And Winter Came

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An dWi n t e rCa me

I ns i de :Ra ppi ng ,Re a di ng ,Ra c i ng

12.05.13 VOL. XLV, NO. 13

12.05.13

And Winter Came

The Indy is counting the days until Winter Break.

Cover Design by ANNA PAPP

Inside: Rapping, Reading, Racing

CONTENTS FORUM 3 Striving for Unity 4 Hope and Change? Or Nope and Pain?

NEWS 5 In Memoriam of Dr. Ghaffari ARTS 6 Paperback Reader 6 Rapping Thy Testament 7 From Model Ts to SUVs 8 On the Record, Off the Stage 9 Survival of the Finest SPORTS 10 Icing the Competition 11 Dashing Through the Snow

As Harvard College's weekly undergraduate newsmagazine, the Harvard Independent provides in-depth, critical coverage of issues and events of interest to the Harvard College community.

The Independent has no political affiliation, instead offering diverse commentary on news, arts, sports, and student life.

For publication information and general inquiries, contact President Albert Murzakhanov (president@harvardindependent. com). Letters to the Editor and comments regarding the content of the publication should be addressed to Editor-in-Chief Sean Frazzette (editorinchief@harvardindependent.com).

For email subscriptions please email president@ harvardindependent.com.

The Harvard Independent is published weekly during the academic year, except during vacations, by The Harvard Independent, Inc., Student Organization Center at Hilles, Box 201, 59 Shepard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Copyright Š 2013 by The Harvard Independent. All rights reserved.

President Albert Murzakhanov '16 Editor-in-Chief Sean Frazzette '16 Director of Production Anna Papp '16 News Editor Forum Editor Arts Editor Sports Editor Associate Forum Editor Associate Arts Editor Associate Design Editor

Milly Wang '16 Caroline Gentile '17 Sarah Rosenthal '15 Shaquilla Harrigan '16 Aditya Agrawal '17 Eldo Kim '16 Travis Hallett '14

Cartoonist John McCallum '16 Illustrator Eloise Lynton '17 Business Managers Frank Tambero '16 Manik Bhatia '16 Columnists Aditya Agrawal '17 Michael Feehly '14 Jackie Leong '16 Andrew Lin '17 Madi Taylor '16 Shreya Vardhan '17 Senior Staff Writers Christine Wolfe '14 Angela Song '14 Sayantan Deb '14 Michael Altman '14 Meghan Brooks '14 Whitney Lee '14 Staff Writers Manik Bhatia '16 Xanni Brown '14 Terilyn Chen '16 Lauren Covalucci '14 Clare Duncan '14 Caroline Gentile '17 Gary Gerbrandt '14 Travis Hallett '14 Shaquilla Harrigan '16 Yuqi Hou '15 Cindy Hsu '14 Theodora Kay '14 Eldo Kim '16 Chloe Li '16 Dominique Luongo '17 Orlea Miller '16 Albert Murzhakanov '16

Forum

indy

Out in the Open Allowing allyship for all.

BY CHRISTINE WOLFE

I

’m afraid to write an article criticizing the LGBTQ community. I am afraid not only because I might use some terminology that is outdated or dehumanizing. I am afraid not only because of the vitriol with which I have seen members of the LGBTQ community respond to such misspeaks. I am afraid not only because I am straight and my gender aligns normatively with my sex, placing me distinctly outside the Harvard LGBTQ community. I am mostly afraid because I care deeply that the LGBTQ community succeeds in its roles as supporter and educator on Harvard’s campus, and I hope they will take my suggestions as sincere and in line with their philosophy. As someone with gay parents, I have spent my life experiencing shocking disrespect and unexpected acceptance. I thought that would change when I arrived at Harvard, but it didn’t. Being a part of this place has the potential to change powerful minds.

Why would we reject an opportunity to educate the (purported) future leaders of the world?

I am impressed and grateful for the activism exhibited on campus. But the efforts to engage fruitful dialogues that educate as well as support seem to have run into some serious language barriers. Some subsets of the LGBTQ presence on campus have shut themselves off: either you know the lingo or you don’t. If you don’t, you’re at best not suited for these discussions and at worst queerphobic. This exclusion of people who can’t talk-thetalk — which includes not only straight people, but also some members of the LGBTQ community — isn’t right. It isn’t going to get us anywhere.

I participated in an “Allyship Training” earlier this year as part of a longer advising training. I thought I would be familiar with most of the basics.

I’ve spent my life on the periphery of the LGBTQ community, watching every documentary about coming out, the AIDS epidemic, and Harvey Milk that exists. I am one of only a handful of people I know who have been invested in the LGBTQ community their entire lives. So when it came time to be “trained” in a role that I have spent twenty years occupying, I thought I had it made. But all the training consisted of was terminology: defining preferred gender pronouns, allyship, strongspace, and other academically construed terms.

I don’t mean to undermine the importance of these things. But I was angry that a training that should have focused on the big picture emphasized The Harvard Independent • 12.05.13

minutiae. For one, there was no mention of serious mental and physical dangers LGBTQ people face every day around the world. There was no mention that people from this country and others execute violence against gay people without legal repercussion (or even with legal support). There was no mention of the high rate of suicide among gay youth, the very people who make up a large portion of our campus community. How is everyone supposed to be an ally if they don’t even know why allies are needed?

I wish I could say Harvard was an allaccepting place. However, in nearly four years here, I have often witnessed narrow-mindedness I never imagined would be present at one of the most educated places in the world. It has come from every possible group, in every form, but because I am most attune to gay slurs, they’re what I’ve noticed most. Good friends of mine in my freshman entryway were outspokenly disgusted when I was watching Brokeback Mountain. I considered not telling some friends about my family because of the frequency with which they used derogatory language. And if some members of The Ichthus purport such extreme views about Judaism, imagine what they think of The Dreaded Homosexual! Most people I’ve met here grew up being taught homosexuality is wrong, or at least were never educated against that doctrine. But that shouldn’t mean people can’t change once they get here: after all, we are here to learn.

The most effective way I’ve found to get people to stop using slurs is to tell them about my family. It’s the same strategy Harvey Milk encouraged when California was voting on the Briggs Initiative, a proposition to ban gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools, in 1978.

Once straight voters realized that gay people were among their colleagues, friends, and families, it was easier for them to identify with the gay community’s position. A gay person could come from any family, any place, and any time. This makes individuals powerful spokespeople when it comes to education. All people are more likely to listen to those who we know and respect, and, importantly, we are more likely to listen to those who believe we have the capability to listen.

For example, if we assume all straight men are lumbering masses of homophobic rage, we won’t ever have the chance to find the reasonable

ones. And they’ll never have the chance to prove themselves. But if the LGBTQ community and their allies are confident in our identities and willing to explain identity categories other people might not know exist, we might make some progress in mutual respect. It’s not an individual’s fault if he or she has grown up without exposure to the LGBTQ community and has no context for its various subsets. These people are at fault if they don’t want to learn or if they start out aiming to disrespect. But I think that, at least at Harvard, the LGBTQ community and its allies could try harder to be inclusive of groups we might be predisposed to reject. In real life, this can be a dangerous decision. But we’re at Harvard, where the worst thing that could happen is a scathing write-up. We’re trying to make a community out of disparate groups: this is no small task. So while we should not tolerate anything but a will to engage, we should treat that will with respect and our full attention.

Real people in real life are disappointing.

Prejudices are hard to shed. On a societal level, only determined hard work will accomplish any reasonable level of equality. But we’re human, too, and much of what means the most to us are small group and individual interactions. In a low risk setting with one very important part of our identity in common, it seems worth trying to be inclusive — and maybe even give people the benefit of the doubt. A few changed minds can set off a chain reaction. Because you know what? Bros are people, too.

Christine Wolfe ’14 (crwolfe@college) would love to teach a WGS seminar on bros and their peoplehood.

harvardindependent.com

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Forum

POINT/COUNTERPOINT NEW YEAR, NEW YOU. It’s almost time to resolve!

NEW YEARS: RESOLVED? Down with the lies we tell ourselves.

BY WHITNEY GAO

BY CAROLINE GENTILE

With aching amounts of deliciously slow-roasted turkey even more slowly being digested in this growing gut of mine, my mind begins to turn to the New Year’s Resolution I make every year around this time.

“Around this time? It’s barely acceptable to start playing Christmas music and you’re already making New Year’s Resolutions?” I hear you disparagingly ask.

Yes, it’s true. New Year’s looms greater for me than most other holidays.

It’s a gigantic road marker on my mental calendar, all lit up with neon blinking lights and bright graphic displays. It’s a chance to start again, to start new. It’s a new year, a new slate. Some might say it marks another year passed during which I failed to keep those resolutions. Eh, mostly true. But it would do many students well, especially at Harvard, to focus on what lies on the coming pages rather than stewing on the content of the past few.

Every year I make the resolution to be healthier, to shed that weight gained last year, and to start exercising. And every year, it starts out okay!

With motivations running high and a lack of distracting schoolwork to get in the way, it’s easy to get in the zone. And for the time I’m at home for the winter holiday, I more or less keep to my newly adopted regimen.

The real trouble usually starts when I come back to school. School — where there’s always more distraction and more reasons to stray from my path. There’s always a paper I should be writing instead of working out.

There’s always too little time for a real dinner, so I grab a burger from the grill instead. There’s always a meeting to rush to, a comp session to attend, a latenight section for which I need to finish the reading. There’s always an excuse.

So, at this point, if I know I’m going to fail, why do I even delude myself into thinking that this year will be different?

Because, for me, the want to change is reason enough. The hope to improve myself in the coming year is significant enough to show me, and everyone around me, that my resolution is backed with only good intentions.

Though I might not fulfill all of the high expectations I have for my ideal self at the end of the year, I’m glad to still have an idea of the direction I want to be headed. If I tell myself that I shouldn’t even bother, I’ve already lost.

So this year, I’ll make the exact same resolution I make every year. I’m going to strive to be a healthier me — amongst other more trivial things. And realistically, I probably will fall off the road at some point during the year. But every step into my journey counts for something. If I keep taking those steps, no matter how small, I’ll keep progressing. And at the end of the day, I’ll be further away from where I started than the day before. And it all begins on January 1st.

Well, I’ll be on vacation for New Year’s. So I’ll start when I get back…

As the New Year approaches, many begin to reflect on the past 12 months.

Are we happy with who we are? What changes could we make to become better people? The answers to these questions usually turn into New Years resolutions. We say we will be nicer, that we will go to the gym everyday, that we will never eat dessert again, that we will work ahead more often. And for perhaps the first week of so of the New Year, we put forth our best efforts to fulfill these resolutions. Then what?

The resolutions are not, well, resolved. By the end of the year, we still can’t say no to cake and cookies and candy, the gym still intimidates the crap out of us, and our pile of unfinished work just keeps on growing. In fact, a lot of people can’t even remember their previous New Years resolution, and if they do, they come to the realization that they failed miserably in fulfilling it.

And yet, we continue to make New Year’s resolutions year after year.

So this year, I urge you to not make one. Clearly, the fact that it is January 1st is not enough to convince us to make lasting changes in our lives. We need motivation — and lots of it — to alter our habits (especially those that involve eating dessert). I think I can speak for all of us in saying that just because it’s a certain day is not reason enough to quit eating cake. If we know a change is truly necessary, then we should be able to start anew on any day of the year. I think a lot of people make resolutions on New Years because they know that they need to alter their lifestyle (obviously eating dessert three times a day is not healthy), but the only reason they attempt to make changes is because it is conveniently a new year. Yet once the year is no longer new, the motivation to sustain those changes fades with the year’s novelty.

Another trend I’ve noticed about New Years resolutions is that they require giving something up cold turkey, or doing something everyday. In other words, they are overwhelmingly unrealistic. Someone who hasn’t been to the gym for 6 months will not take well to going every day once 2014 hits, and someone who is used to eating dessert after dinner will find it extremely difficult to pass it up every single night. As a result, they will become discouraged, and quit after just a few attempts. The concept of easing into things is generally ignored when people make New Years resolutions because there is an expectation that we can change just as easily as the year can.

But it’s not that simple. Breaking old habits and creating new ones requires patience and the knowledge that change will not happen overnight, when the ball drops in Times Square. It requires motivation and commitment that won’t dwindle as the New Year plainly becomes the Year. It’s okay to make a resolution, but do it because you know it’s for the best — even if it’s April 27th.

Whitney Gao ’16 (whitneygao@college) enjoyed the turkey while it lasted.

Caroline Gentile ’17 (cgentile@college) made a resolution to not have a New Years resolution three weeks ago.

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harvardindependent.com

12.05.13 • The Harvard Independent

News

indy

A Remembrance A Harvard legend passes away.

By MILLY WANG

O

n November 24th 2013, the Harvard and is now known as the University of Tehran. He Independent received an email from then went on to France to study Mathematics and Vida Ghaffari, the daughter of scientist Physics at Nancy University and obtained postAbolghassem Ghaffari, who with much sadness, graduate diplomas in Physics, Astronomy, and informed us that her father had recently passed Higher Analysis before obtaining his doctorate for away on Tuesday, November 5th at 10:55pm in basic research on the Mathematical Study of BrownLos Angeles. He was 106 years old. The Harvard ian Motion with “mention tres honorable”, from Independent would like to take this opportunity to the University of Paris, commonly known as the remember his past accomplishments.

Sorbonne. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics on Over his lifetime, he has published more than the “Velocity-Correction Factors and the Hodograph 50 papers on Pure and Applied Mathematics in Method in Gas Dynamics” from King’s College of American, British, and French, and Persian peri- London University, a place where he also lectured odicals, and published a mathematical book titled as a Research Associate.

“The Hodograph Method in Gas Dynamics” (1950) It is here that his long and fortuitous academic along with two textbooks. In addition to being a journey led him to Harvard where he continued his past member of the Iranian National Commission research. Soon after, he went to Princeton Univerof UNESCO, he is also a Fellow of the New York sity as a Research Associate in Mathematics. While Academy of Sciences, the Washington Academy of there, he worked with Albert Einstein on the Unified Sciences, and the American Association for the Ad- Field Theory of Gravitation and Electromagnetism vancement of Sciences and a member of the London at the Institute for Advanced Study. J. Robert OpMathematical Society, the American Mathematical penheimer, well known as the man who headed Society, The Mathematical Association of America, the U.S. atomic bomb program during World War and the American Astronomical Society.

II, was director of the Institute at the time and the He was awarded the U.S. Special Apollo Achieve- one who interviewed and hired Ghaffari. They later ment award (1969) at a White House ceremony became friends. with President Nixon, the Imperial Orders of the Shortly after, Ghaffari moved permanently to the late Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi in Iran, and U.S. to take up a position as a senior mathematician received the Distinguished Scholar award from the at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards where Association of Professors and Scholars of Iranian part of his worked involved calculating the motion Heritage (APSIH) at UCLA. of artificial satellites.

Ghaffari first came to Harvard University in He later joined the manned space program in 1950 as a Fulbright Scholar, when he was invited 1964 as an aerospace scientist and studied the to give lectures on Differential Equations as well as mathematical aspects of different optimization techto continue his research on Gas Dynamics. He was niques involved in the Earth-Moon trajectory probhonored here at school for his lifetime of achieve- lems, and different analytical methods for multiple ments just this past October and also appointed as midcourse maneuvers in interplanetary guidance at a Hall of Fame inductee by SINA (Spirit of Noted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Achievers).

(NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center. For this, he “He really enjoyed teaching at Harvard and be- is known as the man who “who calculated how to ing a researcher there. He also loved Cambridge,” fire the Apollo moon missions so they would go into his daughter said. orbit around the moon and not fly off into space”.

Ghaffari was educated at the Darolfonoun School He also investigated the effects of solar radiation in Tehran, the first modern university in Iran.Photo It bypressure on the Radio Astronomy Explorer Satellite Madeline McMahon has since developed and expanded over the years Booms and the effects of General Relativity on the The Harvard Independent • 12.05.13

orbits of Artificial Earth Satellites.

He is survived by his wife, Mitra, and his two daughters, Ida and Vida and interred at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park in Burbank, California. In lieu of flowers, his one wish was to have a scholarship in his name for young Iranians studying Mathematics or Science.

Milly Wang ‘16 (keqimillywang@college) and the Harvard community mourn the loss of a great man.

Photographs by Vida Ghaffari harvardindependent.com

5

Rock, Paper, Pixels

What’s the best vehicle for a text?

“Something’s The implications About to of the new Happen/ divinity of Kanye and But I Don’t Eminem.

Know What”

By THEODORA KAY

T

he digital era has brought forth a ceaseless war between paper and pixels amongst readers and writers alike. Where people usually debate about coffee or tea, cream or sugar, to be or not to be, we ponder the benefits the scent of printed paper has in a world overrun with digital devices. Has reading paper books become an obsolete art?

The majority of us prefer digitized versions of readings because they are accessible, cheaper to buy, and good for the environment. We spend less money on paperbacks and hard covers and keep our shelves free of dust and cobwebs that collect over time on books we could bring ourselves to read only once. E-versions of works have shrunk information, readings, texts, and homework assignments into the palms of our hands, and they have literally lightened the weight on our backs. Certainly, e-books and e-versions of readings have lessened our burdens both physically and mentally. Digital readings are a faster, simpler and more accessible version of reading — they don’t alter what we learn nor the language we learn it in, but rather provide us with another option.

However, as easy as it may be to access the next chapter of a textbook from an iPhone, many students feel disconnected with digital works. Though we may browse the readings and understand the topics discussed, we still feel a lack of relation with the assigned work.

Internet content’s fast-paced and shortened tone is intended to get the most information out to us so we don’t ponder on it for too long. As students, we have developed this incessant habit of speeding through things due to deadlines, so we can always appreciate instant access on the latest. That being the case, online articles written in such simplified wording makes it easier for us to gather quick research and later judge whether what we read is fact or farce. Our reading habits have developed like clockwork: read, understand, and respond. When we’re given digital texts for classes, we can’t help but treat the readings in the same way we treat Internet articles, because we read those on a daily basis and we have already tuned our bodies to respond to digital works in this manner. Due to our “need for speed,” and the accessibility of content online, we no longer want to experience the challenge of looking for what we need to read, but rather expect it to be there waiting for us.

However, class readings — despite the abundant or poor amounts we are given to complete in a week — provide deeper insight on a subject, one that we as students can pick up if we read slowly or repeatedly. For most students, 6 harvardindependent.com

the time spent reading online assignments takes as long, if not longer, than reading information from a printed book. This is not only due to the fact that we treat all digital works similarly, but also because we lack a sense of touch and connection with the author of the work that we only feel when we hold the reading in a tangible form between our fingers. Some students find it easier to absorb information if they print out the works rather than read them from the pixels of a screen; they mark and write in the margins and eventually have a closer understanding of the topic. They can go back and forth between pages to make connections or clarify a point they didn’t get the first time, whereas on a digital version, you need to skim every page you already read to find what you’re looking for, which is ultimately slower than finding what you want on paper.

Beyond this, once our focus shifts to our screens, we overlook our lack of touch with writers that comes through interaction with the object of a book. The scent of printed paper provides a more corporeal manner of understanding the devotion that writers put into what they write, no matter what the subject or genre. You can cuddle with a book, carry it alongside you as a companion on a walk, refer to it to clear your mind, or use it to give you a purpose for the day — you simply can’t have that snug and occupied comfort with a digitized work.

The essence of paper lacks the importance it had fifty years ago. The public appreciates paper books in the sense that they are aware of their existence, but that doesn’t mean they understand them or are devoted to them, especially when they can search and find what they want to read within seconds on their phone. E-versions of our readings are congruent with college life — they keep up with the pace of our hectic lives, or they make our lives hectic. Information is available for everyone to read from anywhere. Paper books means students have to go to the nearest library or bookstore and browse through shelves for an object that will add a pound or two (or ten) to their bags, but it would allow them a faster ‘hands-on’ method of learning what they want to know.

The content doesn’t change, just the texture that it’s presented in. And thus the war carries on…

Theodora Kay ‘14 (kay@fas) believes that knowledge has as much value as the people willing to absorb it, regardless of texture, format or topic.

By WILL HARRINGTON

I

don’t follow Eminem on Twitter, so it was a surprise to me when browsing YouTube I ran across the “Rap God” music video the day after it was released. It far outdid the videos of recent predecessors “Berzerk” and “Survival.” Those videos aren’t bad, they just don’t have the same artistic punch that “Rap God” does. They share the same high production values, but they do so without the meaningful intensity and focus on Eminem as Eminem. “Rap God” however gets to the heart of the show: in the video, he literally rises above his peers and walks on water.

But as Eminem says, this is just him, “beginning to feel like a rap god.”

While Eminem may be newly sanctified, Kanye West isn’t wasting time. “I Am a God” opens with guns blazing. There is no question what he is; he’s a god, and he’s ready to command his subjects to “hurry up” with his massages and ménages, and to get his Porsche out, because he has another falling phoenix to catch up with (see his 34 minute film Runaway). Only later does Yeezus admit that there are other members of the pantheon with him, God God, for starters.

While they may own different domains, there is something similar in their declarations of divinity. They’re both part of the old guard now. For better or worse, we’ll be hearing them on the radio when we’re forty. And alongside Kanye and Eminem, Dr. Dre might be the first rapper of his time to make it to 80.

While I don’t want to pretend to be deeply in touch with rap (I’m not), I do like to maintain an interest in what’s going on.

The question now is, what happens next? I think the answer lies some in the group Odd Future, and a little bit in rapper Action Bronson.

It would be too easy to say “Kanye and Eminem forever,” but it would be just as simplistic to say “old rappers never die, they just fade away.” The old guard as they are today are eternal, but the reason for their relevance will change with time. Before they reach the level of reflexive relevance — at which point they are famous for being famous — they must pass through a phase where they are relevant because others make them so. They launched their careers by making themselves relevant, Eminem clawing his way up and Kanye deciding he was going to matter, but others aren’t quite doing it that way today.

Both Odd Future and Action Bronson bring an interesting flavor. The former group, a rap collective of sorts, made their initial splash by having a homegrown collection of beats and twisting verses. Verbally critiquing the current generation of “40 year old rappers talking about Gucci” and visually mocking the scene with videos to accompany such songs as “Bitch Suck Dick.”

In his part, Action Bronson keeps it local and simple. He’s from Queens, New York, and he isn’t leaving. His hobbies and interests include money, cars, girls, but mostly cooking. Both Odd Future and Action Bronson depend on their content as unique from other rappers’ to gain them attention. Since they aren’t founding a new style, they need to draw either critically or thematically from the likes of Kanye and Eminem who, for now, are our gods.

Will Harrington ‘16 (Harrington@college) would like nothing more than to eat some of Action Bronson’s home cooking.

12.05.13 • The Harvard Independent

FUTURES PAST | ANDREW LIN

Predictive Petrolheads How the future of automobiles definitively lies in conceptions of the fast.

A

single car sweeps down the test track, its huge fuel-injected 5.3-liter 8-cylinder engine rattling one of the most technologically ambitious cars along a stretch of banked asphalt. Certainly the lines alone do enough to give off the impression of speed: huge, sweeping rectilinear lines converge at an almost wedge-like bonnet, with headlights framed in narrow nacelles and brash swage lines dancing down the length of this driving machine. Nor does the interior disappoint: sumptuous LED displays, computermanaged digital instrumentation, and touch-screen controls frame the rakish wood inserts and sweeping white dashboard. Here is the future of motoring, the electronically-controlled and ultra-high-tech car for the ages, in which luxury and motoring speed effortlessly blend into one.

Don’t break out those wallets just yet however, for this is no glitzy late-model concept car — not from any time within the past twenty years at least. Rather, this is the Aston Martin Lagonda, designed back in 1976 and sold for a dizzying 28 years until 1994, when just 94 were registered in the United Kingdom. Though such low numbers were and are the norm for highpriced supercars, the sparse sales numbers for the Lagonda had less to do with a limited production run or ultra-high price so much as the blatantly low quality of the car itself. For some 50,000 pounds in 1980 — close to 300,000 US dollars today – the prospective owner received hopelessly-faulty wiring, constantlymalfunctioning instrumentation, and an impressive MPG of 9 (on a good day).

Though a 1970s failure of British engineering may seem far removed from the automotive reality of today’s world and non-automotive reality of Harvard students, the Aston Martin Lagonda nevertheless poses some interesting questions with regards to the nature of design and technological ambition. William Towns, the designer of this catastrophe-on-wheels, sought through the Lagonda to design the car as envisioned by science fiction, a fact mercilessly pilloried by car reviewers and motoring-show programs alike. Despite the Lagonda and numerous other failed concept cars, Aston Martin and scores of other car manufacturers have nonetheless sought throughout the century or so of automotive progress to build the transportation mode of the future, be it a car or something far more extreme. This, as ever, then raises the omnipresent question in the world of individualized transport: what was — and is — the future of transportation for the individual at large?

In the beginning of the industrial era, when transportation by horse and buggy was still all the rage and trains themselves were travelling demigods (in the immortal words of Thoreau), the very idea of a self-propelled carriage for the individual was but a fancy single-carriage train. The conception of transportation for the individual is somewhat older than that, with oriental tales telling of Jesuits in 1672 who, on command of the Chinese Emperor, built a 65-centimeter steam-powered self-propelled toy The Harvard Independent • 12.05.13

vehicle. Fuelling such machines proved problematic, however; steam power was woefully inefficient, and only with the invention of the internal combustion engine some two hundred years later in 1882 was the automobile as we know it a feasible transportation construct.

Even before the successful application of the internal combustion engine to individualized transport, visionaries working through cultural media — science fiction, that is — had already managed to craft astonishing predictions of a car-based future.

Some twenty years prior to the invention of internal combustion, and well before any conception of mass-marketed individualized transport, Jules Verne predicted in astonishing Paris in the Twentieth Century a future (the 1960s, at least) marked by omnipresent gas-powered automobiles fuelling technology-andconsumer-obsessed individuals from glass skyscrapers to the suburbs. With the rapid evolution of the automobile towards this ideal in the 1910s and 1920s, science fiction was not to be out done: in his very first book, the aptly-titled 1901 Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought, H.G. Wells himself predicted a year 2000 redolent with cars and trains controlled by individuals liberated from the shackles of distance and time.

These initial predictions on the part of the founding fathers of science fiction were but timorous whimpers compared to the sheer wave of both sci-fi and real-world proselytizing on behalf of the car in the 1950s. In the world of 1950s America, all the stars had aligned properly: a rabidly-hungry consumer base, near-unlimited supplies of cheap energy, and extensive government subsidies all combined to create the perfect storm. While European carmakers struggled to stand up from the rubble and chaos of the two World Wars, the American industrial machine turned out fin-bedecked gas-guzzling cars perfect for an era of interstate highways, military-industrial complexes, and sprawling suburbs. The great giants of the American car landscape, once-proud and now-struggling (or defunct) names such as Ford, GM, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Cadillac, and oh-so-many others, were effortlessly producing cars that genuinely sought to be futuristic — with lessthan-stellar results.

Cars of the 1950s arouse a wide variety of emotions in the cultural consciousness of America today, harkening back to a freer, easier era in which cars — American-made cars, no less — bestrode a rapidly growing nation whose power wasn’t on the wane. The cars themselves, however, were nothing less than engineering disasters; though glitzy fins, chrome detailing, and garish grilles all paraded the effortless futurism of the Atomic and Space ages, they also concealed what truly were just flimsy gas-guzzling Lagondas priced for the common man. But Americans and their culture were hopelessly optimistic about these new cars of the future, and indeed science fiction then began leaping forward, projecting Jetson-style

flying cars that could drive themselves while serving meals and entertaining perfect nuclear families of 2.3 kids each. Such an ideal was perpetuated by the corporations themselves as well: the second-most popular exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City featured Ford Motor Company front and center, presenting visions of the past and future from the comfort of Ford-branded convertibles.

By the 1970s, however, oil crises, Ford Pinto scandals, and the rise of straight-laced high-quality European and Japanese imports doomed the big and brash American car to the annals of history. American car design took a blow as well: the battered old straight-line planes of American rust buckets such as the Lincoln Town Car (and for that matter the British Lagonda) gave way to smooth, reliable, and terrifically bland blobs – the true wave of the future insofar as the evolution of the car as a tool was concerned. The few truly future-oriented cars of the late 20th century were novelty one-offs such as the immortal DeLorean, cars designed for rapid consumption in a consumerist world.

With environmentalists and public transportation and bicycles and economic crises as the new vogue, the car has entered the 21st century. It is a battered relic of the American Empire losing its relevance.

Throughout the persistent progression of history (and regression of the automobile), Harvard students (along with undergraduates at the 3,000 or so fine institutions dotted across the country) ostensibly remain far removed from the actual conception of the automobile as a feasible means of collegiate transport.

Despite this, even car-deprived undergraduates here understand the institution of the automobile, the ideal of unhindered passage independent of constraints such as parents and tired legs. Harvard has at least taken quite the role in car design and management in the past: Ford’s own Robert McNamara (HBS ’39) helped usher in modern management practices that made the Ford Motor Company into the motoring juggernaut that helped definitively cement the place of the car in suburbia and America at large. It does go without saying that the car has caused much damage, what with its wanton desecration of urban centers and Earthkilling exhausts. But even as its fall from preeminence is trumpeted across magazines and blogs, the automobile nonetheless remains a viable symbol of free-wheeling independence, be it from parents or from the troubles of the collected world — and it shall eventually be our responsibility, as the leaders and innovators of the future, to nurse the automobile away from the legacy of the Lagonda and into a brighter and perhaps more sustainable future.

Andrew Lin ’17 (andrewlin@college.harvard.edu) cannot actually drive yet, although he does spend far too many of his waking hours watching Top Gear and sketching cars during lectures.

harvardindependent.com

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MADISON TAYLOR | BEHIND THE SCENES

Meet the presidents A

s the seasons change and the semester draws to a close, another important annual shift takes place at Harvard. A few weeks ago, the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) held elections for its new board that will govern and advise student theater for the next year. As the umbrella organization for Harvard theater, HRDC is responsible for reading and evaluating applications for performance spaces, running Common Casting, keeping track of finances for the season’s shows, and serving as a liaison between the HRDC community and both the American Repertory Theater and the Office for the Arts, among other important tasks. I talked with outgoing HRDC president Maddy Bersin ’14 and incoming president Ally Kiley ’15 about the current state and future of Harvard student theater, from highlights of this semester to changes we may see in coming semesters.

Madison Taylor: Looking back on this past semester/season, what are some highlights in your minds?

Ally Kiley: Though there have been so many exciting plays, musicals, and dance shows in the last year, two that really stick out in my mind are Sea Change and Yellow Moon. Sea Change was a studentwritten play that went up on the Mainstage. It achieved impressive design feats and was “grand” in every sense of the word. With its incredible script, impressive set, puppets, aerial silks, etc., it was a testament to the collaborative nature of theater — something I think is especially important on the Mainstage. Yellow Moon was a one-weekend show in the Ex with very few technical components. With its very small cast and staff it proved that a great show doesn’t necessarily need a big set or much money.

Maddy Bersin: The highlight of this semester was, for me, getting to welcome freshmen to the HRDC community. One of the things I loved about being President was getting to be one of the first faces that new students interested in theater saw and met. I always made time at the beginnings of fall semesters to have coffee with people, answer their questions, share my experiences, and help them figure out where they fit into our large and artistically diverse community. It allowed me to reflect on my time in and work on campus theater, and to give back by getting new theater kids amped for rewarding experiences to come.

MT: What initiatives have the HRDC board implemented during your last term that you are especially proud of?

AK: As the outgoing Tech Liaison, I was proud to have updated the tech requirement system at the Loeb [Theater]. Now, every Loeb actor is required to serve as a staff member of another Loeb show. This marks a change from the previous system in which actors were required to help with ten hours of labor on another show.

It’s so easy to get caught up in an individual show, but I think it’s important to remember that all the shows are part of one season and create one community. […] By facilitating overlap in casts and staffs (through the tech reqs), I think the board is making steps to build that sense of community, in addition to teaching actors technical and administrative skills.

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MB: I’m really proud of our relationship with the A.R.T. I think that we’re in a great place as far as communication, camaraderie, and respect for each other’s work. […] I’m proud of our board for increasing the HRDC community’s interactions with the A.R.T. (summer/J-Term internships and faculty advisors on Loeb shows) and am excited that the 2014 board plans to further institutionalize and develop these relationships.

I’m also really excited to see the future of the tech purchases initiative begun by my 2013 board, which has allowed the HRDC to build up our stock of tech items and provide shows with equipment to make their productions more technically complex without breaking their limited Ex or Mainstage budgets.

MT: Maddy, looking back on your time as president, how would you sum up the experience? What will you miss the most?

MB: I gained such an appreciation for the unbelievable drive, energy, and talent of Harvard theater makers by being president of the HRDC. It was a true honor to support the work of my peers in creating beautiful theater and overseeing the institution that made their lives (somewhat) easier as they took on the challenges of bringing shows to life. […] The thing I’ll miss the most, I think, is the privilege of helping to choose seasons for the Loeb Experimental Theater and the Loeb Mainstage. I’m proud of having helped to curate diverse seasons that appeal to wide swaths of student theater makers and having gotten to celebrate students with clear, exciting, and risky visions for the kind of theater this campus should see.

MT: Ally, what are you most looking forward to as HRDC president?

AK: I love talking to new members of the community. I’m really looking forward to speaking to underclassmen interested in getting involved with theater and offering guidance from someone who’s been there.

MT: Looking ahead to the end of this semester, what are you excited for about the last shows going up?

AK: The last weeks of the semester really encompass the diversity of this season. Between a devised piece, a big Sondheim show, an edgy rock musical, a classic Broadway staple, and an opera, I think we have our bases covered. I’m not working on any of these shows, so I’m just excited to enjoy from the audience.

MB: I’m really excited to see the Ex season finish strong with Alistair Debling’s [‘16] production of Flies.

There’s been increased interest in devised works over the past few semesters, and I’m excited to see Alistair take on the challenge. I’ve worked with him as an actor and he is endlessly inventive and ensemble-based in that capacity, so I’m excited to see him build a show from the ground up.

MT: What are your thoughts on the new board and the direction they’ll take HRDC? AK: I’m incredibly excited for this new board. The first order of business will be to continue the work of the previous board to build institutional memory and tighten up our internal procedures. Much of our work is cyclical - if we have a clear foundation on which to build (strong records, etc.) we’ll be able to devote more time

to new initiatives. I’d like to steal some ideas from the OFA to better equip our shows for their residencies. The beauty of the Loeb is the independence it affords to a show, but there’s no reason for every production to “reinvent the wheel.” I want us to […] hold an initial meeting with each show to explain the rules of the space, give them templates for budget, production calendar, etc. The opportunity to be independent will still be there, but expectations will be clearer, and confusion will be minimized.

MB: I’m really excited for the 2014 board and for incoming president Ally Kiley’s leadership. My focus as president was, in a lot of ways, outward-looking. In other words, I was interested in working on our relationship with the A.R.T. and other external entities. While this was important, I’m really glad that Ally’s focus is, in a lot of ways, inward. I am confident in her ability to realize her goals of changing HRDC infrastructure and bringing our disparate membership together for community-building.

These things are exactly what we need at this juncture.

MT: Finally, what changes do you think or hope we’ll see in HRDC/Harvard theater’s future?

AK: It seems like every semester, the application process begins earlier and earlier. Thinking too much about future shows prevents us from enjoying current ones. Though I want everyone to have the opportunity to direct or produce a show that they’re really passionate about, the volume of applicants really strains our technicians and resources. I hope that the upcoming board can find a way to restructure the application process to better suit the community […].

MB: I’m really excited to see what happens with the possible theater concentration. Though, of course, I’m nervous about what it’ll mean for student theater, I think formal training and departmental support for productions could be incredibly fruitful and exciting. What we do is positively remarkable given that we do it all by ourselves, and while the fact that we are not often told “no” gives us an exciting creative freedom, a department that promotes creative risk could provide Harvard theater-makers with the skills, tools, and support to execute productions with even more brio than we currently can. Of course, the HRDC would have to adapt itself to function within and alongside a theater department, but I am so energized by the thought of what departmental encouragement would mean for the work that we do.

Based on what these presidents had to say, it’s clear there is much to look forward to in Harvard theater’s future as well as many accomplishments to look back on and appreciate. As we enter reading period, take an evening to go see one of the amazing shows finishing up this season and lose yourself in the magic of theater.

For now, I’ll bow out for the semester — thank you all for joining me in venturing behind-the-scenes.

Madison Taylor ’16 (madisontaylor@college. harvard.edu) can’t stop drinking Peppermint Mochas and humming carols in anticipation of Christmas and is excited for more theater next semester!

12.05.13 • The Harvard Independent

THROUGH AN INDIAN LENS | ADITYA AGRAWAL

Panem et Artem F

Who needs the Arts anyway? ...Or do we?

our months down, I still shudder every time an American pulls out the all-toobeaten card: How different is America from India? Harvard-tired as I often am, I deflect further probation with a superbly exuberant ‘It is just so different!’ with calculated crumbs of ‘culture shock’ and ‘extended adaptation’ dropped in for good measure. But human curiosity gets the better of even the best of us: following in rapid succession comes the elatedly chirped ‘Oh, how so?’ The yarn is let loose; as best as I try to keep my outpourings to what my Expos preceptor would call ‘short and sweet,’ I never really do succeed. The waxing is unabashedly eloquent with unhealthy doses of Americana–thrashing and tangential rants about missing going to school on elephants.

But in exploring the many shades of the cultural differences between the two shores, I have realized that every cloud does in fact have its silver lining. For all the perversions that it (to me) seems to represent, the American way of life has its trump cards. I will explore, for the purposes of this last column, one that I see as a major and, sadly, disintegrating weapon in the American panoply: the arts.

The arts came to occupy a prominent place in the cultural fabric weaving through the hearts and alleys of modern day America.

From being axles of community life in dusty Wyoming to being ultra-competitive glamour showcases in glitzy Manhattan, the arts have always been linked intrinsically with the American way of life. Artists — from professional musicians to touring ballerinas — have always received societal encouragement to self-actualize through active pursuits of their inclinations; an artist’s life was something that generation upon generation of Americans aspired to. This aspiration today stands at the mouth of the all-subsuming tunnel of annihilation. Funding for the arts has found itself drawing from an increasingly drying well in times of shriveling economic waistlines. This was a fact I encountered most compellingly a couple of weekends back while attending the opening night premiere of the Harvard Ballet Company’s production ‘Gatsby’. Following what was an exquisitely executed first-half (Gatsby being the first ballet show that I attended, I will desist from further exposition), two petite ladies from the troupe waltzed onto the stage, primarily to ask audience members The Harvard Independent • 12.05.13

to consider donating to the HBC to help the ballet entourage sustain future productions.

Harvard and private donors footed the show jointly. If a university with a not too meager treasury comprising some $32 billion cannot fund in entirety the limited number of student productions on campus, what hope could one really harbor for an entire society to contribute in the maintenance of its art forms?

If bad came to worse, I might be willing to consider the argument that the arts do not directly add to the productivity or total economic product in a society. This way of reasoning, however, sidesteps the larger role that the arts play in a societal context. The arts serve as a way of helping create a society conducive to creation, innovation, and synergy.

By conditioning entire peoples to look up to the citadels of creativity and innovation as having qualities worth emulating, the arts may potentially end up as the starting points for a still larger magnitude of economic activity.

There have been no official studies on this, but the conspicuous absence of entrepreneurial activity in India, as a proportion of the corresponding population, can potentially — among other factors — be traced back to the stance that India chooses to take on the arts.

The arts, as a viable profession and as a part of community life, are virtually non-existent.

Being considered as ‘soft’ career choices and not material enough — schools, colleges and parents treat the arts as a fancy-shmancy extracurricular.

There do exist a few battling professionals, who choose to hold on to their passions only to eke out enough for bread and breath. There are, of course, a few who manage to squeeze into the limelight thanks to a whimsical, sensationalist, and largely unconcerned media quarter. The ridiculously nonsensical contraptions spewed forth by the idiot box fill in the corresponding void in the community life; if there is one national obsession after religion that India can claim to have, it is its soap operas. Although that too might have to compete for second place with the national obsession for working in multinational corporations post-college. Indians, in a larger sense, are inured against taking risks; never having been exposed to, much less partaking in, the risk of creation and discovery that professional, funded arts entail, the populace

as a matter of principle undermine the value of enterprise, creativity and innovation. I know I stand on thin, undocumented ice when I make this statement, but I believe strongly that the US’s trailblazing panache in industrial innovation and entrepreneurship is, on some level, correlated with the fact that countless American generations have grown up exposed to and encouraged to undertake the swashbuckling journey that the professional arts signify.

Even the primary contention of the arts not adding to the nation’s productivity is one whose logic is — by certain segments of the economy — being refuted, and for good reason. Venture capitalists increasingly view the arts as squarely the same thing as smallscale business ventures that do yield actual returns. Besides the entire monetary aspect, arts ventures may open up employment opportunities for the local population. In an era where strictly skill-based jobs have led to a veritable death race amongst too many people, arts-based organizations just might be the panacea. A minor investment in the arts — say, jointly by the community, by the government, or by private donors — in terms of setting up the training and/or the performance apparatus, will only go on to yield returns both capital and human for the community.

My final argument is one that appeals entirely to moral sentiments – if anything, the arts are a vessel that helps us realize and undertake the full spectrum of human experience. Being a member of society entails, among other things, understanding the human condition down the ages, and no form of human interaction can capture this as precisely and strikingly as the arts can. No book can recreate the terror of damnation as soul-wrenchingly as a live libretto of Don Giovanni or the riotous human spirit as vividly as a Stravinsky composition. Funding the arts becomes intransigently vital for the simple reason that sometimes to realize the external world that we seek to encage – we first might need to realize and engage our unexplored selves.

Aditya Agrawal ’17 (adityaagrawal@ college) refuses to eat code, and would much prefer a helping of Tchaikovsky. harvardindependent.com

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Sports

Destroying Dartmouth

Women’s Ice Hockey is a top ten team.

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By SHAQUILLA HARRIGAN

oming from the South, my only previous experiences with hockey had been from watching The Cutting Edge and seeing advertisements for the Gwinnett Gladiators, a random Georgia-based minor league hockey team.

Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly heartbroken when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg, and nor were my fellow Georgians. We were much more concerned with whether our Bulldogs could beat down on Tech once again. But I was super excited and slightly unsure of what to expect as I walked into the Bright-Landry Athletic Center to see the Harvard Women’s Ice Hockey Team take on Dartmouth’s Big Green in their 84th matchup.

The women’s hockey team did everything but disappoint me as I sat back and enjoyed my first ever hockey game. Out of all the sporting events that I have been to, I was completely enraptured by the quickness of the game. I was constantly engaged and barely had time to write out game notes and details. My finger was always at the ready on the camera button, attempting to capture the fast-paced action happening on the ice. In fact, I almost felt Canadian by the end of the game, only to remember that I would never want to be Canadian.

Despite a slightly rambunctious birthday party for an 11-year old girl during the game and Santa showing up to spread holiday cheer, nothing could distract me from taking in the sleek passes, artful aggression, and sheer spirit of the Harvard women’s hockey team.

Beating the Big Green in a 5-0 shutout takes the Crimson to a three game winning streak. Currently, the Crimson is ranked in first place in both the Ivy League and ECAC divisions. This game featured

Photos by Shaquilla Harrigan

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several standout players including captain Marissa Gedman ‘15, Dylanne Crugnale ‘16, Miye D’Oench ‘16, Sydney Daniels ‘17, and Mary Parker ‘16. All of these ladies scored with assists from each other and Gina McDonald ‘14, Briana Mastel ‘17, Hillary Crowe ‘16, and Samantha Reber ‘15. Crugnale and Parker both scored with amazing power plays.

Goalie Emerance Maschmeyer ‘16 made twenty-

five saves. This was her fourth shutout of the entire season, and her ninth shutout within her time playing for Harvard. Maschmeyer is currently fourth all time at Harvard for most number of shutouts, providing good hope that she will leave a lasting legacy over her next few years.

This game against the Big Green also served as the 100th game as a member of the Crimson for senior Elizabeth Parker. Only outplayed by fellow senior, Gina McDonald, who has appeared in 108 games, Parker is one of the most experienced player on the women’s hockey team.

Looking ahead, the women’s hockey team has a busy reading period. They probably have some papers and take-home finals. Maybe some of them even have a language class that still meets. But in terms of hockey, on December 6th at 7:00 pm, the team will take on New Hampshire. The next day, the team will play one of their biggest games, the “White the Bright” game against Boston College on December 7th at 4:00 pm.

The ladies make an early return to campus on January 2nd to play in the Citi Frozen Fenway 2014 game against Northeastern. This spectacle will be quite the treat, as the outdoor atmosphere of playing at Fenway Park is often described as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for hockey players, which I never quite understood, as the event is annual. Finally, on January 7th, the ladies are on the road to take on Connecticut.

Shaquilla Harrigan ‘16 (sharrigan01@college) has a new sport to look forward to in Sochi.

12.05.13 • The Harvard Independent

indy

Sports

Let it $now

By MEGHAN BROOKS

Photo by Angela Song

Winter is snow sports season, and oh how you’ll pay for it.

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his week’s temperate weather aside, December heralds in snow sports season in earnest. If you snowboard, tube, snowshoe, mush, bobsled, snowmobile, toboggan, luge, telemark, downhill ski, cross-country ski, heli-ski, skijore, or mostly just drink hot cocoa in the ski lodge, you’re probably pretty excited. And you should be! In this bleakest of seasons, when light disappears from the sky by 4:30 and the cold sinks into your marrow in November and won’t leave until May, the one good thing is snow. The bright, fluffy blanket that settles on the ground and the light flurries that sugar the air bring warmth to the season, paradoxically. When everything else is grim, it only makes sense to frolic in what isn’t. It is such logic that first inspired the Norwegian to strap birch planks to his feet and glide over the frozen fjords. It is such logic that spurs the New England skier to fork over hundreds of dollars to skid down a sheet of solid ice, and the snowboarder to slide down on his buttocks after him. It is such logic that backs the Winter Olympics.

From the joyful ease of sledding to the strenuous physical dedication required of slalom skiing or snowshoe touring, snow sports range in involvedness and appeal. More so, they range in cost. Here in New England, alpine (downhill) skiing in particular is a long and storied tradition. From the moment The Harvard Independent • 12.05.13

the first flakes hit the ground to the last sunny, melty April afternoon, sunburnt skiers (and snowboarders, much to skiers’ disdain) cut through New England’s generally terrible snow conditions for, on average, $75.92 per day. Despite the majesty of the sport — there is nothing quite like brushing through rare but perfect powder on a sunny day in Maine — it is a sport for a rather privileged class.

Beyond the price of the lift ticket itself, there is the gear, and beyond that, the accommodations, the travel, the requisite clam chowder and winter lager in the lodge; a single day on the slopes can cost upwards of $300. (Of course, if you live near the mountain and have a season pass and your own gear, the price per day declines rapidly for the avid skier). The other major snow sports require almost as much of an equipment investment, if not much more. Bobsledding, for example, requires a sled than can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and a snowmobile thousands.

The prohibitive pricing of most snow sports is truly shameful, not only because they are in themselves particularly enjoyable, but because they are excellent ambassadors for the winter weather that those from southern climes so detest. If only Harvard offered more opportunities for students to see snow as something more than a harbinger of freezing

temperatures and wet socks, we might be able to steal more double-admittances from Stanford.

Luckily, snow sports begin at a much more basic and entirely more frugal level than the Olympian.

Everyone who grew up where it snows has engaged in the snow sport that defines childhood: sledding.

Whether you had a wooden toboggan, a foam sled, or a plastic cafeteria tray, you spent wintry afternoons trudging up a hill in the sweat of the scarves and two sweaters your mom made you wear, all for the thrill of the quick, cold, and entirely exhilarating trip down the slope. We all remember the hills of our youths — the neighborhood hill was steep and rocky, and at the bottom was a chain link fence. We’d stack two or three to a sled, and at the approach an accomplice would peel back the bottom section of the fence and leaning back, we’d zip through the gap and into the woods beyond. In a later neighborhood the trick was to avoid the cast iron water fountain at foot of the hill, and in the neighborhood after that the challenge was the ascent. The sport here is as much in the soft danger of the speed as in the uphill trudge, and half its joy is that it’s free and unlimited. All Harvard needs is a decent hill.

Meghan Brooks ’14 (meghanbrooks@college) hasn’t been skiing since high school. harvardindependent.com

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c a pt ur e d& s ho t MI RANDAS HUGARS