry made me feel at home.”

Mikhail discussed how her transition between living in Iraq and moving to America is reflected in her memoir, “Diary of a Wave Outside the Sea.” Divided into two parts, the memoir’s first section was written during the Iraq war and is more poetic, filled with metaphors and symbols, she said.

Hoping to avoid censorship, Mikhail said she used figurative language to embed her criticism of war beneath symbolism and imagery. The second part, which Mikhail wrote after she was exiled, is mostly direct prose and reflects her life in Baghdad and the United States.

Mikhail worked as the literary editor See Mikhail on page 5

Same-sex married couples will be counted in upcoming census, Page 3

2 | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 the chronicle

worldandnation

TODAY:

6134

SATURDAY:

6531

Palestinian leader says he will not run for re-election

Feds file charges against Marines continue training insider-trading network BRIDGEPORT, Calif. — For thousands of U.S. Marines, the road to Afghanistan goes through an isolated training facility here in the Eastern Sierra where they share the rugged Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest with civilian hunters, backpackers and skiers.

On a recent weekend, several hundred Marines were on an overnight march to test their land navigation, communication and outdoor survival skills. As they returned to base camp Sunday morning, hunters dressed in orange vests were driving their four-wheel-drive vehicles up the mountain in hopes of bagging deer.

The two groups exchanged courteous waves: one using the mountains to train for war, the other for weekend recreation.

In the last year, 13,541 Marines, sailors and foreign troops have trained at Bridgeport, an increase of 238 percent from the previous year.

“

NEW YORK — The biggest insidertrading case in a generation expanded Thursday as federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against 14 investment professionals in a $20 million scheme in which they allegedly swapped tips on a variety of corporate mergers.

The insider-trading network was spearheaded by Zvi Goffer, according to criminal complaints filed in New York.

Goffer is a former employee of Galleon Group, the large New York hedge fund whose billionaire founder, Raj Rajaratnam, was charged with insider trading last month.

Thursday’s federal criminal and civil actions bring to 20 the number of hedge fund managers, traders and corporate executives accused of profiting on insider knowledge of company actions that could move stock prices.

A friend to all is a friend to none.

— Aristotle

” INTRAMURAL

JERUSALEM — Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election next year, citing a lack of U.S. support for resuming peace talks with Israel.

Although he said the decision “is not up for debate,” it was widely interpreted as a tactical gamble to win Israeli concessions and rally support among Palestinians. Abbas has groomed no successor and, because of uncertainty whether elections will take place, could end up staying indefinitely in his post.

The 74-year-old leader, visibly tense, spoke on television hours after the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee heard his decision in a closed-door meeting and urged him to reconsider.

Word of his plans, leaked by aides earlier in the day, had prompted Israeli President Shimon Peres and Egyptian Presi-

dent Hosni Mubarak to telephone him with the same advice.

The careful phrasing in Abbas’ speech appeared to leave room for a change of heart.

“I have told our brethren in the PLO... that I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election,” Abbas said.“I hope they understand this position of mine.”

Abbas has been frustrated by the United States’ inability to secure a halt to Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements on West Bank land the Palestinians want for a future state.

U.S.-brokered peace talks broke off in December, and Abbas has refused to resume them until Israel agrees to a settlement freeze. Aides said he began speaking of stepping down after the administration in recent weeks backed away from its insistence on a freeze and urged the two sides to settle their differences on the issue at the negotiating table.

TODAY IN HISTORY 1903: USA recognizes independence of Panama

Barbara Davidson/The LOS ANGELES TIMES

Vera Redell Bennett, 52, waits for a state caretaker to deliver food and empty the jugs in which Bennett relieves herself. Bennet is paralyzed from the waist down. She lives in her van in a parking lot in Tuba City, Ariz. She has lived there for six years, often without enough gas to keep the heater running.

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the chronicle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 | 3

2010 census to Group debates shifts in SLG sections report samesex marriages Campus council

by Zachary Tracer The chronicle

Selective living groups will soon choose new sections, following next week’s completion of a three-year SLG assessment process.

SLGs were evaluated by the Residential Group Assessment Committee—each group’s average scores on the yearly RGAC assessments in its size category will determine the order in which groups choose sections.

“RGAC is events driven,” said RGAC Co-chair John Pryor, a junior. “The plan rewards groups that have concrete events that give to both their members and their communities.”

Groups will choose sections—classified as small, medium or large—from a slate that will be decided next week by Campus Council and Residence Life and Housing Services officials.

Groups with scores in the top half of their size categories and above 70 on a 100-point scale will be allowed to remain in their sections. But some sections currently occupied by SLGs may not be included on the new list.

“What was a good section at one point in time may or may not be a section any more,” said Jen Frank, assistant director of accommodations for RLHS. Campus Council members discussed Thursday what factors should be considered in determining which areas of residence halls will be offered to SLGs. Members said sections should be placed on the lower floors of residence halls when possible and that SLGs should be distributed throughout West Campus.

There are no SLGs in Crowell Quadrangle because the University moved sections from Main West in 2001. In other areas of West Campus, the percentage of SLGs ranges from a low of 19.1 percent in Kilgo Quadrangle to a high of 38.6 percent in Keohane Quadrangle, Frank said.

She noted that the effect selective living groups have on quads is related to both their concentration in an area and the characteristics of the specific groups.

Campus Council members disagreed on how far apart SLGs should be placed within quadrangles.

“You don’t want to create friction between groups by

by Maggie Love The chronicle

libby busdicker/The Chronicle

President Stephen Temple, a junior, discusses the placement of the new SLG sections during Campus Council’s meeting Thursday night. having them right next to each other,” said Programming Chair Ben Goldenberg, a sophomore.

But other members said spreading SLGs throughout a quadrangle could create more isolated pockets of independent students.

President Stephen Temple, a junior, said RLHS and Campus Council leaders would take all the opinions into account when they create the slates of section offerings.

Next Thursday, Campus Council will approve a map of section offerings from several suggested, but the group will not assign SLGs to specific sections.

RGAC scores and the menu of available sections will be released the following day, at which point groups will begin to select sections.

Although Maine voters made their state the 31st to reject gay marriage Tuesday, members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community are optimistic about gaining recognition in the 2010 census—the first to count same-sex couples.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s June announcement reflects President Barack Obama’s administration’s reinterpretation of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which was formerly understood to prohibit the release of samesex marriage census data.

“The 2010 census is going to be a snapshot of the way America looks in 2010,” said Tony Jones, spokesperson for the U.S. Census Bureau in the Charlotte Region. He added that this adjustment reflects the need to “adapt to the change... in terms of how society and law have changed with respect to same-sex couples.”

The previous two census reports—when no states recognized gay marriage—counted sameSee census on page 5

CORRECTION A Nov. 4 article, “International House will be sold, admin says,” incorrectly described plans for the International House. Officials had discussed offering individuals the opportunity to pay to move houses on Campus Drive under plans for New Campus— which have since been put on hold. Plans to move International House operations to Smith Warehouse are tentative. The Chronicle regrets the error.

4 | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 the chronicle

sustainability from page 1 what happens 40 to 50 years from now, it’s about what’s happening two weeks from now,” he said. “Affordability is first and foremost in my mind. What we need is a workable answer for the bulk of society.”

Similarly, Naquist explained that if a developing country has access to coal, the nation is going to use it—regardless of carbon emissions—if that is what it takes to get the country going.

Although each panelist supported a different energy source as the solution, they agreed that oil is not part of energy’s future and that transportation reform is key to achieving true sustainability.

The panelists also noted that China is consuming oil almost as fast as the United States, but is developing nuclear power much quicker. The Chinese will build 100 nuclear power plants in the next year, due to its streamlined regulations.

“None of us like the way they run their

country,” Timmerman said. “But this is what they’re doing.”

Toward the end of the discussion, after taking questions from the audience, the panelists called for university involvement in solving the energy crisis.

“The U.S. university system should be on the forefront of this,” Albanese said.

“It’s the best in the world.”

Students, who were well represented, said they found the discussion enlightening.

“The most interesting part for me was getting all those different points of view in one place,” said Chris Greene, a student in Fuqua.

In an interview after the discussion, Timmerman said the energy debate is so challenging because issues of long-term importance must be dealt with in light of short-term political concerns.

“Most energy decisions made in politics are made with a short-term focus and driven by the election cycle. It’s a political issue,” he said. “I don’t know how to fix it. I wish I did. I’d make a lot of money.”

caroline rodriguez/The Chronicle

A panel of several CEOs and deans discusses the flawed economics of the current alternative energy market at Fuqua Thursday. The panelists agreed that more innovations are needed to solve the energy problem.

ATTENTION The book side of the Medical Center Store will be CLOSED for inventory on Friday, November 6.

We will resume regular hours on Monday, November 9.

We are sorry for any inconvenience.

106 Facilities Center, Coal Pile Drive Phone: 684.2717 Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 5:30pm VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, DukeCard, IRIs, Cash, Personal Check Department of Duke University Stores®

OPERATION: Medical Center Store PUBLICATION: Chronicle

the chronicle

census from page 3 sex married couples as either heterosexual couples or unmarried partners. In 2010, couples who see themselves as married will be reported as such said Derick Moore, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau.

The former policy was not a conspiracy to conceal same-sex relationships, said Seth Sanders, director of Duke’s Population Research Institute. He added that the census would likely have erred in either under-counting gay people who counted themselves as married or heterosexual couples who had incorrectly marked the sex of one person.

Still, the 2010 census decision will be a step toward better representing the population.

Janie Long, director of Duke’s Center for LGBT Life said that although she is not sure how significant the impact will be, it is a meaningful change.

“The census is making more visible a group of people that have been somewhat invisible,” she said.

But the 2010 numbers would only reflect same-sex married

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 | 5

couples who are ready to be seen, Long said.

She said whether or not homosexual individuals indicate their marital status on the census will depend on “how secure they feel.” Couples living closeted lives or residing in states where gay marriage is not recognized could be less likely to report themselves as married, Long said.

Senior Viviana Santiago, president of Blue Devils United, expressed similar sentiments.

Although she said she is glad same-sex couples are being included, Santiago noted that some couples may be afraid their responses could expose them to discrimination.

Many in the LGBT community have said the 2010 census will not signify the culmination of the LGBT civil rights movement, but it makes it more difficult to ignore same-sex relationships.

“I think that the fact that we are being cited in the Census is an indicator that progressively, the country is more open-minded, more tolerant, more accepting and more focused on issues that are important to the LGBT community,” said N.C. Pride spokesperson Keith Hayes.

Not everyone is embracing

the change. Jenny Tyree, an associate analyst for marriage at Focus on the Family—an organization that defines marriage as being strictly between a man and a woman—said the issue could result in a political redefinition of marriage.

“It changes the structure of marriage from a relationship vitally centered on children to a relationship centered on the wants and desires of adults,” Tyree said.

But some members of the LGBT community do not think the change will alter the perception of marriage enough.

The census will report homosexual couples in a separate category from heterosexual married couples.

Santiago and BDU Treasurer Ollie Wilson, a sophomore, said they hope the census will eventually count all reported married couples in the same category, which Wilson said would indicate that the Census Bureau recognizes the two groups as “equally valid.”

Long expressed measured optimism for the census’ effect on the future.

“We have a very—and you can capitalize that very—long way to go.”

Mikhail from page 1 for the Baghdad Observer until the censors picked up on her objections to Saddam Hussein’s regime and placed her on his list of enemies. When Mikhail received news that she would die if she did not leave, she was forced to flee to Jordan, she said. But by changing her occupation on her identification from “journalist” to “poet,” she avoided stacks of paperwork and saved time, allowing her to escape.

“Poetry saved my life, even though it was because of poetry I had to leave in the first place,” she said in reflection.

Mikhail also explained how she regretted leaving her many books at home when she fled.

“I later found out that my cousin used pages from my books to wrap falafels during the economic sanctions [when paper was in short supply],” she added.

Mikhail said she often juxtaposes themes of love and war in her poems, noting the irony of the Arab word for “love,” which when changed by one letter, becomes the word “war.” Mikhail added that we sometimes respond to catastrophe with an aes-

thetic response of love.

“In fact, the number of weddings actually increased during the war,” she said.

When asked about her opinion on the war on Iraq, Mikhail said she did not believe using violence to bring about political stability is effective.

“Like most of other Iraqis, I dreamed of change,” she said.

“But I didn’t want change through war. The ends don’t justify the means.”

Mikhail emphasized the importance of poetry in helping her deal with her hardships and painful memories.

Toward the end of her talk, Mikhail referenced the Greek myth, “Orpheus and Eurydice,” relating how Orpheus lost his wife because he looked back.

“I feel like Orpheus because I can’t look back,” she said. “I am an exile and my homeland is gone forever.”

The students, faculty and Durham residents that attended the talk reacted positively to Mikhail’s poems.

“I really liked Mikhail’s poetry,” freshman Shahnaz Khandoker said. “I was inspired by her poem, ‘I was in a hurry,’ and when she talked about how it was difficult to forget her country.”

 RELIGIOUS DIRECTORY 

Imagine a religion...

HINDU STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

that welcomes your questions and makes room for your beliefs!!!

Come Join Us For

Weekly Gita Discussion • Diwali Puja • Shivratri Puja • Temple Trips • Hinduism 101 • Yoga • Ram Navami • Garba • Meditation • Open Discussions and Speakers on issues that deal with campus life and Hinduism and many other events!

November Events 1) Weekly Sunday Discussion, 12pm, Graduate Student Lounge - Gray Building (2nd floor) 2) Bhutanese Empowerment Project - tutoring every Thursday 5:30-9:30pm 3) Open Exec Meeting every Wednesday at 8:30pm in OSAF. We’re looking for new people to brainstorm and plan new events, so stop by if you’re interested! ALL members of the Duke community are welcome to join HSA 4) Gurudwara Trip - November 8th, from 11:30am to 2:30pm. Join us to learn more about the Sikh religion! Lunch will be at the Gurudwara. Please RSVP to ym15@duke.edu by Friday (11/6) night. Limited Places!

Email ym15@duke.edu to RSVP for these events

Join our Facebook Group: Hindu Students Association @ Duke University or visit our website: www.duke.edu/web/hsa for frequent updates!

Temples in the Area we visit: 1.) HSNC Temple 309 Aviation Parkway, Morrisville, NC 27560 2.) Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple 121 Balaji Place, Cary NC 27513

Trinity

United Methodist Church In the heart of Downtown Durham Between Mangum and Roxboro Streets

215 N. Church Street

Sunday Mass Schedule 11am

Richard White Lecture Hall, East Campus

9pm

Duke Chapel

Daily Mass Schedule Monday

5:15pm

Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

Tuesday

12 noon

Duke Hospital Chapel (6th Floor)

Wednesday 5:15pm

Duke Chapel Crypt

Thursday

11:30am

Yoh Football Center, Team Meeting Room

Friday

5pm

Fuqua School of Business, Seminar B

catholic.duke.edu

(919) 684-8959

Rev. Duke Lackey, Senior Pastor

Sisters’ Discussion Group: Thursdays at 9 in the prayer room

11/6 Friday Meeting 6:30 at Center for Muslim Life Volunteering Opporunity: Project Downtown Durham 12/6 NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR MSA SPOKEN WORD NIGHT! Contact nsk7@duke.edu for more info Join MSA Listserv to find out more about these and other events in the future Center for Muslim Life: 406 Swift Ave.

OPEN TO ALL!

www.dukemsa.org ~ Duke Search: Muslim Life @ Duke

Join us in your spiritual quest for truth and meaning!

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship @ Duke

Resisting Simplistic Theology since 1789

Muslim Life @ Duke.

The Muslim Students Association at Duke University is a place where students can learn about and discuss the teachings of Islam. We serve to spread knowledge of Islam to non-Muslims who are interested in the religion and sponsor a wide variety of social events and educational forums throughout the year-ranging from lectures and discussions to artistic demonstrations.

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion that believes in the inherent worth of every person, the authority of reason and conscience in religion, freedom of religious belief, and a faith that is manifested in justice and love.

www.duke.edu/web/uu

Muslim Student Association &

Jumu’ah on Campus--Join us for our weekly Friday Service: 12:45 in the York Room; refreshments will be served after the service.

Come as you are— leave different!

Sundays at 5pm Downtown Chapel Hill (919) 360-4320 www.greenleafvineyard.org

037 Duke Chapel Basement (office) & 402 N. Buchanan Blvd.

Sunday Early Worship: 8:45 a.m.

Sunday School: 9:45 a.m.

Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m.

E-mail: church@trinitydurham.org Web Site: www.trinitydurham.org Phone: (919) 683-1386

Honor God. Love the Community.

Live like Family.

Come explore faith with us:

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Spirituality & Being with Community a talk by Roshi Joan Halifax 11:30am-1:00pm Von Canon C, Bryan Center

Living With Uncertainty in an Age of Predictability Interfaith Panel by Roshi Joan Halifax 7:30-9:00pm Griffith Theater, Bryan Center

FREE Admission

Sunday Worship and dinner 4:00pm Wednesday Bible study 7:00pm (Link Classroom #2)

All are welcome!

505 Alexander Ave. (Off Campus Dr.) www.episcopalatduke.org

Sports

>> WOMEN’S TENNIS

The Chronicle

FRIDAY

November 6, 2009

Junior Reka Zsilinszka lost in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Championship in West Haven, Conn. to the fourth-ranked player in the country

www.dukechroniclesports.com

Women’s basketball

Men’s Soccer

Blue Devils look for signature win at Wake Victory could give Duke share of ACC title

by Nicholas Schwartz The chronicle

faith robertson/The Chronicle

Chelsea Hopkins helped Duke to a crushing victory over Wingate in the team’s one and only exhibition game.

Bulldogs show no bite in easy Blue Devil win

by Tom Gieryn The chronicle

Duke found plenty of different ways to score points Thursday against Wingate, but its high-intensity play was perhaps more defined by the variety of ways in which the Bulldogs committed their astounding 41 turnovers: five-second calls, 31 shot clock violations, WIN steals off the dribble, DUKE 99 blocked shots and intercepted passes.

This Blue Devil onslaught culminated in a resounding 99-31 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Duke’s first and only exhibition game.

The Blue Devils controlled the game from the opening tip, setting the pace with up-tempo offense and stifling defense.

Wingate was under duress in all phases of its offense: The team struggled to inbound the ball, struggled to advance the ball up the floor, struggled to find any semblance of rhythm. The Blue Devils attacked the Wingate ballhandlers and got in passing lanes at every opportunity, generating a remarkable 26 steals in the game. Duke’s quickness advantage was augmented by a considerable size advantage as well.

The Blue Devils blocked 13 shots—six of them by senior center Krystal Thomas— and had nearly as many rebounds on the offensive end as they did on defensive end, 23 and 24 respectively.

Duke’s scoring attack was led by floor general Jasmine Thomas, who paced the team with 17 points and added five assists and seven steals. Thomas’s backup, sophomore Chelsea Hopkins, also worked to ensure that the pace never slackened. Five other players scored in double figures, including sophomore sharpshooter Kathleen Scheer, who drained three

3-pointers, and freshman center Allison Vernerey, who had four blocks and six steals in addition to 16 points. Vernerey ran the floor very impressively for a 6-foot-5 post player and used her soft hands to create opportunites under the basket.

“She’s the fastest post I’ve ever seen, foul line to foul line,” head coach Joanne McCallie said of Vernerey. “I imagine she’s a lot of fun to play with, because she’s active and always moving.”

“It was all great for me,” Vernerey said. “I know I have to work a lot on a lot of things, but I really like the way we work, the way we play hard, so I think I can really fit.”

The team is working to implement several changes to its offensive scheme in an effort to increase the pace of play and involve more players in the gameplan.

“When you look at the balanced scoring attack that was exhibited today, that’s important,” McCallie said. But she added that she wants to see more balanced rebounding from her team, as senior Joy Cheek posted the lone double-digit rebound total in the game, even though the Blue Devils had a decided height advantage at every position.

McCallie was pleased with her team’s initial effort, but she said there were still “a million things to work on” before offering up a laundry list of areas in which she hopes to see her team improve.

There may be plenty of room left to get better, but Cheek was just happy to compete against a team wearing something other than a Duke uniform.

While the Blue Devils got by on superior athleticism in Thursday’s blowout win, they’ll need to continue their aggressive style of play to compete with the tougher opposition that is to come.

With postseason seeding implications on the line, the No. 11 Blue Devils (12-40, 4-3-0 in the ACC) wrap up the regular season with a showdown at No. 4 Wake Forest (12-3-2, 4-2-1) tonight at 7 p.m..

Duke, currently with 12 points in the No. 4 ACC, could top the Wake standings and win the vs. conference title with No. 11 a victory Friday and Duke a loss or tie by North Carolina. The Tar FRIDAY, 7 p.m.

Heels, on 13 points, Winston-Salem, N.C. play Clemson, the ACC’s worst team with only six points.

The Demon Deacons welcome a Duke squad playing as well as it has all season after five consecutive victories at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils have outscored their opponents 18-2 during that stretch.

Those opponents have included mostly unranked nonconference teams, like Presbyterian and Navy, but also two ACC rivals that Duke was able to sweep aside.

“Our record is a great indication of how we’re playing right now as a team, and we’re very confident headed into Friday’s game,” head coach John Kerr said.

The surging Blue Devils will need to focus on slowing a high-scoring Wake Forest offense. The Demon Deacons are led by senior striker Zack Schilawski, who leads the conference with 10 goals.

Schilawski is surrounded by talent up front, with midfielder Austin da Luz

leading the ACC in assists and standout freshman Andy Lubahn providing another dangerous scoring option for the Demon Deacons.

“We’re going to try and draw our defensive line a little deeper and try to prevent them from getting into our defensive third,” senior defender Matthew Thomas said.

Although it is necessary for Duke to stifle the Wake Forest attack, Kerr knows the Blue Devils cannot simply place 11 men behind the ball and defend for a draw.

Eventually, Duke has to open up the game by putting pressure on Wake Forest.

“We’re going to try and take away their strengths, and then get into the game offensively ourselves and execute,” Kerr said.

Duke will look to its own high-scoring duo, freshman striker Ryan Finley and junior midfielder Cole Grossman, in Winston-Salem. Grossman and Finley both place in the top five in total conference points with 24 and 22, respectively.

Both Grossman and Finley were integral to Duke’s upset over then-No. 2 Maryland earlier in the season, and it will take another Herculean effort to knock off Wake Forest on the road.

The Demon Deacons had gone undefeated in 35 straight contests at home until Virginia snapped the streak in September.

Still, the Blue Devils know it’s going to be an uphill battle in WinstonSalem.

“Our seniors started our ACC careers at Wake Forest,” Thomas said. “We know its going to be tough, but we’re excited.”

Volleyball

Duke faces ACC’s best

by Caroline Fairchild The chronicle

Playing on the road can be tough. When the road stretches from Wisconsin, to Massachusetts to Georgia to Maryland and back to the Carolinas, it can be even tougher.

No. 16 After six full weekFSU ends playing away vs. from home, Duke (214, 11-2 in the ACC) Duke knows what playing outside the comforts FRIDAY, 7 p.m. of Cameron Indoor Tallahassee, Fla. Stadium is like, and that experience will be tested as the team Miami gears up for two away matches coming up vs. against critical league opponents, No. 16 Duke Florida State (21-2, 12-1) and Miami (14SUNDAY, 1 p.m.

9, 7-6).

Coral Gables, Fla. Sophomore out-

side hitter Sophia Dunworth acknowledged the challanges of playing away from home.

“Cameron is such a fun atmosphere,” Dunworth said. “It makes it easier to focus our own side and [on] being the aggressors because there is a lot of pride in playing in Cameron. When you are in some else’s gym there is an opportunity to become timid because you are surrounding by someone else’s fans but I know we can overcome that this weekend.”

Duke has shown the ability to overcome hostile road crowds already this season: The Blue Devils have lost just twice away from Cameron, and beat Georgia Tech and Clemson away on their last conference trip.

Head coach Jolene Nagel attributes that success to a unique mental toughness that is at its peak at this point in the season.

“It’s going to be another big weekend on the road for us,” Nagel said. “I think we are getting better at being tough as a team even if we’re away. Our skills and our See volleyball on page 7

the chronicle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 | 7

field hockey

Frustrating year ends in Virginia

by Alex Krinsky The chronicle

The story of the Blue Devils’ season repeated itself Thursday in Charlottesville, Va., but on this day, it meant the end of Duke’s season.

The Blue Devils needed a win in the first round of the ACC tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament, but came up short in a 3-1 defeat to No. 3 Virginia on its home field. This was the second matchup in one week between the two conference rivals, and Duke (9-10) dropped both matches to the Cavaliers.

NCAA rules mandate that teams DUKE 1 have a .500 record to be eligible for the national tournament, and the Blue 3 Devils fell just short of that mark.

UVA “I keep saying it’s the best team we’ve had in three years but we are not going to the [NCAA] tournament,” head coach Beth Bozman said. “We had some unlucky breaks.”

No. 14 Duke and Virginia (17-2) played evenly for most of the first half. Both teams had three shots in the period, and Virginia had only a slight advantage in penalty corners.

After 13 minutes of play, Virginia sophomore All-ACC midfielder Inga Stöckel scored on a penalty corner to put the Cavaliers ahead. Duke responded less than three minutes later when freshman Abby Hassinger notched her third goal of the season on a penalty corner with an assist from senior All-ACC defender Lauren Miller.

Just before halftime, sophomore All-ACC midfielder Paige Selenski scored on a penalty corner to put Virginia ahead 2-1.

“We are a real talented team, it’s unfortunate,” Bozman said. “I’m really incredibly proud of this team.”

The score remained 2-1 as the two teams battled back and forth in the second half. Virginia dominated the game from a statistical standpoint putting eight shots on goal while Duke had only two, but junior goalkeeper Samantha Nelson, and the Blue Devil defense kept the Cavaliers from adding to their lead.

It wasn’t until the last minute of play that Selenski tallied her second goal of the game and wrapped up the victory for

melissa yeo/Chronicle file photo

Senior Lauren Miller’s efforts were not enough to help Duke beat Virginia and stay in contention for an NCAA tournament berth.

Virginia. The goal was her third against Duke this week.

The win moves Virginia to the semifinal round, where it will take on No. 2 North Carolina.

It was an emotional ending for seniors Amie Survilla and Miller, who both earned All-ACC honors earlier in the week.

“I’m sorry for Lauren Miller and Amie Survilla because of what they have done for the program,” Bozman said.

“They are leaving this program far better than when they came in. I’m proud to have shared it with them.”

volleyball from page 6 communication are really good and that is really exciting.

We can play better than we did last time against Florida State and Miami. I know we can show them our progress.”

Earlier this season against the Hurricanes, Duke pulled out a 3-0 victory after three close games. When the Blue Devils faced the Seminoles at home, the match was competitive until the end with Florida State coming out on top in the fifth game.

The Seminoles are the only nationally ranked ACC team.

“It was a battle with Florida State last time we played them, and they just happened to come out on top,” Moss said. “In those situations we have to focus on not giving away the things we can control like the free balls they give us.”

New weapons and assets have revealed themselves for Duke since the last time it faced the Florida schools. Junior Becci Burling and freshman Christiana Gray have effectively dominated the middle play in the conference. Florida State and Miami are two programs with a history of talent in the middle, and Duke’s countering duo will be critical this weekend.

Sophomore setter Kellie Catanach is excited about the new dynamic in the middle and expects it to work to Duke’s advantage this weekend.

“We are a better team now then we were then,” Catanach said of the last time the Blue Devils faced Florida State. “Becci [Burling] and “T” [Christiana Gray] are going to be huge because they can beat their middles. We are faster than them and that’s going to be great for us.”

Nagel echoed the setter’s comments and stressed how integral the battle in the middle will be this weekend. While the team didn’t necessarily use its size as well as it could have last time it faced both teams, Nagel knows that her team has the experience to turn things around this weekend. “[Miami is] scrappy and they fight hard all the time,” Nagel said. “Florida State is a solid all-around team that has a good offense like we do so blocking is going to be very important for us in both matches.”

The consistent play of Duke’s strong lineup, along with the added skills of the new presence in the middle, gives the Blue Devils all the tools they need to come back from the Sunshine State with two wins and lots of smiles. While Cameron Indoor Stadium may not travel well, Duke does, and an upset against the No. 1 team in the conference and a sweep in its contest with Miami could be in the team’s future.

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football from page 1 victory of their first bowl berth in 15 years. After getting off to a slow start, the Tar Heels (5-3, 1-3) cannot afford to drop this game.

The Blue Devils will be traveling into the most hostile environment that they have faced all year in front of a sold-out Homecoming crowd. Although the past four years Duke has stayed within one score of the Tar Heels—like with many of the Blue Devils’ opponents, heartbreaking losses against North Carolina were not all that unusual— the team has not brought the Victory Bell back to Wallace Wade Stadium since 2003.

“I look at it as a slap in the face to choose us for Homecoming, but we can’t do anything about it until we step on the field and show them they should have picked somebody else,” senior running back Re’quan Boyette.

Although the Blue Devils are starving to beat their crosstown rival, they know this will be a hard-fought battle. The focal point may be along the offensive and defensive lines, where Duke hopes to give quarterback Thaddeus Lewis enough time to throw against a rabid Tar Heel pass rush.

“Individually each one [of their front seven] can create a mismatch,” Cutcliffe said. “You have to pick and choose where you can give help.”

Much of that responsibility of avoiding those onrushing linemen falls on the right shoulder of Lewis. Lewis features a stellar 15-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and he must continue with that efficiency Saturday. With interceptions in back-to-back games, the pressure is on Lewis to protect the football.

North Carolina also features playmakers on its offensive unit. The Tar Heels utilize an effective running back committee led by junior Shaun Draughn and bruising fullback Ryan Houston. Draughn averaged over six yards per carry against the stingy Virginia Tech defense in that Thursday night upset.

The Blue Devils look to keep the running backs in check and force junior quarterback T.J. Yates to make plays through the air. Yates has thrown nine interceptions this year, including six through four conference games.

A big question mark coming into the season for both programs was the receiving corps, and while Duke’s Donovan Varner, Johnny Williams and Conner Vernon have

flourished, North Carolia’s wideouts have also done well.

A Durham native, Greg Little, is the Tar Heels’ leading receiver this season. After spending last year behind the departed Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Tate, Little has emerged as Yates’ favorite target, leading the team in receptions, receiving yards and tieing for the team lead in receiving touchdowns. Little is explosive, and the coaching staff tries to put the ball in his hands as much as possible, including on kick returns and even an occasional reverse.

Although the Blue Devils have several playmakers on the defensive side of the ball, the fact is they will only go

as far as their senior quarterback and leader takes them.

If Lewis can maintain the hot hand he has displayed since Duke’s Homecoming win over NC Central, then he will put his team in a position to beat North Carolina for only the second time in 20 years.

“There are no moral victories,” junior linebacker Adam Banks said.

It has been a long time since the Victory Bell has had larger implications for Duke than this year. In Cutcliffe’s second season, the trophy could be a symbol of bigger things to come, but if it remains in Chapel Hill yet again, Lewis and the Blue Devils will be sorely disappointed.

maya robinson/Chronicle file photo

Sophomore Donovan Varner had 73 yards receiving in last year’s Duke loss to North Carolina, but hopes for an even better day Saturday in Chapel Hill.

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Don’t digitize the classroom Last month, University text—like community colof North Carolina at Cha- leges and technical schools, pel Hill academic officials where classes are a means to announced that starting in an end—online courses are a Spring 2010, all beginner wonderful resource, enabling Spanish coursthose without es will be contime and fieditorial ducted entirely nancial means online. Despite the lower to obtain a post-secondary oral test scores of students at education.

UNC who have piloted parts But for universities like of the online Spanish class, Duke and UNC with the goal administrators felt that the of student development, move was necessary in light computer screens, online of the university’s current discussion boards and elabobudget woes. rate educational software Technology, computers just can’t compete with an and the Internet have become old fashioned chalkboard, an important part of the edu- in-person dialogue and the cational landscape in the past skillful teaching of a good decade, connecting students professor. across the globe, enriching Students come to residenclassroom learning, and in- tial colleges and universities creasing access to education. to be a part of an intellectual Within the right con- community of academics and

onlinecomment

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A

peers, learn life skills and develop specialized interests and knowledge. Online introductory classes would pose a significant threat to this experience.

Ideally, the classroom should be a place of interaction, synthesis and discovery.

In many ways, it is the locus of intellectual life at a university. Eliminating this physical space takes away the learning process it facilitates.

In the classroom, professors can form strong relationships with students that spark their intellectual passions, and they can mentor students through the duration of their academic career. This type of interaction—so central to a quality, enriching student experience at Duke—cannot be

replicated online.

Along with faculty-student interaction, in-person classes also foster valuable relationships between students. Especially for first-years, who most often take introductory classes, meeting, learning alongside and debating with intellectual equals is a big part of what makes the academic environment at Duke so rigorous and enlightening. In addition, removing the classroom removes a venue to form friendships with diverse peers of all ideologies and backgrounds.

Not only is the classroom experience diminished over the Internet, the quality of online courses is also inferior. In person, good professors can take nonverbal signals from students when one method

of teaching is not working, and tailor their material to students’ needs and interests.

This simply would not be possible with virtual classes.

The Internet and all of the educational tools it offers should be a supplement—not a replacement—for rigorous coursework at most institutions of higher education.

For example, online recordings of class lectures increase intellectual engagement and reinforce classroom learning without undermining the educational imperative.

When elite colleges look to cut costs, online courses are a step in the wrong direction.

For students paying upwards of $45,000 a year for an educational experience, online worksheets and video lectures simply don’t suffice.

A world without walls

lmost 20 years ago today, ordinary Germans on both sides of a divided country took sledgehammers, and even their bare hands, to the 12-foot wall separating East from West Germany and made history.

At Duke last Monday, activist and conservative politician Vera Lengsfeld reminded us that normal people played a central role in the historical drama surrounding the fall of the wall.

During her talk, Lengsfeld resurrected the ghost of socialism’s past michael stauch when she pointed to the danger of a spread the embers political alliance between the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Unity Party, a holdover from the East German Communist Party recently reborn as the Left Party. In doing so, she suggested that a vote for her was a vote against future walls.

Regular readers of The Chronicle have encountered the socialist bogeyman numerous times before.

Leaving aside whether a new wall is in the offing if Germans elect superficially socialist parties, we all seem to agree that whatever we call the social system in East Germany, we are glad it fell along with the 96mile wall around West Berlin propping it up.

But are we so committed to tearing down walls propping up authoritarian regimes in our own time?

In Israel today, a wall four times longer and in many places twice as tall as the Berlin Wall is under construction. Although a hodgepodge of razor wire, trenches, sniper towers, electrified fences, military roads, electronic surveillance and buffer zones up to 100 meters in length, the International Court of Justice (another “socialist” institution) has ruled that calling this complex monstrosity a wall for the purposes of international law is reasonable.

The main justification for the wall is security, and its defenders will tell you how precipitously attacks inside Israel fell once construction on the wall began. They won’t tell you, however, that Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security force, itself concluded in 2006 that the reduction in terrorist attacks inside Israel since 2002 was due more to its own improved counterterrorism measures, with the precipitous drop in 2005 due mainly to the truce Hamas declared Jan. 1 of that year, not the deterrent effects of the wall.

They’ll probably also forget to mention that more than 1000 Palestinians sneak around the

wall every week to work in Israel, suggesting a very insecure and porous barrier indeed.

Terrorists and Palestinian workers alike, Shin Bet knows, have long since found ways around the wall.

So they’re lying when they tell us it’s for security.

But what other purpose could a 25-foot wall stretching hundreds of miles serve? Like the Berlin Wall, it seeks to keep some people out and other people in. But there are some factors that make Israel’s wall unique among similar abominations.

Land is one of them. If the wall were solely for the purpose of security, one would expect it to follow the green line that ostensibly established the border of a future Palestinian state. Instead, it reaches, in many places, well inside the line, effectively annexing 10 percent of the West Bank to Israel.

Natural resources are another. The wall separates many Palestinian farming communities from their land, enclosing fertile Palestinian farmland behind its massive concrete slabs.

In addition, the wall annexes crucial West Bank water resources to Jewish settlements. Doing so makes Palestinian access to water dependent on Israeli benevolence, and leads to situations like that reported by Amnesty International recently, where Israel can turn on and off Palestinian access to water on a whim.

A final factor that never figured into the construction of the Berlin Wall is Israel’s “demographic problem.” This refers to the fact that sometime in the near future Palestinians will outnumber Israelis within the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean—what is today Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip—establishing minority Jewish rule over a non-Jewish majority as an undeniable fact.

The wall, in this interpretation, provides respite from this demographic problem, annexing settlers to the “Jewish state” and artificially boosting its numbers, while enclosing Palestinians in an ever shrinking pseudo-state. But it is only a temporary solution, and some day soon the “demographic problem” will make it very hard indeed to continue pretending Israel is a democracy according to any reasonable definition.

But hope remains. Grassroots resistance to the wall is mounting among Palestinians as well as small but significant numbers of Jewish Israelis who have loyalty not to the state of Israel, but to brother and sisterhood that knows no walls of separation.

As we celebrate the courageous actions of those ordinary Germans who stood up to the oppressive social system they lived under, let us have the courage to acknowledge similar struggles for freedom in our own time.

Michael Stauch is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in history. His column runs every other Friday.

the chronicle

S

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 | 11

commentaries

‘Mad Men’ America

unday may be the Lord’s Day, but I’ve spent the last 12 Sunday nights wholly preoccupied with sex, drugs, cigarettes and whiskey. Not that I’m participating myself (at least not on most Sundays). I’m talking about watching “Mad Men,” the best show on television and one that, regrettably, will come to an end until next August with this Sunday’s season three finale.

Even if you’ve decided to stubbornly ignore the immense hype that has nathan freeman surrounded the award-wingood night, and ning AMC series, you’ve good luck probably seen the ads for it and, as a result, been unconsciously part of the show’s desire-as-commodity philosophy. And you can picture the show’s iconic images: the bustling streets of the Midtown Manhattan of a bygone era, where men wear tie clips to hold together their impeccable suits and don’t leave home without a slick fedora; the bottles of liquor that line every office in the headquarters of the show’s fictional ad agency, Sterling Cooper; the glamour of grand hotel lobbies before they were filled with BlackBerry-clad businessmen yakking away—go ahead and imagine because on one level, the show could be successfully watched even if you never turn on the sound.

But “Mad Men” does so much more than simply inhabit

a version of the 1960s put together with an OCD-level of meticulousness—it is also a television show as powerfully relevant today as any series set in the present. Like the great novels that survive the eras that were contemporary to their releases, “Mad Men” is both a perfect embodiment of a specific time period and instantly timeless, grounded in a specific temporality without ever inducing the possibility that it may become dated. It is without a doubt a “Great American Novel,” a celebration and criticism of how this country operates, and a depiction of what had to happen in order for this way of life to be established.

The thesis at large is that societal changes resulting from the end of the 1950s and the advent of post-modern ideas account for a paradigm shift in how individuals recognize and act on their desires; and, as a result, how men in the advertising industry must access their own ability to self-analyze emotion and discover why desire operates the way it does, and how these inner dimensions of “want” can be tapped into through the medium of advertising. However, the message is only part of a larger schematic, one that incorporates the world of Madison Avenue to address how the advertising industry can act as both an indicator of the human psyche and a version of America itself.

But cerebral interpretations aside, we must not forget that “Mad Men” is a paragon of Cool. Don Draper—our distant, brilliant, controlled, hard-drinking, chain-smoking and adultery-prone hero/anti-hero—defines “Cool” with every sip from an Old Fashioned and every drag on a Lucky Strike, his tie and demeanor always perfectly in place. And just as the industry of advertising relies on

the duality of appearance and reality, Don’s façade of effortless perfection cannot exist without the self-cognizance (and cognizance on the part of the viewer) of the fraud within him—the same fraud that the 1960s-era scions of America were benefiting from because their forefathers took advantage of a virgin country to make their fortunes. He’s the latest in the long line of protagonists in this nation’s fiction who act as the human representation of the American Dream—he’s a man who went off to war in order to erase his past and start a new future, away from the desolation of the outskirts of rural life, and came back as literally a different person. A Koreanwar era Jay Gatsby, Don Draper renamed himself and fashioned a new persona in New York City, where his natural talent and determination could create his own heritage to compete with the legacies that produced his co-workers and clients. “Mad Men” is telling the story of “Who is Don Draper?,” and in doing so, it is telling the story of how America itself slipped into an identity and eventually became it.

But, when it comes down to it, I probably watch “Mad Men” for the majestic and enviable escape that it provides: the three-martini lunches, the perfectly mixed cocktails, the womanizing in Waldorf-Astoria penthouses, the whirr of a Cadillac rolling through a tree-coated Long Island town. And that is beauty of “Mad Men,” the ingenious commingling of style and substance makes it clear that this, too, is America.

Nate Freeman is a Trinity senior. His column runs every Friday.

Zen, or something like it

I

thought this column up while I was supposed to be meditating.

I couldn’t feel my toes. If I had crossed my legs any more, I would have broken my bones. My shoulders ached. Most importantly, I was trying to “empty my mind” by concentrating only on breathing.

Obviously, because you’re now reading this column, I did more thinking than meditating.

It all started two weeks lisa du ago, when I embarked on moshi moshi a journey to seek Zen. By “journey to seek Zen,” I actually mean that I participated in a university-organized field trip for Zen training at a temple in Nagoya. On the agenda for the day: meditating, lecture, tea ceremony and, most importantly, free dinner.

Give me a break—not only am I a broke college student, I am in a country where the value of the dollar seems to be lower everyday. Regardless, before getting to dinner, I had to learn about Buddhism (and maybe achieve some sort of Zen).

Although it is questionable whether I was actually able to attain any sort of meditative success, the day was definitely not a waste of time. Somewhere in between trying to empty my mind and then trying to fill it with the words of the Roshi (the head monk), I began to find some sort of sense in the quiet subtlety of Buddhism.

My journey for Zen that day, however, did not end on a good note. One of Buddhism’s main ideals is the emphasis on not wasting anything. In particular: food.

Everyone was expected to finish their dinner of rice, boiled vegetables, soup, cole slaw (yes, Japanese monks eat cole slaw) and persimmons. That, however, was not enough. We were not supposed to let anything go to waste. And thus I listened in horror as the Roshi explained how we should use the cup of tea we were given to wash out our bowls, and then drink it. We were then expected to use a tiny sponge to wipe off the bowls, and suck on it so as to not leave any residue.

So with a stomach of oily mayonnaise dishwater, I walked away not sure how anyone could quite find Zen. It was only a couple of days later, sitting on the same bus I take every day to school, that it hit me: being in Japan is in some strange way my Zen. According to the Roshi, in Buddhism, one must learn to cherish and live in the present. Otherwise,

one becomes akin to a Japanese ghost—usually a young girl with long flowing hair, no legs and arms reaching forward. This imagery indicates attachment to the past, no stance in the present and distress over the future.

Instead, Buddhism looks at life as a circle. Although a circle has no beginning and end, if it is drawn, the starting point and ending point are the same. The existence of an endpoint emphasizes the fact that one should live every day as if it is their last, and approach the beginning of the next day as a new start.

At Duke, I was very much like a “Japanese ghost.” I dwelled constantly on the past and worried endlessly about the future. In the flurry of class, work, papers, midterms, drinking and trying to keep life in order, there was no slowing down to enjoy the present. Yet in Japan, I steadied myself. Maybe it’s the difference

in lifestyle, amount of schoolwork or the people with whom I interact. I can’t place an exact finger on it, but it is nice realizing that the present isn’t such a bad place to live in.

So try it. Slow down a little. Don’t run to class. Wake up early, walk slowly and enjoy the smell of the wind and play of the leaves as it rolls across West Campus grounds. Let it be one of those days where even though you’ve ridden the same bus multiple times and walked the same path to class always without fail, everything in the world seems new and glistening. It is any other day, but it is hard not to breathe the fresh air and notice the sheen over everything that makes you want to smile and shout at the world, “thank you thank you thank you.”

Lisa Du is a Trinity junior studying abroad in Japan. Her column runs every other Friday.

12 | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009

the chronicle