VOL. CLXXIV NO.14
RAIN HIGH 36 LOW 30
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Demonstrators gather on Green to discuss flag burning
College denies contaminating second well By JULIAN NATHAN
The Dartmouth Staff
raises awareness for missing American prisoners of war. The crowd consisted of a mixture of protestors, counterprotestors and onlookers. In total, over a hundred students and community members stationed themselves on the Green in anticipation of the event. Messen first expressed his views in a guest opinion column in The Dartmouth,
The College denied connections between a previous well contamination and the contamination of Geisel School of Medicine professors Ivan Gorlov and his wife Olga Gorlova’s well, saying that the contamination came from the owners’ septic tank. The announcement comes as the College deals with the fallout from an earlier contamination of another well, located a mile away from the Gorlov residence at Rennie Farm, as a result of lab animal corpse dumping at the site by the College in the 1960s and 1970s. Last October, the Gorlovs were informed by GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., a geology firm contracted by the College, that the well at their house in Hanover tested positive for 1,4-dioxane, which is classified as a likely human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency. Worried that Rennie Farm could be the source of the contamination, contractors began to investigate the source of the contamination in November. College spokesperson Diana Lawrence wrote in an email statement that the Gorlovs’ own water disposal system was responsible for the contamination. However, the Gorlovs, both biomedical data science professors at Geisel, were not satisfied with this explanation, pointing to what they believe to be improper interpretation of data on the part of the College and GZA. The presence of 1,4-dioxane at the Gorlovs’ well is particularly significant because it was the primary
SEE FLAG PAGE 3
SEE WELL PAGE 2
ARTS
MUSIC REVIEW: “RUN THE JEWELS 3” PAGE 7
PETER CHARALAMBOUS/THE DARTMOUTH
On Friday afternoon, student demonstrators, counter-demonstrators and onlookers gathered on the Green.
By PETER CHARALAMBOUS The Dartmouth
OPINION
LI: GREEK GIRL POWER PAGE 4
KOREMAN: FLAG BURNING DOESN’T HELP PAGE 4
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Around noon on Friday, Donald Trump placed his hand on a Lincoln Bible, repeated an oath and became the 45th President of the United States. About four hours later, Timothy Messen ’18 traveled to the Green to protest the new president’s administration by beginning a dialogue about flag burning and discussing
the rights threatened by the president. However, when Messen arrived on the Green that Friday afternoon, he encountered more than the 50 or so people he originally expected, he said in an interview several days later. More than 25 counterd e m o n s t r a t o r s a r r i ve d , including members of Rolling Thunder New Hampshire Chapter 2 , a Claremont branch of an advocacy group that helps local veterans and
Alumni on Forbes Q&A with government 30 Under 30 list professor Brendan Nyhan By DEBORA HYEMIN HAN The Dartmouth Staff
Four Dartmouth alumni have been named among Forbes 2017 30 Under 30 — a showcase of the world’s 600 “brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers” across 20 industries. Jennifer Chong ’10 cofounded Linjer, a fashion
company specializing in watches and leather goods. Riley Ennis ’15 co-founded Freenome, a tech startup that uses blood tests to try and detect cancer at an early stage. Connie Hu ’11 co-founded ArcBotics, a company that teaches programming and problem-solving to students SEE FORBES PAGE 2
By RAUL RODRIGUEZ The Dartmouth Staff
Government professor Brendan Nyhan’s research has gained new relevance in light of the recent presidential election. After graduating from Swarthmore College with high honors, he ran a fact-checking website for four years before pursuing a Ph.D. in political science at Duke
University. His research centers on misinformation in relation to political misperception, and he is a contributor to The Upshot at The New York Times.
What brought you to Dartmouth? BN: I applied for a job here in 2008-2009 — the year I was finishing my Ph.D. at Duke University. What was most attractive about Dartmouth
was the combination of being able to teach really bright undergraduates in small classes and also have a top-tier research faculty. The teacherscholar model was especially appealing to me because I went to Swarthmore as an undergraduate and I believe in liberal arts education, but I also have research aspirations and SEE Q&A PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
College disputes well contamination Dartmouth alumni honored by Forbes FROM WELL PAGE 1
contaminant at the Rennie Farm site. In the 1960s and 1970s, the College used Rennie Farm as a dumping site for animal remains used in medical research. As a result, the well of Deb and Richard Higgins, who live on Rennie Farm, was found contaminated with 1,4-dioxane at twice the state safety standard of 3 parts per billion in September 2015. The College has agreed to help clean the contaminated site and has provided the Higgins with bottled water and a treatement system for their water as of last fall. They have also provided the Gorlovs with bottled water and a point-of-entry water treatment system. The dispute between the College and the Gorlovs over the source of the contamination comes at the same time as the discovery of a third well, called GZ-37U/L/D or Well 37, contaminated with 1,4-dioxane. Both the Gorlovs’ well and Well 37 are located southeast of the Rennie Farm site, though the Gorlovs’ well is a mile farther away. Previously, the plume of contamination was believed to be moving to the north and west. The initial testing of the Gorlovs’ property indicated that the concentration of 1,4-dioxane in the Gorlovs’ well peaked at 0.47 ppb, less than the state safety standard of 3 ppb. Testing of the Gorlovs’ septic tank revealed a similar concentration of the chemical. In order to determine whether there was a link between the tank and the well, researchers tested both the septic tank and the well for 64 different pharmaceuticals. Congruency in the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals in the well and the septic tank could indicate that the septic tank was the source of the contamination. T his testing detected the presence of eight pharmaceuticals in the septic tank, but only diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, was present in the well. The concentration of diphenhydramine recorded in the well was 0.620 ppb, which is higher than the level of 0.616 ppb needed to confirm that the chemical was present in the well. College officials have pointed to these results as evidence that the Gorlovs’ septic tank was the source of the contamination. However, the Gorlovs maintain that this is an improper conclusion, because the quantity of diphenhydramine
recorded was within the margin of error of a negative result and therefore inconclusive. Senior project manager at GZA James Wieck said the existence of diphenhydramine in the well was evidence enough that the septic tank was the source. Caffeine was one of the seven pharmaceuticals detected in the Gorlovs’ septic tank but not in their well. The concentration detected in the Gorlovs’ septic system was approximately 1,500 times greater than the detection threshold of the test’s sensitivity. The Gorlovs argued that if their septic tank was a significant water source for their well, they would not expect a negative result for caffeine in the well, as seen in GZA’s lab reports. Wieck said it is possible the caffeine could have been retained by the soil, stopping it from reaching the well. However, the Gorlovs rebut this claim, pointing to studies documenting widespread detection of caffeine in groundwater. GZA also tested for nitrates in the well, theorizing that a positive result for nitrates would suggest that the septic tank was the source of the contamination. The well tested positive for nitrates, but the Gorlovs say that their use of nitrate-based fertilizers in summer might account for this result. Wieck acknowledged that fertilizers can be a source of nitrates but said he still believes that nitrates detected in the well came from the septic tank. GZA also conducted testing for coliform bacteria in the well, another possible sign that the septic tank was the source of the contamination. The well initially tested positive for coliform bacteria, though Wieck conceded that this was a false positive inconsistent with previous tests results. No coliform bacteria was detected after testing equipment was cleaned, according to Wieck. The Gorlovs said this false p o s i t i ve re s u l t m a k e s t h e m suspicious of human error during the other tests such as the one for diphenhydramine. The Gorlovs also said that the recent discovery of 1,4-dioxane at Well 37 indicates that the extent of contamination is larger than was originally anticipated. Wieck acknowledged that Well 37 is located beyond the originally mapped range of contamination but said that this fact does not prove that Rennie Farm is the source of
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
the contamination. In an emailed statement, the Gorlovs said that they believe the College is motivated not to accept responsibility for the contamination because doing so would mean that the area contaminated by the Rennie Farm site is much larger than previously believed, significantly increasing the costs of cleaning up the contamination and compensating neighborhood residents. The couple acknowledged that they also have a conflict of interests, because according to the Gorlovs, the market value of their house has dropped to zero. In an interview with the Valley News, Wieck explained that he believes that it is unlikely that Rennie Farm is the source of the contamination in the Gorlovs’ well. In order for the water to reach the well from Rennie Farm, it would most likely need to travel through fractures in the underground bedrock, pulled towards the well via pumping action at a low water level. Furthermore, Wieck said, the movement would occur in the opposite direction as it has been projected to move. If this were the case, it would cause the water level of the well to sink during pumping, something that Wieck claims he did not observe during testing. The Gorlovs, however, deny that the water level of their well did not fall significantly during testing. In an email dated Nov. 17, 2016, Steven Lamb, a principal of GZA, wrote to the Gorlovs that after 20 minutes of pumping prior to sampling, the well went dry. This would indicate that the well was exposed to contaminated water. A d d re s s i n g t h i s, Wi e c k mentioned that the pump did not extend the full 300-foot depth of the well. However, the Gorlovs said that the pump was actually lowered to the bottom of the well prior to testing. Wieck said he considers the College’s response especially generous given that the detected concentration of 1,4-dioxane is approximately 10 times lower than regulatory standards. The Gorlovs said that they have reviewed studies indicating that 1,4-dioxane could be dangerous if inhaled in vapor form. According to the EPA, inhalation could result in nausea, headaches and liver and kidney damage. Because of their concerns, the Gorlovs said they now limit their time in the shower and expressed concerns that their 6-year-old daughter might be exposed to 1,4-dioxane. Most data concerning the safety of 1,4-dioxane has only studied the effects of the chemical on adult men, according to the Gorlovs.
FROM FORBES PAGE 1
by using robots to increase their knowledge of STEM subjects. Alex Nomitch ’09 works at Viking Global Investors as a portfolio manager in the energy sector. Ennis pursued his passions as a Thiel Fellow, eventually cofounding Freenome after completing his research. For the other three, however, entrepreneurship was not the immediate next step. “I think I had always a bit of an entrepreneurial bug, but out of college I definitely wasn’t planning on starting a business because the risk would be too high,” said Chong, citing student debt as a main financial concern. Chong worked in management consulting for two years prior to cofounding Linjer. She described her time in that field as a sort of “boot camp” that taught her how to work with numbers and collaborate with others, creating foundations for her later work in entrepreneurship. Nomitch wrote in an email that he started pursuing finance in his junior year at Dartmouth, interning at Goldman Sachs in the fall of 2007 and the summer of 2008 before joining the company after graduation as an analyst in the natural resources group. Hu said she had been interested in social entrepreneurship since her undergraduate years, but first got involved with Bridgespan, a strategy consulting firm for the nonprofit sector specializing in K-12 STEM education. While working there, she noticed that it was difficult for beginners to learn STEM subjects, prompting her to find a solution to bridge that gap through robotics. She also noted that robotics was increasing in popularity at this time, which made the founding of her company ArcBotics timely. Hu attributed much of her success to Dartmouth, because learning at the College helped her expand her way of thinking. “I was born in rural China, immigrated to Kansas, really surrounded in an environment where people really didn’t leave ... so for me to go a place like Dartmouth changed my life,” Hu said. Hu said that her anthropology major, an unconventional choice that she said she explains to many people, was what taught her how to navigate and systematically examine her environment, leading her to discover her passions. Chong recalled the Engineering Sciences 12 “Design Thinking” class she took with Thayer School of Engineering professor Peter Robbie as one of her most formative learning experiences, as it taught her how to empathize with those she designs for. Ennis also drew from his studies
at Dartmouth in biology and finance, especially from the faculty and his peers, because they offered support for taking risks and trying things in a different way, giving him clarity and conviction for what he wanted to do with his life. Though it had not always been clear to Ennis what he wanted to do, he always knew why he wanted to help people. Largely influenced by his younger sister’s heart condition, Ennis said that he had always had a desire to help patients find solutions to their health problems, but did not know exactly how. “Finding the solution for me was in a startup ... that took some time to get there, but it’s always been focused on the end goal of making a difference,” Ennis said. Biology professor Natasha Grotz said Ennis’ lack of intimidation at tackling even the largest of problems is something she admired while she taught him as an undergraduate. Philosophy professor Susan Brison, with whom Hu conducted research as a James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar, identified a similar indomitable spirit in Hu. “I think she’s a real pioneer — it’s not a field that’s very hospitable for women and she is making a difference,” Brison said. “She’s changing the field.” Hu said one of the most fulfilling outcomes of her career has been helping other women start and launch their own businesses, an indirect result of her success with ArcBotics. “In my particular space in hardware and especially robotics, it is so hard to find people who look like me ... as someone who is on the younger side as an entrepreneur, minority, woman, I’ve just been consistently underestimated a lot for my appearance,” she said. Hu noted, however, that though there are external hurdles she had to overcome to be successful, she also had to remind herself many times to “get out of her own way.” Realizing that she was qualified to pursue the things she wanted to do and jumping into any and all experiences, rather than making excuses for not doing them, was important to her development. Ennis said he hopes that Dartmouth students will try to match their interests to the problems that exist in the world, rather than fixating on finding a career. “I think people should spend more time listening to the problems that are out there, to listen deeply to why the problems are happening and to reflect on who you are as a person in terms of your values and try and find a match between your own personal values and what you believe in and the problems that are out there,” he said.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
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Crowd of 100 people demonstrates for and against flag burning FROM FLAG PAGE 1
entitled “A Call to Protest.” His column criticized the plans of the Trump administration and directly mentioned Trump’s Nov. 29, 2016 tweet regarding flag burning. “In this moment, we need neither unity nor healing but an active and engaged citizenry unafraid to exercise its rights,” Messen wrote. “I invite Dartmouth’s community to join me on the Green this Friday for a discussion on what rights are threatened by the incoming administration, what steps we can take to ensure that they are not simply taken away and what burning an American flag might achieve. And then, if we so wish, we will burn the flag, for we are free to do so.” Fo l l o w i n g t h e c o l u m n ’s publication, Sandor Farkas ’17, the editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review, began to plan a counterdemonstration. “Immediately after I saw the opinion piece on Thursday afternoon, I sent an email out to a conservative listserv [the Review’s listserv] making people aware of the piece and suggesting appropriate ways to demonstrate and warning about inappropriate ways to demonstrate,” Farkas said. Farkas also reached out to Keith Hanson, the host of WNTK-FM’s “Live and Local in the Morning.”
Hanson disseminated the news of the possible flag burning during his morning program the day of the protest. Meanwhile, on campus, Messen consulted with associate dean for student life Eric Ramsey as to how to secure the permits necessary to start a fire in a public location, although the College took no official stance on the action, Messen said. The College’s statement on freedom of expression and dissent notes that “Dartmouth College prizes and defends the right of free speech and the freedom of the individual to make his or her own disclosures, while at the same time recognizing that such freedom exists in the context of the law and in responsibility for one’s own actions.” By Friday afternoon, the actors had gathered on the Green, waiting to see Messen’s actions. “We had heard a rumor from somewhere that someone was going to be up here protesting, burning flags,” Rolling Thunder member Jim Campbell said. “So we put some emails out, some texts, and got a bunch of guys to come up and brought up our flags to show our support for not burning the flag.” Shortly after the arrival of the counter-demonstrators, an ambulance and members of both the Hanover Police Department and Safety and Security arrived to supervise the discussion and prevent
the possibility of conflict. rather than sacrilege, that the values “Our presence is the first step this flag represents are protected by to keeping things peaceful and burning it,” said Messen, according calm,” said Hanover Police Chief to his speech transcript. Charlie Dennis regarding the police However, counter-demonstrators department’s role in the event. attempted to overpower Messen’s While the counter-demonstrators speech by reciting the Pledge of waited near the center of the Green, Allegiance in unison. Messen met with Ramsey and “Today, Donald Trump became officials from Safety and Security the president of the United States, and as well as the with him he brings Hanover Police an astounding Department in “I’ll make the number of Collis Center. argument today that dangerous policies They discussed and dangerous safety concerns burning the flag is an people, both new and the possible act of respect, rather and old to this risks of the gover nment,” than sacrilege, that protest, Messen said Messen, in s a i d . A f t e r the values this flag his speech, over t h e m e e t i n g, represents are the crowd. Messen and He spoke out other supporters protected by burning against what he w a l k e d o n t o it.” called Trump’s the Green to “racism, ableism, begin their sexism [and] -TIMOTHY MESSEN ’18 demonstration. classism,” as well As Messen as what he sees at began his Trump’s lack of speech, he and other demonstrators concern for the first amendment. were confronted by counter- Yelling into a megaphone, demonstrators who attempted to Messen ignored the interjections disrupt him. He clarified that he did and questions posed by the counternot intend to burn the flag at that demonstrators. His approach time but rather intended to start a received mix opinions from the dialogue. crowd. “I’ll make the argument today that Hanson, who was in attendance, burning the flag is an act of respect, and others asked the crowd to let Messen speak. “I wish that he had allowed dialogue when he had the [megaphone],” said Mali-Agat Obomsawin ’18, a demonstrator who stood alongside Messen, in a later interview. At one point in the speech, a counter-demonstrator directly confronted Messen, who continued to speak into the megaphone with two officers by his side. At another point, counter-demonstrators with flags stood in front of Messen and created a circle around him. Throughout the afternoon, officers and fellow demonstrators protected Messen from any potential hostile action. “We stand here, because we care deeply about America’s fate and because we will not lamely step aside and watch you turn back the clock to your ‘Great America’ of the early 1800s,” Messen wrote in his speech. “You will have to wrench our rights from us. This nation won’t come together if you threaten us. We will
PIE ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU, PIE ME TWICE...
KOURTNEY KAWANO/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Dartmouth students competed in a pie-eating contest at FoCo on Monday night.
dissent as boldly as we can.” After Messen finished reading, Hanson addressed the crowd about Messen’s right to burn the flag. He said that while Messen has a right to burn the flag, he must approach that right with responsibility. Furthermore, that right was secured by the efforts of America’s armed services, he said. Messen then thanked the crowd and asked the protestors to reach out to him via email with questions about his beliefs. He was then escorted by officers off the Green. Meanwhile, demonstrators who stood with Messen remained on the Green to continue the discussion with the community members, veterans and other students. After leaving the Green, Messen met with Skip Rollins, a member of Rolling Thunder and a New Hampshire House of Representatives state representative, in a Collis conference room. Rollins, a “gold-star” parent — a parent who has had a child die in the military — spoke about his son, U.S. Army Specialist Justin Rollins, who lost his life fighting in Iraq, Messen said. The two discussed the respect associated with the flag and the right to burn it. After concluding their discussion, they exchanged emails and mentioned the possibility of working together to help veterans in the future, Messen said. Messen left the demonstration still undecided on whether he made the right decision not to burn the flag. “I recognize that they have a different relationship to the flag, but the fact alone that I would burn it does not mean that I disregard their concerns or that I don’t respect what the flag means to them,” Messen said in an interview. “To me, the flag ought to represent the values of a liberal democratic republic devoid of any ethnic or religious affiliation, which divide more than unite.” Ultimately though, Messen saw his demonstration as a success due to the resulting dialogue. “I think [the discussion was] a success because it sparked a kind of political engagement that’s more than just writing something on Facebook or watching a TV show,” Messen said. “It’s people taking responsibility for their beliefs. Because everyone felt so passionately about this, people went out and voiced their opinion.”
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
GUEST COLUMNIST SAMANTHA KOREMAN ’20
STAFF COLUMNIST LUCY LI ’19
Flag Burning Doesn’t Help
Greek Girl Power
Yes, you have the right to burn the American flag — but you shouldn’t. Activism isn’t activism unless it has the The most active and engaged citizens ability to bring about political or social change. think not only of themselves. Instead, they see Burning the American flag is, quite literally, too themselves in relation to the many. The greatest incendiary to accomplish that task. It won’t breed threat to our democracy is not Trump. Rather, constructive, meaningful it is what he represents — discourse. It won’t even the silencing of people who “Part of the wonder make a nuanced statement aren’t like him. Counteract about how a subset of the and magic of Trump’s attempt to quiet currently disenfranchised subversion is its ability you with active, vocal are feeling. And perhaps conversation. Talk to your most critically of all, to break down an peers who voted for him. burning the flag gives oppressive structure Tell your story but also President Donald Trump’s to the narratives from the inside of the listen followers evidence to of others. Shirk polemics support their claims that very system. It uses and open yourself up to those who oppose the new the oppressive power other points of view. Over administration are antitime, those you disagree of the institution American. with — those you view as In today’s environment, to disrupt its very your adversaries — will the most harmful evil is do the same. While it is nature.” polarization. It breeds a easy to remain justifiably lack of understanding and, angry, it is significantly in turn, continued violence against those who more difficult to set aside outrage in favor of are already suffering. Everyone already knows using passion as kindling for effective activism that the vocal left is angry — very angry. The to foster mutual respect. problem is, many Americans don’t understand Part of the wonder and magic of subversion why. But burning the flag won’t make them is its ability to break down an oppressive want to understand, either. structure from the inside of the very system. It Some individuals may uses the oppressive power believe that the flag is only of the institution to disrupt a representation of the “To Trump’s supporters its very nature. The United legal rights afforded to all and an extremely large States of America is home Americans. In a way, those a lot of problems. By no portion of the world’s to people are right — the means is it perfect. By no flag really is just a piece of population, the means can any one person cloth. But by that logic, the U.S. flag represents make it perfect. But that Constitution is just a sheet doesn’t mean that every of old parchment, former America’s potential.” person with the fire inside President Barack Obama of them shouldn’t try. By is just another guy and doing better, over time Earth is a bit of rock floating through the vast you have the ability to do good. So, to you, emptiness of space. Things have meaning only my prospective flag burner, I implore you: do because people confer value onto them in order better. to experience them. To Trump’s supporters and a large portion of the world’s population, The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We request the U.S. flag represents America’s potential. that guest columns be the original work of the submitter. It makes people feel protected. So burning it Submissions and questions may be sent to both won’t change minds. It’ll only make people opinion@thedartmouth.com and editor@thedartmouth. afraid. And when people are afraid, they close com. Submissions will receive a response within three themselves off to new ideas to feel safe. business days.
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Greek abolitionists fail to acknowledge what the system does for women. At Dartmouth, Greek letters float across Tuck Drive and through Baker lobby on t-shirts and sweatshirts. Our affiliation has practically become a suffix to our names. Most Wednesday evenings call for a flood of text messages across campus with the words, “Are you going to meetings?” We speak Greek, we engage in Greek politics and we breathe Greek each time we enter a fraternity basement and inhale the sickly-sweet aroma of stale beer and other fluids I’d like to forget. That most of us hardly notice the stench anymore is proof of the pervasiveness of Greek culture. Greek life has embedded itself into not only the walls but also the structural foundation of Dartmouth. Yet abolition of the Greek system has become a frequent topic of conversation on- and off-campus, with a plethora of evidence presented by the abolitionist side, including high sexual assault rates, binge drinking, alcoholism, hazing, exclusivity, flaws in the rush process and the dangers of male-dominated social spaces. It’s for these reasons that the media seems to shine an especially blinding spotlight on us — but can we blame them? The film “Animal House” was based on a fraternity of our very own. Rolling Stone’s 2012 article “Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Inside Dartmouth’s Hazing Abuses” practically vomited on Dartmouth’s reputation, and our unsavory image as a college full of binge drinkers with elitist tendencies doesn’t quite align with our status as a world-renowned Ivy League college offering the promise of a prestigious education. Since women entered the College in 1972, female Dartmouth students have always had to fight a battle and a half for social equality and respect on campus. It’s rumored that one of our oldest and most iconic traditions, Dartmouth pong, is what it is today because former patriarchs figured that women wouldn’t have large enough hands to hold a ping pong paddle without its handle, a testament to true Dartmouth ingenuity and exclusivity. However, Dartmouth has grown and evolved in spite of our unwillingness to let the old traditions fail. We are in the midst of a social revolution that will continue to shape our culture until every identifying woman on this campus has absolute social equality. Despite the numerous ways that the Greek system places women in danger, there is one crucial aspect of the system that is utterly underrated: the sorority as a major source of female empowerment. For once, let’s throw sororities into the conversation. For many Dartmouth women, sophomore fall is largely defined by an excruciating week of rush followed by an onslaught of new sisters or a rash of disappoint. There is no denying that the women’s rush process is flawed, but its flawed nature results from the attitudes of the women who rush as much as from the structural problems of the process itself. It is more difficult than we realize to stay levelheaded after holding conversations for four consecutive hours — and it’s even more difficult not to run away with the idea of being in a certain sorority based on what it might do for one’s social future. From personal experience, rush week becomes an all-consuming experience for women. Tunnel vision prevents you from seeing
anything beyond Dartmouth: your classes become an afterthought, and somehow none of your clothes are appropriate to wear anymore. Then the week is over, and you can see the peripheral world again, and now you have a hundred new sisters, an unbelievable amount of work to catch up on and a social calendar for the first time since you’ve been at Dartmouth. Slowly, though, you begin to realize that sorority life is something bigger than yourself, and that as fun as it is to have plans every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, that isn’t the only reason you affiliated. The bottom line is that choosing to affiliate is not about social climbing, and even the most genuine and down-to-earth woman is capable of losing sight of the actual end goal. When you remember what that goal is, though, you gain something truly phenomenal: female solidarity, something rare and hard to come by. Women are programmed not to like each other. Perhaps it’s because our patriarchal society has taught us that we need to be prettier, funnier and more popular than the next girl, or maybe it’s because as vehicles of reproduction we are biologically programmed to compete with each other for the better mate. Whatever the reason, women compete with other women instinctively, and sororities, no matter how historical the concept, are revolutionary by nature in that they allow women to overcome these competitive predispositions. “Sisterhood” manifests on social media as glitter, matching outfits and cheesy captions, but in real life it’s living and breathing proof that women actually can like each other. We choose to be a part of a sisterhood not just because we want more friends and more parties, but because it gives us a community of women who can celebrate our successes and inspire each other to embrace diversity and individuality. Sororities are integral for furthering gender equality on college campuses because the fight for women’s rights starts with women themselves. We are so much more powerful as a united force than when we hold each other at arm’s length. The women’s marches that took place all over the world this past weekend represents this radical idea that women who like each other and work together can achieve unbelievable greatness. After coming home from the women’s march in Montpelier, Vermont, I sat in my room with four beautiful women whose eyes were lit with so much excitement for their futures as we scrolled through photos from women’s marches all over the world. This is something to keep in mind in the discussion surrounding the Greek system: Dartmouth sororities are women’s marches that never stop marching. Yes, the historical nature of the Greek system is inherently backwards in theory but — like other historical artifacts — with the right upkeep and maintenance we can keep it in line with our modern expectations. Women’s winter rush is upon us, and I urge all potential new members to be mindful throughout the process. It is imperfect and not at all foolproof, but it will work in your favor if you remember that rush is about finding your home on campus and, more importantly, it’s about girl power.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
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Professor Brendan Nyhan discusses his research, fact checking FROM Q&A PAGE 1
Dartmouth seemed like a place where I could fulfill both of those goals. How would you define the “teacher-scholar model?” BN: The Dartmouth ideal is someone who is committed to teaching — particularly to undergraduate teaching — while also being an active participant in their research field as well as a contributor to the collective knowledge that academia hopefully produces. The professional system in higher education tends to drive people toward one of those two roles. Most professors are focused on teaching while there’s a small set of people who are focused on research. It’s sometimes difficult to balance those roles or to find places that encourage you to do both the way Dartmouth does. I think the teacherscholar model is something that is genuinely unique about the College. It’s one of the most appealing aspects of this institution to me. Do you have any highlights from your time at the College thus far? BN: I’ve taught lots of great classes with many wonderful students. I’ve worked with students in and out of the classroom, including a number of research assistants and James O. Freedman Presidential Scholars whom I’ve worked with outside of class. I’ve also taught a number of classes, including Government 10, mid-levels and a seminar. The seminar I teach, which is called “Experiments in Politics,” is particularly notable, because the students and I collaborate to design, execute and analyze a research project. When I taught the class in 2014, for instance, we published the resulting study in a real political science journal. The way the seminar works is that students each propose a study we could do that would advance our understanding of political misperceptions and conspiracy theories, the topic I study, which allows me to be a more effective advisor. In the spring of 2014, one of the students designed a project we ultimately ran that looked at the effect of redactions in government documents on belief of conspiracy theories. When people see a government document that’s had sections blacked out, does that make them more likely to believe in a conspiracy theory? There’s often an intuition that something’s being hidden by the process of redaction. We were able to test this hypothesis systematically and published our findings in the Journal of Experimental Political Science. We also wrote about the study on the Monkey Cage blog at the Washington Post. That class, which relies on the support of the office of undergraduate advising and research, is a beautiful example of the research and teaching missions of Dartmouth coming together.
Has the quarter system been of any significance to your experience? BN: It has pros and cons. Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen how the quarter system offers students flexibility they don’t have at other places in terms of their ability to do internships and foreign study, especially for athletes or other people who have severe constraints on their schedules. However, the terms are really short, so it does mean that teaching is more intense here. There’s also a challenge to keeping students focused — the time that the term allows for them to catch up is much more limited than in a semester system. When I teach Government 10, for instance, I emphasize to students from the beginning that if you fall behind you just won’t have that much time to catch up. In a semester system, a class might be 13 or 14 weeks long. There’s a lot of time, say after a midterm exam, to do extra studying and try to catch up. But in a quarter system, you’re almost at the final by the time you get the midterm back. It’s certainly challenging. I do think the quarter system focuses students’ attention on the topic in a sustained way. The semester system is so long that it doesn’t have the same level of focus. Your instructional time is spread out over more weeks with fewer hours in the classroom together each week. I think the quarter system helps people to lock in on a topic, because you’re only taking three classes, while in a semester system you’d typically be taking four. Is your focus on misinformation related to the election? BN: I’ve been studying how people believe in false information for years. That interest predates this election. The campaign certainly made concerns about misinformation more salient then they’ve been before, certainly in my adult lifetime. My interest in that topic goes all the way back to when I graduated from college. I started an early fact-checking website and was one of the founders and editors of that site for four years. Then I started doing research on misperceptions and misinformation in graduate school, focusing on issues like the false belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003. I’ve continued to study the topic since then. During the Obama years, I studied issues like the false beliefs in death panels or that Obama wasn’t born in this country or that he’s Muslim. The 2016 campaign and Donald Trump in particular made the issue even more salient, and so I’m continuing to study and speak about it. In some ways, though, my relative level of concern about misinformation is probably somewhat lower than other concerns I have about the state of our democracy. The level of misinformation we’re seeing now is alarming, but so are some of the other
political trends that we’re seeing.
And those trends are? BN: It’s not my role to speak about my own personal views as a professor or in the public sphere. I try to be very scrupulous about that, but as a political scientist, I feel compelled to speak out about threats to the norms of our democracy. Unfortunately, there’s been a long pattern of Trump violating the norms of what we expect first from a presidential candidate, and then from a president-elect, and now presumably as a president. It remains to be seen how he will govern, but those violations of the norms of our democratic system are very worrisome to me and other people who study politics professionally. It’s worrisome when a candidate is calling the results of an election into question and threatening to jail their opponent. Those are signs of potential political instability of the sort we haven’t seen here in decades. Many observers, including myself, are surprised and concerned about what we’ve seen over the last year and what that means about the American political system going forward. I’ve tried to write and speak about that issue as a political scientist to make sure that people understand how alarmed scholars and experts are. It’s not just me. There are a lot of other people with expertise in these issues who are very concerned, including some who have studied places where there has been significant damage to democracy or worse. They’re seeing signs here of the kinds of developments that occurred in places where the democratic system failed. That doesn’t mean our democracy is about to collapse, but we should take what we’re seeing very seriously. What impact do you hope publishing your articles in the media will have? BN: I’ve been writing non-academic articles for a long time. The goal of that writing is to bring academic knowledge and insights to the mainstream public debate. Too often academics are cloistered from the public and fail to contribute to public debates, which they then bemoan for lacking adequate sophistication. My feeling is that scholars should be a part of that debate. We have a lot of expertise to contribute. We certainly don’t have a monopoly on knowledge, though. One of the things I’ve tried to do is to interact with political journalists and show how political science can strengthen what they do. Political science is a complement to journalism, not a substitute. It can make reporting and analysis in the media better. Just in the time that I’ve been writing professionally, we’ve seen a generation of political journalists rise up in the profession who routinely bring political science into their coverage in a way that wasn’t true in the past. That’s been driven by the rise of new publishing
platforms that have helped academics share their insight — first blogs and then Twitter. Academics have become a part of the conversation in a way that wasn’t true in the past. I think that’s important and part of the service that we owe as a profession to the society that makes our work possible. I think our contributions to public debate also help demonstrate the value of the insights we can provide. We’re certainly not always right — the 2016 election showed that political science doesn’t have all the answers — but we can help our society think about the issues facing American democracy, and I think that’s a valuable contribution.
What makes misinformation believable? BN: That’s a big question. I teach a whole class called “Political Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories” about that topic, which I’m offering in the spring. It’s a complicated question, but let me give you some quick ideas. The first point to make is that we all believe false things. There are lots of reasons why; there’s no one answer. In politics, though, we may be especially predisposed to what’s called motivated reasoning — the idea that we have a preference for which side is right which influences the information we choose to accept as valid and the information we reject. Over the history of the United States, many prominent misperceptions and conspiracy theories are not partisan or ideological. But in the contemporary period, politics is highly partisan and ideological, so the misperceptions that are often the most common are frequently related to which political tribe you want to win. The explanation that’s guided a lot of my research in this area is that people are interacting with information in a biased way. As human beings, we’re all more vulnerable to false information when it seems to confirm our prior beliefs and predisposed to resist or reject it when it seems to contradict them. People are willing to change their mind under certain conditions, but we’re all more prone to motivated reasoning than we’d like to admit. The intense partisanship of recent years has made the kind of political misinformation that exploits motivated reasoning seemingly more prevalent. Another concern is that your preferences may not affect just what information you choose to believe, but what information you choose to consume. Not always — most people don’t follow politics closely enough or care enough to filter their information extensively. It’s sometimes overstated how many people are engaging in that sort of behavior. However, the kind of person who listens to political podcasts or reads a lot of news might make an extra effort. Those are the people who are most likely to construct a kind of information echo chamber around themselves. So it’s a subset of
the population, but it’s often the most politically active ones. Those may be the folks who are most likely to be in an echo chamber and to be exposed to a lot of misperceptions and maybe not learn why they’re incorrect. How do you feel about the rise of data journalism? BN: On the whole, the rise of data journalism has been great. Media coverage of politics and polls is much more sophisticated about data than it used to be. Quantitative analysis is part of our toolkit for understanding the world and journalists should be using it just like every other sphere of society. With that said, I think sometimes people overstate the extent to which data journalism is a replacement for traditional journalism. They’re complementary approaches and not necessarily opposed. In a lot of cases, data journalism can inform traditional reporting and vice versa. The best journalism blends elements of both. I think the news organizations that have been the most effective in using data journalism have married it to more traditional approaches and storytelling tactics. Data by itself doesn’t necessarily provide insight or command attention. You need to bring theory to the data to help understand it. Often journalism can provide ideas about how to understand data or where to look for it. In short, data journalism is great, but traditional journalism isn’t going away. What are you currently working on? BN: My most recent study looked at the effect of fact checking during the 2016 campaign. The findings were encouraging, because we found some evidence of responsiveness to fact checks even among the respondents we expected to be most resistant to them. My co-authors and I conducted an experiment in which we corrected misleading rhetoric from Trump’s convention speech suggesting that crime in the U.S. had increased dramatically. It is actually way down from historical highs over the medium to long term. There was a very slight uptick in 2015, but relative to twenty years ago, it has declined dramatically. We provided corrective information to people saying that official statistics show that the crime rate is down substantially. That intervention was effective at reducing misperceptions about crime increasing even among Trump supporters whom you might expect to be most resistant. We thought that result was encouraging. Some of the findings in this field, including my own, can be pretty depressing. I take that study to mean all hope is not lost and there’s still a lot of room to learn what’s most effective in responding to misinformation. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
“Spoof-Resistant Authentication on Mobile and Wearable Devices” with Syracuse University Professor Vir Phoha, Kemeny Hall 007
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
“The Failure of the Welfare State” with British author and journalist James Bartholomew, Rockefeller Center 002
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
“Lost Child!” performance by Miranda July, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts
TOMORROW
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saxophone Master Class with Rudresh Mahanthappa, Faulkner Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
A Talk by Miranda July, Haldeman 41 (Kreindler Conference Hall)
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
In the Garden: The Intersection of Politics and Poetics, an adult workshop, Hood Downtown, 53 Main St.
RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Foot-in-mouth incident 6 Blue ox of folklore 10 Pork or lamb cut 14 Indian or Iranian 15 Tag sale condition 16 Helen of Troy’s mother 17 Golf stroke played from sand 19 Wrinkle remover 20 Remarkable times 21 Homes of blueplate specials 23 “The Simpsons” creator Groening 26 Apple mobile platform 28 __ fit: tantrum 29 Readily available 31 Jerry of “Law & Order” 34 Act division 35 Irritated incessantly 36 Canadian Thanksgiving mo. 39 Hesitant sounds 40 Tire-inflating aid 42 Part of rpm 43 John of England 44 Softens, with “down” 45 In an unfriendly way 47 Bitterness 49 Skippers on ponds 50 Torah teacher 52 Napoleon or Nero: Abbr. 54 Rainbow flag letters 55 Digital library contents 57 Bone-dry 59 Hit the runway 60 Lakota chief at Little Bighorn, and what’s literally found in this puzzle’s circles 66 Skin breakout 67 Poker pot starter 68 Longtime NBC newsman Roger 69 Classic Jaguars 70 Recent returnees to Los Angeles 71 Oft-poached fruit
DOWN 35 River of 53 Puzzles with 1 Chatter away Florence dead-end paths 2 Sun Devils sch. 37 Fanzine figure 56 Lasting mark 3 First sign of a 38 Romantic 58 Chain famous for shark rendezvous breakfasts 4 Faux glow 41 Org. with a five61 Genetic letters 5 Part of DOE: Abbr. ring logo 62 All-hrs. cash 6 Low voice 46 Brewski source 7 Blond shade 48 Dwellings 63 Belfast-born 8 Short life story? 49 Agile actor Stephen 9 Abbr. on a 50 “Just chill!” 64 McCartney’s title cornerstone 51 Taken __: 65 Golf Hall of 10 Treatment facility shocked Famer Ernie 11 “Wish me luck!” 12 Smells ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 13 Cultivated violet 18 Roach spray brand 22 Critic’s harsh words 23 City in northern Iraq 24 Dried chili pepper 25 Historic educational center of Paris’ Latin Quarter 27 “Neener neener!” 30 Clutter-averse type 32 Vintage cars named with the initials of their company’s founder 33 Music majors’ degs. 01/24/17 xwordeditor@aol.com
ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents. The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931
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01/24/17
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
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“Run the Jewels 3:” an ode to a political revolution By JACOB MEISTER The Dartmouth
“Kill your masters.” The order comes on the final track of “Run the Jewels 3,” the much-anticipated third project from the prolific hip-hop duo, Run the Jewels. The album, released in late December 2016, is arguably the group’s most revolutionary and most powerful work to date. What began in 2013 as a commercial collaboration between two well-established rap legends quickly revealed itself to be something much more dynamic and interesting than any hiphop connoisseur could have predicted. Run the Jewels, or RTJ, combines the talents of Atlanta, Georgia rapper, Killer Mike, and Brooklyn, New York-born rapper and producer, El-P. Though the two 41-year-old rappers have been active in the hip-hop community since the 1990s, both performers have their own distinct, heavy-hitting styles that reflect their unique experiences in that community. For Killer Mike, whose real name is Michael Render, that experience involved growing up poor and black in Atlanta. At a young age, he became infatuated with hip-hop music, but to support himself, Render often had to turn to selling drugs on the street. For a short period, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he eventually met Antwan Patton, also know as Big Boi of the extremely popular duo, OutKast.
Killer Mike went on to feature on several OutKast tracks before embarking on a successful solo career, which included several strong albums. Born in Brooklyn, New York, El-P, whose real name is Jaime Meline, is of mixed Irish, Cajun, Lithuanian and Jewish descent. He grew up during the “golden age” of hip-hop, the period in the 80s and 90s when New York was a breeding ground for developing high-quality, innovative rappers and producers. Meline followed in the footsteps of other great MCs and producers, forming the group Company Flow with fellow DJ, Mr. Len. Later joined by rapper Bigg Jus, Company Flow dominated underground rap for much of the later ’90s before dissolving in 2001 following a string of problems with their label. El-P’s solo career encountered varying degrees of commercial and critical success with three studio-produced albums and a few smaller side-projects. When Killer Mike and El-P were introduced by a Cartoon Network executive in 2011, it appeared that both men were nearing the end of the careers. Hip-hop is widely considered to be a young man’s game; there are few successful artists who still create content in their late 30s and 40s. But Render and Meline became fast friends, and that friendship soon developed into creative collaboration, beginning with the release of the 2012 album “R.A.P. Music.” In 2013, following a successful joint-tour for their latest albums,
El-P and Killer Mike officially for med Run the Jewels. The group’s eponymous first album was released through Fool’s Gold Records in 2013 and received critical acclaim. After giving several strong performances at venues and festivals around the United States, the duo released its follow-up album, “Run the Jewels 2,” in 2014 with a variety of guest producers. “Meow the Jewels,” a comical, catsound-infused remix, was released later in the year following a satirical online crowd-funding campaign that managed to raise $60,000. The success of “Meow the Jewels” reflects the group’s 21st century approach to music production and distribution in the era of streaming and online mixtapes. After “Meow the Jewels,” the duo took a short break to focus on other ventures. Killer Mike, specifically, gained recognition for his civic activism, including his criticism of police brutality, corrupt politicians and systematic racism. His passion for social justice translates itself across his discography, his business ventures and his political support. For example, Killer Mike opened a barbershop in Atlanta to serve as an entrepreneurial opportunity and healthy cultural environment for young African-American men in the area. Following the unjustified deaths of many black youth at the hands of police, he wrote a heartfelt op-ed in Billboard Magazine. Most notably, during 2015, Killer Mike publicly endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie
Sanders. The two social justice advocates released a six-part interview series filmed at the famous soul food restaurant Busy Bee Cafe in Atlanta. Killer Mike’s increasing political involvement and rejection of mainstream moderate authority shows itself proudly through the highly anticipated “Run the Jewels 3.” “RTJ3” is, in short, a 14-track, 51-minute firestorm. Packed to the teeth with boisterous aggression, stinging disses and a guest list featuring Danny Brown, Boots and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, “Run the Jewels 3” captures Killer Mike and El-P operating at the top of their the game. Killer Mike embodies the intersection of civic activist and rapper, proving once and for all that the two titles need never be mutually exclusive. His bars are crisp and contemplative, appearing to bounce easily off his tongue, and complementing El-P’s blaring electronic bass beats perfectly. He addresses his past experience doing and selling drugs, but his most potent bars come when he addresses corrupt power structures and the need for agg ressive resistance. On “Talk to Me”, Killer Mike raps “Militant Michael might go psycho / On any ally or rival / Born black, that’s dead on arrival / My job is to fight survival.” In a tense political environment, Killer Mike is unapologetic in his commitment to promoting the rights of oppressed minorities, no matter who he has to fight. Later, in
the album’s closing track “A Report to the Shareholders / Kill Your Masters” Killer Mike recounts his experience in the 2016 presidential campaign, and his frustration at having to choose between “the lesser of the evil people.” His message is inflammatory, but a significant percentage of young Americans identify with it. El-P’s flows follow a different pattern. His lines are longer and more complex, naturally twisting across cadences as he references “Back to the Future” and “The Berenstain Bears” before returning to his braggadocio tendency to promote his beats and sexual prowess. El-P’s lyrics are consistent in their science-fiction themed ambiance and aesthetic of his beats, which sometimes sample from old, robotic, Ticketron advertisements and “Twilight Zone” introductions. Set over futuristic, fast-paced snare beats and blaring electronic bass notes, El-P and Killer Mike’s back-and-forth rap banter often sounds like a high-intensity conversation between like-minded revolutionaries with a buddy cop dynamic. Their energy in today’s hip-hop landscape offers a welcome vacation from the emotional rapper-singers and the meaningless mumble-rappers; every young pop hip-hop artist falls somewhere on the spectrum between Drake and Migos. Above all, “Run the Jewels 3” is a return to swaggering oldschool stylings with a thematic social message curated for the purpose of igniting a revolution: “Kill Your Masters.”
Zenovia Toloudi’s public space By KAINA CHEN
The Dartmouth Staff
Public space is an age-old concept, dating back to the agoras of ancient Greece, yet artists continue to reinterpret this concept through their pieces. Assistant professor of studio art Zenovia Toloudi explored the ability of architecture to make a space “public” in her exhibit “Speak! Listen! Act! A kaleidoscope of architectural elements for public space,” which was on display in the Strauss Gallery at the Hopkins Center for the Arts during the fall term. The exhibition included a collection of 20 projects, some designed by Toloudi and others by her students. These projects varied in design but featured the same visual format. Each project included a design in white overlaid on a black square that
was subtly illuminated so viewers could see positive and negative space, highlights and shadows. According to the Strauss Gallery’s press release, the collection emphasized three themes — “the presence of adaptive structures, the actualization of tectonics of democratization and the materialization of playful microtectures.” Wi t h t h e a d ve n t o f n e w technologies and the new dimension to public space in the form of the Internet, Toloudi believes that public space has become less open. Furthermore, these changes have moved public space further away from its original role as the center of democracy, Toloudi wrote in her article “Are we in the midst of a public space crisis?,” published on Jun. 7, 2016 in the open-source journal The Conversation. I n h e r a r t i c l e , To l o u d i concluded that the key difference between public space and the
competing virtual space is that online platforms offer users the ability to filter the voices that they hear, creating an “echo chamber phenomenon” where diversity of thought can be absent. Combating the “echo chamber” is where much of Toloudi’s work comes into play. “We typically do not see the people who aren’t on our social media feeds — being in the same physical space allows us to encounter people with much different opinions and interests,” said Orkan Telhan, assistant professor of fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. “The kind of artwork that catalyzes public space is usually the artifacts that challenge us to interact with those who are not from our class or familiar circles. Those works remind us about our civic duty of respecting others.” SEE TOLOUDI PAGE 8
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
“A Series of Unfortunate Events:” macabre, quirky and pure fun By SEBASTIAN WURZRAINER The Dartmouth Staff
Netflix’s new show, “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” begins with narrator Lemony Snicket, played by Patrick Warburton, warning viewers, “In this story not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.” Combine that with a unique opening segment that war ns viewers to “look away,” and the stage is truly set. “A Series of Unfortunate Events” may try to convince you that it is nothing but dour gloom and despair, but in reality it’s pure dark-comedic gold. Daniel Handler’s original 13-book series had an impact on enough childhoods — mine included — that Hollywood decided to adapt the first three books into a 2004 film starring Jim Carrey. While the film isn’t the worst adaptation in existence, it pales in comparison to the new TV show because it refuses to embrace the absurdity and cynical worldview of its source material. After all, the main message of the books — and now the TV show — seems to be: life isn’t fair, and you’re going to have to learn to deal with it.
The first season of the Netflix series adapts the first four books into two-part episodes, which allow the creators to retain the original series’ numerous quirks while adding mysteries of their own. T h e B a u d e l a i re o r p h a n s, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, are sent to live with the villainous Count Olaf after their parents die in a mysterious fire. Olaf is only interested in their sizeable fortune and relentlessly pursues the children as they are shuffled around from one guardian to the next. Some have complained that this story structure makes the episodes repetitive, but the characters are so endearing, and the designs so unique that I hardly think it matters. Pe r h a p s the biggest improvement over the 2004 film is the cast. Louis Hynes and Malina Weissman, in particular, manage to capture the essence of Klaus’ and Violet’s characterizations, respectively. Admittedly, their interactions with each other in the earlier episodes are a little wooden, but by the end of the season, they really feel like real siblings. Infant Presley Smith also gets the occasional chuckle as baby Sunny, though I doubt she knows she’s being filmed — she’s just that method. K. Todd Freeman, Alfre
Woodard, Don Johnson, Catherine O’Hara and Joan Cusack all commit to the farcical nature of their characters with surprising integrity. And then there’s Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf. Harris’ inter pretation is captivating because most of the time he plays Olaf as an amoral yet comedic character. But there are brief moments where we realize this is all just a cover up for much deeper pain and anger. The entire plot of the first two episodes revolves around Olaf trying to marry 14-year-old Violet for her fortune. Harris’ performance here is both humorous and genuinely creepy, resulting in some of the series’ best scenes. In some ways his characterization of Olaf is a lot like the show itself: on the surface, it’s absurd yet amusing, but when you look a little deeper, you begin to see the humanity. As good as all the actors’ performances are, the real unsung hero is Warburton’s Snicket, our permanently sorrowful narrator. He wanders in and out of scenes, often giving unhelpful definitions for random words or commenting on the storytelling techniques being employed by the screenwriters. His presence allows the show to translate the more meta aspects
of the books to a visual medium, and Warburton’s dry delivery encourages laughter. His presence also gives the creators an opportunity to satirize children shows, which often try to be bright and welcoming while also including an educational component. Here, Snicket begs us to watch something else and his definitions are often so situation specific that they completely negate any educational potential. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was just how good all of the episodes are. When I was younger, I remember my favorite books came after the halfway point in the series. The stakes were higher and the stories less predictable. Yet all four of the adaptations in this first season were memorable. In fact, “The Reptile Room: Part One” was probably my favorite episode even though it was based on my least favorite of the books. This is thanks in no small part to Aasif Mandvi, who plays the Baudelaire’s second guardian, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery. Monty is an eccentric herpetologist and the only character in the show who actually seems to love and care about the orphans. In the books, this means that Monty comes off as, well boring. Handler is brilliant at creating
fifty shades of despicable, but he seems to struggle when it comes to likeability. However, Mandvi is so eccentric and so lovable that he steals every scene he’s in. Yes, even the ones with Harris. “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is certainly not a show for everyone. It feels a little bit like a writer obsessed with grammar met a surrealist filmmaker at a bar and after a few drinks they said to each other, “Let’s make a kids show and see what happens.” The result is offbeat to say the least, with performances that feel like they belong on the stage instead of on a computer screen, based on uneven pacing and framing and staging that often feel a little counterintuitive. For some, this will be a part of the show’s charm, and for others, it will merely come across as awkward. Nonetheless, it is an exceedingly faithful adaptation and, like its source material, is just as much for adults as it is for kids. The show reminds us that children are often more intelligent than we give them credit for, and being condescending to them just makes us look dumber. I can’t help but admire something which treats kids with that level of respect. Rating: 8/10
Toloudi discusses vision for teaching and new public spaces FROM TOLOUDI PAGE 7
In her article, Toloudi also emphasized that public space should exist for the entire public, both those who are privileged and those who are marginalized. She added that today, however, there are very few public spaces that prioritize this mission. For Toloudi, architecture is a way to make the public space a space for everyone. “I believe a lot in the power of architecture,” Toloudi said. “Architecture projects can inform certain actions — communicating, sharing, interacting, negotiating and speaking.” In the context of her exhibit, “adaptive structures” serve as user-driven structures that have t h e c a p a b i l i t y t o trans for m based on people’s needs and
desires, accommodating a wide, diverse audience. “Tectonics of democratization” directly address the intersection of public space and democracy. The works are created to spur discussion and negotiation, with interactive elements to allow users to interact with the art. “Micro-tectures” emphasize the “public” aspect of public space, typically attractive to the community as it fosters a space to facilitate participation and performance. Toloudi is careful to note the projects are tailored to specific communities and specific issues. “The projects are brought together by the problems they try to address, which wasn’t a given,” Toloudi said. “Every project brings a different action.” Telhan was also struck by the scale of Toloudi’s works.
“What I find profound is that her work uses small scenarios, instead of being big provocative action plans,” Telhan said. “They are very modest and tactical.” Addressing this same concept on a larger scale, Toloudi said that her ideal architectural project would create an exciting environment that evolves over time, much like an “organism.” This project would have interdependent qualities and space to interact with its visitors in different ways. “I would like to see, maybe in a building or on a campus, exciting social and public spaces, designed and built not for the sake of productivity but for our soul and well-being,” Toloudi said. “I feel that a lot of people are stressed out even in a beautiful environment, and I think architects can do more for the well-being of the individual
and the whole society.” “ O n e o f t h e t h i n g s t h at really impresses me about her is how she pushes boundaries,” said Kim Poliquin, executive director of SHIFTboston, an o rg a n i z at i o n e s t a bl i s h e d t o promote interdisciplinary design. “She’s much more willing to explore facets that are other people are not willing to explore.” This aptitude for exploration translates into the classroom, where Poliquin remarked how Toloudi uniquely engages with students. Noting that there are many professors and leaders in architecture who tend to keep students on a directional course, Poliquin said that “[Toloudi] nurtures explorations and is bold, daring in allowing her students to go to some really interesting places.”
Phoebe Novello ’17 was a student in Toloudi’s class on public space and said the content challenged her to “think of public space in a very different way.” She learned that public space does not fully appeal to the idea of being public. Hoping to change her audience’s perceptions about Islamophobia, Novello focused her final project on the topic. She structured this project as layered benches that are seemingly tangled, a “cross between an adult jungle gym and a stadium.” As viewers climbed to the top and looked down on the structure, however, they could see an Islamic star. “I wanted it to be an ahamoment, not just a ‘gimmie,’” Novello said. “You have to climb, engage with it and have an experience with it.”