The Justice, September 28, 2010

FEATURES PAGE 8

FORUM Pakistan crisis: become aware 10

EXPLORING WALTHAM

SPORTS Men’s soccer loses two games 16 THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY SINCE 1949

Justice www.theJusticeOnline.com

Volume LXIII, Number 6

Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

STUDENT UNION

PUBLIC SAFETY

Election results Student confesses to exposure are announced ■ A student was the

unknown man who had exposed himself twice in the Harlan Chapel.

■ The status of the Village

senator remains unclear after the write-in candidate was elected. By MARIELLE TEMKIN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Student Union elections that took place Sunday, Sept. 29 elected the Sustainability Fund representatives and the Senior Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. as well as two senators for the Class of 2014 and senators from all residence quads except Ridgewood Quad. All positions were filled, with the one exception of the senator for Ridgewood. Student Union Secretary Herbie Rosen ’12 said in an interview with the Justice that there will be no senator for Ridgewood because the candidate, Keith Barry ’12 received fewer votes (4) than there were abstentions (11). “It might say a candidate wins, but we have to make sure that they

receive more votes than abstains,” explained Rosen. Student Union President Daniel Acheampong ’11 said in an interview with the Justice that the Union was working on the issue in compliance with the Student Union Constitution and that he and Rosen were speaking with Chief Justice of the Student Judiciary Matt Kriegsman ’11. “By either tonight or tomorrow afternoon, we will have an idea of exactly what we’re going to do,” he said. Mitchell Schwartz and Dillon Harvey were elected to serve as senators for the Class of 2014. Schwartz wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that “[his] goals are to speak for the 2014 class, ALL of the 2014 class.” He wants to make sure that the meal plans are explained thoroughly to all first-years, and he would also like to get quarter machines put into all of the laundry rooms in the first-year quads. The senators for Massell and North Quads will be Rosby KomeMensah II ’14 and Shekeyla Nicole Caldwell ’14, respectively. The elec-

By ALANA ABRAMSON JUSTICE EDITOR

The man who exposed himself twice in the Harlan Chapel turned himself in to the Department of Public Safety, revealing that he was a student at the University, according to a Sept. 24 campuswide e-mail from the Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan. The e-mail explains, “The matter has now been referred to the Office of the Dean of Student Life for review. Once the investigation into

the incidents is concluded, the Office of Public Safety will take any steps that it considers necessary.” Callahan first reported in an Aug. 26 campuswide e-mail that a man in his 20s was seen exposing himself in the Harlan Chapel, and Callahan issued another warning in a Sept. 21 e-mail. Callahan deferred all questions to Senior Vice President for Communications Andrew Gully. In an interview with the Justice, Gully said that the student came to Public Safety on Friday to report that he was the individual who had been exposing himself. Gully declined to provide the name of the student, and when asked why the student chose to come forward at this point, he said he thought it would be “best [to] leave that alone for the moment.”

“I think it’s fair to categorize that he just felt it was fair to acknowledge that it was him; it was a personal decision on his part to explain what he was doing,” said Gully, further explaining that he had not spoken with the student and could not “categorize him” beyond that. Gully noted that in the aftermath of both incidents, one witness had reported seeing the man, but neither witness had identified the man as a student. Before the individual came forward, “it was unknown if it was a student or a member of the outside community or someone who just came in,” said Gully. Gully also said that Public Safety took precautions after each incident, explaining that the department notified the community, increased

See CHAPEL, 5 ☛

MEET THE DIRECTOR

See ELECTIONS, 5 ☛

ACADEMICS

COEX receives grant ■ The gift from the Slifka

Foundation will allow the master’s program to move to the Heller School. By HARRY SHIPPS JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

The University announced in a Sept. 22 article on BrandeisNOW that the Alan B. Slifka Foundation has given a gift of $4.25 million to the Slifka Master’s Program in Coexistence and Conflict, which will enable the program to expand its faculty and student body, move to the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and expand the resources available to students. According to an e-mail to the Justice from Prof. Mari Fitzduff, director of the Master’s Program in Coexistence and Conflict, the gift will help “expand the program by permitting us to hire more faculty, and a careers officer for our students. It will also enable us to increase the number of courses we

offer, and strengthen our alumni network.” The BrandeisNOW article explains that the Slifka Foundation is a “private grant-making institution” that provides support to help promote “strategies to encourage political and civil society leadership, public policy, and institutional and structural change to create, nurture and sustain shared societies, in which cultural, religious, ethnic and other forms of diversity are embraced.” A representative from the foundation could not be reached for comment by press time. As a result of the gift, the COEX program will move to the Heller School for Social Policy and Management from its current location at the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life, according to BrandeisNOW. In her e-mail Fitzduff wrote that this move to the Heller school was made because, for the most part, the students in the COEX program are demographically similar to those at the Heller School in terms of their

See COEX, 5 ☛

GENEVIEVE ARMSTRONG/the Justice

Film Question and Answer session Iron Cross director Joshua Newton sits with his son and the film’s lead actor, Alexander Newton, and Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIST) during the question-and-answer session that took place in Wasserman Cinematheque last Tuesday. See Arts, p. 19.

Musical series

On a victorious roll

New Sorority

■ The Music department launched its Open Mic series.

■ The women’s soccer team defeated Simmons College and Gordon College last week.

■ Students are spearheading an effort to launch a third sorority by spring 2011.

ARTS 21 For tips or info call Let your voice be heard! Submit letters to the editor online (781) 736-6397 at www.thejusticeonline.com

INDEX

SPORTS 16 ARTS SPORTS

17 16

EDITORIAL FEATURES

10 7

OPINION POLICE LOG

10 2

NEWS 3 COPYRIGHT 2010 FREE AT BRANDEIS. Call for home delivery.

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

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THE JUSTICE

NEWS POLICE LOG

AP BRIEF

Medical Emergency

Commerce secretary announces a review of fishery penalties imposed BOSTON—The U.S. commerce secretary on Thursday ordered a review of several questionable penalties assessed against fishermen in the last decade after a federal report revealed abusive treatment and high-pressure tactics by the nation’s fishery enforcement officers. Gary Locke on Thursday appointed a special master to examine 19 “problematic” cases in the Northeast that were identified Thursday by his office’s inspector general, Todd Zinser. The special master, retired judge Charles B. Swartwood III, will also look at 104 complaints that weren’t in Zinser’s report. Zinser’s report detailed a strategy by the law enforcement office to propose large fines in order to prod fishermen toward settling cases. It also cited “animus” toward fishermen by a key attorney handling their cases. “The problems identified ... are unacceptable, were allowed to persist for too long and will end on my watch,” Locke said in a press release. New Bedford, Mass. boat owner Carlos Rafael, who said he paid $159,000 for a violation alleging problems with his fishing net, welcomed Locke’s move to re-examine some cases. “I thought this thing was going to be pushed under the rug,” he said. “But finally, the law works.” Larry Yacubian, a former New Bedford scalloper, said he was forced out of the industry and paid $430,000 in 2005 after his license was yanked following a disputed charge of fishing in a closed area in 1998. He recalled those years as “torment,” and said Locke’s decision to review the cases, including his, was vindication. “I feel real good about it,” he said. “But, you know, [the law enforcement agency] ruins people’s lives. ... Tony Soprano had more of the milk of human kindness than this.” Zinser’s review of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fishery Enforcement Division, which began last year, was prompted by persistent complaints from Northeast fishermen of unfair treatment by officers enforcing fishery regulations governing things such as where and how often fishermen can fish. A preliminary report released in January found that the abuse allegations weren’t widespread. But it said the process for deciding penalties appeared arbitrary. That report also prompted an audit that revealed widespread mismanagement at the law enforcement office, including the misuse of fines collected from fishermen to buy items such as a luxury undercover boat. For Thursday’s final report, Zinser looked in detail at 27 complaints about the law enforcement office dating back to 2001 and ruled 19 needed additional review. Zinser also cited a “troubling pattern” of fishermen settling their cases rather than going before a judge. He said the agency imposed excessive fines and charges in order to “force respondents into settlement” rather than risk paying a full penalty if they lost before judges they weren’t convinced would be fair. Since the January report, NOAA has made several reforms, including putting the burden on justifying fines on the agency rather than the fishermen, having the NOAA comptroller oversee the fund that holds fishermen’s fines and communicating better with fishermen on the complex rules.

Sept. 22—A male student injured his knee at the athletic fields of the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. BEMCo treated the party on-scene with a signed refusal for further care. Sept. 22—A 20-year-old male sustained a head injury while playing soccer at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. The party was transported by ambulance to the NewtonWellesley Hospital. Sept. 25—A student in Ridgewood C was treated by BEMCo for feeling nauseous and dizzy. The party was transported by ambulance to the NewtonWellesley Hospital. Sept. 26—A party in Usen Hall reported that a female had hit her head on the railing and requested BEMCo. The student was transported by University Police to the Waltham Urgent Care Facility.

Sept. 26—A 19-year-old male sustained a broken finger while playing basketball at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. The student was transported by University Police to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

Larceny Sept. 21—A student reported that a care package the party received had already been opened and some contents were stolen. The U.S. Post Office and mailroom were contacted for investigation. Sept. 21—A staff member reported that a banner was stolen from the railing of the third floor of the Shapiro Campus Center.

Disturbance Sept. 23—A University Police officer noticed a large group of students in the upper area of the Foster Mods. The large group of students as well as a

party within one of the Mods was dispersed without incident. Sept. 23—Four students in the Charles River Apartments were smoking near a bedroom window. The smokers were asked to move to a different location. Sept. 25—University Police received a report of an unhappy parent banging on the door of a student in Pomerantz Residence hall. Officers were dispatched, and the parent was removed from the residence hall. Sept. 25—A large group of students was noticed walking into the woods behind the Sachar International Center. University Police officers followed the students into the woods and dispersed 40 to 60 students.

Miscellaneous Sept. 21—A community development coordinator re-

The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail justeditor@brandeis.edu.

Senators charter two clubs, discuss projects

DAVIDA JUDELSON/the Justice

Mixed heritages blend Last Saturday, students were invited to join together and enjoy a potluck dinner of delicious food. Although it was sponsored by the Mixed Heritage Club, all students were invited to participate.

The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Editor in chief office hours are held every Monday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Justice office. Main Line News Forum Features Sports Arts Ads Photos Managing

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The Student Union unanimously voted to charter the Brandeis Interfaith Group. BIG is a club started by former members of Brandeis University Interfaith Leadership Development. They plan to build awareness of different religions on campus and work closely with the Interfaith Chaplaincy at Brandeis. The Student Union voted to charter the Kaos Kids, a hip-hop dance crew that wants to promote the presence of hip-hop culture on campus. Club members stated that they want to hold open classes taught by guest choreographers for anyone who is interested in learning hip-hop dance and holding presentations showcasing hip-hop culture. The Senate motioned to table the Hookah Club’s request to be chartered. The Hookah Club wanted to be chartered in order to respond to the growing demand to smoke hookah on campus and to introduce aspects of Middle Eastern culture and discussion in a relaxed atmosphere. The Senate tabled the vote because of issues such as payment for the hookah materials, the legality of smoking on campus, funding such a club and whether or not the cultural aspects of the club were not already covered by existing clubs, such as the Arab Culture Club. The chair of the Finance Board requested that the Student Union keep in mind the limited availability of money for clubs and slow down on chartering clubs. The Senate agreed and discussed ideas on how to save money between clubs, such as having clubs hold joint events. Seth Grande ’12 asked the Senate to draft a letter to Dining Services to encourage the use of only cage-free eggs throughout campus. The Student Union also discussed the broken ice machines. Student Judiciary Associate Justice Judah Marans ’11 said that he met with Aramark to talk about solutions for the broken ice machines. The Senate is also working on assisting Senator-at-Large Abdul-Aziz Sohail ’13 in organizing the Pakistani Relief Fund dinner that will be held Sept. 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Sherman Function Hall.

—Sara Ahmed

ANNOUNCEMENTS Fall 2010 career fair

theJustice

—compiled by Fiona Lockyer

SENATE LOG

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS An article in News omitted an important fact about funding for secured clubs on campus. Although secured clubs are guaranteed yearly funding and do not need to request funds from the Finance Board, if they wish to, they can ask F-Board for more funds. (Sept. 21, p.1) An article in News misspelled the name of a newly chartered club. It is Jewish Voice for Peace, not Jewish Voices for Peace. (Sept. 21, p.5) A photo caption in Arts misspelled the name of a building on campus. It is the Carl J. Shapiro Theater, not the Carl J. ShaprioTheater. (Sept. 21, p. 21)

ported students smoking marijuana near Massell Pond. The marijuana was confiscated and judicial charges were filed against the students. Sept. 24—A student in Rosenthal East reported an older white male involved in suspicious activity in the Usdan Student Center. A University Police officer checked the area and found that all was quiet and in order. A report was compiled. Sept. 26—A reporting party in Ziv Quad informed University Police that someone outside his window tore off the screen to the window. When he opened the shade he saw a few people running away. The reporting party could not provide any descriptions and stated that he would secure his window for the night. Facilities services will replace the screen.

The Hiatt Career Center invites all Brandeis students to attend Brandeis University’s Fall 2010 Career Fair. There will be over 70 employers at the fair seeking to make connections with Brandeis students who are looking for internships, full time jobs and fellowships. For more information and a list of employers, visit www.brandeis.edu/hiatt. Today from noon to 3 p.m. in Levin Ballroom.

Anthropology colloquium series with Prof. Charles Golden Prof. Charles Golden’s (ANTH) talk, titled “Imaging and Imagining Landscapes of Power in the Western Maya Lowlands,” will examine the rise and fall of Mayan kingdoms, and through data drawn from remote imaging platforms, the epigraphic record and archaeological ground survey delves into the importance of the Usumacinta River valley itself in shaping all aspects of political life. Today from

3:30 to 5 p.m. in Lown 002.

Triskelion’s September soiree Come chat and have a good time at the September Soiree in the Triskelion Lounge. Contact rhapsody@brandeis.edu with any questions. Today from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Triskelion Lounge, Shapiro Campus Center 328.

Cornerstone Research on-campus interview for an analyst position Cornerstone Research has become one of the nation’s leading finance and economics consulting firms with more than 450 full-time staff members across six offices. Cornerstone employees will be prescreening applications and choosing final candidates to interview for an analyst position. The application deadline is Wednesday. For more information about this opportunity, visit Hiatt NACElink. Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. in the Hiatt Career Center.

Annual Russian barbeque on the Great Lawn Russian Club proudly presents its annual open event, the Russian barbeque. Come join this special event for some food, salads and desserts. Meet some friends, eat some food and have a great time. All students are welcome to participate. E-mail Julia Livit at twin1 @brandeis.edu with any questions. Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Great Lawn.

‘Toy Story 3’ The creators of the beloved Toy Story films reopen the toy box and bring moviegoers back to the delightful world of Woody, Buzz and our favorite gang of toy characters in Toy Story 3. Woody and Buzz had accepted that their owner Andy would grow up someday, but what happens when that day arrives? Come find out at the screening of Toy Story 3, hosted by Student Events. Friday from 8:30 to 10 p.m. in Olin-Sang 101.

THE JUSTICE

STUDENT LIFE

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

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CENTERS AND INSTITUTES

Students to create sorority Journalist covers ■ Students are aiming to

have a third sorority on campus by spring semester. By SARA AHMED JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jaclyn Weinstein ’12, Stephanie Plaine ’12 and Allison Maresca ’12, are leading an effort to bring a new sorority to Brandeis. In an interview with the Justice, Weinstein said that they are working to establish the sorority, which does not yet have a name or a chapter assigned to it, and they hope to have it up and running by spring 2011 or fall 2011 at the latest. Fraternities and sororities are not recognized by the University. According to Appendix B of the 20102011 Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, the University only recognizes “organizations which are open to all students on the basis of competency or interests.” The handbook explains that fraternities and sororities are “inconsistent with the principles of openness to which the University is committed” because they practice exclusivity and are therefore banned from using campus facilities for their organization. However, there are still five fraternities— Zeta Beta Tau, Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Alpha Mu, Alpha Delta Phi and Alpha Epsilon Pi—and two sororities—Delta Phi Epsilon and Sigma Delta Tau—that exist for Brandeis students. According to Weinstein, their new-

sorority will be non-denominational, as opposed to Sigma Delta Tau, which is nationally Jewish. Delta Phi Epilson, the other existing sorority on campus, is also nondenominational. Weinstein explained that the group had met with the Associate Dean of Student Life Maggie Balch, who gave them the “green light ... to begin the process with nationals.” Weinstein said that the group will then proceed to coordinate with one of the national sorority umbrella organizations to pick a chapter of a sorority they would like to implement. “It’s a little ambitious [to start a new sorority by next semester],” said Weinstein, “but if not [by this semester], definitely by next year. We have a lot of work to do, but there’s a lot of girls splitting up the work.” Weinstein explained that the group was involved in managing a Facebook group to see how many students were interested in a new sorority. The group currently has more than 80 members and organizes events to gauge the level of student interest, get to know students on campus and fundraise in order to pay for any events or activities the sororities set up since they receive no funding from Brandeis. She said the group is looking at sponsorships from companies but is waiting until the sorority is officially established before speaking with more local companies. By creating a new sorority, Weinstein said that she, Plaine and Maresca hope to include students of different backgrounds. “We really just want to add more diversity,” said Weinstein, who noted that the soror-

ities available to students were outnumbered by the number of fraternities, and by creating another sorority, they would add to the number of sororities available to female students. “We have a very different range of girls interested,” said Maresca in an interview with the Justice. “We have people from all different majors and all different parts of the country,” added Plaine in the interview. The creators said their recruitment for the sorority will be heavily aimed toward first-years. Weinstein, Plaine and Maresca explained that the sorority would be an opportunity to bridge the gap between younger students and upperclassmen who generally do not take classes together and who may not be involved in the same clubs. “It’s a great option to meet new people,” said Plaine. “It’s a small campus. ... It’s kind of hard to branch out when your group [of friends] is established,” added Maresca, saying Greek life was a good way to “expand your social circle.” When asked about the negative stereotypes that are associated with Greek life organizations, such as alcohol abuse and exclusivity, Plaine responded, “[To] people who might look down upon Greek life at Brandeis, it’s not really fair to judge us yet because they haven’t seen what we’ve done or what we’re capable of.” Added Maresca, “More than anything I just want it to be something that a group of girls can get together and just become friends and have a great time.”

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

Arts and fun University students from all over Boston—Brandeis students included—danced the night away at College Night at the Musem of Fine Arts, Boston. College Night at the MFA, an annual event, provides students with an opportunity to socialize at the museum.

Afghan elections ■ The Schuster Center’s

Benjamin Skinner also observed the election for Democracy International. By NASHRAH RAHMAN JUSTICE EDITOR

E. Benjamin Skinner, a journalist and senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, spent the last 2 weeks in Afghanistan reporting on the parliamentary elections for Foreign Policy and serving as one of the 80 international election observers with Democracy International; Skinner, who returned to the United States last Wednesday, published two articles in Foreign Policy titled “E-Day in Kabul” and “The Vote Comes to Afghanistan’s Peaceful Heartland.” The former explores the atmosphere in Afghanistan leading up to the elections and the latter the resurgence of female political participation in the Afghan city of Bamiyan. According to its website, U.S.based Democracy International “works on democracy and governance ... programs worldwide for the U.S. Agency for International Development ... and other development partners.” In a Google Chat interview with the Justice, Skinner wrote, “As an election observer, I was asked to study Afghan electoral law and observe the extent to which the election day procedures adhere to that law. Fairly simple really; but challenging just to get to the polls sometimes in a place like Afghanistan.” The Afghan elections to the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, took place Sept. 18 and were the second Afghan-led parliamentary elections held in the postTaliban era. According to Democracy International’s website, “The most critical stage of the electoral process is now taking place in the results tabulation and complaints adjudication processes.” The website states that as part of the results tabulation process, Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission staff has begun processing “tamper evident bags which contain results forms from Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.” Furthermore, the website states that complaints are being processed at Provincial Election Complaints Commissions around Afghanistan. “The ultimate success of the election process will depend on the legitimate outcomes of these critical processes. Only after this work is complete can a reasonable judgment be cast on this election process,” according to Democracy International Inc.’s website. In his interview with the Justice, Skinner wrote that the results of the elections are scheduled to be certified in October. Regarding his interest in Afghanistan, Skinner wrote, “I was

hoping to get a keener sense of how realistic it is to hope for democracy in a country still torn by war. … And, of course, as the currently most active theater of conflict in the war on terror, I wanted to see up close what fruit our policies was bearing.” “The biggest challenge for any western reporter in Afghanistan today is security. … The Taliban and other illegal armed groups have specifically named western journalists as targets, and so we have to be very careful regarding telegraphing our movements ahead of time. This makes setting up interviews, etc, something of a challenge,” Skinner wrote in his interview. He also wrote, however, that in Bamiyan he found local Hazaras— an ethnic population originally from the Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan—to be “very welcoming, open and eager to talk about their hopes for democracy.” In “E-Day in Kabul,” Skinner specifically notes security issues leading up to the election day: “This year, insurgents have killed four candidates, while 30 more have retained private security companies. On E-Day minus 2, the Taliban killed two election workers, and on the night of Sept. 16, they kidnaped 10 campaign workers and eight IEC employees.” In his interview with the Justice, Skinner wrote, “I want to be careful not to minimize the work of the security professionals who assess these situations. But I often find that the problems look much worse from a distance, particularly as we in the media tend to be drawn to blood.” He wrote in his interview that while “there certainly was blood” in cities like Kandahar and Uruzgan, “millions of Afghans voted without incident, and that it also part of the story.” “I think one way or the other, it’s a mistake to judge the election by American standards,” Skinner wrote in his interview, explaining, “For one thing, Afghanistan in engulfed in a full-fledged war. For another, this is just the second all-Afghan elections in the country.” Florence Graves, the founding director of the Schuster Institute, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, “I thought [Skinner’s] article in Foreign Policy about the political activities of women in Bamiyan province was especially insightful, counter intuitive. [sic] His reporting was an important contribution to public understanding about the more active role women are playing in some parts of Afghanistan. In fact, I think his reporting really challenged the stereotypes many of us have that all Afghan women are completely dominated and powerless.” Skinner wrote in his interview that his work at the Schuster Institute will continue to focus on modern-day slavery. “I saw a few things that sparked my curiosity in that vein in Afghanistan, and I may pursue one of those leads,” he wrote.

ADMINISTRATION

Univ planning to fund a film on the presidential transition ■ The film will emphasize

students and Presidentelect Frederick Lawrence. By FIONA LOCKYER JUSTICE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

According to Student Union President Daniel Acheampong ’11, a film detailing Brandeis’ presidential transition will be filmed this fall, with one of the most important scenes about student involvement being filmed Oct. 6. “The film will mainly focus on students and President-elect [Frederick] Lawrence,” wrote Acheampong in an e-mail to the Justice, explaining that

“we want every student to be in this movie.” The movie is a result of an idea by Kathy Lawrence, wife of Presidentelect Frederick Lawrence, according to an e-mail from Acheampong to the Justice. In an e-mail to the Justice, Frederick Lawrence explained that multiple versions of the movie will be shot, although the exact number has not been decided yet. In his e-mail, Lawrence explained that Concord, Mass.-based production firm DigiNovations will film the movie, which will be Universityfunded. He additionally explained that the same cameraman working on the movie also shot footage for the educational program of Abram Sachar, the first president of the Uni-

versity. The film is directly related to Lawrence’s transition into the position of University President, which will begin Jan. 1, 2011, Lawrence explained. “Over the course of the transition we have been working on the best way to get the Brandeis story out during my meetings with alumni and friends of Brandeis, within our own community as well as the broader outside world, and eventually with potential students,” Lawrence explained in his e-mail. “This seems to be among the best ways of communicating the excitement of being at Brandeis.” “I can see it being used for Admissions, Development and in various

ways by the Communications Department. For example, we will use the film as I visit our alumni groups and meet with groups of potential students around the country,” he wrote. Acheampong explained that the Office of Student Life, Senior Vice President Andrew Gully, Director of the Office of the Arts Scott Edmiston and others, including himself, were involved with the planning of the movie. “There has been a long tradition of film-making about Brandeis and this will be the latest and most up-to-date in the series,” Lawrence wrote. Filming will begin the first week in October, according to Lawrence. Acheampong explained that on Oct.

6, students are asked to all join together on the Great Lawn at 5 p.m. dressed in blue Brandeis attire to shout a Brandeis slogan together. He further wrote that all undergraduate and graduate students are invited to take part in the group shot, and there will be more opportunities for individual students to become involved. “DigiNovations will be shooting in many places around campus and getting many students in those shots. Some of those will end up in the various versions, though it’s impossible now to say how many will have featured roles,” Lawrence explained. According to Lawrence, the initial versions of the film will be completed by January.

Marjory Collins/Library of Congress

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

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ELECTIONS: Heller profs release study Village senate result ambiguous CENTERS AND INSTITUTES

■ The professors studied

students who transferred from community colleges to elite institutions. By ANDREW WINGENS

JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CONTINUED FROM 1 tion for Massell Quad’s senator received the highest percentage of voters, with just over 50 percent of eligible participants voting. The Brandeis Sustainability Fund Board representatives will be Susan Paykin ’11 and Nicholas Polanco ’13. These positions are new this year as a result of the Brandeis Sustainability Fund that was created last semester. Albert Feldman ’13 and Miriam Halimi ’13 won the position of senator for East Quad and the Castle, respectively. In an interview with the Justice, Feldman said he has been sitting as a “lame duck” as senator for the Village for the past year, and as the official senator for East, he wants to “do things that make people enjoy their time here.” The Transitional Year Program senator will be Alyssa Green. The senator for Ziv Quad will be Mark Levi ’12, while Elizabeth Fields ’13 will fill the senatorial position for Rosenthal Quad. Tae Wan Kim ’12 and Evyn Rabinowitz ’12 both ran unopposed and will fill the spots for the Charles River Apartments and the off-campus senators, respectively. There was one successful write-in candidate this year: Anthony Rios ’11, will fill the position of senator for the Foster Mods. There was no official candidate running for that position, so eligible voters wrote in on the ballot whom they wanted to fill the position. Jake Weiner ’13 was running unopposed for the position of Senator for the Village, but he was defeated by Missy Skolnik ’12, a write-in candidate. In an interview with the Justice, Rosen explained there may be a problem with Skolnik assuming the position, because the Constitution states that a candidate may not run for office if he or she will not be able to serve for the entire term, and Skolnik will be going abroad in the spring. However, Rosen also said that since Skolnik ran a write-in campaign rather than an offical campaign, there is a question about whether or not she should be allowed to take office. Rosen said that the Student Judiciary will be discussing the matter; a decision is to be made this morning. As of press time, no deci-

sion has been made. “We’re simply looking to see if there’s a clear-cut answer to this question,” Kriegsman said in an interview with the Justice. “If there is no clear-cut issue, it will be up to [Student Union Secretary] Herbie Rosen’s discretion to decide how this applies.” In either case, however, Rosen will make the final decision on this matter, Kriegsman explained. If the candidates disagree with the final decision, they can file a case with the Student Judiciary, “and that’s where we can actually have an official opinion,” Kriegsman said. In an interview with the Justice, Skolnik said that while she created a Facebook group, she did not run a campaign. She also emphasized that while the issue with her role as Village Senator stems from the fact that she would not be on campus for the whole because of studying abroad, she had not made the decision to study abroad yet. “I hope that the Executive Board considers the environment we’re trying to promote at this school. They should be aware of what the student body wants,” Skolnik said, adding that she believes there should be an amendment to mitigate this issue. The Village Senator last year, Leigh Nusbaum ’11, only served for a semester. The Senior Representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee will be Jenna Rubin ’11. The election for the UCC received the lowest number of eligible participants, with slightly less than 3 percent of voters taking part. These elections were only the second time the instant run-off system, in which voters rank the candidates in order of their preferences, was used for voting. Rosen said that he “think[s] this system is the most ideal because it gives all candidates the most justice.” Rosen, who served as elections commissioner, said in a later interview with the Justice that he “was happy with how elections went. I was really excited we had so many candidates, especially from the first-year classes.”

Profs. Cathy Burack, Susan Lansperry and Thomas Piñeros Shields from the Center for Youth and Communities at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management released preliminary results of the study they conducted on the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Community College Transfer Initiative, a program that helps high-achieving, low-income students transfer from community college to the nation’s best 4-year institutions. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a foundation aimed at helping exceptional students get the best education possible, released the results of a study titled “Partnerships that Promote Success: The Evaluation of the Community College Transfer Initiative,” which highlights effective ways to identify high-achieving students and ease the transfer experience in order to promote social and academic success. In an interview with the Justice, Burack said that the study is a preliminary report. She said the final report, which will include additional interviews and surveys with faculty, administration and students from the eight universities that participated in the study will be released this December. CCTI assisted eight highly selective 4-year institutions from 2006 to 2010 in increasing their enrollment of high-achieving, underprivileged community college transfer students said the study. The eight institutions are Amherst College;

Bucknell University; Cornell University; Mount Holyoke College; University of California, Berkeley; University of Michigan; The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and University of Southern California. These institutions created relationships with community colleges and worked together to create the best transfer program possible, said Burack. According to the study, 889 new CCTI students matriculated to those eight schools since the program began in 2006. Burack said that the study focused on three factors of the initiative: the students’ performances; the factors associated with the success of those students; and the institutional changes, such as increased support systems for the transfer students within the 4-year institutions. In evaluating the CCTI for this report, Burack explained that the team of Heller researchers looked at student record data—academic and financial aid—as well as surveys of transfer students conducted upon matriculation and then every spring thereafter. The study concluded that the CCTI benefited both the 4-year institutions and the transfer students both academically and socially. According to the report, “CCTI students have contributed to campus life by becoming deeply engaged on campus.” For example, faculty on college campuses said that the transfer students enriched classroom discussions by bringing new insights and thoughtful questions. In addition, according to the study, numerous CCTI students were awarded scholarships and honors. Many of these students conducted research with faculty and took on leadership roles on campus. For example, one student was elected student body president.

Burack said that the admissions offices of these institutions did not lower their standards when admitting the students from community colleges, but the transfer students were evaluated and went through the regular admissions processes of the institutions to which they transferred. Burack also noted the diversity of the eight different institutions across the spectrum, explaining that some are large state universities while others are small liberal arts schools. Burack said that the founders of the initiative aimed for such a range of schools intentionally so that no institutions could feel exempt from participating in a program of this nature. Burack mentioned that seven out of the eight institutions that received funding from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation are thinking about ways to continue the project at modified levels beyond this school year. However, she explained that the recent economic recession has had a negative impact on the institutions’ abilities to continue the initiative and secure funding explained Burack. Brandeis, however, was not one of the 4-year institutions involved in the initiative. With regard to increasing enrollment of community college transfer students at Brandeis, Burack said, “I am hopeful that we can have this conversation here and open these doors.” In an e-mail to the Justice, Director of Admissions Jennifer Walker said that although Brandeis does not have any specific partnerships with community colleges, the school does “admit transfer students from community colleges who have demonstrated that they can be successful in college level courses.” Walker added that admissions counselors “attend community college transfer fairs around the country.”

—Alana Abramson, Brian Fromm and Jillian Wagner contributed reporting.

COEX: With new grant, program will expand CONTINUED FROM 1 experience in the fields they are studying, their age, and the international makeup of the student body. She also wrote that faculty at the Heller School have considerable experience working in fields related to coexistence, such as sustainable development and health, and that the creation of a new dual degree in sustainable development and coexistence and conflict, which began last year, makes the move a good decision. “Giving the demographic similarities in the student cohorts, and the development of the Dual degree, it made sense to offer the COEX students the added advantages of Heller in terms of their career focus, alumni networking, and the national, international and global partnerships provided by the Heller School,” she wrote. The BrandeisNOW article quotes Riva Ritvo Slifka, the president of the Slifka Foundation, as saying about the COEX program, “We know the master’s program, the students, and the potential for this field to grow are in excellent hands at the Heller School and Brandeis … The concept of shared societies must be taught and professionalized, and we found the perfect home for this endeavor.”

The Slifka gift will only go toward the master’s program in COEX and will not have any effect on the undergraduate peace and conflict studies program at Brandeis. Fitzduff wrote that the main difference between the COEX program and the undergraduate Peace, Conflict and Coexistance Program is the experience of the students. She wrote that most students accepted into the COEX program have around 5 years of experience in the field and that the program “is also very geared towards the work of people working with governments or international organisations, and international NGO’s, as many of our students come from these contexts. It also focuses on policy and practical strategy development in the field, and towards issues of evidence based evaluation.” According to the program’s website, alumni of the program have gone on to serve in positions such as “Director of Civic Education of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) in Rwanda, Operations Officer, European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, ... Save The Children, USA,” and “Assistant at Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.”

DANIEL LAHMI/the Justice

Pizza festivities Students enjoyed delicacies from the variety of Waltham pizza restaurants at A Taste of Waltham Pizza and declared Cappy’s Pizza and Subs the winner of a taste-testing. A Taste of Waltham took place last Friday in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.

CHAPEL: Student comes forward CONTINUED FROM 1 patrols in the area, repeatedly checked the chapels and worked with the chaplaincy and the Department of Student Life. When asked if the student would face judicial consequences, Gully

referred the matter to the Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, saying the matter falls within Sawyer’s jurisdiction. Sawyer declined to answer any questions about the actions the Department of Student Life planned on taking, citing privacy

reasons. “Matters between Brandeis and individual students are subject to specific laws respecting privacy, and our own sense of student rights in this community regarding possible disciplinary actions and/or matters of ones’ health,” he wrote.

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VERBATIM | Alan Dean Foster Freedom is just chaos with better lighting.

ON THIS DAY...

FUN FACT

In 1867, Toronto became the capital of Ontario.

Dolphins sleep with one eye open.

Touring time in Waltham

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

SUMMER ESTATE: In the 1800s, wealthy Boston residents built summer homes, like this Stonehurst home, in Waltham, which was known for its watch industry, its clean air and proximity to the Charles River.

By CLAIRE GOHOREL JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Waltham Museum is just a few minutes’ walk from Main Street, but upon entering the brick building, you are transported to another era. You will find artifacts from earlier domestic life—a grand baby carriage and a clothes wringer. There, you can glimpse the tiny gleaming parts from a genuine Waltham Watch Company clock and a magnificent Waltham creation, the “Oriten”— a bicycle built for 10. There, you can imagine a time in which Waltham’s streets weren’t filled with restaurants but instead with foundries and factories. The Waltham Museum is a nonprofit corporation established in 1971. Each room in the museum is devoted to different eras of Waltham’s history. The first room illustrates the early history of Waltham. Long before John Winthrop and his men explored the region, the Quinobequin had been living along the Crooked River,which is currently known to us as the Charles. The Englishmen settled and transformed the land. Meanwhile, the stone points of the Quinobequin were discarded and lodged in the soil. These points have since been unearthed and are on display at the Waltham Museum. Walking through the rooms, you see the growth of industry in Waltham. Paper mills gave way to to textile mills. The Boston Manufacturing Company, established by Francis Cabot Lowell in 1813 on present-day Moody Street, helped to establish Waltham as “the birthplace of the American innovation,” said Wayne

Waltham has a history of industrial innovations McCarthy, co-president of the Waltham Historical Society. Lowell introduced a new textile production system called the WalthamLowell System. McCarthy describes the mill as the “prototype” for a new, integrated approach to manufacturing in which spinning, weaving and other textilemaking processes are carried out under one roof. Not only did Lowell establish a new production system, but he also fostered a new kind of relationship with his workers, according to Sheila FitzPatrick, co-president of the Waltham Historical Society. “Waltham never became a company town,” says FitzPatrick. Employees were paid for the first time in United States currency, instead of to credit at the company store. For this, she called Lowell a “benevolent capitalist.” “[Lowell and the mill supervisors] wanted their workers to be treated with integrity: They made schools available to them, they provided to the community in other ways. ... They had a lecture series to inform the public,” McCarthy said. In the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous innovations came out of Waltham, including chalk crayons, kerosene and power steering. Waltham is perhaps most well—known as the home of the Waltham Watch Company. “If you don’t think Waltham is important in the world, … you will find that people know the name Waltham

Watch,” said FitzPatrick. In fact, an 1867 New York Times article mused that if you ask a neighbor for the time, “The watch he pulls out in reply is labeled, not ‘Geneva,’ nor ‘Liverpool,’ nor ‘Versailles,’ but ‘“Waltham, Massachusetts.’” Waltham soon earned the title of “Watch City.” The Waltham Watch Company invented precision machines capable of manufacturing delicate interchangeable parts that were vulnerable to corrosion in many climates but not in Waltham. “The clarity, the clear air, brought the Waltham Watch Company to Waltham,” McCarthy said. The clear air has long made Waltham an attractive community in which to live. Situated a convenient 10 miles from Boston, wealthy Bostonians often built their summer homes here. Several of those homes still stand today. These include the Lyman Estate, constructed in 1793, and Gore Place, the home of U.S. Senator and Massachusetts Governor Chistopher Gore in 1806. A third summer home, called Stonehurst, was built in 1883 by social reformer and housing advocate Robert Treat Paine. Paine commissioned a home by architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. It is now a National Historic Landmark and the only example of Richardson’s country home architecture that is open to the public as a museum. Just a short drive beyond the bustle of Main Street, you will find Stone-

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

DEEP HISTORY: The Waltham Historical Society pays homage to Waltham’s archetectural history with gravestones in its yard.

hurst situated on 109 acres of quiet, forested land known as the Storer Conservation Lands. The grounds are maintained by the City of Waltham. There, winding paths weave throughout red maple and white oak trees. The home stands in harmony with its surroundings—wooden shingles and uncut glacial boulders cover its façade. “Stonehurst is part of that continuing history of Waltham as a place of respite, a way to escape the city,” Ann Clifford, Stonehurst’s curator said. Paine was concerned with the affects of the Industrial Revolution on daily life, and this led to a new conception of the American country home. “He [Paine] was a philanthropist, and he visited a lot of derelict buildings in Boston. He saw how unhealthy living conditions affected the health of Boston. ... His own home here … [has] got tons of space, windows in all directions, transoms and screens to allow the breezes to flow through the building. In the late 19th century, people were realizing that smoke and congestion were affecting human health and the human mindset, and this place was created as an escape from all that—humans need nature,” Clifford said. This city has been shaped by the ideas of entrepreneurs and intellectuals. McCarthy said, “Waltham … never looks back, it is always looking forward. We’ve got entrepreneurs and adventure capitalists. It’s almost as

though as [entrepreneurs] establish something as a prototype, as an incubator, and then when they’re successful, they look for the resources to move forward.” Waltham may not look back, but many Waltham residents feel compelled to look back at the city’s rich history. Philip Ripley has volunteered at the Waltham Museum for four years. “Every city needs a museum, and I like to do my part to help out. It helps us know what passed … by revealing what our forefathers did,” he said. Two other museum volunteers, Peg Nix and Kaye MacLellan, grew up as neighbors in Waltham. “Kaye and I are twins, but we have different parents,” Nix joked. For Nix, history is “remembering the old times.” McCarthy is surprised by the amount of historical material there is to study. “It’s baffling; I am absolutely amazed by how much I learn. I almost learn something new every day,” he said. For FitzPatrick, understanding the past is necessary for the future. “If you don’t know where you came from, you won’t know where you’re going, and that’s why the same problems keep cropping up and get beaten down over and over again.” She urges others to learn about the history of Waltham. “Join the Waltham History Society, number one. Number two, read! Read, and listen, and learn, and analyze.”

ASHER KRELL/the Justice

VISITORS WELCOME: The Waltham Museum’s gates are always open to visitors.

American Red Cross

Brandeis University Blood Drive SIGN UP today and tommorow, Sept. 28 and 29 in the Usdan Student Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. AND Sherman Dining Hall from 5 to 8 p.m. DONATE BLOOD:

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, Wednesday, Oct. 7, Thursday, Oct. 7.

Sherman Function Hall All presenting donors receive a coupon for a free 6-inch Subway sub. *Prizes not redeemable for cash and non-transferable. Visit www.RedCrossBlood.org (sponsor code 965)

THE JUSTICE

NATHANIEL FREEDMAN/the Justice

NATHANIEL FREEDMAN/the Justice

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NATHANIEL FREEDMAN/the Justice

AWE-INSPIRING ARCHITECTURE: The beautiful Mandel Center for the Humanities, which opened in the fall, was funded by a $22.5 million gift from the Mandel Foundation, which wanted to make a major donation.

A family of philanthropy The Mandel Foundation has become a prominent charity

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MANDEL FOUNDATION

HAPPY DONORS: Morton and Barbara Mandel speak at the groundbreaking for the Mandel Center for the Humanities on Sept 23, 2008 before construction. By DAFNA FINE JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

It was almost a century ago that the Mandel brothers scurried around a boat headed for America, filling their pillow cases with meager victuals such as herring and bread. Coming from Poland in the early 1900s, the brothers were familiar with hunger. They definitely don’t have to worry about hunger today. After becoming successful, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel are major philanthropists, responsible for some of the largest and most influential programs and institutions throughout America. The Mandel family’s name decorates buildings across the world, from Jerusalem to at Brandeis University. The Mandel brothers, of Cleveland, established the Mandel Foundation in 1953, which aims to provide leadership for the nonprofit world. According to an e-mail to the Justice from Morton Mandel, the basic philosophy of the foundation “is to invest in people with the vision, values and passion to change the world.” The Mandel Foundation focuses its support

and resources on five specific areas: leadership, management, higher education, Jewish education and continuity and urban neighborhood renewal. The Mandel brothers began their careers when they established the Premier Automotive Supply Company in the 1940s after buying their uncle’s storefront for $900. While their business initially distributed standard automotive parts, they soon learned that their customers were looking for specialized, hard-to-find products. After altering their business, revenue grew to the millions, and the company became one of the largest United States distributors of auto parts. When the Mandel brothers realized they had more money than they needed, they started the foundation. “We didn’t make money for the sake of money. We made money so we could redistribute it,” Jack Mandel says in The Mandel Legacy: “Our Cup Runneth Over,” a 20-- minute documentary about the Mandel brothers and their success. The brothers have since committed their success to various philanthropic projects, including higher education at various universities. “The Mandel Foundation is a strong supporter

of Brandeis University. Mrs. Barbara Mandel is a very involved trustee, and my daughter, Amy, is a graduate,” Morton Mandel wrote. The new Mandel Center for the Humanities, which was ready in time for classes this semester, was funded by a generous $22.5 million gift from the Mandel Foundation. The Mandels, according to University Presiden Jehuda Reinharz, were interested in making a transformative gift to the University. “Our vision was to create a physical structure that has beauty, elegance and is a great space for learning,” Morton Mandel wrote. The Mandel Center for the Humanities was chosen as an appropriate gift based on both the University’s needs and the strong beliefs of the Mandel Foundation. The humanities faculty had been asking for a center for the humanities for many years— President Reinharz kept this in mind during his conversations with the Mandels. After a group of faculty put together a proposal for an interdisciplinary center for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Mandels agreed to fund it. “We chose to invest in the Mandel Center for

the Humanities and the Mandel Quadrangle because we care deeply about students being familiar with great ideas and the liberal arts tradition. We believe it is important for all students to have a strong foundation in the humanities so they can function more effectively to help build a more just and a more decent society,” Morton Mandel wrote. The Mandels, who were extremely involved in the project, worked to ensure that the Mandel Center would satisfy the needs of both the faculty and students. “They believe deeply in the mission of the new center and were very committed to making the building as successful as possible,” Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Morton Mandel even took interest in the specific architecture of the building and details including the carpets, tiles, paint colors and furniture. “I can also tell you that [Mandel] has exquisite taste and we reviewed all of the proposed building materials with him directly,” wrote Vice President for Planning and Institutional Research Daniel Feldman. According to Morton Mandel, the couple visited the center many times during construction. “Above all, though, Mr. Mandel did repeatedly ask whether we had discussed this or that particular detail with the faculty. He wanted to make certain that people had what they needed in the Mandel Center for the Humanities, to make it a great place to work, study, teach, learn and participate in the many kinds of events that the Center is designed to support,” Feldman continued. The Mandel brothers chose to honor their parents with a plaque on the outside wall of the Mandel Center, facing the terrace outside the forum. According to the Mandel brothers, their parents, Rose and Simon Mandel, influenced them and instilled them with their philanthropic values. The dedication ceremony for the Mandel Center for the Humanities will take place on Oct 26, and the Mandels plan to attend. The Mandel Center for the Humanities is one among many gifts the Mandels have given the University over the years. In 2002, the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education was established to transform the quality of teaching and learning in Jewish education. The Mandels are also responsible for the Mandel Chair in Jewish Education and fellowships in the humanities and English and American Literature. Reinharz, who has worked closely with the Mandels during their involvement with the University, will become president of the Mandel Foundation when he leaves Brandeis this coming year. Reinharz has sat on the board of the Mandel Foundation since 2005. “As the world changes, our programs will have to change. As we understand problems more clearly, our solutions may change. But the hope is that the need for enlightened, informed, passionate leadership, is a theme that won’t go away,” Morton Mandel says in The Mandel Legacy: “Our Cup Runneth Over.”

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THE JUSTICE

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B RIAN FROMM, Editor in Chief REBECCA B LADY, Managing Editor B RIAN N. B LUMENTHAL, Production Editor IAN CUTLER, REBECCA KLEIN, NASHRAH RAHMAN and JILLIAN WAGNER, Associate Editors ALANA ABRAMSON, News Editor TESS RASER, Features Editor HILLEL B UECHLER, Forum Editor J OSH ASEN, Sports Editor B RYAN FLATT, Arts Editor ASHER KRELL and ROBYN SPECTOR, Photography Editors DEBRA FRIEDMANN, Layout Editor EMILY KRAUS, Copy Editor C ODY YUDKOFF, Advertising Editor

Rethink club allocations system Last week, the Finance Board released its distribution of funds for the fall semester marathon requests. However, the F-Board could only allocate less than half of the overall requests. While the disappointing distribution was partially due to the FBoard’s exhaustion of rollover funds last spring, this editorial board also sees that it was due to several other systemic problems concerning the FBoard, the Student Union and the student body at large. After announcing its latest allocations, F-Board Chair Makensley Lordeus ’11 and Union Treasurer Akash Vadalia ’12 e-mailed club leaders to say that certain costs, such as food at meetings and publicity, generally were not granted funds. Such guidelines would be more useful if the F-Board supplied them to club leaders in a more codified form in advance. Those guidelines should also include greater consideration of the number of students involved with or benefiting from a given club. Although, due to several factors, the F-Board may be left with different sums of money each semester, certain rules should always be followed with allocations. With more consistent and specified allocation guidelines, the FBoard could function in a more transparent and efficient way. We also encourage club leaders to be more mindful of responsible spending habits when submitting their F-Board requests. Additionally, trouble with F-Board fund distribution stems from the proliferation of clubs on campus. According to the Union Constitution, in order to be chartered (and thus be eligible to receive F-Board funding),

Clarify F-Board guidelines clubs must acquire the signatures of 150 students, 15 of whom wish to join the club, except in certain extenuating circumstances. This editorial board believes that this is an adequate bar for the establishment of a club capable of receiving funds from the Student Activities Fee. However, we implore students to be more mindful when signing a petition for a club’s chartering—to consider where they truly want their Student Activities Fee to go. On that note, the Student Union Senate should increasingly encourage students who may be interested in founding a new club to instead join an already-chartered club with similar interests in order to streamline the way in which money is spent. It would also be wise for the senate to more carefully monitor chartered clubs to ensure that they are spending money within the bounds of the constitutions under which they were chartered. If the current setup of the Union is not modeled for such oversight, then perhaps it should revisit the idea behind last year’s failed constitutional amendment that would have split the current Senate into two bodies, one of which would deal solely with clubs. As this editorial board noted last semester, such a change would increase the efficiency of club funding by dealing more adequately with a source of the problem: the excess of chartered clubs seeking F-Board money. The smaller F-Board budget may only last for this semester, but the current systemic problems, if not dealt with, will continue. The Union and the student body at large should address

Boost campus cell phone service Last spring, the Board of Trustees passed a budget for fiscal 2011 that included savings suggestions of close to $90,000 within Library and Technology Services. One of these suggestions was scaling back the distribution of room phones to students. This editorial board feels that before the University begins scaling back room phones, it should ensure that cell phone service improves on campus. Some students do not have service in their dormitories and instead use room phones as their method of communication while they are in their rooms. Scaling back the room phones before cell phone service is improved on campus would leave many students without the ability to make or receive phone calls while in their rooms. Many areas on campus suffer from poor reception, including Usdan Café, Sherman Dining Hall, the Shapiro Science Center and the Shapiro Campus Center. According to project reports from Senator for the Class of 2013 Jonah Cohen, students who use all of the standard cell phone carriers, specifically Verizon Wireless, TMobile and Sprint, complain about poor service and dropped calls in all of these areas. While students who use AT&T complain the least about their service, they still are affected. Additionally, the lack of cell phone service can pose a serious safety hazard. Students who need to contact emergency services may not be able to

Lack of service poses risk do so because of poor reception. In spring 2009, former Student Union President Andy Hogan ’11 ensured that a cell phone signal amplifier was installed in Lower Usdan. However, students have noticed little effect: Many students still have no reception while in the P.O.D. Market. In fall 2009, Mr. Cohen and thenSenator for the Class of 2012 Nipun Marwaha drafted a petition asking for improved cell phone service. With the assistance of Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins, they planned on sending the petition to the entire student body, as well as the faculty. Additionally, they drafted a complaint letter to be sent to cell phone companies. Unfortunately, neither the petition nor the letter were ever sent. Depending on the region, many carriers will, free of charge, boost cell phone service. This can even be accomplished with a simple phone call to the company. And if this cannot be done, the company can still suggest different devices to purchase in order to successfully improve reception. This is what Mr. Hogan did in 2009; however, a more concerted effort should be made on a grander scale. This school is a modern, prestigious research university. This board feels that it would be highly unfortunate if we could not find a successful way to improve cell phone service on campus.

A. ELI TUKACHINSKY/the Justice

Raise flood awareness By ANUSHKA AQIL SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

The story is simple; the situation is not. The floods started on July 26 and caught a whole nation off-guard. The rains were expected, even welcomed, but the devastation was not. Twentyone million people expected to begin the Ramadan season safe in their homes; instead, they had to look for food and shelter. More than 2,000 people expected to share another monsoon season with their families, but they never had the chance. But the story gets even worse—due to the severity of the destruction (many bridges and roads were cut off) and the limited availability of aid, out of the 21 million people who are in need of help, only 3.8 million people have been provided with food, 1.9 million people with tents and tarps and 3 million people with drinking water. Add these three separate entities up, and it still does not come close to providing for all the victims of the floods—I’m not even good at math. Things resonate differently with different people—it’s how we humans are. Some things mean the world to us, while others can pass us without us even noticing. That’s what seems to have happened with the Pakistan floods. Now, I’m not blaming any individual for these unfortunate circumstances or for the lack of awareness; Instead, I’m blaming the media. When the floods first started, I was in Israel, and no one there seemed to know what was going on. That was understandable. After all, in this world, there are so many events and problems that are constantly happening. I stopped over in London for a couple of days and that was all that the news was showing—the Pakistan floods. That was expected, too. After all, it was a natural disaster, and like all the ones before, I expected people to be aware, especially a country with such a large Pakistani population. On my flight back to the United States, I had a 6-hour wait at the Toronto airport. While there, I watched CNN on the television and was surprised that there was not one mention of the Pakistan floods. I was frustrated and disgusted at how one of the most well-known news media stations in the world could completely ignore such a devastating natural disaster. I had hoped that it was just that day that the news didn’t address the devastation in Pakistan, but unfortunately, it wasn’t just that day. Even if you do a simple search on Google for information about the flooding, most of the websites provided are based outside of the U.S., which is both surprising and disappointing to me, especially since the U.S. was so heavily involved when the 2005 Pakistan earthquake occurred. Why now are people (not just the U.S., but the whole international community) so silent when this disaster has been deemed worse than the combination of the last three natural disasters in the world? Well, the answer I found was pretty simple. Most articles I researched discussed fear of having donated funds wasted (used to fund more terrorist activities) and said that people were just too tired of giving, especially since the recent Haiti earthquake. So I can’t blame people for their fears and donor fatigue: I would’ve felt the same way had I been in their position—unaware of the situation and of my available options. And that’s where we come in as Brandeisians, as students and as humans. I urge you to become more aware. There are fliers around you advertising events that are happening. Get involved: Learn more so that you can educate others. Get your friends involved: Speak to them, and make them aware. Support doesn’t just come in monetary ways—it comes through word of mouth and dedication to more awareness. I’m not a writer, English is not my first language, and I am not creative. So what I’ve written here may or may not interest you. But I hope this will: The Brandeis for Pakistan Relief Fund group is starting a pseudo-pay-it-forward program. The idea is that 300 students will get pocket-sized fliers, which they will pass to 300 more people, who will pass them to 300 more people and so on and so forth. This will not only increase awareness but will connect each of us to this larger cause. So I urge you to partake in this soon-to-be phenomenon: Pass on the flier to a friend, professor, colleague, roommate, etc., and ask them to pass it on to another person. This way, not only will people become aware, but they will also have the opportunity to do something for the victims of the floods. For the next few months, we will have events and opportunities to donate and to make people more aware of the situation. Please join in. Ramadan just ended a week ago and culminated in Eid, a festival to celebrate the end of fasting. Most of the victims fasted during Ramadan, but few got to celebrate on Eid as they were displaced from their homes, in fear of their and their families’ health and uncertain about the next day. I hope that we can ease some of these fears, take away some of these uncertainties and provide for however many we can a sense of comfort, a sense of stability and a sense of hope. For further inquiries on the Brandeis Pakistan Relief Fund, contact pakistanfloodfund@gmail.com The writer is founder of the Brandeis Pakistan Relief Fund.

OP-BOX Quote of the Week “Waltham ... never looks back; it is always looking forward.” —Wayne McCarthy, co-president of the Waltham Historical Society (See Features, page 8)

Brandeis Talks Back How do you feel about the presence of Greek life at Brandeis?

SHIREL GUEZ ’12 “I love it, but I prefer Roman life.”

BRAD MAHLOF ’11 “It’s fine, it’s cool. It’s not overbearing if people don’t want to be in it.“

NAOMI COHN ’11 “There’s not enough Greek life on campus.”

RAVIV LEGMANN ’11 “I think it’s underrated. People hate it. I don’t understand why. It should be bigger.” —Compiled by Rebecca Klein Photos by Asher Krell/the Justice

THE JUSTICE

READER COMMENTARY Condemn all religious bigotry In response to your article “Islamic center lessons” (Forum, Sept. 14): I was so happy to read Rebecca Blady’s article. I wanted to share with the community that I joined with over 1,200 religious leaders in the greater Boston area in drafting a statement in support of the Muslim community and in opposition to the hatred of Muslims which is so prevalent. The statement can be found online at www.ipetitions.com/ petition/tobigotrynosanction. It was read at the State House in Boston in front of the statue of Mary Dyer, a Quaker woman hanged on the Boston Common for her religion. In the statement, we called to mind the many instances in the past where religious bigotry has reared its ugly head in our city—quotas for Jews at Ivy League colleges and the burning of a Catholic convent in the 1800s, to name a few. The statement’s title is from the letter that George Washington sent to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., confirming that ours is “a Government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” All are welcome to sign this statement online. —Rev. Walter Cuenin The writer is the Catholic chaplain and coordinator of the Interfaith Chaplaincy.

Don’t blindly support administration In response to your editorial “Islamic center lessons” (Forum, Sept. 21): This is moronic. To say that increased need sensitivity in the admissions process is permissible because there was a degree of it in the past is a non-argument. You are identifying a trend and using it as an excuse. Also, it would be better if this were saving the University money. If it indeed isn’t, then we are discriminating against poorer students for no reason. Read the Union press release; you should know that the wealthier students are always going to be the ones with the stronger applications. If the Justice is going to get so much of the students’ money, it should advocate for students, not arbitrarily support administration policies. —Alex Norris ’11 The writer is an associate justice of the Student Judiciary.

Peretz comments were out of line In response to your editorial “Backlash against Peretz comments was both unfair and unwise” (Forum, Sept. 21): Peretz’s comment makes just as little sense in context as out of context. “Muslim life is cheap,” he says, “most notably to other Muslims.” Replace “Muslim” with “Jewish,” and the sheer idiocy of this reductive formulation is self-evident. Is Peretz typical of the Jewish community, or Yigal Amir or Bernard Madoff? This is not the first, and likely not the last, time that Peretz has written so callously about Muslims. We must conclude that Mr. Peretz’s simplistic and inherently inferior opinion of Muslims are not a recent aberration. —David Litvak ’11

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Univ should serve only cage-free eggs By SETH GRANDE and JEREMY SCHMIDT SPECIAL TO THE JUSTICE

We Brandeis students love our eggs. Most of us consume eggs in one form or another multiple times a day. Few of us, however, know how those eggs are produced. The vast majority of eggs served to students here come from hens who live their entire lives in small, wire “battery cages.” These cages are so small that hens do not have enough space to engage in natural behaviors such as walking, perching, foraging or even spreading their wings. For the duration of their short lives, hens raised in these systems live with up to seven other hens and are afforded less individual room than a sheet of notebook paper. Many birds die because of the filthy conditions in these cages and because of the enormous size of battery-cage barns (some with flocks of over 1 million birds). Workers often do not have enough time to remove the bodies of dead hens from the cages containing hens still laying the eggs we eat. As you may well imagine, these systems cause enormous suffering for the hens. Additionally, battery-cage eggs can make us sick. Eggs from hens living in cages are prone to the highest rates of salmonella contamination, partly because battery cages breed bacteria and are hard to disinfect. A study by the European Food Safety Authority found that instances of salmonella contamination were 43 percent less likely in cage-free barns than in battery-cage barns. The over half a billion eggs recalled last month due to salmonella contamination were all laid by hens confined in battery-cages. Luckily, eggs laid by cage-free hens are viable alternatives to battery-cage eggs. In addition to reduced concerns regarding food safety, laying hens in cage-free systems are allowed enough room to stretch their wings, walk around and generally live more content lives. Cage-free eggs are laid by hens that are allowed to behave closer to the way most of us agree they should. More than 300 colleges and universities have already made or are making the switch. Other Aramark clients, such as Vassar College, the University of Minnesota and the University of Rochester, have stopped buying battery-cage eggs, and by 2015, all eggs sold in California legally must come from cage-free hens that are provided enough space to stand up, turn around and extend their limbs. In addition to California, Michigan and the European Union have enacted similar bans. There is also currently a bill under deliberation in the Massachusetts State Legislature (H. 815) that, if passed, would ban battery cages by 2015. As a result of efforts made by students several years ago, Dining Services started offer-

ARI TRETIN/the Justice

ing cage-free eggs available by request in the dining halls. However, these reforms haven’t been consistently publicized, and when people are unaware and must make special requests for the item, the number of people actually ordering cage-free eggs is quite low. As such, the impact of having cage-free eggs as an option—instead of making a complete switch—does virtually nothing to address this issue. In the past, Dining Services has claimed that the higher costs of cage-free eggs were prohibitive. With that said, most schools that have made the switch usually don’t pass down the cost to consumers, and those that do only increase the meal plan by seven to 10 dollars, which is a tiny fraction of the total meal plan cost. More importantly, many schools have made this socially responsible decision work, but Brandeis is lagging behind its competitors by continuing to support this cruel abuse. After years of effort, the Brandeis commu-

nity is close to following a similar path. Currently, the Brandeis Real Food Coalition is requesting that Brandeis Dining Services offer solely cage-free eggs in every dining hall. The Brandeis Real Food Coalition is a group comprised of student leaders from groups such as Students for Environmental Action, Naturaliving, Democracy For America and others who have come together to work on food issues on campus. A petition currently circulating campus has already been ratified by hundreds of students. We call upon Dining Services to show the leadership that they have shown on past initiatives and to dedicate themselves to purchasing and serving only cage-free eggs in campus dining halls. This small decision will be a positive step for the health of students, help stop the needless suffering of hundreds of millions of hens and help us live up to the values of our university. The writers are part of the Brandeis Real Food Coalition’s effort to petition Dining Services to serve only cage-free eggs.

Celebrities should be wary about engaging in hot-button issues Liz

POSNER BUT I DIGRESS I have mixed feelings about celebrities who take on hot-button political issues. The best way to evaluate these issues is probably case-by-case. Take the 2008 presidential election, for example. Two years ago, a whole slew of liberal Hollywood types gave public endorsements for Barack Obama and raised millions of dollars for his campaign, including Oprah Winfrey, Zach Braff and Halle Berry. George Clooney, at the time, was more hesitant to wave the Obama banner, explaining that although he supported Obama, he wanted to avoid doing damage to the prestige of his campaign. I always admired Clooney’s pragmatism in this decision. He seems to be one of the few celebrities who recognize that support from the rich and famous can often be more of a hindrance than a help, especially when it comes to the controversial. Nothing could have been worse for Obama than if Clooney’s endorsement had had the adverse effect of dumbing down the campaign’s political debate. Beyond this, what makes me squirm when it comes to celebrity endorsements has nothing to do with the celebrities themselves but instead

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with their intended impact on the plebeians watching from home. Were Halle Berry’s fans more likely to support Obama in 2008 because their favorite actress told them they should? Did a single voter say to himself 2 years ago, “I’m going to vote for him because Catwoman endorsed him?” Are these the kind of people who should be voting anyway? Discussion of the popular vote aside, it does seem like nonpolitical endorsements take advantage of a certain subset of American society that may be easily persuaded. Everyday we are told to buy products merely because celebrities use them. An ad in a magazine that shows Hayden Panettiere holding a designer bag gives me no other justification for why I should buy that bag. I don’t know if it’s well-made or big enough to hold my laptop, but I want to buy it anyway. The concept of endorsements necessarily cuts out room for free thought and individual opinion. And the very fact that celebrities endorse everything from mascara to presidential candidates shows the extent to which we are assaulted with the opinions of others and told we should take them as our own. Recent events in politics have made this discussion particularly pertinent. Last week, Senate Republicans issued a filibuster and consequently blocked a proposed military defense policy bill that included a repeal of the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. Before the vote took place, though, one of its most vocal opponents—Lady Gaga— spoke at a rally in Portland, Maine to denounce

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the law. She explained that she wanted to protest “don’t ask, don’t tell” in defense of her young and gay fans. College-aged Americans have been particularly vocal in opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” no doubt because it both directly affects those currently part of or considering military service and because advocating gay rights in general has been a rallying cause of our generation. Lady Gaga’s endorsement is not an exception to the Halle Berry rule of thumb. Her Sept. 20 speech in Maine, in which she asserted that gay Americans are denied the full promise of American equality, was never going to convince anyone who didn’t already agree with her. Even the soldiers currently stationed in Afghanistan who danced proudly to “Telephone” in their universally popular YouTube video were fans to begin with and, judging from their dance moves, most likely already comfortable with progressive sexual standards. But maybe we can make an exception for Lady Gaga’s anti-“don’t ask, don’t tell” activism. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy allows anti-gay members of the military to out their fellow soldiers and have them removed from service. Symbolically, it makes excuses for young soldiers to accept homophobia and discrimination in their generation. Lady Gaga, love her or hate her, is a dynamic force in contemporary culture. Regardless of what she stands for artistically, she has certainly broadened popular understanding of the relationship between music, fashion and

The opinions stated in the editorial(s) under the masthead on the opposing page represent the opinion of a majority of the voting members of the editorial board; all other articles, columns, comics and advertisements do not necessarily. For the Brandeis Talks Back feature on the opposite page, staff interview four randomly selected students each week and print only those four answers. The Justice is the independent student newspaper of Brandeis University. Operated, written, produced and published entirely by students, the Justice includes news, features, arts, opinion and sports articles of interest to approximately 3,000 undergraduates, 800 graduate students, 500 faculty and 1,000 administrative staff. In addition, the Justice is mailed weekly to paid subscribers and distributed throughout Waltham, Mass. The Justice is published every Tuesday of the academic year with the exception of examination and vacation periods. Advertising deadlines: All insertion orders and advertising copy must be received by the Justice no later than 5 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the date of publication. All advertising copy is subject to approval of the editor in chief and the managing and advertising editors. A publication schedule and rate card is available upon request. Subscription rate: $35 per semester, $55 per year.

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sexuality. I see Gaga’s activism for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy’s repeal as her using her impact on culture for good; she is not only drawing attention to the cause, but she is also seeking to actively change social and cultural standards. I think this goes beyond simply using her celebrity to attract attention to a cause and instead harnesses her impact as an artist to reshape our culture. On the other hand, consider Lady Gaga’s other publicity stunts from the past few weeks. The pop singer wore a gown made of meat to at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month. She claimed the dress was a symbol tied to her advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights. She told Ellen Degeneres that the dress could be interpreted many ways, but her personal belief was that “if we don’t stand up for what we believe in, … pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones.” To be honest, I don’t know what that means, but I think it may be important that I’m confused. Degeneres seemed equally baffled. Whether Gaga was mixing her metaphors or she has a more sophisticated understanding of the artistic significance of her wardrobe choice, her hodgepodge of words and actions seem to reaffirm Clooney’s fear in 2008. She should learn that she can’t make a bold statement without a clear message. All of her admirable efforts to discredit “don’t ask, don’t tell” may be dismissed along with, and as easily as, her next provocative stunt. And that, I’m sure, she would consider to be a shame.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS NEWS: Fiona Lockyer FORUM: Eitan Cooper SPORTS: Jeffrey Boxer ARTS: Wei-Huan Chen STAFF Senior Writers: Harry Shipps, Melissa Siegel Senior Illustrators: Rishika Assomull, A. Eli Tukachinsky Features: Sarah Gilson, Deborah Salmon Forum: Hannah Goldberg, Rebecca Kellogg, Ethan Mermelstein, Liz Posner, Leah Smith, Avi Snyder, Elizabeth Stoker Sports: Jacob Lurie, Max Goldstein, Adam Rabinowitz, Jonathan Steinberg

Arts: Alex DeSilva, Julia Jerusalmi, Elly Kalfus, Morgan Manley, Amy Melser, Douglas Moore, Alex Pagan, Bryan Prywes, Sujin Shin, Shelly Shore Photography: Genevieve Armstrong, Amy Bissaillon, Maegan Bautista, Jaxson Dermer, Nathaniel Freedman, Davida Judelson, Rozi Levi, Mansi Luo, Yosef Schaffel, Shaefali Shandilya, Tali Smookler Copy: Taylor Baker, Rebecca Brooks, Jacob Chatinover, Hilary Cheney, Jenn Craig, Kim Dela Cruz, Camille Dolfen, Phillip Gallagher, Ariel Glickman, Patricia Greene, Jeff Herman, Rachel Herman, Liana Johnson, Daniella Kohlhagen, Rachel Mayo, Mailinh Phan-Nguyen, Zane Relethford, Mara Sassoon, Marielle Temkin, Amanda Winn, Liat Zabludovsky Layout: Nadav Havivi, Nan Pang Illustrations: Ari Tretin

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

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THE JUSTICE

FORUM ENDING “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL”

RISHIKA ASSOMULL/the Justice

IN FAVOR

End the de facto ban on gays in the military By NAOMI VOLK JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Monday, Sept 20, I found myself outside Usdan with the Brandeis Democrats and Triskelion, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer alliance at Brandeis, urging passersby to call their senators and help repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that bans openly gay people from serving in the military. Excitement and tensions on campus were high—it seemed like the government might actually end the discriminatory law. Then came Tuesday, Sept 21. The senate voted on the Defense Authorization Bill, which included a provision for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” John McCain led the Republican filibuster against the provision, stalling the bill at a vote of 56-43, short of the 60 votes needed to stop the filibuster that was preventing its passage. So what exactly is the problem? “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is a violation of human rights that denies gays the freedom to be open about their sexuality in the military, a concept Republicans don’t seem to grasp. Why is it that people don’t understand the need to repeal it? Well, for one thing, people have used the argument that a change in

the policy would hurt unit cohesion. Apparently the troops can handle bombs, grenades and guns but not the fact that one of them is gay. And yet, Representative Patrick Murphy, the Iraq War veteran who led the fight in Congress to repeal the law, said, “In Iraq, my men and I didn’t care whether a paratrooper was gay or straight.” Are we supposed to make decisions about what the troops think without consulting the troops? And yet 13,000 soldiers have been discharged since 1993 as a result of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” And the ban is supposed to keep us safe? According to Representative Murphy, that number includes 60 Arabic translators. These men and women could be helpful in a war in an Arabic-speaking country, don’t you think? What does being gay have to do with interpreting Arabic or even holding a gun? Murphy also claims that the argument against unit cohesion is “the same argument used against allowing blacks to serve with whites when President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military in 1948.” Murphy also points out that countries like Britain and Israel allow openly gay members. And he says there hasn’t been “any detrimental impact on unit cohesion” in these

countries. According to President Bill Clinton, who originally pushed for the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the early 1990s, the current policy is not the one he advocated for 17 years ago. According to the New York Daily News, Clinton says that Colin Powell billed the law as one under which “gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, or marching in gay rights parades as long as they weren’t in uniform.”

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We need to take a stand ... like we have never done before. While the discrimination against troops openly proclaiming their sexuality when wearing uniform is bad enough, the law has been distorted so that troops can never openly speak about their homosexuality. In fact, Clinton went on to tell the Daily News that the only reason he proposed “don’t ask, don’t tell” was to stop Congress from passing “an

absolute ban on gays in the military.” The time has come to up the ante; we should concentrate on full and equal rights for everyone. Now, seeing that the vote has already happened, how can we as students make a difference? According to CBS, there is a possibility of a lame-duck vote in December. This means that Democrats could still try and pass the repeal before the new influx of Republicans happens, presumably in January. We need to take a stand and lobby our senators like we have never done before. If the government feels no qualms about limiting the basic human rights of a certain group of people, what’s to say that it won’t continue this trend to other groups? These are our peers, our friends. We all know someone who is gay, whether that person is a family member, a friend or even ourselves—why deny them the same rights to free speech that the rest of Americans have? As American citizens, we have a duty to protect the rights upon which this country was founded—Locke’s natural rights —and to make sure that those we put into positions of government adhere to the law of the land: the Constitution. We need to push not only for the re-vote on the policy in the lame-duck vote but also for sani-

ty and bipartisanship. We need to make senators from both sides of the aisle see the need for a repeal. But Republicans continue to claim that a lame-duck vote would be going against the will of the American people. According to Politico, 75 percent of Americans support the repeal. If three-quarters of the American people support the repeal, then the senate Republicans are obviously not doing their jobs well. We elect representatives to use their judgment, but at the end of the day, they are accountable to their constituencies. If three out of four Americans want the law repealed, then the filibuster by the Republicans was entirely partisan and had little to do with the desire of the American public. Shouldn’t the government protect the basic rights laid out in the Constitution? Those serving in the military are our age and of our generation. Are we going to turn our backs on them while they refuse to do the same to us? Are we going to deny them their basic rights while they continue to protect our lives and our rights? According to Politico, the desire to repeal the ban is highest among those aged 18 to 29. Shouldn’t we be a part of this statistic? Shouldn’t we stand beside our peers and fight for what is right?

IN OPPOSITION

Current ban, though flawed, ought to remain By ELIZABETH STOKER JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” the U.S. policy that bars the participation of openly gay individuals in the military, is inarguably unfair and wrongminded, sporting justifications as laughably absurd as the suggestion that the mere presence of openly gay soldiers would somehow upset “unit cohesion” and “discipline.” The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was a campaign promise of President Barack Obama and, as of last week, one that remains unfulfilled. Despite the heartfelt protest of people across the country, the bill that would repeal the policy was blocked by a 5643 Republican vote. Though I agree that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is an unquestionably chauvinistic and exclusive policy, I find myself hesitant to engage in the passionate activism displayed by college groups across the nation last week. Tabling and protesting in favor of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” went on from the University of California, Los Angeles to the University of Oklahoma last week, but I found myself unmoved. I believe that, like most policies governing arenas of speech and private sexual behavior, “don’t ask, don’t tell” should not be

government policy. However, I question the gusto with which students demand its destruction as a legal yet also as personal policy—that is, one mandated by the government as well as one maintained by choice. After all, one can even imagine a little positivity in its present incarnation as a law—namely, in its service as a deterrent steering people away from military service. Being less than fond of the mission of American imperialism, I am universally in favor of policies that turn would-be soldiers away from participation in the business end of bloody foreign policy. If one looks closely, he or she can derive from “don’t ask, don’t tell” the same wisdom that backs seatbelt and anti-smoking laws, both of which are engineered to protect people from their own terrible decisions. But alas, the slippery slope of legislating to save people from themselves does loom. Therein arises another strike against “don’t ask, don’t tell” as a law—yet not as a personal policy. Throughout the campaign to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” many have questioned what the lives of openly gay servicemen and women would be like. It is my sense that being openly gay in the military would be unwise. To assemble a sketch of the military social climate: On Oct. 8, 2008,

the Army Times published a presidential election poll in which Senator John McCain—an opponent of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell”—carried 68 percent of intended military votes, with then-presidential candidate Obama winning only 23 percent.

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Being openly gay in the military would be unwise. A haunting dearth of information exists when it comes to anti-gay violence in the military. A charming study released by the Pentagon in March of 2000 confirmed that 5 percent of soldiers reported seeing an incident involving anti-gay violence within the previous year, which implicates thousands of people as witnesses to anti-gay violence. So while it’s clear that there is antigay violence in the military, it is most likely the fact that admitting to being gay results in discharge that prevents the creation of more solid data. And while some countries, such as the

United Kingdom, have reported slight decreases of anti-gay violence upon full and open integration of gays into the military, one must recall that the United States is unique, exceptional. We suffer from some form of cultural island gigantism in which our policies have, over time, become somewhat extreme in comparison with countries of comparable wealth. From lax gun laws, to an ongoing usage of the death penalty, to a strange saga of gay marriage ping-pong in California, we are unusual in our class of nations, and we should not expect that our experiences will always mirror theirs. In fact, the military seems to have something of a problem with investigating and prosecuting sexually motivated violence. For instance, it’s not illegal to be a woman in the military, and, therefore, female soldiers often report rape and sexual assault—according to a Department of Defense report, there were 3,230 such cases last year. Yet a 2007 report published by the Pentagon noted that more than half of sexual assault cases reported as far back as 2004 resulted in no action and that in cases in which action was taken, a mere third concluded in courts-martial. None of this bodes well for openly gay soldiers in the military, and it is

on those grounds that I would personally shy from going into the military at all. But in the event that I did somehow wind up enlisted, I will refrain from expressing my sexuality. This isn’t a good thing, nor one to permanently settle for, but rather a symptom of a society in which circumstances are so extreme that they manage to pervert justice. And perhaps that is why I hesitate to participate in a college-style activism which urges policy changes for the rights of soldiers but fails to fully consider the conditions under which those soldiers live. The “don’t ask, don’t tell” debacle is one in which all answers are varying gradations of unjust, miserable or a combination thereof. One may choose to hide his or her orientation and serve in the military or to openly claim his or her orientation and possibly endure barely inhibited, scarcely prosecuted violence. I would therefore suggest a far more sober consideration of the course of action necessary to be both equitable to gays and mindful of the potential reaction of the society in which we live. College activism tends to be, in that respect, somewhat out of touch, erroneously conflating rights victories with conditions victories even when the gulf between them is enormous.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

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MEN’S TENNIS

Doubles tandem loses in quarterfinals ■ Nick White ’11 and Simon

Miller ’11 lost their match in the quarterfinals against an Amherst College duo. By JACOB LURIE JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

The men’s tennis team doubles squad of Nick White ’11 and Simon Miller ’11 lost in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Intercollegiate Tennis Association New England Regional Championships at Williams College. The duo, which was the No. 1 seed in the tournament, defeated the Wheaton College doubles team of seniors Harry Altman and Greg Poulin 8-1. The two then took an 8-5 win over the Williams College duo of junior Will Petrie and sophomore

Dylan Page, allowing the Judges to advance to the quarterfinals in the tournament. Here the Judges faced their most difficult opponent, as Miller and White took on the Amherst College doubles team of junior Wes Waterman and senior Moritz Koenig. The Judges were unable to escape with a win and lost by a score of 8-5. Miller said he was not happy with the result. “[White and I] were definitely disappointed that we didn’t go further,” Miller said. “[It was] just disappointing we couldn’t do better our senior year.” Coach Ben Lamanna acknowledged the talent of the other schools. “It’s the best tournament in the country in Division III, and the Northeast region is real tough. You got some pretty good schools in

there that we play against. “The strength of our team is not quite set up to do real well at that tournament. We’re … a really deep squad. Our strength is in the depth.” Miller and White also took part in the singles tournament. White was the eighth seed and given a bye for the first round. However, both Miller and White lost in their opening matches. Miller fell to Trinity College senior Rich Bonfiglio 6-4, 63, and White was upset by Amherst College junior Robby Sorrel 6-0, 6-1. In addition to White and Miller, Steven Milo ’13 and Fred Rozenshteyn ’13 competed in the singles bracket. Of the four Brandeis singles participants, only Rozenshteyn won a match, defeating Middlbury College junior David Farah 7-6, 6-4. Rozenshteyn then lost to No. 6 Bates College freshman

Matt Bettles 6-2, 6-2. Milo played Middlebury freshman Teddy Fitzgibbons and lost 6-0, 6-0. While the men’s team was not as successful as it would have liked, Lamanna commented on how the tournament’s emphasis on individual performance made it difficult for the Judges, who are built on depth to succeed. “The strength of our team is not quite set up to do real well at that tournament,” Lamanna said. “We’re a really deep squad. Our strength is in the depth.” The ITA tournament was the men’s second competition of the season. The men are coming off of a successful outing at the Middlebury College Invitational Sept. 11 and 12. At Middlebury, Miller and White were able to reach the finals in doubles in the A bracket after defeating

three teams in a row: one Bates duo and two Middlebury squads by scores of 8-2, 8-4 and 8-3, respectively. The men’s tennis team has its next match against the Coast Guard Academy this Friday at 3 p.m. Last year, the Judges commandingly defeated Coast Guard 9-0. In the match, Brandeis dropped only a single set. Despite the sweep, White had trouble with Nick Martin ’10, but was able to defeat his opponent by scores of 3-6, 6-4, 10-5. Despite the Judges’ success against Coast Guard last season, Lamanna commented on Coast Guard’s improvement as a squad. “Coast Guard is coming in with a really good squad,” Lamanna said. “They have a double team that did pretty well. They did about as well as we did, and they’ll pose a challenge to us.”

MAKING CONTACT

WSOCCER: Vallone propels team to two wins CONTINUED FROM 16 on a smaller field, I think we were able to make a quick adjustment to their field and just kind of capitalize on all their weaknesseS.” Last Thursday afternoon, the Judges came from behind to defeat Gordon College. Brandeis outshot the Fighting Scots 19-6 in the first half, but neither team was able to put any points on the board in that period. Gordon then scored the first goal of the game just under 6 minutes into the second half. After the Fighting Scots chipped the ball over the Judges’ defense, sophomore midfielder Caitlin Nedde beat Brandeis goalkeeper Francine Kofinas ’13 to the ball and shot it into the empty net. But the Judges quickly stormed back with Vallone scoring two goals in a 2:31 span to put Brandeis ahead for good. Vallone’s first goal came less than two minutes after the Gordon goal. Theodore passed the ball to defender Alanna Torre ’12, who beat her defender along the goal line and crossed the ball to Vallone in front of the net. Vallone then tapped the ball into the net for the finish. Vallone then scored her second goal of the game when she controlled the ball along the end line and fired it across the field and into the corner of the net. Theodore admitted the team’s urgency increased after giving up the early goal in the second half. “I guess it was kind of just like a wake-up call. When you go down 10 in the second half, you really have no other way to react but to go towards the goal,” she said. “I think everyone knew that we had to get a goal quickly, but it’s harder and harder to get a goal with not much time left.” Brandeis got an insurance goal in the 79th minute when Theodore fed the ball to Pacheco, who dribbled it closer to the net and then fired it in to put Brandeis up 3-1. The Judges are next in action tomorrow afternoon at Wellesley College at 4 p.m. before returning home on Saturday to begin University Athletic Association play against Case Western Reserve University at 11 a.m.

JOSHUA LINTON/Justice File Photo

AFTER THE BALL: Midfielder Stephen Kostel ’11 battles against Clark University junior defender Alexander Herlich in the men’s soccer team’s 1-0 home win Sept. 11.

MSOCCER: Team drops both its games CONTINUED FROM 16 conceded a throw-in that senior forward Chase Anderson played into the penalty area. The throwin found sophomore defender Ben Lewis, who powered the free head-

er past Bracken for the decisive 2-1 lead. Despite the two losses, Bercelli looks for the team to bounce back and match its success from the beginning of the season. “We’re capable of playing well,

and we’ve proven it so far this season. We just need to find our form again and get back at it,” said Bercelli. “We’re playing good teams next, and it will be another real test of where we’re at. Hopefully we can prove ourselves.”

The Judges look to regain their form and end their two-game losing streak when they face University Athletic Association rival Case Western Reserve University at home Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

VBALL: Judges fall in three out of four matches CONTINUED FROM 16 12 and even holding a 17-13 lead. However, Amherst reeled off an 11-3 run and eventually won the set. Brandeis started off strong in the second set, but after Amherst seized the lead at 19-17, Amherst didn’t look back, cruising to clinch the set at 25-21. This pattern continued in the third set as well, as the Lord Jeffs clinched both the set and the match. Smith led the Judges with 10 kills and was the only player to produce a positive hitting percentage. Abby Blasco added 21 assists, while Paige

Blasco and defensive specialist Susan Sun ’13 contributed 14 and 10 digs, respectively. Earlier in the week, Brandeis squared off in a much-anticipated matchup against No. 3 Tufts University, which was then ranked No.1. The Judges fell in straight sets by scores of 26-24, 25-22 and 25-18. The Judges started off strong in a set that contained 13 ties and four lead changes. However, the volleyball team could not finish and lost the set. This dynamic existed in the second set as well, as the Jumbos struggled to finish off Brandeis as each team rallied throughout the

game. Once both squads tied at 22 apiece, Tufts established the tempo for the rest of the set and prevailed to take the second set. In the third, Brandeis was resilient throughout most of the set, tying the score at 14-14 at one point in the game. However, the Jumbos prevented the Judges’ comeback as they took the set and matches. In the loss, Paige Blasco added nine kills, while Sun contributed with 14 digs of her own. Abby Blasco also totaled 17 assists in the match. In losing three of its four matches this week, Smith noted the team’s problem in finishing its matches.

“Our main problem is finishing,” Smith said. “We get so close and really play our hearts out against these top teams, but we can’t clinch. That’s the main thing we have to improve.” The Judges resume play this weekend in Atlanta, where they will begin conference play at Emory University in the University Athletic Association Round Robin Tournament. The Judges are set to face the defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Rochester and the University of Chicago.

Mulad/Wikimedia Commons

THE JUSTICE ● TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

AP BRIEFS

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Braylon Edwards helps lead New York Jets past Miami Dolphins

Paige Blasco ’11 ■ The senior outside hitter for the volleyball team recorded two double-doubles in the Amherst Classic last weekend, where the Judges went 1-2. The women’s volleyball team, ranked No. 6 in New England by the New England Women’s Volleyball Association, got a boost over the weekend from a familiar face: senior outside hitter Paige Blasco ’11. The Judges finished the weekend 1-2 at the Amherst Classic, where they defeated No. 10 Middlebury College 3-2 and lost 3-1 to the No. 11 United States Coast Guard Academy and 3-0 to No. 9 Amherst College. In the win over Middlebury, Blasco led the team with 17 kills and 17 digs. She also had 18 kills and 12 digs in the loss to the Coast Guard, her sixth double-double of the season. Against Amherst, Blasco had six kills but led the team with 15 digs. Blasco thought the team improved its play after the loss to Amherst on Friday. “The first day [against Amherst] was not as good as we could’ve played, but the next day against Middlebury and Coast Guard, we played more as a team,” Blasco said. “Coach [Michelle Kim] felt we worked together as a team, which had not happened in the past.” As a senior, Blasco will look to lead the team for the rest of the season, including next weekend’s University Athletic Association Round Robin Tournament, where the team will play defending national champion and No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis, according to the Bison/American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. “As a leader and one of the only sen-

Judging numbers

4 2 17 1 3

goals scored by the women’s soccer team in the first 5 minutes, 57 seconds of its 5-0 win over Simmons College Sunday.

losses for the men’s soccer team last week, its first losses of the season. The team lost to both Babson College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2-1.

kills and 17 digs for outside hitter Paige Blasco ’11 in the volleyball team’s 3-2 win over Middlebury College at the Amherst Classic Saturday.

win in singles for the men’s tennis team, by Fred Rozenshteyn ’13, at the Intercollegiate Tennis Asssociation New England Regional Championships last week.

losses for the volleyball team in four matches last week. The team is now 95 for the year.

ASHER KRELL/Justice File Photo

iors on the team, they look to me to get that big point,” Blasco said. “And that’s my role as a leader—when we need a big point and momentum.” In her career at Brandeis, Blasco believes she has grown as player.

“I’ve become a smarter player, not going for the bigger kill,” Blasco said. “I try and place it instead of just hitting the ball as hard as I can.” —Max Goldstein

UAA STANDINGS Men’s Soccer

Women’s Soccer

Not including Monday’s games

Not including Monday’s games

UAA Conference WL T Emory 0 0 0 Carnegie 0 0 0 Washington 0 0 0 Rochester 0 0 0 JUDGES 0 0 0 Chicago 0 0 0 New York 0 0 0 Case 0 0 0

UAA Conference W LT Emory 0 00 JUDGES 0 00 Case 0 00 Chicago 0 00 Rochester 0 00 Carnegie 0 00 New York 0 00 Washington 0 0 0

W 9 8 7 5 6 6 4 4

L 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2

Overall T Pct. 0 1.000 0 1.000 2 .889 3 .812 0 .750 0 .750 1 .643 2 .625

W 8 6 5 5 5 5 3 3

L 0 1 2 2 2 3 5 5

T 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0

Overall Pct. .944 .812 .688 .668 .668 .625 .389 .375

TEAM LEADERS MSoccer (points)

WSoccer (points)

Midfielder Luke Teece ’12 leads the team with 12 points this season.

Forward Sofia Vallone ’11 leads the team with 18 points this year.

Player Luke Teece Joe Eisenbies Nick George Alexander Farr Lee Russo

Player Sofia Vallone Tiffany Pacheco Mimi Theodore Ali Maresca Four others tied with ...

Points 12 10 9 8 8

Points 18 14 11 4 3

Volleyball (kills)

Volleyball (digs)

Outside hitter Paige Blasco ’11 leads the Judges with 167 kills.

Setter Abby Blasco ’11 leads the team with 163 digs.

Player Paige Blasco Nicole Smith Si-Si Hensley Lauren Berens Abby Blasco

Player Abby Blasco Paige Blasco Susan Sun Yael Einhorn Si-Si Hensley

Kills 167 140 107 55 50

Digs 163 162 158 124 120

UPCOMING GAME OF THE WEEK Women’s soccer against Wellesley tomorrow The women’s soccer team will play at Wellesley College tomorrow at 4 p.m.

27

fouls committed by both Brandeis and Babson College in the men’s soccer team’s 2-1 loss to the Beavers Saturday.

15

The women’s soccer team has not lost a game since its opening contest Sept. 1 and will look to extend that streak when it faces Wellesley College tomorrow at 4 p.m. On Sept. 30, 2009, Wellesley defeated the Judges 2-1. In the game, forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11 scored the only goal for the Judges in the 3rd

minute. Midfielder Mimi Theodore ’12 assisted on the goal. Despite allowing the first goal, Wellesley scored in the 59th minute. They also scored 15 seconds into stoppage time to seal the win. This season, the Blue are 4-3-1. They won their last game 3-0 against Mount Holyoke College Saturday.

MIAMI—To kick off the victory celebration, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan helped soak outside linebacker Jason Taylor by dumping a bucket of sideline refreshment on him. Receiver Braylon Edwards happily settled for slaps on the back. Taylor managed a sack in his homecoming game, and Edwards caught a 67-yard touchdown pass that helped the Jets beat the Miami Dolphins 31-23 Sunday night. Quarterback Mark Sanchez threw three touchdown passes for the second week in a row, and safety Drew Coleman’s fourth-down interception in the end zone with 27 seconds left sealed the win for the Jets, who forged a three-way tie atop the AFC East with the Dolphins and Patriots. All are 21. The victory capped an emotional week for Taylor and a tumultuous one for Edwards. The star receiver was arrested in Manhattan on a drunk-driving charge around 5 a.m. last Tuesday and apologized the next day. “He worked so hard all week long,” Sanchez said. “As soon as he stepped in the building, he let everything outside the building go. ... We loved him all week long, just the same as before the incident, and we’ll continue doing the same thing.” Edwards was benched for the first quarter but made it to the end zone soon enough, turning a short pass into the score that put the Jets ahead to stay. “I really am glad that I have teammates and an organization like the Jets,” Edwards said. “They’ve been very supportive, been there for me and they’ve allowed me to have a better week than maybe somewhere else.” A capacity crowd included Miami Heat forward LeBron James, who wore a Florida Marlins cap. Fans roared when he was shown on the video scoreboard, while they booed Taylor, playing against the Dolphins for the first time after 12 seasons with Miami. Taylor drew hoots when he represented his new team for the coin toss and again when he sacked Chad Henne in the first period. “They booed, and I smiled,” Taylor said. “It was about what I expected. I’m the visiting team now.” Running back LaDainian Tomlinson’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 55 seconds left put the Jets up 31-23. The Dolphins then drove 64 yards to the 5 yard-line with 34 seconds remaining, but Henne’s fourth-down pass was deflected by safety Eric Smith and intercepted by Coleman. Smith also blocked a punt to set up a field goal. “We kept fighting at the end,” Henne said. “Sad how it turned out.” Henne threw for a career-high 363 yards, while receiver Brandon Marshall had 10 catches for 166 yards. But Miami led for only 18 seconds—after Marshall caught an 11-yard pass for his first score with the Dolphins, putting them up 17-14.

Knicks select both Stoudemire Felton as team’s co-captains GREENBURGH, N.Y.—The New York Knicks opened training camp with word that another superstar was perhaps slipping away. And yet even without forward Carmelo Anthony, coach Mike D’Antoni is clear he’s happy with what he has. “I’m really excited about these guys right here,” D’Antoni said Saturday after the Knicks’ first workout at their training center, joking that he got a rash on his arm from the latest Anthony talk. “I got 15 stars right here. One, I don’t want to go there. Two, I’m really happy, enthused [and] excited about what we got. That’s my focus. Donnie [Walsh] will do his job. My focus is these 15 right here. I’m excited as I’ve been.” The New Jersey Nets were working on acquiring Anthony from Denver in a four-team trade. That would be another disappointment for the Knicks after top free agents forward LeBron James, guard Dwyane Wade and forward Chris Bosh all chose to play for the Miami Heat during the summer signing period. But the Knicks did land All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire in a sign-and-trade deal with Phoenix, and he’s confident in his new teammates. “I don’t think it’s over yet,” Stoudemire said of the Anthony sweepstakes. “But there’s no disappointment at all. We just got to focus on what we have. You know, Carmelo’s decision is based on him and his family. We’re going to remain friends regardless of the situation.” D’Antoni chose Stoudemire and fellow newcomer point guard Raymond Felton as the Knicks’ co-captains on the eve of camp. “It means a lot,” Stoudemire said. “Just the fact of accepting the leadership role. Raymond and myself have been playing in this league for a while and had some success. Raymond won a national championship back in North Carolina. I’ve had success in previous years in Phoenix. So we have a sense of leadership. But again we all must lead. We all have to—every player. It’s a team thing.” Stoudemire stuck around after practice to work on his offensive moves with assistant coach Phil Weber. He said he and Felton spoke to the team about the importance of staying in shape and working out, telling his teammates the Knicks are “now a team to beat.” Felton signed with the Knicks after averaging 12.1 points and 5.6 assists with Charlotte last season. New York also acquired forwards Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azuibuike in a deal that sent forward David Lee to Golden State and signed Russian center Timofey Mozgov, guard Roger Mason Jr., guard Patrick Ewing Jr. and forward Shawne Williams. So far, Stoudemire likes what he sees in his new teammates. “I think New York made great strides this summer with the players we have at hand,” he said. “We’re in a great situation right now.” D’Antoni was also pleased with the way the Knicks handled their first of two workouts scheduled for the day. Players returned later for another early evening practice session.

just

Sports

Page 16

QUARTERFINAL LOSS The men’s tennis team duo of Nick White ’11 and Simon Miller ’11 lost its quarterfinal match, p. 13.

Waltham, Mass.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Judges score early and often in wins ■ The women’s soccer team

won both its games last week, scoring eight goals while allowing just one. By MELISSA SIEGEL JUSTICE SENIOR WRITER

On Sept. 16 against Roger Williams University, it took the Judges just 45 minutes to score three goals. At Simmons College last Sunday, it took Brandeis just 5 minutes, 57 seconds to score four goals to open up the game. The Judges added a fifth goal later in the first half and held strong throughout the rest of the game to defeat Simmons 5-0. The win brings their record to 6-1-1 on the year after they defeated Gordon College 3-1 last Thursday afternoon. Brandeis’ first goal came courtesy of forward Sofia Vallone ’11 at the 2:13 mark, who fired a shot from just outside the 18-yard line into the upper right hand corner of the net. Midfielder Mimi Theodore ’12 then put the Judges up by two goals at the 3:59 mark. After a shot by Vallone hit the post, Theodore tried to head in the rebound for a goal. The shot went off the hands of Simmons junior goalie Ashley Wheeler, but Theodore was able to head in the rebound for her fourth goal of the season. The Judges’ third goal came off the foot of forward Tiffany Pacheco ’11 at the 5:49 mark. Vallone got her second goal of the game on a diagonal run 8 seconds later. Vallone’s two goals give her a team-high eight goals on the season, already two more than she had scored all of last season. “[Vallone’s] doing a great job,” Theodore said. “She’s very composed, great footwork, and she’s really able to use that to her advantage and get around players. She’s very confident in her play. She’s

JOSHUA LINTON/the Justice

ON THE BALL: Forward Tiffany Pacheco ’10 fights off Gordon College freshman defender Julia Miller in the women’s soccer team’s 3-1 home win last Thursday afternoon. working hard at practice, and that’s carrying over to games.” Brandeis got its final goal of the afternoon with 6:32 remaining in the first half. Midfielder Megan Bautista ’13 kicked a corner to mid-

fielder Annie Teece ’14, who put it into the net for her first career goal. Theodore noted that the field at Simmons College was smaller than Gordon Field, on which Brandeis plays. However, the team practiced

on a smaller field during the week to prepare for the game. “We practiced [Saturday] on a short field, because their field is a lot shorter than ours and it’s not as wide,” Theodore said. “And I think

because of that we were able to catch our passes. … We practiced doing corner kicks not as far in, set plays not as far out. Just working

See WSOCCER, 13 ☛

VOLLEYBALL

MEN’S SOCCER

Team’s winning streak ends Judges lose three out ■ The men’s soccer team,

won its first six games of the season but lost both its games last week. By JULIAN CARDILLO JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The men’s soccer team’s sixgame winning streak came to an end last Wednesday as the Judges lost 2-1 to the Massachuetts Institute of Technology. After the loss to MIT, the Judges lost 2-1 to Babson College. The Judges, who won their first six games of the year by outscoring their opponents by a collective score of 30-1, including a 13-0 win over Newbury College on Sept. 16, are now 6-2 on the season. It took two overtime periods for Babson to defeat the Judges 2-1 last Saturday as Babson sophomore forward/midfielder Eric Anderson and junior forward/midfielder Max Walker scored to overcome a Brandeis goal scored by midfielder Luke Teece ’12. “It’s a wake-up call, but it’s not like it’s the end of the world,” said midfielder Tudor Luvadaru ’14. Defender Gil Jacobs also thought the losses showed that the team still needs to improve. “We have work to do still, but it’s good that we lost early in the sea-

son than later,” Jacobs said. Babson scored early off a Judges’ defensive error. Senior defender Bill Meyerson got hold of possession after intercepting a loose pass on the wing in the 5th minute. Meyerson picked up his head and played a cross into the penalty area that Anderson connected with and slid into the back to give Babson the 1-0 lead. The Judges were able to respond in the 15th minute as Teece powered home his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Teece leveled the game at one after heading in a cross from midfielder Evan Ersing ’12. Both teams played through a scoreless second half, though Babson had two lethal chances to put the game away. In the 48th minute, Walker flashed an open header off the post. Moments later in the 55th minute, freshman forward/midfielder Mike Fisher also saw his free header come off the post. Goalkeeper Taylor Bracken ’11 made seven saves throughout the evening but was unable to stop Babson from scoring the decisive game-winning tally. In the 108th minute, Brandeis gave the ball away in the penalty area to Walker, who took one touch before burying the game-winning goal past Bracken. “Obviously, the last goal we

allowed was in double overtime, but our defense was still sound until that point. After that long, I guess people just get tired,” said defender Ethan Bercelli ’14. Last Wednesday, the Judges suffered their first loss of the season against MIT. Brandeis started off strong when midfielder/forward Lee Russo ’13 scored in the 9th minute off an assist from midfielder Theo Terris ’12. Terris sent a through-ball from midfield into the penalty area that found the feet of Russo. Russo cut by his defender and fired a shot past MIT junior goalkeeper Dylan Rankin. MIT responded just 15 minutes later as junior midfielder Max Stein-Golenbock put a goal past Bracken off an assist from senior midfielder Christian Therkelsen. Therkelsen sent in a bending corner kick to the near post, which Stein-Golenbock powered in off the post after beating his marker for leveling score. Brandeis had its best opportunity to regain the lead in the 68th minute after a free kick attempt was cleared out of the Engineers’ box and was popped back into the penalty area by Russo. Russo’s effort forced a point-blank save from Rankin, who kept the score level and finished the game with four saves. In the 80th minute, the Judges

See MSOCCER, 13 ☛

of their four matches ■ The volleyball team went

1-2 in the Amherst Classic and lost to Tufts University last week. By ADAM RABINOWITZ JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

In the Amherst Classic last weekend, the women’s volleyball team, ranked No. 6 in New England by the New England Women’s Volleyball Association, followed Friday’s 3-0 loss to No. 9 Amherst College with a 3-2 triumph over No. 10 Middlebury College Saturday morning. However, in their other game on Saturday, the Judges suffered a 3-1 defeat to No. 11 United States Coast Guard Academy. The Judges, now 9-5 on the year, lost to Coast Guard last Saturday in the team’s final match of the tournament 26-24, 13-25, 27-25 and 25-23. Brandeis was able to split the first two sets with Coast Guard, but close losses in the third and fourth sets sealed the Judges’ fate in their last match of the tournament. Outside hitter/libero Si-Si Hensley ’14 contributed career-high totals of 16 kills and 13 digs, while middle blocker Nicole Smith ’11 added 12 kills to the effort. Earlier that day, the Judges

defeated Middlebury 3-2 by scores of 25-22, 25-19, 14-25, 19-25 and 15-9. Brandeis dominated at the outset of the match by jumping out to a 2-0 set lead; however, with victory in sight, they failed to capitalize. The Panthers rebounded with two set wins, evening the match. However, the Judges finished strongly, winning the 15-point tiebreaker set. Outside hitter Paige Blasco ’11 recorded a double-double in the match with 17 kills and 17 digs. Setter Abby Blasco ’11 notched 35 assists and nine digs. Coach Michelle Kim was proud of how the team played on Saturday despite not having much rest between their two matches. “We didn’t have much rest time between the Middlebury match and the Coast Guard match, and fatigue definitely played a role in the outcome of the match,” she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. “I am proud of the team for pushing through the fatigue and continuing to work hard.” Last Friday, Brandeis lost to Amherst by scores of 25-22, 25-21 and 25-19. The Judges opened the first set with three straight points, but Amherst soon controlled the tempo of the game with a 6-1 run. Brandeis played competitively throughout the game, tying the Lord Jeffs at 12-

See VBALL, 13 ☛

just

ARTS

September 28, 2010

Fall brings punk to

Cholmondeley’s

Photos: Nathaniel Freedman/the Justice. Design: Robyn Spector/the Justice.

18

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

●

THE JUSTICE

POP CULTURE

INSIDE ON CAMPUS

18-19

■ ‘Iron Cross’ Director Joshua Newton and lead actor Alexander Newton came to Brandeis to screen the film ‘Iron Cross’ and hold a question-and-answer session.

19

19 ■ Music Open Mic The Music department put on the first of its Open Mic performances last Friday in the Slosberg Recital Hall with pieces played by Music majors, graduate students and professors.

OFF CAMPUS

20-24

20 ■ ‘Wicked’ Reviewed “The defining musical of the decade” comes to Boston Opera House to woo the audience with its marvelous majesty and exquisite vocal talent as part of Broadway Across America. 21 ■ Halo: Reach A look into the fourth first-person shooter in the Halo series that examines gameplay, graphics and multiplayer updates. 22 ■ Flour Bakery + Café This delicious restaurant and bakery offers many award-winning sweet treats that are worth the trip into Boston. 23 ■ ‘The Town’ Review Ben Affleck wrote, starred in and directed this Boston-centric film that is filled with star power and an engaging plotline.

CALENDAR

INTERVIEW by Shelly Shore

They may not be American citizens, but the Beckhams know their way around the American legal system. If you wandered by a newsstand this week, the cover of In Touch magazine may have caught your eye at it proclaimed that David Beckham had cheated on his wife of 11 years, Victoria Beckham, with a $10,000-per-night prostitute. On Sept. 22, a rep for the couple told UsMagazine.com that the prostitute’s allegations (which include, but are not limited to, a threesome and unprotected sex) “are completely untrue and totally ridiculous, as the magazine was clearly told before publication.” Yes, you heard correctly. David Beckham sent warnings to Bauer Media (the owner of In Touch), saying that if the magazine cover was published as planned, he would take legal action. The warning was ignored, and now Beckham is demanding a retraction of the cover and an apology from the magazine, and he is planning to sue the magazine for defamation and slander. According to the Guardian, the documents are still awaiting Beckham’s signature but will demand that the magazine print a retraction on the front page of its next issue. Beckham’s legal assault will allegedly hit both the United States and Germany, where the magazine is also published. While he is mildly restricted because the allegations of infidelity were not posted on the In Touch website, the claims were widely reported in newspapers in the United Kingdom and have led to further frustration on Beckham’s part. Beckham’s reps are also looking to sue the woman behind the claims, Irma Nici. She describes herself on her website as the “world’s most sought-after call girl,” but apparently she called herself a little too highly this time.

Cultural clubs band together for Wong Fu ■ Lina Bui ’13, co-president of

Southeast Asia Club, e-mailed with justArts about bringing Wong Fu Productions to Brandeis on Oct. 17.

DAVID MCNEW/The Associated Press

MARRIAGE MALICE: Speculation of David Beckham’s infidelity arose this week. “Sadly, we live in a world where a magazine can print lies and believe they can get away with it,” a rep for Beckham told UsMagazine.com. “We are taking legal action against the magazine.” The source went on to say that David, 35, and Victoria, 36, will definitely “fight this. They’re fed up with people trying to tear them apart. Their love is strong.” The couple was recently spotted out at their local park with their three sons, enjoying the brief time together that their busy schedules often deny them. They looked pretty happy to me. Nice try, Ms. Nici.

What’s happening in Arts on and off campus

ON CAMPUS EVENTS OK Go with the Postelles Tickets haven’t sold out yet, but students wanting to see OK Go this weekend should pick them up as soon as possible at the Shapiro Campus Center. The alternative rock band, whose new music video for “White Knuckles” has already garnered over 4 million hits on YouTube, will be launching a North American tour that promotes its 2010 album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, right after coming to Brandeis. In an interview with justArts last week, Bassist Tim Nordwind called the group’s new video “the best we’ve ever made”—trumping the viral “Here it Goes Again” video that featured choreography on treadmills and the elaborate, Rube Goldberg-inspired video for “This Too Shall Pass.” The full interview, which was featured in the previous issue of the Justice, can be found online at thejusticeonline.com. The Postelles, a pop-rock group that combines 1950s and Motown sounds with a modern, gritty New York texture, will open for OK Go. The band has opened for artists such as Kings of Leon and Vampire Weekend and has played in major festivals, including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and SXSW. Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Shapiro Gym in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. Doors open at 7 p.m. Students will be able to purchase one advance ticket for $10 with a Brandeis ID at the Shapiro Box Office. All additional tickets, online tickets, tickets purchased for off campus, as well as tickets purchased after 6 p.m. on Saturday are $15.

Brandeis Theater Company’s ‘Three Sisters’ The Brandeis Theater Company presents Anton Chekov’s enduring classic about a family’s dreams and the fragile ties that hold it together. Tracy Letts, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning author of August: Osage County, has created a compelling new adaptation of Chekhov’s 1900 drama. Irina, Masha and Olga long to find grace in the modern world and return to the happiness they knew as children in their native Moscow. Directed by Prof. Adrianne Krstansky (THA) with guest artists Janet Morrison and Craig Mathers. Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Spingold Theater Center through Oct. 10. Tickets are $20 general admission, $10 for Brandeis students and $15 for the members of the Brandeis community and alumni.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGH ROAD TOURING

MUSIC EXCITEMENT: OK Go will be coming to the Gosman Sports and Convocation center on Saturday to headline the highly-anticipated annual fall concert put on by Student Events. Fingered Dawn.” Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall with a preconcert reception at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 general admission and $15 for seniors and students. Purchase at the door or online at Dinosaur Annex’s website, www.dinosaurannex.org/ticketinfo.html.

‘Passionately Modern: Music for Cello and Piano after World War II’ Lydian String Quartet cellist Prof. Joshua Gordon (MUS) and pianist Randall Hodgkinson revisit the modernist era of chamber music in an afternoon concert brought to you by the Music department. The duo, dubbed by The New York Times as “admirable chamber musicians who play with passion and sensitivity,” will bring balance, harmony and rhythmic precision to Benjamin Britten’s Sonata in C major, Op. 65 (1961); Gunther Schuller’s Duo Concertante (1946); and Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata in C major, Op. 119 (1949). Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Tickets are $20 for general admission; $10 at the door for seniors, Brandeis community members and alumni; and $5 for Brandeis students. Order online at go.brandeis.edu/ brandeistickets or by calling (781) 736-3400.

Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble Boston’s premier contemporary-classical music group, the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, is passionately dedicated to presenting the finest music by living composers under the artistic direction of Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin and Brandeis’s own Prof. Yu-Hui Chang (MUS). The all-premiere program includes “Wick” by Pulitzer Prize winner Melinda Wagner; Carlos SanchezGutierrez’s “Trio-Variations,” inspired by Paul Klee’s “twittering machines”; the kaleidoscopic “Little Bits” by Stacy Garrop, Keeril Makan’s explosive “2” and Andrew Waggoner’s Katrina-related “Soon, the Rosy-

MusicUnitesUS fall 2010 residency: Lamine Touré and Group Saloum In 2 weeks, Boston-based Afro-pop band Group Saloum will take residence at Brandeis for a series of class lectures, workshops and performances. Presented by the MusicUnitesUS Intercultural Residency Series, the 4-day event will end with a concert on Saturday, Oct. 16 titled “Bàkk to the Future.” Founded by Senegalese percussionist Lamine Touré, Group Saloum fuses the infectious rhythms of Touré’s sabar drums with elements of jazz, funk, reggae and Afrobeat.

Lamine Touré is widely recognized as one of Senegal’s leading percussionists, using the Senegalese mbalax style and touring Africa, Europe and North America. Touré’s global experience inspired him to create a new style of Afro-mbalax music, incorporating the diverse musical influences he encountered during his travels. Upon settling in Boston in 2001, Touré began to search for musicians who would help realize his inspiration and eventually formed Group Saloum. The residency will take place Oct. 13 to 16. Information and the full schedule can be found at musicunitesus.info/schedulefall2010.html.

OFF CAMPUS EVENTS Broadway Across America, Boston presents ‘Rock of Ages’ Rock of Ages, the five-time Tony Awardnominated musical, will be coming to Boston in a limited 2-week engagement. The classic rock-inspired show will star Tony Award nominee, American Idol finalist and Boston Conservatory graduate Constantine Maroulis as Drew, a role that has received critical success in Broadway. In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small-town girl met a big-city dreamer and fell in love to the greatest songs of the ’80’s. Big hair meets big dreams in this love story told through the hit songs of iconic rockers Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, Boston favorite Extreme and many more. Premieres Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. in Boston’s Colonial Theatre at 106 Boylston St., running until Sunday, Oct. 17. Tickets can be found online at ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 982-2787. For ticket prices, schedules and information, visit BAA’s website at www.broadwayacrossamerica.com/boston.

With over 400,000 subscribers and nearly 40 million upload views on its YouTube channel, Wong Fu Productions has become one of the prominent Asian-American voices on the internet. The group’s comedy shorts like Yellow Fever make fun of modern social stereotypes and, intentionally or not, bring cultural issues surrounding Asian Americans to a mainstream audience. Members Philip Wang, Wesley Chan and Ted Fu will be coming to campus with the help of Lina Bui ’13 and other leaders of Brandeis’ cultural clubs. JustArts: How did you become familiar with Wong Fu Productions? Lina Bui: I became familiar with Wong Fu Productions a few years ago. My friend shared a video with me called Just a Nice Guy. This short film came in three parts at different times. After watching the first part, I was hooked. It was absolutely hilarious. That was about 3 years ago, and I have been keeping up with their updates ever since. JA: What has the process been like in getting Wong Fu to Brandeis? LB: Trying to get Wong Fu Productions to Brandeis has been very exciting. Since the first e-mail, I couldn’t wait for the day that they would finally come here. I’ve watched all of their shorts and video blogs about their college tours over the past few years, and to think they they will come here and share their story with everyone is amazing. At times, the process was definitely frustrating. Whether it was waiting for e-mails from WFP, from possible sponsors or from venue coordinators, not knowing if a problem was going to come up was intimidating. But overall, I am very glad I was able to be part of coordinating such a great event. JA: What kinds of collaboration have been involved in organizing the event so far? LB: For this event, we have four clubs involved: Southeast Asia Club, the Brandeis Chinese Cultural Connection, the Brandeis Asian American Student Association, and the Korean Student Association. With the help of these clubs, we were able to contact many departments and talk to a lot of different people who are willing to help us. Director of the Intercultural Center Monique Gnanaratnamhas been a great support in helping us find a venue. Elaine Wong from the Dean of Arts and Science Program has been supporting us and helping us with any troubles we may have along the way. We have also contacted the Women and Genders Studies department, the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance, and the Student Union. For off-campus contacts, I have been able to contact Northeastern University students—who are also experiencing the same pressures of planning an event for Wong Fu Productions—to ask for advice and to plan travel arrangements for Wong Fu Productions to come to Brandeis on Oct. 17. It actually worked out great, since they are coming to Brandeis while staying at Northeastern, so we did not have to request any funding regarding housing from the Student Union Finance Board. JA: What should Brandeis students expect for the event? LB: The event is going to be pretty awesome. Brandeis students will get a chance to see new short films from Wong Fu Productions as well as being able to ask them questions. After the presentation, everyone will get a chance to meet Wong Fu Productions one-on-one at the Meet & Greet, where they can talk to the guys, ask for an autograph and take a picture with them! JA: What are you most excited about with the event? LB: For this event, I’m most excited to meet the boys of Wong Fu Productions—Philip Wang, Wesley Chan and Ted Fu–—in person. After watching them online for so long, I feel as if I know them. It’s easy to sense their sincerity in their videos, and that’s what makes me want to get to know them more. But I’m also excited to see this event finally happen. The planning for this event began last spring, around early June. With long months of waiting for e-mails, worrying about finances and making sure we sell enough tickets, I already know that once this event is over, I will be proud of everyone that helped in the process of getting Wong Fu Productions here. It seemed like a long shot last spring, but in a matter of weeks, the boys will be here, and the show will begin! —Wei-Huan Chen

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ON CAMPUS MOVIE

Filmmaker gets personal in ‘Iron Cross’ ■ ‘Iron Cross’ and its stars

come to Brandeis for an exclusive film screening. By ALEX DESILVA JUSTICE STAFF WRITER Even though it was shown a week ago, I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that Brandeis was able to screen Roy Scheider’s last film—the one he died while making—Iron Cross. The man was a legend, plain and simple. He is famous for starring in The French Connection, All That Jazz, and of course, Jaws (as Amity police chief Martin Brody). Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIST), who organized the screening, made this all the more important when she reminded the audience that Scheider had actually attended the SunDeis Film Festival only a few years ago. Now, things came full circle with the screening of Iron Cross at the Wasserman Cinematheque. By no means is this all about Scheider, despite the gushing in the previous paragraph. Even without Scheider, Iron Cross has a compelling back story. In a question-and-answer session after the film, director Joshua Newton said it started when his father, Bruno, told him of how he escaped from the Nazis at age 13, losing the rest of his family in the Holocaust. Bruno had not told anybody about this for most of his life, and Joshua was floored when he learned about what his father had gone through. With this knowledge, the younger Newton asked himself what would happen if his father could confront the people responsible for this. What would his father do, and what would he do himself? Iron Cross was made to answer that question. Unfortunately, Bruno Newton never got to see the end result. Like Scheider, he died during production, oddly enough of multiple myeloma, the same disease that would take Scheider’s life only nine months later. So here we have a deeply personal movie—the last one Roy Scheider would be in and one that also won Newton the Visionary Filmmaker award at the Boston Film Festival. With that in mind, I should have liked this movie. The audience did; the

GENEVIEVE ARMSTRONG/the Justice

FAMILY TIES: Joshua Newton, the writer/director/editor of the film ‘Iron Cross,’ sits beside Alexander Newton, his son and star of the film, in a question-and-answer session. judges at the Boston Film Festival did; even my editor did—but I didn’t. My first hangup isn’t so much on the story but on how it’s told. The plot is simple enough to follow: ex-cop Joseph (Scheider) is visiting his estranged son Ronnie (Scott Cohen), who’s living in Nuremburg with his non-Jewish wife and kids, two points that Joseph has a hard time forgiving him for. Once there, he realizes that Ronnie’s neighbor (Helmut Berger) bears a striking resemblance to the Nazi officer who killed his family and becomes obsessed with the idea of vengeance. This is intercut with flashbacks of a

teenaged Joseph (Alexander Newton, the director’s son, whose skill keeps the casting from being written off as nepotism) as he escapes the Wehrmacht and joins with Soviet partisans. It’s not too complicated on paper, but it doesn’t really pan out on the screen. The most glaring problem is the pacing. The scenario constantly jumps between modern Joseph and young Joseph, giving the audience no time to get a feel of what either character is like. If anything, there’s too little time with the older Joseph. The flashbacks happen with such frequency that they begin to lose their importance to the

plot. If the present had been given more attention, I think the characters would also make a bit more sense. Ronnie spends his time throughout the movie either yelling at Joseph or helping him plan his revenge, sometimes doing both simultaneously. He helps his father steal a truck and plot the cross-border kidnapping of an old man but argues with him the whole way, never stopping to think what might happen if, say, the police find them. Remember, this is a man with a wife and children to support, willing to risk it all after spending two days with his father. Despite Newton calling it a psy-

chological thriller, there really wasn’t enough attention paid to the characters’ minds. Outside of Joseph’s toofrequent flashbacks, we have no clue what is happening in their heads. Honestly, this is my big problem with the movie. Newton says they’re still re-editing it, and who knows? Maybe that’ll tie everything together. The performers are all at least competent, with Scheider and Newton standing out. The director definitely has a connection to the material, and the plot itself isn’t bad. I’m hoping it just needs that one final tweak to make the whole thing work.

MUSIC

Slosberg’s Open Mic showcases musical talent ■ Music students, majors

and professors play the first Open Mic of the semester. By TAYLOR BAKER JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The first adjective that comes to mind when I think back on the Open Mic event this past Friday is “remarkable.” The event was laid-back, unassuming and intimate despite the stately venue it was in. What was Open Mic, exactly? It was an hour-anda-half long event that was held at the Slosberg Music Center this past Friday and hosted by Concert Program Manager Shawna Kelley (MUS). I suppose I’ve romanticized open mic events from watching far too many movies—I’ve always imagined them taking place in beaten-up coffeehouses with round tables and a huge stage with a drummer in the back ready to assist a spoken-word poet. In actuality, this event took place in the Slosberg Recital Hall, with rows of chairs that ascended toward the entrance, and, unfortunately, no poets recited any verses, but there was an abundance of talented musicians. So, initially the event was a bit different than I had anticipated; but this notion was quickly forgotten once it started. As I walked into the hall, the first thing I saw was this huge, abstract organ on the stage. Second, I saw the stage. It had all of the fixings: a piano, guitar stands, amps, music stands and the stellar organ. The event, consisting of 11 acts, began promptly. Before the

LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU/the Justice

STRUMMING AWAY: Peter Lane (GRAD) performs an assertive original piece during the Open Mic in Slosberg Recital Hall last Friday. first act even began, honestly, I was a bit scared that since the venue was so spacious, all of the performances would feel lost in the space of the empty seats, which would be a shame, since the performances were great. But as the first performer, Paul Martin ’11, went onstage, looked up toward the back of the hall and said, “This is impressive,” my fears were immediately assuaged, and I knew it would be a great time of sharing music without judgment or reservation. Martin, in a pink Brandeis Superfan tee, performed

a more traditional, understated cello piece that eased the audience into the Open Mic. There were also a number of other fantastic instrumental performances. Alexander Lang (GRAD) performed a piano piece, and Prof. Eric Chasalow (MUS), who playfully said that when he was younger, “All [he] wanted to do … was play a guitar,” performed a guitar solo. Daesik Cha (GRAD) performed pianist Franz Liszt’s “Dream of Love,” a piece I particularly enjoyed because of Cha’s acute movements and sense of

control over the keys. In addition to the instrumental acts, there were some real standout performances that included just a voice and a guitar. The first came from Drew Flanagan (GRAD), who performed three songs: Devendra Banhart’s “The Body Breaks” and two original songs titled “Over the Hill” and “Island Song.” All three were sung timidly and earnestly, but Flanagan’s two original songs stood out the most. “Over the Hill,” a reserved love song, was calming and reminded me of a sunny day.

“Island Song” was also on the slower side, but it gradually built into a solo that matched the turmoil conveyed in yearning for a woman. The song ended on a bittersweet note as Flanagan sang, “I am an island in your lake, a den about to break.” Another strong performance came courtesy of Peter Lane (GRAD), who performed earlier with fellow grad student Andrew Davis, Chasalow and his wife, Barbara Cassidy. Lane played two original songs: “Take Me Inside” and “Dreaming in Color.” The songs were quick and assertive, but the content of the songs remained emotionally sensitive, as they were clearly addressed to a significant other who is changing him for the better. Other acts included a really fun, medieval-sounding opera piece performed by Jared Field ’11 and Amelia Lavranchuk ’12, who were using Open Mic as an opportunity to practice for their semester-end recital; an original song by Ellie Ann ’12, titled “Hopeless Woman” (which can be found on iTunes); a haunting original song titled “In My Dreams” by Jennifer Edwards ’13; and a unique a cappella performance by Frances Noone (GRAD), who sang two Irish folk songs titled “Fields of Athenry” and “Through the Fair.” Open Mic was a memorable event. It was an hour and a half well spent listening to rousing performances that were offered so willingly. I felt honored to hear the performers’ innermost thoughts and feelings and to experience the talent they had to offer. If you have the opportunity, I suggest you go to the Music department’s next Open Mic event on Oct. 22.

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THE JUSTICE

OFF CAMPUS THEATER

Understudies steal the show in ‘Wicked’

■ Currently playing at the

Boston Opera House, the Tony Award-winning ‘Wicked’ is an interesting tale with catchy tunes. By BRYAN PRYWES JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Recently, The New York Times named Wicked “the defining musical of the decade.” It has played for over 12.5 million people throughout the United States and has permanent international productions in London, Japan, Australia and Germany, with plans to open a Dutch production in 2011. In fact, the show is so popular that this is the third time it has come to Boston. Wow. On those statistics alone, you know this show has got to be incredible—and it is. For anyone who has not heard of Wicked or has simply been on a deserted island for the past decade, it is a musical reimagining of The Wizard of Oz that tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch were friends before Dorothy arrived in Oz. Before this production, I had seen the show three times on Broadway, each time different than the one before it. But that’s the thing about Wicked; you find that you don’t mind seeing it again and again. Each time I have seen it has presented me with a totally different experience, and I end up realizing something that I had not have noticed previously. This time, I was even more excited to see the show than in the past: I have had the good fortune of seeing Wicked so many times on Broadway, but I had never before seen the na-

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARISA WOHL

HARMONIOUS CHORUS: The chorus of Oz sings during the musical ‘Wicked,’ currently playing at the Boston Opera House. tional tour. To make the occasion particularly monumental, I decided that this time around, I would go for the full experience and try to get tickets via lottery; at $25 a ticket for firstand second-row orchestra seats, who can resist? Unfortunately, I didn’t win the lottery. However, I still managed to find tickets at the box office for a fairly manageable price. All part of the experience, right? After this minor setback, it was time to enjoy the show. With the exception of a few minor microphone glitches in the earlier portions of the show (typical of many touring productions using foreign sound systems), I cannot help but quote lyrics from the show when I

say, “I couldn’t be happier.” I was fortunate to go on a night when two understudies were playing two of the lead roles. I say “fortunate” rather than “unfortunate” because though understudies do not get nearly as much stage time as the actors who permanently play the roles, when they do finally get the chance to step out from the ensemble into the spotlight, they put every last ounce of energy that they have into making sure that this is their moment to shine—and this time was no exception. Lauren Ashley Zakin, the understudy for Galinda (Glinda’s name in college, before she changed it), managed to bring a new sense of spunki-

ness to her character that was unlike anyone I had ever seen. Her portrayal was even more melodramatic than Kristin Chenoweth’s original interpretation, as unbelievable as that may seem; and yet, combined with her impeccable sense of comic timing, she managed to shed new light on such an iconic character. Bud Weber, understudy for Fiyero (the popular rebel at Shiz University), carried such tunes as “Dancing Through Life” with lightness, flair and just the right touches of arrogance and humility. Weber’s only flaw seemed to be that he looked so much younger than his co-stars, when in fact, the recent Boston Conservatory graduate was closest to the

appropriate age of a college student. And how was the title character, you ask? Jackie Burns’ portrayal of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch’s actual name) was visually, vocally and emotionally stunning. Each of her songs outdid the ones before. Her version of the iconic song “Defying Gravity” was the perfect conclusion to Act I. Where she really shined, however, was in one of Elphaba’s lesser solo songs, “No Good Deed.” It was by far the best version of the song I have ever seen or heard. Burns brought a sense of soul to the song that I never imagined possible. Additional noteworthy supporting cast members are Michelle London, whose powerhouse voice shined in what few songs she had as Nessarose (Elphaba’s sister), and Gene Weygandt, whose humble portrayal of the Wizard was a wonderful homage to the Joel Grey original. I find it equally important to mention the spectacular design elements of the production which truly capture the feeling and environment of Wicked’s Oz, including Susan Hilferty’s and Eugene Lee’s Tony Award-winning costume and set designs, respectively, and even more so how much of the spectacular original set this production was able to fit on tour. As the curtain fell and the cast members took their bows, I looked behind me to find the entire audience on its feet giving the cast a standing ovation. This was my fourth time seeing the show, and due to this performance, I can’t wait to see it again. Whether you have seen this show as many times as I have (or more) or if you’ve been meaning to see it, get over to Boston Opera House before Oct. 17 and see Wicked before it’s too late!

THE JUSTICE

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MUSIC

BeanTown jazz thrives on outdoor stage ■ The final day of the

Berklee BeanTown Festival was filled with sunshine and many great performances. By ALEXANDER PAGAN JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

One could not have asked for a better day to listen to jazz in Boston. Warm weather, clear skies—you can almost picture the Berklee BeanTown Festival’s organizers rubbing their hands together in delight. Last Saturday saw the end of the 10th iteration of Berklee’s annual festival, the celebration concluding with a free outdoor music festival on the streets of Boston. The event took place on a blocked-off segment of Columbus Avenue, just down the street from the Berklee College of Music. It featured three stages of great acts, vendors of all sorts and more delicious-smelling food than any sane person could reasonably ask for. The central motif of this year’s festival was the music of New Orleans— you know, the place from whence jazz came—and NOLA acts were featured on all three stages. The festival did, however, have great breadth in its offerings, providing something satisfying for nearly any lover of blues, R&B or jazz. Since musicians were playing simultaneously on each of the three stages, the festival-goers were faced with some difficult decisions: See guitar phenomenon Julian Lage or saxophone luminaries Greg Osby and Mark Turner? See R&B songwriter Al Kooper and his tight blues band or young New Orleans pianist Jon Batiste? In all, over 15 acts were featured over 6 hours, including a traditional-style marching jazz band that could be found traversing Columbus Avenue. Though the laws of physics and Saturday morning sleepiness dictated that your dutiful correspondent could only see some of these acts, the acts that I did see were all quite strong. The standout act of the day for the guitar nerds in the audience was Julian Lage’s trio. Lage, a 23-year-old wunderkind, played a compelling mix of jazz, folk and blues with acoustic bassist Jorge Roeder and extraordinary hand percussionist Tupac Mantilla. The group, which is a pared-down version of Lage’s quintet, defied the limitations of the acoustic guitar trio format—it’s hard to fill up all that sound without an amplifier or drumset!—and delivered an extremely communicative, dynamic performance. After opening with a few Julian Lage Group standards, Lage treated the audience to some yet unnamed music from the group’s upcoming second album, which is due in

PHOTO COURTESY OF LIZ BURG

MOVING TO THE BEAT: A group of drummers leads people down the streets of Boston as a part of the vast outdoor festivities last Saturday at the BeanTown festival. the spring. Lage’s broad musical background showed throughout as he blended traditional gypsy jazz with Americana, interspersed modern jazz lines with driving Latin percussion and guided the group with his unique interpretation of Western harmony. The group, while very well-rehearsed, was also exploratory and spontaneous. At one point, percussionist Mantilla abandoned his drumset and played an entire song on Roeder’s upright bass, coaxing a wide variety of percussive noises out of the instrument as Lage and Roeder played through the tune, amused but undistracted by the change in instrumentation. Lage’s performance made it abundantly clear that he is a musician to watch—not only for guitar nerds, but for anyone who enjoys great American music in all of its possible permutations. Another highlight for jazz fans was the performance of Jon Batiste’s trio. Batiste, another young musician, is a member of a prominent New Orleans musical family. He was initiated into the local music scene as a percussionist in the Batiste Brothers Band but switched to piano at age 12. His music is deeply rooted in New Orleans tradi-

tion, but at the same time very relevant. His oeuvre at the festival included traditional stride piano, beautiful classically inflected interludes and more typical contemporary jazz. As he moved between these various forms, Batiste also made the experience more accessible to the audience by augmenting the tunes with his soulful voice. He also engaged the audience directly, playing snippets of melodies on the melodica (a handheld keyboard instrument with a reedy sound similar to a harmonica’s) for the audience to echo back. In addition to playing wonderful music, Batiste’s performance illustrated one of the central goals of the festival: to reacquaint people with the rich history of jazz within a modern context. Batiste did exactly that. He gathered a crowd of young Americans—a group that is increasingly obsessed with novelty— and demonstrated to them the value of drawing upon the past. Apart from the two stages held on Columbus Avenue, there was a stage set in an adjacent park. The park was assembled with various inflatable structures with which the children present could play. The whole area was sponsored by Target and included

a “musical petting zoo,” at which children could examine and play a wide variety of musical instruments first hand. Though the area was garishly decorated with hundreds of red and white bullseyes, the kids seemed to thoroughly enjoy the opportunities offered—especially the open drum circle in the middle of the park. The Target stage featured R&B-based acts such as Nona Hendryx and Gabrielle Goodman. These acts provided strong performances, offering a modern interpretation of gospel music, all while drawing from blues, jazz and rock. The bands were large and rhythmically solid, and the performers interacted well with the audience. There was even an educational aspect present: Nona Hendryx’s act included an interlude in which she taught the audience some French via the venerable pick-up line “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” which was popularized through the song “Lady Marmalade” that she recorded as part of the group Labelle in the mid-’70s. Translation is left to the reader as an exercise. Blues fans also had a few strong options, including Al Kooper’s organbased blues band and the zydeco-influenced Boogaloo Swamis.

Perhaps one could say that the festival’s greatest weakness was also its greatest strength—it offered so much at once that it was hard to settle on what to do. One could spend an hour or two perusing all of the wonderful culinary options—Jamaican jerk chicken, Thai wraps, grilled corn, various curries, etc.—but that would mean missing at least one good musical act. It’s not surprising that the turnout was so strong. One beleaguered Ocean Spray associate, on break from handing out free samples, estimated that there were between 80,000 and 100,000 folks in attendance. To put this in perspective, that is between one-eighth and one-sixth of the population of Boston itself on one segment of its streets. If you doubt the accuracy of such a claim, last year’s official estimate was 80,000 people: Given the quality of the weather, I would not be surprised if this year’s total was even greater. As the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival turns 10 years old, one can only hope that it will continue to attract excellent performers as well as jazz fans in decades to come, as it offers world-class music to anyone who’s willing to take the time to listen to it.

GAMES

Halo: Reach defines a new era of video gameplay ■ The newest game in the

Halo series is a success with updated graphics and an enhanced multiplayer mode. By BRYAN FLATT JUSTICE EDITOR

Before I delve into my review of Halo: Reach, the newest (and most-anticipated) game of 2010, I want to be clear that I am by no means a gamer. While I do enjoy video games, my Xbox 360 has been the only console I’ve ever personally owned, and ever since my family bought our now-defunct Sega Genesis of my yesteryears, only the presence of a rarely played Nintendo Wii graces our basement. The result of said gaming experience (or lack thereof) should warn any serious gamers that this is a review for the casual gamers—those of us who enjoy the escape to the virtual world of video games for an hour or two to break from real life. I do have a connection with the Halo series, though, as Halo 3 was the first game I ever owned/played on my Xbox and Halo 3: ODST—the (not-so-) small game/multiplayer expansion that tided gamers over until Reach—was the first

brand-new game I bought. Needless to say, I was pretty anxious to see what Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios had in store for their fourth (well, technically sixth, if you include Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars) full first-person shooter. As the game loaded in my Xbox, I could already tell why Halo: Reach has been so anticipated. The sheer image quality and expansiveness of the landscapes during the short opening sequence—one that most players glance over without a thought—immediately set the bar at an all-time high from all my previous game experiences. While Halo 3 and ODST were quality games, nothing can beat the clearly upgraded graphic engines of Reach: everything from the trees, to shadows, to pop-machines are intractable and beautifully constructed. And don’t even get me started on the cut scenes. I’ve seen feature-length movies that don’t have as realistic-looking CGI as Reach. Space setting aside, I think many people could be fooled at first glance that they weren’t watching an advanced motioncapture animated movie. Aside from the graphics, the game play is beyond superb. The plotline was engaging and kept me interested and on the edge of my seat throughout the entire game. One thing to be wary of is

that this game is a prequel to the original game for the Xbox. Because this is a prequel to the original game (Halo: Combat Evolved), hardcore Halo fans may be disappointed, as they already know how the game will end before they even begin. Regardless, as Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said, “Life is a journey, not a destination,” and there are a whole lot of new destinations to explore. While I don’t know the exact count, Halo: Reach provides gamers with a whole slew of new maps in both singleand multiplayer modes that will keep even the most seasoned Halo veterans on their toes. With levels that twist and turn; expansive terrain that can be interacted with more than ever; and lots of jumps, gravity lifts and motor vehicles, there is enough material to keep you occupied for hours. And speaking of hours, in statistics just released by Bungie, it was announced that since the game’s release only two weeks ago, over 70 million online matches were played, with players putting in nearly 6,000 years (no, that is not a typo) of time into the game, earning a grand total of 165 billion credits to spend on new armor. It’s no wonder the game made $200 million in its first day of release—one of the biggest entertainment industry releases ever.

Though it looks good and sounds good, what really differentiates Halo: Reach from Halo 3? The answer is quite a lot. Unlike the game maker Electronic Arts, which is constantly criticized for spitting out yearly, minimally updated clones of their popular sports franchises, Reach not only improves but totally innovates the already successful formula of Halo 3. Now included are reusable armor abilities (that range from a static ghost copy to jetpacks) instead of the one-use power-ups; new weapons; and improved old weapons, such as the effective-but-annoying needler; and an updated Forge, also known as the level editor. A friend of mine was so excited about the level editor that he spent literally half of a day creating the perfect levels, including a “beer-pong” level where players had to use gravity lifts to try and land into opposing “cups” while the other player attempts to defend; needless to say, it is a lot of good, clean fun to play. Multiplayer mode is where Halo truly shines, and that, too, has been greatly improved. Gone is the old level veto system that involved luck of the draw, and in its place is a multiplechoice level formula that allows players the chance to vote for the level they want the most out of a sample size. Also improved are game lobby waiting

times and overall server speed. My favorite feature of the new multiplayer mode takes a page out of Call of Duty’s notebook with player classes called loadouts which allow for players to pick a predetermined choice of weapons and armor abilities right before spawning. This finally puts a tactical aspect to the randomness of online game play. The whole experience just runs much smoother. What is clear about Halo: Reach is that it helps define and reinforce the entertainment era we are in now—the era of the video games. If the recordbreaking sales haven’t proven that, play Reach for a couple minutes and it will. These are no longer just “games”—I consider that label now only applicable to online casual games and iPod touch fun—but playable interactive cinematic experiences. From the beautifully intense, hauntingly composed orchestra soundtrack to the intricately constructed level maps and cut scene, to the detailed, fun and engaging game play, Halo: Reach is on the pinnacle of modern technology. While I can only wait to see what the next game will bring, for now I highly recommend taking a quick trip to planet Reach, as it certainly serves as a marvelously constructed release from the workday stressors of Earth.

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THE JUSTICE

DELECTABLE DESSERTS

FOOD

Bringing back Irish flair with two authenic age-old stouts ■ To commemorate the

251st anniversary of the Guinness Brewery, justBeer looks at some Irish stouts. By DOUGLAS MOORE JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLOUR BAKERY

TASTY TARTS: The Milky Way tart is just one of many delicious desserts at Flour.

Flour bakes up tasty pastries ■ Flour Bakery + Café is

worth the trip to Boston with award-winning sticky buns among other menu items. By ERIC CHOW JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

There is nothing better in the world than starting the day with a trip to a good bakery. The aroma hits you when you first walk through the door, stirring a craving that feels so natural and elementary to the basic desire for nourishment. You may feel, in the moment, that if all you had to eat for the rest of your life was fresh bread and pastries, you would be satisfied. Joanne Chang, the head pastry chef and owner of Flour Bakery + Café, would probably share my sentiments: One year after graduating from Harvard, she realized that she needed to be around food and left her job as a management consultant to join the restaurant world. She ended up becoming the pastry chef for several high-end restaurants in Boston and New York before starting her own bakery in Boston’s South End in 2000. In the last three years, she has significantly expanded, opening another Flour in the Fort Point/Waterfront area and a Chinese restaurant, Myers + Chang (named for herself and her husband and business partner, Christopher Myers) right down the street from the original Flour in the South End. This summer, a third Flour opened in Cambridge, a few blocks south of Central Square. Whenever I’ve visited any of these locations, they have always been packed, and Chang’s signature pastry, the sticky bun, has almost always been sold out. If you watch the Food Network, you may have seen this sticky bun before when it was put up to one of the ultimate challenges on food Television: a “throwdown” in which the Food Network star chef Bobby Flay challenges other chefs to a surprise cook-off or bake-off with their signature dishes in front of a crowd and panel of judges. A crowd of Harvard students convened at the Fort Point location for the event to cheer Chang on as the two “battled.” After a round of sampling by the audience and judges, Chang was declared the winner. This did not come as a surprise; after having had a few of her sticky buns myself, I know that these are by far the best that I’ve ever had.

A sticky bun is simply a cinnamon roll with a layer of light caramel (or “goo,” as Chang calls hers) on top, with origins likely in the first Dutch settlements in Pennsylvania. They are made by spreading the bottom of a baking pan with the caramel and other toppings, most commonly raisins and chopped pecans, and then placing the individual cinnamon rolls on top and leaving them to rise. After they have doubled in size, the buns are ready to be baked, and they stay in the oven until the caramel has turned a deep, amber brown. When the buns are done cooking, the pan is flipped upside-down so that the buns come out right-side up, with the caramel on top. One of the most common problems with sticky buns is that the caramel is over or under-baked. When baked for too long, the caramel gets hard and requires a steak knife to cut through it, or extreme tenacity and durable teeth. When underdone, a deep caramel flavor fails to develop. The buns at Flour seem to always be spot on, with a deep, satisfying caramel of perfect consistency; they are very soft, gooey and easy to bite into. The recipe can be found online: the secret to the “goo” is a blend of brown sugar, honey, cream, water, salt and plenty of butter. The other pastries at Flour can be hit or miss. The few misses include the chocolate chip cookie, which was dull and flat in flavor, and the maple oat scone, which was dry and lacked a meaningful amount of oats and maple icing. But the oatmeal raisin, the cornmeal lime cookies and the oreo cookies are a must, as are the chocolate cupcakes: puffy, dense and chocolatey topped with the perfect crunch, served with and fresh buttercream swirled high. But the next-best thing at Flour, aside from the sticky buns, is the filled doughnuts. Special only on Sundays, they are everything doughnuts are meant to be. They are creative in concept, like the heavenly banana cream pie, or classic, like the vanilla cream and raspberry jam, my favorites. Freshly fried donuts made with goodquality dough, glazed and filled with fresh jam—there is nothing better. Except, of course, for knowing how to make these and Flour’s other treats. Flour has its first cookbook coming out in several weeks, and in the course of writing this review, I have ordered a copy for myself. Visit Flour at flourbakery.com to find any of the three locations, and follow Chang on Twitter at @jbchang.

Last Thursday was the 251st anniversary of the Guinness Brewery in Ireland. In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a brewery in Dublin. From here came the Irish dry stout that defines the Irish people and their culture. Stouts derive their dark, bitter flavorings from roasting the malted barley until it is dark and bitter. An Irish dry is known for being a less heavy stout with a more pronounced hoppyness to it. Ireland is not known for its beer selection—usually just Guinness and a few British lagers—but rather for a lifestyle of going out to a pub and socializing with both friends and strangers over rounds and rounds of beer. The pubs are meant to be small, cozy and void of the technological distractions found in most bars today (a real Irish pub should not have a television; this is something many American copies neglect). While Guinness is not technically considered a microbrew, it still has a special place in my heart. Having studied abroad in Dublin and being of Irish ancestry, it’s something that’s become a part of me. I was in Dublin for the 250th anniversary, and it stands as one of the more memorable nights of my life. I now

will review Guinness Draught and a lesser-known counterpart in Ireland, Murphy’s. Guinness Draught This drink was poured from a 500milliliter can into a curved pint glass at refrigerated temperature. The drink poured creamy and dark; draught is made with nitrous oxide, compared to the typical carbon dioxide in most beers, which gives the drink its creamy, almost solid offwhite head. This head retains itself during the entire drink, unlike most beers that rapidly fizzle out. Appearance of the body is dark with a slight reddish-brown tint when held up to light. While the beer does not give off much of a scent, it still has a slight burnt aroma. Upon drinking, there is a mix of bitter chocolate and coffee that is accentuated by the creaminess of the nitrogen. There’s also a slight hoppy bitterness at the finish of the beer. Guinness almost tastes flat; there isn’t much fizzy buzz in the mouth, but instead a foamy, almost milk-like texture. It’s fun to sip on a Guinness and let the head form a mustache on your upper lip. While this produces an interesting texture, the flavors are not nearly as pronounced. In fact, despite its creaminess there is almost a diluted watery mouthfeel to the beer. Guinness often is thought of as a very heavy beer to the unknowledgeable, but the reality is that the color of beer doesn’t define thickness; there are other factors that make a beer thick or thin, such as the beer’s sugar content. Overall, Guinness doesn’t have much flavor, and as such I can’t really rate it that highly on my scale. However, I do hold a kind of signifi-

cance to this drink, as it was the first drink I legally consumed (as a 20year-old in Dublin), and it is probably the one beer I’ve had more than any other. It’s not the world’s greatest beer, but it is a drink that is good, makes you feel good and has an immense story behind it. If you ever find yourself on the Emerald Island for more than 5 minutes, immediately get yourself into a small pub, order up a pint, and start chatting up the locals. The Guinness is fresher there, so anything you try that’s not in Ireland will not do the experience justice. I give the beer a six out of 10. Murphy’s While Guinness is the best-known Irish stout, there are also a few smaller brands. One such brand is Murphy’s, which is brewed in Cork (the second-most-populated city in Ireland). This beer was also poured into a pint glass from a 500-milliliter can. The color and style were very much the same, as they both use nitrogen. The real difference from Guinness was in flavor. Murphy’s had a much more pronounced chocolate flavor, which finished sweet and not at all bitter. It was still very light and almost flat-tasting, but the flavors were much improved. Overall, as much of sin as it is to say this, Murphy’s is a better stout than Guinness; the flavors are better. However, Guinness holds much more popularity and is a much more important part of Irish culture. Both drinks are hundreds of times better than any American mass-produced lager. I give the beer a seven out of 10. That’s it for this week. Stay tuned next week when I talk about Oktoberfest. As they would say in Ireland, Slainte (Cheers)!

DANNY NGAN/Creative Commons

IRISH BREW: Murphy’s Irish stout surpasses the foamy, chocalately Guinness in flavor though it is significantly less popular.

THE JUSTICE

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

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MOVIE

Affleck gains new fans in ‘The Town’ ■ Ben Affleck writes, directs

and stars in ‘The Town,’ renewing faith in an actor that many fans gave up on. By AARON BERKE JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Before I saw The Town, I wasn’t very fond of Ben Affleck. I pretty much thought that he capitalized on the success of the one good movie he was involved with and then went on to do unintelligent comedies and uninspired dramas in which his presence did nothing but say “Hey, I’m Ben Affleck! I co-wrote Good Will Hunting. Ignore my chain of terrible films. Aren’t I the coolest?” But that opinion has been changed with my viewing of The Town. Not only does Affleck star and co-write, but it is also one of his first directorial gigs (Affleck previously directed Gone Baby Gone, which I have not seen, but supposedly is very good). The film is an impressive display of conflicting interests with a suspenseful and dramatic story to tell that struggles with its central character’s emotional pathos. The basic plot of the movie centers around Doug MacRay (Affleck), a bank robber with a heart. In the opening scene, he and his teammates are seen in a truck putting on their signature masks and preparing for their next hit. This hit proves successful, as the intensity amps up and they infiltrate a bank’s main office, taking hostages and forcing one of the hapless victims to open the vault. This victim is named Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), who later becomes extremely relevant to the plot. But her first appearance is used partially as a way to establish MacRay’s better character traits. As he points a gun at Claire, he puts her to the task of opening the bank vault. Sensing her overwhelming panic, he kindly tells her to take her time and breathe: pretty nice for a guy pointing a gun. From this small moment, we immediately get the sense of the type of person Doug is. After he and his teammates leave with their money, they temporarily take Claire hostage, and drop her off blindfolded at a beach. Back at their house, we now are formally introduced to Doug’s buddies: James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), the typical antithesis to Affleck’s Doug— he is a murderer and loves his job, not caring at all for the people he hurts; Albert “Gloansy” MacGloane (Slaine); and Desmond Ellen (Owen Burke). These last two characters aren’t particularly well developed, but they do their jobs nicely. Doug’s relationship with James is established here as rocky, to say the least, but the two nevertheless view each other as brothers. Speaking of siblings, complicating matters further is Krista Coughlin, (Blake Lively). She is James’ sister and the mother of a girl who may be Doug’s child, but her relationship with Doug is not particularly important. He is drawn to his former hostage, Claire, instead. Doug finds out that Claire lives four blocks from his house, a sit-

PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROTHERS

MR. NICE GUY: Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) shares a drink with the recently kidnapped Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) in a downtown Boston restaurant during ‘The Town.’ uation that becomes worrisome to James, because if she somehow recognizes him as one of her captors and informs the police, it could spell life in prison for all of them. Doug decides to keep an eye on Claire, but after she approaches him in a laundromat, the two of them wind up hitting it off, and Doug falls for her. This relationship sets in motion a series of fascinating events, as Doug and his team are mercilessly hunted by the police, at every moment increasing the difficulty of his life. He experiences pulls from both sides, setting off inner conflicts that cause him to question his entire way of living. The film’s story is expertly crafted by Affleck and co-writers Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard, setting for themselves the rather difficult task of creating a suspenseful heist movie that manages to retain an interesting and motivated central character. Doug is always fascinating, and his struggles feel real to the audience. He remains essentially a good guy, trying to find a way out of the life he has created for himself. Despite his decency, there are

some less-than-savory aspects to his character. One thing I didn’t care for was Doug’s treatment of Krista and their (perhaps) child. He seems to care very little for them, if at all, and this fact certainly detracts from his sympathetic aura. This discrepancy can probably be explained by Doug’s relationship with his mother, who apparently ran out on him and his father when he was 6 years old. His father is in prison serving a life sentence. Doug’s scene with his father in prison is very well done, with the glass between them serving as a nice metaphor for the wall Doug has built up for himself, sealing him off from his family along with caging himself into a life he cannot easily escape. Meanwhile, Affleck’s direction of the film is superb, showing a level of skill not often found with budding directors. The action pieces during the heist scenes are particularly wellcrafted, using a nice variety of angles and close-ups to escalate the tension of each scene. One standout for me was the chase scene midway through the film, where the robbers’ van crashes

its way through a series of small alleyways with the police in hot pursuit. It should be noted that I absolutely hate chase scenes. I usually find them to be boring, and they waste time that should be spent on plot development. But this scene is an exception: The alleyway chase ends with a particularly satisfying blockade of the police cars. Doug and his boys lather up their van with gasoline, lighting it ablaze and causing an explosion that effectively prevents the cops from pursuing them. Awesome stuff. The acting overall is superb. Affleck portrays a gruff, yet conflicted and beaten-down man, weary of his own existence yet helpless to find a way out of it. Again, I must stress that I never liked Affleck as an actor, but here he portrays a depth and emotional range I didn’t think was possible. Meanwhile, Hall does a great job with Claire, presenting her vulnerability and anxiety over her predicament with great believability. Renner plays the hardedged James to perfection. While not a particularly versatile performance, the character is nevertheless straight-

forward and absolutely believable as a murderous degenerate who will stop at nothing to get the job done. Jon Hamm plays FBI agent Adam Frawley, a man hot on Doug’s trail and determined to bring him and his boys to justice. While again not a particularly interesting character, Hamm portrays him to the best of his ability. Pete Postlethwhaite does a nice job as the despicable Fergie, a flower store owner who secretly runs Doug’s gang. If there’s one thing I didn’t like about the film, other than Doug’s mistreatment of his ex, it’s that the story doesn’t really break any new ground. It’s a genre and style that’s been done to death. Nevertheless, the film works extremely well with its territory, and if it doesn’t innovate, it certainly takes what it has and perfects it. Affleck deserves great praise for creating The Town. For me, his biggest accomplishment is that he managed to take an unsavory opinion such as mine and turn it completely around. I’m sure others would testify to similar opinions. Congratulations Ben: As it turns out, you really are the coolest.

MOVIE

High school rivals are reunited in ‘You Again’ ■ The star-studded film ‘You

Again’ hilariously examines what it would be like to find out your brother is marrying your high school rival. By MARIAH VORONOFF JUSTICE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

So, who really remembers high school? Who tries to repress those memories as far back as possible? Do some of you still hold grudges? What if you ran into your old high school rival 10 years down the line? You Again tells the tale of such an encounter. Public Relations whiz Marni Olsen, played by the adorable Kristen Bell ( Forgetting Sarah Marshall), has quite the conniption when she finds out that her brother

Will (James Wolk) is marrying her high school tormentor, Joanna, played by the stunning Odette Yustman (The Unborn). In case you couldn’t guess, at Ridgefield High School, Joanna was the head cheerleader and Marni was the fuzzy green alligator mascot. While Bell is one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood at the moment, she played a convincing geek with wiry hair, braces, a face full of acne and some very unfortunate glasses. Despite the torture and humiliation Marni suffered at the hands of Joanna, or J.J. as she was called back in the day, she transformed into a gorgeous PR swan from the ugly duckling, or alligator, that she was. On a comical plane ride from Los Angeles, Marni is struck in horror when she sees a photo of the “bride to be” and commences to scream at

her mother, Jamie Lee Curtis ( Freaky Friday) through a plane phone. She catches the attention of an air marshal, a cameo by America’s favorite wrestler-turned-actor (who shall not be named in efforts not to ruin the surprise), who proceeds to cuff her and act as a pseudo therapist. When Marni arrives home she realizes that she has been seemingly replaced by the effervescent Joanna who, to boot, pretends not to recognize her. Joanna has even won over the adorable, sassy Grandma Bunny played by Betty White (The Proposal). Even though Marni’s mother Gail seemed to have had it made in high school, her former “BFF,” Joanna’s aunt, Ramona, arrives for the pending nuptials. As it turns out, Ramona (Sigourney Weaver), competed with Gail for everything. Their friendship culminated at their

own senior prom with an incident concerning a swimming pool. The two high school feuds seem to mirror one another with predictable follow-through. Unfortunately, the more seasoned actors of the group, Curtis and Weaver, had the more enjoyable story line, including a scene with matching dresses reminiscent of a cheesy sitcom. In an unfortunate turn of events involving denture glue, traumatic hair cutting and an ant colony, Marni mirrors her 17-year-old self for a brief period, causing horrid memories to flood back. Like a firecracker, You Again started loud, strong and sparkly only to fizzle out towards the end, with brief mini-explosions of cheap humor here and there. Antics between rivals tended to be quite lackluster with a flare for the repetitive. The only serious character development, if we can call it that, is from

Bell, who managed to tug on those painful high school experiences that too many people can relate to. While the movie failed to hold the audience’s attention for the vast majority of its runtime, White managed to infuse her charm and wit into some very key moments, one of which includes flying across a dance studio on a silk swing while a break dance fight ensues in the background. A cameo by Kristen Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) as the wedding planner of all wedding planners seemed to fall just as short as the tiny actress. In a predictable denouement, Marni decides to get back at her bully once and for all. In order not to give away all the tantalizing details, I will just say that the ending will make you want to go and confront your former rival and give him or her a warm embrace up until the point when you realize that holding a grudge was much more pleasant.

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THE JUSTICE

TOP of the

ARTS ON VIEW

TRIVIA TIME 1. What does the Latin prefix “juxta” mean? 2. What kind of fear is represented in anthophobia? 3. What is the atomic number of hydrogen? 4. For what 1983 film did Shirley MacLaine win an Academy Award for best female actress? 5. What is the Arabic equivalent of the Roman numerals XCV? 6. Which newsman had the famous signoff line, “And that’s the way it is”? 7. What is the normal human body temperature in Celsius? 8. What was the name of Amelia Earhart’s navigator on her final ill-fated flight? 9. What is the amount in a quire? 10. What is the only U.S. state that has only one syllable in its name?

CHARTS Top 10s for the week ending Sept. 26 BOX OFFICE 1. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2. Legend of the Guardians 3. The Town 4. Easy A 5. You Again 6. Devil 7. Resident Evil: Afterlife 8. Alpha and Omega 9. Takers 10. Inception

WBRS

GLORIA PARK/the Justice

DREAM BIG: Artist Gloria Park ‘13 says of her picture: “I met these lovely children when I volunteered in a free clinic in Nicaragua last summer. The drawings are ... completed by warm memories and colored pencils. These little angels motivate me to keep pursuing my dreams.”

1. Alongside 2. A fear of flowers 3. 1 4. “Terms of Endearment” 5. 95 6. Walter Cronkite 7. 37 degrees 8. Fred Noonan 9. 25 sheets of paper 10. Maine ANSWERS

CROSSWORD

SHOWTIMES 10/1 - 10/7 The Town Fri-Sun: 1:15, 4:00, 6:50, 9:35 Mon-Thurs: 2:10, 5:00. 7:50 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Fri-Sun: 1:55, 4:50, 8:10 Mon-Thurs: 2:00, 4:50, 7:40 Easy A Fri-Sun: 2:05, 4:30, 7:20, 9:45 Mon-Thurs: 2:40, 5:10, 8:20 Inception Fri-Sun: 1:35, 4:40, 8:00 Mon-Thurs: 2:50, 7:30 The Social Network Fri-Sun: 1:25, 4:10, 7:00, 9:40 Mon-Thurs: 2:20, 5:00, 8:00 You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Fri-Sun: 1:45, 4:20, 7:10, 9:30 Mon-Thurs: 2:30, 4:50, 8:10 The Embassy is located at 18 Pine Street in Waltham

ACROSS 1. Fashion 5. Remote mail abbr. 8. Leading man? 12. Related 13. Listening device 14. Bargain 15. Easter entree 16. Blackmailer’s specialty 18. Pupil’s cover? 20. Rotational force 21. “My bad” 23. Thee 24. Emergency seat’s purpose 28. Unuttered “alas” 31. Miss Piggy’s pronoun 32. Top grade 34. Hatchery supply 35. Harmonization, briefly 37. Landlord’s threat 39. Try the tea 41. Birthright barterer 42. Subordinate official 45. Greyhound alternative 49. November event 51. Yorkshire river 52. Track star Devers 53. Twitch 54. Cambodian money 55. “Rule, Britannia” composer 56. Hearty brew 57. Break suddenly DOWN 1. Guy 2. Fine 3. Thinness comparison 4. As a whole 5. Organ component 6. Phone transmission 7. “Phooey!” 8. Houston team 9. Rum recipe 10. Matty of baseball 11. Biblical handwriting word 17. Coquettish 19. Tittle 22. Figure out 24. Type squares

1. Zola Jesus – “Night” 2. Arcade Fire – “Sprawl II” 3. Big Boi – “Daddy Fat Sax” 4. LCD Soundsystem – “Dance Yrself Clean” 5. Chromeo – “Night By Night” 6. Janelle Monáe – “Cold War” 7. The New Pornographers – “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk” 8. Stars – “I Died So I Could Haunt You” 9. The Thermals – “Power Lies” 10. Tokyo Police Club – “Breakneck Speed”

COLLEGE RADIO 1. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach 2. Broken Bells – Broken Bells 3. Joanna Newson – Have One On Me 4. Hot Chip – One Life Stand 5. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor 6. Yeasayer – Odd Blood 7. Liars – Sister World 8. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks 9. Beach House – Teen Dream 10. Spoon – Transference

BILLBOARD 1. Linkin Park – A Thousand Suns 2. Trey Songz – Passion, Pain & Pleasure 3. Eminem – Recovery 4. Jamey Johnson – The Guitar Song 5. Robert Plant – Band of Joy 6. Weezer – Hurley 7. Various Artists – NOW 35 8. Brandon Flowers – Flamingo 9. Kary Perry – Teenage Dream 10. Justin Bieber – My World 2.0 25. Bliss 26. Genius personified 27. Pest 29. Sticky stuff 30. Coop occupant 33. Con game 36. It never ends 38. Private instructors 40. Butter serving 42. Mortal Kombat maker 43. Winged 44. Pocket bread 46. Destroy 47. On the briny 48. Seaweed that gives us iodine 50. Lubricate

Album information provided by Billboard Magazine. Box office information provided by Yahoo! Movies. Radio charts provided by CMJ.

STAFF PLAYLIST

“Old and New” By ZANE RELETHFORD JUSTICE STAFF WRITER

Solution to last issue’s crossword.

King Crossword Copyright 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.

STRANGE BUT TRUE ■ It was American author and futurist Alvin Toffler who made the following sage observation: “Profits, like sausages, are esteemed most by those who know least about what goes into them.” ■ In honor of October being national pizza month, here are a few statistics: Approximately three billion pizzas are sold every year in the United States. 17 percent of all the restaurants in the country are pizzerias. If you’re like 93 percent of Americans, you eat at least one pizza every month. Pepperoni is the most popular topping, followed by sausage, mushrooms, onions and olives. And a Gallup poll found that kids between the ages of 3 and 11 would choose pizza over any other food for lunch or dinner. ■ Are you a dipsomaniac? The root of the word is from the Greek “dipso,” meaning “thirst”—and we’re all familiar with the “mania” part. “Dipsomaniac” is just a fancy name for a drunk. ■ You may be surprised to learn that 43 percent of 6to 9-year-old girls use lip gloss. Of course, if you’re a

parent of a young girl, you may not be surprised at all. ■ If you’re a professional flute player, it’s likely that your instrument is made from sterling silver, 14carat gold or platinum. ■ A newly married couple sued the upscale resort in Chile where they spent their honeymoon when a swim in the pool turned the bride’s waist-length blond hair green. ■ The oldest known skis were found, perhaps unsurprisingly, in Scandinavia. The experts say the skis were made about 4,000 years ago. ■ If you live in the state of Minnesota, you might want to keep in mind that it’s against the law to sleep with no clothes on. Thought for the Day: “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” —Oscar Wilde

Being in an oldies a cappella group has changed my taste in music. That, and considering the fact that I pretty much stopped listening to new music after the ’90s, there’s not much in the way of contemporary jams here. Regardless of time period, I can’t say no to a good pump-up song, which explains more than a few of the items on this list. THE LIST 1. 5th Dimension – “Puppet Man” 2. “Weird” Al Yankovic – “Frank’s 2000 inch TV” 3. Moxy Fruvous – “River Valley” 4. Armcannon – “Go Go Power Rangers” 5. Emerson, Lake and Palmer – “Fanfare for the Common Man” 6. Styx – “Renegade” 7. The Grass Roots – “Sooner or Later” 8. Moxy Fruvous – “Kick in the Ass” 9. Frankie Valli – “December 1963 (Oh what a night)” 10. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Soundtrack – “The Kraken”