Skip to main content

November 5, 2015

Page 1

Chance for redemption

HackDuke expands in year 3 Around 800 competitors will converge to ‘code for good’ this weekend | Page 3

QB Thomas Sirk and company head down Tobacco Road looking to make a statement at UNC | Sports Page 11

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

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 45

Duke creates new scholarship for first-generation students Amrith Ramkumar The Chronicle Duke is launching the Washington Duke Scholars program to support first-generation students, President Richard Brodhead told The Chronicle Wednesday. The new program will provide an enhanced financial aid package, a four-week summer orientation program, mentorship, computers and seminars to support selected first-generation students after arriving at the University. Administrators are hopeful that after involving approximately 30 students in the program’s first year for the Class of 2020, it will expand to around 60 and eventually include all eligible students, making Duke a more attractive destination for first-generation students, explained Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education. “We need to make sure all of the students we need to bring into Duke are supported in a way that allows them to take full advantage of everything that we have to offer,” Nowicki said. Around 10 percent of Duke’s approximately 6,400 undergraduates are first-generation students, but not all of them will be considered for the program. Certain first-generation applicants accepted to Duke needing high or full financial aid will be considered as potential Washington Duke scholars upon admission based on characteristics such as their socioeconomic status, parents’ education level, high school and number of advanced placement courses. Nowicki also noted that a driving force behind the program is to provide resources for students who might need additional support after arriving on campus, explaining that the lack of existing support for low-income, firstgeneration students after arriving at universities

Graphic by Yuhkai Lin | The Chronicle

is a national issue. “We’ve seen this at Duke, and we’ve seen it nationwide,” Nowicki said. “The story is out there of these high-achieving kids who come to a place and then struggle through no fault of their own.” The University’s newest scholarship program will be administered by the newlycreated Office of Outreach and Access while still being affiliated with the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows—which

is responsible for Duke’s merit scholarship programs, such as the Benjamin N. Duke and Angier B. Duke Scholarships, according to a press release announcing the program. By affiliating the new scholarship program with OUSF, the University hopes to link Washington Duke scholars with other scholars at Duke, according to a document outlining the program provided by administrators. The University is looking to provide institutional support to firstgeneration students while also putting students

selected for the Washington Duke Scholars program on the same playing field as their peers, noted Alison Rabil, assistant vice provost and director of financial aid, in an email. “The idea is to shorten the time needed to adjust to Duke and give these students the financial and social supports needed to take off on the right foot from the moment they get to campus,” Rabil wrote. See SCHOLARSHIP on Page 4

Jefferson hurt in Duke’s rout of Livingstone Meredith Cash The Chronicle

Matthew Rock and Kristen Shortley | The Chronicle Amile Jefferson scored six early points before a left ankle injury forced the Blue Devil captain to leave Wednesday’s exhibition finale against Livingstone.

|

|

|

|

INSIDE — News 2 Sports 11 Classified 13 Puzzles 13 Opinion 14

|

Once again, the Blue Devils won an exhibition game by a wide margin. And once again, a captain went down with an injury. No. 5 Duke routed Livingstone 11954 Wednesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium led by the explosive scoring efforts of freshman Luke Kennard, who scored 25 points in his first start as a Blue Devil. Duke shot 56 percent from the floor while holding the Blue Bears to a meager 29 percent clip. “It was pretty neat hearing my name called [in] the starting five. I knew I had to come in and just be an energy-giver and play my role on the team,” Kennard said. “I just went out there and gave it my all. I had

Serving the University since 1905

|

to show the guys that if I’m stepping up, I’m going to be the guy that comes in and really plays hard, does the right things, be in the right spots, who plays my role to the best of my ability and just do whatever the team needs me to do.” But a second consecutive lopsided win was overshadowed by an injury to senior captain Amile Jefferson, who left the game early in the first half after appearing to turn his ankle. The Philadelphia native led the team with six points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the floor when he left the contest. Jefferson returned from the locker room at the start of the second half, but sat the remainder of the game beside fellow injured captain Matt Jones, who suffered a groin injury late in the Blue See M.BASKETBALL on Page 10

@dukechronicle

|

© 2015 The Chronicle


2 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com

Stats professor Steorts makes Duke saves up to 400,000 plastic counting Syrian deaths easier bottles with water filling stations Claire Ballentine The Chronicle How do you count the dead during a bloody and destructive conflict? A Duke statistician may have some answers. Current efforts to determine the death toll in Syria’s ongoing civil war are hampered by conflicting body counts and ambiguous levels of uncertainty. Beka Steorts, assistant professor of statistical science, has been working to develop statistical methods that can more accurately count the dead and paint a better picture of the devastation in Syria as a result. Her research lab on campus, which involves Duke graduate and undergraduate students, is investigating these death counts in collaboration with the Human Rights Data Analysis Group and other researchers across the country by analyzing hundreds of thousands of death records in multiple databases.

“The goal is to be able to come up with the death count in Syria and to understand the notion of uncertainty around the death count,” she said. Analyzing death count data is often difficult because one person may be documented in multiple databases in slightly different ways, leading to duplicated records, Steorts explained. For instance, typos and inconsistent spellings could result in several entries for the same individual. This problem is further complicated by the fact that the Syrian death record database—which consists of about 300,000 death records—only has reliable information regarding the full name, date of death and location of death for each person. Even this information is often missing or inaccurate, Steorts added. “There should be some sort of standard error, and we would like to See STEORTS on Page 4

Special to The Chronicle Beka Steorts, assistant professor of statistical science, is working to make counting deaths in Syria’s ongoing civil war easier using an algorithm.

You still have time to study abroad this spring. Choose Duke Kunshan. Apply by Nov 15.

Sydney Sarachek The Chronicle The Office of Sustainability is in the process of weighing feedback from students and employees to place more water filling stations around campus. The office began installing the stations—which make it easier to refill a reusable water bottle—in 2009 in an effort to reduce plastic water bottle use on campus. Last year, students, faculty, staff and others used waterfilling stations to fill up 400,000 disposable plastic bottles worth of water that might otherwise have been consumed from disposable bottles. The Office of Sustainability became involved with the water bottle filling station project in response to student and faculty interest, said Casey Roe, sustainability outreach coordinator for the University. “[We] see the hydration stations as a

tool for students to use their [reusable] bottles throughout the day and avoid buying plastic water bottles,” she said. Roe explained that there are several considerations that the Office of Sustainability and the Facilities Management Department must look at before deciding where they will install new fountains. Existing water fountain equipment has to be evaluated to determine whether it is possible to retrofit the water fountain, she explained. The sustainability office considers whether other filling stations are already available nearby and whether the area is highly trafficked enough to justify the spending as compared to other energy and water saving projects on campus. Funding for stations comes from the sustainability office’s Green Grant Fund and from Facilities Management. Roe said the Office of Sustainability See WATER on Page 4

Alex Deckey | The Chronicle Water filling stations on campus have been installed since 2009 and have helped Duke save a huge amount of plastic last year.

Need help creating your Spring 2016 class schedule? Visually browse through potential schedules and then save, print or share your final decision by using

SCHEDULATOR See how easy it can be!

dukeschedulator.com For Program details visit  www.dukekunshan.edu.cn  or send an email to:  dkuadmissions@dku.edu

Brought to you by:


The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 3

Technology competition HackDuke continues rapid growth Heather Zhou The Chronicle This weekend, participants in HackDuke will devote 24 hours to creating hardware and software projects which address social issues. HackDuke—which is now in its third year—attracted nearly 3,000 applications to participate in this year’s competition, with some applicants coming from as far as China and the United Kingdom. Approximately 800 participants were selected to compete, with nearly 600 of them from Duke, HackDuke organizers said. The competition will give students the chance to collaborate on projects with peers and with engineers from tech companies such as IBM, Google and Facebook. This year will also feature a novice category that welcomes first-time coders to participate. “HackDuke has been growing really fast and getting a lot of attention because of our success in the past,” said sophomore Tara Davis, the media head of HackDuke. There are four tracks that participants can compete in—Inequality, Energy and the Environment, Health and Wellness and Education. The winning team of each track will be awarded prize money to donate to a nonprofit of their choice. HackDuke originated in 2013, when Duke hosted HackBlue—a hackathon involving roughly 150 students from Duke, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explained senior Jesse Hu, a member of the HackDuke team. “The next year a couple of Duke students started to form the team and

back in high school,” said sophomore Rob Martorano, one of the team members and a member of this year’s HackDuke organization team. Martorano’s team created a website in which the users watch a clip of advertisement and the advertiser will donate money to f you are a charity of the just sitting users’ choice. “The idea was in front of the to use coupons to computer incentivize people the whole to go on the website each day and time, you’re donate,” Martorano not getting said. “There was the whole actually a company that reached out to experience. us and talked about — Rob partnering after the Martorano hackathon.” Although some of the past projects may be daunting to inexperienced coders, HackDuke will host Hack Week, which features tech workshops for students of any experience level throughout this week. Non-coders can also participate in HackDuke by collaborating with the coders and brainstorming project ideas. Martorano encouraged this year’s participants to take full advantage of the hackathon. “Staying up all night sounds crazy, but also definitely try to talk to people from other teams and professionals from companies,” he said. “If you are just sitting in front of the computer the entire time, you are not getting the whole experience.”

I

Chronicle File Photo Students will compete in creating the best hardware and software projects during a 24-hour competition at the third HackDuke event this weekend.

tried to put the hackathon on a national scale,” said senior Yu Zhou Lee, a member of the HackDuke team. “It attracted over 500 people that year, and that was the start of HackDuke.” HackDuke’s special emphasis on “Code for Good” has inspired participants to make projects that solve real world problems. The 2013 HackDuke first-place project was a glove system which interprets sign language and outputs the correct translation via text to speech. “When you wear the glove and do sign languages with your hand, our box will

speak out what you are signing in English,” said senior Zachary Bears, one of the project’s designers. “A few months later, we saw a bunch of other people building similar smart gloves, so I guess we inspired them to go forward with the idea.” In Fall 2014, a team of freshmen participating in HackDuke designed an app called Daily Donor, which allows users to donate to charities by watching video ads. The app won the Poverty and Inequality Track. “I actually had the idea of using video advisement to generate money for charity

The Fannie Mitchell Expert in Residence Program

Daniel Machemer ‘98 u

Careers & Work-Life Balance for Graduate Students

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 | 12:00-1:30PM | GSRBI, 3019

Careers in Biotech & Consulting for Graduate Students & Postdocs

u

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 | 12-1:00PM | TBD

Careers in Biotech/Pharma for Undergraduate & Graduate Students u

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 | 6-8:30PM | GROSS HALL 107 *Daniel will speaking as a panelist at this event along with 5 others.

Register at http://careerconnections.duke.edu The Fannie Mitchell Expert in Residence Program features accomplished professionals sharing specialized knowledge and providing career advice to Duke students.


The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com

4 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

SCHOLARSHIP from page 1 One of the largest elements of the program will be the four-week summer bridge orientation program that will expand on the 1G preorientation program that has been in place since 2012. During the summer, Washington Duke scholars will take a one-credit course to help them adjust to the rigor of college classes while taking advantage of other programs designed to orient them within the University. Because of the length of the program, the summer earnings financial aid requirement prior to enrollment will be waived for Washington Duke scholars, Rabil explained. Students in the program will also be provided with computers after they arrive on campus. Following the summer program, Washington Duke scholars will receive additional support from academic advisors who have agreed to take on a more expansive role and will be trained to understand how best to assist low-income, firstgeneration students. In addition to increasing faculty mentorship, those who created the program are also expecting Washington Duke scholars to serve as peer advisors in their second year and satisfy part of their work-study requirement by mentoring first-year scholars. Seminars focused on professional readiness and thriving at Duke will also be required for Washington Duke scholars in their first year, with the Thriving at Duke seminar being run by Counseling and Psychological Services to help students transition to a new environment. Because of these additional time constraints, the work-study component of scholars’ financial aid in their first year will not be required, Nowicki said. Beyond their first year, Washington Duke scholars will receive continued support through another professional readiness seminar in their second year, a stipend and waiver of their summer earnings requirement for another summer to take part in an approved internship and a series of events to

connect with faculty and alumni. Administrators expect the financial benefits of the program to lure first-generation students to Duke, but Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag explained that the Washington Duke Scholarship is not a recruitment tool and was not designed to help with admissions yield. “It wasn’t conceived of, nor are we thinking of it as, a recruitment program as much as an enhancement program,” he wrote in an email. Although other universities such as Stanford University and Georgetown University have programs in place to support first-generation students, Nowicki explained that the depth of the Washington Duke Scholars program will be unique among the University’s peers. “Duke is probably rolling out the most comprehensive program like this that’s out there,” he said. The cost of the program will depend on the number of students accepted, Nowicki explained, though he noted that it will likely be sizable because of the summer program and financial aid enhancements. Despite the “significant price tag,” Nowicki said that Brodhead and Provost Sally Kornbluth and were immediately supportive of the program because “they saw this was the right thing to do.” “This new program will help Duke deliver on its promise of opening doors of opportunity, providing guidance as these students learn how to access the full measure of a Duke education and thrive on our campus,” Brodhead said in the release. As Duke’s peer institutions continue expanding their financial aid offerings, the new scholarship program could make the University more competitive and make it a leader in supporting students once they arrive, Nowicki said. “If this works, in a few years, people are going to look back and say, ‘What did Duke do, how did they do it?’” he said.

Kenan Moral Purpose Award Duke undergrads - submit an essay and you could win $1,000! Essays of between 500-800 words should address either or both of the following questions: • In what ways have your core beliefs and larger aims been tested, transformed, or confirmed during your time in college? • How have you had to defend or challenge prevailing ideas, social norms or institutions and what lessons have you learned from doing so?

Deadline: Saturday, Nov. 15 For more information: dukeethics.org cecelia.mercer@duke.edu

STEORTS from page 2

WATER from page 2

be able to quantify that uncertainty,” she said. To achieve this goal, Steorts and the other researchers created an algorithm that makes it easer to identify the likelihood that two records in the Syrian databases actually represent the same person by reducing the number of record comparisons needed. She noted that her algorithm reaches 99 percent accuracy and can comb through the data in just 10 minutes—whereas other methods commonly feature 50 to 60 percent accuracy and take days or weeks to run. Steorts noted that these statistical estimates are beneficial because they can assist human rights groups in their work. “We’re trying to provide justice for a group of people who can no longer fight for justice themselves,” she said. Steve Fienberg, a professor of statistics and social science at Carnegie Mellon who introduced Steorts to the project, said the data may be used in future war crime trials after the conflict is over. “It’s important for the world to understand the devastation of this conflict,” he said. The project was not without its challenges, Steorts noted. Due to the sparse nature of the data sets, finding a statistical method that provides high accuracy was a long and difficult process. Steorts was recently selected by the MIT Technology Review as one of their “Innovators Under 35”—an award for individuals who show potential in making scientific breakthroughs in their fields. “[The project] gives a voice to those who have been killed,” she said. “It’s rewarding to work on an applied topic that matters.”

monitors student and employee feedback about suggestions for locations for new water bottle filling stations. She noted that students have been vocal about the topic on the Fix My Campus Facebook group. “Fix My Campus has received a lot of interest from students about adding water bottle filling stations around campus and is currently working with the administration to figure out the best way to make this happen,” said Luke Wolf, a senior and co-director of Fix My Campus. “These stations are both really convenient for students and help make Duke more sustainable.” Take Back the Tap, a student group that advocates for the installation of filling stations, has initiated a a campaign to make tap water more readily available on campus and change students’ perceptions about drinking water with the ultimate goal of to eliminating bottled water sales on campus. In recent years, peer universities, such as Harvard University and Princeton University , have banned the sale of plastic water bottles on campus. Roe explained that the Office of Sustainability works with Duke’s Facilities Management Department to evaluate the student and employee requests for stations. She said that the initial goal was to have a filling station in most academic buildings, which the University is working towards achieving. “We have a few new locations for water bottle filling stations under consideration at the moment,” Roe noted.

NOTHING

OPEN COSMIC th 9 STREET later than

on

Menu Sampling

Old School Veggie Burrito Regular Chicken Burrito Cheese Quesadilla Chicken Quesadilla Veggie Nachos Chips & Salsa

Open until 4 am

$2.99 $6.29 $2.49 $4.99 $3.99 $2.49

1920 1/2 Perry St. at Ninth Street Just a block from East Campus

Now served at JB’s hot dog stand


R

The Chronicle

recess

VOLUME 17, ISSUE 11

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Mike Posner Money, music and meaning, page 8

Peter Del Vecho ‘Frozen’ and beyond, page 8

www.dukechronicle.com

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 5

‘Unveiled’ One woman, five identities, page 7


R 6 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

recess editors How long do we play one song in a row? Georgia Parke.....................YTG4EVAR Elizabeth Djinis ..... all day, still playing Ian Jaffe..............ONLY ONCE PLEASE

Jesus Hidalgo.....................ambivalent Dillon Fernandois this the same song? Natalie Huffman .. down with the tunes

More Online

Check out the Recess online page for more great reads!

The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com

If you ever see me around campus, it’s more than likely I’ll be wearing headphones. Whether I’m studying, making my way to classes or working in my lab, I promise you that I will have two, worn buds jammed into my ears at all times. However, people—friends, if you will—have pointed out to me that because I wear headphones like I wear my glasses, I’m more unaware of the world around me. They’ve graciously notified me that they can never get my attention in passing, no matter what they do or say. It’s gotten so bad that my fellow lab mates have imposed a rule where I am only allowed to have one earbud in whenever I’m in the lab. Apparently, if you pour a large quantity of a valuable chemical down the drain after a graduate student tries to warns you with a dramatic “NOOO!” to keep the chemical for future experiments, the lab starts enforcing such a policy to prevent you from being what they call a “toxic liability.” It’s gotten so bad that when the cashiers at ABP see me next in line, they don’t even yell, “Next guest,” but instead frustratingly wave their hands at me to come to their checkout counter. Despite the laundry list of awkward situations involving me and headphones, I’m not all that sorry. For me, listening to music through the sanctity of my headphones is more of a way to deal with the world around me, rather than offending it overtly. While most people’s playlists are mixtape-esque amalgams of their favorite songs, my playlists read much like my personal diary. Each song on my Spotify playlist chronologically encapsulates a memory, a event or a feeling at a certain moment in my life. The result is a series

of songs that tell the story of my life and reveal visceral connections to a past reality from the perspective of my younger self. Selecting the songs that end up on my playlist is truly cathartic. When I wade through various genres and artists, I use my intuition to decide—a minute into the song—whether the song fits the moment. Not every song that I enjoy, however, makes the cut. As much as I love LMFAO’s self-obsessed “Sexy and I Know It,” there has never been a moment when I’ve thought, “You know what, I’ve definitely got passion in my pants and I ain’t afraid to show it.”

editor’s note It didn’t make the playlist. Instead, something in the whispery rasp in an artist’s voice, a pounding back beat in an EDM track or the sheer lettering of a chorus attracts me and my baggage to the song in a way that transcends the typical appeal of a song simply sounding good. Name for me a popular song and there’s a good chance that I can recall the exact memory associated with that song. Rihanna’s “We Found Love” was the bumping anthem of my high school sophomore semi-formal, when I finally decided that I didn’t care what anybody thought, I was going to dance badly in the middle of the room like Taylor Swift at an award show. “Rotten Apples” by Voxhaul Broadcast resonated a certain rock twang that gave that quirky

inspiration for the character I assumed during my first high school theater production. The sheer prevalence of “Maps” by Maroon 5 was the song that floated in my head when I was in Spain the summer before my first year at Duke and housing assignments came out. My first-year roommate let me know via email that he just wanted to have “fun” his first semester—a nightmare for my nerdy, introverted self at the time. When I look back at my former self through the many songs on my playlist, it’s sort of cheesy, but I really have grown and become a stronger person than from “We Found Love.” Today, I find myself picking songs that are less obsessed with vanity and more in love with appreciating the beauty of individuals and of nature. I find that my songs shifted from the edge of self-destruction at the age of seventeen to a more calm and collected but altogether more heartbroken and distraught sense of self. I’ve found songs that channel an inner sense of curiosity and a deep appreciation for those I do care about in my life. The reason I listen to music, to my autobiographical playlist, is that in my busy life as a Duke student, there is rarely time for self-reflection. Pulling together even a single minute for introspection can be difficult to find. In fact, I’m writing this article at 2:37 a.m. on a Monday night because it fits perfectly between when I’d finish my research paper and when I have to start studying for my next midterm. Listening to music evokes an emotion and a self-awareness that is unfound for me because it appears that at Duke there never is true silence. But for me, the true serenity can be found in a pair of headphones. — Dillon Fernando

On view through September 18, 2016

NOV. 6-7 Featuring Singer, Songwriter, and Producer Mike Posner ’09

Register at DukeDeman.com

Maya (Guatemala), Cylinder vase (detail), c. 600-850 CE. Polychrome on ceramic, 5 1⁄2 x 6 1⁄8 inches (14 x 15.6 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion. The New Galleries: A Collection Come to Light is made possible by Nasher Annual Fund donors with special support from Anita and John Schwarz.


The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com recess

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 7

Five women in one: ‘Unveiled’ highlights Muslim identities Georgia Parke The Chronicle Rohina Malik, a playwright and actress raised in London and living in Chicago, will be coming to White Lecture Hall this Saturday to perform her one-woman show “Unveiled.” The performance--sponsored by Duke’s Muslim Students Association--covers topics of hate crimes, racism, love, Islam and culture, and focuses on five women, all played by Malik, who serve different kinds of tea before the audience and reveal their individual stories. The characters range from a Pakistani seamstress, whose story Malik said relates most closely to her own, to a rapper, whom Malik called “so much fun.” Each of the characters are a mixture of the playwright’s imagination and inspiration from people she knows in reality. To embody several different people within one show, Malik said she goes over the show so many times that it becomes a part of her. But she also noted that the characters each have a little bit of her in them already, tying them together further since they are played by the same person. “These five characters were going to be more powerful if they came from the same heart,” Malik said. “That’s why it became a solo performance.” Beyond its unusual format and challenge on the part of the actress, “Unveiled” aims to enlighten its audience about combating pervasive issues related to identity such as racism and stereotyping. “I was inspired to write a play to

challenge the negative stereotype that exists about Muslims and Muslim women,” Malik said. “If you study hate crimes, two things have to be present—negative stereotypes and degrading language. That’s why it’s important to challenge negative stereotyping and have dialogue [about it].” The play will inform its audience of intersectional identities involving race, ethinicity, immigrant status and class by offering the different perspectives of Muslim women, said senior Yossra Hamid,

president of MSA. “We hope to bring together the Duke and Durham community in listening to the stories of Muslims,” Hamid said. “Our voices are often misrepresented or distorted to the public.” Hamid said that Mona Hassan, assistant professor of religious studies, approached MSA with the idea of bringing “Unveiled” to Duke after one of her classes performed a scene from the show. “We believe that this event is an important opportunity to showcase

insightful and powerful stories that many are not exposed to,” Hamid said. “We hope that it will spark meaningful discussion, and encourage a higher consciousness in the audience.” Malik has brought the show to colleges and universities across the country including Princeton University, Yale University, New York University, Stanford University and Brigham Young University. She said she enjoys bringing the show and its ensuing dialogue to colleges because they are environments where it is necessary to talk about racism and other issues “To have that dialogue with the students, it’s been really powerful,” she said. “That’s why they’re here—to think about issues. If it doesn’t happen on a college campus, where is it going to happen?” The show is one of several brought to campus by MSA. Last semester, Australian Muslim comedian Aamer Rahman perfomed at Duke, using his humor to bring awareness to issues such as racism and homophobia. In 2014, MSA hosted the premiere of the documentary film “Enemy of the Reich: the Noor Inayat Khan Story” about a Muslim woman who fought against Nazis in World War II. In addition to MSA, “Unveiled” is presented by Duke DIYA, CMA, Me Too Monologues, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, African and African American Studies, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Theater Studies, Baldwin, the Duke Islamic Studies Center, Center Special to The Chronicle for Muslim Life and the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies. Rohina Malik is the writer and sole performer of her one-woman show “Unveiled.”

New AMI Courses for Spring 2016 AMI 199.01 LGBT/Queer Cinema and Cultural Production

M 10:05-1:05 Carr 135 Instructor: Polish This class investigates LGBTQ identities, communities and relationships pre, post, and during the Stonewall era through cinema, television, and new media. We will also explore constructions of sexuality, gender, class, race, and nationalism within the context of LGBTQ transnational film cultures and scholarship.

AMI 272.01 The Middle East Through Film

W 6:15-9:15 Carr 103 Instructor: Kipervaser Film as access into the region through a series of direct as well as poetic connections woven across films viewed, filmmakers featured, lectures, discussions, and texts read. By means of the integration of course components and students’ weekly responses, an understanding of the region is developed by way of inquiry into and rigorous engagement with cultural production.

http://ami.duke.edu


8 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

DEMAN WEEKEND Friday, Nov. 6:

2:30 - 4:00 p.m., Dept. Master Classes AMI Master Class CDS Master Class Dance Master Class Duke Theater on Location AAH & VS Master Class A Sacred Symbol: The Gospel Vamp’s Divine Choreography English Master Class

5:00 - 6:00 p.m., Cocktail hour 6:00 - 7:30 p.m., Opening reception

Saturday, Nov. 7:

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., DEMAN brunch 1:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. , Alumni workshops

Navigating the Music Industry + Living Your Passion Creative Production + Storytelling TV Writing + Development 101 Three Paths to Working in Sports Media Marketing + Branding from Lollapalooza to Pixar Why You Should Look for a Job in Digital Journalism

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m., Keynote address by Mike Posner 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Wrap-up party 8:00 p.m., Montrose Trio

The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com

Mike Posner returns Jessica Williams

Q & A

The Chronicle Mike Posner, Trinity ‘10, first topped the charts with his 2010 single “Cooler than Me.” Since then, he has enjoyed success with hits like “Please Don’t Go” and song-writing titles on Maroon 5’s “Sugar” and Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend.” Posner is coming to campus this weekend as the keynote speaker for DEMAN Arts and Media Weekend. The Chronicle’s Jessica Williams conducted an email interview with Posner about his time at Duke, his favorite music of the moment and DEMAN. The Chronicle: Did you map out a career plan while at Duke, or did things fall into place after graduating? Mike Posner: I had a vision of getting a recording contract and so I took what I thought were the necessary steps to get myself to that. When I scored that after my junior year, I had to make new goals. So to answer your question, I had a rule for myself. Each day, I would do at least one thing to advance my musical career. That could have been

making a new song, or getting my music on a big music blog, or hiring a manger, or editing a video of myself making beats in my dorm room. I just had to take at least one step every day. TC: Did your time at Duke influence your music? MP: MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE. Prior to coming to Duke, I made dark, pedantic, Detroit hip-hop music. Being on campus in North Carolina helped me stumble upon my more melodic sound. I had never sung before coming to Duke, only rapped. There was something about the weather and the people I was around that brought new music out of me. We wrote and recorded my first hit song “Cooler Than Me” in Kilgo Quad. There were kids in my dorm starting businesses down the hall. It was a very inspiring place to live. TC: What is your favorite song or album that you have ever worked on? Why? MP: Like most songwriters, I’m most excited about the material I just made. So I’m really excited about the batch of songs I made last week, but of the material that’s been released I’m probably most proud of “Beneath Your Beautiful” by Labrinth and Emeli Sande. I got to write and produce this song with Labs. I think it’s really good work. TC: Which artist have you had the most fun working with? MP: Labrinth. He and Bruno Mars are just supernatural musicians. Working with them has made me incredibly jaded when it comes to collaborators. Working with Lab is also special because he’s a really dear friend. I care deeply about him as a

‘Frozen’ producer talks Disney, sequels, and advice for asp Christy Kuesel

Q & A

The Chronicle P e t e r D e l Ve c h o h a s p ro d u c e d a number of Disney films, including “The Princess and t h e F ro g ” a n d “ W i n n i e t h e Pooh,” but is best known for p ro d u c i n g “ F ro z e n , ” which w o n t h e 2 0 1 4 A c a d e m y Aw a rd f o r B e s t A n i m a t e d F e a t u re and Best Original Song for “Let It Go.” Last weekend, Del Ve c h o a t t e n d e d D u k e ’s P a re n t s We e k e n d a s t h e f a t h e r o f a f i r s t year student and gave a talk o n t h e p ro d u c t i o n o f “ F ro z e n . ” T h e C h ro n i c l e ’s C h r i s t y K u e s e l t a l k e d w i t h D e l Ve c h o a b o u t t h e f i l m i n d u s t r y, h o w t o b e a p ro d u c e r a n d w h y s o m e f a n s o f the film just can’t let it go.

at Disney taught me something, and a lot of that led to “Frozen.” The studio got stronger from “Rapunzel” to “Wreck It Ralph” to eventually “Frozen.” Our storytelling got stronger. Everything led to that path. We knew we had a strong movie, but of course nobody could have predicted that it would become a phenomenon. That you never can predict, but we did know that we did have a good movie. TC: What advice would you have for any student planning on going into the film industry? PDV: When I first started in the industry, you had to be two of three things: you had to be good, you had to be fast or you had to be pleasant to work with. If you were good and fast, we didn’t care if you were pleasant. If you were pleasant and good, we didn’t care if you were fast. But the truth is, the world has changed and it’s getting much more competitive. Now you need to be all three. When I hire people at Disney, I’m very fortunate in that I get to hire people who are overqualified for their job, and I see two types of people transition from college

into work. One will constantly remind you that they’re overqualified for their job, and another one is the person who rolls up their sleeves and works really hard and joins in when anything needs to be done. Those are the people you tend to hire and promote to work on your next movie. The ones that were constantly reminding you that they were overqualified become such a drain that you end up not hiring them again. If the goal of the movie is worth working for, do the best you can in the job you have and you’ll get recognized and you’ll get promoted and get advanced that way. TC: Back to the topic of “Frozen.” Did anything crazy or unexpected happen during the planning or production of the movie? PDV: Well, probably the most unexpected thing was that when I started on the movie, it was supposed to come out in 2014. Six months into the project, they asked us to take a year out of the schedule to have it come out in 2013. That was certainly unexpected to suddenly have one year less than what you thought to work with. There were plenty of unexpected things. These movies are

The Chronicle: How did you get interested in working in the film industry in general? Peter Del Vecho: I worked for 15 years in live theater, mostly on the East Coast, and then ended up in the Guthrie Theater, the largest regional theater in the country, which is in Minneapolis. There I worked with new plays as well as classical plays. I think that experience made me really key into storytelling, which is what animation, as well as theater, is all about. That brought me to Disney. TC: What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspect of your job? PDV: These movies take three to four years to make, and it starts off usually with a very simple idea. The most rewarding part is when the movie begins to tell you what it needs to be, and the movie takes on a momentum of its own, and now you’re just trying to keep up with it. That you breathe life into the movie, and it takes on a life of its own. That’s probably the most rewarding time. Another point is after the movie releases, particularly when “Frozen” was released, and you get to read and hear about how the movie has affected people in ways beyond what you even imagined. TC: Was producing “Frozen” different from producing any other movie? PDV: I would say that all of the movies that I produced

Special to The Chronicle Peter Del Vecho, far left, accepts the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for “Frozen” in February 2014.


The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com recess

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 9

to campus as DEMAN keynote speaker person, not just a musician. When you work with someone like that, the love you have for them makes it a much deeper and gratifying experience. TC: Was there ever a time you thought a career in music would not work for you? MP: Totally! I started writing songs when I was eight years old. I didn’t honestly believe I could make a living doing music until I was 20 years old. So that’s 12 years of not really knowing. I also fell off the stage at Shooters at my mixtape release party in 2009. :). TC: Would you recommend Duke students interested in music to pursue a career in the music industry? Why or why not? MP: A fan of mine emailed me this quote from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. He says, “Becoming the thing you dream of is a long shot, no matter what. The key is to HAVE a dream, a destination, a personal definition of perfection in life, and then to use that end goal to help decide what to do next. It is not the end goal that changes you, but the summed total of each of the small, daily decisions.” I believe students should follow their heart and intuition when deciding what to pursue. As Mr. Hadfield elicits, the end goal doesn’t matter so much as long as you have one. The journey to get there is where all the growth, transformation and bliss occurs.

Special to The Chronicle Mike Posner, Trinity ‘10, will be the keynote speaker at DEMAN weekend Saturday, Nov. 7.

TC: Were there opportunities or events like DEMAN at Duke while you were here? How did they impact you? MP: I honestly don’t recall. I only recall going to one guest lecture when I was at Duke. The founder of Chipotle gave a talk. It was really honest but I remember I didn’t really identify with him.

He was such a mature adult. This is the reason why I wanted to come back to Duke before I got too old and couldn’t relate to the students. Though I don’t do keg stands anymore, I certainly remember what it was like to be in school and feel the uncertainty of the dreaded “real world” lurking behind senior year. At the same time, I’ve managed to live in the “real world” for six years now without actually living in the “real world.” I am my own boss. I make a living doing something I absolutely love and would do for free, and I travel the world. Saturday I want to talk about the possibility of you doing that too. I’m not being paid to do this talk. I just want to give something back to the place that gave me so much before I’m a mature adult. TC: How do you think cultural events like DEMAN impact campus? MP: One of the mistakes I made at Duke was sort of living in a beautiful/perfectly manicured/Sarah P. Duke Gardens bubble. Here are some folks who’ve left Duke, done some cool stuff outside of Duke, and they want to share with you what they’ve learned. I think only good comes out of that. TC: Why should Duke students come out for DEMAN this weekend? MP: Have you ever wondered: What should I do after college? Who should I be friends with? How much should I drink? Why am I tired all of the time? Why does everyone seem to know what they are doing with their life but me?…. This is what I’m going to be talking about Saturday. I’m going to share all the terrible mistakes I’ve made so that you don’t have to make them too.

piring filmmakers Music Review: Half Moon Run very hard to make. Andrew Stanton [writer of “Finding Nemo”] from Pixar once said, “It’s like jumping out of an airplane with your best friends and making the parachute on the way down, hoping you don’t impact the ground before you make the parachute.” It’s a little bit what making these movies is like. So even in “Frozen,” there were so many times where we screened the movie and we could see the potential of it, but it just wasn’t adding up. We made our final changes a few months before the movie came out, and all of a sudden everything clicked into place. Suddenly we went, “Wow, the movie really got great.” You never know when that magical moment is going to happen. TC: “Frozen” came out almost two years ago, but it’s still very popular and very present in society. How do you feel about the ubiquity of “Frozen”? PDV: It’s not our movie anymore; the world has made it their own, which we love. Love versus fear was our theme and that’s a very relatable topic. So many people related to “Let It Go.” It seems that everyone who tells me a story about “Let It Go” thinks that it was written personally for them, and yet their takes are very different. I’ve had somebody who was back from the war who had lost his legs feel like “Let It Go” gave him the courage to accept who he was. That’s powerful stuff. There were people who felt that they had too much pressure from their parents and were trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives, and “Let It Go” meant shedding the expectations and focusing on what it was they felt they were intended to do. Yes, the movie was funny and it made us laugh, but I think there was an emotional connection to the movie and to the characters that was terrific. TC: Disney announced earlier this year that Frozen will have a sequel. What can viewers expect from “Frozen 2”? PDV: The only thing that I know for sure is that we’re getting the same creative team back together. It’s going to be all the characters we know and love: Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf. We’re excited by the ideas we have, but it’s too early to talk about them. We wouldn’t be making a sequel if we felt that we didn’t have a story to tell that was equal to or greater than the original. TC: What are you working on next? PDV: Right now part of my day is handling the “Frozen” franchise. There is still so much in development. There’s things that are happening in the parks or with consumer products, so I’m still involved in that. The other part of my day is in development with Chris [Buck] and Jen [Lee] the directors, working up ideas for the development of “Frozen 2.” Those are my two primary focuses right now.

Jesús Hidalgo The Chronicle

Half Moon Run, a Canadian indie-folk-popelectro-psychedelic quartet, released its second album, Sun Leads Me On, Oct. 23. Sun Leads Me On combines simple but powerful lyrics (“I never thought I could be so happy / I’m looking on it from the inside out / given the right of circumstances / it could be safe to say / that darling it’s no crime”) with a complex and brilliant fusion of mandolins, keys, guitars, bass, drums and vocals (“Turn Your Love,” “Sun Leads Me On”). As the band was born on Craigslist, its lyrics and melodies are just a part of the quartet’s uniqueness. The history goes like this. In 2009, Dylan Phillips and Conner Molander, two childhood acquaintances born in Comox, British Columbia but living in Montreal, Quebec posted a Craigslist ad looking for a drummer or a bassist who enjoyed Radiohead, Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear. Devon Portielje, an Ottawa native who had moved to the other Canadian city, responded that he was interested in joining them. The funny thing about Portielje—he did not play percussion or bass. Instead, he was a guitar player and singer. Phillips and Molander adapted to the new situation and, despite an initial awkward “we’re a band but we barely know how to talk with each other” phase, the group managed to become friends and put together an album in 2012. After the release of Dark Eyes, the trio of Portielje, Phillips and Molander became a quartet, as Isaac Symonds became a member of the band. The Montreal-based quartet received so many positive critics due to its eclectic pastiche of rhythms that Mumford and Sons picked them to open for their tour around Europe that year, and Of Monsters and Men did the same for their North American summer tour. Sun Leads Me On combines simple but powerful lyrics (“I never thought I could be so happy / I’m looking on it from the inside out / given the right of circumstances / it could be safe to say / that darling it’s no crime”) with a complex and brilliant fusion of mandolins, keys, guitars, bass, drums and vocals (“Turn Your Love,” “Sun Leads Me On”). The album opens with a song, “Warmest Regards,” whose protagonist is the tempo—the pace with which guitar, drums and leading voice end up

Special to The Chronicle

forming a harmonic unity, and concludes with an amalgamation of electronic and psychedelic tones that one would hear as the soundtrack of Portlandia. In the middle, the listeners will find themselves immersed in a wide spectrum of genres and styles, including chamber pop, beat, progressive rock and post-Britpop. Some critics have emphasized the lack of coherence in the new album compared to Dark Eyes, a detail that is obvious in the nonexisting transitions of the compilation, especially at the very beginning. While the second song, “I Can’t Figure Out What’s Going On,” is an extension of the indie vibe of the band’s debut anthology, the following song, “Consider Yourself,” is an homage to the noisiest and darkest Radiohead and then, immediately after, one steps back and falls into the calm atmosphere of “Hands in the Garden” enhanced by the tenderness of harmonicas. The album also has its detractors, and others affirm that these stark contrasts are a formidable wait to take the listener out of their comfort zone. All the Half Moon Run fans who love the unexpected and have been waiting to witness the continuous evolution of the band should brace themselves, for Sun Leads Me On “is the greatest place you’ll ever see.”


10 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Matthew Rock | The Chronicle Making his first start as a Blue Devil, freshman Luke Kennard poured in 25 points in Wednesday’s win, including six 3-pointers.

M. BASKETBALL from page 1 Devils’ first exhibition win against Florida Southern Friday and sat the entirety of Wednesday’s contest. Duke’s third captain stepped up in Jefferson’s and Jones’ absence, as graduate student Marshall Plumlee dropped in 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Just 30 seconds after Jefferson hobbled off the court, sophomore Grayson Allen fed the 7-foot big man for a lob, which he slammed home to re-energize the team. Plumlee would follow with a series of emphatic twohanded jams throughout the game and dominated Livingstone’s undersized big men in the paint. Freshman Chase Jeter also had a major impact in the post after Jefferson’s departure, collecting a doubledouble of 13 points and 11 rebounds. “Our guys played hard and well,” Duke

The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com

Kristen Shortley | The Chronicle Junior captain Matt Jones sat out of Wednesday’s exhibition finale against Livingstone after suffering a groin injury Friday against Florida Southern.

head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Amile got stripe—and, like Allen, finished 7-of-14 from the hurt and we’re not a deep team, so we have field. For the second straight game, freshman two guys who, if we had a game tomorrow, they point guard Derryck Thornton came off the wouldn’t be able to play. bench, as Kennard— sliding into the starting Thank goodness we don’t have a game tomorrow.” lineup for the sidelined e have two guys who, The Blue Devil Jones—took over ballif we had a game handling responsibilities backcourt shone brightest of all in their tomorrow, they wouldn’t be able from the tip, though Allen final exhibition contest. to play. Thank goodness we don’t led the team with seven assists. Kennard finished Freshman Brandon have a game tomorrow. Ingram and sophomore 8-of-17 from the floor and —Mike Krzyzewski shot 6-of-11 from deep. Grayson Allen joined Kennard in double-figures, “We knew coming into the game that Matt combining for 43 points. After struggling early on in the first exhibition [Jones] wasn’t going to play and he’s one contest, Allen got hot from the start Wednesday, of our biggest leaders on the team, so we opening the game with five points before the knew we had to step it up” Kennard said. first TV timeout and finishing the first half with “When Amile [Jefferson] went down, we knew we had to pick it up a little bit, and I 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Ingram also finished the first half with 14 think we responded well.” points—eight of which came at the charity Duke’s defense stifled the Blue Bears,

W

forcing 24 turnovers that led to 34 Blue Devil points. Duke experimented with a number of different defensive looks Wednesday night, alternating between man and zone and often extending into a full-court press. Although Duke enjoyed a noticeable height advantage over the Blue Bears, the Blue Devils surrendered 17 offensive boards. Duke has more than a week off before its home opener, when the Blue Devils will host Siena at Cameron Indoor Stadium Nov. 13. Krzyzewski will have to hope Jefferson and Jones can heal by then, because the Blue Devils face a rare back-to-back to begin the year, taking on Bryant Nov. 14. “The fluoroscope of Amile [Jefferson’s] ankle didn’t show anything except that it’s a sprained ankle,” Krzyzewski said. “He’ll get X-rayed in the morning and we’ll go from there. Matt is getting better. I would think that he’ll be ready for the first game, but we need to have him get ready before then.”

Where can I find the STINF form?

Where’s the merchants-on-points link?

Where can I track buses? What’s a quick way to access ACES and Sakai?

Where can I find the sports calendar? Make your homepage.


The Chronicle

Sports

www.dukechronicle.com

The Chronicle

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 11

THE BLUE ZONE

2015-16 PLAYER PREVIEW SERIES: DERRYCK THORNTON sports.chronicleblogs.com

www.dukechroniclesports.com

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

FOOTBALL

READY TO ANSWER THE BELL

Nick Martin The Chronicle After a week filled with talk of what should have been, the Blue Devils will finally have a chance to put ‘the play’ behind them and regain control of the ACC Coastal Division in the fourth straight meaningful matchup against their crosstown rivals. Duke will travel to Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill Saturday to take on No. 21 North Carolina at noon. The game will feature two of the ACC Coastal’s best and will have major postseason implications, as the winner of Saturday’s Duke contest will be in vs. the driver’s seat to No. 21 claim the division UNC crown. And even during a week SATURDAY, 12 p.m. Kenan Memorial Stadium filled with talk of controversy, Duke is doing its best to stay focused on the task at hand—not that focusing is difficult when that task is the Tar Heels. “For the seniors, this is the last game against the University of North Carolina,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “A lot of things turn and focus on a football game for those guys, so I’m proud of the quality of that entire senior class. I continue to point that out to all of them each and every week regardless of the result of the ballgame on Saturday.” That being said, the elephant in the room for the Blue Devils (6-2, 3-1 in the

Khloe Kim | The Chronicle Quarterback Thomas Sirk has hit a groove during the last two weeks but will need to be at his best Saturday against a stout Tar Heel defense to bring the Victory Bell back to Durham.

ACC) heading into their biggest game— rivalry or not—of the season is not last season’s shellacking or subsequent spraypaint locker room destruction wrought by the Tar Heels (7-1, 4-0), but rather the damage done by the now-suspended referees in last week’s controversial loss to Miami. From a wider viewpoint, the defeat technically does not make Duke’s road to the ACC Championship game any harder than it was already going to be, with games at North Carolina and at home against Pittsburgh coming up. But the game’s final play—an eight-lateral, mismanaged bonanza of a kickoff return

that resulted in four missed calls that should have resulted in a Duke win— left the entire Blue Devil team stunned. In the lead-up to Saturday’s contest, the players have been making sure to properly process and move on from the Miami loss to focus on what will be a handful of a Tar Heel squad. “It’s definitely a tough one, a blow to us for our season, but we’ve moved on,” senior linebacker Dwayne Norman said. “There’s nothing we can do about what happened Saturday. Definitely have a big, huge game coming up this Saturday, so we’ve moved on and changed our focus to a very explosive offense in UNC.”

For Duke, that meant not even re-watching the now-infamous play throughout the week’s various film sessions. And once the Blue Devils were able to move forward mentally and physically, it allowed them a chance to look back at the havoc caused by North Carolina during— and after—last year’s 45-20 loss at Wallace Wade Stadium. “We kind of took the last play and removed it from what we watched—even with special teams, they really didn’t watch it. From an O-line perspective, we just watched ourselves,” senior center Matt Skura said. “Definitely what happened during the game, what happened after the game with our locker room and our field, I think we’ve got to remind those guys what actually happened to spark a little bit of a fire underneath them.” Past distractions aside, the on-field matchup between the two teams will pit a pair of offenses that are both seemingly settling into a groove at the perfect time. Redshirt junior quarterback Thomas Sirk has stepped up in the past two weeks, showing more confidence to air the ball out than he did in the first half of the season. Sirk surpassed 200 yards passing against both Virginia Tech and Miami—the first times since the Blue Devils’ season opener at Tulane that he accomplished the feat. Skura attributed his quarterback’s sudden burst of confidence to the See FOOTBALL on Page 13

MEN’S SOCCER

Not in the Cards: Louisville ends Duke’s ACC tournament Alex Serebransky The Chronicle It was a hard-fought 90 minutes, but in the end it was just 47 seconds that cost the Blue Devils the game. Louisville goals by Tim Kubel and Tate Schmitt within a minute early in the first half were enough to give the Cardinals a 2-1 victory against Duke VILLE 2 and knock the Blue DUKE 1 Devils out of the ACC championship Wednesday night at Koskinen Stadium. A second-half goal by senior Zach Mathers got Duke back into the game, but the Blue Devils could not find an elusive second goal despite a flurry of goal-scoring opportunities. “I thought it was a tale of two halves,” Mathers said. “We started out slow and we gave them two goals and dug ourselves [a deep hole]. I thought we did really well in

the second half. Unfortunately that second goal just didn’t come, but I thought the effort from the guys was great. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen.” It looked like a pretty even start to the game until the 17th minute when Cardinal midfielder Daniel Johnson burst through the midfield and was fouled by Duke defender Markus Fjørtoft. Kubel then stepped up to take the ensuing free kick from about 25 yards out and struck it over the Blue Devil wall, bouncing two yards before the goal and then past the outstretched gloves of Blue Devil goalkeeper Mitch Kupstas into the bottom right corner of the net. The Blue Devils (10-7-2) lost focus after going down, as a seemingly harmless downfield kick by Louisville goalkeeper Theo Jamilloux ended up producing a second Cardinal goal just 47 seconds later. The Jamilloux kick reached the head See M. SOCCER on Page 13

Sophie Turner | The Chronicle Senior midfielder Zach Mathers notched Duke’s lone goal to bring the Blue Devils within one, but a second goal was not forthcoming.


12 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

www.dukechroniclesports.com www.dukechronicle.com

The Chronicle

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Blue Devils open exhibition play against Falcons, Lions Ben Feder The Chronicle It is finally time for the members of the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation to show everyone what they are made of. No. 14 Duke kicks off its exhibition schedule against Pfeiffer Thursday at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium before playing its final tune-up against Saint Leo Sunday at 1 p.m. The Pfeiffer exhibition games vs. give head coach No. 14 Joanne P. McCallie Duke an opportunity to shape her squad’s THURSDAY, 7 p.m. Cameron Indoor Stadium season depth chart for opening night. Eight months Saint after top-seeded Leo vs. Maryland knocked the Blue Devils No. 14 out of the Sweet Duke 16, Duke will SUNDAY, 1 p.m. finally find itself Cameron Indoor Stadium back in a game environment—this time with plenty of new faces. “It’s just a blast to finally have a chance to play,” McCallie told GoDuke. com. “I know this team is ready to play against somebody else besides themselves.” Pfeiffer concluded last season with a 6-21 record in Division II play. The Falcons struggled to put points on the scoreboard, as they averaged 60.4 points per game on 36.6 percent shooting. Junior forward Meg Pritchard led the team with 15.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game a year ago and returns to lead Pfeiffer’s offense. Saint Leo, another Division II program, finished with a 9-18 record, and also could not find ways to score the basketball, averaging 61.9 points per game. Second-year head coach Missy West is no stranger to Cameron Indoor Stadium—she was a two-time ACC tournament champion as a player under head coach Gail Goestenkors and a member of the team that advanced to the 1999 national championship game. Chachi Guzman is the Lions’

Jesús Hidalgo | The Chronicle Redshirt sophomore Rebecca Greenwell torched the nets in Duke’s exhibition games last season and will look to find similar success beginning Thursday night.

returning leading scorer, posting 12.2 points per game last season. Saint Leo is a guard-oriented team with no player taller than 5-foot-11, which could create a serious advantage for the Blue Devils, who boast six players 6-foot-3 or taller. Both Pfeiffer and Saint Leo should allow Duke to utilize different lineups and get its freshmen acclimated to the college game. With a lot of options regarding matchups and lineups, McCallie should be able to mix and match to discover each player’s strengths in game action. Senior Mercedes Riggs and junior Kendall Cooper are expected to return to the floor during exhibition play after both players were sidelined for the annual BlueWhite scrimmage. Riggs and Cooper were involved in a minor car crash and were held out of competition while undergoing concussion protocol, but are now healthy and ready to play. Last season, the Blue Devils walloped their exhibition opponents, outscoring them by a combined 122 points. Redshirt sophomore Rebecca Greenwell starred in the tune-up games, averaging 27.5 points per game. The Owensboro,

Ky., native handled the ball often last season, but should be able to spot up around the perimeter more this year as the ball-handling duties shift to newcomers Angela Salvadores and Kyra Lambert. Since the Blue-White scrimmage Oct. 24, Duke has spent a lot of time in the film room looking to identify and rectify its problems on the practice court. “What I’ve seen in practice is a higher urgency for team defense, and understanding everybody’s role, so that’s been great. I’ve seen a higher IQ relative to decision-making—attacking the foul line better, executing broken plays better and certainly a familiarity to really execute and run all the offense as well,” McCallie said. Defensively, Duke will look markedly different from last year. The 2014-15 Blue Devils, due to their overwhelming size, rarely pressed. Instead, they opted to defend their opponents in the half-court and used their size to bully opposing offensive players into poor shots. This season, though, Duke will utilize the press defense much more

often in order to take advantage of its speed up and down the lineup. The topranked recruiting class is full of athletic guards, perfect for implementing multiple variations of a press. The two exhibition games will leave the Blue Devils with five days before the regular season starts on the road against Pennsylvania Nov. 13. Duke’s first true early-season is likely to come Nov. 18 at home against No. 13 Texas A&M. “For this team, it’s really important to get out there and just have an opponent and really just be treated as a team where they can rely on each other,” McCallie said. “They can be in a bunker together and really attack.”

Follow The Chronicle

@DukeChronicle


The Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com www.dukechronicle.com

M. SOCCER from page 11

from the top of the box was cleared off the line by DeGraffenreidt. Duke had to wait until the 57th minute to get itself on the board, as Mathers fired home from the top of the box after a cleared Brian White cross found his feet. The strike was Mathers’ eighth of the season. The Blue Devils continued to press hard for that second goal, outshooting the Cardinals 15-2 in the second half. Still, even after putting on an extra striker in Cameron Moseley for the last nine minutes, Duke just could not find the back of the net to keep its ACC championship alive. “To be fair to our guys, we were the first to every loose ball in the second half and had a couple chances to score to get the momentum early in the second half, which we didn’t,” Kerr said. “We finally got a good goal back with [Mathers] and then they did well defensively and they got men behind the ball and we weren’t able to get that elusive second goal.” The loss snaps a five-game winning streak for the Blue Devils and ends their hopes for a deep run in the ACC championship. The defeat also hurts Duke’s chances of making the NCAA championship for the first time since 2011. The Blue Devils came into the game ranked 39th in RPI—a key metric used in determining NCAA selections— and right on the bubble of making into the tournament, but will likely drop a couple spots after Wednesday’s loss. “We’re hoping the soccer gods are kind to us in a couple weeks when they make the decisions,” Kerr said. “We’ve done enough, we feel, to have a shot at the NCAAs and we just have to see how the other results fall. Hopefully they fall in our favor.”

of Louisville midfielder Ben Strong, who then flicked the ball forward to an onrushing and unmarked Schmitt. The freshman let the ball take a couple of bounces before firing a venomous leftfooted blast past a helpless Kupstas to double the Cardinals’ lead. “I’m not really sure what happened on those goals,” Mathers said. “It just seemed like we were a little flat and not ready for them.” To add injury to insult, Blue Devil midfielder Brody Huitema had to be subbed off less than a minute later after sustaining an ankle injury due to a hard foul by Cardinal defender Michael DeGraffenreidt. The injury was a big blow to the Blue Devils, as they were already a rightmidfielder light. Sophomore Macario HingGlover sustained an injury in the first four minutes against Pittsburgh Oct. 24 and was not available. “[Huitema’s] been doing really well for us lately and he’s always a goal threat,” Duke head coach John Kerr said. “To lose him early in the first half was a bit devastating for us because he is a big weapon and he can cause problems.” Duke looked a completely different side after halftime and created more scoring chances as the Cardinals (7-8-3) were happy to drop a little deeper and give Duke more room in the midfield. The Blue Devils nearly found themselves back in the game two minutes into the period. A Ryan Thompson cross was punched away by Jamilloux and fell to sophomore Jeremy sudoku_503B Ebobisse, whose shot

Created by Peter Ritmeester/Presented by Will Shortz

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 13

FOOTBALL from page 11 natural maturation process as well as Sirk spending Duke’s bye week reviewing all the film up to that point in the season. “It’s skyrocketed from where we were in the first half of the season before the bye week,” Skura said. “During that bye week, I think he got a lot time to review a lot of the film, know what he needs to get better at and we’ve definitely seen that through the Virginia Tech game, going through four overtimes and winning. Even in this Miami game, being able to to be in a high-pressure situation, to need and go take a huge drive all the way down the field and get it done—I think he’s really confident right now.” On the flip side of the ball, the normally stout Duke defense has

had some of its weaknesses exposed in the past two weeks, allowing an uncharacteristically high 43 points to Virginia Tech and then allowing Miami’s redshirt freshman quarterback Malik Rosier—who was filling in for normal starter Brad Kaaya—to amass 272 yards and two scores on 20-of-29 passing. With North Carolina dual-threat quarterback Marquise Williams on deck, the Blue Devils sudden defensive concerns will have to be quelled quickly, lest Williams and the Tar Heel offense put on a repeat performance— locker room vandalism presumably sudoku_503B excluded. Created by Peter Ritmeester/Presented by Will Shortz If Duke defeats the Tar Heels, it 9 will be either be a half-game ahead or 3 4 8 behind Pittsburgh—who is taking on 2 No. 8 Notre Dame—for the division 7 1 9 lead, as the Panthers have yet to observe 6 7 4 their bye week. 3

CLASSIFIEDS

8

8 1 2 3

7

503B

Distributed by The New York Times syndicate

(c) PZZL.com

Solution sudoku_503B

ANNOUNCEMENTS

TRAVEL/VACATION

DUKE EMPLOYEE SPECIAL TUITION RATE!

BAHAMAS SPRING BREAK $189 for 5-Days. All prices include: Round-trip luxury party cruise� Accommodations on the island at your choice of ten resorts� Appalachia Travel� www�BahamaSun�com 800867-5018

8 3 9 7 6 2 4 1 5

4 6 7 1 3 5 9 8 2

1 5 2 9 8 4 3 7 6

5 4 8 3 7 1 6 2 9

2 1 6 4 9 8 5 3 7

9 7 3 5 2 6 8 4 1

7 2 4 6 5 3 1 9 8

6 9 1 8 4 7 2 5 3

Employees may enroll for academic credit in an undergraduate course valued at one course credit for $975 and/or enroll as an auditor in an undergraduate course valued at one course credit for $100� Application deadline December 1 for credit� Registration deadline January classified advertising 12 for audit� Questions? The New Yorkhttp:// Times Syndication Sales Corporation www.dukechronicle.com/classifieds www�learnmore�duke�edu/aca620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 demics/ or 684-5375�For Information Call: deadline : 12:00 noon 1 business day prior to publication 1-800-972-3550

3 8 5 2 1 9 7 6 4

503B

The Chronicle

For Release Thursday, November 5, 2015

9 Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. (No number is repeated in any column, row or box.)

3

4

8

2 7 1 9 6 7

4

3 8

8 1 2 7

(c) PZZL.com

3

503B

Distributed by The New York Times syndicate

Find the answers to the Sudoku puzzle above. Solution sudoku_503B

8 4 1 5 2 9 7 6 3 The Chronicle 3 6 5 4 1 7 2 9 8 9why7we LOVE 2 this 8 week: 6 3 4 1 5 the thunder are so good: ��������������������������������������������#amrithisnotimpressed Textile: ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� gautamcity 7 1 9 3 4 5 6 8 2 social media: ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ big xie not the last one out: ���������������������������������������������������������������������vosburghler 6 3 8 7 9 2 5privateryan 4 1 capsules:����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� leaving at 2:30: ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ zeus going to the gym: ���������������������������������������������������������������������� 2 5 4 1 8 6 nationalparke 3 7 9 registration: �������������������������������������������������������������������������������djinisinabottle Barb Starbuck: �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Barb 4 9 3 6 5 8 1 2 7 Student Advertising Manager: �������������������������������������������Alyssa Coughenour Account Representatives: ����������������������� John Abram, Megan Bowen, TJ Cole, 1 8 7 2 3 4 9 5 6 Maria Alas Diaz, Tyler Deane-Krantz, Davis English, Philip Foo Jack Forlines, Beatriz Gorostiaga, Jackie Lin, Rachel Louie, 5 2Martinez-Moure, 6 9 John7McIlavaine, 1 8Brian Paskas, 3 4 Gabriela

503B

Risa Pieters, Nick Philip, Maimuna Yussuf Creative Services: ���������������������������������� Judith Leng, Rita Lo, Ella Wigington Business Office ��������������������������������������������������������������������������Leta Hallowell

Crossword ACROSS 1 Any old person, so to speak 6 French connections 9 Top 12 Super13 Mischievous 15 Cooper preceder 16 Party spreads 17 Like triple plays 18 Radio button 19 Chat room overseers, for short 20 Low camera perspective 22 Slept with 24 Command and control 25 Part of 52-Across 26 “Surely not me?” 27 Yank’s opposite 29 Budding 31 Band with the 1988 #1 hit “Need You Tonight”

ANSWER H I F I S

O P E R A

L E A L G I F O G E L

A W A R E

W O V E E N N D O G W A Z A I T L L L E I A O S N T

33 Eyesore 35 Currency that features architecture, not portraiture 36 “Birthday” or “mother’s maiden name,” e.g. 39 Bandleader who became a 1950s sitcom star 42 General ___ chicken 43 Desert royal 47 Capital in sight of Kilimanjaro 49 Percussive dance 51 Post-surgery place 52 Buster of rock 53 Mad rush 55 Judge of 1980s-’90s TV 57 “Officially …” 60 Leader Castro 61 Athletic shoe brand 62 ___ Field

63 What an endangered animal may get 65 Depend 66 Goddess in a chariot drawn by peacocks 67 ___ acid 68 Field ration, for short 69 Fifth on an eight-part scale 70 Cause of a stuffed-up nose

DOWN 1 Get ready to play 2 Make the scapegoat for 3 German Expressionist who was blacklisted by the Nazis 4 Title judge of a 1995 sci-fi film 5 The P.L.O.’s Arafat 6 You can’t stop humming it TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 7 “East of Eden” family name W H A M M O O K A Y A U L A I T N E R O 8 What a tech specialist might R P I T C H E Y E D ask you to send E F I R E D A N C E 9 Constraint R E C O R D D E A L V A T A S 10 Conflagration A R M E R S Y I P E 11 Dunces L E A R N E R A I M 14 2003 OutKast hit S W E A T P A N T S that was #1 for E O I D nine weeks S E A S O N L A T E 15 Dallas player, for T M O T H N I X E S short B R E A K A B L E S 21 German steel A T A R I S E T A center R A M A D A S H Y 22 Fat meas.

Edited by Will Shortz 1

2

3

4

5

6

12

9 14

23

26

27

31

32 36 40

28

29

30

34

35 38

41

42

43

48

52

46

25

37

47

45

21 24

33

11

18

20

22

10

15

17 19

57

8

13

16

39

7

No. 1001

49

53

54

58

50 55

59

60

62

63

65

66

67 69

51 56

61

68

44

64

70

PUZZLE BY JOHN GUZZETTA

23 Blue state majority, for short 28 Books that may depict dragons, unicorns and griffins 30 Reply to a bit of cleverness 32 Ship’s pole

38 “___ the light!”

48 Tree with burs

39 Provider of underground entertainment?

50 Outcast

40 Trampled 41 Latex-like glove material 44 Detail

34 Renaissance fair props

45 Smallest NATO member by population

37 Mercury, in alchemy

46 Sci-fi play of 1921

54 Hip again 56 “Star Wars” queen 58 Scotland’s Firth of ___ 59 After-dinner drink 64 Peter out, as a trail

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/studentcrosswords.


www.dukechronicle.com commentary

14 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Finding classes and connecting with faculty

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

“

A

n alarm goes off, and you grope in the darkness for your laptop. Your registration window has arrived. Early today, the senior class woke up to register for classes. Although that mouse-clicking 7 a.m. race to success takes only a few minutes, it is the conclusion of the exhilarating part of the year that is bookbagging. Classes are a fundamental raison d’etre in college, and the bookbagging that precedes enrollment is the most important part of registration. It should not come as much of a surprise that students love bookbagging so much. The period typically overlaps with at least one round of midterms, and in the fully ramped-up stress of the semester, we need little incentive to enjoy the faux productivity of browsing classes. Distraction aside, many of us enjoy savoring the possibilities, from house courses to threeday weekends. Frustrations with current classes are drowned out by visions of imagined possibilities—a new class taught by a new professor over something far more exciting than current classes. Considering how fondly students regard bookbagging and word-of-mouth class swapping with friends, it surprises us that the University has not managed to sustain any kind of event in this time of year. Whether in the form of a midnight bookbagging event in Perkins or departments organizing an

“Quote goes here.” —Source

LETTERS POLICY The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identification, phone number and local address. Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns. The Chronicle will not publish anonymous or form letters or letters that are promotional in nature. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, clarity and style and the right to withhold letters based on the discretion of the editorial page editor.

”

Direct submissions to: E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.edu Editorial Page Department The Chronicle Box 90858, Durham, NC 27708 Phone: (919) 684-2663 Fax: (919) 684-4696

The Chronicle

Inc. 1993

AMRITH RAMKUMAR, Editor RYAN HOERGER, Sports Editor RACHEL CHASON, Co-News Editor RYAN ZHANG, Co-News Editor GAUTAM HATHI, Digital Content Director STEPHANIE WU, Office Manager CAROLYN CHANG, Photography Editor JONATHAN ZHAO, Editorial Page Editor LEONARD GIARRANO, Editorial Board Chair MICHAEL LAI, Director Of Online Development

CHRISSY BECK, General Manager CLAIRE BALLENTINE, University Editor SARAH KERMAN, Local & National Editor ABIGAIL XIE, Health & Science Editor LILY COAD, Sports Photography Editor ELIZABETH DJINIS, Recess Managing Editor TOM VOSBURGH, Editorial Page Managing Editor EMMA BACCELLIERI, Towerview Editor MATTHEW ROCK, Towerview Photography Editor ALEENA KAREDIYA, Special Projects Editor SOPHIE TURNER, Special Projects Photography Editor MICHELLE MENCHACA, Recruitment Chair SAMANTHA NEAL, Senior News Reporter MEGAN HAVEN, Advertising Director MARY WEAVER, Operations Manager

evening of hor d’oeuvres with professors and students, any number of events stand to take advantage of the occasion presented by registration. We push every semester for more academic traditions to provide an opportunity for the University to informally connect students to professors, Directors of Undergraduate Studies and other students with shared interests. A simple suggestion for departments would be to create promotional videos, in the style of signature

Editorial classes, for courses, or professors more generally, to supplement the plain and sometimes incomplete information on ACES. On the more technical side, ACES’s interface is in dire need of improvement. Aside from the website’s aged look, ACES could be significantly improved in how it supplies course evaluation information to students. Currently, students have aggregated fivepoint ratings for past semesters of a class, but we believe this system lacks the testimonial advantages of RateMyProfessor, a popular website for reviewing professors. Extended feedback is already collected as part of routine course evaluations each semester, and we see little reason to not include the more helpful

remarks to the benefit of students. ACES is the primary way students interact with our large catalog of courses, and we further ask that departments provide some kind of oversight for how complete course entries are. It is all too common to find classes lacking in synopses or with the bare minimum of information. If professors have syllabi prepared for classes, it would also be sensible to allow them to attach them to ACES for students to see the full range of topics covered by a class. Turning to our esteemed faculty, students can easily find CVs and research interests by navigating department pages, but the relationships students could have with professors they are not otherwise in contact with could be greatly facilitated with institutional support. Beyond the meet-and-greets suggested, self-introductory videos or short personal statements by professors on their pages could give students greater reason to look for classes taught by a professor or to reach out for a FLUNCH. Bookbagging excites us largely because it reminds us of the sheer opportunity for knowledge gained in college. Improving ACES, updating faculty webpages and jumpstarting academic traditions across the board move students closer to the curricular sources of knowledge that the university experience is founded on.

Love thy (anxious) neighbor

onlinecomment

Est. 1905

The Chronicle

ALEX GRIFFITH, University Editor NEELESH MOORTHY, Local & National Editor SANJEEV DASGUPTA, News Photography Editor GEORGIA PARKE, Recess Editor JESÚS HIDALGO, Recess Photography Editor BRIAN POLLACK, Sports Managing Editor NICK MARTIN, Towerview Editor THU NGUYEN, Towerview Creative Director CARLEIGH STIEHM, Senior Editor RITA LO, Graphic Design Editor DANI LAZARUS, Recruitment Chair ADAM BEYER, Senior News Reporter GRACE WANG, Senior News Reporter JULIE MOORE, Creative Director

The Chronicle is published by the Duke Student Publishing Company, Inc., a non-profit corporation independent of Duke University. The opinions expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of Duke University, its students, faculty, staff, administration or trustees. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors. To reach the Editorial Office at 301 Flowers Building, call 684-2663 or fax 684-4696. To reach the Business Office at 2022 Campus Drive call 684-3811. To reach the Advertising Office at 2022 Campus Drive call 684-3811. One copy per person; additional copies may be purchased for .25 at The Chronicle Business office at the address above. @ 2015 Duke Student Publishing Company

L

ast week I had an anxiety attack. My legs grew weak so I ran into my room, locked the door and collapsed on the ground. My heart was beating very fast, and it felt like it was being squeezed by a juice press. I felt my face turning red and warm, cooled only slightly by the tears that began to run down it. I gasped, suddenly resuming my breathing, though it was harsh and irregular. It would be a few minutes before I could get off the floor and move to my

social media and widespread financial woes. But whatever the reasons behind them, these kinds of numbers indicate it’s nearly certain that someone you know, someone you perhaps care about a great deal, has found themselves anguished and overwhelmed at an unhealthy level. It’s hard to control all of the causes of anxiety, but when your friend is suffering from it, there’s a few important steps that can make a huge difference: Be there. Make sure your friend knows that you

Eidan Jacob PEER FOR YOU SERIES bed, where I woke up a few hours later, dehydrated and cold with sweat. Miserable. I had experienced this before. My senior year of high school, I was stressed out by the college application process and by what I felt was social exclusion at school. Because of these grievances, my grades slipped a bit so I started staying up later studying. Missing sleep impaired my ability to handle stress, completing the cycle. My family is Israeli, and when Hamas began shelling my cousins in Tel Aviv, my already fragile psyche shattered. My appetite nearly vanished, my normally talkative personality withdrew itself and my parents couldn’t even get me out of bed for school. Like many sufferers of anxiety, I was also experiencing symptoms of other mental illnesses like depression. I was fortunate to have access to a lot of resources in the forms of therapy and medication, and by the time I had arrived at Duke, I hadn’t suffered from an unhealthy amount of fear for several months. In many ways I am still fortunate: I have a great network of friends, a campus community that is increasingly working to address mental health issues and a lot to look forward to while I’m here. But I’m not invincible. A moderate level of worry and stress is to be expected, perhaps even healthy, but my mental health relies on constant monitoring. I’m in good company, though. 40 million U.S. adults suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, and 75 percent of them have their first episode by age 22. In May of this year, the New York Times reported “nearly one in six college students has been diagnosed with or treated for anxiety within the last twelve months.” Numerous explanations for this spike have been proposed, many of which point to escalating pressure to “succeed” (beginning earlier and earlier in high school, of course), our generation’s obsession with

will listen to them, without judgment, even if they are saying the same thing over and over again. If your friend is comfortable with it, spend time with them. Often just being in the same room as a close friend improves my mood, even if we’re busy with totally separate tasks. Keep the quality time simple and meaningful—take a walk, see a movie or grab dinner. Hopefully, you’re genuinely interested in what your friend is going through and how you can help, and you’ll want to talk about their anxiety with them. However, your friend almost certainly doesn’t need to be asked, “hey, how are your panic attacks?” or similar questions that might actually trigger an attack. Let them tell you about things when they are ready. As weird as this sounds, don’t try to use logic. Most people who suffer from anxiety understand that their fears can be irrational and the way they react to fear is often disproportionate. Telling them this will probably not help, and I can attest from personal experience that using pure logic to resolve emotional issues is usually frustrating. We hear a lot about how we should fight stigma surrounding mental illness. The first step to doing this is to realize that mental illness affects you, whether directly or through the lives of your loved ones. Stigma is a problem within our relationships, but its solution exists in them as well. Today, tell someone you’re there. Tell someone you are there to help and listen and feel with them. Tell someone you understand or that you don’t understand but still care deeply and are still interested. Tell someone they matter, even if that person is yourself. Eidan Jacob is a Trinity sophomore. This column is the sixth installment in a semester-long series of biweekly Thursday columns written by members of Peer for You. Message a peer responder anytime and receive a response within 24 hours.


The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com commentary

Hopelessly liberal

A

s a Democrat still holding out for that mythical unicorn of a presidential candidate, I have found myself in the middle of a minor identity crisis. I am not ready for Hillary, and I am far from feeling the bern. A CBS poll released in October revealed that just 35 percent of polled registered voters consider Hillary Clinton to be “honest and trustworthy.” No wonder—while a long political history has shaped Clinton into an experienced candidate, it has also left her blemished

don’t believe me, find out for yourself. Next time you hear someone say, “Carly Fiorina got fired from H.P. because of her incompetence,” find out if they can describe how other technology companies performed between 1999 and 2005. Pay attention next time you find yourself at a viewing party for a Republican debate, and count the number of times you cannot hear the candidates answer questions over shouts of “He’s lying!” When you find yourself in an emotionally charged conversation

On majors, college and chaos

M

y fellow sophomores who have yet to declare their major(s) and cannot make up their minds, my sympathies are with you. So, why is it so hard to pick one? One of the first problems I faced on the journey of picking a major—which, by the way, is far from over—was the fear of picking the wrong one. Have I not taken enough political science courses? Am I missing out on physics? Should I take one more class in each department before I decide? All these questions, and more, buzzed around in my head. I met with a number of directors of

Brendan McCartney

Alena Sadiq

A PINCH OF GINGER

DOUBT TO BELIEVE

by scandal after scandal. Her candidacy strikes a foreboding chord of inevitability, so much so that she can apparently get away with avoiding reporters on the campaign trail and changing her policy platform about as frequently as new polls are released. Theatrically referred to as the “surprise threat” in the introduction to the CNN debate, self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist” Bernie Sanders stands virtually no chance of victory. While perceived as more trustworthy than his competitors, his supposed authenticity as a bastion of progressive values seems shaky at best, given they also happen to be the values of his constituents. While consistent in his focus on rectifying economic inequities, his relatively conservative voting record on gun control measures signifies a more tactful politician than first meets the eye. And so, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, I could support a Democrat that I don’t yet believe in; on the other, I could consider the thought of sending my vote to—dare I say it—a Republican. Right now, I’m scanning my options. I know, I know, it’s crazy. At least my friends say so whenever I make statements as controversial as: “Wow, Carly Fiorina actually did a pretty good job in that debate!” or “I don’t know, I can kind of see the appeal of John Kasich” or, worse yet, “Well, I’m not too sure Ben Carson said it exactly as [insert media outlet] reported.” Raised eyebrows, suspicious glares and visceral reactions typically follow these kinds of observations. Most commonly, however, fellow students tend to respond to my apparently outlandish comments with an instinctual sense of disbelief that a given Republican presidential candidate could ever possess any positive characteristics. Of course, this type of partisan reaction is not specific to Democrats—those who follow party lines are constantly conditioned to demonize anyone with a separate set of values. After spending three years on a predominantly liberal campus, I feel that I have learned the ropes of how to appear politically astute and socially conscientious. Actually, it’s quite simple: absorb political sound bytes, scoff at Republicans and turn a blind eye to any faults in progressive ideology. If you

about how Bernie Sanders will even the economic playing field, see if your peers can reconcile his spending proposal of $18 trillion over the next decade with a ballooning national debt. By no means am I suggesting that individuals need to know everything about every issue for which they have an opinion, nor do I mean to deny that there are many Democrats on this campus with an impressive mastery of the issues. But it does seem peculiar that, for a party so focused on criticizing Republican “ignorance” on issues ranging from women’s health to gun control, Democrats on the whole sure do seem awfully prone to selectively processing new information. I believe in two aspects of the U.S. political system wholeheartedly. First, an overwhelming majority of Americans are compassionate and driven by their values. Second, an overwhelming majority of Americans funnel their political views through an “us-againstthem” lens of analysis. Republicans and Democrats alike fight for values that are worth fighting for; they simply disagree about how best to actualize these values through policies. As political agents, however, we fool ourselves into believing that complexities in policies are not the cause for our disagreement so much as is the moral degeneration of other-minded Americans. In a partisan bubble, it can be intellectually simpler to pretend that every issue has a clear solution and that every person with a different opinion embodies some evil archetype. In reality, however, politics are grey. Hopefully, liberal readers can name a Republican they respect and conservative readers can identify a progressive policy they support, because both parties are ultimately just two sides of the same coin. But for now, on a campus saturated with one type of socially acceptable ideology, I am hopelessly liberal: deeply progressive, but vehemently opposed to associating with a political party that, at least on campus, is characterized by blind faith in progressive visions and exaggerated attacks against conservative thinkers. Brendan McCartney is a Trinity senior. His column runs on alternate Thursdays.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015 | 15

undergraduate studies in various departments, and I came out feeling more sure than I felt previously but not as sure as I was expecting to feel. Why? Because I was expecting to come out with a clear-cut decision. I was expecting one of them to say something that would just make it all “click” and, in one miraculous moment, I would suddenly realize what I wanted to major in. I wanted someone to make the decision for me and tell me what I was going to study for the rest of my Duke career. Well, that didn’t happen. The second problem I faced was that I fell into the trap most Duke students fall into: inadvertently choosing to do way more than we can handle. I was content that I had finally made a decision: I was going to double major and get a certificate. But as I mapped out the classes I would have to take, while keeping in mind the study away programs I wanted to do, I realized I would hardly complete my requirements in time, let alone have time to explore courses outside of my majors. And it seemed like such a tragedy at the moment. I wouldn’t be able to do all that I wanted to do! But then I realized, I didn’t really want to do all of it anyway. Why did I need to take six courses for a certificate when I really was interested in only two of them? And why did I even need to do those study abroad programs if the classes they offered didn’t even excite me? Because, without realizing, I wanted to add yet another title to my college degree. Because I thought everyone does it—everyone who seems to be “accomplished” at

least. If everyone you meet is doing at least two things and you’re doing just one, you will feel like you’re slacking and not making the best of the opportunities in front of you. But the problem is that’s what most people are thinking. We are all in such a rush to match the “effortless perfection” of our peers that we, unwittingly, empower the myth and disempower ourselves. It’s a vicious cycle that leaves everyone feeling miserable. Both my fear of making the wrong decision and the anxiety stemming from not doing enough came from a fear of missing out. Popular culture idealizes college life as the epitome of fun,

discovery and success. How can one not feel the pressure to perfect it then? So what should you take away from all of this? It’s okay to be unsure; most of us are. Its hard not to be when so many exciting options are thrown your way, and you want to explore all of them. The good news is that you can. You can have one major and a lot of free room to do whatever else you like with the rest of your courses. Or you can take two majors and a certificate if every class you want to take falls neatly into those three. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it doesn’t for me. It’s also okay to take a step back and breathe. College may be presented in a certain way in popular culture, but it doesn’t have to be that for you. It can be whatever you need it to be. Maybe college can also be about being comfortable in your own skin, about self-care and about doing less. Maybe it doesn’t have to be so fast paced. Perhaps a major is just one of those things that you should not think so much about because it really isn’t that important. Especially since you can change it, multiple times, throughout your college career. My advice: make a list of all the courses you want to take, see what department(s) they fall in and you have yourself a major! One of my professors told me I needed to embrace chaos and not to try to order everything. And I think he’s right. I guess it’s part of that thing called growing up. To say I am still struggling with it would be an understatement. Alena Sadiq is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs on alternate Thursdays.

Letter to the Editor As a Miami football fan since childhood, Duke graduate and sports editor of The Chronicle during Coach Cut’s second season in Durham, I have a unique perspective on every game involving the ‘Canes and Blue Devils. I would urge everyone furious with Saturday’s result to do one thing: realize that before Duke got cheated, Miami did as well. Lost in the chaos and uproar about whether Mark Walton’s knee was down (it was) is the fact that Duke QB Thomas Sirk almost definitely did not score on the previous play and that Miami was called for multiple very doubtful pass interference calls on that same drive. The Hurricanes were called for the most penalties in the history of the school and the ACC, and the second most ever, a ridiculous 23. If anyone thinks the refs got all those right, I have some beachfront

property in Durham I’d like to sell you. More importantly, once his rage dies down, I have no doubt Coach Cut will look back and tell his team that, if you lose a game in which the other team is penalized 23 times, you only have yourself to blame. The ACC rightfully suspended the referees who called the Duke-Miami game; those guys were awful and deserve their punishment. But both teams got screwed as a result, not just one, and Duke would never have even been in a position to get back in the game if the team hadn’t benefitted from a number of bad calls. That’s why I think it’s disingenuous for Blue Devil fans to complain about the one big one that went against them. Gabe Starosta Trinity ‘10


16 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015

www.dukechronicle.com

The Chronicle

D UKE PER FO R MAN C ES

2 015 / 20 1 6 S E A S O N | M U S I C , T H E AT E R , D A N C E & M O R E .

I N D U R H A M , AT D U K E , A R T M A D E B O L D LY.

| DUKE PERFORMANCES COMMISSION & WORLD PREMIERE |

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER & WILLIAM GEDNEY HEART LIKE A LEVEE F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 3 & S AT U R D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 4 R E Y N O L D S I N D U S T R I E S T H E AT E R GET TICKETS: 919-684-4444 • DUKEPERFORMANCES.ORG $10 DUKE STUD ENT TI C K E T S TO ALL 2015/16 D U K E P ER F O R M A N C ES S HO W S G E T T I C K E T S : W W W. D U K E P E R F O R M A N C E S .O R G


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
November 5, 2015 by Duke Chronicle - Issuu