The Dartmouth 10/31/17

VOL. CLXXIV NO.140

MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 52 LOW 32

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Doctor sues Design firm assesses College DartmouthPark for potential construction Hitchcock Medical Center

By ALEX FREDMAN

The Dartmouth Staff

OPINION

LI: MISOGYNISTIC LYRICISM PAGE 4

SHI: ON RUPI’S RELATABILITY PAGE 4

ARTS

FILM REVIEW: ‘BATTLE OF THE SEXES’

Obstetrician-gynecologist and former Geisel School of Medicine professor Misty Blanchette Porter Med ’89 is suing Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, claiming she was fired from her position because of her disability and whistleblowing actions alleging poor practices at the hospital. Blanchette Porter lost her job in June after DHMC’s Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility program closed, though she alleges that she could have worked elsewhere at DHMC. Blanchette Porter filed a complaint on Oct. 11 against her former employer of over 20 years in the U.S. District Court of Vermont.

The complaint seeks damages for wrongful discharge, violation of the New Hampshire Whistleblowers’ Protection Act and disability discrimination and retaliation.

First hired by DHMC in 1996, Blanchette Porter worked in the REI, of which the lawsuit claims she was an integral member. On May 4 of this year, DHMC announced it was closing that division and would terminate Blanchette Porter’s employment on June 3, according to the complaint.

In the complaint, Blanchette Porter claims that she was fired in part due to disability leave she took after an injury in November 2015. By January 2017, Blanchette Porter began working 20 hours a week, but the REI SEE DHMC PAGE 2

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On Oct. 19, architects from Sasaki Associates, a firm based in Watertown, Massachusetts, led an informational presentation for students regarding the potential construction of dorms in College Park, a 35-acre open space near the center of campus.

College Park is home to College landmarks such as Bartlett Tower, a bronze statue of Robert Frost and the Bema, an outdoor

Commission to study marijuana legalization

By ANTHONY ROBLES

READ US ON

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The College is assessing the possibility of housing 750 undergraduates in College Park.

The Dartmouth Staff

On Oct. 17, a New Hampshire commission that will examine the potential impact that legalizing marijuana for recreational use met for the first time.

The 17-member commission, created

by House Bill 215 and

led by Republican State Rep. Patrick Abrami, will meet bimonthly before submitting a final report on Nov. 1, 2018, Abrami said.

“I charged everybody with leaving their biases behind, whether they are for it or against it,” Abrami said. “We’re just thinking about the facts and trying to let the facts

speak for themselves.”

The creation of the commission comes after Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill this July that decriminalized possession of up to threequarters of an ounce of marijuana, which made New Hampshire the last state in New England SEE LEGALIZATION PAGE 5

amphitheater used each year for class day and a candlelit twilight ceremony which ends Orientation each year.

Sasaki Associates, who also designed two temporary house centers for Dartmouth in 2016, has been contracted to explore the possibility of building a residence hall to hold 750 undergraduate beds, wrote associate dean of residential life and director of residential education Michael Wooten in an email statement to The Dartmouth. With 750

undergraduate beds, the proposed dorms would be the largest cluster at the College. Sasaki’s findings will decide whether the Board of Trustees and senior administration choose to move forward with project, Wooten noted. The construction would start in mid2019, at the earliest.

According to Wooten, the goal of the presentation was to “hear from students about their lived experience at Dartmouth and SEE RESIDENCE PAGE 3

Dartmouth team visits tech symposium

By AUTUMN DINH The Dartmouth

A Dartmouth team presented four prototypes, including a modular smartphone and a calendar-linked smart ring at the 30th ACM User Interface S o f t w a r e a n d Te c h n o l o g y Symposium. The forum, which took place in Quebec City from Oct. 22 to 25, was a chance for researchers to show off their

innovations in human-computer interfaces and featured over 400 teams, each presenting their own research topics, according to General Chair of the conference Krzystof Gajos.

The event consisted of a series of paper presentations, live demonstrations of project prototypes and multiple talks, such as town halls and keynote SEE TECH PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

Q&A with physics and astronomy Former employee sues professor Robert Caldwell Dartmouth-Hitchcock This was pretty remarkable because the physics came out of The Dartmouth it immediately. There was the Physics and astronomy professor realization that these heavy elements Robert Caldwell specializes in the are being produced in neutron star field of cosmology, the study of the collisions and that helps explain mechanisms of the universe. With where the heavy metals in our the recent collision of two neutron life come from: gold, uranium, stars at the speed of light, Caldwell plutonium, the rare earth elements contributed his insight regarding that we use for our magnets. A large the significance of this event as his portion of it comes from collisions current research, with a primary and neutron stars. focus in gravitational waves, is related It was also really significant to this occurrence. His present because by measuring the same interests include various methods event with gravitational waves and of detecting a cosmic gravitational with electromagnetic radiation with wave background and the potential light, you can take the measure of the knowledge that could be obtained expansion rate of the universe. This from this detection. was demonstrating a technique that is going to take off when they get more How did you become interested events, and it’s going to be a really i n t h e o r e t i c a l p h y s i c s , promising independent method for cosmology in particular? measuring the rate of the expansion RC: I was interested in physics for of the universe. I’m very interested a long time, from the time I was in that because I work on cosmology in high school, and dark energy because that’s and I understand when I learned “If you read as much d a r k e n e r g y, that there is as you can do, you’ll which is causing something called t h e a c c e l e r at e d p h y s i c s . O f be filled with the expansion of the course, I liked enthusiasm for the universe. We need science before to know exactly how subject.” that. But I think fast expansion is I really fell in accelerating, and love with physics -ROBERT CALDWELL, these measurements when I was in with gravitational college taking a PHYSICS AND waves are going to modern physics ASTRONOMY allow people to do class. I became that.

PROFESSOR interested in theoretical Can you discuss physics at some what technology point in college when I realized that was used to study the collision? there was a field called astrophysics, RC: What’s really interesting and or cosmology. It drew on so many new here is the gravitational wave different branches of physics to study detectors: These are remarkable nature. I thought that was really cool, instruments. They’re the best of and that’s what I wanted to pursue. their class — they’re the most sensitive devices in the world.

On Oct. 16, it was announced These gravitational waves are that two neutron stars collided extremely strong, caused by violent at the speed of light. Can you distortions of space-time when explain the significance of the they’re produced, but by the time the collision? gravitational waves get to us, they are RC: This event was really significant so weak that it’s hard to exaggerate because it was the first time that how weak they are. LIGO, or Laser gravitational waves from such Interferometer Gravitation-Wave a collision in neutron stars was Observatory, includes two masses ever recorded. It was particularly that are suspended on fine wires that significant for the field of gravitational are separated by four kilometers. wave astronomy because it was the When the gravitational wave comes first time that electromagnetic waves by, it causes a slight motion of those from the same event were observed, masses. The distance that they move so that was the first time that is less than the radius of a proton. astronomers could watch a violent How do you keep track of that? How event or collision and sense that same do you notice that? How do you event using gravitational waves. do that without being confused by

By BERIT SVENSON

CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com for corrections.

trucks driving by causing vibrations, quantum fluctuations, thermal noise and the unknown acceleration of nearby objects? How do you measure the displacement of the masses by one part in 10 to the 21? It’s pretty amazing. This is why the study of gravitational wave detectors won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics.

What research are you currently conducting?

RC: For the past few years, my research has included a focus on gravitational waves. I’m interested in gravitational waves in a couple different arenas. I’m primarily interested in trying to see if my experimentalist friends can detect a cosmic gravitational wave background. Not gravitational waves coming from any particular event, but just a faint hum of gravitational waves coming from all directions, which is predicted in certain theories to have originated in the early universe. The amplitude is very low so it’s hard to detect. But if you could detect it, you would learn something about where the Big Bang came from.

What have you found to be the most interesting or exciting research you’ve done?

RC: That’s a tough question. That’s like asking a baseball player what’s the best home run they’ve hit — they’re all pretty good. It would be silly if I didn’t say the thing that I’m working on right now is the most exciting. With two of my students, we are looking at some really interesting phenomena. With one student, we are looking at the possibility that dark energy, the stuff that fills the universe and is responsible for three-quarters of the energy of the universe that’s causing the expansion to accelerate, might actually absorb gravitational waves. Not completely just sort of like the way glass absorbs light but not completely. It dims the light, and dark energy might dim gravitational waves. The theory that we’re working on makes a very specific prediction, and it’s pretty exciting to have to work it out and see if this phenomenon would be detectable.

What advice would you give to students interested in studying theoretical physics?

RC: You have to have a lot of drive and self-motivation. If you’re enthusiastic about science or nature, you should read as much as you can because there’s a lot to know, and if you read as much as you can do, you’ll be filled with the enthusiasm for the subject.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

FROM DHMC PAGE 1

director asked her to resume a full work schedule, according to the complaint.

“After Dr. Blanchette Porter’s employment was ter minated, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock administration told members of the staff that the decision to terminate her employment was motivated by the fact that she had been out of work for an extended period and was only able to work part-time,” the complaint alleges.

In addition, the lawsuit details several instances over the past few years in which Blanchette Porter informed hospital management officials of what she considered “questionable medical practices,” including worker incompetence, irregularities and fraud in medical billing. The complaint claims that DHMC “harassed, abused, intimidated, discharged, threatened, and otherwise discriminated against” Blanchette Porter for her actions, which it alleges is a violation of the New Hampshire Whistleblowers’ Protection Act. In an email statement, DHMC spokesman Rick Adams declined to discuss the pending litigation in detail but wrote that the hospital closed the REI program due to insufficient resources.

“The decision was not made lightly, because D-H is deeply committed to women’s health, and we appreciate the impact of this decision on our patients and their caregivers,” Adams wrote. “However, delivering the highest quality health care to our

patients is paramount, whether here at DHMC or elsewhere, and our inability to support the specialized clinical resources required for such a program led to the conclusion that continuation of the program was not in our patients’ best interests.”

Attorney Donald Schroeder, who is serving as lead counsel for DHMC and its affiliates in this litigation, also declined to comment both on the specifics of the case and whether attempts would be made to reach a settlement.

Blanchette Porter’s attorney, Geoffrey Vitt of Norwich, could not be reached for comment.

Blanchette Porter is seeking reinstatement as a DHMC employee with no loss in seniority or benefits and monetary damages “in an amount to be determined at trial.”

Blanchette Porter’s complaint against DHMC comes roughly one year after another lawsuit involving a former employee. Last October, former director of the Norris Cancer Center Mark Israel sued the hospital, claiming that hospital officials had wrongly diverted $6 million raised for cancer research to operating costs and pressured him to resign.

That case, in which Israel was also represented by Vitt, was dismissed by a Grafton County Superior Court judge in May. Blanchette Porter is currently listed as an reproductive endocrinologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center, as well as an adjunct professor for the UVM College of Medicine.

A spokesman for the UVM Medical Center declined to comment for this article.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

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Sasaki Associates survey Dartmouth team presents four and assess College Park prototypes at technology symposium FROM RESIDENCE PAGE 1

how it informs the potential design of new residence halls, and to hear from students about the possibilities related to residence halls in College Park.”

Wooten attended the presentation along with director of residential operations Cathy Henault and director of campus planning Joanna Whitcomb, he said.

According to undergraduate advisor Ariela Kovary ’20, who attended the presentation, building new dorms would allow space for students to live while older dorms are renovated, rather than providing more housing for an expanded student body. Although the College is considering increasing enrollment in the future, the issues of building a residence hall in College Park and expanding the student body are “unrelated,” according to Wooten.

A task force is currently accessing the benefits and negatives of increasing enrollment at the College.

The project presentation lasted roughly 1.5 hours and included an informational session and a tour of the potential construction site, according to Jack Burgess ’20, who also attended the presentation. He said that there were roughly 20 other students present, many of whom serve as undergraduate advisors or as members of one of the six House Executive Councils, the student groups that organize activities for the housing communities.

Burgess, who serves on the North Park House Executive Council, had heard about new dorms potentially being built in the College Park area and was eager to hear more about the project and its potential location and appearance from the presentation, he said.

After participating in the tour, Burgess said he was pleased that the architecture firm was seeking student input, calling it “reasonable and thoughtful.”

“Many students talked about designing the space well so that common areas would create community,” Burgess said. “Other people talked about how they thought it was important that the buildings be environmentally

efficient, [and others thought that] the buildings shouldn’t just look like any other buildings; they’d have to kind of be different because they’re in College Park.”

Tanguy Nef ’20, another tour participant and UGA, said that he appreciated the open discussion, even when there were differences of opinion between students.

“All the students were not necessarily on the same page,” Nef said. “At one point, we had an argument about the Bema; [I suggested the idea of] having kind of a community that hangs out in the Bema a little more, having an alternative space that would be kind of like the Green … people studying there, with some tables or something, while other students said ‘I like the fact that it’s only a couple of students there; I like to be alone there.’ There was open discussion. I think it was good.”

According to Burgess, the ideas presented by Sasaki on the tour did not involve interfering with the Bema.

“They wanted to look at the western side of College Park, not the Bema side,” Burgess said. “I think the administration was more focused on the southern side or the western side of College Park. It’s central. If a dorm were to be built there, it would have close access to the Green.”

Kovary said that some of her main concerns about the project involved building community, as the residence hall would likely house first-years as part of a larger first-year community.

The projected location of the residence hall is near the Fayerweather dorms and Wheeler Hall, which both currently house first-year students.

She expressed concern about the fact that the new residence hall would hold around 750 students, more than other first-year residence halls on campus.

“In creating such a large complex, I feel like they won’t achieve their goal of creating community, and that’s what the housing system is pushing forward,” Kovary said. “If that’s their intention, I don’t think they’re going about it in the proper way in creating this huge complex.”

The students emphasized that nothing proposed in the tour was finalized.

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Sasaki Associates gave students a presentation about potential construction.

project Soli, an interaction sensor that uses radar for motion tracking presentations. Computer science of the human hand,” Gong said. professor Xing-Dong Yang served “The big difference between Pyro as the proceedings chair for and Soli is that Pyro is more power the conference efficient.” a n d l e d t h e “What distinguishes Gong said that Dartmouth Pyro could be UIST from other team. used with multiple C o m p u t e r technology devices, such as science Ph.D. smart watches candidate Jun conferences are its o r g l a s s e s, a n d Gong said that intimate size and the could be out in Dartmouth had intensive program.” markets soon but a particularly could use further strong showing development. For this year. example, Pyro -KRZYSTOF GAJOS, “Dartmouth currently only was the fir st GENERAL CHAIR OF THE r e c o g n i z e s s i x t e a m i n t h i s CONFERENCE g e s t u res, wh i ch c o n f e re n c e ’s Gong wants to history to increase. present four papers in one year,” Both Yang and Gong said that he said. the biggest challenge in developing T he four innovations are Pyro was that no similar research RetroShape, a shape-deforming was available. Yang said that they t a c t i l e w a t c h - b a c k f o r had to explore everything on smartwatches, Pyro, a thumb-tip their own and learn through the gesture infrared sensor, a modular experiments. smartphone for lending and “Pyro is inspired by Google, Frictio, a feedback mechanism for but Google doesn’t publish their smart rings. Gong worked on Pyro. papers so we had nothing but an “Pyro is inspired by Google’s idea to lean on,” Gong said. “It FROM TECH PAGE 1

took us four months to complete Pyro.”

Gong’s favorite moment while working on Pyro was when they finished the demo.

“I was so satisfied and relieved that it actually worked,” he said.

Both Yang and Gong said that the conference went well.

“People’s reactions to our team’s products were very positive,” Gong said. “They asked me a lot of questions.”

Yang also said that in the conference, some big companies expressed interest in sponsoring their next researches.

Gong added that he was also a student volunteer who helped organize the conference, making the experience more fun for him.

The duality of those roles also allowed him to meet more people than he would have otherwise, he said.

Gajos said that UIST 2017 was successful.

“What distinguishes UIST from other technology conferences are its intimate size and the intensive program, and we have worked really hard to bring about and enhance these values,” he said.

STAFF COLUMNIST LUCY LI ’19

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST KATIE SHI ’21

Misogynistic Lyricism

On Rupi’s Relatability

We need to stop rewarding male rappers while welcoming female rappers.

In high school, I mostly listened to rap music.

It was a part of my daily life, and it was what my friends and I played on the way to school and back home, while doing our homework and in every kind of social setting. It was just another language that we heard and spoke.

Now, I don’t love rap any less, but I question it. Growing into my skin as a woman has made rap a genre that still elevates me but also gets under my skin. As I become more aware of the way our world treats women, I can’t ignore the questionable rhymes that starkly expose the hypocrisy I represent by celebrating a genre that does not always celebrate women.

Women have been called “b***hes” and “hoes” by male rappers a thousand times over. Women have been objectified and given no value other than as sexual assets. Women have been depicted as half-naked sex dolls in music videos, bent over on album covers and thrown aside, used.

At the same time, female rappers use the same language as male rappers, flaunt their sexual endeavors in their lyrics and appear half-naked and made-up as sexual icons in their own music videos and album covers.

Before we dismiss these women as antifeminist or as a part of the problem, we need to understand how the double standard to which we hold women plays a role in how we judge men and women.

Slut-shaming has no equivalent for men. At the end of the day, men will never be shamed for their sexual success — to the contrary, they are usually glorified for it. Men will never be told to cover more of their skin or be less provocative.

And of the countless words that we have in our language to shame women, I can think of two words in total that are the equivalent for straight men.

So what happens when male rappers characterize women as sex toys and female rappers shamelessly flaunt “what they got?” They give two very different messages.

In glorifying sexual assault or the objectification of women, many male rappers add to a long history of abuses against women that have contributed to slut-shaming and rape culture.

Their lyrics teach young girls to believe that they serve as sexually glorified objects with no other value beyond being used and reused. Such lyrics teach them that their sexuality is tied to the

gratification they give boys and men. In a vicious cycle, this misogynistic lyricism hurts boys and men as well by leaving the impression that the female sex toy is an archetype that actually exists and upon which they should capitalize.

On the other hand, female rappers’ actions and lyrics create a female figure that has never existed in previous decades. This figure does what male rappers have always been allowed to do: She flaunts her financial success, sexual success and physical assets with pride. She redefines what success is for a woman, and she teaches our young women that they can have a successful career and make as much or more money than men, while acknowledging and reveling in their sexuality in the process.

All this matters because of how fundamental rap has become to mainstream American culture in recent decades. The media heavily influences the future of our society, and if we want a better future for our women we have to think critically about the content that is being funneled into their minds. Too many of my female peers learn far too late that they have internalized a skewed definition of sexual freedom and ownership that teaches them to cater toward the expectations of boys and men. Some of us learn the truth eventually; some of us may never do so.

None of us can control the media and the content that is presented to us, but we have a choice over the music we listen to and our ability to think critically about what we consume. Ideally, we should never reward misogynistic rappers by listening to their music and fueling their success.

But if you listen to rap, it can be very difficult to boycott misogynistic lyricism. It’s everywhere, and sometimes we may love everything else about a song except the lyrics we try to ignore. Asking a society to boycott these rappers, considering their prevalence in mainstream culture, can be impractical. Still, we do have the responsibility to recognize the words that hurt instead of mindlessly internalizing them.

As we open doors for more female rappers to enter into a predominantly male arena, remember that these women may not be perfect and they may not be who you want to be, but they have introduced a new space for women to be more than what they have been — and were allowed to be — in the past.

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ISSUE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

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NEWS EDITOR: EMMA DEMERS, NEWS LAYOUT: AUTUMN DINH

SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

The relatability of “Milk and Honey” comes at a price.

Rupi Kaur is an Instagram and Tumblr poet you’ve likely read. Of the hundreds of thousands of young poets who share their work on the internet, the 25-year-old PunjabiCanadian has been the most successful by far.

Her first book of poetry, “Milk and Honey,” was self-published in 2014 and republished a year later by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

It quickly topped The New York Times Bestsellers List and, in 2016, outsold the next best-selling work of poetry, “The Odyssey,” by a factor of 10.

Kaur epitomizes the medium she uses — her Instagram feed, for example, is a carefully curated reel of poetry, typography and aesthetic photography — and her triumph is polarizing. While she has legions of devoted fans, made tangible by her 1.7 million Instagram and 166,000 Twitter followers, she also has her detractors. Her brief and aphoristic writing is parodied by meme culture; people often insert line breaks into sentences and add her signature at the end, ridiculing the brevity of her poetry.

Kaur eschews complex, lengthy verse. Her poems are concise and neatly minimalistic yet extremely relatable. She acts as the voice for young women and for women of color. Her work most often deals with love, femininity, the immigrant experience and sexual violence; her poems come off as raw and deeply personal.

But the overwhelming popularity and astonishing financial success of her poetry is not because she provides anything substantially insightful; rather, it’s the opposite. Kaur’s poetry operates on clichéd truths and relies heavily on implications.

What makes “Milk and Honey” so appealing is not just the universality of its themes but its ambiguity — readers relate to many of her poems, but there isn’t much to distinguish her writing style from those of other internet poets. She alludes to her personal life but does not go beyond that, allowing readers to project themselves onto her poetry. They fill in the gaps that Kaur leaves with their own experiences, their own first loves and heartbreaks and traumas.

When I first read “Milk and Honey,” I was underwhelmed. Kaur is not a bad poet at all.

I found a few of her poems relatable, and some of them were brilliant, either in their lyricism or in the messages they conveyed about female empowerment and survival.

With most of them, however, I felt as though I’d already read them somewhere else before, and the text felt strangely flat and lacking in depth.

Kaur’s supporters may argue that critics are, unconsciously or not, sexist and elitist.

They note that she was able to write and publish work that resonated with a huge number of young women and that she achieved financial success with her work despite its origins on Tumblr and Instagram.

They may be right, but their logic ignores the nuances of the problem with “Milk and Honey.”

The collection is strangely impersonal, which is at odds with its intimate themes and

the fact that poetry is an inherently personal genre. Kaur detaches her identity from the majority of her poems; if you blurred out her signature, her work could have been written by any young female poet. Instead of exploring the topic of survival, as the overview of “Milk and Honey” claims to do, Kaur largely plays it safe and writes about what she finds familiar. This would be fine, but she has this enormous platform that she can potentially use to explore and advocate for the issues she cares about, and she isn’t doing enough with it.

Kaur is one of the few women of color who has managed to earn mainstream recognition in a literary world that is still predominantly white. She has an extremely large audience which gives her the power to raise and pursue topics, such as awareness of sexual violence and intersectional feminism, that would otherwise not be discussed. She shouldn’t be treated as the single voice of all young South Asian women, of course, but she can represent one of many voices, which is incredibly important.

In “Milk and Honey,” she does try to maintain this political edge in her poetry, but she doesn’t push it far enough. She sacrifices complexity for the sake of connecting to a wider audience. Because of this, Kaur is unable to contribute anything new to the genre of poetry — while she incorporates salient themes, her style of poetry isn’t original; her ideas, which consist of pithy truths, are indistinguishable from those of her contemporaries. Her poetry, a reductive combination of slam and confessional, is merely a paradigm of relatability.

In that light, is her meteoric rise to fame so surprising? These days, our culture, especially as shaped by the internet, is centered on relatability. The most popular posts we share and the memes we laugh at are understood by everyone. It’s no wonder, then, that her poetry is targeted by meme culture; the satirization of her work acknowledges the power of its relatability. Maybe her seemingly trite poetry symbolizes another evolution of the genre. In the 1950s, we saw the winding, nonsensical rants of the Beatniks; nowadays, we are surrounded by the brief and easily accessible poems that can be retweeted and reposted in a blink of an eye. Kaur and her peers write to fit the confines of the internet, whether it’s Twitter’s character count or Instagram’s square frames.

Last year, Kaur signed an advanced twobook deal with Andrews McMeel Publishing and Simon & Schuster Canada. The first of these is her second book of poetry, “The Sun and Her Flowers,” which was released earlier this month and now joins “Milk and Honey” as two of the top-selling poetry collections on Amazon. The subject and form of the third book are still unknown. I hope that Kaur takes advantage of her current position of privilege and freedom to develop the themes she introduced in “Milk and Honey” in future projects. She no longer needs to be relatable in order to attract an audience; there are already millions of people listening.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

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New Hampshire commission considers legalizing marijuana FROM LEGALIZATION PAGE 1

Hampshire and wanted to impose a tax on the retail level, that means to decriminalize small amounts we would have to tax all cookies,” of the substance. Although the Abrami said. “We would have to law stipulates that those found be taxing chocolate chip cookies in possession of marijuana may and Oreos as well.” not be charged criminally, law A b r a m i a l s o n o t e d t h e enforcement can still seize the drug difficulties that come from finding and impose a fine. cities willing to have a dispensary According to Abrami, the within their borders. For instance, commission will focus on 12 major although medical marijuana was points relating to legalization, first legalized in New Hampshire which include after Democratic its impact on G o v. M a g g i e crime rates and “I charged Hassan signed t h e o n g o i n g everybody with House Bill 573 opioid crisis, the July 23, 2013, leaving their biases on manufacturing the state’s first and distribution of behind, whether dispensary did not the drug and how they are for it or open until April taxation would be 2016. During against it. We’re managed. that time, Hassan According to a just thinking signed a bill that May survey from further expanded about the facts the University of the use of medical New Hampshire and trying to let marijuana in July Survey Center, 68 the facts speak for 2015. percent of Granite Marijuana S t a t e r e s i d e n t s themselves.”

Po l i c y P r o j e c t favor leg alizing New England marijuana for political director -PATRICK recreational use, Matt Simon was w i t h o n l y 2 7 ABRAMI, NEW among those in percent opposing HAMPSHIRE STATE attendance for the such a measure. committee’s first Thus f a r , REPRESENTATIVE meeting. While Alaska, California, he said he viewed Colorado, the the committee as a District of positive step forward to legalizing Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, recreational marijuana in New Nevada, Oregon and Washington Hampshire, he expressed concerns have fully legalized marijuana about the membership of the for recreational use. Abrami committee. said that during their meetings, According to Simon, the version the commission will reach out of the bill that passed in the state to government officials in these House of Representatives included states to find out how they members of the New Hampshire handled the transition period American Civil Liberties Union after voting to legalize the drug. chapter and Marijuana Policy However, he noted that there Project as part of the commission. was a major difference between However, the bill was amended in N e w H a m p s h i re a n d s t at e s the state Senate, removing the two that have legalized marijuana, organizations from the committee including neighboring Maine and and leaving mainly government Massachusetts, which is that the agencies and departments. legislation was decided by popular “We think it’s going to be vote rather than a legislature vote. a challenge working with the “All these other states are commission, but at the same time, referendum states,” Abrami said. I appreciated at the first meeting “It was never voted on by the the tone that was set by [Abrami],” legislature. In New Hampshire, we Simon said. “He urged members to don’t do anything by referendum. leave their personal biases at home If we were to pass it, we would be and objectively evaluate the issue the first state to pass it through the so those of us on the advocacy side legislature.” have to trust that they’re going to The taxation of marijuana in do that.” the state would prove particularly Ultimately, however, Simon challenging, owing to the state’s believes that the upcoming election unique constitution, Abrami cycle will matter more for the issue noted. The New Hampshire than the final report the committee constitution states that any tax submits, as all 400 seats in the imposed on a certain item would state House, 24 seats in the state have to be imposed on the whole Senate and the governorship will class, he said. be contested, he said.

“For instance, if you’re selling “We know that marijuana a marijuana cookie in New legalization is going to be one of the

top issues in the election,” Simon “If you legalize it, you want said. “I care a lot more about the to make sure you put regulations conversation that’s happening in in place,” Borodovsky said. the commission than I care about “There are plenty of options for the final report. Given the number legalization where you legalize it, of opponents, I don’t think there’s but you don’t treat it like candy. You much chance treat it like what it that enough of “Given the number is — an addictive them will evolve s u b s t a n c e t h at to the point that of opponents, I probably should they recommend don’t think there’s only be in the it.” hands of adults much chance Concerning –—and you do t h e p o t e n t i a l that enough of it in a smart, i m p a c t t h a t them will evolve systematic, highly legalization regulated way that might have, Jacob to the point that is public-health B o r o d o v s k y, [the commission] oriented to make a P h . D . will recommend sure you mitigate candidate at any har ms that The Dartmouth [legalization].” could come from Institute for it.”

Health Policy and Borodovsky Clinical Practice -MATT SIMON, compared the path and the Center MARIJUANA POLICY that marijuana for Technology legalization PROJECT NEW and Behavioral might take to H e a l t h , s a i d ENGLAND POLITICAL that of tobacco t h at t h e m o s t DIRECTOR and alcohol, important noting that in the aspect for the tobacco industry, state to focus on was marketing. companies were motivated by Borodovsky was the lead author profit and thereby benefited on a study that investigated the from people being addicted affect of marijuana dispensaries to the substances. If rampant on adolescent consumption. advertisements of cannabis were

allowed, much like those that advertise alcohol, an increase in the rate of cannabis use might ensue, leading to a greater number of people with “cannabis use disorder,” he said.

Underage users of cannabis are particularly susceptible to developing cannabis use disorder, as cannabis is an addictive substance that can cause symptoms of withdrawal, Borodovsky said.

He added, however, that on the scale of addictive substances, cannabis was on the lower end of intensity, both in terms of how addictive it is and the proportion of people who become addicted once they try it. If legalization were to happen, Borodovsky believes that drug education for teenagers would need to change as well.

“Our prevention strategies need to move away from the [drug abuse resistance education] model because we know [Drug Abuse Resistance Education] doesn’t work,” Borodovsky said. “We need better preventative messaging that’s more realistic and that we think will actually have an effect on deterring kids from picking up substance use and among those who may inevitably pick up substance use, potentially delaying said picking up.”

PAGE 6

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

HALLOWEENIE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

RACHEL LINCOLN ’20

TODAY

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Seminar: “Plasma Flow in the Polar Ionosphere,” with University of Bergen professor Kjellmar Oksavik, Wilder 202

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Lecture: “Derrida and the Non-Political Opening of Politics,” with Emory University professor Geoffrey Bennington, Rockefeller 001

7:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.

Film: “Psycho,” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center

TOMORROW

4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Lecture: “Is Egypt Fighting or Breeding Terrorism?” with Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy executive director Nancy Okail, Rockefeller 003

4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Film: “Absolutely Safe,” directed by Carol Ciancutti, Haldeman 41

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Performance: the Villiers Quartet, Top of the Hop, Hopkins Center for the Arts

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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

PAGE 7

‘Battle of the Sexes’ proves to be more than just a sports movie

By SEBASTIAN WURZRAINER The Dartmouth Staff

In last week’s review of “The Snowman,” I encouraged readers to skip that dreadfully dull film and instead watch “Battle of the Sexes.” As it happens, I saw the two films over a week ago, and the contrast could not have been greater. When I walked out of “The Snowman,” my head was reeling with confusion. When I walked out of “Battle of the Sexes,” I felt buoyed, eager to return home and research the real-life story that had inspired the film. This is one of the year’s best films and the more I think about it, the fonder I grow — which is significant considering I was already fond of it when I walked out of the Nugget Theater.

In what was considered a watershed moment in women’s tennis, Billie Jean King won a major televised tennis match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. Prior to the actual match, it had already become highly politicized. In fact, King knew that her performance would likely have a lasting impact on the way women’s sports would be viewed in the years to come.

Rest assured, the ongoing battle for equal pay and equal treatment would have been set back even further if she had lost. While

“Battle of the Sexes” is about the importance of the titular match, Simon Beaufoy allows his screenplay to take its sweet time, carefully crafting characters and backstories. He doesn’t just chronicle the events leading up to the match but also the events leading up to the decision to even hold a match. Consequently, we appreciate exactly what is at stake on the pivotal day.

King and Riggs are played by Emma Stone and Steve Carell, respectively. While one would expect both actors to turn in excellent performances, I admit that I was surprised by just how nuanced they were. If last year’s “La La Land” showed us Stone’s range and depth, then “Battle of the Sexes” highlights the wonderful little idiosyncrasies in her acting. One of the more substantial subplots chronicles King’s first relationship with another woman, played by Andrea Riseborough. Stone ade ptly captures a mixture of excitement, fear and vulnerability in these beautifully handled scenes. I appreciate that the film actively acknowledged the homophobia that King feared would ruin her career, yet at the same time, the filmmakers never tried to make her sexuality some sort of overly-

sensationalized plot point. In fact, there were times when the film would have benefited from further exploring this aspect of the story.

King’s complex and unexpected relationship with her husband Larry, in particular, made for riveting drama. That being said, I understand that it wasn’t really supposed to be the primary focus of the film.

Equally fascinating was Riggs’ story, which was surprising because the trailers depicted Carell playing little more than a chauvinist buffoon. Riggs is certainly that, and the film never denies or apologizes for the less savory aspects of his personality. Still, the filmmakers provide an intriguing context for that personality, contrasting Riggs’ public persona with his home life.

In public, Riggs advocates for an incredibly regressive worldview: His version of the American dream idolizes the nuclear family and demands strictly enforced gender roles. However, we slowly discover that Riggs’ home life is really more like a fractured parody of this vision. His wife funds his flagrant lifestyle yet despises his addiction to gambling. Even his son seems largely disgusted by his pathetic father. Carell uses his comedic talent to great effect in these scenes.

We realize that the humor is little

more than an exterior, a coping no real grasp on the action would mechanism for a man who must be an understatement. pretend he is happy.

It feels rather myopic to make a “Battle of the Sexes” is ostensibly comparison to Patty Jenkins’ 2017 a sports film — but it also isn’t. version of “Wonder Woman,” That is either to the film’s benefit but it’s hard to deny that both of or to its detriment depending these films are high profile projects upon how you feel about sports in with big stars that unabashedly general and tennis specifically. I, champion feminist values. One for example, know next to nothing is based on a beloved female icon about tennis and was thereby in popular culture and the other relieved by how tells the story little time was “While the game of a milestone spent on the i n wo m en’s makes an occasional court. While sports. Sadly, the game makes appearance, it’s clear we feminists an occasional that the filmmakers cannot take appearance, to the streets it’s clear that are far more interested a n d p r o u d l y the filmmakers in the personal lives of proclaim that are far more Hollywood has interested in the their characters.” fully joined the personal lives cause yet. Just of their characters. The sport is as the real-life Battle of the Sexes merely the conduit for compelling did not solve gender inequality in drama. As such, my only major the treatment and pay of female complaint has to do with the professional athletes, these two directing and editing of the final films and other like them will not match — the actual Battle of the solve inequalities in Hollywood.

Sexes. It’s easily the longest stretch Still, the successes should be of tennis that we see in the film celebrated. Progress might not and, for the uninitiated, it can be always be linear — especially a little confusing. I spent a fair when it comes to the moviemaking amount of time saying to myself, industry — but if we forget to “I think she’s currently got the notice it, then we risk losing sight upper hand” or “I think he just of the fact that there is hope for scored a point,” but to say I had the future.

PAGE 8

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017

‘It’s Criminal’ documentary features Dartmouth English class “Telling Stories for Social Change” and has worked as a teaching The Dartmouth assistant for the course for two terms.

While other courses at the Marsano described the goal of the College build students up, English class as understanding narratives of 53.04 breaks them down — and oppression. in that way it acts as a catalyst for “ M o s t w o m e n w h o a r e real change. The course “Telling incarcerated have been abused Stories for Social Change,” taught throughout their lives,” Marsano

by English professor Ivy Schweitzer said. “Most people who are dealing and women’s, gender and sexuality with substance abuse problems were studies professor Pati Hernández, exposed to some kind of trauma, so pushes students out of a traditional the idea is to trace those underlying method of learning by memorizing factors and understand how they theory into understanding through fit into systems of oppression and experience. the structure of society, and then On Oct. 26, a film documenting understanding on top of that the ENGL 53.04 called “It’s Criminal” narratives that allow us to kind of was screened in Loew Auditorium write people off who are in one of in the Hopkins Center of the those facilities.”

Arts. Following the progression The course uses unconventional of the “Telling Stories for Social methods to achieve its purpose — Change” class during the summer methods the film chooses to focus on. of 2010, “It’s Criminal” has been Hernández noted the importance of screened at various venues across individual students’ agency when the country since the spring 2017 taking this course. term. The plot of the film focuses “People are so used to being told on the transformative experiences of what to do,” Hernández said. “Here inmates and students as they work I’m not telling you what to do. I’m together over the course of 10 weeks giving you the space to try. Trying to write and perform an original play. is fundamental.”

The film highlights the “Telling Schweitzer also described how the My Story” method of teaching that course asks students to embrace parts Hernández developed in 1999 and of themselves that no other course at described as utilizing individual Dartmouth asks them to embrace. narratives in a “Your way that promotes academic “Your academic change. experience is “It’s a program experience is defined defined as an that works on the as an intellectual intellectual development of experience self awareness and experience that that stimulates communication stimulates your brain your brain and skills through the your thinking and your thinking arts,” Hernández p o w e r s bu t said. “And we powers but not not necessarily put the arts to necessarily your your affection the service of the and your affection and your situation.” s p i r i t , ” The “Telling spirit ... but this course S c h w e i t z e r My Story” said. “But this does.” method, as it is course does. depicted in the A n d t h a t ’s f i l m , re q u i re s -IVY SCHWEITZER, very risky. It students to requires that combine theory ENGLISH PROFESSOR people practice and practice as vulnerability they discuss issues of incarceration and humility and … it’s really hard and addiction. The class alternates to have humility in an academic between visiting a local prison and setting. To be humble about what visiting a local rehabilitation facility, we don’t know. To be humble about and although the film follows the our own shortcomings and our own course’s completion at a prison, it imperfections.” still pays a great deal of attention The film captures the process of to the issues of substance addiction. inmates learning from students and Emma Marsano ’18 has taken students learning from inmates in a

By KYLEE SIBILIA

way that emphasizes the similarities between these two groups rather than the differences. The film received a standing ovation from the audience in Loew. Film and media studies professor Samantha Davidson Green attended the screening and praised the film’s use of hopeful narratives to move its audience.

“Ultimately, it is optimistic against a very bleak moment in our culture,” Davison Green said. “And I think we desperately need hopeful stories of people overcoming division and seeing each other as human throughout all the filters of the labels and identities that are applied to us.

That depth of connection is what made me feel like my heart was exploding in my chest. I just loved

and admired all the characters.”

A panel featuring director Signe, Hernández, Schweitzer, Taylor and participants in the film and current students in the class followed the screening. Marsano emphasized the importance of the panel in motivating the audience to do something meaningful with the material they had just witnessed.

“The reason we always make sure to have at least one student on the panel, even if it’s not a student who was in the film, is to really make sure that it’s impressed upon the audience that it’s a mutual experience of collaboration,” Marsano said. “The importance of the panel and the importance of talking through the film and talking through people’s reaction to it is that the process

is transformative for everyone involved.”

By creating this dynamic of equality in learning, the film has the potential to promote real change.

Tracy Geng ’19 noted the way the film spurred people to action.

“I think that it was moving not only in the moment,” Geng said.

“But it also made me want to do more things for the cause.”

Schweitzer said that one of the most important goals of this film is to give these issues more exposure in the national conversation.

“If we can destigmatize addiction and incarceration, we will have made a real difference in people’s lives,” Schweitzer said.

Marsano is a member of T he Dartmouth senior staff.

FILMS AND FRIGHTS AT HALLOWEEN-O-THON SHOWING

HALEY GORDON/ DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The annual Halloween-O-Thon event attracted almost 200 audience members over its three screenings on Sunday.